Awad send-off set for Monday
By Scott Merzbach
Staff Writer
Published on August 15, 2008
In June, Awad submitted her resignation from the board effective Aug. 31. Though she has purchased a home in South Hadley and put her North East Terrace condominium up for sale, Awad said her retirement and resignation from the board was prompted by stalking and threats from an Amherst resident.
Reception planned Monday for Awad
By THE DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE
Staff Writer
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Awad submitted her retirement and resignation letter in June, citing stalking and threats from an Amherst resident that occurred after she and husband Robie Hubley purchased a home in South Hadley.
As (and from the perspective of) a UMass Student, let me just say that this whole sordid affair is exhibit one in the reason why the students so disrespect the town.
ReplyDeleteThere is a law that says that elected officials have to reside in the town. There is a law that says that you can't have loud parties. We can get into technicalities but it is a minor criminal offense to violate either (or to feed your employee lobster more than thrice a week).
Now do we enforce the laws or don't we? And if we don't enforce one, how can we claim legitimate right to enforce the other?
We have a long standing right of free speech in this country - including the right to lampoon our politicians. "Candidate" comes from the same Latin word as "candid" -- to stand for public review.
So what legitimacy does the Town of Amherst have to call for the impeachment of Bush/Cheney (why Cheney whose sole power extends to being speaker of the Senate???) when it then condemns those who do THE EXACT SAME THING TO THEM?????
This is Animal Farm 101 --- we have gone beyond "two legs bad, four legs good" -- "student bad, townie good" to a situation where "all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others."
And watching this from the sidelines, the little legitimacy that the Town of Amherst once had is now gone. The state should just yank the charter for the good of the Commonwealth...
Ed Cutting
Political Prisoner
Troublemaking 101
ReplyDeleteI encourage all to read the _Gazette_ piece on how it is OK to stab TWO men so badly that AFD needs a Code3 run to BayState (Trauma Center) in a successful effort to save their lives because one loudmouthed yahoo used the "N" word. There are a LOT of issues involved here -- including a few facts missed by the _Gazette_ (including how Justin took not only a knife (MORE THAN A "pocketknife") but also "an iron" out into the hallway looking for confrontation).
But they got one thing right -- the dozen protesters in the courtroom wearing "Justice for Jason" shirts and attempting to pressure the court into lynching the victim whom Justin stabbed for allegedly saying something nasty.
And thus, I suggest, that precedent be used here. I suggest (and might be willing to show up & wear one) that Larry bring in his "Just Leave" T shirts and get a dozen or so people to attend the Awad celebraton wearing them. (I am size XL.)
And if they want to argue that wearing TShirts is wrong here, then it isn't in a formal court hearing????
Ed Cutting
i'll take one of those shirts.
ReplyDeletespeaking of t-shirts...how about the "where only the h is silent" shirts?
ReplyDeleteto me they are offensive to town residents. it implies that all of the residents are a-holes who never shut up...when in fact it is only a few of us who act up regularly.
i believe the dropping of the h is just another extension of the new englanders' speech impediment....you know, "pahhk the cahhh"..."i sawr it in the paper"
where in -istory did they drop the friggin h?
Some students are the unloved, unrespected in the town of Amherst but consider how irresposible they are and how that affects people who are here for more than four or five years. Enough of the victim student unjustice bullshit Ed. You're not making any progress. When the last time two Amherst residents stabebd each other, peid onsomeones lawn, threw empty beer bottles at cops???
ReplyDeletehere is a cool tshirt idea
ReplyDeletehttp://www.friendster.com/photos/74060405/1/565817327
> When the last time two Amherst
ReplyDelete> residents stabebd each other,
> peid onsomeones lawn, threw
> empty beer bottles at cops???
Ted, have you been to South Amherst recently? Southpoint (AKA "Gunpoint") which is "owned" by MS-13, Boulders which is "owned" by Latin Kings", and Mill Valley which is "owned" by La Familia?
I have personally lost count of the number of loaded sawed-off shotguns that have been found down there, and if you know anything about firearms you know that a poorly maintained (as in left outdoors in the wet) weapon is inherently dangerous. I have personally seen bullet holes in buildings down there. The level of violence is such that sane cops don't go alone.
These are non-student folks living with Section 8 Subsidies - which the Amherst Housing Authority refuses to give to UM students.
As to stabbing each other, I remember about a decade ago when a 16 year old from Hamp stabbed a 17 year old from Amherst (or maybe it was the other way around) in the UMass Student Union Ballroom at a UM event (that they shouldn't even have been at in the first place).
Oh, and Amherst High School has had a real bomb in it, an Anthrax scare, and all kinds of other things.
Urinating on lawns is a problem - but unlike other communities of its size (and bar business) Amherst has no public toilets. Build such a facility or stop complaining -- have the folks with alcohol licenses pay for it...
Throwing beer bottles at cops is bad but shooting at them is worse - and you will notice that the APD doesn't go into South Amherst the way it does North Amherst. Furthermore, there *is* something known as community policing and it does work better than the Daryl Gates/LAPD Ghettoblasting approach.
One final question - exactly what is the capacity of the APD Jail? I haven't even been able to get a consistent answer of how many *cells* are in there, but I suspect that there are some fairly strict capacity rules.
25,000 students -- one percent is 250 and exactly how many arrests does the APD make a year, and how many are repeat customers, and how many aren't even students in the first place? Do the math on this one...
As to the "student victim injustice bullshit", the free market (yes it even applies to Amherst) is already coming to play. Notice how the student-oriented business is shifting to Hadley/Springfield? Notice how more kids are commuting (as shown by traffic jams)?
When the student cadre drops off starting next fall (09), you will see the finances of Amherst follow. Student rentals will plummet, droping FMR (now at 120% of FMR for Section 8) and the places that are almost entirely Section 8 now (Boulders, Southpoint, Hollister, etc.) will either be vacant or have to drop their rents.
What you then have happen is a perfect fiscal storm. UMass has layoffs (as it did in the early '90s) and that hurts the local business economy. Property values (particularly rental property values) plummet and that drops property tax income, which can't be raised without a 2 1/2 override which you won't get. You then have rental units going to women with school aged children rather than UM students so your school budget goes up, along with other service needs.
This *will* happen, to some extent even if Amherst was the most student-friendly place - and 10/20 years from now people will look back on the UM students the way that folk in Springfield now look back on the Spfd Armory.
Amherst will get what it deserves...
Ed