Mar ch 1 6, Greenfield recorder Serving the people of Franklin County and North Quabbin since 1792 recorder.com DAY Classifieds B6-B7 Comics B4 Food Farms B3, B6 Local A3- A5 A2, A7 Obituaries A2 Opinion A6 Puzzles B5 Sports B1-B2, B5 INSIDE UMAS RIVIGNO NAMED HOCKEY TOP PLAYER A TH ER ay Rowe Elementary PARTLY SUNNY 61 38 PAGE A7FOOD FARMS, B3 FOR ST. DAY: SHAMROCK CHIPS AND A SPINACH DIP SPORTS, B1 By MARY BYRNE Staff Writer GREENFIELD School Committee members voted unanimously Monday to accept Superinten- dent Christine proposed $21.25 million budget for fiscal year 2023, representing a 7.72%, or approximately $1.5 million increase over the cur- rent fiscal year. The increase to the budget, which will now go before the City Council, is largely due to salaries, as well as special education costs and contractual ser- vices, DeBarge said. of the biggest pieces I know School Com- mittee has talked about since been here is that our staff salaries are not as competitive as some of the other school districts around she said. few years ago, there was a collective bargaining agreement that settled, and the retroactive pay- ments were addressed through the School Choice fund.
This fiscal year 2023 budget is the culmination of those salary increases, for the first time built into the She said the proposed budget is in part a result of moving staff around, and adjusting the numbers to reflect where staff were actually working at the time of the creation. Superintendent attributes 7.7% increase to salaries and special education costs; proposal sent on to City Council chool Co i tte OKs budget hike GREENFIELD STAFF FRANZ David Korpiewski at his home in Millers Falls with his daughter, Mary Korpiewski, 10, who just arrived from Ukraine to stay with him. Though traumatized by her flight from her home country, Mary said through an interpreter that she feels safe now. By JULIAN MENDOZA Staff Writer MILLERS FALLS As Russian forces shot at her Poland-bound train, 10-year-old Kyiv native Mary Korpiewski feared that a decade of life could be all she was allowed. Mary father, Millers Falls resident David Korpiewski, feared the same as he navigated unfamiliar Polish streets, strug- gling to find the train station where his daughter would be waiting.
He remained determined, though, to bring Mary home safely and away from the looming Russian invasion. His quick action, he said, is all that turned what could have been a tragedy into a success. such a Korpiewski said Monday, just a day after their plane touched down in Boston at around mid- night. According to Korpiewski, Mary had been staying with her grandparents in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro as her mother, Iryna Bobykh, was in Vienna, Austria for a conference. Bobykh, like many Ukrainians, was skeptical of the validity of the invasion threat and had declined to send Mary out of the country.
When Russia followed through and launched its large-scale attack, Mary was forced to wait with her grandparents near a Russian-targeted nuclear power plant as her mother struggled to re-enter the country. Meanwhile, Korpiewski, an associate software specialist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, immediately en- gaged in a hard-fought effort to get to Local father helps rescue daughter from Ukraine such a Safe at home now: Millers Falls man raced to Poland as girl and mother endured harrowing train journey under Russian fire out of Ukraine STAFF FRANZ Mary Korpiewski, who just escaped from Ukraine, communicated in Russian with the help of interpreter Charlie Pierce in Millers Falls. By DOMENIC POLI Staff Writer ORANGE It was in March 2020 when the Western world was starting to feel the squeeze of COVID-19 and one of Laurie MacL family members suggested a Zoom pizza party. I said, she recalled Tuesday. MacLeod, like millions of Ameri- cans, soon had her question answered, and toward the end of the month she found her- self suggesting her workplace use the soft- ware program to conduct business.
said to our chief probation officer, do court on the Orange Dis- trict presiding judge recalled. State courts closed on March 13, 2020, and jury trials are scheduled to resume next month. It was an experience MacLeod have prepared for but one she had a feeling would resonate with Ralph C. Ma- har Regional School students, who have sel- dom had a normal school day in two years. MacLeod is one of more than 60 active and retired judges speaking to students and members of the public around the state this month about the importance of an impartial, independent judiciary governed by the rule of law.
The judge spoke to dozens of stu- dents in the Charlotte Ryan Theater as part of the Massachusetts Trial annual National Judicial Outreach Month pro- gram. Other Franklin County programs include Judge Claudine presentation at the Warwick Free Public Library, also held Tuesday, and First Justice William Mazanec coming talk at the South County Senior Center in South Deerfield on March 25. Presentation part of Massachusetts Trial annual National Judicial Outreach Month program Judge notes gravity of role, encourages students RALPH C. MAHAR REGIONAL SCHOOL STAFF FRANZ Orange District Court Judge Laurie MacLeod speaks to a youth and law class at Ralph C. Mahar Regional School in Orange on Tuesday.
By DOMENIC POLI Staff Writer GREENFIELD A woman who authorities say was involved with a cocaine trafficking ring that had allegedly been operating out of a Greenfield barber- shop pleaded not guilty in Franklin County Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon, while a man allegedly involved had his bail reduced to $100,000. Britney Porcino, 28, of Millers Falls, appeared before Judge Francis Flannery, who released her on personal recognizance. She faces a charge of conspiracy to violate drug laws and is due back in court for a pretrial hear- ing in June. Jason Nadeau, 40, of Ludlow, had pleaded not guilty on Friday to trafficking in cocaine (200 grams or more) and conspiracy to violate drug laws. His bail had been set at $300,000 cash or $500,000 surety, a figure that was lowered on Tuesday.
Porcino and Nadeau were among the dozen Pio- neer Valley residents who were arrested following a seven-month investigation by more than a dozen law enforcement agencies. According to the Northwest- One arraigned, another bail reduced in cocaine trafficking case SUPERIOR COURT NADE AU SEE DEFENDAN A8 SEE DAUGH ER A8 SEE SCHOOL BUDGET A8 SEE JUDGE A8.
