4 1. LOCAL 1 Union-News 5: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30,2000 SECTION Donor in Bish case goes public TO ni. area ice cream tycoon boosted the reward fund to $100,000 in October as part of the effort to solve the mystery of the June disappearance of Molly Ann Bish. By HOLLY Staff writer WARREN The anonymous donor who pledged $60,000 to the reward fund set up to find the abductor of Molly Ann Bish has gone public. S.
Prestley Blake, co-founder of the Friendly Ice Cream admitted yesterday that he was the generous donor who pushed the reward fund up to $100,000 on Oct. 30. Bish disappeared from Comins Pond on June 27. "The whole point is to get this guy and discourage anyone else from doing it," said Blake, 86, from his home in Somers. Conn.
"I truly hope I will have to cough up that money on the conviction of that guy." Bish was 16 when she disappeared from the pond as she was about to begin her lifeguard duties that morning. State police detectives assigned to Worcester County District Attorney John J. Conte's office are still investigating her disappearance and believe she. was abducted. Investigators are still searching for a man in a WEIRD A will make somebody squeal.
Somebody knows the guy who did it. For a certain amount of money they'll turn on anybody." That is exactly what Conte is hoping happens. So far, it hasn't. "We did get some calls, but so far they have not proved to be germane." Conte said. "It's at 000 at the present.
time. All of these donations came right out of the blue. We haven't solicited anything. It's a huge reward for a case like this. I think at some point it's going to make a difference." As for Blake's generosity, Conte still can't believe it.
"I think he must have to be one outstanding person to come out with this reward. It's really a tribute to man's humanity," he said. 1. Staff photo by DAVID MOLNAR Tom Buckley of Randolph helps Eric Love, also known as "Dr. Wormhole," fire smoke rings from a vortex cannon made from a rubber garbage can during a magic and science show yesterday at the Basketball Hall of Fame.
-2. Children By CAROL MALLEY Staff writer Staff writer SPRINGFIELD Hundreds of children spent part of their vacation yesterday learning about science as part of a Mad Scientist program at the Basketball Hall of Fame. Linda L. Kashmanian of Springfield took her two children and their cousin to the Hall of Fame "for their first time because of all the events that were being held." Mad Science of Western New England provided entertainment mingle with mad The magic and science show capped off a S. Prestley Blake coming through the were eight television I took more than the est in it.
I get very hurting other Blake said he has Bish family and has uted to a reward fund "This is $100,000," SCIENCE week of special events aimed at attracting families to the museum during school vacation. in the Basketball Hall of Fame's "laboratory" and children watched and assisted with experiments dealing with heat. velocity and light. Kimberly A. Lee, director of marketing communications for the Basketball Hall of Fame, said the magic and science show capped 4 scientists Ralph Simpson, 7, of Milford, who volunteered to help with an experiment.
said, "It was great. I love science." In addition to two performances, Mad Science workers helped young visitors create a "super ball from crystal cellulose, a polymer that takes its shape from absorbing water." Children also got to 'create bracelets from pipe cleaners and beads that absorb ultraviolet rays and change colors, letting the wearer know when he or she is getting too much sun, according to Christopher E. Babb-Cheshul, one of the "mad scientists." off a week of special events aimed at attracting families to the museum during school vacation. "'We averaged about 700 visitors a day. during the week.
which is up a bit from a year ago." Lee said. The shows and exhibitions came with the price of admission to the basketball museum. Substitute bus driver leads to complaints One parent said that the driver in Agawam called one of the areas. Musa, general according to Diane of the M. and equipped had with a map of the before, route manager driven in Agawam pupils 'a stupid little child' and brought some of them to tears.
company's Agawam office. In this the driver was not familiar with case the driver was taken from the route, according to Deputy SuEZRA FIESER Willow Brook Drive, whose chil- Springfield, she said. perintendent Donald J. Charest. dren take the bus.
The incident According to Musa, the compa- "We talked to By several parents. Staff writer took place Dec. 21 on bus route ny makes sure all drivers' licenses and looked into the situation imone, which travels Cooper Street, and permits are current. In addi- mediately," Charest said. "We AGAWAM Some parents are she said.
tion, a variety of topics, including asked that the driver not be allowquestioning the school bus district's drivers "He told the kids to 'shut up and is discussed at monthly safety ed to drive in Agawam again. We communicating with the students, policy on substitute driver stop crying "she if they want to go meetings. have that authority and I exercised after, they say. a temporary said. "He called one of School Services and Leasing it." of yelled them at to tears last week.
bringing many the neighbor's sons a 'stupid also closely monitors those drivers According to Charest, the dischildren, little Students from Benjamin Phelps A shortage of bus drivers in the who have received complaints, trict has no problems with the curEiementary School arrived home district often forces School Serv- Musa said. In some cases a driver's rent company. as much as 45 minutes late. some ices and Leasing of Massachusetts assistant is placed aboard the bus School Services and Leasing of them coming off the bus crying, the company that handles to monitor the situation. also handles the busing for Westaccording to Doris Ablianitis of busing, to use drivers from other Although this driver was field and Holyoke.
1 15 MCAS-based 112. at ratings due 11 38 next week 91 By ROSELYN TANTRAPHOL Staff writer State Sen. Stephen M. Brewer! D-Barre, state Rep. David Tuttle, R-Barre, state Rep.
Reed V.d Hillman, R-Sturbridge, Robert and Lani Ebersold of Chatham! and an anonymous donor contribai uted the initial $40.000. Conte still has detectives work? ing the case and interviews with suspects are ongoing. The investti" gation will be aided soon when! Gov. A. Paul Cellucci signs a sup? plemental budget on Tuesday that! will include $250.000 for for Conte's department.
"That will help us a great deal" Conte said. "It will allow us to put? much more manpower and time' into the things we have to do. The trail is not cold." OT Anyone with information on Molly's disappearance should call? 1-800-808-9677. 19 Gil of complete ratings. the Department of Education moves closer to its goal of a full-scale evaluation and rating system.
And that. some critics charge, exaggerates what they consider is already an over-emphasis on the Massachusetts Comprehensiye Assessment System tests, required for graduation beginning in 2003. James A. Peyser, chairman of the Board of Education, said this is the first time the state has at: tempted to provide a comprehen; sive snapshot of school performance while taking imp provement into account. "That's a big deal." he said; "People need to be focused on improving.
rather than simply ranking one school against another based on nominal performance. "39 The ratings are scheduled to be distributed to principals and posted on the Web sometime next In another milestone for educk? tion reform, school-by-school per? formance ratings based on MCAS scores are due out next week. 37 By meting out the state's first set week. although a spokeswoman for the education department said Thursday that an exact day has not been determined. The ratings are part of the School and District AccountabiliTy System approved last year by the Board of Education.
Every school will receive a performance rating between 1 (very high) and 6 (critically low), based on MCAS test scores. Each rating comes with an improvement expectation. Gi A performance rating based on the average of 1999 and 2000 exams will be measured against the improvement expectation de; termined by 1998 results. 70 Schools declared "under-penforming" will be required to draw up an improvement plan and un- 1. dergo on-site evaluations in which reviewers examine factors beyond test scores.
Schools declared "chronically under-performing" could face state takeover. ill The state piloted this program during the last school year. wherrit identified eight middle schools with low and declining MCAS! scores. Half the schools, including Lynch Middle School in were kept on the list of under-performers after panel review's. 10 As part of the same accountability program.
the state hopes to conduct an audit of a school dis-. trict once every five years. Peyser said the school rating system will be an antidote to the competitive atmosphere created! when MCAS results are released. Many opposed to the testing system say that large urban districts simply cannot be judged against performances by wealthier suburban districts. "Right now.
the scores are published by newspapers and by Web sites and various outlets and lists the scores from top to bottom, not' taking into account any improvement over time," he said, 1 HALL OF Celebration postponed because of forecast third annual "Players Ball." a pre-New Year's Eve gala slated tonight at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, has been postponed, due to the threat of inclement weather. The presenter. 2 Friends Promotions. said it plans to reschedule the event to February. For further information, call 734-7549.
Cable fault cuts power to 1,229 customers SPRINGFIELD An underground cable fault caused 1,229 customers of Western Massachusetts Electric Co. to lose power last night. a spokeswoman for the company said. Firefighters said they had to force open the doors to two apartment building elevators when a man at 100 Division St. and a person at 115.
Sanderson St. became stuck when the power failed. No one was injured. The outage was first reported at 4:46 p.m., said Denise Vogel, a spokeswoman for Western Massa: chusetts Electric Co. It blacked out houses and businesses in the North End of the city.
including Birnie Avenue. Orchard Street, Newland Street, the U.S. Post Office at 1883 Main St. and Dwight Street. Power was restored to about 200 customers by 7 p.m.
and the company expected to have the remaining 29 customers back on line by 8:30 p.m.. Vogel said. SOUTHWICK 1 Garage fire remains under investigation officials are still investigat- ing the cause of a fire that de- stroyed a garage at 71 Foster Road early, yesterday morning. Firefighters were responding to a report of a chimney fire on South Longyard Road when they received word of the garage fire. The three-car garage was fully involved when firefighters arrived.
The garage and its contents, inj: cluding three vehicles, were stroyed in the blaze. It was owned 1 by Robert N. and Gail D. Tingley, a former Conservation Commission member. AGAWAM I Barrel explosion hospitalizes worker An empty 55-gallon barrel used to hold oil exploded yesterday.
sending one man to the hospital. fire officials said. Raymond Boissoneault. 33. an employee of Kudlic Brothers was trying to cut the top off the barrel with a welding torch at 493B Springfield St.
in the Feeding Hills section of the city, Lt. Gary Schnyder said. The torch ignited fumes inside the barrel, causing the explosion. which is being treated as an industrial accident, according to Schnyder. Boissoneault was admitted to Baystate Medical Center and is in fair condition, a hospital spokesperson said.
The accident occurred around 2:15 p.m. in the company's workyard. No one from Kudlic Brothers, an excavation company. was available for comment yesterday. CORRECTIONS I SPRINGFIELD The Moberg family of 16 Burt Road was the winner of the "Most Incredible and Outstanding" category in the "Light Up the City" holiday lighting contest.
The name provided by the Spirit of Springfield, the contest sponsor, was incorrect yesterday. LONGMEADOW The name of the leading scorer on the 1999-2000 Longmeadow High School hockey team was incorrect in the Dec. 28 Our Towns supplement. B.J. Williams was the leading scorer.
car seen the pond parking lot by Bish's mother day before Molly disappeared. "It started my trip through WarBlake "I happened to be town. There trucks there. average interupset at people never met the never contribbefore. he said.
"It A is 1..
