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Patricia Mancuso rides by well-wishers with a rainbow in the background.
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PopCares, Line Dancers Hold Get Well Parade for Mancuso

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
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A large rainbow appeared about the same time Mancuso did. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — If you believe in signs, Patricia Mancuso had a beautiful one on Thursday. 
 
At least 70 friends and family had gathered in the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art parking lot behind Big Y with get-well signs, balloons and flowers to surprise Mancuso, who had recently been in the hospital. 
 
Shortly before the "Parade for Pat Mancuso," the cloudy sky decided to drop light rain on the crowd, bringing out the umbrellas. 
 
But just as Cindy Noel was driving Mancuso to the lot, a rainbow appeared in the sky to the east providing an arc of color across the gray sky. 
 
"Look, Patti, you brought a rainbow," several friends shouted to her. 
 
Besides family, the two largest groups were from Popcares and Berkshire County Line Dancers. Mancuso is a longtime member of the line dancers and a volunteer and committee member for PopCares.
 
The parking lot "parade" was held, like so many nowadays, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Donna St. Cyr, who serves on the PopCares committee with Mancuso said they wanted to do something to cheer her up. 
 
"We were going to parade up her street, but it's a dead end. So it's trying to get a bunch of cars going up and turn around come back down so this was I plan B, and I think it worked well," she said. 
 
The Williams College retiree was presented with PopCares' Henry Bounds Spirit of Kindness Award at last year's chicken dinner fundraiser. She'd already beat cancer nearly 20 years ago but said last October she was going through chemotherapy again. 
 
"She is a smart, dedicated, strong woman that I admire very much," Tammy St. Pierre said at the time. "She is without a doubt one of the strongest, most caring, loving and toughest people that I know."
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North Adams Takes Possession of Historic Church Street Houses

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

The porch collapsed on 116 Church several years ago. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The state Land Court in February finalized the city's tax taking of four properties including the brick Church Street mansions.
 
The prestigious pair of Queen Anne mansions had been owned by Franklin E. Perras Jr., who died in 2017 at age 79. 
 
The properties had been in court for four years as attempts were made repeatedly to find Perras' heirs, including a son, Christopher. According to court filings, Christopher reportedly died in 2013 but his place of death is unknown, as is the location (or existence) of two grandchildren listed in Perras' obituary. 
 
Mayor Jennifer Macksey said the next steps will be to develop requests for proposals for the properties to sell them off. 
 
She credited Governor's Councillor Tara Jacobs for bringing the lingering tax takings to the Land Court's attention. Jacobs said she'd asked about the status of the properties and a few days later they were signed off. 
 
It wasn't just the four North Adams properties — the cases for three Perras holdings in Lanesborough that also had been in the court for years were closed, including Keeler Island. Another property on Holmes Road in Hinsdale is still in the court.  
 
The buildings at 116, 124 and 130 Church St., and a vacant lot on Arnold Place had been in tax title since 2017 when the city placed $12,000 in liens. 
 
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