APD arresting intoxicated homeless man at CVS for trespassing this afternoon
In addition to being a danger to themselves homeless people suffering from substance abuse tie up our first responders, making them unavailable for a more serious need -- not that intoxication or drug O.D. is not a medical emergency.
Yesterday AFD had to treat a 62-year-old man at APD HQ who was assaulted by a homeless man
When APD makes an arrest for trespassing, disorderly conduct or assault and battery it only takes the arresting officer out of action for a short while.
But when AFD has to transport to Cooley Dickinson Hospital, which happens all too frequently, those two firefighters are out of service for an hour.
But when AFD has to transport to Cooley Dickinson Hospital, which happens all too frequently, those two firefighters are out of service for an hour.
And these days we only have 7 total on duty.
Friday morning 6:00 AM
There are more homeless on the streets of Northampton and Amherst per population than in big cities like NY. Try walking in downtown Northampton. It's a flea market of beggars. This is what you get with lefties who ignore problems and just throw money at the homeless.
ReplyDelete123 MGL 12A.
ReplyDeleteIf UMass can ship upwards of three students A DAY to be locked up in the psych ward, why can't these people be dealt with in the same way???
It not only would make them disappear for a week, but would serve to discourage them from being obnoxious.
And as to civil rights, who cares? No one cared "when they came for" the UM students, why should anyone care now? Just "cuff them & stuff them" -- the APD can arrest all of them with impunity.
I am a long time resident and taxpayer in Amherst. I have been observing the decay of our civilization here. Things have become so PC in Amherst that all logical reason seems to be ignored or rejected by our town decision makers.
ReplyDeleteThe homeless mess we now face is a great example of this. Of course, we feel badly for these less fortunate people and we should recognize that their plight could become the fate of any one of us. But, we should only be serving the homeless people who are/were residents of our town, not every homeless person who wants to come here for all the benefits.(charged to the taxpayers!)
I believe that Amherst so often reacts to situations and or problems without really thinking carefully about what the future outcome may become. Unfortunately, because of the lack of attention to "cause and effect" in decision making, Amherst residents/taxpayers often end up with problems to solve that have become worse, not better.
Who can blame the homeless? Of course they will flock to the place that offers them the most for the least amount of effort on their part. Just imagine, a wet shelter? People can behave as badly as they want and Amherst will still give them "goodies." One would have to be a fool not to take this!
Many Amherst taxpayers work very hard to support their own families and should not be required to have to support all these homeless people. Start by closing the wet shelter and then enforce the vagrancy laws. Stop the panhandling, public drunkenness and other socially unacceptable behaviors. If it is allowed, it becomes past practice. We need to promote civility and proper behavior, not the "everything is OK" mentality that has become the norm. Everything, is NOT acceptable in a civilized society.
I wonder how many people have decreased or stopped shopping in downtown Amherst because they are uncomfortable with the vagrants hanging out on our streets? I'll bet there are quite a few people who no longer frequent downtown businesses just for this reason. Please do not try to fool yourself into thinking this is not true because a lot of folks I know will no longer shop downtown.
In terms of tying up first responders, the same could be said-for example-about college students who over-indulge or abuse drugs and alcohol. Why just single out the substance abusers that are homeless? The roofless are people-many who have been failed by their own family, by a spouse, by our mental health system, by our government, and by our communities. I don't think we need to propagate more hatred towards this group-they are already one of the most vulnerable groups in society.
ReplyDeleteThe failing is never of their own making, eh? Always someone else's fault.
DeleteYou must be new here. I've been pointing that out about college students for many years now.
ReplyDeleteed, u mass doesn't ship 3 students a day to be locked up in the Psych ward or anywhere else. stop making shit up to be dramatic and get attention. its getting old.
ReplyDeleteIgnore the drunk homeless and the students. I could have a heart attack any day now and my tax paid emergency services won't be there for ME!
ReplyDeleteEddie what are your 3 degrees and how long did it take? We have a right to know because we paid for it and you wasted it!
ReplyDeleteCan you kindly stop making everything about Ed?
Deleteed, u mass doesn't ship 3 students a day to be locked up in the Psych ward or anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteSo the AFD is lying to the state?
WHY would the AFD be doing this?
Ed, AFD hasn't said they take 3 students a day to the psych ward.
DeleteIf they did you would have provided a link. More of your made up "facts."
Larry, between UM, AC, & HC, there are probably 30,000-40,000 college students in Amherst.
ReplyDeleteco the math.
Lily Tomlin in one of her bits: "Why can't people like that just stay home?"
ReplyDeleteThe Jehovah Witness Convention weekends are coming.
ReplyDeleteConstruction on 91, Route 9 and Triangle/East Pleasant St will add to the traffic as well as these incorrect directions for attendees coming from Belchertown.
"Keep straight onto US-202 North,
Bear left onto SR-9 East, turn right onto Pleasant St, keep straight onto Massachusetts Ave., turn right onto Commonwealth Ave."
http://www.mullinscenter.com/events/detail/jwc2016
Most of the "information" on this blog is made up. For example, "There are more homeless on the streets of Northampton and Amherst per population than in big cities like NY." Sure Hupp, which is what we used to say to Hupp when we were teenagers. Hupp thought himself a king bullshitter, but he was the only one convinced of that. So, yea, there's more homeless in these two little towns per capita than in New York CIty. Sure Hupp!
ReplyDeleteOh, and many of these homeless are veterans of military service . Remember them? They were the ones who went running into battle after the 9/11 attacks, while the rest of us, including Larry Kelley, went to the mall. But now we've changed our tune about these filthy beggars.
If the readers herein dared to look or think beyond the bubble that is Amherst and the Pioneer valley, they'd soon see that homelessness has become a national epidemic, likely due to clearly widening gap between the wealthy and the rest of the minions. That would, however, require that one actually read or listen to something besides the right wing of hate that wants to blame all of society's woes on the poor, especially the non-white poor.
By 9/11 some of us "chicken hawks" were a tad too old to serve.
ReplyDeleteBut I'll never be so old as not be able to handle a Cowardly Anon Nitwit.
Why does everybody think that because you pay taxes ambulance rides are free? Well sport even if you pay taxes it still will cost you over a grand to go to the hospital. If the insurance company don't pay, you do. Homeless ride for free. Middleclass people pay for every service and taxes to boot. AFD don't work for free you know.
ReplyDeleteMedicaid reimburses the town about $100 per ride for the homeless, but still a pretty big hit.
ReplyDeleteLets just build these homeless a place to live with free open bar and free rent, should only add $1200 to $1500 to our taxes which are way to low anyhow.
ReplyDeleteYou would find some other excuse so I'm not gonna bother.
ReplyDeleteBesides, this is data I'd have to scan and post somewhere for there to BE a url.
Ed ed ed ed .....tsk tsk tsk....you never answer the hard questions...like why do you make up stuff? 3 college students a day to the psych ward? 3 college degrees? 3 thousands dollars i probably payed towards your 20 year useless education odyssey?
ReplyDeleteTrue, Ed. You can't scan and post something that doesn't exist.
ReplyDeletehttp://nypost.com/2016/06/30/naked-man-takes-over-times-square-screams-about-donald-trump/
ReplyDeleteEd. Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed: etc. Ed. Ed. More Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed, Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed: etc. Ed. Ed. More Ed. Ed. Ed. Ed,
DeleteChris Lynch (the guy who lies about losing his leg in a war to garner sympathy and a free pint...he is not a vet and it was a motorcyle crash that took his apendage), the fella in your last pic, shall outlive us all.
ReplyDeleteSam Kinnisin had it right.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_xDdpT4YwQ
Many Amherst taxpayers work very hard to support their own families and should not be required to have to support all these homeless people. Start by closing the wet shelter and then enforce the vagrancy laws. Stop the panhandling, public drunkenness and other socially unacceptable behaviors. If it is allowed, it becomes past practice. We need to promote civility and proper behavior, not the "everything is OK" mentality that has become the norm. Everything, is NOT acceptable in a civilized society.
ReplyDeleteWhile this makes sense--it is the church who has established this 'wet' shelter--not the town of Amherst or its 'taxpayers.' And if what this says is true--why isn't the town enforcing 'vagrancy laws?' Who is in charge of that? Why aren't the police enforcing these laws? Are they guilty of accepting the improper, and uncivil, behaviors of being homeless?
I think a lot of these comments here are being typed from the comfort of a cozy home, most of which 'blame' the victim-Larry yours especially.
There is a film about Mitch Synder and his fight for the homeless--and that was 1984--here we are 2016--and still facing the same dilemna. :-(
The vagrancy laws met the same fate as the sodomy statutes.
ReplyDeleteAnd where did sodomy get us?
ReplyDeleteThat guy picking through the trash looks thrilled that your taking his picture.
ReplyDeleteWell it was 6:00 AM.
ReplyDeleteFortunately I don't need permission when it's on public property.