Letter: Breen Has Right Experience for North Adams Council

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To the Editor:

Well, I just voted, and I gave my first vote for City Council to Pete Breen. Why, you ask?

No other new candidate has the experience and devotion and has been as generous with their time. Over the past 40 years, Pete has served on many boards and commissions. He has worked for a variety of employers including MCLA, where Pete was a facilitator and instructor for technology and curriculum development and assistant registrar. Pete took that experience over into the town of Adams, where he implemented the town's entire computer system, serving as the town's technology administrator. Pete then went farther south, where he was a member of the adjunct faculty at BCC for four years.

Shifting gears into education, Pete taught computer science at Hoosac Valley for 12 years, while also serving in the district office and as the pupil transportation officer.



After retiring from compensated work, Pete set his sights on volunteering in North Adams serving on the License Board Commission and serving as the North Adams representative for the Northern Berkshire Vocational School District, and finally, Pete's current passion, serving on the Hoosic River Revival Board.

That's why I gave my first vote to Pete Breen. And I hope that you do too.

David Willette
North Adams, Mass.

 

 


Tags: election 2023,   


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'Into Light': Addressing Addiction One Portrait at a Time

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The "Into Light" exhibit is sketching a new path toward transforming the conversation around addiction — one portrait and story at a time. 
 
Since 2019, the nonprofit's founder Theresa Clower has put on close to 21 exhibitions around the country, sharing the stories of more than 600 people who have lost their lives to addiction. 
 
Now, the installation will be on view at Hotel Downstreet from Friday, March 13, through June 30, featuring 10 portraits of local community members who died from addiction and 20 portraits from the eastern Massachusetts exhibit. 
 
This collaborative effort combines municipal opioid settlement funds and lead sponsor Berkshire Health Systems, in collaboration with the Northern Berkshire Opioid Abatement Collaborative, HEAL Coalition, Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, and North Adams Regional Hospital.
 
In addition to the installation, the team has developed programs and forums to be held throughout the three months to start a conversation and improve education on the disease. 
 
"The core to our efforts around 'Into Light' is the community education, especially building on people's awareness of addiction as a disease and as a disease that is curable," said Andy Ottoson, BRPC senior public health planner. 
 
Ottoson stressed the importance of treating substance use disorder like any other disease, reducing stigma, and normalizing open conversations around addiction and the resources out there to help recover.
 
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