NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — WJJW, 91.1 FM, the student-operated non-commercial radio station at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, will hold a 24-hour fundraising marathon and album sale on Saturday, May 8.

  The marathon begins at midnight (Friday night) and ends at 11:59 p.m. Saturday. Listeners can call the station at 413-662-5110 with a donation pledge, or stop by the studio on the third floor of the Campus Center. Any amount is appreciated, and there will be prizes available.

The album sale will be held from noon to 4 p.m., Saturday, also on the third floor of the Campus Center. WJJW has thousands of used vinyl records from all music genres dating back to the late 1960s. Bulk discounts will be available. The sale is cash only, and all sales will be final.

Proceeds from the events will be used toward the purchase of a new sound board and equipment for web streaming.

Donations can also be sent to WJJW, Student Government Association, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, 375 Church St., North Adams, MA 01247; checks should be made payable to the Student Government Association/WJJW.

For more information on the marathon, contact station manager Charlie Schnitzlein at CS3967@mcla.edu; on the album sale, contact WJJW faculty adviser Jim Niedbalski at 413-662-5418.

Want to avoid a knock on your door, and get a thank-you besides? This Saturday, April 10, the Berkshire Census Partnership in collaboration with the United States Census office, will kickoff of the "March to the Mailbox Campaign" in North Adams and Adams.

The aim of the event, which runs from 11 to 2, is to thank people for participating in the census and to encourage those who haven't done so to "march to the mailbox and mail in your Census form." Balloons, T-shirts, hats and more will be given away.

This is the final campaign for mailing back the census forms before census workers (enumerators) are sent out to knock on doors of non-responding households. The event will be going on in the following locations: Rite-Aid in North Adams; Price Chopper in North Adams, and Val’s Variety Store in Adams.

The Hoosic River Watershed Association (HooRWA) will hold its annual meeting next Tuesday, April 13, at 7 p.m. at MCLA Gallery 51, 51 Main St., North Adams.

There will be a presentation detailing various options for re-designing the river’s flood chutes in North Adams, prepared by Williams College students as part of an environmental planning class in Fall 2009. Their ideas range from relatively simple changes in the course of the river to a complex re-design of the chutes similar to what has been done in other cities across the country.

The students' ideas coincide with the efforts of the Hoosic River Revival and HooRWA to develop a plan to enhance the river and provide for recreational opportunities and potential economic development with flood chute modifications that still maintain the ability to control floods. The Revival plans to hold a community-wide meeting in early summer to help draft a plan for possible flood chute modifications and river improvements.

HooRWA members and the public are invited. Members will re-elect HooRWA directors, and there will be a brief business meeting after the presentation. Contact HooRWA at 413-458-2742 for more information, or visit hoorwa.org.   

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The North Adams Ambulance Service will be adding the latest state-of-the-art equipment to its life-saving arsenal thanks to a $126,500 Federal Emergency Management Agency grant.

Manager John Meaney Jr. said the service will use the award to replace its decade-old Lifepak equipment — used as both cardiac monitors and automated external defibrillators — with new Lifepak 15 units with Bluetooth technology.

"This equipment will allow us to transmit EKGs into emergency rooms capable of receiving this information," said Meaney. While North Adams Regional Hospital is still working on that technology, larger hospitals are already putting it into use, he said. "When local hospital are able to connect to these, we'll be ready."

The new monitors will also be able to monitor blood pressure and carbon monoxide, which will come in handy when treating firefighters at fire scenes.

The units cost about $25,000 each. The service will replace the four current Lifepak 12s and purchase a fifth one
to replace an AED in the fifth ambulance of its expanded fleet.

Meaney estimated the Lifepaks are used on 80 percent of the service's calls. The 12-lead units (referring to its monitoring system) are also required as part of the service's paramedica capability.

The Assistance to Firefighters grant, authorized through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is one of several awarded to emergency services and fire companies in the Berkshires; some 57 grants totaling more than $5 million were awarded in Massachusetts. Emergency medical technician Amalio Jusino wrote the grant in his role as a principal of Emergency Response Consulting.

This is the second time that the service has received this grant. It was awarded some $73,000 in 2006 for protective clothing and training, the first time the grants had been used for emergency medical services.

Meaney said they were informed of the latest grant by U.S. Sen. John Kerry's office last week.

"These will be definitely beneficial for our patients and we'll be able to do a lot more information at the scene," said Meaney.
 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The public library's (74 Church St.) reading group, "The Happy Bookers," is celebrating its second anniversary in March, and it's always open to new members.

The group is comprised of diverse people who share a passion for reading and offers something for every reader's taste each month.

Over the past two years, the group has discussed fiction and non-fiction ranging in a variety of genres including biography, history, mystery, fantasy, adventure and the classics.
 
The Bookers meet the second Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m., on the third floor of the library. North Adams Public Library makes the books available on loan in advance of each meeting. Maureen O'Brien facilitates the exchange of ideas, thoughts and experiences among the group members. New faces are welcome each month, and there's no obligation to attend every monthly meeting. Just drop in when a book or topic interests you. 
 
The group meets next on March 9, when the featured book will be "The Great Gatsby."

For more information, call the library at 413-662-3133.