tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post4422633877503266017..comments2023-10-17T22:56:42.784-04:00Comments on Only in The Republic of Amherst: Story of the Year 2013Larry Kelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-31723065789534749352014-01-05T18:58:03.327-05:002014-01-05T18:58:03.327-05:00"Unless the town can prove that each and ever..."Unless the town can prove that each and every problematic intoxicated person (A) left the establishment intoxicated, (B) consumed no more alcohol afterwards, (C) the bad behavior was motivated/caused only by the intoxication, and (D) that there was no other cause of it (e.g. the perps are a-holes with criminal records for doing this stuff in the past), the town is violating everything from the First Amendment to that little thing about Bills of Attainder. [ET CETERA, ET CETERA]"<br /><br />Without doubt, a hired-gun attorney can come up with any number of arguments.<br /><br /><br />However, a fair-minded adjudicator will take into account the recurring pattern of morning alcohol consumption promotion that year after year have been followed by a day-long avalanche of public disorder, and likely decide the License Commission was justified in not renewing, or revoking, the license of a bad actor (thereby making the license available to a more responsible non-incumbent for what is still a good business).<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-31780774340175678392014-01-04T11:10:06.498-05:002014-01-04T11:10:06.498-05:00"Me thinks Ed doth protest too much."
M...<i>"Me thinks Ed doth protest too much."</i><br /><br />Methinks that anyone who doesn't understand why one would protest unfounded attacks on one's reputation and moral character is most likely lacking both.<br /><br />Amherst, where the "h" is silent because honor is lacking....Dr. Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-80271724882224137992014-01-03T07:38:06.180-05:002014-01-03T07:38:06.180-05:00Me thinks Ed doth protest too much. Me thinks Ed doth protest too much. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-32657083054061595912014-01-02T12:05:28.499-05:002014-01-02T12:05:28.499-05:00Not "irrational". Selfish.
"The n...Not "irrational". Selfish.<br /><br />"The needs of the many ..."Larry Kelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-74529029269082699442014-01-02T12:03:41.597-05:002014-01-02T12:03:41.597-05:00Do you read your own blog? Your story of the year...Do you read your own blog? Your story of the year is a near riot with 2,000 drunken students at a private housing development and you think it's irrational for people in Cushman to not want that fate in their backyard?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-24671270662795798582014-01-02T06:16:35.736-05:002014-01-02T06:16:35.736-05:00"Oh, and Walter, what do you think the Great ..."Oh, and Walter, what do you think the Great & General Court would have to say about this? Or do you even know what the Great & General Court even is?"<br /><br />Looks like Ed is still upset that someone of his own political stripe has repeatedly pointed out the obvious, i.e., that Ed is ticking louder than a time bomb. Calling Walter a nasty liberal won't work, so now what?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-45865438984163982552014-01-01T20:28:32.644-05:002014-01-01T20:28:32.644-05:00"It's past time for the Select Board, act...<i>"It's past time for the Select Board, acting as License Commissioners, to put a condition on renewing or not-revoking Stackers and McMurphys liquor licenses: that they halt their annual pernicious Kegs&Eggs/BlarneyBlowout-style promotions."</i><br /><br />And if they found a competent attorney, the town would be on the receiving end of a major lawsuit -- and one that would <b>not</b> be limited by the state tort claims act.<br /><br />Unless the town can prove that each and every problematic intoxicated person (A) left the establishment intoxicated, (B) consumed no more alcohol afterwards, (C) the bad behavior was motivated/caused <b>only</b> by the intoxication, and (D) that there was no other cause of it (e.g. the perps are a-holes with criminal records for doing this stuff in the past), the town is violating everything from the First Amendment to that little thing about Bills of Attainder.<br /><br />As St. Patrick's Day is a holiday clearly associated with Irish Catholics, as "Blarney" itself relates to a stone in a castle near Cork, Ireland and is a mythical belief of that culture, it wouldn't take much to make this into an issue of racial and religious discrimination.<br /><br />Bear in mind that the color Green itself is political -- and ever notice how a town in Franklin county is named "Orange" -- I'm sure that Larry knows what these two colors signify....<br /><br />Furthermore, it's not even if there are people leaving these events intoxicated and causing problems -- and remember, if they consume more alcohol somewhere else, there really is very little you can say about the alcohol they consumed at the bar because (arguably) they weren't yet drunk enough to do whatever they did.<br /><br />The town has to prove that there is more of this from this event than in general -- in a college town where drunken hooliganism isn't uncommon.<br /><br />Walter, this is like holding <i>Liquors 44</i> responsible for kids getting drunk on the beer they sell. As long as the person purchasing the case is of age adn sober, as long as that person isn't accompanied by underaged persons and the person(s) who transport it out of the parking lot are all of age, there really isn't anything that anyone can say about it to <i>Liquors 44</i>.<br /><br />And can you imagine what would happen if <i>Liquors 44</i> refused to sell to sober of-age customers on the basis of their race? Do you think that might get a little problematic and expensive?<br /><br />Oh, and Walter, what do you think the <i>Great & General Court</i> would have to say about this? Or do you even know what the <i>Great & General Court</i> even is?Dr. Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-52099521706334902982014-01-01T17:55:26.584-05:002014-01-01T17:55:26.584-05:00"Sure, let's make a rule that bars can..."Sure, let's make a rule that bars can't sell liquor. They tried that once. Didn't go over too well."<br /><br />Licensing is distinct from prohibition.<br /><br />Licensing Commissions have discretion to grant licenses to good across, and withhold licenses from bad actors.<br /><br />(Speaking of the distinct Prohibition meme, we can probably unite in rejoicing that there will be a fifth season of Boardwalk Empire on HBO later this year.)<br /><br />Taking advantage of the opportunity to slightly rephrase the first sentence of the original comment --<br /><br /><b>It's past time for the Select Board, acting as License Commissioners, to put a condition on renewing or not-revoking Stackers and McMurphys liquor licenses: that they halt their annual pernicious Kegs&Eggs/BlarneyBlowout-style promotions.</b>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-19940836011205377552014-01-01T16:23:17.747-05:002014-01-01T16:23:17.747-05:00I'll agree with the Juggernaut on a different ...I'll agree with the Juggernaut on a different reason though -- only someone who has corrected student papers (particularly on the K-12 level) is going to instinctively capitalize "Retreat" for the reason I stated.<br /><br />A college kid isn't going to.Dr. Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-62134526422597757662014-01-01T16:19:42.918-05:002014-01-01T16:19:42.918-05:00"And why would a dumb college bro capitalize ...<i>"And why would a dumb college bro capitalize retreat?"</i><br /><br />Ummm, because it is a proper noun and the rules of English grammar stipulate that proper nouns must be capitalized? <br /><br />(It gets interesting as to the "the" -- e.g. "The Sudan" and that's like the spelling of "potato" and Dan Quayle wasn't wrong as <b>both</b> spellings are considered correct, although one is in far more common usage than the other.)<br /><br />Remember that the rule is that a SPECIFIC person, place or thing is a "proper noun" -- e.g. "Larry Kelly" is capitalized because he is a *specific" person. "He" is *not* capitalized even though it clearly references Larry because Larry's name isn't "he" -- except being the first letter of the sentence, that required it to be Capitalized. <br /><br />As an aside, *I* say that "University" ought to be capitalized *because* it is a specific name for UMass Amherst (when used as such), the <i>AP Manual of Style</i> says that it is not, and I have to accept that.Dr. Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-45631228261745549572014-01-01T16:04:36.099-05:002014-01-01T16:04:36.099-05:00"So you'll rent your house because you th...<i>"So you'll rent your house because you think our houses value will decrease. Sort of asinine aren't you. So you only live in the house because of it's perceived value now."</i><br /><br />I would use the term "obtuse" -- buying high and selling low is the route to bankruptcy, not financial fortune. <br /><br />The only three reasons to own a house are (a) because you intend to live in it, (b) you believe it will <b>appreciate</b> in value (possibly as a result of your improvements to it), and/or (c) the income you make from renting it, less the costs & depreciation, exceed any other opportunity for profit you may have with the money that you (personally) have in the house.<br /><br />Anything else is asinine -- although I am coming to believe that is another word for "Amherst."<br /><br /><b><i>Has it ever occurred to any of you that your homes wouldn't be worth </i>half<i> of what they currently are if there weren't all those students in town?</i></b><br /><br />It isn't just the rental housing market -- you could have absolutely no student rentals and your homes would <b>still</b> be worth a lot more than they would be without 20,000 undergrads at UMass.<br /><br />UMass has about 6,000 employees -- while most don't live in Amherst anymore (they live further out where the property values are lower), the fact that they would live in Amherst were Amherst's values to drop serves to keep values up.<br /><br />Then there are the multiplier effects and others who can live in Amherst (at the higher housing costs) because of money they make indirectly from UM students -- this is everything from AFD/APD jobs and overtime pay to merchants.<br /><br />Look at what happened when the mill closed in Turner's Falls. Going back, look at Greenfield, and there are countless other examples of what happens in a one-industry town when the industry downsizes and/or closes.<br /><br />While there are a lot of things that made things worse, Detroit wouldn't be in the mess it is were the auto industry still there and still employing the number of people it had in 1970, and paying them (the inflation-adjusted equivalent) if what it was then, including overtime & benefits.<br /><br />The students are why your housing values are high. The students are why your housing values haven't collapsed to the extent they have elsewhere in the Commonwealth and nation.Dr. Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-65501852296980066072014-01-01T15:42:36.622-05:002014-01-01T15:42:36.622-05:00This all is based on the presumption that each spr...This all is based on the presumption that each spring, thousands upon thousands of starry-eyed high school seniors (and their parents) will make the high stakes decisions that lead to 5000, 6000, 7000 freshmen showing up in the fall.<br /><br />At that point they are stuck -- it becomes a case of "throwing good money after bad", an expensive version of being stuck in a lease for a car or cell phone that you don't like, but which you might as well use as you have to pay for it anyway.<br /><br />Now what would happen if someone, a recipient of "UMass' highest and most prized degree", were to be quietly explaining to their parents why he considers UMass to be a place that their children ought not go. <br /><br />Now these parents don't know all that much about the higher education industry but they're not stupid -- just uninformed. They have a naivety about higher education that they'd never have about their own professions.<br /><br />And some of them are in professions where they know what "crazy" is because they see it ever day, and/or they know what "dangerous" is because they see that every day -- and hence know what it isn't. They know what disinformation is and have seen enough of it to recognize that too.<br /><br />Politically & economically, UMass Amherst can not exist without a significant majority of the undergraduates being in-state students. The demographic reality is that this means "from inside-495" as that is where 4/5 of the state's population resides. Another demographic reality is that there are fewer children (everywhere) than there used to be...<br /><br />This is a geographically compact area, and what if someone were able to tell enough groups of parents what Wiemar in Amherst was really like to cause a significant reduction in the <b><i>quality</i></b> of the students arriving each fall? (The number will always be whatever UM wants it to be -- they'll just lower their standards to meet it.)<br /><br />At some point it becomes exponentially impossible for the institution to continue to exist. It'll be like what pilots call "coffin corner" -- a jet aircraft (e.g. 747) flying so high and so fast that it can't go any faster because there isn't enough oxygen in the thin air to enable the jet engines to burn any more kerosene (i.e. provide more thrust) and there isn't enough air going over the wings to provide enough lift (i.e. keep the plane from "stalling" -- plummeting out of the sky like a brick) if you go any slower, and you are screwed.<br /><br />And some fall, the students won't arrive, and then what????Dr. Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-15049900580149882832014-01-01T13:28:57.793-05:002014-01-01T13:28:57.793-05:00I'm no better man, but I'd wager a keg or ...I'm no better man, but I'd wager a keg or three on Anon 9:14 not actually being college student. I haven't seen some of that slang since before the iron curtain fell. <br /><br />And why would a dumb college bro capitalize retreat? That seems something that someone invested in the issue would do. <br /><br />The Juggernautnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-11170341499606204982014-01-01T09:18:08.682-05:002014-01-01T09:18:08.682-05:00Me thinks AFD transports just as many women as men...Me thinks AFD transports just as many women as men for ETOH. Larry Kelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-68617734816015434682014-01-01T06:30:20.261-05:002014-01-01T06:30:20.261-05:00"It's past time for the Select Board, act..."It's past time for the Select Board, acting as License Commissioners, to put a condition on renewing or continuing Stackers and McMurphys liquor licenses: that they halt their annual Kegs&Eggs/BlarneyBlowout-style promotions."<br /><br />Sounds great but this isn't the socialist republic of France, this is the United States. Last time I looked free enterprise was a backbone of what made this country what it is. <br /><br />Sure, let's make a rule that bars can't sell liquor. They tried that once. Didn't go over too well. You live in a college town, get used to it or move to one of the surrounding towns where you can wake up to looking at farmland out your window. Walter Graffnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-31623279149228377042014-01-01T00:17:51.297-05:002014-01-01T00:17:51.297-05:00Ha! So you'll rent your house because you thin...Ha! So you'll rent your house because you think our houses value will decrease. Sort of asinine aren't you. So you only live in the house because of it's perceived value now. Then you and your asinine neighbors will rent your homes which will actually have the potential to lower the value of your home and others around it far more than the Retreat could do. Then instead of selling it and getting a higher price before your asinine assumption kicks in you'll keep it knowing it's value will be decreasing? Should change the name of the area to Historic North assholes. Walter Graffnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-13364683676612603612013-12-31T20:12:54.043-05:002013-12-31T20:12:54.043-05:00Guess what? If the Retreat get built in North Amhe...Guess what? If the Retreat get built in North Amherst.. I will rent my house out. Because the property value will decrease and move to Florida. And so will a lot of my neighbors. Enjoy the shit show!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-64430666887266773862013-12-31T18:37:19.158-05:002013-12-31T18:37:19.158-05:00It's past time for the Select Board, acting as...It's past time for the Select Board, acting as License Commissioners, to put a condition on renewing or continuing Stackers and McMurphys liquor licenses: that they halt their annual Kegs&Eggs/BlarneyBlowout-style promotions.<br /><br />Interestingly, the Stackers building was purchased by James Cherewatti's Rairoad Street Partners LLC; and James Cherewatti's Eagle Crest property management company subsequently moved in. There are a host of James Cherewatti LLCs that own problematic student rentals in town, as is well known.<br /><br />Being in the same building allows convenient servicing of nighttime entertainment and rental needs of the target demographic under one roof.<br /><br />James Cherewatti's name is the only one that appears in the Secretary of State's Corporations Database, as "Resident Agent" of the various LLCs and as Manager of Eagle Crest.<br /><br />One wonders whether the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission might have any additional names associated with Stackers (or McMurphys).<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-11953173272717708822013-12-31T13:51:39.385-05:002013-12-31T13:51:39.385-05:00Thanks Tom.
Great thing about living in Amherst...Thanks Tom. <br /><br />Great thing about living in Amherst is I will never run out of material. Larry Kelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-30838526407947170072013-12-31T13:23:54.129-05:002013-12-31T13:23:54.129-05:00The story of the year was Larry's great blog! ...The story of the year was Larry's great blog! Happy New Year.Tom McBridenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-16430394359708908832013-12-31T09:30:53.571-05:002013-12-31T09:30:53.571-05:00If the proper "public policy" had been i...If the proper "public policy" had been implemented 30 years ago, we would not now be in this position.Larry Kelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-73217626716078715192013-12-31T09:14:09.121-05:002013-12-31T09:14:09.121-05:00So much of what happens in Amherst flows from the ...So much of what happens in Amherst flows from the fact that we are afraid of students.<br /><br />If they live near us.<br />If they get together in large, drunken groups.<br />If they have more buying (and renting) power than anyone else. <br /><br />That fear is now driving public policy in this town, and that is not a good thing. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com