Motorcyclist Cited in Sunday Accident in Williamstown

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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An employee of Ron's Auto Repair removes the damaged motorcycle from the scene.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — A Vermont motorcyclist was cited for following too closely after a colision with a car at the corner of Simonds Road and Sand Springs Road on Sunday, according to Williamstown Police.
 
Richard Sargent of Sunderland, Vt., was traveling south on Simonds Road (Route 7) on a 2004 Kawasaki motorcycle when he rear-ended a 2014 Nissan driven by Nikita Noyes-Martel of Pownal, an accident report reads.
 
Sargent was taken from the scene by Northern Berkshire EMS after receiving a serious leg injury, according to the report. Noyes-Martel walked away from the accident.
 
Noyes-Martel also was driving on Simonds Road and was stopped waiting to make a left turn onto Sand Springs, police said.
 
"As [Sargent] approached [Noyes-Martel], [Sargent] never slowed or attempted to pass [Noyes-Martel] on the right-and side of the roadway," the report reads. "As [Noyes-Martel] started to make her left-hand turn, [Sargent] realized at the last second that [Noyes-Martel] was turning."
 
According to the accident report, Sargent attempted to swerve to the right to avoid a collision but ended up hitting the right rear of the Nissan, laying down his motorcycle, sliding across the road and crashing into the granite curbing.
 
The accident occurred at about 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
 
Ron's Auto Repair removed the damaged motorcycle from the scene.
 
The Williamstown Fire Department also responded to the accident.

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Williamstown Signs on to Opioid Abatement Collaborative

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff

BRPC senior planner Andrew Ottoson explains the organization of the North Berkshire Opioid Abatement Collaborative at Monday's Select Board meeting.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The town Monday signed on to a North County initiative to address and combat opioid addiction in the region.
 
On a 5-0 vote, the Select Board OK'd Williamstown's entry into an intermunicipal agreement with North Adams, six other North County towns and the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission to form the North Berkshire Opioid Abatement Collaborative.
 
The collaborative is an outgrowth of the North Berkshire County Heal Coalition established in 2022.
 
The new collaborative will pool the municipalities' share of a multibillion opioid settlement paid by drugmakers and distributors to foster programs to address addiction and recovery and fund a full-time "community coordinator."
 
"[The coordinator]  would be tasked to kind of corral all of the various agencies and individuals that are involved with doing everything and anything we can to not only reduce overdoses but other substance use-related harms," BRPC senior planner Andy Ottoson told the Select Board on Monday night. "Really focusing on the whole life cycle that includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery. Also looking at the other social dimensions of health that influence people's care, especially focusing on stigma, especially focusing on housing, especially focusing on employment pathways — everything and anything it takes."
 
The collaborative has a five-year partnership with BRPC and Berkshire Health Systems.
 
The intermunicipal agreement the Select Board agreed to on Monday runs until the settlement funds run out or a majority of municipal representatives on the coalition's advisory board votes to terminate the agreement.
 
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