Full parking lot in Court this morning
This morning it was standing room only in Eastern Hampshire District Court #1 (criminal courtroom) with all the Blarney Blowout perps, their parents, and media -- print, television, and digital.
Judge Payne, who usually handles the Monday morning arraignments, was on vacation so Judge Robert Gordon was presiding.
Like the Amherst Police Department at the peak of the Blarney Blowout storm, the court system was a tad overwhelmed processing the perps. Most of the college aged youth were dressed up business casual, but had a rather subdued look on their faces.
Or as my Irish mother used to say, "looked like a spanked ass."
The charges ranged from "open container/underaged drinking" to the more serious "assault and battery on a police officer" usually in conjunction with "failure to disperse, rioting" and "resisting arrest."
Since the latter charges carried the potential of one year in the House of Correction the Judge always asked if they were going to hire an attorney or did they wish the court to appoint them one.
Most of the more seriously charged individuals responded they would be hiring an attorney and the court set a pre-trial date for later next month.
The youths charged with minor offenses for the most part opted to settle the matter today by chatting with the District Attorney out in the hallway and will probably end up with a $100 fine and 4 months probation.
This process will continue tomorrow and a bailiff thought maybe even into Wednesday. And of course many of those arrested will continue to clog up the court system into the next few months, with some of them facing the prospect of a permanent criminal record.
A day of debauchery, a lifetime of regret.
#####
Amherst Police issue another statement
Note to media: total APD arrests 55 and UMPD 3, for a total of 58
Note to media: total APD arrests 55 and UMPD 3, for a total of 58
Boston Globe editorial: End the Blarney Blowout (wish it was that easy)
AFD also stressed by Blarney: 20 patients seen, 12 transported to hospital
AFD also stressed by Blarney: 20 patients seen, 12 transported to hospital
48 comments:
Sorry, but no student regrets anything they did during Blarney. Arrests and fines are just a part of college. Everywhere. Not just Amherst. Relax, LARRY.
As I've stated elsewhere, the kids should face punishment for their actions.
But the real perpetrators are the local businesses that supported and benefited from this fiasco.
I hope you and other area reporter are looking into that, Larry
Obviously you are not one of the little darlings who was in court this morning.
That was meant for CAN 11:44 AM
It's hard to see a solution to end this next year? This year there was no promos at any bars and the town can tell the bars not to open that day. Sadly it's become a tradition and the students spread the word. Saturday I parked over by Olde Town Tavern about 10am to drop something off at the dry cleaners. 5 feet away there was a guy vomiting between two cars at 10am?. I'm 26 year's old, I like to go out and have a good time but this destructive pack mentality binge drinking that has becoming the norm in Amherst I don't understand.
Yes, the Select Board really needed to get tough two or three years ago before the monster had fully matured (in an immature sort of way).
Take the 73 arrested, divide up costs of overtime and damages, and make them pay. I hope Umass expels them all.
It's actually 58 arrested (I wish mainstream media would get it right), but yes, the Court usually enforces the town bylaw fines which come back to the town treasury.
Anonymous 1144, I am a grad student, and I do regret what those kids did. They disgraced my degree for fighting with the police for no good reason.
They are disgusting cowards, who waste my time studying by belittling my degree through their actions.
Nice Police State you got going at UMASS.
I graduated from Umass in 1980.
They called it the Zoo back then for a reason.
I found the actions of the students disgraceful, but this is also unacceptable: http://instagram.com/p/lXq5TZK-5P/
-a UMass grad student
Considering that the people recording it were laughing and saying "tase him" you have to wonder what he did.
Why not assign 40 hours of community service to each of the students arrested. Make them clean up the streets downtown, wash benches, pick up trash and give them 60 days to complete it so they have to so it when the weather is nicer. Public humiliation is the only way to shame them.
This part will happen again next year, the toothpaste is out of the tube.
The disgusting, barbaric actions displayed by the police leave a much more negative impact on the University and Amherst in general. What parent will want to send their kid into that type of environment. There are videos of police shooting tear gas at students INSIDE homes. It's disgusting, backwards, and embarrassing. Lord knows some of those pigs were having the time of their lives playing real-life Call of Duty with a bunch of defenseless college kids. Pathetic.
Anyone who says that the police acted inappropriately is a complete idiot (even for that barstool video). These aren't Occupy protesters, these are immature drunk kids or douchebags of the lowest order. If that kid didn't want to get pepper sprayed, he should have stayed inside or not gone to the festivities at all. Everyone knew that the police were going to come down hard on unruliness, and they did. Nobody should be surprised or offended at the police actions this weekend, they were entirely reasonable.
And the events weren't just coming down on partying. For context, I am not an old guy, I was at UMass three years ago, partied every weekend (and many weekdays), and lived in the center of town. I never went to a frat house, never got arrested, or even stopped by the police, and the policing and partying atmosphere was similar. You can have a good time without this nonsense. I hope the University comes down harshly on these people and defends the dignity of my degree.
Larry, maybe you should move and live in North Korea. You would excel at publishing propaganda pieces
"Defenseless college kids"
Are you delusional? These kids not only have power in numbers but they also have much more dangerous weapons than the cops are using. Getting hit in the face with a bottle can cause much more severe damage than this clown getting pepper sprayed for not following simple directions. Someone could easily lose an eye. My friend has video of someone getting hit in the face with bottle I'll see if I can find it. Needless to say he looked pretty mad for much longer than the kid getting sprayed.
Anon 405, you are delusional and need to grow up
Larry -- one arrest for intoxicated possession of a firearm - I presume loaded -- this could get a whole lot worse very very quickly the next time because those riot shields aren't bulletproof.
Things escalate quickly sometimes...
And I agree with above -- you'd fit in nicely in North Korea.
Dennis Rodman invited me but I was a tad too busy.
Nice Police State you got going at UMASS.
That is how a lot of parents are going to see this -- and the ones with "good" kids ain't gonna be sending them to UMass next fall.
If 20,000 undergrads go back to their high schools next week and only tell 10 kids what things are *really* like out here, that would be 200,000 fewer potential freshmen next year.
UMass still wants the money so they will dig deeper into the barrel and get worse behaved kids and they will raise MORE hell next year. And yes, this is gonna happen again next year (if not sooner) -- and the more draconian the punishments, the more daring the young men will become as (like elevator surfing) it becomes a means of showing off.
I know you hate everything about umass students but just take a look at this letter from a recent graduate of umass.
http://www.hercampus.com/school/u-mass-amherst/open-letter-umass-amherst-community-regarding-blarney-blowout-alumnus
Would be more impressed if she signed her name.
"this could get a whole lot worse very very quickly the next time"
Poor, poor Ed. Like a Sox fan in days of olde: "Okay, maybe my dreams didn't come true this time. But just wait 'til next year!"
No really, the sky is falling. No one gets out of here alive!
all you can comment on is not signing her name? She brings up a great point.
The thing I don't understand about the police brutality people is that they seem to forget that they do not have to be there. It isn't illegal to gather in large groups, but it is illegal when those groups become destructive or dangerous, which they were.
To the people who are calling Amherst a police state, or that the police are always this brutal, you are idiots. The Amherst police department is one of the most progressive and easy to get along with police departments I have ever encountered. If you don't like getting treated like an unruly mob, don't go to events which historically turn into unruly mobs (i.e. Blarney, Hoedown, Red Sox wins, frat houses, etc). When you are drinking a beer on your couch while watching the news and your door is broken down by the police, or walking down the street eating a bagel and get pepper sprayed, or are stopped-and-frisked, then start complaining. Until then, sit down, shut up, and lets get to the bottom of why these things keep happening.
Can you explain to me why the police intervention is so extreme in a situation like this but at the football tailgates is more of a supervision rather than prevention?
Anon 605. Someone w as j ust walking down the street by themselves headed to his friends house and he was thrown to the ground, handcuffed and then had pepper spray sprayed in their eyes. For NO reason. The town will pay.
Ed, you are delusional. Unfortunately, that also means unemployed.
I seem to think that she DID sign her name. Olivia Kennis looks like a name to me...
Poor, poor Ed. Like a Sox fan
Correct me if I am wrong, but 2004 & 2013 have something in common, don't they?
And are things better or worse than they were 15 years ago? Answer honestly. And is not each year worse than the one before?
People laughed at me when I predicted that there soon would be rioting at UMass -- I will never forget a reporter from the Gazette telling me that it'd never happen. And????
Now I'm saying they are INEXORABLY GETTING WORSE and will continue to do so. And???
I hate being right on something like this. But I am.
football tailgates is more of a supervision rather than prevention?
Simple -- alumni and they want donations from the few still willing to associate with UMass.
I'll not go to tailgating though -- not after this -- I don't dare..
"Not after this"
Why not? To me this doesn't interfere with my tailgating ritual at all.
And anon 610, this is different people the tailgating IS for supervision, tailgates don't get out of hand, this does. If blarney attendees didn't throw bottles and cause safety concerns there wouldn't be such a huge police intervention
Where the heck do you see Olivia kennis?
Ed, you are delusional. Unfortunately, that also means unemployed.
Q.E.D. and as I am not the latter, I therefore am not the former.
As an aside, you really want to worry about the people like this -- particularly the ones who quietly pay a fine -- it is only a matter of time until one of them becomes rather lethal. I will not enjoy saying "I told you so" when that inevitably happens....
Someone was just walking down the street by themselves headed to his friends house and he was thrown to the ground, handcuffed and then had pepper spray sprayed in their eyes. For NO reason. The town will pay.
That's the loose cannon who decides to up the ante the next time -- and then it won't just be the local networks in the parking lot...
By Olivia Kennis
Posted Mar 10 2014 - 10:05am
Tagged With: celebration,
In the "by" line, where it traditionally is located. It's there in plain sight to me...
Different article Ed^
Ed, what by god does someone pay you to do for a living?
Your little UN town needs to come to Holyoke for the St Patricks Day Parade on Sunday. On Saturday we have the road race. The city parties all weekend long all over the city and in my 57 yrs I've never seen the HPD in riot gear. And BTW all races are welcome for the parade is a day for the little ones.
Why aren't UMass administrators there in court too? These are there students. Maybe some face to face is in order.
I've never seen the HPD in riot gear.
I'll bet that -- outside of an elite narcotics squad -- they don't even have it.
Anon 1021, you have not mastered basic grammar. Perhaps your teacher should be held responsible?
As for Larry, not everyone can publish things with their name, as they might have certain things at risk by doing so. For example, maybe the alumni from that article works for APD, and cannot speak about ongoing cases. It is not cowardice as you most often assume.
Larry do you know what percentage were actually umass students?
Of the 55 arrested by APD 21 were UMass students.
That's only 38%. Yet, UMass students are getting 100% of the blame.
If the Retreat is built in Cushman Forest, there will be huge drinking parties constantly. One big difference is that they would be on private property, and in other Retreats, the management has defended the rights of students to have kegs on their front lawns, and police have much more limited ability to respond (not to mention ambulances navigating the icy sloped roads). Those parties might be less visible to anyone not in Cushman (ie: it will NOT be in THEIR backyard), but is it any less of a blight for UMass, just because it will only affect residents who live up there? News stories from towns with Retreats talk about police, fire, ambulance shortages as the new normal!
If UMass was "right-sized" as was proposed in the early '90's (before folks realized how many layoffs would be involved), if the undergraduate student body was reduced to about 12,000 (less than half of what it currently is), then there would be a lot fewer problems in Amherst. Also a lot fewer people with jobs...
Details, details, I know...
Wow what a brilliant comment Anon 1115.
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