Editorial

Stockbridge Bowl

Notwithstanding anything you have heard or read, neither the Stockbridge Bowl Association (SBA) nor the Town of Stockbridge has final decision-making power over what happens in the lake.

The lake is owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Through their governmental departments, such as the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Commonwealth makes the ultimate decisions.

For example, when SBA wanted to put the herbicide fluoridone in the lake to kill an invasive called Eurasian Milfoil, and the Town did not want to put a pesticide in the lake, SBA sued. SBA won but it was a Pyrrhic victory.

DEP placed conditions on using fluoridone — a four-step process to be completed over four years. At each step, SBA had to meet conditions before proceeding to the next step. It has been two years, and SBA has been unable to meet the first condition. SBA wanted to improve its odds of meeting the first condition, bypassed the Town and went directly to DEP.

SBA is approximately 80 years old. For the first 70 years they worked cooperatively with the Town. No more. However, DEP sent them back to the Town. Select Board Chair McCaffrey stated her belief that it indicated SBA needed Town approval. SBA President Pat Kennelly disagreed and thought it required coordinated efforts. Kennelly is probably right.

Here’s why. Both Town and SBA have conditions placed by DEP. The Town cannot harvest in the same places where SBA is testing for percentage of invasives. The two activities would have to be coordinated.

Select Board member Patrick White thought DEP disallowed dredging in the same year that pesticide is put in the lake. Kennelly disagrees. However, it only matters what DEP allows. White suggested Kennelly ask DEP.

Here is where we are, SBA testing limits the area of the lake that can be harvested for three years in which SBA is meeting the three steps required by DEP. In the fourth year, putting fluoridone in the lake limits dredging.

In the last two years, as SBA sought testing areas that met DEP conditions and could not find any, two methods proven effective, dredging and harvesting, have been limited or nonexistent. No dredging can turn a lake into the depth of a puddle; no harvesting can turn Stockbridge Bowl into a wetland. Is a fruitless search limiting lake-saving efforts? SBA has the power to decide.

News

COVID-19 NEWS

Few people understand how quickly the Covid-19 epidemic is contained when everyone behaves responsibly. If someone contracts coronavirus, they are contagious for only 10 days after they develop symptoms. Even if they transmit the disease to someone else on the tenth day, that second person will cease being contagious after about two weeks. If EVERYONE behaved responsibly, and we had early detection of all cases, the disease would be eradicated in 5 weeks. No more disease.

Of course, there are people who object to taking the proper precautions. In spite of these objectors, if 70% of the population behaves responsibly, the disease will be contained almost as quickly. This is because the objectors who get sick will not bump into enough vulnerable people to allow the disease to propagate. (For an epidemic, on average, each sick person must be able to transmit the disease to more than one healthy person to create a new “wave”.)

The difference between eradication and containment is significant. With containment, the disease still lingers as one objector transmits the disease to another. Frequently, because the disease often has few symptoms, the objectors don’t know they are doing this. After several months, a new strain develops in the objectors. As people begin to let down their guard, and vaccination-induced antibodies start to wane, this new objector-based strain begins to spread and we have a new wave.

Seven weeks ago the numbers of cases in South County were extremely high and increasing rapidly. Thanks to the large number of responsible people we have around here, the disease numbers have dropped dramatically since then, though there is a slight rise again recently. Perhaps now we will all be able reap the benefits of containment until the next wave. I hope so.

Editor’s note: All over 12 years of age, may now be vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccination. Those over 65 years, may receive a COVID-19 booster. Both are safe, free, and available.

Keep safe and healthy!

by Charles Kenny, MD, , Chair, Stockbridge Board of Health

News

Notice from The Cemetery Commission

The Highway Department will do a Cemetery clean-up on November 1st; removing unused, overgrown, and abandoned pots (and flowers) in poor condition. Any pots people want to reuse should be removed before then. Next clean-up will be in Spring on April 15, 2022.

Events

1. Austin Riggs Staff Presentations — for more information go to www.austenriggs.org
   • October 5, David Mintz, MD presents “Putting the Person on Personalized Medicine”
   • October 8, Marilyn Charles, PhD presents “Somatization and Symbolization: Clinical Examples”
   • October 17 & 18, Marilyn Charles, PhD presents “Metaphor, Meaning, and Personal Space”
   • October 24, Katie C. Lewis, PhD presents “Longitudinal Adaptation to Loss during COVID-19”
2. Naumkeag — The Incredible Pumpkin Show — October 1 -31 — 1500 Jack-O-Lanterns and hundreds of mums and gourds — advanced purchase of timed-tickets required – www.ttor.org
3. Berkshire Theater Group — October 1 – 24, Unicorn Theater, Stockbridge, “Shirley Valentine”
4. Ionesco’s The Chairs directed by James Warwick at Shakespeare and Co. until October 31, for tickets/637-3353. From the director: “This classic tragic farce illustrates what can happen when we become isolated from our family and friends and we are forced to repeat our life’s stories but only in our minds.” (See Warwick’s article in this issue)

News

Notes from the Conservation Commission (ConCom) & Select Board (SB)

Joint Hybrid Meeting, September 28, Hybrid

Present from ConCom:

• Ron Brouker, Chair
• Joseph H. DeGiorgis
• John Hart
• Jay Rhind
• Jamie Minacci
• Charlotte Underwood Miller, Secretary

Present from SB:

• Roxanne McCaffrey, Chair
• Patrick White
• Chuck Cardillo via Zoom

1. Brouker called meeting to order.
2. Minutes from last meeting approved.
3. John Davies discussed wall repair on Yale Hill. Approval of construction delayed pending site visit on October 2.
4. Brent White for 2 Lakeview Drive—addition. Approval postponed pending site visit October 2.
5. 4 Cove Lane (sound interrupted or interfered with)
6. Brent White for 23 Mahkeenac — certificate of compliance approved.
7. Many issues are continued because no representative appeared before the ConCom; e.g., Berkshire Gas and its replacement of existing pipeline. Hart objected to this and asked if there was a method for requiring appearance and clearing these items
8. Forsythe for BSO/Tanglewood — Storm water management {Phase Two, building an irrigation pond). Concerns included that it has a chain link fence; the fencing does not allow access for wildlife, and they have not managed invasives as indicated.
9. Bret White for 8 Mahkeenac Terrace — approval for driveway and “slightly larger house” — approval pending site visit in 2 weeks.
10. 2A Interlaken Crossroad — remove 5 dead or dying trees at request of abutter Kat Whitney. The trees are 3 ash and 2 elm — no replacement plantings proposed.
11. Stockbridge Bowl Association (SBA) President Pat Kennelly re: moving testing sites for Eurasian Milfoil in 2022. In order to find test areas, divers will conduct an underwater survey in early spring to try to find Eurasian Milfoil before selecting new test areas. SBA went to Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and asked to move test areas. DEP told SBA to check with SB and ConCom. Therefore, the joint meeting. Issues that arose:
    1. All agreed that DEP does not allow harvesting in test areas. Town has an order of conditions for harvesting and SBA has an order of conditions for testing. McCaffrey said SBA would have to come to SB next spring with new test areas and obtain SB consent. Kennelly disagreed. It was her opinion that SB had no power to consent or withhold consent, it was more a matter of SBA informing SB so SBA and SB could coordinate their orders of conditions.
    2. Brouker was displeased that SBA keeps changing testing sites. He recalled SBA came before ConCom and assured them that they selected the correct sites only to continually change them because they did not meet DEP specs. (see “e” below)
    3. However, they have not been able to replicate that finding in 2019, 2020, 2021
    4. White concurred. Both White and Brouker recalled that SBA, through their consultant SOLitude, surveyed the lake in 2018 and presented 160 data points that showed Eurasian Milfoil, an invasive, was dominant over native plants, and therefore, it required a “whole lake solution” — herbicide in entire lake. Based on that data they received a whole lake permit.
    5. However, DEP required that more than 50% invasive be found in test areas to justify fluoridone treatment and the result was never confirmed or replicated. So SBA wants to move the test areas again in 2022. To assure finding test areas with more than 50%, SOLItude wants to test in spring to find an area that will test 50% or more and then select that test area. There was uniform objection to this “shopping” for one spot that has 50% or more Eurasian Milfoil because they are requesting a whole lake treatment.
    6. Finally, White recalled DEP said that herbicide treatment (fluoridone) and dredging cannot happen in the same season. Kennelly disagreed. White asked her to please check with DEP, and if it is true, decide if SBA would prefer the herbicide or dredging. Kennelly said she thought they could do both.

Meeting adjourned.

News

Notes from the Cemetery Commission

September 28, Hybrid Meeting

Present:

• Karen Marshall, Chair
• Chris Marsden, consultant
• Patrick White SB
• Roxanne McCaffrey, SB
• Chuck Cardillo, SB
• Hugh Page, Highway Dept

1. Minutes approved
2. Laurel Hill Association (LHA) representative, Lionel Delevingne, resigned after years of service. Awaiting LHA to send new rep.
3. Analysis of Headstone condition in progress, consultant selected, contract drawn, and to be signed soon. Work should be completed by March 1st in time to present report to Town Meeting.
4. Marsden is making progress on a list of graves — many identified on “Find A Grave”
5. Marsden and Page will clean out “tool shed”.
6. Mentioned overgrown shrubbery
7. There will be a twice-a-year removal of pots and other temporary adornments such as seasonal decorations left at grave sites. Marshall wants PR so townsfolk will be aware and perhaps clean up themselves.
   1. McCaffrey wanted a definition of temporary (what will be taken away). However, Canales said easier to define what is “allowed to stay”.
   2. The Chair suggested it be left to the discretion of the Highway Dept
   3. Marsden said other cemeteries “are immaculate. We have rules and should stick to them, not get into the weeds.” McCaffrey’s suggestion dropped. Marshall repeated if PR spreads the word, people will self-manage
   4. Tree Warden, Mark Faber, walked cemetery and there appears to be approximately $20,000 of tree work needed. The white pine will be removed, and the other work postponed.
   5. Discussion of cemetery fees postponed
   Meeting adjourned

News

Notes from the Fountain Committee

September 30, Hybrid Meeting

• Kate Fletcher, Chair
• Bob Jones via Zoom
• Carl Sprague via Zoom
• Michael Canales, Town Administrator

1. Approved minutes of last meeting
2. Jeff Gulig of Timberwolf Restoration requested a change in work order. A contractor changing a work order cannot exceed 25%.
   1. The increase would be $10,625
   2. Even with increase, Gulig’s still lowest bid
   3. Increase approved.

Meeting adjourned

News

Notes from the Finance Committee

September 30, Hybrid

Present:

• Jay Bikofsky, Chair
• Pam Boudreau
• Steve Shatz
• Bill Vogt
• Jim Balfanz
• Neil Holden
• Also present Michael Canales, Town Administrator
• Patrick White, SB
• Cheryl Allen, Town Accountant
• Ericka Oleson, Town Treasurer

1. Minutes approved
2. Reserve Fund transfers listed and approved
3. Banking relations — Town does business with several banks.
   1. Oleson monitors and reviews quarterly to assure best services, best interest, and best practices.
   2. Oleson reviews for bank health, safety and convenience, interest rate and low fees, user friendliness, and how funds are insured
   3. Canales added that Town has relations/accounts with “so many” banks for many reasons including obtaining loans — some banks require or give priority to account holders.
   Meeting adjourned

News

Notes from Stockbridge Bowl Stewardship Commission

October 1, Hybrid

• Present Jamie Minacci, Chair
• John Loiodice
• Gary Kleinerman
• Roxanne McCaffrey
• Charlie Kenny via Zoom
• Also present Michael Buffoni, Water Superintendent

1. Kleinerman reported representatives from Lake Onota visited Stockbridge Bowl. Although a larger lake, Onota does about 1/2 the boat washing that the Bowl does and wanted to study our process
2. Buffoni did water testing last day in September and reported water cloudy, perhaps conditions present for Cyanobacteria bloom
3. McCaffrey wanted “an inventory of wildlife within the [lake] ecosystem”. She estimated it would be expensive and take years. Buffoni reminded her that the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife of the Commonwealth did such a study. He distributed it and volunteered to resend.
4. No new information about dredging
5. Parks and Recreation not present
6. Agreed to meet once a month in off-season (apparently in the bylaw)
7. Kleinerman said he had an underwater camera and offered it if anyone wants to use it

Meeting adjourned

News

Notes from the Board of Assessors

October 4, Hybrid Meeting

Present:

• Gary Pitney, Chair
• Tom Stokes
• Doug Goudey
• Michael Blay, Town Assessor

1. Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT committee) no update
2. Berkshire County Assessors meeting and lunch held on September 28 — committee invited
3. In discussing the “CL1 Chapter forms”, one from a Mr. Lambert was mentioned. He was asked, that when he listed “open space”, was the space open to the public? The answer was “no”.
4. The Town LA4s (types of property) and LA13 (certificate of new growth) have been submitted to and approved by Department of Revenue (DOR)
5. That clears the way for the Tax Classification hearing which will take place as part of the regular Select Board meeting on October 14 — Hybrid.
   1. Anyone interested in how much real estate tax they pay may want to attend. The tax rate may be published as soon as the week following the hearing.
   2. The Residential Exemption will be discussed
6. The Appellate Court tax case re: Desisto School property has been postponed until January 12, 2022. Desisto did not provide an appraisal

Meeting adjourned

Editor’s note: 1. Per 61A of MA General Law — Cl1 Chapter form is an application for classification as Agricultural or Horticultural. This is a tax code and defines what the tax rate will be 2. Open space is a term often believed to mean pen to the public for public use. It does not necessarily mean that. For Example, the proposed Natural and Historic Resource Protection Zoning (NHRPZ) claims to create open space, but whether it is open to the public for public use is up to owners/developers.

News

Notes from the Agricultural and Forestry Commission

October 4, Hybrid Meeting

Present:

• Matt Boudreau, Chair
• Lisa Bozzuto
• Shelby Marshall
• Erik Rasmussen via Zoom
• Michael Canales, Town Administrator via Zoom

1. Minutes from September 13 approved.
2. Minutes from joint meeting with Select Board approved
3. Balance of the meeting was discussion of how to prepare suppression grant with assistance from consultant Ken Gooch.
   1. White suggested they highlight that Ice Glen is one of the largest old growth forests in MA not owned by the state. Gooch supported that idea.
   2. White suggested that the grant include that Ice Glen was inhabited by the Mahicans before the arrival of the white man, and that Herman Melville wrote about Ice Glen in Moby Dick. White suggested the words, “from the Mahicans to Moby Dick”. Again, Gooch concurred; Gooch suggested including anything that would make the Stockbridge grant request stand out was advisable.
   3. Agreed to request $50,000 and if awarded would be added to the $70,000 voted at Town Meeting, $6000 of the $70,000 was used to treat the ash trees in Ice Glen. That would create a fund of $114,000; it is estimated that $180,000 is necessary to treat all the Ice Glen hemlocks.
   4. Gooch suggested that the $64,000 remaining after treating ash trees, be identified as match for the $50,000 request even though a match is NOT required. Gooch felt it made Stockbridge stand out as committed and prepared.
   5. In estimating the cost of the full treatment of hemlocks, Gooch offered that injection is approximately three times (3x) the cost of spraying because the solution is concentrated rather than diluted and more labor is required.
4. “An Innovated Solution” — Dendrow, an alternative to pesticide — was discussed but was set aside as untested. Decision made to “gear up to treat” in spring 2022 with injection of pesticide only.

Editor’s note: 1. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) provided $1.8 million to MA for projects that protect agriculture and natural resources. Stockbridge is competing for some of this money for treatment of trees in Ice Glen. 2. The $180,000 required to treat all hemlocks by injection — the only method allowed by state given the closeness and number of hemlocks — was based upon an estimate that injection costs three times what spraying costs.

News

Notes from the Housing Trust Fund

October 4, Hybrid Meeting

Present:

• Patrick White presided prior to appointment of Chair
• Jay Bikofsky
• Mark Mills
• Tom Sharp
• Andrea Lindsay, Executive Director, Stockbridge Housing Authority
• Also present Michael Canales

1. White called the meeting to order
2. Stockbridge Town Counsel wrote a guide to developing a Housing Trust Fund for the Town of Littleton (another of her clients). White suggested we refer to it as a template for developing our model.
3. Ultimate Goal: support affordable housing for the low- and moderate-income households in Town
4. White suggested that they read and digest the materials including the Littleton document, the Stockbridge Senor housing report, etc. — then meet again to begin deliberations
5. Use the $100,000 and match with private donors in area and perhaps state and federal grants.
6. Mark Mills asked if our zoning laws would be a challenge (he ran for office seeking to change zoning) and asked if zoning could be changed to incentivize building low-income housing.
   1. Others felt it was more a function of the marketplace.
   2. Bikofsky suggested helping with a down payment for the first-time home buyer would be more to the point because many have monthly payments but not cash for a down payment
   3. White suggested there are “corridors” (i.e., the land along Mass Pike) not conducive to building expensive housing but good for cost effective development and therefore cost-effective sales
7. Canales cautioned all members to be aware of the Open Meeting Law (OML) and its conditions. Email, for example, can only be used for information sharing and scheduling, and deliberating can only be done in public meetings not in private discussions or via emails.
8. Canales said, “We have had a few boards that have wandered off into deliberation; that is frowned upon, in fact, it is in violation of the law.” With a five-member board, Canales said, members can speak one to one, but a quorum can only deliberate in a public meeting, and members should not engage in serial communications. Canales will send around an email reminding everyone of these OML rules. White followed by reminding members to complete the Commonwealth Ethics training
9. Jay Bikofsky was named Chair and will schedule the next meeting

Meeting adjourned

News

State of the Theatre

As a freelance theatre director for the last twenty years, I have seen enormous changes in the way Berkshire theatre companies put together a season. Even during the devastating pandemic, when seasons were cancelled and live performances came to a shuddering halt, significant reevaluations and creative plans were being made to embrace the return of our most valuable asset, our audience. Despite losses of millions of dollars to our local economy, the devastation of so many lost jobs, the uncertainty of our future, the deep conviction to cultural excellence survived.

Shakespeare and Company, where I have directed several productions, decided in the midst of this cultural desert, to design and build a 540-seat open air Amphitheatre on part of its campus in Lenox. An astonishing achievement constructed of local granite and stone. Large outdoor tents were erected by other local theatre companies to help minimize the transmission of the evolving virus amongst us. Credit to the loyalty of those hard working and generous board members who helped keep these companies from collapse in the shut down last year. Although most seasons started later than usual, resilience and determination by the artistic and administrative theatre leaders in in our community have slowly but surely brought back our audience to share in our passion for the performing arts.

There have been other significant changes in the last few years. There has been a growing awareness that racial and sexual equality in all areas of the theatre; from management, to artistic and casting choices, to the choice of material to present; all contributed to an ongoing and far-reaching reappraisal of the need to truly engage and represent the multi racial society in which we live. Freelance actors, production crew and stage management have always been expected to work longer hours and for less money than most people would even believe, let alone accept. The show must go on …right? This tradition is being examined for its fairness and efficiency and I predict changes will soon be made there too.

by James Warwick

Contributors

Confessions of a Recovering Urbanite

There are a number of new people moving to Stockbridge. I am one of them. We have spent a decade of summers renting in the Berkshires for July and August. The virus changed that. We moved here in May and now have a home of our own. Our first, after 75 years, that wasn’t part of a building with hundreds of other humans using an elevator to get in and out.

New York is returning to its former self, a well of ambition for the endlessly curious, as polyglot a collection of people as can be found on the face of the earth. Stockbridge, on the other hand, has different qualities that many who live and work here experience every day of their lives; the only danger is that it’s all too easy to take for granted.

You have, for instance, lived through four seasons year after year. I haven’t, until this last year. Sure, leaves change, snow falls, trees bud in Manhattan as well as in Stockbridge. But here the snow that falls stays white and stays on the ground for weeks on end, turning a walk in the woods into the sounds of snow crunching beneath your boots while a cold wind whips bare-limbed trees whose crooked, skeletal shadows are etched on the white ground by a bright, cold sun. Here, leaves don’t just fall. They turn slowly and reach a peak moment that has made this area as famous around the world as the Grand Canyon has made Arizona. You can come to visit them, but unless you are here for the full period, you are missing the slow color shifts from tree to tree, from leaf to leaf.

The great Instagram-able flow of color across the hills is one thing; the detail of tints and intensities at eye level as you hear the crackle of dead leaves under your boots quite another. And then spring bounds in and in about two weeks we are living in a surge of the life force. Almost minute by minute, you can see the buds struggle and inch and then crescendo with orchestral force. Of course, before spring, there is March and April which are nobody’s puddles of joy: all wet and dark and often too muddy for happy hiking. But maybe I’m missing something there. We’ll see what this year brings.

by Barry Hoffman

The Last Word

Reader to Reader

Carole,

Loved the article on telephones by the Wilcox brothers!

Anne Rabinowitz

Dear Anne,

Me too — thanks for writing

Carole

by Carole Owens