Monday, September 19, 2011

An Escalation of Violence

167 College Street, Amherst

A female friend rushed two male UMass students to Cooley Dickinson Hospital around 2:30 AM Sunday morning with "apparent stab wounds" and another college-aged student was transported by Amherst Fire Department to Bay State Medical Center in Springfield with possible head injuries, all the result of "a lot of people and fighting going on outside listed location".

Although the damages are not considered "life threatening," the inner-city gang-like violence underscores the other major problem associated with student party houses: Not just loud noise, vandalism, public urination and the like, but the real potential for a violent, painful, permanent death.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

"...permanent death."

As compared to that impermanent death?

Must be the Hindu in you coming out.

Larry Kelley said...

Yeah, just trying to underscore (in addition to using italics) the word DEATH. Glad you noticed.

And yes, I'm also aware in the previous paragraph I could have left out "the word" before "DEATH," but chose not to for rhythm sake.

Anonymous said...

I remember when an all-nighter meant studying.

Anonymous said...

I was walking my dog at some point after this happened. The cops had the road blocked but wouldnt tell me exactly why. Now I know.

Stabbed? How long do we have to wait before a student or some other youth dies or a cop shoots a kid with a knife? Dangerous path we ae taking at a large risk.

Cant we require a permit in town for an outdoor party of over 50 people? That way it has to be approved and, if not, the cops can bust it up due to no permit? Before it gets big and out of control? We already permit kegs...

Anonymous said...

Does someone have to get killed before the UMass administration grasps the gravity of this problem?

I think we know the answer.

Anonymous said...

This has happened before:

http://dailycollegian.com/2005/10/27/third-arrest-made-in-frat-row-stabbings/

When that happened there were no ambulances in Amherst. One had to come from Northampton. Good thing no tax payers had a heart attack or stroke.

We need to more efficiently/effectively use our town resources or have another ambulance service come in for weekends. All of these kids have health insurance, after all. I don't really know but it sounds like a private company would be thrilled to come in and help out for the weekends.

Larry Kelley said...

Come on now, they were out the past two consecutive Friday nights handing out raisin-and-oatmeal cookies and telling the kids to play nice.

Larry Kelley said...

Perhaps administrators should reread this Collegian editorial regarding the matter:

http://dailycollegian.com/2005/10/18/take-back-zoomass/

Anonymous said...

Let's keep using that word: "violence".

It's not kid's stuff. It's not some required rite of passage. It's not some inescapable, irreducible, inevitable college experience.

It's just violence.

But when are the higher-ups at UMass going to get it?

Anonymous said...

How do we suppose that 2005 Daily Collegian editorialist was treated after such candor....if the comments from students on this blog are any indication?

Anonymous said...

It's just not hard to imagine a student getting cut in a very vulnerable area and then bleeding to death before he/she can get to an ambulance.

But we adults do tend to worry.

Anonymous said...

At that point the student will have the ultimate "Right of Passage" that many of the partiers think they are entitled to! And they can all right in their yearbooks about how John/Jane Doe died during one of their "college experiences"!

Anonymous said...

Gee. Such a lovely house, too.