On Monday, school vacation week began and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts observed Patriot’s Day. The Red Sox played their annual home game at 11 a.m. at Fenway Park and thousands of runners, both elite and recreational, lined up to begin the grueling 26.2 mile race that is the world-famous Boston Marathon. It was a beautiful day, cool, breezy, and sunny.
Monday soon became another in the growing number of dates “that will live in infamy” for me and so many others. At close to 3 p.m., within yards of the finish line near the Boston Public Library, two improvised explosive devices went off along the marathon route at the feet of dozens of race onlookers, killing three, maiming dozens, wounding hundreds, and effecting millions.
Like Pearl Harbor, the Columbia or Challenger disasters, President Kennedy’s assassination and President Reagan’s shooting, or September 11, 2001, the madness on Marathon Monday, April 15, 2013, was seared into the collective public consciousness.
I was not in Boston on Monday although I have gone Boston to watch the marathon in other years and have stood in the same general vicinity where the bombs exploded. I know that street well.
For years to come, people will be asking, “Where were you when you heard about the bombings in Boston?” Ironically, I was donating blood at a Red Cross blood drive in Chicopee when I became aware of the full details of the horrific incident. My thoughts immediately went to people I knew who were running the marathon or who were in the city to watch the Sox or cheer on the runners. Like you I am so relieved that none of our local racers or spectators were killed or injured.
As I lay on the table I asked the Red Cross technician if any of the blood we were giving that day might end up going to Boston hospitals to help the victims of the madness. She told me it was too soon to tell for sure, but it was possible that our units of blood might follow to replace blood used to help the wounded.
What is typically a quiet week on Beacon Hill was shattered by the explosions and the screams and the sirens. Long after the last runner has been led away from the scene and the last law enforcement agent has concluded his investigation, life in Boston will be altered.
The State House was open for business on Tuesday but Speaker Bob DeLeo, in a letter to House members, notified us that all employees, legislators included, would now have to go through security screening in addition to showing our identification badges in order to enter the capitol. We were told to expect lines at the x-ray machine and delays in entering the State House.
Next week is the week the House takes up the state budget. We will be in full formal session every day from Monday until the 888 amendments that were sponsored or cosponsored by lawmakers like me have been debated. It is going to be different this year. I am certain of it. There is no way the members of the House will be able to go through the deliberation process as though nothing happened less than a mile or so from the Golden Dome.
I was going to write about the budget debate process as I do every year, but honestly, I just didn’t have the heart to do it given the events of marathon Monday. If you want to learn more about how it will likely go during the House of Representatives next week you can read my column from April 21, 2012 on my website www.DonHumason.org.
Saturday is a busy day around Westfield. There will be an Earth Day downtown cleanup and a Westfield River cleanup. It is the opening day for the Westfield Little League. Mayor Knapik’s Easter egg hunt was postponed to Saturday by snowy weather (and may be jeopardized by inclement weather once again). Students from Saint Mary’s and St. John’s Lutheran Church are having a car wash to raise money for the West of the River Chapter of Pioneer Valley Massachusetts Citizens for Life. MCFL fosters respect for human life and defends the right to life of all human beings, born and unborn, from conception to natural death. The car wash is Saturday from 1 – 5PM at Saint Mary’s School, 27 Bartlett Street.
It is also the day when Westfield will observe Patriot’s Day. All are invited to attend the celebration at 1 p.m. at Parker Memorial Park across from South Middle School. I am speaking at the Patriot’s Day ceremony.
It’s that time of year again when the Westfield Sportsman’s Club on Furrowtown Road will host its annual youth fishing derby Sunday, April 28, from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. The event is free and is open to all youth 15-years-old and younger. At 20-months-old, my son Quinn may be a tad too young to fish but Janice and I are going to bring him up after church and give it a try anyway. He’ll have a hard time getting a fish to bite that rubber sinker on the end of his line, but it’s safer than getting stuck by a sharp hook. Maybe we’ll try a worm next year. Maybe.
I won’t conclude this column like I usually do. Instead of saying “Have a good week” I would ask that you say a prayer for the victims of the bombing and their families, for the first responders and the spectators who ran into the chaos and the noise and the smoke to render assistance to the wounded, and for the FBI and law enforcement agencies tasked with finding the terrorists who did this to us and bringing them to justice.
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
