Carole,

I’m an occasional visitor to Stockbridge and have long admired your updates about what’s going on civically in the town.

Your messaging is in the finest tradition of de Tocqueville about citizens coming together to solve problems.

Thank you for all your positive encouragements and for keeping Stockbridge voters so thoroughly informed about the issues of the day.

My great-great-great grandfather Theodore Sedgwick would be proud of you.

All the best,

Tod Sedgwick 

To South County Partners, 

Southern Berkshire Public Health Collaborative is excited to announce that SBPHC has started the process of searching for a Regional Health Agent to join our dynamic team whose mission it is to improve public health in south county. 

Please distribute this so we can build a candidate pool that will expedite this important work. This is an exciting time in our region!

Warm regards from

Jayne Smith, RS

Editor’s note: Smith is the SBPHC Shared Services Coordinator

To: Carole Owens,

I haven’t seen any coverage in the media about the loss of the fruit crop in the freeze a few days ago. My crop is totally gone, and I’m told that Bartlett’s lost about 75% of theirs. 

Harold French

To Stockbridge Updates: 

In the “key updates” from the Annual town meeting, I was misrepresented with the comment regarding what I had to say about using Free Cash to fund part of the project at the Boat ramp. If one will review the tape of that meeting, they will hear that I objected to using our town’s FREE CASH for any part of this project, due to it being on property owned by the state of Massachusetts, and, further with the 4.3 to 5.4 BILLION the STATE received in ARPA funds they should be contacted to fund the entire estimated cost ($125,00 -150,000). 

The state has been dragging their feet in making the needed improvements at the Stockbridge Bowl boat ramp for some years now, and I mentioned that using state ARPA funds would allow this project to get completed as quickly as possible. The “small” amount of funds coming from the state ARPA funds don’t even amount to a “rounding error,”

It is still my opinion that our town tax money should not be used for any part of this project, but the town voters approved it, so in my opinion, the matter is settled.

So much for being concerned about saving our town taxpayers money, eh?

Frankly, Ms. Owens, if the then Selectboard Chairman was planning to use Town received ARPA funds for a State property, without bothering to check on all the “Legal” definition and inclusion of what is town tax money, the idea is to have the STATE pay for this project. Further, Free Cash is money that Stockbridge taxpayers have paid, and is therefore to be considered income derived from SB taxpayers. 

Thank you, Jim Balfanz

Here ends the 71st issue of Stockbridge Updates. In the first 70, SU covered over 500 Town meetings, published over 1,000 photographs, and welcomed more than 600 contributors and letter writers to our pages. SU is a purveyor of news and provider of a Stockbridge forum. Jump in — we can’t do it without you — send a letter, an article, an idea, or a voluntary contribution (To P.O. Box 1072 Town). We appreciate all you do.