Uprooted stop sign from town center now at DPW building
The numbers really do tell the embarrassingly sad story of the Blarney Blowout 2014: 58 total arrests (55 APD, 3 UMPD) with another 24 summons issued for alcohol related incidents.
AFD transported between 18 and 20 overzealous Blarney participants to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital thus tying up a vital ambulance (one per person) for at least an hour per incident.
Four officers received minor injuries during the turbulence even though many of them were wearing riot gear.
But the real damage is just now picking up steam: National news (including Time Magazine) blaring headlines that reflect ever so poorly on our little college town and the "flagship of higher education" in the entire state of Massachusetts, where education was pretty much founded.
Did the police overreact? Hell no. Obviously they were outnumbered 100 to 1, so when those kind of lopsided odds start to turn bad -- throwing bottles and cans, setting off fireworks, uprooting stop sign's and gravestone's etc -- there's really no choice but to step in.
Chief Livingstone (white cap) on scene N. Pleasant/Fearing streets moments before use of OC pepper guns
I asked Chief Livingstone to respond to the concern APD "overreacted" with their use of OC pepper ball guns, and received this response:
"Like all our less than lethal force options, we have protocol and policy on how they are dispersed. Yesterday's events, after numerous dispersal order were given at a number of locations, justified their use. As you know I was on scene at Puffton, Townhouse and Fearing and North Pleasant Streets. Officers acted accordingly and per policy."
North Pleasant Street had to be shut down for 15-20 minutes
So where do we go from here?
Last year, prior to the Blarney Blowout riot of 2013 (where only 6 were arrested), Amherst Attorney Peter Vickery sent a letter to the Amherst Select Board reminding them as the town's liquor commissioners they could, as an public safety measure, shut down all alcohol sales within town borders on the day of the Blarney Blowout.
They ignored him.
It's time to take that sobering suggestion seriously. The Select Board should put the measure on their next meeting agenda, where they will no doubt be discussing the public safety disaster that unfolded in our little town yesterday.
Voting to suspend all alcohol sales in town for next year's Blarney Blowout at their next meeting, would be ironic justice ... since that meeting occurs on March 17 -- St. Patrick's Day.
58 comments:
I agree. Why should the rest of us have to put up with this nonsense just so a few bar owners and package stores can make money. OTOH, it will probably just drive sales to Hadley and the package stores will do a brisk business on the day before.
I'd also like to see an investigation as to how many of the participants were from UMass and how many were non-students. Let's understand the basis of the problem so appropriate pre-event responses can be developed.
I'm for it. I won't be shopping for alcohol in Amherst and surrounding towns now any way. And I'll be talking to my colleagues, friends and students about it. I plan on having a conversation with each of the business owners I know in the Amherst area that cater to the student crowd. I want to know which ones supported this fiasco, and specifically, which ones marketed to students using the "Barney Blowout" slogan and related graphics. I think those businesses should be ashamed and I vote for boycotting any local business that thinks selling alcohol and related products to children for such an event is a good idea.
Students wanted to have a large party. Police didn't want them to.
UMass was exposed to the national media for being the purgatorial cesspool that we all know it to be.
You can thank me for the third thing -- and the timing couldn't be better because right about now is when parents start making decisions about college for their kids.
And I ain't done yet...
Stopping alcohol sales during the Blowout would potentially help a little but kids would just buy alcohol earlier and the rest of us would be penalized for living in a town with irresponsible college students. Again.
I think two controversial things would do a lot to fix this problem. #1 more than #2.
#1. Lower the drinking age back down to 18. Then UMass can host this mess on campus. They can't now because it's condoning under age drinking if they do. Kids can be drafted and killed at age 18 they ought to be able to drink legally and get used to the responsibility of being adults.
#2. Legalize cannabis. Kids who are stoned are not violent. Gangafest weekend is calm and great for food sales.
Unpopular proposals I'm sure. But then, I don't often shy away from those.
Stopping alcohol sales the day of the day before, the week before, or the month before is silly. It's not going to make any difference. How big a radius? No alcohol sales in Hadley too?
I hoped to review the University's Alcohol and Drug Policies, so I went to to this page
http://www.umass.edu/studentlife/community/policies-and-guidelines
and here is what I learned:
http://www.umass.edu/uhs/uploads/basicContentWidget/28367/AOD_policies2013.pdf
So I persevered and found the University's alcohol and drug policy here:
http://www.umass.edu/uhs/uploads/basicContentWidget/14210/AOD_policies2013.pdf
Causing a disturbance or posing a danger to others while intoxicated can lead to these draconian penalties (for the third offense) removal from University housing, a $175 fee, parental notification and, er, that's it. The footnote mentions that sanctions "may be enhanced based on the severity of the behavior and impact on the community."
May?
Totally agree with Cinda.
In my days at UMASS drinking age was 18. When I lived on campus, we partied in the dorms. Floor parties with music and dancing and our beds just down the hall. There were campus sponsored events and the Blue Wall, which served alcohol, where live performances took place. Remember the spring concert? Wow. Almann Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, etc. Then there was the Rusty Nail, The Hangar, Rahars, all clubs that served folks 18 or older and offered a civilized, fun atmosphere featuring live music to dance to, and a welcoming place within which to party and congregate. What are the attractions for students now-a-days? What we just experienced demonstrates the current void that exists. The question is, what to do about it.
Closing the barn door after the horse is out won't solve this problem.
The bar owners promoted a day of drunken destruction and the town government sanctioned it by allowing bars to open at 10am on this Saturday.
Now the party doesn't even have much to do with bars. It's become an excuse to have an all-day drunken celebration, attracting increasing numbers of young people with no connection to UMass.
You can ban alcohol sales for a week before next year's blowout. It won't matter. People will stock up on liquor further advance or buy it elsewhere.
The only solution left is to arrest participants in large numbers for disturbing the peace, underage drinking, etc. and throw the book at them.
What the hell happen to "NO DRINKING IN PUBLIC". Is this not a town bylaw?
Arrest them all, put them in the Cage at Umass.
There you go, problem solved mister!
The Select Board has not given permission for bars to open early in the past two years.
The Reuters national story reads like a Pravda report on the recent events in Ukraine; not a single angle from the students' viewpoints, they are too drunk to speak. The comments on this message board are right on though, mostly.
I was a town drunk off and on recently over the last several years and spent hundreds of pleasant hours drunk around UMass students often perched in front of Antonio's on weekend nights. I can't speak highly enough for this current cohort of young adults, o for the Amherst police department. I was arrested over 50 times without once being physically violated, just the occasional perjury, obstruction of justice, and errant public relations that are endemic in this system of conflictive justice. Even more unusually, I was a "drunken bum" around thousands and thousands of youth and never hurt by them, instead usually treated with respect, dignity, warmth and empathy.
This is a social tragedy, but Amherst is not such a bad place. It could be better of course, but I can think of no quick remedy for a civilization on the wane and the cusp of decay except continued mutual respect. How can UMass be a social outlier by being more liberal in their application of in loco parentis? How can the police find a procedure that doesn't alienate, victimize, or be misperceived as militaristic in our overly militarized society. The "kids" are probably not all right, but we can probably help by continuing to facilitate their voices and perspectives while they fix it themselves.
Cinda (lmao) I believe that your idea is right on and would drive enrollment up in the Amherst area, but having lived through the 70 and 80's I remember the battered reputation and ridiculous costs in damages from lower drinking ages and laxed policing on drugs.
Larry, if they actually were toppling gravestones, as you allege above, that's a big thing. Also one I don't believe happened. So. like, are you making this up or do you have something to report?
Scanner traffic, 5:33 PM
Gravestones located where?
West Cemetery, the most sacred plot of land in Amherst.
I agree with Cinda Jones on her proposal to lower the drinking age back to 18. This well-intentioned experiment in public policy has simply not worked.
We've driven the process of learning how to be an adult about alcohol into the safety in numbers of big crowds, and into the shadows. We've turned drinking for large numbers of young adults into an anti-social activity, and, yes, this is occurring at other college campuses, not just UMass. I would include in Massachusetts a 3 day mandatory house of correction sentence for a first offense in obtaining alcohol for a minor, to curb the problem of legal teens procuring for illegal teens.
The drinking needs to return to campus, where school administrators can deal with it, and not simply give their neighbors the callous "to the resident of the college town, beware" response. There's a citizenship piece as part of their educational mission, and they are failing at it very badly.
Unpopular ideas have to start somewhere, with people brave enough to voice them. The conventional wisdom about the drinking age needs to be reexamined.
They say that hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue. We can't say that we want kids to learn responsible approaches to alcohol, criminalize its use at the same time, and then say how disappointed we are that they act as if they are not fully adults. There are too many conflicting messages there.
Rich Morse
Well Larry, did you confirm with the Chief that it actually happened? Or with whomever is responsible for the cemetery? Perhaps better, with both?
Or do we even care about facts anymore?
Today is Sunday, I had more important facts to corroborate. And I did.
We've turned drinking for large numbers of young adults into an anti-social activity, and, yes, this is occurring at other college campuses, not just UMass.
A very valid point, but there is more than this. There is a suppressed level of quite visceral rage amongst the UMass students, the vast majority of whom have taken the attitude of "shut my mouth, get out of here, and NEVER look back."
Very few of the people who graduated in this century want anything to do with the place -- homecoming, alumni, that stuff is all those who graduated from UM of yore.
It's a school well known for long lines, red tape and treating students badly. Incivility breeds incivility, that's what you saw yesterday. And where in an earlier era you would have seen peers discouraging this sort of bad behavior, today they aren't unhappy to see it occur.
Gangafest weekend is calm
I doubt it would be were riot-clad cops confronting the participants.
Today is Sunday, I had more important facts to corroborate. And I did.
Desecration of a cemetery strikes me as a kinda big thing. That it did or didn't happen seems like a kinda big fact to me.
If it actually happened, I think you would be the first one there with the pictures of the shattered headstones. I can't say I'd blame you, as that sort of thing is quite significant, but as you didn't.....
"Very few of the people who graduated in this century want anything to do with the place"
That's not true. I'm a proud alumn, along with every fellow classmate I can think of. And I see plenty alumni coming back for many sporting events and other events. Tons would gather to tailgate when the football team would play on campus. It's always great to see former friends.
Made the news not only nationally but internationally. Friends of mine from overseas asked me about it.
Ralph Reed?? Really Ralph Walter Reed?? I thought I seen it all with the Blarney Blowout, but seeing Ralph Reed write a masterpiece on this blog?! Now I've seen it all.
I'm not blaming the APD because they are under so much political pressure without the tools to address the problem but I've reviewed the media reports and this Channel 22 report on the events before they heated up shows an officer saying that "...this year we're going to do preventative maintenance. We're going to shut it down before..."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iANE4chc7rA
And this student recorded take shows a surprised and frightened response to, what is reported as CS, or tear gas, not "pepper spray" as reported in hundreds of media https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IUgpK2xmRo. Separate from the obvious propaganda effects of "pepper spray" versus "CS" or tear gas isn't pepper spray removed from the Massachusetts police armory since a young woman was killed outside Fenway Park? Is the police order to disperse removed from the student's video for propaganda purpose. His fear seems real.
I hate to see American police encourage violent crime and terrorism as this episode seems to depict. It can happen here and these students should be protected from bullying if my suspicions are grounded.
Again I don't blame the APD as the political culture isn't healthy and the institutional behavior vexed at the least.
Ed,
You've been very forthcoming about your beef with The University, but what, exactly, was their beef with you? Trying to flesh out the nature of your extreme animosity.
"Other colleges across the country have gone on high alert around St. Patrick's Day to deal with alcohol-fueled students. At Penn State, the school paid licensed liquor establishments to stay closed this month during the unofficial drinking holiday known as State Patty's Day for the second year in a row.
"State College, Pa., police Chief Tom King said that the strategy, along with a fraternity ban on parties, helped lead to a 75 percent decrease in arrests and citations this year compared to 2011 - the fake holiday's heyday."
This is a quote from NECN story, "Dozens arrested at UMass Amherst's 'Blarney Blowout'"
http://www.necn.com/03/08/14/Dozens-arrested-at-UMass-Amhersts-Blarne/landing.html?blockID=863641
After the long history of this kind of behavior, year after year after year, why would anyone take seriously anything a UMass chancellor had to say on this subject? We've heard it all before.
I'm new to the area so I'm wondering if the university has ever tried holding a counter-event on campus to draw students away from this. Like a show at the Mullins center that isn't some DJ like the ones who are now banned or at least no longer scheduled. I say ban alcohol sales downtown but come up with an alternative form of entrainment that day to give the partiers something to do.
Mr. Town Manager,
How about hiring some more cops in Amherst? Is it fair for the rest of the town of Amherst who do not live in the immediate vicinity of Umass to be neglected on such a consistent basis? It's getting ridiculous that you would sacrifice the safety of the citizens of Amherst in order for a pat on the back for saving a few bucks? Please Mr. Town Manager...go back to Northampton to count your beans. We need some security, we need more cops.
An alternative form of entertainment, you say?
How about day care? Or perhaps a play-date arranged by their parents? You see, we've neglected them, ever since we stopped carefully setting up amusements every day for them, because we stupidly mistook them for adults, and allowed them to leave home.
I keep hearing over and over that the University of Massachusetts is a world-class university. Well, ok, I can believe that, because I keep being told that, and we know that in the twenty-first century, if you assert something enough times, it must be true.
Therefore, whoever was NOT out there throwing rocks at cops and damaging cars yesterday has to be astronomically world-class, with these kids drastically dragging down the average.
By witnessing in such a stark way what the low end of the spectrum at the University is capable of, we are newly reassured of how truly excellent the rest of the spectrum studying there is. Who said that there was no good news from this latest fiasco in managing our children's delicate psyches?
It was so hard for us, as parents, to let go of them, and now we know why. Remember that little voice in the back of our heads that told us they weren't ready to be out in the big world?
This sounds like stark slanderous regurgitation of the propaganda. The footage on Youtube under
"Barney Blowout 2014" shows debauched students/confused, herded students but no violence. The police injuries didn't require hospitalization. My initial take on it was to feel empathy for both the police and brutalized students; but after review it seems like a priori "the police started a riot" like the old Dead Kennedys song "DMSO." Give it a listen sometime. I think that's the consequence desired by behaving like you're SAS in Belfast during the "Time of Troubles" when you terrorize youth: create a few overreactions to justify the torrent of law and order funds.
In order to solve the problem respect is needed. The "law and order" voters who allowed our democracy to become militarized are more to blame than the misbehaving students and police commanders/administrators.
I keep hearing over and over that the University of Massachusetts is a world-class university. Well, ok, I can believe that, because I keep being told that, and we know that in the twenty-first century, if you assert something enough times, it must be true.
I agree -- and the point I make is how exactly does a UM education differ from sitting at home and learning via the internet. It doesn't -- and that is my point.
UMass actually has day care. It is nothign but a babysitting service -- and that is why it has problems. It offers no alternatives.
And those of you who want to know why UM doesn't like me, how many emperors like being told they are stark naked?
UMass is a hoax and a fraud. There is nothing there....
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/pre-st-pat-bash-erupts-chaos-73-arrested-article-1.1715975
The town is going to get sued by the student who was not part of Blarney Blowout, was not drinking at all, was just visiting a friend and he had pepper spray sprayed directly into his eyes - for no reason. For the most part the Amherst police do a good job but they blew it on that one - and the town is going to pay. There were some instances of over reaction by the police.
<dr. ed said...
And those of you who want to know why UM doesn't like me, how many emperors like being told they are stark naked?<
Sure, Ed. That's why they are world leaders in polymer science, robots, and a host of areas. Wake up Ed! It's you.
The notion that the police provoked this behavior is disgusting.
That idea that THOUSANDS of drunken kids should be allowed to invade the peace of residents for even one day, (although the reality is that it is constant), is bullshit. Taxpayers have the right to a reasonable expectation of peace every single day. The fact that it is a college town does not diminish that right in the least, and to say that "people should expect it in Amherst" is a cop out. College students are adults and know right from wrong. They are choosing to ignore their responsibility to the host town, and their responsibility to obey the laws and ordinances of the town.
If what you are getting at is that a gathering of this sort, which is advertised as a day to get as intoxicated as possible, and year after year results in disturbing the peace in often vulgar ways, which therefore poses a threat to the peace of the town, is a protected right, then throwing bottles at police, (who are just regular folks like you and your loved ones. They kiss their wives and husbands, and play with their kids and dogs) and urinating on your neighbor's lawn is not the best way to garner support, or to practice the age old tradition of civil disobedience.
The police have a lawful RESPONSIBILITY to protect the peace and uphold the laws, it is not a choice. This is not fun and games for them, they would rather be anywhere else I'm sure. None the less, they have to risk their own safety and do their duty. To those of you feel that the fact that they protect themselves with riot gear, or that even their presence is the cause of the problem …you are part of the problem. You encourage this behavior, you send a message to the kids that they have support for their behavior.
To anyone foolish enough to believe that if the police stayed home and let the Blowout run its course, and presuming that would be a responsible course of action, again, you are part of the problem.
Richard Marsh
Sure, Ed. That's why they are world leaders in polymer science, robots, and a host of areas
When (not if) data on undergraduate student academic & financial success becomes public -- and it will shortly -- no one is going to give a tinker's damn about a couple hundred people doing proprietary research in esoteric fields. Actually, they might in that there will be talk of taxpayers subsidizing giant corporations, which some of this well may be.
But keep harassing the messenger, I really don't care in that change will be coming and soon. But pay no attention to that giant sucking sound as your lives go down the drain -- and I laugh.
Mr. Marsh may wish to look into the history of the Commonwealth's Blane Amendment and how it came to be passed. The attitude then was the same, this was a Protestant state and if the Irish Catholics chose to come here, they can attend Protestant Churches and send their children to Protestant schools.
Perhaps Mr.Marsh would have supported such an ideal?
And my position is that Amherst needs to have "truth in advertising" and make it clear how the Irish Catholic kids from Boston are not welcome.
UMass ought to do likewise -- and perhaps then you won't have the problems you do now -- or students either, but WTF, it's only your jobs that will evaporate...
Two other things to think about:
1: Students sign a lease for a year -- they are legally bound to that leas even if expelled. So why would they leave Amherst? Why not stay and have a REALLY BIG blowout now that they have nothing to loose?
2: There is a reason why UM never (before) definitively said that the code of conduct applied outside of its jurisdiction -- it won't stand up if challenged. They know that -- and now all they need is a class-action lawsuit brought by some intrepid lawyer and things will get really interesting....
3: Don't hold your breath for the UM payraises to be funded...
The town is going to get sued by the student who was not part of Blarney Blowout, was not drinking at all, was just visiting a friend and he had pepper spray sprayed directly into his eyes - for no reason. For the most part the Amherst police do a good job but they blew it on that one - and the town is going to pay. There were some instances of over reaction by the police
The presumption will be that the student will be so afraid of being expelled that he will quietly plead guilty to something he didn't do -- that's been the tactic in the past -- but this time they are statistically likely to have a few kids who were going to drop out of UM anyway and who won't care.
And the nice thing about UM "being considered a municipality" under the dispersal statute (it was amended to say that) is that UM (including Enku) now comes under Section 1983 because they are a municipality. Which means that her "show-court" CSC proceedings now are evaluated under the "color of law" standard if they are relative to this.
This is going to get interesting -- and some will find rather expensive as well...
Burn baby Burn - Burn the Taxpayer's Dollars, Burn the Taxpayer's Dollars, Burn the Taxpayer's Dollars until a few of the Taxpayers start asking questions....
The right of people to be secure in their residences -=- except when gung-ho cops wish to assault them. Not the America I grew up loving...
As much as this can be compared to the SAS in Belfast -- and should be -- the better comparison is to Chicago, 1968 and the DNC Convention that got Richard Nixon elected.
This was a "police riot."
The fact that Larry Kelly was allowed to be in the line of advancing state troopers shows the level of corruption invovled.
That's Kelley with an ey.
And yeah, at one point I did almost take someone out with a sidekick.
I'm getting a little old to be throwing head high hook kicks, but my sidekick to the balls will ruin your entire weekend.
This was all a plan by Maria Geryk to make us forget how poorly she runs the Amherst school and to gt us to ignore the recent blunders over race issues at the high school that were never properly addressed.
"This was all a plan by Maria Geryk to make us forget how poorly she runs the Amherst school and to gt us to ignore the recent blunders over race issues at the high school that were never properly addressed."
Think it's funny, do ya?
Once this blows over, me and the other sewer rats'r going to be ~pouring~ back out your friggan pipes.
Hear that squeaking?
Shhhhhhhhhh, we're coming!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo9nORIOzvo
-Squeaky Squeaks
p.s. Been there, done that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DZNDEqcSi0
"The presumption will be that the student will be so afraid of being expelled that he will quietly plead guilty to something he didn't do -- that's been the tactic in the past -- but this time they are statistically likely to have a few kids who were going to drop out of UM anyway and who won't care. "
There is no way that kid is pleading guilty to anything - he did nothing wrong...and he hired a lawyer Sunday morning. He will contest it, he will be found innocent and he will sue the town of hundreds of thousands of dollars...and he will win, as he should. The town will probably settle before it gets to court.
Agreed.
Just out of curiosity, I'd like to hear from Dr. Ed, or anyone else really, their reasoning for blaming the police. Richard Marsh
their reasoning for blaming the police
I could say a lot of things from stupid police tactics to running roughshod over civil rights, to failing to distinguish between perp and innocent civillian (that's a big one) but at its most basic, does anyone even know what "En Loco Parentis" actually *MEANS*?
"In place of the parent" -- with the RESPONSIBILITY of the parent, and hence the authority of the parent to act as reasonable to meet that responsibility.
It's a duty, not an authorization.
And any parent who acted as the APD did the other day would find himself/herself arrested for child abuse. And group punishment is out of the Nazi era -- why not just find all 20K UM students guilty and avoid the court time?
I fault the police because they are supposed to be the grownups. They weren't - and I have contempt for them because of that.
And one other thing -- never forget that line about "they came first for the Jews" -- if you let the police violate the sanctity of the private residence as they did Saturday, then your private residence is no longer secure either. Say something unpopular at Town Meeting and this could happen to you...
Actually, I think they first came for the Communists.
does anyone even know what "En Loco Parentis" actually *MEANS*?
Clearly not you. It refers to the responsibility of the university, not the police.
Oh, and you might at least learn to *SPELL* it correctly. Moron.
Ed, parents do not have the same capabilities as the police and they certainly do not have the same responsibilities. As an attendee of the blowout, and eye witness to many events that occurred, I fail to see one instance where anyone's civil rights were violated. So please give an example because we fail to see your point.
Sorry, but the last thing that should be suggested is lowering the drinking age to 18. The university could not control the students in South West Dorms or other campus dorms during the period that Massachusetts allowed one to drink when they turned 18.
The amount of alcohol carried into the dorms at that time was unreal. "Tower Wars" occurred almost every night by students blasting the other towers with their stereos at 3 or 4 a.m. These "Tower Wars" could be heard in many areas of Amherst and not just on campus.
There were more problems with students causing vandalism in the dorm area as well as to the neighborhoods near by campus. Students were hurt. One time, dorm washing machines and dryers were thrown off of one of higher floors the South West.
The university really had no control on the dorms during this time. It is a time that should not be forgotten.
Please be very careful with this suggestion. It could turn out to be last Saturday would occur every weekend.
Post a Comment