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When & Where: Saturday MAY 31st  12 NOON Rain or Shine The Son's of Erin 22 William Street, Westfield Highlights Bounce House Door Prize ($275 Citizen watch) Lots of Raffle Prizes Hamburgers, Hotdogs, French Fries and more. Volleyball, Horseshoes Tickets   available at: The Son's of Erin 552-5927 Slovak Citizens Club 552-9732 or call 209-2223, 572-1417 or 562-5927, 896-2943 for more info. 100% of the proceeds go to Alzheimer's research. $15.00 Per Ticket (Children 12 & Under Free Admission)  www.teamcallahan.org.

MASSIVE HOUSE CLEANING SALE!!

$0.50 ¢ to $100 !!! Complete home furnishings!! Furniture, lamps, tables, dining room, bedrooms!! Complete room accessories!! Priced to sell! Many Items NEW!!!  594 Main Street Becket MA – fenced yard across from Becket Country Store & Café.  Every Sunday in May.

PSA Free Open Mic, Sunday,May 18, Hadley

Lend Me Your Words!  Join fellow book lovers and writers/poets for an Open Mic for the Spoken Word, Sunday, May 18,  from 3 to 5p.m. in Hadley.  Bring poems, prose, proems (and even a libretto, some musical riffs, watercolors or any creation light enough to carry and share) to the Food Bank Farm, 121 Bay Road (Route 47), in Hadley. Sign ups begin 2:30p.m. Hosted by the Equinox, a local, illustrated literary journal of repute and enthusiasm.  Light refreshments, good fellowship, free and open to the public.

Russian Actress and Singer to Perform 

Springfield - Famous Soviet-era Russian actress and singer Aida Vedischeva will give a concert this Saturday, May 10, at 5:00 p.m. at New Generation Christian Center, 605 Liberty Street in Springfield (behind the Save-a-Lot Supermarket).
Ms. Vedischeva will also hold a brief press conference at 3:00 p.m. at the Christian Center to meet members of the local media and answer questions.
According to Dr. (Pastor) Scott Lively, Ms. Vedischeva's special knowledge and experience offers a glimpse into a world of art and culture that, due to the Cold War, most Americans have never seen or heard about.
Vedischeva appeared in many films during the height of Soviet cinema, but her most famous films were titled Caucasian Captive and Diamond Arm, equivalent in terms of popularity and artistic stature with such American films as Casablanca and The Thin Man.  She has won many Russian awards for artistic merit.
A highly talented singer and "Broadway-level" state performer as well, Vedischeva will perform a number of songs in Russian and English.
"The concert is not religious in nature," Lively said.  New Generations is hosting it because it is a bilingual Russian and English church that seeks to promote good will between differing cultures in the Springfield area.
For more information, please contact Dr. Scott Lively at 1-951-834-5933, or via e-mail sdllaw@gmail.com. 

DOWNING VOTES TO ADVANCE TAX FAIRNESS AND COMPETITIVENESS IN THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY

Bill strikes balance between Governor and House proposals  

Boston- The Massachusetts Senate on Tuesday approved legislation to modernize and simplify the Commonwealth’s corporate tax structure and establish an automatic rate reduction plan for businesses, from 9.5 percent to 8 percent, over a three-year period beginning in 2010.
“This package was carefully crafted to strike a delicate balance.  It raises the revenue necessary to support critical state programs and services, while implementing reforms to the Commonwealth’s tax code that bring Massachusetts in line with competitor states,” said State Senator Benjamin B. Downing (D-Pittsfield).
Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) said the Senate bill “strikes a balance” between corporate tax proposals submitted by the Governor and the House of Representatives.
“The Senate’s proposal is a reasonable representation of everyone’s interests that provides predictability and fairness,” the President said. “It’s a bill that is sensitive to the needs of the business community to help them maintain their competitive edge while also generating appropriate and much-needed revenue for state services.”
Senator Steven Panagiotakos (D-Lowell), Senate Ways and Means chairman, said: “Business, state government and private citizens are all partners in moving the Commonwealth forward. This legislation is a fair and appropriate way for businesses to continue to contribute to that partnership. These provisions not only provide much-needed revenue for Massachusetts, but also, in time, provide a majority of businesses with a tax cut.”
The Senate proposal adopts the “check-the-box” reform to prevent corporations from claiming one status for Massachusetts taxes and another for federal and other-state taxes. It also adopts “combined reporting” to prevent multi-state businesses from moving their Massachusetts income to affiliates in lower-tax areas.
These reforms will bring the Commonwealth in line with its competitor states, making Massachusetts the last in the nation to adopt “check-the-box” and the 23rd state to implement combined reporting.
The proposal includes financial institutions in the combined reporting regimen and similarly reduces their proportional excise rate from 10.5 percent to 9.0 percent over three years, beginning in 2010.
For smaller corporations, which make up the majority of businesses in the Commonwealth, the bill also reduces excise rates over three years, beginning January 1, 2010. The rate for “S-corporations” with gross sales between $6 million and $9 million moves from 3 percent to 1.8 percent, and the rate for S-corporations with gross sales above $9 million moves from 4.5 percent to 2.7 percent.
In addition to restructuring corporate taxation, the Senate proposal also adopts a one-dollar increase in the cigarette tax and applies it to existing inventories effective July 1, 2008.
The bill also ensures that businesses or Internet retail agents who resell hotel/motel rooms cannot avoid the tax on the full price of the room as paid by consumers.
Other provisions of the bill include: 

• Allows businesses to use their federal consolidated return group as the base for their combined group as long as the election does not reduce by 20 percent or more and $1 million or more the total net income that would be apportioned to Massachusetts in the absence of such election.
• Clarifies that recipients of the personal earned income tax credit must live or work in Massachusetts.
• Eliminates the minimum pricing law for cigarettes to allow market competition on cigarette prices.

The bill will now go back to the House of Representatives for further action.

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 Connecticut River Valley Car Club To Sponsor Tours of Berkshires 

From August 4 -7, 2008 there will be an AACA National Car Tour based at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Pittsfield, MA.  At this event there will be a long tour for 125 antique cars to travel.  The Route will go from Pittsfield, down Route 2 through Shelburne Falls/Buckland, Ashfield, Plainfield to Route 9 and back to Pittsfield.  There will also be short tours through the Berkshires.  This is a major event and we'll be looking for people to advertise their business in our tour booklet. 
We will collect flyers and pamphlets if business would like to contribute them to our tour packets that will be handed out to those who have registered to participate.  We can take a maximum of 125 antique cars and people participating must be members of the AACA (Antique Auto Club of America).  This is a wonderful way to showcase our beautiful part of the country. 
People on the tours will be stopping in the towns along the way to shop and eat.  The event takes place from August 4th – 7th in 2008, but many people will come early and stay later since they will be coming from all around the U.S.  Berkshire Bank in Pittsfield is a major sponsor to this event. For more information contact Lori Baronas at 413-665-3190.           

Theatre Camp Still Has Openings Available 

The Westfield Theatre Group Summer Theatre Camp, now in its 15th year, still has openings available in all sessions. The camp has three sessions with the first session beginning Monday, July 7 and ending on Friday, July 18 with a performance on Saturday, July 19. The second session begins Monday, July 24 and ends on Friday, August 1 with a performance on Saturday, August 2. The third session begins Monday, August 4 and ends Friday, August 15 with a performance on Saturday, August 16. Theatre Camp has 2 divisions: a morning session for Campers aged 8-12 and an afternoon session for Campers aged 13-19.
Campers learn the basics of acting on stage, learning basic stage movement, character development, auditioning basics and improvisations. Acting in and working on plays has proven to increase a young person’s self-confidence, self-expression and gives the camper a positive experience in public speaking. Campers with reading problems and speech problems also benefit from the experience. The campers will perform a workshop production that is open to the public to practice what they have learned at the end of each session.
Larry Andersen, M.Ed., a teacher for more than twenty years, has been the Camp’s director for all fifteen years. He is a drama coach, an award winning designer and director of Beyond Therapy and director of Westfield Theatre Group’s acclaimed productions of “Godspell,” “Sound of Music” and “Barefoot in the Park.” Mr. Andersen has assisted in casting movies filmed in the local area. Former campers have appeared in the Disney movie “Cider House Rules” as well as other movies and one former camper appeared on Broadway in “Cats”. Tristan Andersen, a 2007 graduate of Westfield State College, is the co-director of the camp, having acted as Assistant Director for the previous 4 years.
The camp sessions are held at the Westfield Woman’s Club building at 28 Court Street in Westfield. Registration is $150, with discounts are available for families and groups. Tuition assistance is also available. Registration forms can be obtained by calling 413-568-8149 or 413-214-1926 or by emailing WTGTheatreCamp@aol.com. For more information regarding Westfield Theatre Group go to our website at www.WestfieldTheatreGroup.com or about the camp www.myspace.com/WTGTheatreCamp.