SAM DINGMAN: With the midterm elections looming, the WAMC News team is fanning out across our coverage area to hear what's on people's minds as America prepares to go to the polls. In the rural Berkshire County community of Windsor - a hill town that's no stranger to harsh winters and frigid cold - energy and heating prices are a particularly important issue.
MOLLY ANDERSON: When WAMC Berkshire Bureau Chief Josh Landes visited Sangar General Store in the heart of town to see if any residents wanted to chat, he met a group of mahjong players who have kept a regular game going since 2019. These ladies had a lot to say- and about much more than just gas and oil.
JOYCE SCHWARTZ: We are playing a game of mahjong, which we do two times a week, and we are a nice social group, a non-gambling group, and we laugh a lot. I'm fortunate that I don't have huge problems, but I will say grocery costs have really shot up like almost 100%, and that's hard for a family that has children to take care of and extended family, so that's of great concern. Cost of traveling around, it's affecting how people vacation, how they get to work, how they heat their homes. So those are two major parts of what's going on, and need to be addressed. All people want everywhere, no matter what country, we all want the same thing, and we should focus on the common denominators, and then make adjustments to help both sides come to a mutual agreement that will benefit the people and keep democracy alive.
CLAIRE TOWNEND: It's tough because I help out my daughter, so I'm traveling a lot to go help her with her small children. And she lives in Dalton, which is down the mountain from us. So it seems like I try to not put more than $40 into my car, which, it never is full. So it's more trips to the station and hoping it would go down in between, but it doesn't ever seem to. It's very taxing. You have to decide whether you have to give up some groceries or you have to put some gas in your car so you can get anywhere to get those groceries, because we are kind of far away from all of that stuff. When [Governor] Maura Healey does come this in this direction, we kind of let her know that we're not happy with some of the things that she has been doing. I wish that they would make some rules about ICE and about pipelines coming through our our communities, and just restrict it. I don't believe I we need fossil fuels anymore. We should go with solar and wind and geothermal.
DEB SHAW: I live in Worthington, it's about 10 miles up the road. And I'm all for fossil fuel, even though I have two furnaces that I have to fill. The gas prices are astronomical. I can deal with it, but I worry about the families that can't. And I don't think solar is the best answer for where we live in the north. And they're trying to put a solar farm next to our water source, and we have a great organic farm. And if that has one accident, we're finished. I think they should start listening to the people here because we have town meetings for the solar farms, and it just never ends. I mean, we have to say no and pay the consequence. We're just totally taxed out. People should be able to have an affordable wage. I talk to a lot of people that are working three or four jobs just to put food on the table.
JOSH LANDES: And what do you like about mahjong?
DEB SHAW: What do I like about it? It takes my mind off of - Maybe the gas prices. I don't know, it's just fun. It's just fun. Yeah.
