Blarney Blowout Warm Up?

Townhouse Apartments, North Amherst 3:45 PM Saturday

Yes of course everyone both young and old should be able to enjoy a warm Saturday afternoon especially considering the Arctic like conditions we endured the previous weekend.  And nothing goes better with a warm day than a cold beer, or two.

But the problem lies in moderation, both in crowd size and number of beers.

The quad at Townhouse Apartments in North Amherst can  hold 1,0000 revelers.  On Saturday it never approached half that and Amherst police never received a complaint about the noise or activities of the crowd, so all ended well.

But all it takes is for one participant to throw a snowball which is answered by an empty beer can and some idiot throws a full can or bottle of beer.  Then it starts rained dangerous projectiles. Or someone in the middle of the crowd passes out from too much alcohol and AFD needs to get to them fast.

In 2013 AFD  needed to get to an overly intoxicated young woman in the center of the quad. The surly crowd responded by lobbing bottles, cans and chunks of ice.  APD made six arrests.  Of course the following year the weather was also nice and all Hell broke lose.  Police made 58 arrests.

Last year thanks to stern messaging from UMass, an expensive concert at the Mullins Center, and the presence of 225 police officers townwide, the Blarney Blowout was a non event.

So I expect this coming March 5th weekend to be the same.

But on any given weekend between now and graduation, when the weather is right, things can go south with the speed of a flying beer can.

ARA update: Remembering George N. Parks

So like all Amherst Redevelopment Authority meetings these past six months, tonight was nothing but 'Gateway Project.' And once again Deputy Chancellor Todd Diacon and Executive Director of the Office of External Relations Nancy Buffone showed up to demonstrate the continuing commitment of our major partner, Umass.

But if I were a cub Collegian reporter covering tonight's meeting, my lead fact would be that Umass will have a celebration ceremony to remember/honor/commemorate Marching Band Director George N. Parks on October 16--'Homecoming Day'-- at the Mullins Center, which has a seating capacity of 10,000... so that may be big enough.

Runner up fact: Deputy Chancellor Diacon confirming that the $182 million for student housing announced today in the Springfield Republican will have no impact one way or the other on the Gateway Project.

The 1500 bed dormitory will be in the center of campus (thus tax exempt) and God only knows how long that will take to get built since it will be a public undertaking as opposed to the Gateway Project which, like the Isenberg School of Management addition/renovation mostly funded by Jack Welch, will be farmed out to the private sector.

And finally, the ARA is now going to hold off on rushing a Request For Proposals for a consultant on the Gateway Project as we wish to carefully absorb more public advice--besides just the immediate neighbors who have given us continuous input.

The Springfield Republican reports

George N. Parks Facebook memorial page: 10,000 friends and still growing!

A3: In Service

 

AFD A3

Amherst Fire Department's newest ambulance has just passed state licensing and goes into service later today, just in time for a trial by fire -- or I should say alcohol -- over the weekend.

Amherst has a fleet of five ambulances and on some weekend nights when UMass is in session and the weather is warm (or the Mullins Center presents a techno concert) all five are not enough.

Plans are to keep the oldest ambulance around and in service for the next six weeks as back up.

Now you know why AFD does not like to transport two patients at a time

AFD will also be getting a new pumper one year earlier than expected at Finance Director Sandy Pooler's urging due to low borrowing rates.  The new $400,000 pumper will replace a 1996 model that Assistant Chief Lindsay Stromgren referred to as a "low bid vehicle" that was not especially popular with staff.

New streamlined state bidding process allows for ordering exactly the vehicle you want with custom add ons.  If ordered in July the town should take possession by the winter.

AFD last purchased a pumper in 2003 and the Quint -- a combination pumper/ladder truck -- in 2009.  The new pumper will become Engine 1 stationed at Central Station in town center and the "go to" truck for initial calls.

AFD Engine 2 Quint

My Christmas present (s)

So yeah, I’m supposed to ooze that sappy sympathetic “There but for the grace of God…” routine, but to Hell with that! These clueless amateurs should NEVER have initially opened.

Simply put, this side of the River--that would be the Connecticut-- dividing us, The People’s Republic of Amherst, from our Sister City Northampton (with Hadley stuck in the middle) can support two decent sized Health Clubs; and the other side of the Coolidge Bridge can also support two. That’s all folks. We’re not exactly Boston, The Big Apple or LA.

Thus when you have six or seven facilities on this side of the river all scavenging for half the pie, something has to give--as in DIE! A duo did this week; a duo more to go. And then, gloriously, homeostasis returns to the Happy Valley Fitness Universe.

Gold’s Gym and Planet Fitness (that has not even opened yet) are next on the Devil's shortlist.

Ultimate Fitness opened almost ten years ago targeting the same student demographic Flex Gym on University Drive lived and died by a year or two earlier.

James “Bruiser” Flint had inherited the Umass Basketball Head Coach position after Coach Cal left the building (Mullins Center), and he Pollyannaishly decided to open a Health Club while simultaneously trying to coach a nationally ranked (at times #1) basketball team. He failed, miserably, at both.

Umass basketball slid into the toilet, where they remain today, and Umass quietly benched Coach Flint (they, like the town of Amherst, hate it when a minority hire fails.) He would return once annually for the past few years to tour his albatross business (no reason really, since they have not changed a single thing) and that was the extent of his long-distance involvement.

Curious that they would surrender now. Unlike most Valley businesses January is, mainly due to New Year’s Resolutions, the peak month for the Health Club industry.

Probably a confluence of concerns: the recent ownership change at Hampshire Fitness in Amherst, the pernicious predatory pricing from Planet Fitness in Hadley and the daunting prospect of a shiny new $50 million Recreation Center at Umass (guaranteed to absorb the vast majority of students.)
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Curves was never a concern, as they only target women, thus ignoring half the market. A few years ago Curves was the #1 franchise in America with thousands of units springing up like summer weeds. Many have now wilted and died.

Aerobic circuit training is fine (we have just added a one-hour Friday class), but to limit your entire business model to a 30-minute circuit routine performed two or three times per week guarantees boredom, the #1 cause of dropout.

An exercise science study showed if women actually followed Curves recommendations (three workouts per week) they burned under 300 calories total, or one-twelfth of a pound.

American College of Sports Medicine recommendations, however, suggest moderately intense cardio 30 minutes a day, five days a week. So even if the entire Curves chain vanishes nationwide it would have zero impact on the average health of American women.

And in the Happy Valley, consumers (men and women) who patronized a dead club mostly migrate to another--thus ensuring the financial health of those hardy Health Clubs that remain.

Like the Marine Corps motto: The few. The proud!


Not sure why Dead Men Walking still do this (put up a sign suggesting they will return). Used to be local owners wanted a few days to get out of town so members who just paid for a long-term membership can't catch them, but since Flint left Amherst a long, long time ago...

Hey, at least Curves had a sense of humor with their obituary:

Amherst's BIG 3

31 Spring Street, Amherst

Two weeks ago the Amherst Zoning Board of Appeals approved the conversion of 31 Spring Street to a two family abode, thereby doubling its legal occupancy. The house, contiguous with the newly renovated Lord Jeff Inn, is owned by Amherst College, the largest landowner in town.

The President's House, home to Biddy Martin, is tax exempt

Last year Amherst College, a tax-exempt education institution, paid the town $491,364 for the small part of their vast empire that is on the tax rolls: 31 single family, 5 two-family and 3 three-family houses, the profitable (unlike the town's own Cherry Hill) Amherst Golf Course on South Pleasant Street, the Dakin Property (purchased for $4.3 million in 2005) contiguous with the golf course and the scenic overlook at 69 South Pleasant Street.

In addition last year the college donated $90,000 in unrestricted funds to the town General Fund mainly for emergency services protection provided by Amherst Fire Department.

Although a couple years earlier, before the endowment took a major hit, Amherst College had donated $120,000 to the town they are named after.

Those donations have traditionally (if you call three or four years a tradition) taken place at the start of the New Year.  This past January/February, however, no announcements were forthcoming.  Odd, since their endowment is now comfortably at a historic all time high, $1.64 BILLION.

Meanwhile the "5 year strategic agreement" with UMass/Amherst expires next month.  That Payment In Lieu Of Taxes generated $325,000 per year (plus the regular $100,000 the state always gives Amherst for all state owned land in the town). Umass is the second largest landowner in Amherst--all of it tax exempt except for the Campus Center Hotel that, grudgingly, pays the local option hotel/motel meals tax.

Of course the closing and return of Mark's Meadow Elementary School to the University is a major change.

Former Mark's Meadow Elementary School

According to the expiring 5-year Town/Gown "strategic agreement":

“If, in the future, the Town builds a new elementary school and vacates the Mark’s Meadow facility, the Town, AES, ARPS and the University will negotiate a new agreement in which the University may reimburse the Town for a portion of the net costs of educating students living in University tax-exempt housing. "

Estimates of the number of children attending Amherst Public Schools from our tax exempt flagship University are somewhere between 50 and 60 (two of them Chancellor Holub's children), with our current average cost to educate at $16,413 per student, significantly over the $13,055 state average.

In other words, the $1 million it costs us to educate children coming from UMass tax exempt housing is more than double the amount they currently pay the town.

Last week Amherst Town Meeting approved an Elementary School Budget $218,000 in the red, which had to be made up by tapping reserves, currently around $6 million, but less than 10% of general fund operating revenues. 

The Fire Department also spends about 25% of its time dealing with University related emergencies; and with the AFD budget at $4 million, that too comes to a cool $1 million annually. Recently the firefighers union called upon the town and Umass to consider as part of the negotiations enough (extra) money to fund the addition of two new additional firefighter positions.

Considering the stress placed on AFD just from recent Mullins Center concerts (run by a for profit company cloaked under a tax exempt entity) a reasonable request.

Last night Amherst Town Meeting overwhelmingly approved the town operating budget (police/fire/DPW etc) without a single mention of negotiations with UMass, a guaranteed six digit amount for the FY13 budget.  And no questions concerning the supposedly imminent deal with Blue Wave Capital for placing a $10 million solar farm on the old landfill, thus generating six-digit savings in electric costs on top of $200,000 in annual property taxes.

And then we have the runt of the litter, Hampshire College, who pays the town zero in Payment in Lieu of Taxes and a grand total of $61,613 in property taxes for a few houses and the Bay Road Tennis Club.  Yet expensive trips to Hampshire College are as routine as rain for the Amherst Fire Department.

Black Walnuts near Hampshire College main entrance.  College gave the state a bike lane easement to save trees, but charged the town $200,000 in paving for an easement for Atkins Corner Project

All in all tax exempts own just over half of Amherst, meaning the other half--homeowners and to a minuscule extent, businesses--have to make up that dramatic imbalance. And on top of that we have the most expensive average school costs in the region at $16,413 per pupil, spending a whopping $12 million more per year than our sister city Northampton.

But town officials still act like beggars, pleading with our tax exempt institutes of higher education to "spare a dime." It's time to get serious...and ask (nicely) for real money.

Halloween Haze (Alcohol That Is)

AFD Engines Fine Arts Center awaiting ambulance to transport ETOH student 1:15 am

One can only wonder how much worse it could have been if Mother Nature had not played the role  first-responders-best-friend by providing rain right about the time parties are getting warmed up. And on Halloween, the parties are ubiquitious as pumpkins on a front porch.

 Hampshire Halloween fireworks 8:00 pm

Hampshire Halloween, the biggest event of the year for Hampshire College, was far less intoxicating than last year when AFD had six transports for ETOH.

This year AFD Chief Nelson required 2 out-of-town ambulances stage on scene, just as they did for the recent Fantazia concert at the Mullins Center.

South Hadley and Easthampton ambulances were easily able to keep up with demand, as only three patrons required transport to Cooley Dickinson Hospital. Medics on the scene also treated and released three more.

UMass, however, staggered to a new record, easily surpassing last year's 9 transports for intoxication. This year there were 13 transports, half again as many!

Interestingly male immaturity, as it often does, predominated: 12 of the 13 transports were (young) men. Another three patients (2 men, 1 woman) were treated and released for too much alcohol.

Fortunately Mother Nature continues to smile on our beleaguered first responders, as tonight promises to be the proverbial "dark and stormy night."

Just two of many ETOH incidents after midnight Halloween

Powdered Problems

Don't snort this at home kids

As if alcohol isn't a BIG enough problem nationwide, now it's only going to get worse with the recent Federal approval of easily transported and even easier to conceal powdered alcohol.

This will of course be even more problematic in "college towns" where binge drinking is considered a rite of passage. 

How many rapes -- reported and unreported -- involved alcohol?  How many violent domestic assaults?  Or deaths by drunk drivers, or falls, or even suicides?

Fortunately our progressive state of Massachusetts, according to a legal interpretation by the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission, will prohibit the sale of powdered alcohol because it does not meet the definition of an alcoholic beverage.

Probably hinges on the word "beverage," which is pretty much synonymous with wet. 

But if nearby states don't move to ban it you can bet it's the kind of thing that will find its way into our town, UMass dorm rooms and the Mullins Center when hosting an EDM concert.

Rather than approving it for nationwide use the Feds should have told Palcohol to take a powder.  

A fitting tribute to Lt. David Pollack, Ph.D.

It has been hung on the wall at North Station since the day Dave graduated. His father accepted his Ph.D. on his behalf on May 22nd.

Dave and his family received a standing ovation from every single person in the Mullins Center... I have never seen anything like it before. Every faculty member, student, family/friend stood and applauded for what seemed like minutes...

Rescue the Rescuers

 Cooley Dickinson Hospital ER

Overwhelming police presence and a rare temporary increase in staffing at AFD managed to keep a lid on the routine end-of-semester party itch combined with sunny spring weather, and a dance concert at the Mullins Center Saturday night of the same genre that the week before produced 24 calls for help with 14 of those requiring ambulance runs to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital for drug or alcohol overdose.

This time the concert produced "only" 14 calls for help with four requiring emergency transport by AFD and one additional alcohol overdose handled by privately contracted Westfield Fire Department ambulance. A good thing since the ER at Cooley Dickinson was busy enough as it was and ten more OD cases could have overwhelmed the system.

Interestingly, with as many as 17 firefighter/EMT professionals on duty Saturday (more than twice the usual), the emergency traffic was such that all the extra help was kept busy. Perhaps why Northampton, our sister city to the west, has roughly that number of firefighter/EMTs assigned all of the time.

Northampton maintains a ration of 2.1 firefighters per 1,000 population vs. Amherst with only 1.1 firefighters per thousand.

On Wednesday night Town Manager John Musante seemed to indicate to Amherst Town Meeting that (after almost ten years) Amherst may increase the current dangerously low minimum AFD staffing level of seven.  About time.

And reducing time--getting to the patient, then getting them to the hospital--is what it's all about .

Fowl Holiday Weekend?

"Smartie" was bird napped from Swartz Family Farm on Meadow Street Saturday afternoon

With the long holiday weekend providing the best spring weather thus far this year, two concerts and a car show at the Mullins Center, Extravaganja on the Town Common, Spring Football at UMass with tailgating, the stage was certainly set for an epic (bad) newsworthy weekend.

 Empty UMass McGuirk Stadium Friday 7:00 PM

Packed tailgating outside the Stadium 6:15 PM

 Extravaganja Saturday afternoon:  6,000 people, zero problems

And yes APD was busy handling noise complaints all over town.   And AFD had their usual share of substance abuse runs -- mostly alcohol related.

But the story that seemed to resonate the most via my Twitter and Facebook live coverage was that of "Smartie" the stolen chicken.

Around 3:30 PM Saturday afternoon with the western quad area of Townhouse Apartments filling to capacity, a college aged blond woman grabbed Smartie while walking past Swartz Family Farm heading west.

Townhouse eastern quad Sunday the following day, not nearly as packed with party goers

Another concerned young woman alerted Sarah Swartz to the theft, who then marched over to Townhouse Apartments in search of Smartie.

The kids she talked to expressed genuine concern and took her to see the "Godfather" of Townhouse, a well-dressed, articulate, tall young man who asked her a bevy of questions, while texting on his smartphone, and then assured her Smartie would be returned.

Sure enough, three hours later, Smartie was back on the farm.  Fair is foul, and foul is fair.

 Fade

 So yes, I'm having one of my genius friends fabricate a protective Kevlar skin for my baby

ETOH!

So in addition to all the dangerously drunk (ETOH) college aged youth AFD and ambulances from four surrounding towns transporting to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital from the Tiesto concert at the Mullins Center Thursday night, the weekend did not go much better when it comes to all things alcohol.

   AFD Weekend late Feb by  

Two * calls had to be handled by mutual aid ambulances

Amherst Fire Department transported 9 patients (out of a total of 11 EMS calls) from UMass to the local hospital because of alcohol abuse. Of course UMass will cite all their survey statistics to show binge drinking is going down or "72% of UMass students support the campus alcohol policies."

Put that on the gravestone of the next kid to die from alcohol related abuse.

Sky High Price of Transparency

Besides outright refusal to provide requested documents and then running the risk of losing an appeal to the state Public Records Division  (although they have no enforcement powers), another way of keeping things buried is to charge a high price for fulfilling the request.

State law allows "reasonable fees" to be charged by a public institution to fulfill a request, and it really doesn't matter if you are an average citizen or legacy news organization.

Of course these days newspapers can barely afford to pay for employees coffee so an unexpected $11,000 for public documents is a little hard to swallow.

Which of course only makes you wonder, what is UMass trying to hide?

Our flagship of higher education seemed to be pretty transparent last month when they fairly quickly released total costs ($305,000) associated with the Mullins Center Concert designed to distract students from participating in the Blarney Blowout.

So what's the big deal about giving out the cost breakdown?  Will Ludacris and Juicy J be upset that Kesha was paid more? 

Or are there extra costs we don't know about?

These days public relations personnel outnumber journalists by five to one.  With UMass it's far worse since there really are no professional reporters exclusively assigned to cover UMass/Amherst, while their  "Office of News & Media Relations" has a full-time staff (many of them former reporters) of eleven.

But when you mess with one reporter, you mess with them all.  As well as intelligent readers who take transparency seriously. 

When UMass messed with me

Shelter In A BIG Place

Springfield tornado 6/1/11

If a tornado ever does drop in on downtown Amherst as one did with Springfield almost three years ago, it's nice to know the Mullins Center is close by -- within walking distance for many of us.  

And after today's practice run involving 350 participants (and a bevy of dogs) that will be my destination point should my house fall prey to the destructive power of a funnel cloud, or any other form of catastrophe.

 UMPD Incident Command vehicle

The sheltering drill brought together all manner of emergency services -- UMPD, AFD, UMass Environmental & Safety, UMass EMS, Red Cross, all under the direction of UMass Medical Reserve Corps and UMass Office of Emergency Management.

 Check in started at 2:00 p.m.

 About 100 cots set up on the main floor

All participants were tracked by electronic bracelets keeping a data base of who checked in or out so authorities would have an accurate measure of the shelter's population.  And if loved ones called to find a missing person the data base would instantly indicate if that individual was on site.  

During the 2011 October Halloween snowstorm,  that knocked out power in Amherst for up to a week, the nearest emergency shelter was in Northampton. 

Indiegogo fundraiser for Amherst Record Digital News

Drunk Runs Escalate

 AFD and UMPD assist intoxicated UMass student early Sunday morning (12:53 AM)

Saturday night was even worse than Friday for all things alcohol in our little college town; but fortunately the calls were spread out -- just barely enough -- so mutual aid from a surrounding Fire Department was not required.

Of course it helps greatly that AFD brings in extra staffing on weekends, almost doubling from the weekday level of 7 first responders up to 13.  With that, five ambulances and a fire engine can be simultaneously staffed.

Ominously, the first ETOH call came in Saturday at 7:53 PM from the Mullins Center, during a UMass hockey game, for two intoxicated college aged youth, one male and one female.  The night before the first (of six) ETOH cases started later, at 9:18 PM.

Before the dawn of Sunday morning AFD would do 8 runs to UMass vs 6 the previous night.

But the one incident that stands out in my mind and makes me question whether things will ever get better occurred at Amherst College:  A3 is dispatched for an ETOH male at Crossett Dorm at 11:13 PM and upon arrival at the scene requests assistance from Engine 1.

 AFD Engine 1 and A3 Amherst College Saturday night 11:15 PM

While paramedics are all inside dealing with the patient, a pack of boisterous students in preppie attire walk by.  I hear one of them say loudly, "Go ahead, that would be awesome."

One young man sprints across the street to position himself alongside Engine 1, holds out his iPhone at arm's length taking "selfies" while holding up a can of beer in the other hand.  

Two hours later AFD would respond again to Amherst College for an ETOH female with a head laceration due to a fall.  Which of course could have been fatal.

I wonder if the smart ass who took the stupid selfies a few hours earlier gets that?

   AFD drunk runs mid-Oct by larry_kelley_1

 

Yes, 22 ETOH calls, almost two-third of them to UMass, is a new record for this year.

Blaming The Victim

Talk about cyber bullying! Not to mention lousy writing

 

Camila Carpio, a shrill senior at Amherst Regional High School, started a petition on Change.org yesterday imploring Amherst School officials to ban Dylan Akalis from participating in the ARHS graduation ceremony next month at the Mullins Center.

Oddly enough, Principal Mark Jackson had informed Dylan and family on Friday that he was indeed banned from the June 6 graduation ceremony.

While Ms. Carpio was somewhat correct in saying he was the, "white, male, senior High School student who threatened to bring a gun to school" she is wrong about him "racially harassing black students."  More like the other way around.

She's also wrong about Dylan "not being allowed to return to Amherst High School."  School authorities issued a 12 day suspension after the January 27 "unforeseen circumstances" school closing:  Ten days for the Facebook threat and two days for using the "N-word" (the five letter version ending in A).

The parents decided to keep him out for the rest of the year because school authorities had done little to nothing to the three black students who threatened him -- one of whom laid hands on him.

Since this regrettable drama started over 3.5 months ago no media outlet (or blog) has mentioned Dylan's name.  Yet Camila Carpio does so in an Internet petition which has the potential to be viewed by millions.

With factual errors bordering on libel.

Amherst NAACP promotes the petition on their Facebook page

 Camila Carpio ranting at January 28 Regional School Committee meeting

Springfield Republican Reports

Both People's Republic Shine Tonight

Beijing can boast about their ultra-expensive, high-tech Olympic grand opening ceremony this evening but the People’s Republic of Amherst also played host to an Olympic Torch with 100 local law enforcement personnel as escort who ran in unison from the Amherst Police station to the Umass Mullins Center to benefit Special Olympics Massachusetts covering a distance of three miles, chanting all along the way.

And the best part? No protesters!

Failsafe

So as I pointed out on Saturday when I was the only reporter to show up at the Amherst Police Station turned War Room to observe the coordination of officials from various fiefdoms handling what could have been a major health alert, Princess Stephanie reaffirmed on Monday night that indeed public officials were on edge. As well they should have been.

Twice now in the past 13 months--both events at most inopportune times--the town has undergone this public health scare. If I were a terrorist trying to maximize damage from sabotaging the public water supply in Amherst, I would probably choose Labor Day weekend when the students return in waves (last year) or the first ever Phish concert at the Mullins Center (this year) which brought an extra 20,000 people to the town.

Unfortunately the Town Manager reported to the Select Board that we may "never know" the cause of the false coliform and E. coli positives (but then, how do we know they were false?)


The Springfield Republican reports

"We're # One!"

Last month I stated that unless a major catastrophe occurred which, thankfully, did not,  the March 8 Blarney Blowout would be my 2014 "story of the year" -- as it was for the year 2013.  And indeed it is.

But because the aftermath of that debacle has been so subdued, with our college aged youth falling in line through better behavior, I have great hope -- matched by confidence -- that it will not repeat in 2015.  After all, a third time is not very charming.

Thus what was to be my #2 story climbs into a tie for #1:  When Political Correctness collides with teen-aged angst under the roof of the Amherst Regional High School.

Specifically the way school officials treated Dylan Akalis, a white kid from Holyoke who dared like a lot of kids do to use the (modified rap version) N-word with an African American friend, who took no offense. 

Other African American kids did, however, and responded with bullying both online and in person that was reported to school authorities, who did nothing.  Dylan, in self defense, took matters into his own hands and made a "threat" on Facebook suggesting he came to school packing a pistol. 

In a panic, the school was closed for a day.  Dylan was summarily suspended, but his tormentors were not.  His father who worked (with his hands) for the schools was later fired for using a common electrician term in front of an African American school employee. 

Although his diploma reads Amherst Regional High School, officials would not let Dylan march in his cap and gown with fellow students and friends at the June 6 Mullins Center graduation ceremony, or attend the senior prom the week before.  Although a young woman who violated his privacy rights with a public Internet petition was allowed to march in the graduation ceremony.

Had Dylan not been white, the story would have played out in a radically different way.

From cancelling "West Side Story" because it was "racist" to allowing kids to perform the R-rated "Vagina Monologues," ARHS is a shining example of the mayhem that results from Political Correctness run amok.

As usual the response of school officials is to throw money at the problem:  They spent $38,000 enlisting smooth talking  Calvin Terrell, who terrorized 7th and 8th graders back in October and should have been instantly fired.  He returns next month.

The schools spent $48,000 hiring a "Media & Climate Communications Specialist" (fancy term for PR flack) to deal with racial issues, and the first thing she does is get into an embarrassing public fight with a long-time prominent local radio station over transparency.

And of course the  Carolyn Gardner affair was mishandled at the start when school officials kept the original graffiti incident in October a secret, something that could come back to haunt them when the Mass Commission Against Discrimination takes up their investigation. 

No, I don't have high hopes that 2015 will be any better when it comes to the race game played in our little "college town."

Water, Water Everywhere

 

The town has issued a breaking news alert, unusual in that it really is breaking news, warning of bad things found in Amherst water.  No they have not issued a "boil water" alert, and the problem seems to be isolated to a small section of the system in the southern end of town.

DPW Chief Guilford Mooring confirms, "The heat (weather) is a factor and we will probably have to chlorinate the south side of Town for a while."  But he also pointed out reassuringly, "We had very low counts of total coliform colonies in the failed samples."

Back in late October, 2010 the public water tested worse than this time around and the town came within a drop of declaring a "boil water" alert.  At the time UMass was hosting a pair of sold out Phish concerts at the Mullins Center.

The town fired up its Emergency Operations Command to deal with the potential crisis, but follow up tests showed the problem went away.

A Fitting Investment

UMass undergrad Commencement Ceremony, May 8th

If UMass can spend a little over $300,000 on three "artists" for a free musical concert at the Mullins Center to attract students away from a boorish Blarney Blowout style of celebration, I sure don't have a problem with paying Neil deGrasse Tyson $25,000 (plus expenses) for this year's Commencement speech.

As I've mentioned more than once, last year's Blarney Blowout cost the University and Town more than a million in bad PR.  And had this year's event stumbled down the same sorry path, you could have easily doubled that amount.

College graduation is a once in a lifetime event.  Let's hope Mr. Tyson presents a memorable, out of this world, speech.

Globe story alone is worth a couple bucks