There are ways you can help yourself before becoming victim. Here are a few simple tips;
1). Get a business card and tell the person(s) you're going to check them out first.
2). NEVER make a same day decision. They will pressure you to do this, commonly saying you'll save money, but this is the first sign of a scam. If it's too good to be true, it probably is a Scam.
3). Ask for references.
4). If they are not from the area, this should raise your suspicions. There are many qualified and quality contractors within Franklin County or surrounding Counties.
A special Thanks to the Franklin County Sheriff's Department, Lt. Scott Waldron with K9 Drago and the Erving Police Department, Officer Rob Holst with K9 Badge, for holding a demonstration at the Bernardston Recreational Summer Camp.
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Bernardston man facing charges after shooting out of window
By DAVID RAINVILLE
Recorder Staff
BERNARDSTON — A local man has been arraigned on multiple weapons charges after allegedly firing a handgun out of his bedroom window to scare off some friends.
Steven R. Rice, 24, of 703 Brattleboro Road, was charged with three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (a handgun), discharging a firearm near a highway, carrying a firearm without a license, and possession of an assault rifle, all felonies.
On Dec. 28, 2011, police were called to the residence by Rice, who told them he thought his friends were siphoning gasoline from his vehicle. His friends told police they were there to confront Rice, because one of them thought Rice ran over his mailbox. They told police that Rice had fired a single shot from his bedroom window after they arrived.
Rice told police that the noise his friends heard was a firecracker. Police asked him if he had any more, and he told them it was just the one. They were unable to find any remnants of the firecracker.
Rice admitted that he had a gun, and on request showed Sgt. Brian Ravish a silver .22caliber Ruger pistol. In his report, Ravish said that, as he smelled the pistol to check for the smell of burned gunpowder, Rice told him that it smells like gunpowder because he never cleans the weapon. Ravish said Rice’s friends identified the Ruger as the weapon fired.
Ravish then asked Rice if he had a license to carry a firearm, and Rice said he did not. Ravish checked, and Rice had neither an LTC or a firearms identification card, and that Rice’s mother, who also lives there, had an LTC that expired in 2006. Because nobody in the residence had an FID or LTC, Ravish confiscated several firearms, to be held at the station until one of the Rices applied for either of the firearm permits.
Additional weapons confiscated include an AK-47 assault rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun, two .22-caliber rifles and a .308-caliber rifle.
Rice is due back in Greenfield District Court on March 12 for a pretrial conference.
Man charged with shooting car’s tires in Bernardston
By BOB DUNN
Recorder Staff
GREENFIELD — A drug deal gone bad is the alleged trigger that led a North Adams man to shoot out the tires of a parked truck and attempt to break into a home to get his money back.
Mitchell Ciempa, 22, of 1409 Massachusetts Ave., is being held on $20,000 cash bail following his arraignment in Greenfield District Court on Wednesday.
Ciempa pleaded innocent to a firearms violation with a prior violent or drug crime conviction, malicious destruction of property over $250, malicious damage to a motor vehicle, armed burglary and two counts of discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building.
According to Bernardston Police, on the evening of Nov. 21, Ciempa and three friends allegedly traveled to Ware with $550 to purchase drugs.
The buyer left the car and promised to return in 15 minutes. When that didn’t happen, the remaining three in the group got a message saying that the buyer had been arrested by the Ware police, and when that was found not to be true, the group was told that the buyer had returned to Bernardston with the money, according to police.
The group returned to the house on Bald Mountain Road to which the person who had taken the cash had returned, and Ciempa began banging on the door and demanding to be let in, police said.
When the people inside the house refused, Ciempa allegedly tried to enter the house by forcing open the garage door, damaging it, and then took a pistol and fired two shots at a parked truck in the driveway, flattening two of its tires.
The group then fled in a brown Kia Rio as police were being notified.
According to witnesses, the gun, described as a .22-caliber handgun, allegedly belongs to Ciempa’s grandfather.
After witnesses were interviewed and evidence gathered, an arrest warrant was issued for Ciempa, who was apprehended about 8 p.m. Tuesday.
According to Bernardston Police Chief James Palmeri, state and North Adams police assisted as well as the State Police Special Tactical Operations Team (STOP).
Police said that Ciempa has multiple prior convictions on violent crimes and weapons charges.
He is due back in court on Jan. 3.
You can reach Bob Dunn at: bdunn@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268
Press Release From The Northwestern District Attorney's Office
A Brattleboro, Vt. teen died in a two-car collision on Route 10 in Bernardston, Mass. on Sunday afternoon.
Daniel Bliss, 17, was operating a Subaru Outback when it merged from Mount Herman Station Road (Rt. 142 South) onto Route 10 South, where it was struck broadside by an SUV traveling south on Route 10.
A passenger in the car that Bliss was driving, Rita Corbin, of Hinsdale, N.H., is being treated for serious injuries at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.
Five people in the SUV, including the driver, Nichole Trovato, 19, of West Townsend, Mass., were transported by ambulances to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, in Brattleboro, Vt., where they were treated and released.
Bernardston police initially responded. Assistance at the scene was provided by Trooper Dave Sanford of the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section and Trooper Erin Karella of the State Police Crime Scene Services Section-Springfield.
Members of the Bernardston and Northfield Fire Departments also assisted.
The accident remains under investigation.
A special "Thank You" to all Kiwanis and United Church members for their generous donation for the construction of our New Sign!
(photo from Greenfield Recorder)
Lt. Scott Waldron and Franklin County Sheriff Chris Donelan. Lt. Waldron was chosen to be the newest K9 addition to the Franklin County Sheriff's Department. Lt. Waldron also works as a part-time officer for the Town of Bernardston Police Department.
Congratulations Scott!