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Ray Warner, ex-NYT copy editor and active citizen during Williamstown retirement, dead at age 89

(Where is Ray when we need him? An earlier version of this post misspelled "citizen" in the headline! -- Bill)

Ray Warner, one of Williamstown's most ardent and active public citizens during three dacades of residence in the Village Beautiful after retiring from The New York Times copydesk, died peacefully on March 21 at age 89, his wife, Barbara, reported in an email to friends.  The Warners had moved several years ago to Albany. 

Warner was an active Democratic Party member, supporting in 2006 the run of former state Rep. Christopher Hodgkins for state Senate. In 2005, he sponsored and championed a non-binding resolution approved at the Williamstown town meeting condemning the USA Patriot Act on civil-liberties grounds and directing the town's police not to actively pursue spying on citizens.  And earlier, Warner champion a town ordinance which banned smoking in public places on public-health grounds.

In early March, Barbara and Ray took a trip to New York City to celebrate 63 years of marriage and 65 years since they first met at Ursinus College. They went to concerts, saw "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and the Metropolitan Museum -- with Ray in a wheelchair, enjoying a twilight ride up the Hudson River on the Amtrak train to Albany. "A few people I know think this is a trip for sleeping," Ray wrote to his family a couple of weeks ago. "But that is rediculous!" 

Barbara said that Ray asked that there be no public service with his passing but the family will gather soon to listen to his favorite  jazz music and a symphony, Mahler's Symphony No. 1, "The Titan." Family members will share reflections. Donations in memory might appropriately be made to the American Civil Liberties Union or Habitat for Humanity, she said. The couple's four children are in Enfield, Conn., Northampton, Mass., Oak Park, Ill., and Seattle.

READ RAY WARNER'S OBITUARY

DOWNLOAD TWO-PAGE TRIBUNE TO RAY WARNER

In her email, Barbara Warner wrote:

To old and dear friends,

Our family wants to let you know of the unexpected death of Ray.  Ray died peacefully in his sleep March 21st.  He had been in failing health for the last several years but died just as he always hoped, suffering no lasting undue pain, but the general diminishment of quality of life that came with his 89 years (March 5th).  We will all miss him and be grateful for the happy lives we shared together for 65 years.

With fond memories,
Barbara and the Warner family.

 

EDITORIAL: "Greed, debt, Bain and the death of KB (Toys)"

The death of KB Toys, and the involvement of Bain Capital, is a rich story about how our system of capital formation works and why we may need corporate rules changes.  A Sept. 9 editorial in The Berkshire Eagle (If the link is stale, try HERE.), brings it to the fore.

First, a little background. Rolling Stone magazine recounted the history of KB Toys in an Aug. 29, 2012 piece on Mitt Romney and Bain Capital entititled: "Greed and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital." by Matt Taibbi.  

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AUDIO: Elizabeth Warren rallies approximately 250 supporters in North Adams; sustained applause comes as she knocks Brown on Blunt contraception amendment

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren drew applause at a campaign rally at an Eagles lodge here when she knocked U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., for supporting what she characterized as limitations on access to birth-control services.

Under a measure co-sponsored by Brown and introduced by Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, said Warren, "Any woman who is denied health-care coverage to cover contraception . . . is just out in the cold. She's got no protection anywhere. That's wrong."

Listen to a 29-minute audio clip Warren speaking at the Eagles lodge on Friday, Feb. 18, 2012. The typing sound is because the microphone is mounted on a computer keyboard. But most of her talk is still quite audible. The section about contraception begins at about 26 minutes. Click on the carat to the left of the bar below to launch the stream, or download the MP3 podcast for offline listening.

"What got me into this race, was people who said, 'If you do this, Lizzy, you'll not be alone.'" said Warren. "I'm hear to collect on that promise." 

Mayor Daniel Alcombrite, state Rep. Gailanne Carridi, D-North Adams, and state Sen. Benjamin Downing, D-Pittsfield, introduced Warren to a crowd of approximately 250 people. Alcombright -- a former officer of a locally owned bank -- said he was supporting Warren in part because she had taken on predatory lenders." The remark drew sustained applause.

In her talK -- similar to one she gave in Pittsfield several months ago -- Warren recountered what she characterizes as a middle-class upbringing in the Midwest, with older brothers who joined the military and a life that included babysitting and other work starting at age 9.

She said she has spent 30 years as an academic researcher and law-school professor studying the economic plight of the middle class, which she said is fading in America because of government policies. "I worry that my story is a story that is embedded in time," she said.  Warren's view is that policy changes can revive the middle class, rather than helping people "who have already made it," as she put it. "We know how to do this," she says. It's a matter of policy change, she added. "What kind of a country are we trying to build?" she asked. "Are we going to say, 'I've got mine?' " 

She said the challenge was not a question of economics, or finance, but one of balance. 

Perhaps the largest applause of the evening was when Warren excoriated her presumptive general-election opponent, U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., for his support of a measure introduced by Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt which would Warren said would limit womens' access to birth-control services. 

AUDIO: Aftermath of Irene -- Higher Ground and the Spruces

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- What's being done to help the residents of the Spruces Mobile Home Park -- many left still homeless months after Hurricane Irene flooding? In this audio podcast, recorded Jan. 4, 2012 in Williamstown, Lauren Shuffleton (right), of the support group-nonprofit "Higher Ground" -- and a Williams College senior -- explains. Click on the carat to the left of the bar below to launch streaming audio of the nine-minute interview or click here to download an MP3 podcast for offline listening or saving. (MORE NEWS)

Elizabeth Warren talks to Democratic party stalwarts in Pittsfield

PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- In this three-minute video, Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor weighing a Democratic bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., wraps up a pitch to party faithful at the Berkshire County law office of former state Rep. Sherwood Guernsey on Friday, Aug. 19, 2011. Some 80 people attended; Warren's core theme -- focus on restoring the American middle class.

 

VIDEO: Chinese 16-17-year-olds, visiting U.S. elite schools, seek world engagement, openess; teachers sought

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Eight high-achieving Chinese teen-agers -- ages 16 or 17 -- are touring the U.S. northeast looking at elite colleges they may apply to -- and one of their stops was Williamstown.

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 FOUR U.S. TEACHERS SOUGHT FOR EXPERIMENTAL SCHOOL IN CHINA

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The eight students are from Changsha, the capital city of Hunan Province. They are on a 12-day tour covering 19 universities and colleges -- Columbia, Barnard, Fordham, Kean, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Loyola (Baltimore), Rutgers, Skidmore, Williams, Amherst, Harvard, MIT, Boston University,Babson, RISD/Brown, Connecticut College, Wesleyan, and Yale - for the purpose of giving them a first-hand experience with the college selection and admissions process.

The students and their instructor, Stephen Wilmarth, arrive in Williamstown on Friday, July 15, ate dinner at an Indian restaurant and attended the Williamstown Theatre Festival's "free theater" production of Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors."

On Saturday morning, they visited with the New England News Forum and answered questions about their aspirations, their biggest surprises about their first visit to the United States, their use of technology, what the care about and why their parents are willing to commit to $100,000 or more to underwrite college outside of China.

In a 43-minute video, the students talk about their parents, their school, what the care about, how they find and use the news, and offer some admirable perspectives on human behavior and aspirations. They are surprised at how rural parts of the northeast appear, how many old buildings there are, and how polite people are with each other.

(Due to a video-editing error, in the introduction, the Clark Art Institute is not identified in the audio narrative when its directional sign is shown.)

Chinese 16-17-year-olds, visiting U.S. elite schools, seek world engagement, openess from Bill Densmore on Vimeo.

Reflections on the passing of Dagmar Bubriski: A cheerful civic curmudgeon, and visionary on gender equality

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- We were left wistful at Tuesday’s town meeting not to be able to greet and hear the cheerful curmudgeon of  Williamstown – Dagmar E. Bubriski.   She died last week, at age 84,  and a progressive  illness had taken her away from the civic life she loved.   You can read the details in the obituary her family wrote. A memorial service and some other events are tentatively set for Aug. 3.   With Burbriski’s passing, I hope as a town we’ll also reflect on the value of the responsible critic in society, the voice we don’t always want to, or have time,  to hear, and the value of that in stitching a community fabric that is open, tolerant and affirming of many views.

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Democracy's essense? A New England town meeting moderator's advice

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EDITOR’S NOTE – If respect for diversity and other views are the essense of democratic process, how is that practiced? It has been observed that New England town meetings are among the purest forms of participatory democracy. Every voter in the community is entitled to attend and vote; all are heard. The Town Meeting normally happens once a year – in the spring – and the business is usually conducted from a“warrant” – a booklet listing matters to be voted upon. In Williamstown(pop. 8,400), in a rural part of Massachusetts known as The Berkshires, attorney Stan Parese had been serving as the elected town moderator for a decade on May 18, 2010 when he delivered these remarks. An attorney, Parese was voluntarily stepping down and this was his last year in the moderator role – the person who manages the flow of business primarily according to Roberts Rules of Order.

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Before we get started with the business of the meeting, I want to go over some preliminary matters. I am Stan Parese. I am the Town Meeting moderator. My role is to help move this meeting through its agenda. Our agenda is the Town Meeting Warrant.  If you’ve been to many town meetings, consider this a refresher. If this is your fist town meeting, this is to help you understand town meeting. Generally, and also to understand the procedures we will follow tonight.

VIEW ANOTHER PHOTO OF STAN PARESE  / PRINTABLE VERSION

 

Town meeting – as an institution of government – is not perfect. It is, however, remarkable. Tonight – for the next few hours – in the most literal sense of these words: you are your government. As one commentator put it:

 

“Town meeting . . . catches an important meaning of freedom and expresses a classic conviction of believers in democracy. Ordinary [people] may or may not be the best judges of [their] own interests, but if  [they] do not exer-cise effective authority over matters that are in their immediate range of interest, they may be well-tended animals, but they are not free. Freedom in the concrete, freedom as it is experienced in daily life, is the experience of having a hand in determining the issues that touch the individual.”

 

So as you think about and experience this town meeting tonight, recognize that everyone in this room gets to participate in this process. Everyone gets to have a hand in determining the issues. Everyone in this room is experiencing freedom.

 

I say to you, without a hint of sentimentality or exaggeration, that in this world that is extraordinary. People throughout the ages have given what Lincoln called “the last full measure of devotion”– people have given their lives – so that people like us could have meetings like this. Now, “Freedom” does not mean “free-for-all.” There are procedures we will follow to work our way through the agenda, through the warrant.

 

First – in order to vote tonight, you need to have checked in over in the cafeteria and picked up a tan voting card. Second – all communications this evening are to be directed to me. No one is to speak unless I recognize them.  Williamstown has a long tradition of moving through its agenda in a civil and efficient way, with frank and thoughtful discussion of the questions to be decided. Town meeting is a special time and place for our community. It’s the one place we come together – face to face, in large numbers – to make decisions, recognizing that we don’t always agree on what those decisions should be.

 

 I can assure that not all the votes tonight will be unanimous. In a way, that is the whole point of a town meeting. If all people always completely agreed on everything, life would be unimaginably boring, and there would be no need for town meetings. This means we all need to accept – I would suggest celebrate – the obvious fact that there are people in this room who will disagree with your view of things during this meeting and that this meeting will at times be very much divided in its thinking.

 

Notwithstanding our differences, we need at all times to remain respectful to one another. We need to treasurer everyone’s right to speak. In concrete terms, that means we don’t hiss or groan at one another. We don’t attack one another because we have differing points of view.  In practice, it’s surprisingly simple: Speak to the substance of the issues. Leave any feelings you have about other people out of it. As a rule of thumb, if you find yourself about to say someone’s name, you are probably on very thin ice.

 

Also – Williamstown is something of a “company town.” Our major “companies” are in the business of education and culture. As a result, we have many citizens who are very highly educated, wonderfully articulate, and for whom speaking in front of large groups is a matter of routine. I am also mindful that there are many people in town who don’t share those traits – and for whom speaking in front of large groups may be a frightening prospect.  We all need to remain clear that this meeting belongs to everyone in Williamstown. That means that one does not need a Ph.D., a master’s degree or – for that matter – a high-school diploma, to step up to that microphone and address your fellow citizens in this meeting. This is a town meeting. Everyone’s voice is welcome here.  So the so-called “bottom line” is that it’s my job as moderator to see to it that this meeting is a place where every citizen – from every walk of life, on any side of any issue – can speak and be assured that they will be treated with respect. I take that job very seriously.

 

Now, as for procedure. We do exactly the same thing with each warrant article. I read it. A motion is made. There is a second. Then there is time for discussion and questions. We vote. I announce the vote. We move on. Many motions carry with little or no discussion. Others are discussed at length. All is done by motion, second, discussion, vote.

 

Listen to others when they speak. Many times a point you may want to make will be made by someone speaking before you. It doesn’t help your cause to repeat the same point over and over. It also doesn’t help to be long-winded. In fact, it likely hurts your cause. When you wish to address the meeting, come to the mike. And I’ll recognize you. When I recognize you, please give your name and your address before beginning your comments.

 

Now let’s get to work.

 

Cariddi's big win in Williamstown confirmed in near-final count; Bosley takes Williamstown

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - Final counting to include all absentee ballots was underway tonight at the Williamstown Elementary School but the preliminary results released by Town Clerk Mary Kennedy show a huge win for the North Adams City councilor, Gailanne Cariddi, over fellow Democratic primary candidates David Bissaillon and Edward McDonald in the race to succeed state Rep. Daniel E. Bosley.

In the race for Berkshire County sheriff, Bosley overcame Thomas Bowler in Williamstown, but early returns reported by WNAW suggest that might not have been the case countywide.

The preliminary returns are below. Final numbers should be avaialable in the morning.

In preliminary figures for the state auditor's race -- another contested post in the Democratic primary, Susan Bump garnered 976 votes I. Williamstown to Glodis' 107. Michael Lake got 62 votes. In the state treasurer's race Steven Grossman got 639 votes to Stephen Murphy's 378 votes.

Here now ate the near-final numbers as of about 8:55 p.m., from clerk Kennedy. The delay: There were a lot of nonsense write-ins, according to poll counters.

Cariddi -- 1,028
Bissaillon -- 293
McDonald -- 164

Bosley -- 1,040
Bowler -- 427

Bump -- 900
Glodis -- 107
Lake -- 62

Grossman -- 639
Murphy -- 378

AUDIO: Amy Goodman on journalism and activism: "War is not the answer"

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. -- In this audio podcast, Paul Rapp introduces Amy Goodman, host of the Pacifica Foundation's "Democracy Now!" five-day-a-week news and commentary video broadcast, who spoke to about 200 people on Friday, July 16, 2010 at the Monument Mountain Regional High School in Great Barrington, Mass.

Goodman talks about the growing link between community radio and public-access TV, the need for journalists to be independent of what she called corporate sponsors, and for reporters to "go where the silence is" to "break the sound barriers" and act as "the exception to the rulers." She adds: "An indepndent media can save us . . . media can be the greatest force for peace when it is used to build bridges."

She illustrates these points with stories about her coverage of (and arrest at) the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, Minn.; questionning by Canadian border guards prior to a sspeech she was to give in Vancouver, B.C., and a just-completed trip to document the lack of progress in restoring post-earthquake Haiti.  Goodman says questioning and arrests of reporters, and their "embedding" in the coverage of the Iraq and Afghan wars is having a chilling effect on press independence which media should be tracking and covering. For 24 hours, she concludes, the world's media should highlight graphic images of the human toll of war, to show, she said, "that war is not the answer."  

Goodman's talk was a fund-raiser for low-power, community, non-profit radio station WBCR-LP in Great Barrington. Click on the carat on the left of the bar below to listen to streaming audio (1 hour, 24 minutes) or download an MP3 podcast for offline listening (20.1MB).