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By DOMENIC POLI

Editor’s note: To mark the start of a new year, the Athol Daily News is publishing stories about what Franklin County residents can likely expect to see happening in their communities in 2025.

By DOMENIC POLI

NEW SALEM — Town officials are working to determine ways to improve safety along Route 202, the site of numerous crashes over the years.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A New Hampshire timber company has closed on a massive land buy of nearly 2,400 acres in seven communities in Hampshire and Franklin counties, acquiring five parcels for more than $20 million from Amherst-based W.D. Cowls Inc.

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

NEW SALEM — The Northwestern District Attorney’s Office has identified the two Gardner residents who were killed in a three-vehicle crash on Daniel Shays Highway (Route 202) as Gerald and Margaret Patriquin.The Patriquins, ages 89 and 74, were...

By DOMENIC POLI

Joshua Jay Dostis, better known locally as the politically charged jester Waffles T. Clown, died on Nov. 9. He was 83.Friends in Franklin County are mourning the loss of the New York City transplant and longtime New Salem resident who spent his final...

By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE – Trying to please a snobby, cynical restaurant critic might seem like a daunting task. But how about 1,200 growing children?That’s the daily reality for Katrina Bressani, the new food service director for the Ralph C. Mahar Regional and Union...

By CARLA CHARTERI will start by stating some of the most fascinating real-life stories that can ever be found are documented in town histories. I have become an avid reader of these histories which led me to my current mystery.It began with a book...

By DOMENIC POLI

NEW SALEM – Wendy Flanders can expect her retirement to arrive in eight business days.Following 40 years on the contracted New Salem route, the letter carrier is hanging up her mailbag for good on Sept. 30 and retiring from the Orange Post...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

SHUTESBURY — Continued staffing challenges for small-town fire departments that depend on on-call and volunteer firefighters to respond to emergencies is prompting officials in Shutesbury, Leverett, Wendell and New Salem to examine ways to potentially...

By DOMENIC POLI

NEW SALEM — The Rev. Edward “Ted” Boren plans to preach his final service at North Congregational Church on Sept. 1 — exactly 54 years to the month that he started there.The 82-year-old will deliver five more sermons before he retires and each worship...

By Carla CharterLaura Barletta and her husband Vincent’s connection to New Salem began with Vincent’s grandmother Helen Truman, who attended school at New Salem Academy. After the school closed in 1969, the building, which originally housed the home...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

ERVING — Athol Community Elementary School Principal Shannon White-Cleveland is being tapped as the next School Union 28 superintendent, overseeing four K-6 elementary schools attended by children in Shutesbury, Leverett, Erving, Wendell and New...

By DOMENIC POLI

NEW SALEM — Swift River School’s new PFAS6 filtration system seems to be working perfectly, and 190 students and staff members will drink to that.A little more than three years after tests of the school’s tap water revealed elevated levels of the...

By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE — The town hopes 16-36 West River St. will rise from the ashes in 2024, two years after an arson that was allegedly started by three youths destroyed the former cereal factory that once stood in that spot.Thomas Smith, chair of the Orange...

By SCOTT MERZBACHand DOMENIC POLI

SHUTESBURY — A search is underway for a new superintendent to oversee the Erving School Union 28, a district that includes four elementary schools serving preschool through sixth-grade students in Shutesbury, Leverett, Erving, Wendell and New...

By DOMENIC POLI

NEW SALEM — The vice president of the engineering firm that was contracted to install a water filtration system at Swift River School to rid it of synthetic substances known as “forever chemicals” said the new equipment has proven to remove compounds...

By DOMENIC POLI

NEW SALEM – The vice president of the engineering firm contracted to install a water filtration system at Swift River School said an eight-hour test went flawlessly last week and the company now awaits test results to determine water quality.Pete...

By DOMENIC POLI

NEW SALEM — The state Department of Environmental Protection has declared a water emergency at Swift River School due to its ongoing issues with a family of chemicals that is used in common consumer products like food packaging and outdoor...