Happy Westfield Day at the Big E! I’m home now from the great New England fair having spent my evening at the Eastern States Exposition for Westfield Day and now I have to fight my food coma to sit down and write this column.
I wanted to do a follow up to give you some updates on two previous columns I wrote.
Last week I did a column called “Observations at Jury Duty.” If you would like to read my column, click here (https://thewestfieldnews.com/?p=32439.)
I didn’t actually serve on that jury because I was excused on the second day before the trial began. I saw an article this week online from the Springfield Republican that stated the defendant, Kenneth Black of Chicopee, “was sentenced to 15 to 18 years in state prison after a Hampden Superior Court jury found him guilty of 18 counts including rape and indecent assault on a child last week.
“Kenneth Black was found guilty Friday after several hours of deliberation by the jury, then sentenced by Judge John S. Ferrara in the case prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Matthew W. Green.
“”Black has served 533 days in the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow awaiting trial so he will get credit for that time toward his sentence. A girl testified she was repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted by Black over a five-year period beginning when she was 10 years old.
“Green said the girl was embarrassed and afraid, but finally told a good friend in 2010. Defense lawyer Kathleen A. Cavanaugh Whitley argued to jurors it was the girl’s own psychological issues that caused her to manufacture allegations of assault and rapes that did not happen.
“The jury found Black guilty of four counts of rape and abuse of a child aggravated by age; four counts of rape of a child; five counts of rape and abuse of a child under 14; and five counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older.
“Jury selection for the case took two days as the judge went through the first day’s jury pool without completing selection and a new jury pool had to be tapped the next day to finish building the jury.”
The other column I wrote was from September 15 and was called “Fighting the Federal Court.” I wrote about how I had joined a bipartisan group of fellow legislators to urge the Massachusetts Department of Correction to fight a federal judge’s decision that Massachusetts should pay for the sex reassignment surgery for convicted murderer Michelle Kosilek. That same judge later ruled that the Commonwealth also had to pick up Kosilek’s legal fees too. Unbelievable.
When I was on Beacon Hill Wednesday I saw a blurb in the State House News Service that stated, “The Department of Correction plans to appeal the federal court ruling that the state must pay for a sex change operation for a convicted murderer Michelle Kosilek, according to a Patrick administration official.
“The Executive Office of Public Safety plans to issue a statement Wednesday evening to announce the decision. Kosilek, who changed her name from Robert and is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for strangling and murdering her wife in 1990, successfully sued the state for a sex-change operation in a landmark court case. Judge Mark Wolf also ruled that the state was responsible for Kosilek’s legal fees.”
The election is November 6. If you aren’t registered to vote in this important election you have until October 17. You can register to vote in person at the City Clerk’s office on the second floor of City Hall or you can print out the mail-in registration form by going to this address: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elepdf/2012-Voter-reg-mail-in.pdf.
The newest installment of my cable show, “From the State House to Your House” is now on air. On the road once again, this month the show is on location at the Westfield Athenaeum. My guests this month are Pamela Weingart, Youth Services Librarian and Eileen Doherty, Picture Westfield Project Coordinator.
We speak about the Picture Westfield project, the Friends of the Athenaeum, and the new 2013 Picture Westfield calendars. These calendars are currently on sale for only $15 at many locations around Westfield, including the Athenaeum.
The half hour program airs on Westfield’s Community Programming Channel, Channel 15, on Sundays at 4:30 p.mm, Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m., Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. and 10:30 p.m., and Fridays at 2:30 p.m.
Many of you know I am a proud member of the Dan Kane Singers, an area amateur singing group consisting of nearly 150 local volunteer singers directed by Westfield’s own Dan Kane. Mark your calendars because we are performing our annual Christmas Spectacular at Symphony Hall in Springfield on Friday, December 7. Tickets will go on sale at local Big Y grocery stores shortly.
One of our tremendous singers is Miss Madeline Lukomski who will be doing a concert to benefit the Cancer House of Hope. Madeline will appear with Dan Kane and Friends on Saturday, October 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the Westfield Woman’s Club. Call 562-0110 for ticket information and reservations. Maddie is a fantastic young performer and she does a knock out show. Get your tickets before they sell out.
Have a great week.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of the Westfield News.
Representative Don Humason and his Chief of Staff Maura Cassin may be reached at their Westfield District Office, 64 Noble Street, Westfield, MA 01085, (413) 568-1366.
Representative Don Humason may be reached at his Boston office, State House Room 542, Boston, MA 02133, (617) 722-2803.
Email address: [email protected]
Website: www.DonHumason.org
