UPDATE: Pittsfield Crash Sends Three to BMC with Serious Injuries

UPDATE, 4:16 p.m., Wednesday: police have released the names of the three Pittsfield men involved in Tuesday's accident.

UPDATE: Around 3:40 p.m., Pittsfield Police, County Ambulance, and Action Ambulance responded to the area of 241 South St. for a reported single motor vehicle crash.

A 2004 Dodge Dakota occupied by three men was traveling northbound in the 240 block, left the roadway to the right, and collided with a tree at the southwest intersection of South and Broad Streets. The occupants were freed by the Pittsfield Fire Department by mechanical means.

Both northbound lanes of South Street were closed from Crofut to Broad Street for about a half hour and the right northbound lane was closed for about 90 minutes while the crash was investigated.

The names of the occupants are not being released until family members are notified.

Weather did not appear to be a factor, police say, as the crash occurred just before the beginning of the precipitation.

Anyone who may have witnessed the incident or have information concerning it is asked to contact Officer Michael Silver at 413-448-9700, Ext. 596.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Three people were seriously injured when a pickup truck they were riding in collided with a tree on South Street.

Police responded to the one-vehicle crash at around 4 p.m. on Tuesday near the intersection of Broad Street. The extend cab Dodge was traveling north when it collided with a tree on the right side of its lane.

Lt. Marc Maddalena reported that there were three occupants in the pickup who were all sent to Berkshire Medical Center with serious injuries. According to police, none of the occupants were children.

Around the time of the accident, the city was experiencing freezing rain.

ServiceNet Cuts Ribbon on Vocational Farm to 'Sow Seeds of Hope'

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
06:30AM / Saturday, May 18, 2024

Lori Carnute plants flowers at the farm and enjoys seeing her friends. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Smiles were all around as farmers, human service workers, and officials cut the ribbon Friday on ServiceNet's new vocational farm on Crane Avenue.

Whether it is planting flowers or growing fresh produce, the program is for "sowing seeds of hope" for those with developmental disabilities.

"What Prospect Meadow Farm is about is changing lives," Vice President of Vocational Services Shawn Robinson said.

"Giving people something meaningful to do, a community to belong to, a place to go every day and to make a paycheck, and again, I am seeing that every day from our first 17 farmhands the smiles on their faces. They're glad to be here. They're glad to be making money."

Prospect Meadow Farm Berkshires held a launch event on Friday with tours, music, snacks, and a ribbon cutting in front of its tomato greenhouse. The nonprofit human service agency closed on the former Jodi's Seasonal on Crane Avenue earlier this year.  

It is an expansion of ServiceNet's first farm in Hatfield that has provided meaningful agricultural work, fair wages, and personal and professional growth to hundreds of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities since opening in 2011.

Eventually, the farm will employ 50 individuals with developmental disabilities year-round and another 20 to 25 local folks supporting their work.

The pay is a great aspect for Billy Baker, who is learning valuable skills for future employment doing various tasks around the farm. He has known some of the ServiceNet community for over a decade.

"I just go wherever they need me to help," he said. "I'm more of a hands-on person."