DUI Dishonor Roll

The rate of drunk driving is highest among 21-25 year olds (23.4%)

Only one arrest for drunk driving over the weekend, about as typical as they come (the modus operandi, not the number):  Jesse Korzen, 21, a former UMass student and somebody not unknown to our police department, as he was arrested back in January for alcohol related rowdy behavior.

His twitter masthead seems to show a typical day drink gathering out at Townhouse apartments in North Amherst which was Ground Zero for the last three out-of-control Blarney Blowouts.

Click to enlarge/read

Jesse Korzen in District Court reading his arrest report

In Eastern Hampshire District Court this morning Mr. Korzen was represented by what looked to be a high priced attorney (keep in mind Korzen was arrested on Sunday).   He took a standard 24D plea disposition, probably because of the Breathalyzer results of .15% -- almost twice the legal limit.

Korzen will lose his license for 45 days, pay $650 in fines/fees, take a driver education program and be on probation for the next year.  As long as he stays out of trouble (here or in New York) the case will be "dismissed", although "Continued Without A Finding" is pretty much an admission of guilt.

His attorney asked Judge Payne to waive the travel restrictions since he lives in New York, and the Judge agreed.

Coincidentally enough -- what are the odds? -- I received an email about an hour after Korzen's District Court appearance from his roommate who was also arrested back in January, requesting deletion of the article.   

The guaranteed way of keeping your name from appearing on these pages is pretty simple:  Don't get arrested.

Worth Mooing About

For the 1st time since mid-1990s Mitchell Farm will host a dairy operation

Tregaverne will keep 14 cows and 40 goats at the 340 North East Street location

Thanks to a unanimous vote of the Board of Health the sale of raw milk is now legal in the town of Amherst, but will come under state oversight.  In addition the board also voted to allow pasteurization of milk at a newly proposed micro creamery, Tregaverne.

Health Director Julie Federman, although not overly keen on the idea of raw milk, did tell the board that Massachusetts has  "robust" oversight of anything milk related.  

 Ronnie Wagner (far left), Shannon Rice-Nichols (immediate left)

And the owner of the proposed creamery, Shannon Rice-Nichols, a trained micro biologist, told the Board she would test the milk weekly and the (closed) herd of 14 cows twice per year.  The milk would also be free of glyphosate/GMO and come packaged in 100% recyclable containers.

Rice-Nichols has an extensive agricultural background having been involved with 38 creamery operations previously, to which  BOH member Julie Marcus replied, "Your credentials are the kind we want in our town."

She plans to use the Community Supported Agricultural model so all milk sales have to occur on site and signs conspicuously displayed informing consumers about the potential hazards of raw milk (Coliform, E. Coli, Salmonella, etc).

In addition every batch will be recorded, so if any problems do occur and a recall is needed it will be easy to trace the whereabouts of the milk.  

Tregaverne will be a Massachusetts B Corporation with expected annual sales in the $300,000 range with some of the proceeds donated to a local social service agency, SafePassage.  The business is expected to employ a half-dozen part time employees and pay them a fair hourly wage.

In addition to raw milk the operation will also produce other "cultured products" aka, cheese under the "Ferment This!" label.  Tregaverne will be a R&D scale micro-creamery so as to experiment with recipes.  As such batch sizes will be capped at 1,000 liters. 

" Ferment This" label:  painting by Arapawa Island goat named "Mouse"

Ideally Rice-Nichols would like to open the new creamery before the snow falls.   

local consumers will now get more choice with their dairy products, the town gets another badly needed addition to the commercial tax base, while historic structures get put to good reuse.  

A winning trifecta indeed.

Raw milk providers in Massachusetts

Mullins Center Command

AFD ambulance backing into south entrance Mullins Center late last night

Friday night into early Saturday morning, although certainly stressed, our emergency medical system worked.  Most times, the center holds. 

At the first major Electronic Dance Music concert of the semester-- 'Life In Color" paint party -- a dozen patrons required ambulance transport from the Mullins Center to either Cooley Dickinson Hospital in nearby Northampton, Holyoke Medical Center and/or Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield.

Additional hospitals were used in order to keep Cooley Dickinson emergency ward from being overwhelmed, as this weekend is a busy time throughout the Valley.

The first call for an ETOH patron occurred at 8:00 PM, and Mullins Center Command terminated just after midnight.

In addition to the dozen transports -- 11 of which were alcohol related (ETOH) -- AFD's on site command center overseen by Chief Tim Nelson treated and released an additional 14 patrons for self induced illness brought on by substance abuse.

 Agawam and Easthampton FD were contracted to assist AFD

AFD brought in two outside ambulances, one from Easthampton and the other from Agawam, to deal directly with Mullins Center patients so as to keep the five AFD ambulances available for the rest of the town.

The concert attracted 3,000 patrons and from around 10 PM into the early morning hours a stream of scantily clad college aged youth could be seen traversing Commonwealth Avenue from the Mullins Center back to Southwest Residential area, many of them stained with pink paint.

Chief Nelson was quite satisfied with overall response of his department, quoting baseball great Ernie Banks "We're all here, we might as well play."

"People are going to imbibe too much, that's just a reality," said the Chief, who summed it up succinctly:

"We planned for this and we trained for it ... The system worked."

The next major Mullins Center challenge will occur over for Halloween weekend.  Let's hope it does not sell out with 9,000 vs the 3,000 youth who attended last night's event ...

 Umass after dark last night (Mullins Center top left)

Remember

Town center 7:27 AM

The town put up the really BIG flag this morning, at half staff, to remember the 2,997 fellow citizens who started their morning just like we did now, but never lived to see the sun set on that ignominious day.

Amherst Fire Department will hold their 13th annual ceremony at Central Station this morning at 9:45 AM, and if it is still raining ... I'm sure no one will even notice.

MassLive reports

 9:35ish Getting ready for the ceremony

9:45ish Final lineup

10:30ish Final moments in town center 

Big flag mournfully flapping 3:00 PMish 

New York City 9/11 night (photo by Richard Marsh)

Ch 22 TV reports

But Will The Residents Complain?

 West Cemetery:  The most historic/sacred ground in Amherst

The Agricultural Commission was receptive to DPW Division Director of Trees & Grounds Alan Snow's  proposal to allow sheep grazing in town cemeteries, an all natural way of keeping the green green grass at an acceptable height.

Ideally the town would use a mix of sheep and goats, since the latter "browse" and would consume weeds, shrubs and invasive species.

 Our Civil War dead are buried in West Cemetery

The proposal is still very much in the preliminary stages.  The next step is to seek permission of the Historical Commission.  Snow believes there may be grant money available to help pay for the experiment, and if all goes well the critters could be munching away next spring.

This section of West Cemetery kept in a more "natural" state

Historic West Cemetery, where the older area is already kept in a more "natural" condition  (cut only once per year) is envisioned as a test site.

Don't worry, the critters would not be given a key to the Dickinson family plot.

Emily Dickinson, "The Belle of Amherst," 2nd from left

DUI Dishonor Roll

Drunk driving costs each adult in the United States almost $800/year

Last weekend, with beautiful but hot weather and our little college town suddenly doubling in size, and APD still engaged in "Drive Sober or get Pulled Over" campaign, the conditions were all too good for a bevy of impaired driver arrests.  Especially since the previous weekend had a whopping five arrests.

But I'm relieved to say there were only two arrests.  Only two potential killers. 

May the odds be ever in our favor.

 Samuel Hurst-Macdonald, 21, arraigned before Judge John Payne

 Click to enlarge/read

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Tuesday Mr. Hurst-Macdonald, a UMass student, took a standard 24D plea deal disposition.  He will lose his license for 45 days, pay $650 in fines and be on probation for the next year.  But at least he saved himself the hefty legal fees. 

#####

Gary Hochron, age 57, had his case continued until next month

A Bridge Too Far

CPA Committee was unanimously in sync last night

North Town Common in front of Town Hall will see major renovations

The Community Preservation Act Committee voted unanimously last night to recommend funding two major capital projects to the fall Town Meeting, including $190,000 -- contingent on a state grant of $400,000 -- to renovate the North Town Common and $240,000 to  expand/renovate the Crocker Farm Elementary Playground and make it handicapped accessible.

 Crocker Farm's sad little playground will expand by 33% and become ADA compliant

Vince O'Connor's pitch to spend over a million in town money, including hundreds of thousands in CPA historical preservation funds, to renovate the Mill Street Bridge (scheduled for state renovation at no town expense in 2017) was firmly rejected by the Committee.

 Mill Street Bridge this morning

When member Marilyn Blaustein made a motion to "not recommend" the crazy proposal other members said simply not taking a vote is the same thing.  So the Committee unanimously pocket vetoed the proposal by not taking a vote.

 Little Red Schoolhouse will be demolished by Amherst College to make room for new Science Center

And Carol Gray, a mother on a mission to save the pre-school building her child attended, sent a letter of withdrawal to the committee for her $200,000+ request saying she could not find a location for the building after it's moved.  At the last CPA meeting she stated she was in negotiations with UMass.

 Carol Gray email to CPA Committee (click to enlarge/read)

When CPA Chair Mary Streeter quipped that UMass officials do not move as quickly as Ms. Gray, Assistant Town Manger Dave Ziomek confirmed that UMass Chancellor Subbaswamy made it very clear to him that UMass was not in the least bit interested in the structure. 

 Crocker Farm pre-school playground

Chestnut Hill Elementary School playground, Belchertown

Regionalization Round Up Continued

Regional School Committee voted last night to get busy in October with Regionalization

The cattle drive merging the four-town Regional School District from current grades 7-12 all the way down to pre-Kindergarten, after four years of pretty much behind closed doors discussion, will pick up the more public pace in October.  Somewhat dramatically.

Last night the Regional School Committee voted to ad an October 1st meeting to their busy schedule and to form a sub committee (Kip Fonsh, Trevor Baptiste and Stephen Sullivan) to create a Public Relations "Presentation" to sell Regionalization to the general public.

The idea is to have "Public Forums" in all four towns -- Amherst, Pelham, Leverett and Shutesbury -- with each of the forums being an official meeting of the Regional School Committee (thus requiring at least 5 of nine members present).

The presentation will be the standard powerpoint variety based on the document to amend the current Regional Agreement, and school administrators (Superintendent Maria Geryk and Assistant Superintendent Mike Morris) will be on hand to answer questions.

All the public forums will be held close together in October to create, according to Chair Trevor Baptiste, "A rolling momentum of the scuttlebutt of Regionalization."

The Regional School Committee has also kicked around the idea of hiring a PR firm to handle outreach although member Vira Douangmany Cage keeps reminding members the in-house 'Amherst Together' initiative should be assisting with the public relations.

Long time audience observer Marylou Theilman suggested the proposed Regional Agreement be posted on town and school websites ASAP and also pointed out the current document lacked the stamp identifying it as a "draft".   It would also be helpful if the pages were numbered.

After the four public forums in October the Regional School Committee will have a few months to discuss any changes and resubmit the proposal to the School District's attorney for a final rewrite in time for presentation to all four Town Meetings in the spring.

In order to amend the Regional Agreement and make this happen all four towns must vote yes.  Shutesbury officials, however,  continuously telegraph they will vote "no."

   Regional Public Schools expansion

So Far So Good

APD having a chat with college aged youth carrying a 12 pack Townhouse Apartments

The long weekend went a l-o-t better than I thought it would as far as (serious) rowdyism goes.

Sure there were the usual problems associated with our annual spike in population, returning Amherst to a "college town" after a quiet summer:  zombie herds traipsing up and down Phillips Street, North Pleasant and Fearing Streets, large gatherings in the west quad of Townhouse Apartments and of course old standby Hobart Lane.

Townhouse Apartments Saturday afternoon

But there were no serious incidents of drunken mob mentality manifesting itself in the form of rocks, bottles and cans being hurled at police officers, aka Blarney Blowout.

Although Amherst Fire Department had the usual tie up in services due to drunk runs with ETOH students. 

Amherst police stepped up their game as they always do.  APD Neighborhood Liaison officer Bill Laramee worked with UMass Neighborhood Liaison Eric Beal to keep a lid on the usual pressure cooker areas.

The Rental Permit Bylaw ordinance that went into effect 18 months ago is making a significant difference by holding landlords accountable for the (late night) activities of their tenants.

And UMass, by building newer plusher accommodations on campus -- North Apartment (800 beds) and Commonwealth Honors College apartments (1,500 beds) -- gives young tenants a reason to be proud of their humble abode and much more likely to treat it with respect.

Revived my Twitter audience

We're #7!

Umass Library was once the tallest in the world

I suppose this is one ubiquitous Internet top ten listical you will not see UMass Office of News & Media Relations extensively hyping.

 Southwest Towers (a 6th was planned but never materialized) built circa 1963 for high density housing

Towers look prettier at night

But hey, if you have traversed the UMass campus much at all you certainly have developed a sense of humor about some of the "brutalist" cold war East German architecture.

 Fine Arts Center goes long rather than up

I'm reminded of the Barnes Air National Guard A-10 warthog jets that used to routinely fly over Amherst:  exceedingly functional, but ever so ugly.

So ugly they are kinda cute.

A-10 warthog, brtttttt, doing its thing

Of course it could be worse: Hampshire College made #3!

 Hampshire College:  With that counter-culture 1960s and 70s style of architecture 

 Safe bet Amherst College will never make this list

Can't Forget

 Commemorative flag flies from downtown utility pole

The commemorative flags went up in the downtown yesterday at the crack of dawn to mark Labor Day, and for the first time in 14 years I hope they come down on Tuesday.

That way, when they go back up on Thursday or early Friday morning it sends the clear signal that they are returning to their perch to remember 9/11, a morning unlike any in our history.

Today is one of those 9/11-like days: late summer, our little college town swelling in size with an influx of college aged youth, all under a severe clear blue sky.  The bright yellow sun slowly arcing east to west.

Perhaps if the weather had not been so stunningly beautiful that morning the untested kamikaze pilots may have had a tougher time hitting their otherwise hard to miss targets.

Yes, we could probably come up with a few "what if" scenarios that could have changed the outcome that fateful morning, which only adds to the sorrow. Life moves on -- it always does.

So when you see those 23 commemorative American flags in town center on Friday (no matter what the weather is like) pause for moment to remember our innocent dead, perhaps say a prayer.

And hope it never happens again.

The main town flag will fly at half staff on 9/11 as will all municipal flags nationwide

Sudsy Saturday & Sunday?

1st year students moved into Southwest Friday

Scroll down for most recent updates

Not to be a killjoy prognosticator of dire outcomes but my Twitter buddy ZooMass does have a scary point:  By Sunday all the on-campus UMass students will be moved in --13,500+ of them ... with nothing much to do.

For the entire night.  With the weather predicted to be perfect.  And no school on Monday.

Yikes!

Saturday morning mist quickly burning off 

Phillips Street late Friday night

Crowd gathered westernmost quad Townhouse Apartments, North Amherst 4:45 PM Saturday