Thursday, September 29, 2011

Give 'em enough rope...

Click to enlarge read, especially pull quote mid right
UPDATE Friday morning:
Make that really BIG time as the Bulletin's sister publication The Daily Hampshire Gazette also published the article today on the front page above the fold using the perfect pull quote (sub headline) that closes the article and will probably close out the UMass academic career of one Peter Clark.

UMass is having a ribbon cutting ceremony at the new $12.5 million police station this morning which will be well attended by UMass and town officials. I hope one of the higher ranking Amherst public officials brings a copy of the newspaper for the Chancellor.
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So my Party Poster Boys from last week have now made the B-I-G time: Above the fold cover story on this week's venerable Amherst Bulletin. Yes, now they have their 15 minutes of famous notoriety.

And for what? Fighting for the right to party! Somebody ought to write a song.

Of course the Bulletin is a family newspaper so they could not mention the childish "F_ck The Fines" Facebook group the boys founded last winter after earning $1,200 in fines for rowdy behavior in a South Amherst neighborhood, and another $1,800 after the second incident.

Since Peter Clark is an aspiring DJ, he will probably see this PR bonanza as a good thing for business. That is of course assuming he is not expelled from UMass under the new Code of Conduct extension to cover off campus behavior.

All the Chancellor need do is read the closing quote.


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In FY11 (ended June 30) town bylaw fines brought in: Noise, $24,735; Nuisance, $10,200; and Open Container, $20,235. Or a combined amount large enough to fund an additional police officer.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know how after warning them not to do something, ten year olds yell, "Not fair!!"? Next comes, "I hate you!" We know that, Sweeties. Now pay your fines and leave quietly.

Anonymous said...

Do you suppose that this is the first time in their lives that anyone said "no" to these young men?

Anonymous said...

Let me find my violins.

Do these kids realize how stupid, shallow and self-centered their statements make them appear?

Anonymous said...

Parting quote from Clark in today's Gazette article on this topic:

"I'm a DJ and I've found that a party without music is not a party at all," Clark said. "As long as I'm here, there will always be a party to go to."

...maybe, that won't be much longer (we can always hope).

Anonymous said...

A 20 year old publicly posting about how he is being treated unfairly because he likes to party.

Anonymous said...

"A 20 year old publicly posting about how he is being treated unfairly because he likes to party."

Twenty is the new 2.

Ed said...

Larry, I hate to disillusion you but all UMass can do is kick Clark out of school (giving him much more time to party) -- they can not kick him out of the Town of Amherst.

So they expel him -- so what -- he is now likely working his way toward a far more lucrative career than he ever could have with just a ZooMass BA.

Are you suggesting that we can now arrest people on sight because we don't like them? Do you realize the implications of that????

The simple fact is that the middle is ceasing to hold. You went one way and I went the other - and as I am more affected by loud drunken undergrads than you, that should say enough....

Welcome to the jungle, I didn't make it one but you better not steal from me...

Anonymous said...

I hope UMass sends him home, he is devaluing my degree

Larry Kelley said...

Well Ed, I'm assuming if UMass kicks him out of school he will go home to mommy or daddy and probably not play loud music on Friday and Saturday nights.

Anonymous said...

His career can't be that lucrative given the cost of doing business involves thousands of dollars in fines. I doubt he's making a penny throwing parties for himself. Given this latest PR, I'm not sure what legitimate customer would want to hire him over a respectable and respectful music vendor. No wedding party would want to hire a DJ that doesn't even abide by the law. That puts their important event at risk.

Anonymous said...

No problem for you Ed, no one is going to kick you out. Nothing better for the UMass budget than a student on the 10-year plan.

Ed said...

Larry, why exactly would he go home?

Do you have any idea how much money you can make running a "party house"? You don't think they give away the beer out of the goodness of their hearts do you?

And as to getting arrested -- at some point, it is a cost of doing business.

Larry, get real. If UM kicks him out, he will be having wild parties EVERY night....

PS -- guess what the check word was: "disco" -- Irony, no?

Anonymous said...

string him up! he said he might have a party.

i state sarcastically.

btw, i didn't know a umass degree was worth anything. i used to TA stockbridge students. they literally could NOT write sentences. they were at about a 7th grade level at best. face it, college is not about book learning, it is about socialization into the system, and putting you in debt with your own personal mortgage. college is a sham...google it, or ask anyone 2-3 years out.

Anonymous said...

Here's a video promoting their DJ service and the complete transformation of Meadow Street:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxVfE4F_uqc

Anonymous said...

The new Facebook page for FAH-Q is enlightening.

Larry Kelley said...

link?

Anonymous said...

Link:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/FAH-Q/210743375659244

Anonymous said...

I just realized that Rutkowski is right. This town and its police are TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL! And that can't be tolerated.

Anonymous said...

Well- Hopefully the police have a copy of the video as it is proof that the party was too large/ loud

Why do young women feel the need to scream? (never understood that)

Larry Kelley said...

Yeah, and since the "party" turned into a riot, and since Peter Cook and Emerson Rutkowski were getting paid to provide the noise perhaps the next time it happens officials will also charge them with "inciting a riot."

Larry Kelley said...

Make that "Peter Clark"

Thanks, Anon 1:00 PM (ish) for the copy edit.

Anonymous said...

"Parties this year we have done have been 121 Meadow, 500 Sunderland Rd, 114 north maple, 286 belchertown rd, and many others..."

Successful Gig = police response?
What professionals (eye roll)

Anonymous said...

When all the carping and complaining is said and done, I believe that the totals are in:

So far the fines have been a significant revenue-raiser for the Town.

So, if you really want to stick it to the Town out of spite for its residents whose Town Meeting representatives voted overwhelmingly for these fines????

Keep it under a dull roar.

Ed said...

So far the fines have been a significant revenue-raiser for the Town.

Only because these kids are all pleading guilty. Sooner or later they won't -- sooner or later they will find an intrepid (or broke) lawyer who will start contesting them and then -- well look at what Maria G spends on lawyers....

There are so many ways that a good lawyer could really make the APD sweat, right on down to "and how many decibels were measurable at the property line, officer?" "What, you don't even have an objective standard of what constitutes noise?"

"So you got a citizen complaint -- if I called and said that my neighbor was channeling communications with Martians, would you go arrest the neighbor?"

If anyone remembers the ACLU cases against George Bush the Elder where the Secret Service actually had to measure dB levels and tolerate up to a certain level, you can see where this eventually will go.