Fearing Street, near UMass/Amherst
On Friday November 16 at 23:43 hours (11:43 PM) an Amherst Fire Department ambulance responded to Fearing Street, a well-traveled route students use to get to or from a party.
A vibrant young woman, out with friends for a night of fun (that, naturally, involved alcohol) fell, hitting her head on unforgiving concrete.
When paramedics arrived, she was unconscious. Standard AFD practice for a an unconscious patient due to head trauma is to bypass nearby Cooley Dickinson Hospital and go all the way to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.
Two months ago on a particularly rowdy party weekend a young male student, out drinking with his friends in the late night hours, fell near the Newman Center hitting his head and was rushed unconscious to Baystate Critical Care Unit. Fire Department personnel were amazed when he was released the following afternoon, having earlier stated somberly it "did not look good."
This time, however, it was not good. This time the young student died. Sydne Ilyse Jacoby was only 19. She leaves behind a mother, father, brother and 837 friends on Facebook. 500 mourners turned out for the funeral service. Her local newspaper described her as "an angel."
That mid-November weekend AFD transported five students from the UMass campus to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital for being ETOH, a shorthand code for ethanol -- drinking alcohol -- or in these particular cases, way too much of it.
Amherst Police also busted three party houses that weekend, arresting nine "college aged youth" for noise and nuisance infractions. One house with four arrests were all young woman.
At another of the houses a 17-year-old girl was arrested for being a minor in possession of alcohol, partying with over 500 young adults packed into one family house only zoned for four tenants.
Police also arrested a drunk driver who almost ran over an officer who had stopped another vehicle.
All in all, sad to say, in the picturesque college town of Amherst, home to three institutes of higher education, a rather routine weekend. Now suddenly, sadly, made far from typical.
Until it happens again.
43 comments:
Alcohol is at the root of all of the problems UMass and Amherst has.
I am a firm believer that there should be no alcohol allowed on campus, and there should be a 3 strikes your out policy.
Students are at school to get a degree, not to party.
Enforcement would be an issue of course. There's only so many IDs you can check. So public shaming would have to be the solution, and public expulsion for repeat offenders.
Once the University becomes known (and it will happen quickly with the internet) for being serious about alcohol, these unfortunate incidents will dissipate.
since the amherst fire, police nor the gazette would release the young woman's name in respect for her family....why did you think you should?
It's called "the public's right to know."
Seriously, Larry, how do you get your hands on this information. If its the public's right to know, why don't we? What are your sources.
Also, Adam Sweet, public shaming is never the solution. Expulsion or suspension is though!
UMass is putting all this money into its infrastructure, trying to become one of the top research universities in the state, which is swell and all, but its real problem is drunk assholes. Serious, half of UMass student body should be kicked the hell out.
Do you really believe in this day and age a 19 year old student at a public university can die a sudden tragic death and not make a ripple on the all powerful Internet?
Larry has no respect for anyone. I am the public and I was perfectly fine with not knowing her name. How does including the poor girl's name enhance the story?
I was not trying to "enhance" the story; simply doing the very basic job the Gazette, Republican, and Associated Press should have done.
It's called journalistic integrity folks. You should be asking why the local papers did not print the whole story. If you start picking and choosing what FACTS to leave out of a story, any story, you're starting a long slide down that slippery slope that leads to cover ups, and questions of preferential treatment. If you do it right and fair all the time, you have no one to answer to. Richard Marsh.
I think the Gazette did not have her name as they tend to rely on "public spokespersons" and it looks like UMass refused to give them her name.
And both the Republican and Associated Press simply recycled the Gazette story without doing any original follow up reporting.
The real question is why did UMass take ten days to acknowledge her death?
Somber news Larry. thanks for writing about it. Just because the gazette and the republican didn't print her name, doesn't mean it shouldn't be printed, they didn't have the persons name yet. It's public information, and points out brilliantly that a real person died, who left a loving family behind. very sad story Larry.
The name was not released to the public in the interests of sparing the "loving family" she left behind. I have no more grief over her loss now that I know her name than I did before I knew her name. A beautiful 19 year old girl is now tragically dead and knowing her name does nothing to more "brilliantly" point out that fact. Maybe you people want her name to be in neon lights...that should really "brilliantly" drive the point home. Let her family grieve in peace.
That does not explain why UMass took ten days to make the sad acknowledgement .
First Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Steven Gagne said in a statement that the fall was accidental.
“No foul play was involved,” Gagne said. “Out of respect for her family, we do not intend to release the student’s name.”
Amherst police logs show that officers assisted with a medical call on Fearing Street Nov. 16 at 11:43 p.m.
Amherst Fire Chief Walter “Tim” Nelson confirmed that an Amherst Fire Department ambulance responded to Fearing Street, which is located just south of the campus, where they found the injured woman at about 11:45 p.m.
Nelson said the woman had been drinking prior to the accident, but it was unclear if her fall was caused by the alcohol she had consumed.
“How much alcohol played a factor in that, we’re not sure,” Nelson said.
Assistant Fire Chief Donald McKay said the ambulance crew got to the scene and immediately transported the woman, who had suffered a head injury, to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.
“Some folks just lost their daughter,” Nelson said. “That, to me, is the toughest part.”
this the article from the paper......
chif nelson is right....“Some folks just lost their daughter,”. “That, to me, is the toughest part.”
so mr. kelly when this girl's name is put in a search engine or her family's name your blog will come up ...the family has suffered enough, now this can haunt them for years to come...
and also 12:04...the information is easy to get if you want and have time to waste...which mr. kelly does
Actually it's Kelley with an extra e. But oddly enough, if you Google the wrong spelling it comes up higher.
And you stii don't explain why UMass took 10 days to acknowledge the tragedy.
This all starts at home. Teaching values and self-respect don't lead to this kind of debauchery. A large population of the UMASS student body have issues because this is a school kids turn to when they simply aren't good enough for schools that have a better program (aka they can't get into). Who are we kidding, outside of a few pockets of greatness, UMASS is a 4 year public school for kids who would never have gone to college if their parents didn't push them. It's not the best and brightest. And how little these students respect themselves, others and property is simply a reflection of the types of families and values they were brought up with. This is a terrible tragedy but this girl had a choice. Drink responsibly or be an idiot. Plenty of UMASS students do. The rest end up on this blog. Rest in peace. God grant closure to their family.
Umass likely took ten days to allow the family grieving time and respected their right to privacy.
A death might be public notice. I love your website Larry, but there is a difference between illegal and immoral. You are legally permitted to post such information, but is it the right thing to do?
As for Billy Blank, I hope you step off your pedestal of arrogance and realize that you are ignorant as those who drink to the point of death. I am willing to bet, as a graduate of UMass, that I succeed to a greater capacity than you both in the short and long term.
But UMass has not released her name, thus protecting the family. So why did they not at least acknowledge the death of an unnamed student on November 20?
Could someone please explain why it is immoral, or unethical to print the name of a person who dies... by whatever means? Seriously, look at the newspapers every single day. When there's a car accident the names are printed, when a pedestrian is struck by a vehicle, the names of the driver and the victim are printed, when there's a murder the names are printed. It is not a matter of "respecting the family's privacy", if that were the case then where does that privilege end? Can someone who is arrested request to not have their name in the paper? Simply, it is not how it works. Journalism is reporting THE WHOLE TRUTH. Richard Marsh.
She leaves behind a mother, father, brother and 837 friends on Facebook. 500 mourners turned out for the funeral service. Her local newspaper described her as "an angel."
you looked at her face book page...man you got problems
And nothing but the truth.
Someone dying by accident is quite a bit different than someone who was arrested for a crime. Of course the person arrested cannot control whether their name appears in the paper. That's a no brainer and not at all germane to the discussion at hand.
And of course, a newspaper is free to print the names of anyone it wants to print, except of course rape victims. We are talking about a newspaper CHOOSING not to print someone's name out of respect for the family. My first post was all about pointing out that Larry does not know the meaing of the word respect. Of course he has the right to publish anyone's name he wants. The point I have been trying to make is that Larry has no idea what the word "Respect" means.
Actually if you read the Gazette article it sounds like UMass was the one who refused to provide the name out of "respect for the family."
In other words the Gazette did not have the name ... until now.
@Anonymous December 2, 2012 2:31 PM
So are you saying that newspapers should routinely avoid printing the name of accident victims or crime victims in order to spare pain for the family? Should the names of all the people killed on 9/11 be withheld? What about the latest fatal car accident?
It is both legal and appropriate for the media to report the names or accident or crime victims.
Certainly Miss Jacoby's family is experiencing pain and they may wish that the circumstances of her death not be released. However, when it comes to the right of a free press, it's not their decision.
The Collegian today has a front page story on the accident with the student's name and picture.
Yeah, but they let UMass off the hook for the cover up.
I don't get it. Just what is UMASS supposedly covering up? That one of their students died of an accidental fall?
Does UMASS send out a campus wide notification whenever any student dies, regardless of cause?
A cover up seems to imply that an organization did something wrong. What did UMASS do wrong here? A student tripped, fell, hit her head and died. How did UMASS have anything to hide in this?
Actually they always send out notification, even if it involves something ultra sensitive like suicide.
She tripped and fell.
My grandmother died from the same thing.
Larry, could you please look past your prejudice and admit the most basic fact that the sidewalks in the Lincoln/Fearing area are (a) poorly lit, (b) far from level, and (c) probably haven't had any work done on them since before the Volpe Administration.
And as to why to not release the information -- parents can understand slipping on the ice or ETOH poisoning, but when a girl dies because she tripped & fell on an unsafe sidewalk, it don't look good...
I think the sensitive issue here is whether or not she had been drinking and if this drinking made her more likely to trip and fall. With all due respect to the young woman's family, it's a pretty embarrassing way to lose your daughter. I really do agree with Larry that this story was hush-hush because of the possibly-drunk element. This makes it more sensitive than suicide both for the family and for the university.
UMASS is spending money and time to try to change their image. They have a new PR staff that is headed by a former news guy so he knows all the PR tricks. But here is one reality that UMASS will learn the hard way, you can't put a fence up and think it stops people from seeing what is going on or that it stops what is going on. The school needs to start to forgo money from anyone that will pay and start getting tough. They forget that for every drunk, drug selling kid they toss, another will pay the fee too to replaced him/her.
Sadly they are at the end of the problem, not the cause. These kids are brought up in a world of entitlement. They lack the kinds of morals and sense of responsibility and drive to succeed that our culture should be teaching them. That starts at home. We used to have latch key kids. Now we have latch free kids.
Like cops who now have become social workers having to deal with stuff they shouldn't, UMASS is plagued by problems it shouldn't have to deal with but is condemned for trying to ignore or downplay.
UMASS is facing a sever PR problem as of late. It's been building every year to the point of what it is now, a serious campus wide problem. And some of these problems involve people they shouldn't connected to people that shouldn't and it becomes a bigger problem. The new word is to start focusing on things other than what is becoming a plague to the University and and that might just come from the top and as a result needs to be handled more carefully with the public. There is more than one would think to this story. I mentioned the other day that it involved alcohol but even on your blog that was considered a rash accusation. It was the truth, a girl is dead, and a bigger story and issue needs to be kept close at hand by this University.
To all you residents of Amherst (presumably) ... I hope you realize how much of your income is dependent on tax dollars from the University. You all need to quit whining and complaining about how the students are only partiers, when clearly UMass graduates have went on to do more with your sad lives. If you don't like living in a college town, leave. That's what you're supposed to do when you graduate college.
And we'll be grateful when you leave.
I'm sorry Anon 12:28 all of us college grads will get up and leave now since that's what we're "supposed to do." Let's see how much you enjoy going to school here when there are no locals left to own the businesses or provide the services that you use on a daily basis. Not to mention the professors and other staff at the school that you are supposed to be getting an education from. I'm so sick of the whole Amherst wouldn't survive without UMASS claim. UMASS wouldn't make it either if Amherst turned into a ghost town. So, kindly get your head on straight and act like a respectable human being so that maybe you can start seeing the reality outside of your little protected college world.
Anon 8:56 AM - Then quit bitching about the students. There are various parts of town that students don't inhabit. Students don't rely on local businesses and would do just fine utilizing the corporate retailers that the Amherst/ Hadley area has to offer. You think I can't go get lunch at Chili's instead of Judie's? That I can't buy anything I would buy at a local shop in town at the nearest Target. You're wrong my friend... And it's funny because in the town meeting list of elected reps, I don't see many professors, faculty, or staff... The majority of the people who comment on this blog and vote to raise fines and make student's life a living hell and causing everything to be much worse in town. Students will lash out against the people who lecture them about what they can and cannot do. I'd love for you to honestly tell me that you never went to a UMass party in your day. My head is not in the protected little college world that you so stupidly lump us all together. Obviously, yes there are kids who are spoiled and can afford to not go to class, drink all day, and light couches on fire. Others, like myself, are financing their own education, graduating with two degrees, and are an asset to the community as a whole. It's very unfair for you to judge all 22000 undergraduates here against a few bad apples
I actually can honestly say I never went to a UMASS party "in my day" so don't go assuming. You say "in my day" like you think everyone who has a problem with some of the behavior out of UMASS is middle aged or older. For your info, I'm in my twenties and a fairly recent grad and am appalled by how some of your classmates act.It's not just the older generation who is sick of the BS. I went to school out of state and when I had to move back here I chose to act like an adult instead of continuing to hang out with drunk college students and wreak havoc. I never judged all the students as a whole. You were the one that lumped yourself in with the bad apples not me. Having done it myself, I respect those students working their way through school and actually trying to get an education. However, when you spout off about how Amherst is ruining your life as a college student you sound just as obnoxious and ignorant as the lazy drunks you don't want to be lumped in with. It only takes the bad reputation of a few to ruin it for the whole.
You clearly have no respect for her family and the pain they are going through. It doesn't matter what her name is there is no need to post it. You are so obsessed with UMass and the party scene that you are willing to disrespect a deceased 19 year old girl and her suffering family. Disgusting.
So does the same go for the Daily Collegian? They published her name in a banner front page headline story yesterday.
This is in response to the poster 'Anonymous' who, today @ 12:28am, made the following, exceptionally uninformed comment: "To all you residents of Amherst (presumably) ... I hope you realize how much of your income is dependent on tax dollars from the University." On the off chance that you will check back in to follow this story, I feel you should get your facts straight. And, because you are so completely and utterly ignorant about how adult life works, I am going to 'yell it'. THE UNIVERSITY IS TAX EXEMPT. THAT MEANS THE TOWN OF AMHERST AND ITS CITIZENS GET **NO** TAX DOLLARS FROM THE UNIVERSITY. NOT A ONE. NOTHING. ZERO. ZIP. NADA. SO, TO SUM UP,*****NONE***** OF MY INCOME IS DEPENDENT ON UMASS TAX DOLLARS B/S THERE ARE NO UMASS TAX DOLLARS, YOU MORON! Learn the facts before opening your cake hole.
First, UMass is not tax exempt -- it makes a PILOT payment. And do not forget that half the property in Amherst is also tax exempt.
But imagine no UMass. Think Wichendon.
The slumlords won't have students to rent to, so they abandon the properties and no more taxes on that land. The high priced houses plummet to the $50K range when there are no jobs, etc.
Think of what happens when a military base closes. Why do you think the communities so want to keep the bases open -- and that's even more true in a college town where the salaries are paid to locals.
Higher ed is going to collapse. Happy days....
Dr. Ed, You are absolutely correct. I know about both the amount of town property owned by tax exempt orgs. and about the PILOT Umass pays. According to Larry Kelley, an accountant and member of the Amherst Redevelopment Authority (ARA), "around half of the property in Amherst is owned by tax exempt organizations, with the three largest tax exempt entities being Amherst College, UMass and the town itself." However, as to the Payments In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT), which UMass gives to the town of Amherst, the ARA has said that the amount is "very small compared to that of other schools."
My comment was a response to the following post by an anonymous reader: "I hope you realize how much of your income is dependent on tax dollars from the University." Clearly, this person doesn't understand how the town collects revenue. Or how taxes, in general work. And, regardless of any PILOT UMass pays, it is FAR less than the tax rate of $19.74 that most property owners pay.
But what does the university get for services? Ambulance service which is supposed to break even from billing -- and with all the students on campus on the UM health plan, the AFD will get paid -- and a fire truck for the occasional fire.
And water & sewer where it pays a higher per-gallon fee than everyone else.
That's it -- and I have long said that UM should be its own town.
" A large population of the UMASS student body have issues because this is a school kids turn to when they simply aren't good enough for schools that have a better program (aka they can't get into). Who are we kidding, outside of a few pockets of greatness, UMASS is a 4 year public school for kids who would never have gone to college if their parents didn't push them. It's not the best and brightest."
According to US News and World Report's University rankings:
#20 for Computer Science, tied with Brown, Purdue, Rice, UNC Chapel Hill, USC, and Yale
#8 for Artificial Intellegence
Computer Engineering is #26 nationally
Philosophy is #23 nationally and #33 worldwide.
That's just a sample, look at the rest of the numbers.
And also, just because some people come from families that cannot afford tens of thousands of dollars to go to a private university somehow means that they are less intelligent than those private school kids?
It would appear that you believe that not wanting to start your career with upwards of $50,000 in debt is a sign of stupidity...
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