Party Apartment of the weekend

Puffton Village apartments

As a testament to how tight a ship Puffton Village manager Steve Walczak operates, this is the first time a Puffton Village resident has achieved this dubious honor--although in this particular case more than well deserved.

Police were first called early THIS morning to #236 Puffton Village and immediately noticed "Loud thumping music could be heard upon arrival. The individual was slightly argumentative." But the town noise bylaw was thoroughly explained to her--and the consequences for violating it. She was issued a written warning, and the police went on their way.

Ten minutes later police are called back to the scene for--you guessed it--loud noise coming from apartment #236. According to APD narrative:

Moments after clearing the scene, music was turned back on. The arrestee was very uncooperative. The remaining guests were cleared out. A second roommate was found sleeping and explained the town noise by law.

Arrested for violating town noise bylaw:
Xxxx, Lunenburg, MA, age 20

Update 2/7/12. As per our agreement I deleted her name after she paid the fine (and I'm convinced I will not see her name again in the Amherst Police report.)

Puffton Village is owned by town patriarch Steve Puffer.

Cyber Monday

Some things, however, are priceless.

A tax free Christmas

Amherst Pelham Boy Scouts return to Kendrick Park

President Obama could/should have learned a lesson from former Town Manager Larry Shaffer about not disparaging Christmas by instituting a tax on Christmas trees--something that makes you look heartless and indifferent to public opinion.

Amherst/Pelham Boy Scouts selling Christmas trees as a fundraiser is a much anticipated yuletide tradition dating back to when Rockwell was in his prime. And as one of my commenters previously pointed out, their sign is probably as old as the tradition.

Now all we need is a blanket of snow.

Santa drops in

Live long and prosper

A huge throng of people--almost all with kids in tow--migrated to Yankee Candle in South Deerfield this morning to welcome the jolly big guy dressed in red and white who hitched a ride on a helicopter, since the weather was a tad too warm for his reindeer.




After a very brief speech and a couple of "Ho, ho, ho's" he was off, and the crowd dutifully moved indoors to shop. If you are the claustrophobic type this was not the place for you. I only hope downtown Amherst is lucky enough to see one-quarter the number of shoppers for "Small Business Saturday."


By Select Board decree, parking is free throughout the downtown, but since nobody took the time to advertise/promote it, a lot of potential shoppers are probably left unaware.

Speaking of Christmas, downtown Amherst will once host once again the lighting of the Merry Maple--Christmas Tree to you outsiders--on December 2. For the first time in memory George N. Parks will not be leading the UMass marching band as one of the main attractions...with Santa riding the AFD ladder truck and the ignition of the Merry Maple.

(Since my new camera does well in low light conditions, I may be able to get a good Merry Maple photo this year.)

The Juggernaut strikes back

AFD's $635,000 Quint

So apparently Bernette A. Daly, director of UMass Health Services, reads the local newspapers as today's Gazette contains a reply to concerns from Amherst Fire Department chief Tim Nelson that his already overburdened department will pick up the slack created by the cost cutting hours reduction UHS will institute in January.

Of course the Chief will be too nice to respond to the response, so I'll do it for him: poppycock!

First off, the $346,000 Ms. Daly cites as payments to the town from UMass for ambulance services seems like a lot...until you factor in the $4 million operation cost of AFD with 25% of their time spent servicing UMass.

And the amount looks downright stingy when you compare the $1,100,000 Payment In Lieu Of Taxes Burlington, with the same population as Amherst, receives from the University of Vermont (9,000 undergrads, 1,350 grad students)--three times what the significantly larger University of Massachusetts (20,000 undergrads, 5,000 grad students) pays Amherst!

That $1.1 million is for fire services only as the University of Vermont has its own ambulance service--which it provides to the town.

Ms Daley freely admits, "The clinic treats an average of just four to seven patients after 8 p.m. weeknights, and about half that many on weekends." So what are those folks going to do when UHS is closed during their time of need? Certainly many of them--since the Cooley Dickinson Hospital is such a long walk--are going to call AFD.

On the night before the great Halloween weekend storm, at one point all five Amherst ambulances were engaged (dealing with passed out drunk students), so just one extra call that night would have overtaxed the system.

While it may indeed make economic sense to reduce the hours at UHC, it is still irresponsible for the University to reap those savings by passing the problem along to somebody else.

Director of UHS response to Chief Nelson

AFD Chief Tim Nelson

Strike two!

From: Larry Kelley
To: Gerykm ; hoodr ; westmorelandD ; mazurk ; BurgessS ; avbrewer
Sent: Wed, Nov 23, 2011 4:53 pm
Subject: Open Meeting Law complaint (using AG's form)

According to the somewhat newly revised Open Meeting Law I am supposed to file my complaint with the Regional School Committee and the Town Clerk over the incident last night where the Regional School Committee went into executive session without clearly stating the reason for doing so and without a proper second to the motion.

Please excuse the somewhat weird formatting as I downloaded the PDF complaint form from the AG website.

Larry Kelley

####################

OPEN MEETING LAW COMPLAINT FORM

Organization or Media Affiliation (if any): http://onlyintherepublicofamherst.blogspot.com/

Are you filing the complaint in your capacity as an individual, representative of an organization, or media? Media

(For statistical purposes only) Individual Organization Media x

Public Body that is the subject of this complaint: Amherst Regional School Committee

City/Town Amherst County Hampshire Regional/District State Mass

Name of Public Body (including city/ town, county or region, if applicable):Amherst Regional School Committee, 170 Chestnut Street, Amherst, Ma

Specific person(s), if any, you allege committed the violation: Rick Hood, Chair of the Regional Committee and Irv Rhodes Chair Amherst School Committee
Date of alleged violation:11/22/11

Description of alleged violation: Irv Rhodes made a motion to go into Executive Session "never to return" but with no explanation/reason for the action, and Mr Hood allowed it without having a proper second from another member.

Describe the alleged violation that this complaint is about. If you believe the alleged violation was intentional, please say so and include the reasons supporting your belief. No, not intentional--just careless.

What action do you want the public body to take in response to your complaint? Apologize, promise it will never happen again. After school detention.

Review, sign, and submit your complaint
Read this important notice and sign your complaint.
Under most circumstances your complaint will be considered a public record and be available to any member of the public upon request.
I understand that when I submit this complaint the Attorney General's Office cannot give me legal advice and cannot act as my personal lawyer.

I certify that the information contained on this form is true to the best of my knowledge.

Signed: Larry Kelley Date: 11/23/11

A fitting tribute indeed

W.D. Cowls Building Supply

My Facebook and corporeal buddy Cinda Jones emailed yesterday to inquire if anyone would take offense if she lowered the huge flag in front of the business her dad built with the blood of his bare hands, to a position of mourning.

"No, lower away," I instantly replied. Because there's a b-i-g difference between, say, Amherst College lowering their majestic flag on the hill for former employees who pass away and a dutiful daughter doing so over the sudden passing of a beloved father, friend, mentor and by all accounts icon in our town's rarest of breeds: entrepreneur.

If America was built on anything, it was family values. So when a family's respect for their father bends the unenforceable rules of flag protocol, safe bet the Founding Fathers would have no complaints.

Paul Jones obit