By Jeanette DeForge | MassLive A Chicopee Police Department sergeant, once accused of sharing graphic photos of murder victim Amanda Plasse, has been reinstated by the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission after being demoted to patrolman for “untruthfulness” on a burglary case. Following an appeal hearing, the commission reversed the demotion of Police Sgt. Jeffery Godere made by Mayor Richard J. Kos. It however upheld a

By Jim Russell | Special to The Republican The South Hadley Fire District 1 Prudential Committee has notified Fire Chief Robert Authier they intend to keep him as chief, even though the board has not renewed his contract that expires on Dec. 30. Earlier this year, the three member panel had begun a search for a replacement chief. But in a letter to Authier, Prudential

By Jim Russell | Special to The Republican The South Hadley Fire District 1 Prudential Committee has voted not to renew the employment contract of Chief Robert Authier, which expires on Dec. 31. The board has begun a search process to hire a new chief, meeting minutes also show. Contacted Tuesday, Authier said he has retained lawyer Andrew Gambaccini, of the Worcester firm Reardon, Joyce

Vigliotti Named A Massachusetts Super Lawyer and Gambaccini Again Named A Rising Star The Worcester, Massachusetts law firm of Reardon, Joyce & Akerson, P.C. announces that John K. Vigliotti, an associate with the firm, has been selected as a Super Lawyer for 2015. Each year, no more than five percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the Super Lawyers’ research team to

By ERIC GOLDSCHEIDER | For the Gazette Worcester attorney Andrew Gambaccini in June 2014 wrote a letter to each of the three commissioners of the South Hadley Electric Light Department in which he detailed a pattern of workplace intimidation and violence lasting more than a decade. Gambaccini wrote on behalf of his client, SHELD electrician Robert Blasko Jr. who allegedly had been assaulted by Andrew

By Jim Russell | Special to The Republican SOUTH HADLEY — Workplace abuse spanning more than a decade and failures to address it are among claims at the heart of a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a municipal light department employee against the agency’s long-serving manager Wayne Doerpholz, engineer Andy Orr, the department itself and the board of commissioners. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District

By ERIC GOLDSCHEIDER For the Gazette A South Hadley Electric Light Department electrician is suing his employer for $750,000 under a federal whistleblower law, arguing that the municipal utility’s manager retaliated against him for going to police after another employee verbally and physically assaulted him in December 2013. The complaint, filed in federal court in Springfield by Robert Blasko Jr., also names the SHELD board