Paul Richmond will be the voice of poetic experience when he serves as the western part of the state’s representative to the Massachusetts Poetry Olimpics, an annual competition for bards across the commonwealth.

After participating in last year’s inaugural contest, the Wendell resident was tapped by the founder to serve as the regional lead for poets spanning from the Worcester area to the New York border.

“In order to have a democracy, people need to have their voices and feel free to speak their voices,” he told the Greenfield Recorder. “Poetry and stories … allow people to think about things they might not necessarily agree with.”

The Massachusetts Poetry Olimpics (MAPO) divides the state into three regions — western, central and eastern. Poets compete in individual and team competitions in four events in as many months: Elegy May, Villanelle June, Sonnet July and Free Verse August. Each poet is encouraged to submit to every category.

Interested scribes living in the western Massachusetts district should submit their work to Richmond, via paul@humanerrorpublishing.com. Submissions are open the month the particular event is held. Participants must register (tinyurl.com/MAPO2026) by April 30.

Richmond said last year’s competition enabled him to meet poets from every corner of the state.

“It was kind of nice,” he said.

Last year, Richmond submitted his poem “Revolution” for Free Verse August. It was named a “poem of importance.”

The MAPO is the brainchild of Springfield resident Lawrence Green, who said he selected Richmond as the Western Massachusetts representative due to his ties to the local poetry community.

“I admire him greatly,” Green said.

Green conceived the idea for the MAPO to help take his mind off of the everyday stress he experienced while his son was battling liver cancer at Boston Children’s Hospital. He has always enjoyed the thrill of competition and used to pretend to be in the Olympics with neighborhood kids growing up, though he was always more of an artist than an athlete. He started pitching the MAPO idea and it took off.

Connolly Ryan, part of Team Western Massachusetts, was the 2025 Top Poet. CONTRIBUTED

“It got so many people that I was throwing it out to excited,” Green recalled. “I said, ‘Let’s go.’”

A Buffalo native and military veteran, Green credits poetry as a grounding force that helped him navigate the challenges of his service.

“It basically saved my life, to be honest,” he said. “There’s nothing worse than war, and I’m a big advocate for peace.”

He mentioned this state’s rich history of poetic excellence, having fostered the talents of Elizabeth Bishop, W. E. B. Du Bois and E.E. Cummings. He said he hopes to help reignite the state’s nurturing of wordsmiths.

The competition’s participants will remain anonymous, as will the judges — with one from each district. All stages of the competition will be broadcast by regional studios. Event winners will be presented with medals at a ceremony that will be broadcast live in September.

Richmond, who has been writing poetry for at least 25 years and has published nine books, said last year’s ceremony was held in Fitchburg and another mid-state location is being sought this year. Awards will be given to individuals, as well as to regional teams based on cumulative points.

More information is available at: www.massachusettspoetryolimpics.com/

In Brief:

• Investigation led by former Judge Ernest Sarason.
• No romantic or sexual relationship found between Darnbrough and ADA.
• Judge Darnbrough reassigned and resigned citing health issues.
• Ongoing criminal probe into anonymous harassment letters.

BOSTON – There was no “inappropriate relationship” between former New Bedford District Court First Justice Douglas J. Darnbrough and a Bristol County prosecutor, according to the findings of an investigation that began last May.

Former Judge Ernest Sarason was appointed as a “special master” last May to investigate the nature and extent of the relationship between Darnbrough and the assistant district attorney.

The affair had been alleged via anonymous letters to attorneys involved with the court, as well as the director of the Committee for Public Counsel Services Criminal Trial Support Unit, the executive director of Bristol County Bar Advocates, the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, and Mass. Trial Court’s chief justice of the District Court.

The allegations are the basis of an appeal of the conviction of Gerson Pascual-Santana in 2023 in New Bedford District Court where the ADA in question, who has not been named by The Standard-Times, prosecuted and Darnbrough presided.

Pascual-Santana was found guilty on three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 following a jury trial in March 2023, and was sentenced to 2.5 years on the first count, one year on the second to be served after the first sentence and eight years of probation on the third.

In September 2023, Pascual-Santana’s trial attorney was among those who received an anonymous note alleging the sexual relationship.

Sarason’s investigation results were issued April 9, the morning of a status hearing in the matter before Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice Serge Georges Jr.

There was no romantic, emotional or sexual relationship

Sarason’s report states, “Judge Darnbrough and ADA … did not  engage in a romantic, emotional, sexual, or otherwise inappropriate relationship.”

As to other allegations in the notes, he found:

• There was nothing improper about the ADA being present in Judge Darnbrough’s lobby, including the timing, length, and frequency. The door was always open.
• Judge Darnbrough did not intentionally assign himself to court sessions in which the ADA was prosecuting cases.
• Judge Darnbrough and the ADA did not coordinate or otherwise communicate about cases that had yet to be tried.
• Judge Darnbrough did not exhibit bias or favoritism toward the ADA.

Sarason stated, “In response to my production order, Judge Darnbrough provided numerous criminal dockets and filings from hearings that, ostensibly, show that he has ruled against” the ADA in a number of cases.

Sarason said his investigation included a five-day evidentiary hearing in which he heard testimony from 21 witnesses and admitted 70 exhibits in evidence. He then accepted post-hearing briefs and proposed findings of fact from attorneys representing the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, Darnbrough, and the prosecutor.

Darnbrough had shown poor judgment

Sarason stated that a Massachusetts Trial Court investigation into the notes and allegations found that Darnbrough had shown poor judgment regarding his relationship with the prosecutor because it created the appearance of impropriety.

Massachusetts Trial Court’s Chief Justice of the District Court Stacey Fortes also received one of the anonymous letters in September 2023, and ordered the investigation.

Fortes stated after those findings were presented that “it was more likely than not that Judge Darnbrough engaged in unprofessional conduct that allowed for the perception of impropriety, thus undermining his ability to remain as presiding justice” in the New Bedford District Court.

Sarason’s report states, “Many witnesses testified generally about rumors that Judge Darnbrough and ADA … were in a romantic and/or sexual relationship. The rumors were widespread and talked about throughout the courthouse.”

Effective Oct. 3, 2023, Judge Darnbrough was removed as First Justice and reassigned to the Plymouth District Court, according to Sarason’s report.

Judge Darnbrough later submitted a letter of resignation effective on Nov. 10, 2023. In an amended letter of resignation, he changed the effective date to Dec. 30, 2023. Sarason’s report stated that both letters identified ongoing health issues as the reason for his resignation, which was consistent with his testimony and his Employee Exit Transaction Form signed on Jan. 8, 2024.

Anonymous notes sent out for years

Sarason’s report also states that the prosecutor “among others” had for many years received anonymous letters, and all appeared to have been written by the same person. The letters took aim at the prosecutor’s romantic relationships, and some included the allegations about the affair with Judge Darnbrough.

A motion for further discovery into Darnbrough and the prosecutor’s cell phones by Pascual-Santana’s attorney, James P. McKenna, was denied by Georges during the April 9 status hearing.

Georges said the issue had been raised in the Sarason hearing. He also noted the investigative report finding no evidence of an inappropriate relationship. He said the inference that there had been such a relationship had been the whole point of the proceedings.

Bristol County Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sowa said their respective cell phone use had been addressed with multiple witnesses in the Sarason hearing.

Sarason’s report states the anonymous letters alleged that Judge Darnbrough and the prosecutor communicated with one another using text messages on their phones.

Sowa said Pascual-Santana had received a fair trial, and that Sarason’s findings were clear that there was no inappropriate relationship.

Georges took under advisement a motion by attorney Michelle Peirce, who represented the prosecutor, to destroy the anonymous letters.

Pierce said they were disgusting and demonstrably false.

Ongoing criminal investigation into anonymous notes

Sowa said they couldn’t be destroyed because there’s an ongoing criminal investigation into the matter.

The DA’s Office has said the ADA was the victim of harassment by the note-writer, who had a “personal animus against” her.

The letters were meant to harass and/or humiliate the prosecutor, she said. Sowa said they would make redaction suggestions and seek not to have the letters publicized.

Pierce said one of the witnesses at the Sarason hearing had taken the Fifth Amendment to protect against self-incrimination when asked if they had been the author of the letters.

Sarason’s report states he found the testimony of that witness not to be credible but there was insufficient evidence to conclusively find that this person had been the author of the notes.

Georges gave the attorneys 60 days to provide redaction recommendations on the letters.

Will continue to pursue new trial

McKenna said after the hearing that he would continue to pursue a new trial for Pascual-Santana.

A motion for a new trial had previously been denied by Cambridge District Court First Justice David E. Frank in February 2024.

Frank stated, “Despite his argument to the contrary, the factual foundation for the defendant’s claims rest almost exclusively on the anonymous, unsigned, and unsworn notes attached in his filings.”

The case has been viewed as potentially serving as a precedent in any of the other cases involving Darnbrough and the ADA.

The Committee for Public Counsel Services “preliminarily identified approximately 3,700 docket numbers with which both the prosecutor and the judge at issue were involved,” according to a motion with the court to become part of a prior SJC hearing.

Neither Darnbrough nor the prosecutor were present at the hearing.

Two people are facing firearms charges after a second grade student reportedly brought a gun to a school in Swansea, Massachusetts, the town’s police department said.

Video above: 11,500 shootings occurred within 500 yards of U.S. schools last year. See the data in the video above.

According to Swansea police, officers received a report that a second grade student may have brought a handgun to Mark G. Hoyle Elementary School and showed it to at least two other students.

A search warrant issued for a home on Market Street turned up five firearms, none of which were registered or properly stored, police said.

No one in the home possessed a Firearms Identification Card.

Christopher Spangler, 61, and Heather Spangler, 43, are facing several charges, including reckless endangerment of a child and improper storage of a firearm near a minor.

They will be arraigned on April 22 in Fall River District Court.

According to Swansea police, since officers are mandated reporters, they also filed a report with the Department of Children and Families about the incident.

“This situation had the potential to end in a tragedy,” said Swansea Police Chief Mark Foley. “Because of the work of our Swansea police investigators, no one was hurt, and several firearms that were possessed illegally and stored unsafely are now off the street.”

An investigation into the incident is ongoing.