Monday, June 24, 2013

Anatomy of a Bust

Returned Search Warrant, 11 Phillips Street, Amherst

So I guess you could argue this well publicized APD operation was a waste of time and resources since no charges were ever brought before the District Attorney concerning the operation of an  illegal cash bar in the basement of 11 Phillips Street.

  
11 Phillips Street, Amherst

Just as you could argue the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong never won an individual battle large enough to have a name during the US intervention in Vietnam.

But in the end what matters is, well, the end.

By most accounts Vietnam cannot be chalked up as a US victory; and I would argue the raid on 11 Phillips Street turned out to be a turning point in the battle against rowdy student party houses.

For  that particular house at least.



23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, if you call the fall of Saigon a victory and the communist North over-running the south, we did just fine. "One more such victory, and we shall be undone."

Anonymous said...

Why did you write "Viet Nam"?

Larry Kelley said...

UN spelling.

Walter Graff said...

This was interesting. From A Vietnam travel website.

Vietnam should be correctly written as Viet Nam. Viet is the name of the people, which covers the 54 different ethnic groups in the country. Nam means South. Viet Nam means the Viet people living in the South.
To many people, Vietnam is not an unfamiliar name as it had been on the international press and media for such a long time. But what have been left in their minds are just images of war in a secluded corner of Southeast Asia, nothing more. So hardly does anyone know the meaning of the name and the long established history of that remote country.
The name Vietnam came about when Emperor Gia Long desired to rename the country Nam Viet which was the combination of names of regions in Vietnam, including An Nam and Viet Thuong, and later change to Vietnam as seen today. There are many other assumptions about the meaning of the name and the most rational explanation is that the name is the fine combination of both geographical and ethnical factors.
In brief, Vietnam means the Viets of the South according to the second explanation or is synonymous with the reunification of different regions in Vietnam in accordance with the first explanation.

http://www.vietnamonline.com/faqs/what-does-vietnam-mean.html

Anonymous said...

This is interesting, from wikipedia:

A know-it-all or know-all is a person who obnoxiously purports an expansive comprehension of a topic and/or situation when in reality, his/her comprehension is inaccurate or limited. This display may or may not be directly expressed.

The German word Besserwisser is also used in some languages, literally meaning "better knowing [person]".

Anonymous said...

So a girl came out of the building with a cup of beer. She is violating a town ordinance by carrying it into the public way and I didn't see her charged with anything. She didn't pay admission, you can't prove where the beer came from, and if she's over 21 and cute, half the police officers might give her a cup of beer (from a bottle) -- that isn't illegal.

I question the judge who signed off on this...

Larry Kelley said...

I believe she was an informant working for the police.

Anonymous said...

There is an established principle of law that "two wrongs don't make a right." So she was an informant "working for the police" -- how many laws is she permitted to violate with impunity because of that?

Any problem with her driving drunk? How about doing some of the stuff Whitey Bulger is accused of, he was an "informant for the police" as well.

Assuming that she was 21, giving her beer was not a crime. Her taking it across the property line and onto the public way was, but she was the criminal in that incident.

If I were those boys, I'd sue the town. The fact that the DA didn't prosecute is evidence there was no crime there, and I'd sue for harassment and defamation and the rest -- and then one less ethical than I would also find out the name of the young lady and make damn sure that all of UMass knew who she was.

Larry Kelley said...

Yeah, the Bad Boys should file a class action suit since there were 15 of them living in that house (only zoned for 4).

Anonymous said...

Well Larry, maybe no charges were brought against the students because nothing could be proven. Maybe they didn't actually do anything worthy of being charged with a crime for. Maybe the only thing they truly did wrong was have "illegal kegs" in the house.
If you buy a 30 rack and split it with me and a couple of your buddies and we hand you cash then I guess you're running an illegal bar operation too. I guess we better make sure you don't make even a penny off of our transaction. I would never want you in trouble for that. In your opinion though you should be charged, right?

If the police could have proven that they were running a bar and handing out booze to minors while raking in the big bucks then they probably would have been charged. The informant involved wasn't charged money for her cup of beer so I guess I need to find more illegal cash bars that don't follow through on the cash part. Let me know if you find any and I'll do the same. I'd love to sit down and have a beer with you at a bar like this.

Just some food for thought ;)

Anonymous said...

Kelley, with all due respect why dont you get a real job. Your blog is for amherst a town of 90 percent college students and yet you are so against them. Publish one good thing the students do. Without them, amherst would die.

Anonymous said...

Kelley you know that without students in amherst the town would die. You sit here and waste your time attempting to undermine the wholesome college experience. If you knew anything about amherst you would know that my son and his organization raised over 30,000$ for autism speaks this past april. I dont see any articles about that.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Kelley, when you went to school if you did, didn't you try to get as cheap as rent as possible? I am sure that is what those students were trying to do. Education is so expensive these days. I do not think they did anything wrong.

Larry Kelley said...

And if they died in a fire, I guess that would make them dead right.

Anonymous said...

"And if they died in a fire,"
Gee Larry, are we not reaching a little bit now? You used to be able to debate with a little skill before. Looks like you are getting old. Poor, poor, poor attack. You got away with a lot of cheap shots in the ring but it won't work with words.
Can-------1
Larry-----0

Larry Kelley said...

Actually it's CAN, Cowardly Anon Nitwit. And that's all I need to day. CAN.

Anonymous said...

I don't see the Brave Amherst Police going into Southpoint or Boulders for drug busts.

Why is that?

Larry Kelley said...

When was the last time you were out at the Boulders or Southpoint to have noticed?

Anonymous said...

Considering all the philanthropy work Greek Life does in Amherst, giving them a bad reputation will definitely help the town....especially while nobody has seen your face helping the community, just bashing it.

Larry Kelley said...

Oh, people saw my face on the floor of Amherst Town Meeting.

And I kicked ass ("helping the community") ... well, mostly.

Anonymous said...

Larry at 9:09 AM,
Thanks for pointing out my error on the use of Can instead of CAN. Maybe this will stand as my defense;"The most common capitalization scheme seen with acronyms is all-uppercase (all-caps), except for those few that have linguistically taken on an identity as regular words, with the acronymous etymology of the words fading into the background of common knowledge, such as has occurred with the words scuba, laser, and radar—these are known as anacronyms."
Also the score is now:
Can or CAN------------2
Larry-----------------0
Larry, there is no space in the word TODAY.
I had to deduct a point for that.
You must always debate the issue, not the opponent.

Larry Kelley said...

Actually it was a typo. I meant to say, "That's all I need to SAY."

Ibid. (CAN)

Anonymous said...

Wonder what would have happened if they had told the girl/cop-informant to go get a couple bags of chips or maybe a 12 pack of soda or something. Would that have been "charging an admission price?"

The kegs are one thing -- but they aren't really what the search warrant was based on -- it was unlicensed bar not unlicensed kegs -- and where do you draw the line between the social presumption that you bring something to a party (or help pay for it) and "unlicensed bar"?

Say one of the APD officers has a nice yard with a pool and whatnot, and decides to host all the other off-duty officers (and their families/children/etc) for a 4th of July party. The other guys aren't allowed to bring stuff? They wouldn't feel that they *should* bring stuff?

Say he's really good at BBQ Ribs -- he can't afford to feed a hundred people out of his own pocket so he asks the other guys to chip in -- which they are glad to do -- is he running an unlicensed restaurant in his back yard? (Note food, not beer.)

Better example: Say he gets a town keg permit and buys two kegs of the good stuff -- that's what $130 or so for two. And the rest of the guys (and gals) pay their share -- give him $5/$10 or whatever it comes to. Is this a group of friends collectively paying for something, or is this the sale of alcohol?

Even better example. Let's say something happens and the shifts are held over. So they make a call to a retired officer, or someone's girlfriend, or whomever -- and ask that person to go buy their beer before the store closes at 11PM. Of course they will re-imberse the person when they pick it up -- at 11:30 PM. Is the person who ran that errand for them guilty of selling alcohol without a license? Or is the person essentially their agent purchasing on their behalf a legal product?

Larry, where do you draw the line on this? APD, where do YOU draw the line on this? We all know that folks routinely do the stuff I describe above, and that no one considers it criminal.