Last week 22-year-old Zachary Simeone from Dalton Massachusetts threatened to come to UMass, assault/murder his former girlfriend, crash his truck into John Quincy Adams Tower and shoot up the campus.
Zach Simeone and his truck
All at a time when gun violence on college campuses is paramount in people's minds.
Click to enlarge/read
He was arrested by Dalton PD after being alerted by UMPD and originally found by Judge Patricia Poehler too dangerous for release, either on his own personal recognizance or via bail.
This morning a new deal -- "Joint Proposal RE Conditions Of Release" -- was struck at Hampshire Superior Court allowing his release under many, many conditions.
I was on my way to Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown to pick up documents relating to a very scary story from last weekend when I first heard the call and knew simply because Dispatch was addressing it to multiple patrol units and the shift supervisor (X1) that it was not going to be a routine event.
Fort River Elementary School went into "shelter in place" mode due to reports of an intruder. Although the original call did mention a possible weapon involved I chose not to report that. And I used the slightly less scary term "lockdown" in my original Tweet/Facebook post.
When I arrived on the scene about 5 minutes later three APD cruisers were scattered about the area but two school employees were out front doing routine lawn maintenance. So far so good.
Since the school was locked down officers were having trouble getting in, as apparently a key fob was not working properly. At one point an officer told Dispatch that if school officials did not come to open the door they would have to "breach it." That too I chose not to report.
Fortunately a moment later someone opened the door for them.
Within minutes APD had answered my original Tweet saying no intruder found.
@amherstac no intruder at this time found at fort river school
Follow @AmherstMApolice on Twitter to stay informed
I had gone from Twitter over to Facebook to file a quick report and then got distracted by questions and comments, so I did not see the original APD response tweet to me for a few minutes.
But by then I had already figured out things were under control and stated that fairly quickly in a follow up post.
As I was leaving the scene I saw Chief Livingstone coming out the main entry and he confirmed "Everything is fine." And that was one statement I was happy to post on Facebook and Twitter.
By that time some of the responding units had already left Fort River School and headed to all the other schools in town just to be extra safe.
School Superintendent Maria Geryk, within 45 minutes of the original start of the incident, issued a robocall reassuring parents there was "no threat to the school."
Amherst officials are getting better at combining transparency with modern means of communication.
Amherst Regional Middle School, currently holding 7 & 8 grades
The Joint Capital Planning Committee -- made up of members from Town, Schools, Library, and Finance Committee -- unanimously recommended approval of Article 9, to spend $150,000 to carve out a spot (4,000 sq ft) at the Regional Middle School for the town's Leisure Services & Supplemental Education, aka Recreation Department.
They also unanimously supported Article 8 which would "repurpose" the $150K from money already approved by Town Meeting to rehab the East Street School. In 2014 $700,000 was appropriated to renovate the former school so LSSE could relocate there, but bids came in much too high -- mainly for ADA improvements.
That renovation plan, after completing roof work, has been put on hold with about $565,000 remaining.
East Street School: Expensive White Elephant?
The Amherst Regional Public Schools are considering merging Middle School students (grades 6-8) into the High School thus freeing up the building for other activities. Greenfield Community College has expressed an interest in using it as a satellite school.
LSSE currently uses the Bangs Community Center as their home base but that spot is being taken by Community Health Center a satellite operation of the Hilltown Community Health Center. The program will bring medical and dental services to those without health insurance.
JCPC also unanimously supported spending $26,000 for electronic voting hand sets to bring antiquated Town Meeting into the 21st century. Finance Director Sandy Pooler confirmed town officials had set aside $27,000 in monies from the previous Fiscal Year.
Town Meeting, which starts November 2, is the final authority on all spending but they usually follow the advice of JCPC.
Mandi Jo Hanneke (right) from Town Meeting Electronic Voting Studey Committee pitches the JCPC on time saving and accountability attributes of newfangled voting devices. Later that night the Finance Committee also endorsed spending the $26K
APD K9 Unit: Dash (the shorter one) and Officer Clark
Not only do you party hardy types have to get by a pretty savvy crew of front line Amherst police officers on the late night weekends -- especially in neighborhoods near UMass -- but they also have a secret weapon: Dash.
Click to enlarge/read
Don't mess with Dash.
Patrick O'Malley, age 21, arraigned before Judge John Payne. Case continued so he could consult a lawyer
Agawam FD on scene Mullins Center last night enroute to CDH
Thanks to a requirement from Amherst Fire Chief Tim Nelson that the Mullins Center hire outside contractors to be on site (well, close by at North Station anyway) there were no serious problems last night with ambulance supply-and-demand at the Mullins Center.
Agawam and Easthampton FD ambulances were able to handle the medical transports to Cooley Dickinson Hospital, all of them alcohol related. "About what we expected" according to Chief Nelson.
AFD responding to the Mullins Center for vomiting drunk college aged female urinating herself.
A good thing of course since we are talking about potentially life and death scenarios for the rest of us living in town, where a quick arriving ambulance can make all the difference in the world.
Although you would be amazed at some of the ambulance calls Dispatch deals with.
Mullins Center Command, staffed by AFD personnel, saw a total of 15 concert goers last night with four of them requiring transport. Nothing compared to last month's concert.
The next test of our Emergency Medical System will come on Halloween: Another Mullins Center show and with the holiday falling on a weekend the college aged zombie hoards will be out in full strength looking to party.
Amity Street lot yesterday afternoon, Jones Library top center
Amherst Town Meeting, which starts November 2, will be asked to spend $200,000 to completely renovate one of the busiest parking lots in town, the 33 space Amity Street surface lot.
The centrally located lot is contiguous with the Amherst Cinema, with the Jones Library directly across the street. A 2007 parking study found it was 96.5% full between the hours of 11:00 AM until 6:00 PM.
Of course what Amherst really needs to do is increase the supply of parking in the downtown, which doesn't come cheap.
There's been increasing talk about building a parking garage behind the CVS, which was the original preferred location back when the town ended up constructing the tiny Boltwood Walk Garage on the other side of North Pleasant Street.
CVS parking and town owned lot would require Town Meeting zoning change for a garage
It's fitting the first expenditure out of the $200,000+ Eva Schiffer fund, established when her gifted home on Kendrick Place was sold to benefit Amherst Housing Authority lower income clients, will be a charitable donation in the name of beloved Town Manger John Musante, who died unexpectedly on an otherwise glorious Sunday morning a few weeks back.
27 Kendrick Place sold for $225,000 netting the AHA $209,000
The home was eventually purchased in an open bidding process by Finance Director Sandy Pooler who was Town Manager Musante's first appointment almost five years ago after he replaced Larry Shaffer.
Connie Kruger, at the Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday, who also worked closely with Mr. Musante in her other role as a Select Board member, liked the idea of a donation to the Amherst Community Center. That project was one of his last major endeavors.
Since the community health facility will be locating in the nearby Bangs Community Center, chances are many AHA tenants will be using its services. Kruger deemed that, "resonate with what we do."
But she also suggested the money go towards something tangible like a dental chair that would be long lasting and could hold a plaque attributing the donation in his honor.
The Board did not come up with a final amount, leaving that until their next meeting, but did unanimously pass a motion "to contribute in John Musante's name to the Community Health Center with funds coming from Eva Schiffer account."
AHA Commissioner Peter Jessop confirmed, "I think Eva would approve."
Denise LeDuc Director, Judy Brooks Chair, Laura Quinn, Connie Kruger, Peter Jessop
Only a half dozen parents participated in last night's public forum
Last night's public forum in Amherst -- the first of four in our public school Region -- does not bode well for those who champion public involvement in major bureaucratic/governmental decisions.
In this case the expansion of the current grades 7-12 public education empire that combined the little towns of Pelham, Leverett, Shutesbury with the not so little town of Amherst over sixty years ago.
Thirty people came to the Regional High School library for the not overly well advertised event, but the vast majority were town or school officials. Only six spectators who came to the microphone with questions -- four from Amherst -- identified themselves as parents.
Town Moderator Jim Pistrang, Sandy Pooler, Katherine Appy, Alisa Brewer
Town Finance Director Sandy Pooler was forthright about the dollar aspect of the decision saying, "There's no significant financial impact one way or the other. Finances shouldn't drive this decision."
About half the $600K "savings" comes from Amherst medicaid money
And like any good public speaker he closed on the same theme: "This is not a financial decision for the town of Amherst, it's an educational decision."
The usual theme of unifying education was the pitch promoted by school officials, although some in the audience worried about too much conformity.
And the time saved by only having to file one report with the state for the Region rather than the current three (at about 1,000 pages per year per report).
Select Board Chair Alisa Brewer tried to handle the governance issue but like that Facebook relationship status, "It's complicated." Amherst would have 7 elected members on the newly expanded 13 member Regional School Committee, with the other three towns each having two representatives.
But all voters in all four towns would get to vote on all 13 members. One Shutesbury official wondered how it would make a Shutesbury representative feel when he/she were elected with over 90% input from voters outside of Shutesbury.
And town official Marylou Theilman pointed out a town could decide not to join the expanded Region (but as long as they vote yes to reopening the Regional Agreement the expansion can still happen) and therefor their representative would still have a say over elementary schools even though they do not have a financial stake in the matter.
Town Meeting member, parent and Regionalization watch dog Janet McGowan sent an email earlier in the day to the School Committee requesting officials hold another public meeting in November with better advance information distribution.
Simply put, when education is your product the smarter approach is indeed transparency.
Vince O'Connor: "It's depressing to go to meetings like this and see how ineffective public officials are at getting parents of color to attend."
Ryan West, age 20, stands before Judge John Payne. Case continued to October 19
Considering he took both the PBT (Portable Breath Test), which is not admissible in Court, AND the chemical Breath Test back at APD headquarters, which is admissible in Court, Mr. West should save himself steep legal fees and simply take the standard state plea deal offer of a 1st time offender 24D disposition.
In case you were wondering why the American flag is in that unmistakable position:
Please
be advised that in accordance with the Presidential proclamation and as
ordered by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, the United States flag
and the Commonwealth flag shall be flown at half-staff at all state
buildings beginning immediately until sunset on Tuesday, October 6, 2015
in honor of the victims of the tragedy in Roseburg, Oregon on October
1, 2015. Additionally, the United States
flag and the Commonwealth flag shall be flown at half-staff at all
state buildings from sunrise until sunset on Tuesday, October 6, 2015 in
honor of Sergeant Christopher Y. Vars, United States Army, of Reading,
MA who was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the enemy in North
Korea on November 29, 1950. Sgt. Vars was the recipient of many awards
including the Purple Heart, the POW & Mia Medals, the Combat
Infantryman Badge, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service
Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and several others. The
Sergeants remains returned to the United States on Wednesday, September
9, 2015 and he will be buried with full military honors on October 6,
2015.
10/1 Regional School Committee meeting started with moment of silence for John Musante
Only you overly dialed in folks probably know about the Amherst Regional Public School sponsored forum tomorrow night (6:30 PM) at the High School Library.
With all that is going on in the schools -- merging the Middle School into the High School, renovating or replacing Wildwood Elementary -- it's hard to keep track of major issues.
This forum is regarding regionalizing the entire four town District from the current 7-12 all the way down to kindergarten through 6th grade.
The move requires ALL FOUR TOWNS to vote yes to reopening the Regional Agreement, but then a town could still vote no to actually joining the expanded Region.
One of the biggest mistakes school officials have made over the past FOUR YEARS on this particular subject is not embracing transparency and outreach on this important topic.
The Regional School Committee heard a report at their October 1 meeting from a hastily appointed sub-committee on the Public Relations efforts used to promote the forums, which will be held in all four towns: Amherst goes first tomorrow, Leverett on October 21, Shutesbury on November 18. Pelham has yet to schedule theirs.
The presentation will, naturally, rely on a Powerpoint presentation. Superintendent Maria Geryk said the goal is "to make the presentations as short as possible and spend as much time as possible answering questions."
Regional School Committee members will also be on hand to answer questions as well, although a quorum is not necessary.
Interestingly presenters will include Sandy Pooler the town's Finance Director, not Sean Mangano the School District's top finance guy; and Select Board Chair Alisa Brewer (the town's highest elected official), who was formerly a School Committee member. And Town Meeting moderator Jim Pistrang will moderate.
Lets hope all the town/school officials don't outnumber the audience.
Amherst Media lease extended through January 1, 2017
Eversource has agreed to extend the lease for Amherst Media at their 246 College Street 1st floor location yet again so our local cable access media provider can continue to operate thru January 1, 2017.
The Electric Company had wanted to take back their building a few years ago but allowed them to stay through December 31 this year.
Although at the moment it looks like their rent will almost double from the current $1,740/month up to $2,913/month. Plus the cost of oil heating this winter.
Amherst Media purchased land (2 lots) around the corner on Main Street from Barbara Guidera for $340,000 and Amherst Town Meeting took the arduous step of rezoning the property to allow for commercial operations so a new building could be constructed.
Original plans were for her son Jerry Guidary to build a new structure for Amherst Media with their long term lease/committement in hand, but that project had trouble getting financing.
Historic Hills House top center. Amherst Media property in red
The $3.5 million capital fundraising campaign for the new 10,000 square foot building never materialized, so now Amherst Media has the landbut have pretty much given up on the idea of constructing a new building.
Which all comes at a fairly bad time as over the next year the town is in negotiations with Comcast for the ten year license renewal of cable TV, a deal that generated almost $7 million for the cable giant last year.
Amherst Media is funded by a 5% cut of cable TV revenues (but not phone or Internet users) from about 7,000 Comcast subscribers which last year came to $317,000 and this year is expected to be around $305,000.
In addition Amherst Media is starting to do more fundraising (about $5,000 this year) and they have a just under 150 members who pay $15 per year.
But, obviously, the Comcast funding is the motherlode.
These days -- or most any over the past 35 years -- it's not often I find myself in agreement with forever activist Vince O'Connor, but on this particular issue he's dead on correct. There, I said it. Step one in any good multi-step program.
UMass currently pays the town under $500K as a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes courtesy of a "5 year strategic agreement" signed w-a-y back in 2007. Thus it expired over three years ago but has been extended annually ever since.
I'm told by a reliable source that a new multi year agreement had been on Town Manager John Musante's desk for many, many months now.
His unfortunate passing two weeks ago today could obviously delay even longer the ratification of that new agreement -- if indeed it is worth ratifying.
Because if the amount is under $1 million per year -- which it probably is since Mr. Musante seemed not overly interested in jumping on it even though he had come under pressure of late by the Select Board to get an agreement resigned -- I would tell UMass to go fly a drone, err, kite.
With a Public Safety budget of $10 million and our police and fire/EMTs dealing with UMass students on and off campus amounting to 25% of our emergency services utilization, that alone comes to $2.5 million the town should be reimbursed.
Amherst FY16 (ends June 30, 2016) budget
And with UMass grad students sending their children to our public schools (56 total, times our high $20K per year average cost to educate) that comes to another $1 million plus per year.
If UMass were smart -- and they are after all a "higher education" enterprise -- they would seek to cut a new five year deal as soon as possible.
Because if Representative Kulik's bill passes to force tax-exempts to pay 25% of their assessed value, and Amherst and Hampshire College end up paying for more than UMass there will be hell to pay.
This year Amherst College paid the town $130,000 -- up from the previous year's $90,000 -- for AFD fire/EMS services while Hampshire College paid us a BIG fat zero.
Ladder 1 and Engine 2 with aerials extended about 75 feet up
About the only thing I'm going to miss with Central Station when the town FINALLY gets around to building a new fire station in South Amherst is the great access the general public has to the department in their heart of the downtown location.
Like today's successful annual Open House, which always coincides with "Fire Prevention Week." And that's just one of the great things about our local department: They would much rather not have your business when it comes to fire.
And a little training can go a long way should the unimaginable ever happen in your home, office or school. AFD also gets out of their office and takes fire safety training to our schools with the highly successful SAFE (Student Awareness of Fire Education program).
Demonstrating extraction techniques
Of course the other huge problem the town needs to address is the inadequate staffing levels that all too often requires mutual aid supplementation from a surrounding department and frequent requests for off duty firefighters to report in for "station coverage."
Smokey Bear and Jada
Or, maybe we could just draft Smokey Bear.
Click to enlarge photo
Why we need an adequate full-time profession FD. Those who fail to learn from history ...
Attorney Tom Reidy and Cliff Laraway appear before ZBA last night, Chair Mark Parent (ctr)
Sometimes the difference between life and death is measured in mere seconds -- especially when dealing with The Beast otherwise known as fire.
A cluttered escape route, narrow stairway, or -- God forbid -- a door locked from the outside that doesn't allow opening from within, could quickly spell death of a most unimaginable kind.
Would you trust your life to this fire escape?
At last night's Special Permit hearing for 382 North Pleasant Street, which most people probably think of as a fraternity (which apparently it still is), Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Mark Parent clearly stated, "My concern is about safety, that's what is driving this. Some kids do crazy stuff and we need to protect them from themselves."
A September 29 Site Visit turned up "living rooms" with doors on them, and at least ten rooms with external locks on them (which as a joke someone could lock the person in), as well as a bevy of extra mattresses in storage.
Mr. Parent told the petitioner and his attorney, "It is very clear to me this site is occupied by at least 10 people consistently. No question it's more than the 8 allowed. We need to come up with conditions that rectify that."
The town of Amherst has a zoning bylaw that restricts occupancy to no more than four unrelated housemates per one family unit.
Owner Cliff Laraway is requesting a Special Permit to allow the
structure to be a two family, non owner occupied structure (for up to 8
unrelated tenants). But the layout of the former fraternity, with so
many rooms, makes it hard to enforce only eight of them be bedrooms.
Building Commissioner Rob Morra stated, "There have to be significant structural changes, like taking out a wall vs simply removing a door".
The Amherst Fire Department, having done car counts over the month of September, considers it a "rooming house" with 10 or more tenants, thus requiring an expensive ($39,000) sprinkler system.
Click to enlarge/read
The Special Permit hearing was continued to November 5th so the ZBA could request an AFD representative attend.
The petitioner was sternly instructed to come back with floor plans that show eight and only eight bedrooms as well as physical changes in place to keep the other numerous available rooms from conveniently be used as additional bedrooms.
Building Commissioner Rob Morra did not waste any time taking enforcement steps to ensure the current population of the building goes down to only eight:
Amherst Office Park's new 30,000 square foot mixed-use building, an exciting new addition to the South Amherst Village Center will open November 1st, joining Kendrick Place and Presidential Apartments as providers of additional, badly needed housing in town.
In this case 17 total units -- the vast majority of them one-bedroom (15) and the remaining two, two-bedroom. The residential portion of the building occupies the upper two floors and are now fully rented, while the ground floor commercial space is 75% leased.
Balconies offer scenic views to the east and west
Mixed-use buildings like this are a blessing to nearby local small businesses by providing a bevy of potential customers, all within walking distance.
The 2nd and final joint public meeting of the Amherst Select Board and Cable Advisory Committee to hear costumers concerns with Comcast service over the past ten years this morning was pretty much a rerun of the Ascertainment Hearing last week: Amherst Media is amazing, but Comcast kind of stinks.
Jones Library Director Sharon Sharry: Would like to see all three libraries wired for broadcast
This time 19 people (vs a dozen last week) came to the microphone to present testimony, and not a one had anything good to say about Comcast.
Peggy Roberts, Town Meeting Coordinating Committee Chair: "Amherst Media needs equipment replacement and extra staff support."
Amherst Cable Advisory member Demetria Shabazz led off the assault by pointing out Comcast is an $8 Billion company and rather than tie revenues only to the 7,000 cable TV customers it should include ALL profits including Internet and telephone.
Currently Comcast pays the town (who turns it over to Amherst Media) a little over $300,000 which represents 5% of the $6.5 million in revenues generated by 7,000 cable TV subscribers, but nothing from Internet or digital phone services.
Matthew Duranti, filmmaker: "Amherst Media helped me get my voice out there as a young film producer"
Most of the speakers pointed out Amherst Media is critical to our democracy because of the governmental meetings they cover (Select Board, Town Meeting, Finance Committee, etc), but they are currently stuck using outdated copper wire analog technology.
Chris Riddle, member of the Town Meeting Coordinating Committee, said the lighting in the middle School auditorium is old analog theater lighting that leaves a lot to be desired for Town Meeting members trying to watch presentations and for the signal beamed to viewers at home. He suggested Comcast upgrade the facility with new LED lighting and a digital sound system.
Louie Greenbaum: "Town Meeting sound system at Middle School is a terrible, terrible system unworthy of Amherst"
Ten years ago at the start of the contract Comcast contributed a one-time "technology upgrade" grant of $450,000. This time around, with the chorus of requests for fiber optic upgrade to the entire Amherst Media system, it sounds like the request will be a l-o-t higher.
Jim Lescault, Amherst Media Executive Director: Last year we provided 504 hours of original content over our three channels
At least one woman advocated for a switch in providers saying, "If I went to a doctor and they didn't have the equipment to make me better, why would I go back"?
But not a lot of other companies are going to wish to come to Amherst when they will have to wire the entire town to set up a new cable system.
So Comcast it is. Only questions are will their customer service improve, and how much more money will they be willing to invest in Amherst Media?
The Amherst Conservation Commission gave "emergency certification" for a Gull Pond beaver breach last week to keep the pond from overflowing its boundaries.
According to Town Manager (& Conservation Director) Dave Ziomek:
"My wetlands administrator worked closely with conservation and DPW staff to breach the dam. Late summer rains raised concerns about the road and water backup into basements etc. We’ve done this many times in my tenure with the Town to prevent impacts to residents, roads and property. All part of living with beavers. In these cases we seek what is called an emergency certification to breach a dam to lower water levels temporarily. Rain this week will bring level back up I’m sure."
A "beaver deceiver" will be reinstalled to protect the drainage pipe
Considering the monsoons that are now upon us, that's a pretty safe bet.
