Fourth Watch

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 Amherst Town Center 1:15 AM  McMurphy's Bar, Antonio's Pizza
Last night -- or I should say early this morning -- all five of our ambulances were busy dealing with ETOH (passed out drunk) students, four police cruisers (probably all the on duty ones we had) were at the scene of a drunk driver who had driven around concrete barricades, up on to active railroad tracts becoming hopelessly stuck ... when a call came in from South Amherst for an "unresponsive baby with difficulty breathing."

 Around Midnight APD dispersed a large crowd of unruly students from Phillips Street
Amherst Fire Department had to send a fire engine from Central Station and wait for one of our ambulances already at the hospital to return back to Amherst, thus causing a delay.  Obviously if our first responders had the personnel and equipment needed they could keep delays to a minimum, increasing both safety and peace of mind.

The last 12 hours should serve as yet another wake up call.  Town officials need to act quickly and decisively.  Our police and fire department's are understaffed.  And somebody is going to die.

Over the past six consecutive years, through sound fiscal management, the town has had an end-of-the-year surplus of just over $1 million.  A quarter of that would go a long way to solving staffing problems with our beleaguered first responders.

Tax exempt UMass, the second largest landowner in town, also needs to step up and help fund the professional providers who react to emergencies their students create.  Ditto Hampshire College.

Alcohol abuse is an epidemic that needs serious attention.  Anyone remember that UMass student motorcyclist  on his way back to campus last April only weeks before he was to graduate, slaughtered by a wrong way drunk driver on Rt 116 in Hadley?  I'm sure his family remembers!

DA Sullivan and State Police need to set up yet another high profile DUI roadblock in town before Halloween.  Senator Stan Rosenberg and Representative Ellen Story should file a bill making it a crime (or at least a civil offense) to be in an automobile with a drunk driver and not report it to authorities.
 Car stuck  on railroad tracks near Amtrak Station
I noticed the passenger of the drunk driver who drove his car onto the rail road tracks checking his smart phone while watching his drunk friend being escorted away.

 Jack Thornton. You drink & drive, you go to jail
Maybe somewhat sober people would think twice about getting in a car with a drunk friend if they knew they could be held responsible. Kind of gives new meaning to the slogan, "Friends don't let friends drive drunk."  And as one of my favorite twitterian's pointed out, "Especially on railroad tracks!"

When I told one of the cops I was live tweeting from the scene early this morning he asked, "Is anybody listening?"  God I hope so.

Arrested for DUI and trespassing on RR property:
Jack Thornton, 23 Bennett Rd, Gardner, MA, age 19

#####
AFD member picked up the slack after I went to bed and posted to Facebook photo of all five Amherst ambulances parked at Cooley Dickinson hospital at 3:00 AM:



####Amherst Fourth Watch live tweeted####

Party Houses of the Wild Weekend

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699 Main Street, Amherst 
Obviously the major disturbance on Saturday afternoon at Townhouse Apartments where "no less than 20 bottles and cans were thrown at officers ..." gets party event of the weekend, but that still did not stop individual houses from vying for the ignominious individual award.

Hard to choose, since two houses in separate parts of town resulted in arrests for noise and/or nuisance, but the denizens of 699 Main Street would beat out 44 McClellan Street by virtue of twice as many arrested,  four vs two.

Arrested for noise around 11:13 PM Saturday night at 699 Main Street:

Robert Scott Macleod II, 26 Russels circle,  Natick, MA, age 21 (UMass student)
Dylan Thomas Merry, 46 Travis Rd, Natick, MA, age 21 (UMass student)
Brian P Wilbur, 702 Main Street, Amherst, MA, age 22 (UMass student)
David Shawn McDonough, 52 Fletcher Rd, Bedford, MA, age 21 (the exception)

 44 McClellan Street, Amherst
And late Friday early Saturday morning a party at 44 McCllelan St with 75-100 noisy guests resulted in the arrest of two:

Raphael Leopold, 44 McClellan St #2, Amherst, MA, age 22 (UMass student)
Alex Patrick Connolly, 10 Stepping Stone Ln, Sandwich, MA, age 21 (UMass student)


 Busy Weekend for AFD Weekend Run Summary 9-14-2012

When the People Lead ...

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 Amherst Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe needs a better script
Sick of town officials lip service over the serious problem of rowdy student party houses springing up all over Amherst -- no longer just the areas contiguous with our #1 employer, UMass -- neighbors in and around the traditionally impacted areas (Lincoln Avenue and Fearing Street) have taken matters into their own hands by collecting the 150 signatures necessary to get tougher warrant articles before Amherst Town Meeting next month. 

If enacted the bylaw tweaks would force town officials to address the real culprits in this sad affair: slumlords and high volume management companies who specialize in enabling slumlords. 

UMass seems to specialize in token, feel good strategies to address this serious problem, like a child trying to befriend a swarm of angry bees swirling around their downed nest.

Last year Umass, town officials and DA Dave Sullivan handed out oatmeal cookies in the southern campus while the northern sector burned.  I'm surprised none of them played a violin.

Two weeks ago on "Umass Umake a Difference Day" day 200 mature, helpful students donated their time to cleaning up the town, while 2,000 students congregated on the quad area of Townhouse apartments making a mess.  When police responded they were greeted with a barrage of cans and bottles.


Last March APD Chief Scott Livingstone appeared before the Amherst Select Board to update them, starting with this brief history, on arrests and the number of party house tickets police had handed out so far that year.  Since then the problem has only worsened.



Six months ago I asked the University for the number of sanctions handed out to fraternities and sororities the previous year.  They stonewalled my request.  Recently the town asked for information on the number of students disciplined for bad behavior.  UMass is hemming and hawing.

Simply put, only a small minority of students get rowdy -- but  a very tiny minority of them are serial partiers, who need to be shown the door.  Now!



Best Column to appear in Amherst Bulletin since I resigned

License To Fail

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 No, the UMass license plate was not issued in June

After today's fail at Gillette Stadium in front of a sparse crowd -- making it five losses in a row -- it's unlikely the UMass Alumni Association will suddenly see an urgently needed surge in orders for the UMass license plate, now seriously stalled two-thirds of the way to the goal line.

After all, a license plate is the kind of thing serious sports minded fan boys savor more so than your average academic high achiever, who was probably too busy studying to attend tailgate parties and all the other fun things built around sports.

 Fourth loss in a row equals "strong showing."  Gotta love PR flaks
On August 3rd I received an email from the Alumni Association with the headline "UMass license plate is a go!" that certainly gave the impression 1,500 orders required by the Registry of Motor Vehicles had been attained.

Of course what they meant was the "overwhelming interest" had generated 1,500 pledges to buy the plate, but when it came time for the $40 down payment, over a third of those pledges went MIA.  And even though the original pitch set an order deadline of September 7 their Facebook page (with only 139 likes) is still passively soliciting buyers.

Interestingly the Alumni email uses the term "UMass Amherst License Plate" but the actual plate does not contain the name of our beloved town, Amherst.  Hmm ...


With a potential client base of over 110,000 UMass graduates living in Massachusetts you have to wonder why the organizers of this drive can't seem to motivate 1.4% of them to "Ride with UMass pride."

First off, the plate really costs $110, not $40.

A vanity plate requires a  $50 "special fee" on top of the  $40 "regular fee", plus an initial $20 swap fee or $110 total.  Then, every two years renewal is $90 -- more than twice the amount as a "regular" plate.

Then there's the matter of where the "profits" actually go.  The Alumni Association pitch  originally pulled at the heartstrings by suggesting all the money raised would fund scholarships for deserving in state students.

But the Alumni Association website leaves a lot of wiggle room:  "Proceeds from the special plate fee will support scholarships and programs provided by the Alumni Association that advance UMass Amherst." 

When the Alumni Association suddenly dropped annual dues in 2010 and automatically made every UMass graduate a member, there was a $200,000 corresponding drop in annual revenues because the 5,000 dues paying members suddenly stopped paying their annual $40 dues.  

So it must be awful tempting to dip into a new source of funds (if they ever materialize).

Even if the Alumni Association does get 1,500 fans to pony up all associated costs, there's still a catch:  The RMV requires the sponsoring body post a $100,000 performance bond to guarantee an additional 1,500 plates will be sold in the second year or else forfeit some of the insurance bond money.

And if the Alumni Association is having this much trouble with the initial 1,500 sales, the second batch will be an even steeper hill to climb.  

Perhaps it's time for the Alumni Association to punt.  

Let's get Physical

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 45 Phillips Street
Student rowdyism escalated yet another notch late last night as Amherst Police officers had to physically defend themselves against combative college aged youth jet-fueled by alcohol, a danger to innocent bystanders, first responders and themselves.

Last week two drunk students unabashedly fighting in a downtown restaurant got physical with a female Amherst police officer who was attempting to break it up, and early this morning the violent response to APD officers continued unabated.

Around 12:30 AM an officer noticed a disturbance at 45 Phillips Street with about 20-30 males on the front porch yelling and throwing punches at each other.  In trying to break up the melee one of the perps "attempted to free his friend" from the cops hold and had to be pinned against a fence and placed under arrest.:


Officers later cited the house, owned by Stephan Gharabegian, with a $300 ticket for violation of the town's Nuisance House Bylaw.

Arrested for Disorderly Conduct and possession of liquor under age 21:

Kevin John Defusco, 5 Depot Road, Westford, MA, age 19  (UMass student)

Gilreath Manor, Hobart Lane  Around 2:00 AM police were called to Hobart Lane apartment #26 Gilreath Manor for reports of a fight involving ten individuals.  In breaking up the disturbance an officer was hit with pepper spray and required a response from AFD to rinse his eyes.

Arrested for Assault & Battery on a police officer, A&B with a dangerous weapon (pepper spray), Resisting Arrest, and Disorderly Conduct:

James M Robinson, 10 Truman Circle, Springfield, MA, age 19   (UMass student)

Around 2:45 AM police responded to 15 Fearing Street for reports of a "highly ETOH" (drunk) individual "throwing bottles at people."

 15 Fearing Street    (managed by Kendrick Management)
The responding officer was greeted by a dozen young men on the front porch who stated Jonathan Jacobs was "going crazy," throwing bottles and other items at them.  Due to his violent behavior they had evacuated the house.  Jacobs was located in his upstairs room but immediately became combative, assaulting one officer with his shoulder and knocking over another.  At APD headquarters he refused to identify himself and was held on $2,500 bail.

Arrested for Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (bottles), Disorderly Conduct, Resisting Arrest, A & B on a police officer:

Jonathan Daniel Jacobs, 225 Maryann Way, North Attleborough, MA, age 22  (UMass student)

#####
Meanwhile around 1:15 AM police responded to a report of a motor vehicle crash on Mattoon Street near Amherst Regional High School.  The driver reported swerving to avoid a pedestrian and lost control because of the "wet roads", but an eyewitness had another different version not involving a pedestrian.  The driver was given a field sobriety test and failed. 
Arrested for OUI Liquor and Marked Lanes Violation:Daniel T. Kearney, 21 Wing Rd, Lynnfield, MA, age 21  (UMass student)

#####Sadly, at 1:43 AM, UMass police, APD and AFD responded to a male who fell and hit his head near the Newman Center, UMass.  The first officer on the scene reported the male was on the ground surrounded by friends who confirmed he "had been drinking" and suddenly collapsed, hitting his head.  
AFD transported the unconscious young man to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, where he is reported to be on a breathing machine in the Critical Care Unit. 

Amos and Andy

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This cartoon clearly relates back to the radicalization of African Americans.  The lips on the people in the cartoon are over exaggerated, along with and ape like appearance the fighting trainer gives off.  Also, Amos and Andy are seen as dead beats or guys that are lazy and cannot do much which goes along with the white hierarchy instilled in America.  The cartoon reminded me of two examples that Professor Hass showed in class, one was of a cartoon Jim Crow and the other was the African-American men in Birth of a Nation.  The similarity between all three images proves that the Jim Crow cartoon, Amos and Andy, and Birth of a Nation was developed by white people to instill this ape/moose like sentimentality of African Americans.  It is very clear that Amos and Andy was not intended for African-Americans to see, because it is extremely offensive.  

Gone With the Wind Reflection Post

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It said that we could do reflection posts on movies I hope that is okay.  I just feel like we never got a chance to talk about them in length.
Although immensely long Gone With The Wind, was very interesting.  Scarlet O'Hara I thought was an iconoclastic women during the time period.  Not only did she rebuild Terra from ruins after the Civil War, but she also operated a multitude of businesses.  It seemed weird for women to have that much power during that time.  
Scarlet and Jo (Little Women)  seem to be very much a like.  They both break the mold of the ideal women.  The cult of domesticity was meant to conform women and keep them working in the domestic sphere.  However Scarlet building up Terra and managing business did not conform to the cult of domesticity.  And in the first half of Little Women Jo did not conform to the structured ideals either.  Jo instead wanted to become a published writer.  
Gone With the Wind not only made Scarlet an iconoclast, but made Rhett a rebel who did not support the south in the Civil War.  It was weird that Rhett did not go and fight for the south, but it was meant to prove a point.  The point was that a man that can still feel masculine without fighting can handle a women that is feminine but does not work in the domestic sphere.  Both Rhett and Scarlet were iconoclastic in their roles which created a different way to live instead of the American norms.  

Gary Okihio's Impounded Reflection

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Prior to this reading and our discussion in class I had no idea about the treatment of Japanese Americans before their internment. Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941 by Japan. The subsequent events following that bombing divided the United States from some of its own citizens. The government became suspicious of spies being within the United States borders and focused primarily on those with Japanese descent. The article quoted an approximate 120,000 Japanese-Americans that were sent to internment camps until the war with Japan was finished.
The blatant discrimination and racism that this act shows is simply unconscionable. National security is definitely an important issue that the U.S. government has to deal with, but this takes it a bit too far. Benjamin Franklin said that he who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither. Japanese Americans fell into this category except they had this sacrifice delegated to them by the government. Our country was founded upon the ideal of freedom, and therefor I think that this ideal should be afforded to all individuals regardless of their race, ethnicity, religion, etc. This action was certainly a mistake and I hope that the government has learned a lesson from it. To be American is to be free, and if we take that away from an entire group of Americans, what is it to be American?

"Amos 'n' Andy" Response

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Amos 'n' Andy was a radio comedy in the 1920's to 1950's in America. It exploited the racial stereotypes of African Americas in America in a disgusting manner. The main characters were purposely drawn as stereotypically to African Americans as possible. They had overly full lips and were made to seem extremely lazy. These are two things that are huge stereotypes of Blacks in America today and seemingly have been very big racial stereotypes of that race for sometime.



The creators Gosden and Correll were two people who were very familiar with the minstral traditions of early times. I found this very interesting that they were familiar with minstral traditions and chose to make their show using the stereotypes of African Americans. The minstral shows were also based in theory on the "happy go lucky darky on the plantation"- a seeming stereotype of the timeperiod of the minstral shows.

Amos 'n' Andy had some absolutely ridiculous aspects however there were some interesting things. The things I found most interesting were the creators prior knowledge of the minstral traditions as well as the fact that they blatantly displayed African Americans in a racist manner even in a time where African American civil rights were starting to gain steam in an American culture.

A Consumer's Republic

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I found the subject of "A Consumer's Republic" to be very interesting, as the book made many valid points that are often forgotten today.  I liked that she used many examples throughout her writing to illustrate her various points, including many from the Depression and World War II.  She shows how being a citizen in the United States of America in the post-war era has been drastically redefined by consumerism.  I also enjoyed the arguments she made and examples she gave about women and minorities during this time period, and how the effect they had on consumerism was later redeemed through Civil Rights movements of the 50s and 60s.
After reading this thought-provoking book, I feel much more educated about the United States twentieth century economic history.  Although I thought the book to be very interesting, I also found it difficult to follow at times because of the many long, winding sentences that are a part of her writing style.  I found myself having to re-read sections quite often in order to fully understand her argument.  However, I would definitely recommend this book to others, as it does a great job of depicting and analyzing consumerism.

LOLGOP quips of the hour

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“
LOLGOP ‏@LOLGOP
Give Fox News credit. They’ve made it easier for Mitt to run on gutting Medicare than it is for the president to run on insuring 30 million.LOLGOP ‏@LOLGOP
George W. Bush invaded the wrong country & bungled the worst financial crisis in 50 years. But at least he didn’t insult 47% of us directly?LOLGOP ‏@LOLGOP
What the GOP learned from ObamaCare and Occupy Wall Street: Nominate the plutocrat who created ObamaCare!”

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Greek electricity workers call 48-hour strikes

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ATHENS | Fri Sep 28, 2012 8:01am EDT(Reuters) - Greece's electricity workers said on Friday they will start rolling 48-hour strikes as early as next week to protest austerity measures demanded by the country's international lenders.Strikes at state-controlled utility PPC (DEHr.AT) have in the past led to rotating power cuts across the country, as the grid operator reduces the load to prevent wider blackouts. PPC is the country's single power retailer and produces about 70 percent of all electricity generated in the country.The strike will begin as early as October 1 if the government submits new austerity measures to parliament next week, said PPC's labor union GENOP-DEH, one of the most militant unions. If the vote takes place later in the month, the strikes will be postponed accordingly.The walkout poses yet another challenge to the wage and pension cuts that Athens is negotiating with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to obtain fresh bailout funds."These measures ... must not be allowed to go through. GENOP-DEH wants to reverse this policy," the union said.GENOP also urged labor union confederation GSEE, the country's biggest, to step up its anti-austerity action after a nationwide 24-hour strike on Wednesday. If GSEE agrees to new labor action, GENOP will call off its strike, it said.

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http://www.webmonkey.com/2011/11/what-the-death-of-mobile-flash-means-for-the-web/?utm_source=Contextly&utm_medium=RelatedLinks&utm_campaign=Previous

What the Death of Mobile Flash Means for the Web

By Scott GilbertsonAdobe Software has let slip that it plans to abandon its Flash Player for mobile web browsers. Instead, the company willrefocus its mobile efforts on web standards like HTML5, along with tools like Adobe AIR, which allows developers to convert Flash content into native mobile applications.The move comes as something of a surprise given how vigorously Adobe has defended mobile Flash in the past. Lately, however, Adobe has been proposing new web standards and even bought the non-Flash mobile development tool PhoneGap, both of which indicate that Adobe is looking toward a future without Flash.Indeed, while Adobe’s plans affect only mobile Flash at the moment, the sudden about-face does not bode well for Flash on the desktop. Mobile devices are the fastest growing means of connecting to the web; what doesn’t work on mobile devices will soon not be a relevant part of the web at all.In abandoning mobile, Adobe is effectively admitting that Flash has no future on the web.That doesn’t mean Flash will disappear overnight. Nor does it mean that Flash will ever disappear for developers interested in using it. It just means that when it comes to deploying Flash applications, the web won’t be a realistic option. Instead, Flash developers of the future will convert their Flash code into Android, Windows Mobile or iOS apps using Adobe AIR’s conversion tools.Web developers, on the other hand, will likely abandon Flash if they haven’t already. Without a reliable way to serve Flash content to mobile devices, its web presence will likely continue to decline. Of course the demise of Flash has been inevitable for some time — after all, much of HTML5 was specifically designed to give developers a means of replacing Flash dependencies with native tools — but Adobe’s decision to abandon mobile devices should send a clear message to any developers who haven’t yet read the writing on the wall: Mobile is the future of the web and Flash isn’t part of it.In the short term, Adobe is merely admitting what most developers already know; there are only two ways to develop for mobile devices: using the web and HTML5 or building platform native apps.To choose web-based Flash apps over either of these options would mean consciously limiting your app’s audience. Given that neither Apple’s iOS nor Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 supports Flash (nor for that matter will Microsoft’s Windows 8 Metro), developing web apps that relied on Mobile Flash meant targeting only Android and Blackberry users. Adobe’s decision to abandon Flash for Mobile browsers is simply a pragmatic acceptance of the existing development landscape.Similarly, while we don’t expect it to happen overnight, eventually Adobe will probably abandon Flash Player for the desktop as well — why continue developing a product when very few are using it? The AIR platform and its Flash-based tools for building native mobile apps will still be around to sell the Flash development tools (which is, after all, how Adobe makes money). Adobe simply won’t have any great need to continue pushing Flash on the web.While some web standards advocates might see the eventual demise of Flash Player as a good thing for the web, we’re not so sure. Web standards were created to ensure that sites and apps work no matter what browser or device you’re using. Web standards were not created for — and have not historically been very good at — driving innovation on the web.Innovation on the web has more often come from individual vendors — browsers, device makers and, yes, Flash. Flash laid many of the so-called cowpaths that HTML5 is paving in open standards. The audio and video tags for embedding media, the canvas element for animation, and the websockets protocol for communications are just a few of the things Flash helped to popularize on the web. That’s not to suggest that a web without Flash will want for innovation, but it certainly won’t be richer for Flash’s absence when that day arrives.Photo: Laurence Olivier as Hamlet

Schumer pushes FEMA to release Tioga County aid

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Schumer pushes FEMA to release Tioga County aid

$4 million needed for document preservation

12:03 PM, Sep. 28, 2012  |  Comments

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Downtown Owego. The Tioga County Courthouse is at the top center. / Staff

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Jennifer Micale

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OWEGO — U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is pushing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to release $4 million in disaster aid for Tioga County.The funding would be used to restore county courthouse documents damaged by the flood more than a year ago. In June, the federal agency had promised more than $4 million for the restoration effort, according to Schumer’s office.“The $4 million expenditure, which will have to be deducted from the county’s budget in mid-October, will be crippling if the county has to bear the brunt of it,” Schumer said in a letter to FEMA Administrator William Fugate. “Before the cost of document replacement, the county already has to cut costs and lay off 20 employees.”County officials sent the documents to preservationists and have paid $380,000 upfront to have them sorted, freeze-dried and preserved. Two employees are working full-time sorting documents and determining which don’t need to be replaced.Tropical Storm Lee hit Tioga County — and particularly Owego, the county seat — hard last fall, creating more than 300 public assistance projects costing more than $30 million. Owego’s municipal building was inundated and had to replace hundreds of documents, including deeds and contracts for local businesses.

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http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/259193-dems-call-again-for-house-to-return-to-work-are-again-shut-down-by-gop

GOP again denies Dem calls for House to return to work

By Pete Kasperowicz - 09/28/12 12:00 PM ET  
House Democrats on Friday morning renewed their call for the House to return to work and pass legislation to fix the pending tax crisis, reduce the debt and make federal health programs more sustainable, but were again shut down by House Republicans.

The House reconvened for a short pro forma session on Friday morning, and in a surprise move quickly passed three bills, including one that would delay the implementation of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK) Act for federal workers, and another extending protections for federal "whistleblowers."As Republicans were moving to pass these bills by unanimous consent, they were met by Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who said work should also be taken up on contentious tax issues."The bills that we just passed by unanimous consent were important measures and I strongly support the whistleblower protection bill, which will protect federal employees against retaliation if they're shining a little sunlight on violations and abuses in the federal government," Van Hollen said. "I also believe the House should reconvene to conduct the other business before the House."

"I do want to point out that we here in Washington ought to be doing our job," Waxman added. "We have our nation's urgent priorities. We need to increase jobs, strengthen our economy, prevent the fiscal cliff, protect Medicare from cuts, address our long-term debt.

"We should be fighting for the middle class, not preserving tax breaks for oil companies and millionaires."

Minutes later, when work on the three bills was completed, Waxman asked to address the House for one minute on the larger issues that he said the House should be addressing. But Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), who was managing the work of passing the bills, objected.

After that, Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas), who was the presiding officer, ruled that the House was not going to take up any additional business.

"Recognition of members for such requests is done at the discretion of the chair. The House is limiting its debate today to the matters before the House, and such a request is not in order at this time."

That prompted Waxman to make a parliamentary inquiry:

"During pro forma session, can the chair entertain legislative business?" he asked. "Since we're taking up other items, I would like to know whether we can do business in the House of Representatives to address the priorities in this nation."

But Culberson dismissed Waxman's question and quickly gaveled the session of the House closed.

"The gentleman is asking a question regarding a matter of scheduling and not a question regarding the rules of the House," Culberson said. "The House is in session today to consider the business brought before it by the gentleman from California, and pursuant to section 3B of House Resolution 788, the House stands adjourned until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012."

On Tuesday, Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) called for the House to return to work. The House plans to hold pro forma sessions twice a week until after the November elections.

Fire in the Hole

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28 Hobart Lane on right
On Thursday September 13, just after high noon, Amherst Fire Department responded to a basement fire in apartment unit #28  on Hobart Lane, notorious party street and home of the infamous "Hobart Hoedown".

Fortunately the call came in at the perfect time --if there is such a thing for a structure fire -- as first responders were not overwhelmed with ETOH calls (alcohol poisoning), thus AFD quickly put down the blaze.

Since the "three bedroom" unit shares a large building with five other units, had AFD not caught the fire in time, the results could have been catastrophic -- especially if the blaze had started 12 hours later in the late evening of "Thirsty Thursday" when the building would have been packed with distracted students.
According to Lisa Queenin, UMass Director of Community Relations,  "The Dean of Students office and Residential Life are working with the students to make sure the five students have housing and the support services they need in the wake of the fire."

Note the number:  Five students.  Yes, a violation of Amherst zoning bylaw forbidding more than four unrelated housemates.

On Friday the morning after the fire, according to Amherst Police Department logs:

"Firefighter Mike Roy (Fire Prevention Officer) received information that Lincoln Realty had warned the residents that an inspection was imminent and that they needed to assist in hiding code violations. I assisted with contacting the DA's office and the Clerk of Courts seeking an administrative warrant to enter the apartment for inspection."

On the day  or even evening of the blaze, the fire department could have entered the building for an inspection under MGL 148 Section 4, but because 24 hours had passed they needed the administrative warrant, as the owner (Kathryn Grandonico) was not being overly cooperative.

According to Building Commissioner Rob Morra that inspection was delayed until Monday afternoon. And because of 4th Amendment concerns the "administrative warrant" only applied to the damaged apartment and adjoining units on either side (three total) rather than the entire 14 unit complex.

Evidence suggests an extra bedroom in the basement of those three units inspected on Monday.

The entire 14 unit complex is assessed at $1.5 million or $30,000 in property tax overhead, although it's quite possible those extra 14 tenants (if indeed all the units have an extra tenant) would about cover that.

A good deal for the landlord ... unless of course one of them overburdens an electrical circuit.

The back story, told in emails

Gilreath Manor, built in 1982, does have vertical firewalls between units. Fire however tends to move in an upward direction and would quickly get into the attic above the firewalls to engulf other units.

From Piggies to Serious Perps

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APD on scene of last week's major disturbance Townhouse Apartments 
So no, the Amherst Police Department does not spend all of its time dealing with rowdy students -- er, I mean "college aged youths" -- raising Hell in the dead of night.  Well, maybe on weekends -- especially when the weather is nice.

Although  APD did respond to a noise complaint late last night to 121 Meadow Street, ground zero for last year's most notorious riot, which would get my vote for 'Party House of the Year'.  Fortunately this time around a warning was sufficient (maybe because it was only a Thursday).

Yesterday around 6:30 PM police responded to a call on South East Street/Bay Road for "10 piglets running in the road."  And an hour later for a loose cow.  All of which were "Gone On Arrival."  Although a while later a call came in confirming the farmer had "wrangled them all."

On Monday evening police responded to a farm field off South East Street (not the same one with the lost piggies) for a suspicious vehicle.  Said vehicle, driven by David Brown, age  46, attempted to run down an officer.  


David Brown of 108 Lee Rd, South Deerfield is facing a litany of charges (the last one most astonishing):

Driving with revoked license
Assault with a dangerous weapon (the car)
Alcohol in motor vehicle
Possession of open container (in said vehicle)
O.U.I Liquor 5th offense.  Yes you read that correctly, 5th offense!

UMass needs to get serious about cracking down on serious offenders undermining the quality of life for neighborhoods all over Amherst with their obnoxious behavior, and the court system needs to get deadly serious with drunk drivers.

A common statistic I've heard about DUI is that the person caught has probably driven that way a couple hundred times before finally being nabbed.  Now factor in Mr. Brown's five arrests and be thankful you did not interest with him on the road the 1,000 times he was driving his "dangerous weapon."

And yes, I just checked UMass people finder and the only person cited the night of the notorious riot at 121 Meadow Street last year is still registered as a student.   

Safe Routes to Schools?

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 Strong Street, just before Wildwood Elementary School
The $280,000  state funded "Safe Routes To Schools" project in and around Wildwood Elementary and Amherst Regional Middle School that will "include upgraded wheelchair ramps, new pavement markings, new traffic and pedestrian warning signs, and some minor drainage modifications" use thermoplastic for line markings.

You can tell because the markings are a tad brighter, and will last a lot longer than the paint the town uses, but is, apparently, more slippery than paint when wet. 

Of course these hieroglyphics have been in since late July and thus far no reports of downed cyclist.

Better Never Than Late

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FitWomen Amherst. Stock, generic website = Metaphorical
A full year after I first warned the world about the impending return of the fitness zombie, Peter Earle, his humble storefront has finally opened for business.  They must have an overly understanding landlord.

Now I'm told by way of a attempted comment this morning on my original 9/30/11 post that the operation is actually run by his wife (makes sense, since it is a "women only" operation) and they currently have only 90 members.

Well that ought to pay the rent, maybe, this month. But those members may not want to make the mistake of paying for an entire year up front.  At least a third of all businesses fail in their start up year, obviously an even higher percentage for those businesses opened by someone who already failed three times at the same concept.

Fitness centers are like newspapers, in that credibility is everything.  And when you have gone out of business like Mr. and Mrs. Earle --without reimbursing members -- your credibility is close to zero. 

Loud and Clear

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The first of 22 new WiFi emitters is (way) up and running on top of the Bangs Community Center, installed and tested by our daring DPW and IT departments earlier this week.

The new Cisco units, costing $20,000 total,  have three antennas instead of the two on 14 older units they are replacing, so users should notice a stronger more consistent signal throughout the downtown.

The entire installation is expected to be completed by Halloween, the one year anniversary of the mother of all storms than knocked out the WiFi system and emergency 911 phone lines when the power went out due to catastrophic failure in our urban tree canopy.

Amazingly in this digital day and age, Amherst is one of the very few communities to provide free WiFi throughout town center.

Spotlight On Maryland - Where Your Money Comes From

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Estimated Maryland Revenue

MARYLAND GENERAL FUND AND BUDGET RESTORATION FUND REVENUES FY 2012-2014 (Dollars shown in thousands)
		FY 2013				FY 2014
	FY 2012	Current	September			September
	Actual	Estimate	Revision	Difference	% Growth	Estimate	% Growth
INCOME TAXES
Individual	7,114,679	7,552,937	7,650,621	97,684	7.5%	7,967,339	4.1%
Corporation	646,475	741,307	821,752	80,445	-21.7%	783,876	-4.6%
Total	7,761,154	8,294,244	8,472,373	178,129	9.2%	8,751,215	3.3%
SALES AND USE TAXES	4,039,348	4,125,696	4,127,690	1,994	2.2%	4,259,363	3.2%
STATE LOTTERY	536,251	515,064	536,444	21,380	0.0%	543,755	1.4%
OTHER REVENUES
Business Franchise Taxes	207,194	208,932	208,904	(28)	0.8%	210,693	0.9%
Tax on Insurance Companies	304,022	308,109	311,560	3,451	2.5%	319,309	2.5%
Estate and Inheritance Taxes	196,897	217,593	214,814	(2,779)	9.1%	218,827	1.9%
Tobacco Tax	411,427	411,932	415,142	3,210	0.9%	414,066	-0.3%
Alcoholic Beverages Excises	31,010	31,089	31,616	527	2.0%	32,238	2.0%
Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax	5,000	13,000	13,000	-	160.0%	5,000	-61.5%
Highway User Revenue	186,722	0	0	-		-
District Courts	79,395	80,783	78,601	(2,182)	-1.0%	78,994	0.5%
Clerks of Court	35,139	34,339	37,892	3,553	7.8%	37,721	-0.5%
Hospital Patient Recoveries	66,385	67,962	69,962	2,000	5.4%	67,985	-2.8%
Interest on Investments	17,918	34,994	10,000	(24,994)	-44.2%	15,000	50.0%
Miscellaneous	379,982	383,527	379,821	(3,706)	0.0%	363,284	-4.4%
Total	1,921,090	1,792,260	1,771,312	(20,948)	-7.8%	1,763,117	-0.5%
TOTAL CURRENT REVENUES	14,257,843	14,727,264	14,907,819	180,555	4.6%	15,317,450	2.7%
Extraordinary Revenues	-	-	-	-		-	-
GRAND TOTAL	14,257,843	14,727,264	14,907,819	180,555	4.6%	15,317,450	2.7%

Source