tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post5267436324068810230..comments2023-10-17T22:56:42.784-04:00Comments on Only in The Republic of Amherst: Wield a Big StickLarry Kelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-23814782249855076832012-10-07T21:26:41.542-04:002012-10-07T21:26:41.542-04:00It does appear that one or more people are going t...It does appear that one or more people are going to have to get killed at one of these super-parties for the problem to be taken seriously by anyone at the University.<br /><br />Someone or more will have to be sacrificed.<br /><br />In the meantime, we are going to be scolded in the Bulletin for not being nice enough to students. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-91331772068351761522012-10-07T19:12:48.961-04:002012-10-07T19:12:48.961-04:00Proved only in your, flawed, mind.Proved only in your, flawed, mind.Larry Kelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-38775842588992621572012-10-07T19:09:09.043-04:002012-10-07T19:09:09.043-04:00I'm just a product of my environment... in thi...I'm just a product of my environment... in this case, the town of Amherst.<br /><br />Not to mention I thought journalists were men and women of "integrity." What is with the ad hominem attacks on this blog? I did a rough calculation, giving a luxurious margin of error that proves that UMass's population is far better behaved than claimed, and somehow I am flawed...Stormin Normannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-10916446373342311112012-10-07T14:37:15.623-04:002012-10-07T14:37:15.623-04:00I guess it goes beyond just your calculations bein...I guess it goes beyond just your calculations being flawed.<br /><br />You sir, are flawed.Larry Kelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-19891695587987556992012-10-07T14:34:17.270-04:002012-10-07T14:34:17.270-04:00I am sure that the number of towns folk who misbeh...I am sure that the number of towns folk who misbehave are an equally high percentage, but they are not arrested either. My calculations are not flawed, as perhaps their "misbehavings" are not arrest worthy. Besides, I gave a luxurious margin of error to prove my point with an extra 300 arrests per year.Stormin Normannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-53655473210145276992012-10-06T14:00:14.551-04:002012-10-06T14:00:14.551-04:00Ed...your proposal to restore Lake Hitchcock is a ...Ed...your proposal to restore Lake Hitchcock is a non-starter because of the red tape involved. Permits, impact statements, PERC tests and all the rest of it would keep the Mass DEP and Army Corps of Engineers busy for centuries.<br /><br />You will have to content yourself with the Quabbin.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-30352164457706485972012-10-05T20:33:58.686-04:002012-10-05T20:33:58.686-04:00Stormin Norman, keep in mind that not all students...Stormin Norman, keep in mind that not all students that misbehave are arrested. Your calculations are flawed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-9054631661711774312012-10-05T20:31:00.709-04:002012-10-05T20:31:00.709-04:00Dr Ed Cutting, for someone who says they want noth...Dr Ed Cutting, for someone who says they want nothing more to do with Amherst, you sure spend alot of time talking about it. Or should we say obsessing about it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-56137983455122096422012-10-05T19:59:04.082-04:002012-10-05T19:59:04.082-04:00"I’m a union member and I’d be happy to roll ..."I’m a union member and I’d be happy to roll back my wage to what it was in 1984. My only request is that everyone one else roll back the cost of everything to 1984 prices. Roll back gas, bread, milk, everything. Roll back your wage and your retirement."<br /><br /><br />The only thing rolling back are my eyes.<br /><br /><br />But thanks for the comment.Ponziville's bloated roachesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-19864861903839146542012-10-05T14:20:00.376-04:002012-10-05T14:20:00.376-04:00This is a response for Tom McBride, the same guy w...This is a response for Tom McBride, the same guy who wrote in the Bulletin: <br /><br />“I’m responding to a story a while back about a former treasurer of the teachers’ union for the Amherst-Pelham Regional School district pleading not guilty to charges she embezzled union dues. If people steal from where the money is, maybe the teachers’ union has too much money.”<br /><br />Mr. McBride, do you have any clue that the money stolen was union member’s retirement money that was supposed to be passing hands to the retirement board. For you to reason, (there’s a stretch) that because someone stole that money the union has too much money is faulty logic.<br /><br />If I were to steal your retirement money from the organization that provides it to you, would you say the organization has too much money? If I were to steal from the bank where you keep your money, would you say the bank has too much money? <br /><br />If you answered yes to those, then you truly are in a world outside of reason and rational thought.<br /><br />If you answered no, then please explain how someone stealing a union’s money means the union has too much money. <br /><br />The country is in a tough spot, so let’s beat up on the teachers. After all, they’re filthy rich. <br /><br />What world do you live in?<br /><br />I’m a union member and I’d be happy to roll back my wage to what it was in 1984. My only request is that everyone one else roll back the cost of everything to 1984 prices. Roll back gas, bread, milk, everything. Roll back your wage and your retirement.<br /><br />No? Gee I wonder why.<br /><br />I see the picture now. If the united states could just break the teachers’ unions, then everything will go back to way it was in the 1950s. Your wife won’t speak up until spoken to, we’ll have 75 kids in every classroom. Everything will be just perfect.<br />Ok, Mr. McBride. Don’t forget to send us a postcard back here on earth, whenever you land.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-83580570209979286902012-10-05T09:22:09.879-04:002012-10-05T09:22:09.879-04:00Ed, do they have visiting hours where you are at? ...Ed, do they have visiting hours where you are at? I'm really amazed you can use the computer at the nurse's station so easily and for so long.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-77141153763800295512012-10-04T23:15:05.621-04:002012-10-04T23:15:05.621-04:00Any of the cops will tell you that on any given we...<i>Any of the cops will tell you that on any given weekend over the past month they could have made ten times the number of arrests if they had the manpower -- I mean people power.</i><br /><br />And do you understand why I am comparing the fall of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik to the impending fall of the Republic of Amherst.<br /><br />And the singular police department can't have a plural "people power" -- it has to be "personpower" as it is under a unified command.<br /><br />And by the way, the word "person" contains the word "son" which is equally sexist, so in order to be Amherst-Correct, the APD has to have sufficient "perdaughterpower" which it ain't gonna have.<br /><br />Have you ever heard the expression "bailing against the wind" -- or better "p***ing into the wind" (the female officer might not understand the latter, but ought to be able to infer a meaning from it)Dr. Ed of the Commission to RESTORE LAKE HITCHCOCKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-82687096841946846882012-10-04T23:00:12.269-04:002012-10-04T23:00:12.269-04:00Of course Larry, the statistic you would really li...Of course Larry, the statistic you would really like to get would be the number of lawsuits filed against the university and/or its employees. I hear that number is <b>way, way up</b> and that the university is quietly settling them as quickly as they are filed.<br /><br />Larry, do you remember when the DDR collapsed and the night the Berlin Wall came down? That is where the combined Town/Gown is at <b>right now</b> and everything is imploding.<br /><br />Worse, people like me -- and I otherwise am a "law & order" moral conservative -- no longer either support nor respect the police that are out there in that caldron. I keep asking myself "isn't there some way that <b><i>everyone</i></b> out there can loose -- and there is, the bubble is gonna get popped before it even has a chance to burst.<br /><br />History teaches us that the clearest sign of the impending collapse of any regime is an inexorable increase in the level of coercive means needed to maintain order - to the point where one of two things happen -- either the level of repression required exceeds the moral sensitivities of those expected to employ it and they refuse, and/or the sheer numbers become such a logistical nightmare to the state that it ceases to be able to function.<br /><br />The East German troops would shoot the occasional person climbing over the wall, but they weren't going to start machine gunning entire families. The 55 MPH speed limit became a joke in the 1980s when it became clear that there was no way the few cops could stop everyone.<br /><br />And that is where Amherst is right now. Have fun....Dr. Ed of the Commission to RESTORE LAKE HITCHCOCKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-72406284203319045602012-10-04T22:42:46.978-04:002012-10-04T22:42:46.978-04:00Actually I did publish it the first time. Any of ...Actually I did publish it the first time. Any of the cops will tell you that on any given weekend over the past month they could have made ten times the number of arrests if they had the manpower -- I mean people power.Larry Kelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-36353335690199190302012-10-04T22:34:35.191-04:002012-10-04T22:34:35.191-04:00I'll try posting this again, though the gestap...I'll try posting this again, though the gestapo shut it down the first time it seemed.<br /><br />About 60 students were arrested in August. Nearly doubling that to 100 (August is a slow summer month) makes for an average 1,200 arrests a year. Adding an additional 300 arrests, just for good measure, brings that to 1,500. Or 6.25% of UMass's population.<br /><br />This is before removing the arrests not relevant to UMass students. So in reality about 4% of campus is arrested in total. If someone wants to stratify the data for non-drinking related reasons (such as outstanding warrants or traffic violations) they would find the amount is even lower.<br /><br />In summation; UMass is on par with the average population, and Larry should not do math.Stormin Normannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-81979182067615288312012-10-04T21:44:18.266-04:002012-10-04T21:44:18.266-04:00A few more entries should not be about students. ...A few more entries should not be about students. I think probably a few more things have gone on. That are of interest.Tom McBridenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-84902341815292496292012-10-04T21:36:55.468-04:002012-10-04T21:36:55.468-04:00Well i was at the last two major disturbances at T...Well i was at the last two major disturbances at Townhouse apartments and the cops estimates of 2,000 students at each sounds about right.<br /><br />And don't forget the PuffersPond incident last May, which also involved at least 1,000. And the Meadow Street riot last year, also over 1,000.Larry Kelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-53822703151862384552012-10-04T21:10:14.071-04:002012-10-04T21:10:14.071-04:00For what it is worth, back before UMass shut down ...For what it is worth, back before UMass shut down the <i>Minuteman</i> newspaper, I requested and was told the number of arrests that the UMPD makes a year - I think the figures were for 2010 and 2011 although am not quite sure and it was about 1000 per year.<br /><br />At the time UMass had about 5000 student judicial offenses per year, of which about 4000 were minor first offenses.<br /><br />Both statistics are, of course, quite dated. Good luck getting updated ones though....Dr. Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-88906274462418411072012-10-04T17:47:18.079-04:002012-10-04T17:47:18.079-04:00Actually, Ed, I think most people do remember that...<i>Actually, Ed, I think most people do remember that "kristallnacht" refers to all the broken glass from</i> when an identifiable group of people were publicly considered to no longer be human. Kinda like the status of UM students in Amherst -- and yes, I make no distinction between the status of Jews in Germany circa 1935 and UM students in Amherst circa 2013.<br /><br />But there is one other little problem, the <i>National Socialists</i> actually won a fairly fair election <b>and had Jewish votes</b> -- if you look at the pre-Holocaust population of Germany, Jews had to have voted for Hitler's party.<br /><br />Now why would Jews have voted for Hitler? Simple -- he had promised to end the rioting and to get the Communists under control, which he did by killing them all. Hitler was a politician who delivered exactly what he promised, it is just that the Germans didn't quite realize what it was he was promising.<br /><br />And in many cases, be careful what you ask for as you well might get it.<br /><br />Kristallnacht only occurred because the street thugs knew that they would get away with it. That what they were doing would be considered socially acceptable (as was what happened in LA 20 years ago, or in New Orleans during Katrina, and I fear at some point during a real riot in Amherst). <br /><br />Do not forget that the Nuremburg Laws were passed in 1935 -- and that Kristallnacht occurred in 1938, over 3 years later, and it neither occurred in a vacuum nor was the actual start of the Holocaust, which arguably started at least in 1933 with the Nazi's coming into power.<br /><br />Not that one ought to be confused by the facts...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-78380197005352594162012-10-04T17:25:04.483-04:002012-10-04T17:25:04.483-04:00Larry --- as to boycotting Downtown Amherst, I str...Larry --- as to boycotting Downtown Amherst, I strongly suggest you familiarize yourself with the SCOTUS Case of <i>NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co.</i> and the larger issue of the "Black Cap" boycott.<br /><br />The boycott will be effective when the parents don't let their daughters work downtown -- without the waitresses, there is no bar/restaurant business downtown, and everything else is driven by that.<br /><br />You already have bottles flying before the cops even get out of their cars -- a bottle will put a cop (or soldier) in the hospital, a rock will put him in the morgue and at the risk of being racially insensitive, there is a reason why cobblestones were called <i>Irish Confetti</i> in the late 19th Century. <br /><br />Do we remember what George Santana said about learning from history? As one proudly of Irish descent, does the term "Bloody Sunday" not mean anything to you? Did the tactics of the British Army work well?<br /><br />And the other thing that routinely happened back in the 1970's and I honestly am surprised not to see happening yet again is young thugs retaliating against homeowners who complain about them. I am waiting for a fuselage of bottles (or worse) through house windows at 3 AM -- such things have happened in the past.<br /><br />Hey, whatever. I am all for restoring Lake Hitchcock.Dr. Ed. of the Commission to Restore Lake Hitchcocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-3460379150016932772012-10-04T16:39:05.916-04:002012-10-04T16:39:05.916-04:00"What people don't realize is that this i..."What people don't realize is that this is how the Holocaust happened."<br /><br />Actually, Ed, I think most people do remember that "kristallnacht" refers to all the broken glass from beer bottles thrown at German police officers trying to break up an extra-rowdy seder. That's how the Holocaust began.<br /><br />What was it that you got your doctorate in, exactly? Knuckleheadedness?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-86713694890483076922012-10-04T15:45:08.042-04:002012-10-04T15:45:08.042-04:00I too will "wield a big stick" and if th...I too will "wield a big stick" and if the <i>Amherst Bulletin</i> ever darkens my mailbox again, it is they who will be arrested.<br /><br />After this editorial, I don't want to hear <b><i>anything</i></b> anymore, you can all go straight to h***. Heaven forbid we have anything resembling due process or anything.<br /><br />What people don't realize is that this is how the Holocaust happened.Dr. Ed who doesn't want to admit he ever was in Amherstnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-25426032829415512052012-10-04T14:54:40.473-04:002012-10-04T14:54:40.473-04:00Agreed! And it was a "college aged youth.&qu...Agreed! And it was a "college aged youth."Larry Kelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-80579763776788772722012-10-04T14:50:21.366-04:002012-10-04T14:50:21.366-04:00Personally, I think if a male suspect assaults an ...Personally, I think if a male suspect assaults an officer that is female, emphasizing gender is appropriate. Richard MarshAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-20911929230827838172012-10-04T14:45:11.767-04:002012-10-04T14:45:11.767-04:00Men may be superior to women when it comes to uppe...Men may be superior to women when it comes to upper body strength. But women have many assets, too, that make them superior to men. It is sexist to say "female officer" if you omit the word "male" in other accounts.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com