UPDATE: 7:00 PM
Amherst Regional High School pitching sensation Kevin Ziomek was today drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Is that karma or what?
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Original Post: 9:00 AM
It was one of those great bluffs from the original Star Trek where Captain Kirk, with his venerable ship about to be destroyed by a hostile Death Star bluffs the opposing captain by suggesting the Enterprise hull was imbued with "corbomite"; so if any destructive energy touches it, a reverse reaction of equal strength reverberates back--destroying the attacker.
Obviously Amherst Selectboard members are not Star Trek fans and, even worse, none of them have any small business experience (yeah, you would think one or the other is mandatory for the "job".)
Last nights grandstanding 'Boycott Arizona' resolution is, unfortunately, going to rebound back with many times the destructive force intended. And it will be the small business owners of Amherst, already outnumbered and under siege, that will pay the heavy price.
The Springfield Republican Reports (as always, reader Comments are the best)
My previous report
34 comments:
You're right, Larry. The thousands of orders that Arizona places to Antonio's will be canceled. They will all go to the Arizona Pizza Company in Hampshire Mall. What will we do?
I'm not talking about Arizona residents boycotting Amherst, I'm talking about Valley folks fed up with Amherst officials trying to tell them how and where to spend their money.
If only 3 or 4 of the responses on Masslive article are legit--that is enough to hurt downtown businesses at a particularly BAD time of year.
i'm pissed Am'erst would do this. That law is legal, and is that state's right. I'll bet you $100 that nobody on that select board actually read the Arizona law. Talk about jumping on the bandwagon. I will not vote for anyone on this select board for re-election, that is for sure. It is a sad day in Amherst, this ain't exactly South African aparthied here. We are talking about a law that allows Arizona cops to check people's ID's IF they are already detained in the suspicion of another crime. This is not racial profiling. Peolple on the border have armed drug runners in their yard daily. You can sit here smug in the Happy Valley select people, but you do not realize what you have done. Please recind this vote.
Oh Amherst, you wide open insane asylum you...
Keep throwing yourself in the mud.
It's ~perfect~.
Who does the select board think they represent? What do they want another civil war? Maybe they should invite a few thousand of the 250,000 ILLEGAL immigrants in Arizona to live in Pufton village or the dorms of Umass, feed them, give them medical care, and private tutors. No other country in the world would allow this to happen. In fact just try to step into North Korea and see what would happen. Cross into any other country without a passport or visa and watch what happens. You can't even get into Canada without a passport anymore. What is the select board saying to hell with Homeland Security? By the way ILLEGAL immigration is still ILLEGAL no matter what country you're coming from.
LETS GO KEVIN!!!!
Well, obviously Kevin Ziomek has to stay home now. Becoming a Diamondback just won't do. I can't wait for the big Vladimir Morales-Kevin Ziomek counseling session, in which Vladimir tells Kevin what he has to do.
Memo to Kevin:
Stick to our principles!
An entry level position bagging groceries can lead to countless opportunities in supermarket management.
Here in Amherst, we specialize in telling others what to do.
Um, Kevin is going to Vanderbilt which is not exactly in Arizona. He will then be drafted again.
Check out the 100 comments on MassLIve.com. Many say they plan on boycotting Amherst. Thanks Amherst town officials for helping out the local business.
To the Town of Amherst and Select Board:
Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You
Chop chop Larry... time to get busy.
http://media.gazettenet.com/pdf/rodriguez_letter.pdf
http://www.gazettenet.com/2010/06/09/ex-schools-chief-fires-on-amherst
"He accuses the town of having "a pervasive sense of complacency fueled by a culture of nepotism and cronyism.""
Nah, Kathy Mazur et al. wouldn't know a THING about that, would they?
http://media.gazettenet.com/pdf/hajir_statement.pdf
Dance vipers, dance...
My recent visit to Arizona was great!! PAid for out of the $$ I made working for the town!!!!
"Additionally, it immunized me from cronyism and nepotism since I looked at positions, programs, etc., from an organizational “value-added” viewpoint and was not obsessed with saving friends’ or family members’ jobs."
Festering nest of roaches.
Innat right, Amherst?
Innat FCKING right, Amherst???
Hi everyone,
Festering roach here, reporting from the front. Well, I can see a car with an Arizona license plate. I just egged it, yuck.
Now, I'm driving by Larry's small business to boycott it. Oh wait, I don't have to waste my precious tmie doing that. It's boarded up, closed, gone fishing.
To mR. Innat: Down boy. Apparently, you pissed off the wrong Arizona Sheriff, boy, and you have been paying for it ever since.
Please, take the couch and let's talk about your anger.
Oh yeah, and let's talk about your spelling, too. I'm guessing your one of those Amherst hillbillies I've heard so much about. A local yocal, eh?
Don't worry, you'll find plenty of other dumbasses like yourself when you get to Zona.
Larry, what happened to your cub reporting skills? You aren't claiming to have broken the big story where Arod tells almost all his dirty secrets about Amherst the day after he picks up his last paycheck.
Whatever skills you dreamed youi had have diminished, old boy. Better get back out there and beat the bushes to see who is using naughty words in school plays. No, you perv, not those bushes.
Festering roach signing off. Good night, good luck and don't forget to hurl insults at all people resemble aliens.
Amherst thinks: How can we waste some time?
Let's come up with another resolution!
Iran, Terrorists, now Arizona.
You'd think you have enough to worry about.
Yeah, like worrying about our LOCAL business community which--unlike Hadley or Northampton--is currently a tad under 10% of the property tax base.
Don't worry, Larry, none of the yahoos on Masslive ever came to Amherst before anyway. What are they going to boycott? Zanna?
Get real.
Keep up the good work, chicken Little.
Business is down 25% and many stores in Amherst are closing. Anything like boycotts, aggressive ticketing,only hurts business more. Wait a few more years and you will see what the commercial realestate will be worth. No stores making money = no rent = failing commercial realestate. This is happening all around the country and don't think it can't happen here.
"An institutional inability of producing data that would withstand public scrutiny. (One reason is two critical departments such as Finance and Human Resources using different programs that do not interface--In fact, the district spent an additional tens of thousands of dollars in an upgrade of the current Human Resources’ system knowing that it was incompatible with the district’s and town’s finance systems).
A systemic resistance to change and transparency.
Absence of an effective, data driven evaluation process for school-site and central office staff."
Well, well, well is our very own Kathy Mazur, Amherst Schools' HR Dept head at it again?
Isn't this the same Kathy Mazur who used the S Hadley police, in her role as vice chair of the S Hadley school committee, to forcefully (and illegally?) deny citizens their constitutional right to be heard concerning the suicide of a student???
Hmm?
Incubated in Amherst, infecting the region...
Can't you do better, Amherst?
"Completed with the School Committee’s sub-committee on Goals the District’s 18 Goals (from 76 Goals) that was designed to drive all the work done in the district, as well as be the main evaluative tool for the Superintendent. Selected goals were assigned to each principal and central office administrator and mid-year evaluation conferences were held with the aforementioned administrative staff in mid November. Written feedback was provided to each administrative staff member. In spite of my push for accountability, as of March 31, 2010, out of over 300 teachers and approximately 150 paraprofessionals (Five Year Trends document, pps. 5-6), only two teachers and/or paraprofessionals were on a Professional Improvement Plan (this information was obtained through a Public Information Request and not in my previous capacity as Superintendent), yet the districts have hundreds of children reading and performing math below grade level and nobody is being held accountable."
Amherst schools' HR Department, COMPLETELY failing the Town of Amherst...
So sad.
"Given the type of people who run that school district, this might just be a badge of honor for Rodriguez. He might have stepped on some well-connected toes in the dept trying to affect changes. Or maybe they came to believe that he wasn't playing nice with the MTA.
So I would caution against jumping to the conclusion that HE did anything wrong."
STATEMENT FROM FARSHID HAJIR, AMHERST-PELHAM REGIONAL SCHOOL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN
"...his conduct during bargaining sessions..."
Hit?
Where are Hajji's notes?
"Business is down 25"
When in doubt pull a complete b.s. statistic out of thin air.
I got the percent off number by going around town and talking to store owners. I did not pull the number out of a hat. Speak to Jaya who just closed Trade Roots, speak to Elaine who owns the wool shop in the Carriage Shops, speak to Mina who owns Zana, speak to Jerry who owns the Pub, speak to the owners of Charlies, speak to the owners of Prep that just closed, speak to Captain Video about his in town video store, speak to Dan of DP Dough how business has been over the years, speak to Larry of Airwaves, speak to anyone that owns a bookstore like Lord Jeff or Amherst Books,speak to the last owner of Barts,speak to the last owners of For the Record. That's where I get my numbers from.
I am a life long resident of the town of Amherst and I believe it its criminal to make every resident of Amherst, MA, a conspirator in this
injustice by deciding for the voters in the town, what a communist dictatorship this town government is!! No one will get my vote in coming elections concerning the town boards. Town Manager and select board, BEWARE, I'm sure the ACLU is going to advise a lot of us (registered voters) to proceed with immediate legal actions! How arrogant of these people to feel the right to speak for all of the town! I will be doing all of my shopping and purchasing as many products from Arizona based companies. This town (Amherst) should be boycotted!
E.Ladd registered voter
I think "E.Ladd registered voter" is on to something. I'll make sure I buy as much as I can from Arizona.
Akab.
...wingnuts to the right of me, moonbats to the left, here I am stuck in the middle with who?
This is insane.
Don't these panderers realize what Arizona is going through? This law ( which was already an unenforced Federal law) is not going to a witch hunt. The cops aren't going to randomly stop people on the street and ask for papers.(they're far too busy for that). If you're caught or suspected of a crime, the cops can inquire of your immigration status and act accordingly. Do they really think Arizona is doing this on a whim or that all racists. A majority of Arizona population has Hispanic roots so don't play the race card. What if Amherst's hospitals and shelters and prisons were swamped with illegals! Oops, I'm sorry they don't have any! What about all the B&E's, robberies, murders!
Why don't these "enlightened" city officials go down there and see it all for themselves. Of course the will have to remove their high-horse blinders off.
What do you expect from a place that tries to ban flying the flag.
I can see why Boston, Springfield, and Holyoke are pandering to their Hispanic populations (which this law doesn't even effect), but lily-white Amherst? What's the matter Amherst, Don't want to showed up by the big boys? Hey I'm sure Arizona is really going to miss you pinheads
I don't have to boycott Amherst, nothing there interests me.
The Commonwealth of Virginia has had this law on the books for years. Why no outcry about Virginia?
"What do you expect from a place that tries to ban flying the flag."
Amherst did not ban flying the flag, or ever try to. At least stick to reality in your crazed rant. Anyone can fly the stars and stripes, or any other flag, on any day they care to. No one every tried to stop that.
Sit down, you made a fool of yourself.
"I love Arizona" bumper stickers to be passed out at the Amherst Farmers Market Saturday June 19, a small donation requested to cover the cost of printing...hope to see you all there!!!!
"I love Arizona" bumper stickers to be passed out at the Amherst Farmers Market Saturday June 19, a small donation requested to cover the cost of printing...hope to see you all there!!!!
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
I haven't spent a penny in Amherst since this bill was passed and will not go back until it is rescinded.
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