Local and Mass State Police form a gauntlet at Townhouse Apartments North Amherst
The Monday morning quarterbacking over Blarney Blowout was indeed as different as beer and water this time around. The main complaint seems to be the financial cost to UMass of squelching the dangerous, reputation besmirching rowdiness that garnered international attention last year.
A good thing of course, considering Amherst had 225 police officers -- 60 them Massachusetts State Police -- in town most of the day into the night to ensure peace and quiet.
And in a anti-authoritarian aging-Hippie town like Amherst, you would expect more comparisons to North Korea or some other despotic nation de jour.
Some amateur spinmeisters tried to save face by proclaiming the partying still occurred all over town only it was just not as noticeable as last year. Well if that's the case then it only proves that it is possible to party without bothering the neighborhood.
Memo to party boys: that's the idea!
The Civil War was the most costly conflict in American history. The turning point was a not so strategically located Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was the kind of battle neither side could afford to routinely engage in.
Yes the cost of killing the Blarney Blowout this year was high, but if you consider it a turning point in the war on rowdyism, a price worth paying.
Maybe next year we can get by with a few less police officers.
And yes, it's exceedingly stupid for the Gazette to include the $160,000 cost of last year's Davis Report in the above headline in order to artificially drive up the price of Saturday's successful operation.
Since peace will be restored for the next 100 years, the Davis Report only cost $1,600 per year.
Gotta be worth at least a $1 to have these party hardy boys gone
I think the students of Rage On need to seek a more spiritual path.
ReplyDeleteOh piss off.
DeleteIf he's even a student.
ReplyDeleteCould be a Turtle Boy Sports kind of aging party boy who doesn't want to give up the glory days.
"...in a anti-authoritarian aging-Hippie town like Amherst..."
ReplyDeleteThat was my first thought too.
Isn't this the same Town of Amherst that voted to Impeach both Bush & Cheney? The town that didn't object to the Black Panther flag flying on the Town Common but freaked out over US flags on the WMECO-owned lightpoles?
Is this the same UMass where the library, named after a Marxist, hosted a Ray Luc Levasseur fan club event so offensive that even Deval Patrick was upset?
Is this the same Town of Amherst where it is still essentially 1971, a town controlled by people
whose lives and values where shaped by "Four Dead in Ohio" and the protests that followed?
Weren't many of them personally involved in the protests that shut down UMass in the Spring of 1970? Weren't many of them involved in conflicts with the police, psychologically if not physically, in their youth?
I was initially struck by the irony of these aging anti-authoritarian hippies even tolerating -- let alone wanting to have -- some 225 police offices occupying their town.
An army of occupation -- remember that, at full strength, a Platoon only has 100-200 soldiers -- and they were occupying. Not directing traffic or distributing relief supplies but "occupying" -- one could argue that the town was under de-facto Martial Law as the "right to assemble" was suspended.
The aging hippies would never have tolerated this if it were directed at them -- but it wasn't.
The aging hippies have always been quit hypocritical -- and rather fascist as well. The personal and political are comingled in their drug=addled minds -- it's "do as I say, not as I do" with them.
No more hypocritical than the rest of us. Trouble with people in humorist is it the just think they're smarter than everybody else.
DeleteNot humorous. Amherst. Damn iPhone
Delete"Could be a Turtle Boy Sports kind of aging party boy who doesn't want to give up the glory days."
ReplyDeleteNot unlike those who don't want to give up 1971...
Ed,
ReplyDeleteW.E.B. Dubois wrote about Marxism in 1918. Not exactly the Stalin era.
Just a clarification on the task/organization of a platoon (for those who care about such details). Standard light infantry platoons have three nine man squads with a headquarters element including a radio operator, two machine gun teams (two men each), along with the Platoon Leader and Platoon Sergeant. That puts a standard platoon strength at 34. Check out Army Field Manual 7-8 if you want a cite.
ReplyDeleteCome on now, facts matter.
ReplyDeleteCould be that the pro-police response of very liberal people is an indication of how bad the reality of student behavior is these days.
ReplyDeleteIf students managed to party just as much on Saturday without a response from the surrounding community, more power to them. Their protestations notwithstanding, no one wanted to interfere with their "right to party". Any way they can see this as a victory is fine with me.
Ed, you didn't live here in 1971 and you don't live here now. Get over your obsession with Amherst and do something productive.
ReplyDeleteHaving graduated in 1971, I guess I should be pissed off at being called an 'aging hippie.' But having lived in Amherst since 1967, and seen the changes, I say to you: neener, neener, neener!
ReplyDeleteI've heard it suggested that offering each student $1,000 to not party publicly or disruptively; coupled with the standard police staffing levels; would gave accomplished the same thing, with likely universal compliance. That $3,400 in 'extra' costs could cover many, many weekends!!
ReplyDeleteKudos to Agawam Fire and PD- They seemed to be kept quite busy!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fireground360.com/radio-chatter/blarney-blowout-response-live-blog
Off topic- Have you seen the Kelley/ Kelly Nail Salon in Northampton (building to the right of the main Post Office) They aren't sure how to spell the name (building has one spelling/ window signs have the other!)
ReplyDelete"That puts a standard platoon strength at 34."
ReplyDeleteThat's what I thought too -- but the 100-200 figure was on army.mil so I used it as that is the US Army's official (unclassified) website...
And as to the rest -- give me what Z want and I will go away....
Kind of like Cousins or Cousins' or Cousin's. They're not quite sure how it should be spelled.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte