MCLA Green Living Seminar on March 23

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Madeleine L. Scammell, Boston University School of Public Health, Associate Professor of Environmental Health, will give a talk titled "Public Health and Community Based Participatory Research in Urban Environmental Justice Communities" at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23 at the MCLA Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation, Room 121.  
 
Part of MCLA's Green Living Seminar series, this event is free and open to the public. Masks are required in all buildings on MCLA's campus. 
 
About Dr. Madeleine L. Scammell 
Scammell is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health at Boston University School of Public Health and a JPB Environmental Health Fellow at Harvard School of Public Health. Her expertise is in the area of community-driven and community-based participatory research and includes the use of qualitative methods in the area of environmental health and epidemiologic studies. Dr. Scammell is Principal Investigator of a recently funded longitudinal study of agricultural workers in El Salvador, focused on identifying and preventing exposures that may contribute to the epidemic of chronic kidney disease in Central America known as Mesoamerican Nephropathy (MeN). She also leads a study examining health care claims and electronic medical records examining incidence, prevalence and risk factors of chronic kidney disease in the US. Scammell is also a member of the Consortium for the Epidemic of Nephropathy in Central America and Mexico.  
 
Additionally, Scammell leads the Community Engagement Cores of two research centers: The Boston University Superfund Research Center (funded by NIEHS/NIH), and the Center for Research on Social and Environmental Stressors in Housing across the Lifecourse (joint center between Boston University and Harvard-Chan School of Public Health funded by NIMHD/NIH and EPA). In this capacity her work includes developing mechanisms to support long-and short-term research relationships between community groups and scientists, and responding to community requests for scientific assistance. Scammell has also partnered with the Boston Housing Authority, the Boston Public Health Commission and investigators at the Boston University School of Social Work on several studies to address systemic, social and structural environmental health stressors in the home environment. Scammell serves of the Board of Health in the City of Chelsea, and as Chair of the board of directors of the Science & Environmental Health Network. 
 
MCLA's annual Green Living Seminar Series continues through April, presenting a series of lectures on the theme of "Greening the City." Every semester, the Green Living Seminar Series centers around a different topic, timely and relevant in current sustainability issues. Seminars take place on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. until April 20.  
 
The series is a presentation of the MCLA Environmental Studies Department and MCLA's Berkshire Environmental Resource Center. 
 
Presentations will also be broadcast on Northern Berkshire Community Television Channel (NBCTC) 1302 at the following times: 
 
Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. 
Fridays at 4 p.m. 
Saturdays at 3:30 p.m. 
Sundays at 11:30 a.m. 
Mondays at 5:30 p.m. 
 
Recordings will also be available on the College's YouTube channel. 
 
For more information, visit www.mcla.edu/greenliving or contact Professor of Environmental Studies Elena Traister at (413) 662-5303. 

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Retired Clarksburg Police Chief Reflects on Career

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Michael Williams signed off shift for the final time on Friday after nearly 40 years as a police officer in Clarksburg. 
 
He retired 100 years after the Police Department was established with the appointment of Police Chief George Warren Hall of Briggsville, a former constable and a selectmen. 
 
Williams joined the force on a "fluke" as a part-time officer in 1985 and became chief in 2003. Like in many small towns, public employees tend to wear many hats and take on outside tasks and the chief gradually took on other duties ranging from emergency management director to backup town treasurer.
 
During his tenure, he saw the police offices in lower level of Town Hall remodeled to provide safer and more efficient use for officers and the public, the police garage redone and new cruisers put on the road. Williams has also seen changes in policing from mainly catching speeders when he first signed on to issues with domestic abuse and drug use. 
 
The police force itself had dwindled down from six to eight officers and a sergeant to the chief and one part-time officer. With Williams' departure on Friday, the Clarksburg Police Department ceased to exist for the first time in decades. 
 
The Select Board last week voted to suspend operations and rely on the State Police for coverage, but have already asked if Williams could continue in some a part-time capacity. 
 
His last official act as chief was escorting the remains of a World War II casualty missing for 82 years. 
 
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