Sunday, April 17, 2016

Party Potential

Townehouse Apartments 2:30 PM
Townehouse Apartments 5:30 PM

In the span of just a few hours the crowd of college aged youth at the westernmost green space at Townhouse Apartments in North Amherst grew from a couple dozen to a couple thousand.  Fair enough, considering the beautiful spring weather and this being a l-o-n-g holiday weekend.

But when you mix that large a crowd in an enclosed area with copious amounts of alcohol, there's bound to be trouble.

Townehouse Apartments 6:30 PM: plenty of debris available

Around 6:30 PM a 911 call came in reporting a debris fire in the middle of the large crowd.  AFD responded and staged until APD, who had already put a mutual aid call to Hadley and Northampton, could secure the area.

 Townehouse Apartments 7:00 PM: clean up in aisle 5

And secure it they did, even though outnumbered hundreds to one.

 Sunday afternoon, the following day

At the 2013 Blarney Blowout, the year before the one that made national news but still compelling enough to be my "Story of the Year",  AFD had to respond to the middle of the crowd for an ETOH (alcohol poisoning) college aged female.

They were greeted with a hail of ice, cans and bottles (some of them full), thus APD was forced to wade in to break things up, resulting in six arrests.

The following year was even worse with 58 arrests resulting in enough national publicity to give the town and UMass a black eye and a renewed sense of purpose about killing the Blarney Blowout.

And in 2015 and 2016 with the assistance of 225 police officers, stern messaging from the University combined with a parking and overnight guest crackdown and a Mullins Center concert, the Blarney Blowout is no more.

But anytime there's nice weather late in the spring semester the potential for an (unnamed) blowout is pretty high.


38 comments:

Anonymous said...

Creepy old man with drone strikes again.

Larry Kelley said...

Nah, I don't do drone strikes (lucky for you).

Anonymous said...

What's creepy are human beings who don't clean up after themselves and expect others to do it for them.

Rich Morse

Dr. Ed said...

Trespass in a state building all week with impunity.

Have a party in your private abode and three police departments respond.

Welcome to UMass....

Larry Kelley said...

Actually only one police department. APD sorted out the situation so quickly that they called off the mutual aid request.

Dr. Ed said...

Rich, when the police order them to leave, and they do, THEY AREN'T THERE ANYMORE, which means they aren't there to pick up the mess....

Larry Kelley said...

It was still a mess at noon today.

Dr. Ed said...

Larry, they were ordered to leave -- why should they come back?
How should/could they know that they even have permission to?

Did the APD go to each and every one of them and state that the deportation order has been rescinded? Has Queen Enku decreed that they won't run afoul of her nest of vipers?

Above and beyond that, Larry, there is the basic "you break it, you bought it."
In deciding to kick everyone out of there, the Amherst Police acquired the consequences of that decision, i.e. a whole bunch of rapidly-discarded beverage containers on the rapidly-vacated grounds.

Larry, it's the APD's problem.....

If a police officer stops a car in the middle of an intersection & arrests the operator, getting the car out of there & unsnarling the related traffic jam is the police department's problem. (I'm told that officers are reminded of this, and to think about where to "effectuate the stop.") Likewise, when officers decide to abruptly end an event and exclude everyone from the venue, THEY become responsible for the mess left behind. After all, it isn't like they were saying "take your time & pick up all your trash before you leave."

They exercised "force majore" -- perhaps illegally, but that's a moot point. They caused the situation to exist, it's their problem. And there is no way in Hell that I'd go back and pick up the next day, I'd cite the 13th Amendment and the Commonwealths "Prevailing Wage" law...

Larry, assuming this was lawful (I argue it isn't) then The Town of Amherst is responsible for cleaning up that mess and to argue otherwise is to argue that the police (etc.) should be in jail & facing Federal Civil Rights charges.

It's like being "kinda pregnant" -- the cops either had the right to do what they did or they didn't -- if they did, then they are stuck with the mess.

Maybe they shouldn't have ordered everyone to leave -- you'd have a point if that were the case, but it isn't...

Larry Kelley said...

They were simplyordered to "disperse"; they were not all (2,000 of them) issued formal trespass orders.

So in small groups, any of them could have returned a half later with extra large garbage bags.

Anonymous said...

Ed, ever the permissive parent.

Anonymous said...

Larry, if you thought that a group of inebriated college-aged kids would return and pick that up, I don't know what to tell you.

Larry Kelley said...

All 2,000 were not inebriated.

Anonymous said...

This whole conversation is ridiculous.

Dr. Ed said...

Larry, you are arguing that the dispersal order was illegal.

Notwithstanding that, when the Board of Selectmen (or designee) issue a dispersal order, the Board of Selectmen become responsible for picking up the mess left behind.

Sucks to be them.

Anonymous said...

No such dispersal order was given. APD did not move in. They stood outside and watched (two cops I think). That was enough to have the remaining kids leave so that AFD could move in. The cops let us go this time....

Larry Kelley said...

I was 600 feet away and I could hear them bellowing "get moving!"

Anonymous said...

Seems to me that APD chose to assume responsibility for the cleanup....

Unknown said...

What the hell happened to you Ed? Did a copper poke you in the eye? You have a huge chip on your shoulder. Thank-you APD and/or AFD !!!

Anonymous said...


Larry I'm so glad you live there and have to pay the taxes for all you complain about. I actually smile every time I think of it. Thanks

Larry Kelley said...

Some folks look at things and say why? I dream of things and say why not?

Anonymous said...

So, Larry - what the heck was going on at Mill River park yesterday? There must have been 1000 people there with a DJ, amplified music etc. and cookout fixings. The parking lot was overflowing and young people were parking elsewhere and walking in. Saw a motorcycle policeman loop through but the partiers were not interrupted. Maybe this was some kind of sanctioned event? Seemed to be under control but there was no sign indicating what it was.

Larry Kelley said...

Yes they had a permit, but after a number of complaints about the noise APD told them to shut it off around 8:00 PM.

Anonymous said...

Thanks. Where can I locate a copy of the permit or know what group organized it?

Larry Kelley said...

You can call Select Board office tomorrow (I'm sure you will not be the only one).

Dr. Ed said...

Evertone is equal, some are more equal than others.

They had a permit but because "more equal" people complained, it didn't matter.

Welcome to UMass.

And Larry, Mark, et al -- lots of people graduate from Weimer in Amherst with logs on their shoulders -- the consequences to that will come back to haunt people. Mizzu has already closed four dormitories, and that is just the drop in applications, they haven't seen the shrink yet.

And the nice thing about fiction is that you can expand & expound, even though I will claim I'm not talking about ZooMass, everyone will presume that I am. Right on down to the final scene where the Quabbin is used to restore Lake Hitchcock.

Anonymous said...

A positive is the students left without violence (pretty sad that's a positive, but one step at a time).

I'd love to see the property owners fined for the liter if it remained or was blown into others property. Maybe, just maybe, it would reduce the enablement of those ownerships that only care about the rent being paid on time.

Question, isn't each ambulance run charged to the patient? And if so, does that charge actual cover the cost of the transportation? I know that doesn't eliminate the problem of not having coverage for real emergencies in town (heart attack, accidents, etc), but at least the patient pays and the town doesn't.

Larry Kelley said...

Yes patients are billed individually for ambulance trips.

The Ambulance Fund takes in about $2 million per year.

Anonymous said...

There are words for Mr. Ed
Insane, Ignoramous, Idiot, take your pick…No evidence at all he received a PHD from anywhere

Anonymous said...

The things people in Amherst complain about are incredible. I was in Worcester yesterday, there were about 1000 little kids running around Elm Park and at least 50 pit bulls on leashes prowling the edges. I guess they were getting ready for the annual Worcester "Running of the Pit Bulls."

Anonymous said...

A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And no one can talk to a horse of course
That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Ed.

Go right to the source and ask the horse
He'll give you the answer that you'll endorse.
He's always on a steady course.
Talk to Mr. Ed.

People yakkity yak a streak and waste your time of day
But Mister Ed will never speak unless he has something to say.

A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And this one'll talk 'til his voice is hoarse.
You never heard of a talking horse?

Well listen to this.

I am Mister Ed.

source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/mredlyrics.html

Anonymous said...

I really don't understand why you fly your drone everywhere. You live in a college town and you complain about the college kids. Either deal with it or stop taking pictures of them. You say that you've lived here for a while, and you continue to complain about the college instead of leaving. Stop being so weird.

Larry Kelley said...

Holding up a mirror IS the way I deal with it.

If you don't like it, don't look.

Jackie M'Vemba said...

Thank you R F K(elley)

Dr, Ed said...

But I am Doctor Ed -- and might actually push that to the point of getting people's pensions revoked.

Anonymous said...

Larry, since you brought up mirrors, is that you in the bottom right of the quad in the 'Sunday afternoon, the following day' picture or that of one of your admirers? He is either taking a terrible selfie, a picture of your UAV, or flipping you the bird. I'd like to think #3, but it's probably more number two based on the shadow of his/her/it's arms. Classic.

Larry Kelley said...

Not me. I was in the parking lot a couple hundred feet away.

Anonymous said...

Only 80%

Anonymous said...

Free country.