SOUTHWICK – DPW Director Randy Brown is looking to change the location of four of the Purple Heart signs in town.
Currently, the signs are located throughout the town and Brown will be looking to have the four signs in the center of the community near or on College Hwy. The exact locations of the signs hasn’t been determined yet.
The Purple Heart Trail in Southwick. (WNG File Photo)
Brown will now be submitting this request to Mass DOT (Department of Transportation) for their approval before the signs can be relocated.
There are 10 Purple Heart signs in Southwick and the signage is part of the town officially becoming a Purple Heart community this past May.
In February 2017, Gene Theroux, past commander of Westfield American Legion Post 124, made a request to extend the Purple Heart Trail into Southwick. At that time, the trail was already in Westfield all the way to the Southwick border on Route 10 and 202. Later that same month a ceremony was held at Southwick Town Hall in order to make an official proclamation for having the trail in town.
This past April, Rep. Nick Boldyga and Sen. Don Humason worked with both the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives to pass a bill recognizing Southwick as having a Purple Heart trail in town. The bill was signed in April and approved by Gov. Charlie Baker.
The bill was created since any state roads or highways that have any official signage need to have a law passed in order to erect the signs. In most cases, the signage won’t cause a bill to be created unless for special circumstances and the topic of the Purple Heart was deemed an exception.
