A Dangerous View

 

 407 North Pleasant Street, owned by Gamma Inc Alpha Tau 

Early this morning (1:51 AM) a college aged male under the influence of alcohol, otherwise known as ETOH, tumbled off the roof of a house located on a hill at 407 North Pleasant Street.

His injuries, although not life threatening, were serious enough for AFD to transport all the way to Baystate Medical Center Trauma unit in Springfield rather than the Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton.  

If you can believe Reddit

 

Deja vu

A more tragic end 

 

Dueling iPhones:

On May 8, 2013, at 2:45 PM, James Edward Mulcahy <jimemul@earthlink.net> wrote:

Mr. Kelley,
Please send me your phone number.
Thank you, James E. Mulcahy, advisor to Alpha Tau Gamma

Sent from my iPhone

 

From: Larry Kelley
To: James Edward Mulcahy
Sent: Wed, May 8, 2013 3:46 pm
Subject: Re: phone number

If you're going to threaten me I would prefer you do it

in writing.

Sent from my iPhone

If You Build It ...

Political sign on public property

One of the other benefits of "The Retreat," a proposed student housing project in northeast Amherst, besides hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual property tax revenues is the short term shot in the arm for jobs, not that Amherst is now hurting with its usual low unemployment rate standing at 3.1%.

But the Hampshire/Franklin district average is 6%, only a little better than state average of 6.8%, and presumably a construction project like The Retreat will draw local labor from all across Western Massachusetts.

   Amherst Bid Solicitation for "The Retreat"

Trouble In Paradise?

290 Lincoln Avenue for sale ... again

You-Pang Tzeng, one of the more recent carpetbaggers come a calling to Amherst with full pockets of cash to invest in our highly sought after housing stock, has made some interesting business maneuvers in the past few months.

For the first time in his illustrious career he has put a property up for sale, specifically his controversial purchase of 290 Lincoln Avenue, where he quickly demolished a historic -- to some anyways -- barn in the backyard to create a separate building lot (which also scares the Hell out of the neighborhood).

Last June You-Pang Tzeng purchased 290 Lincoln Avenue for $429,000, well below its assessed value of $465,000.  The property is currently valued at  $408,400 but that does not include the building lot which was formerly the "historic barn."

That property is valued at $135,400 or a total value for the house and building lot of $543,800.

So if You-Pang Tzeng is simply trying to make money on flipping property, rather than renting it, he certainly will accomplish that goal when these two choice pieces sell.

Interestingly back in November Tzeng had planned to build an addition between two adjacent homes, 60/62 and 64/66 Railroad Street, but withdrew his Special Permit Zoning request shortly before the matter would be discussed by the Zoning Board of Appeals.

290 Lincoln Avenue is now for sale at $440,000 and probably will not last long at that price.   Of course the house itself is still a "single family," meaning one "family"-- as large as that may be -- or no more than 4 "unrelated" housemates, which usually means "students."

At that price and with a Special Permit required to expand to a two family, chances are better than average the property will not be snatched up by a slumlord looking to pack it with college aged youth.

The adjacent lot could be another story, but at that assessed value just for the lot it would be kind of a waste to build a cheap structure on it simply for student rental stock.

Either way, the neighborhood hopes and prays for an upper middle class family with two kids, a dog ... and no more than four cars.

Greatness Recalled

"The Greatest Generation:  A Visual Tribute" by artist Chris Demarest

A Military Portrait Art show kicks off its national tour here in Amherst, a town not always known as a bastion of old fashioned patriotism, in the sun splashed atrium of our own Jones Library, "the people's living room."

Hometown artist Chris Demarest, a cross between illustrator Norman Rockwell and writer Tracy Kidder,  has put brush to canvas on over 80 scenes of our WW2 generation going about their daily business of contributing to the war effort.  A hard won victory only made possible by teamwork, skill and unwavering dedication to the cause that defined a generation.

And with more than an equal share of the paintings highlighting the significant contributions to the war effort made by our secret weapon: women.

Some 350,000 women served in US Armed Forces during WW2

255th Starts Just Fine

Amherst Finance Committee

Like a proud army marching off to war across the comfortable confines of familiar territory, the opening night of Amherst's 255th Annual Town Meeting started off just grand.  The question is how well will the army look a month from now after endless combative discussions ... almost always coming down to money.

With a few articles put off to other nights, a few more placed on an automatic "yes" consent list and the benefit of non-controversial articles stacked at the begining of the 45 article warrant, Town Meeting managed to make it to article #16, THE BUDGET.  $68 million worth in total.

 Amherst Select Board making a hasty retreat

Tonight the Jones Library's tiny percentage of that overall budget came up for discussion.  Library Director Sharon Sharry closed her bubbly presentation with, "We're here because of you and for you." The $1,741,512 budget item passed unanimously.

  Jones Library Director Sharon Sharry

And since it was now 10:00 PM, Town Meeting would have to vote approval to continue discussion of THE BUDGET.  The "yes" votes were 4 or 5, the "no" votes 150 or more.  Town Meeting called it a night.

Excellence Once More

 Amherst Police Department, 111 Main Street

To no great surprise to anyone who has been paying attention over the past three years, the Amherst Police Department last week received the good news that their state accreditation has been renewed.

Back in 2001, not long before the terrorist attack underscored the ultimate sacrifice all of our first responders face on a daily basis, the Amherst Police Department first achieved accreditation -- only the second department in the state to do so.

Of course the downside to being such a highly-trained, well-regarded department is town officials figure they are sort of like the Texas Rangers "one riot, one ranger" routine, and as a result can continue to keep the department understaffed. 

Party House of The Week

 188 Sunderland Road

Yes that's right, I had to change the "Party House of the Weekend" headline just to cover these three Wild Women, as their over the top party occurred on a WEDNESDAY night.

Must have been an ode to "hump day".  Yikes!

Weekend Wrap Up

 Occupants of downtown Lincoln Building party on nearby roof

In spite of it being the last weekend UMass is still in session and picture perfect weather throughout, overall the weekend went well from a pubic safety perspective:  lots of fender benders, numerous noise complaints -- but relatively few arrests -- and only one DUI, but it was a doozy.

On Sunday afternoon (only minutes after someone sent me the above photo) police responded to a complaint about a large gathering of college aged youths from Lincoln Building apartment #201 on the adjoining roof of Bueno Y Sanyo.  Police told the 30 or so perps to shut off the radio and get inside.

Which they did.  Quickly.

 Police broke up a party at 202 College Street early Sunday morning leaving each of  the two responsible tenants with $300 civil violation tickets for both "noise" and "nuisance" or a cool $600 each.  Probably could also have issued them tickets for littering. 

200/ 202 College Street early Sunday morning

And of course our young exuberant friends at the rowdy house located on well traveled North Pleasant Street (#800) were out during the day Saturday with the "You Honk We Drink" sign.

 Not a lot of honks, but they drank anyway

 

800 North Pleasant early Sunday morning 

Someone recently decorated the house on the corner of Meadow Street and North Pleasant (1190 North Pleasant), recently purchased by Jamie Cherewatti with a slogan.   Consider it, I guess, a rallying cry for Amherst Town Meeting when they take up discussion of the Rental Registration & Permit system on May 20.

"Eyesores" days are numbered.

AFD To The Rescue

 

AFD on scene top of The Notch

Saturday, one of the most gorgeous days of the year so far, was a great day for a hike, and as it turned out for the Amherst Fire Department technical rescue team, a great day for a technical rescue.

A young woman hiking with family about two-thirds of the way to the top of Bare Mountain (the trail that leads from West Street up to the first summit) fell and  injured her ankle.

The first responder to reach her realized motorized gator units could not make it to the remote location,  so the Amherst Fire Department mobilized its "technical rescue team" which includes Northampton Fire Department personnel.

AFD packing up after successful rescue.  Chief Tim Nelson 2nd from right

With Chief Nelson directing from a makeshift command off the parking lot to the Notch visitors center, the entire rescue was successfully completed in just over two hours.

 

Chief Nelson at improvised command 

With this weekend at high risk for brush fires and the college town of Amherst  party season at peak bloom, safe bet AFD will not be able to relax for the rest of the weekend.

 

   Lots of rescue hardware on scene Notch Visitors Center

Third Watch

 AFD at Mullins Center 1:30 AM for patient with "altered mental status"

Amherst police and firefighters were kept on the go last night (Friday) into early Saturday morning instigated by warm temperatures, alcohol, and opportunity:  That brief luxurious time period just after UMass classes are complete, but finals have not yet started. 

And yes, trouble areas were mostly the usual suspects:  a few outside unpermited bonfires on Phillips Street (#45 and #51), a loud party at 15/17 Fearing Street, a passed out drunk in front of College Pizza, and of course a DUI.

Around 12:45 AM a patrol car observed a vehicle driving erratically on South Pleasant Street dead in the heart of downtown.  He took a right on Northampton Road (Rt 9) with the patrol car in close pursuit, was pulled over and descended on by a swarm of cruisers.  The college aged youth flunked his Field Sobriety Test, was arrested and his car towed.

 Ernie's Towing escorts DUI vehicle to impound 1:15 AM

I retraced the trajectory of the vehicle, a potentially deadly weapon, and could not help but notice the downtown was especially active.  How many could have been seriously injured if he lost control and plunged into the crowd in front of Antonio's?

Antonio's downtown Amherst 1:00 AM

Dispatch recieved a call from a young lady around 2:10 AM complaining about a "loud party" at 69 Meadow Street. The Anonymous caller only wanted it "quieted down, but doesn't want anyone to get in trouble."  

Party hardy types apparently were not on the same page, as APD arrested two for "disorderly conduct".

 

69 Meadow Street, Amherst 

Making The Sausage

I did an interview yesterday with a nice young man from the UMass Journo program for his final paper -- specifically involving my favorite course, Journalism Ethics.

The easy question concerned whether I ever hesitate publishing names and addresses of perps arrested for bad behavior.  Well, no. 

But as usual it's the gray area questions that make you think.  Such as: do I give unfair out-of-proportion weight to one story or series of stories?  That I get accused of all the time.  Again talking Party Houses, DUI, and in general, rowdy student behavior. 

As of this morning, over 6 years, I've published 2,539 posts.  I did not even start my popular "Party House of The Weekend" series until November, 2010 and I have published under 200 of those, or less than 10%.

Or as a professional flack would say, "90% of Larry's stories do not concern rowdy student party houses."

My DUI Dishonor Role started 18 months ago, so there have been only around 30 of those posts, and only about half the "winners" are students.  So once again a very tiny percentage of overall articles.

And the widget on my main page that calculates my most "popular posts" of all time show 6 out of 10 are not related to rowdy student behavior. Thus I never feel pressured to come up with stories to fit that preordained narrative.

These days I have three levels of response to a story:  Level one is no more than a tweet.  Something I hear on the scanner or a quick photo of something that is borderline interesting, but not worthy of much more than 140 characters (but a photo is still worth 1,000 words).

Level 2 is it's worth more than a tweet, so it gets posted to my Facebook page (always a photo) as well.

And Level 3 is something that has risen to the level of posting here on the blog with a link (and intro headline) crossposted on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin.  But yes, I occasionally have a slow news day where something whimsical still gets Level 3 treatment.

 

"Electric Flurry" photo tweeted last night around 10:00 PM

Last night, normally a Level 2 story, is a good example.  I expected the concert at the Mullins Center to be more of a problem than it turned out to be.  At 10:00 PM I tweeted a photo of the concert in progress with the report that AFD had already transported one to the hospital.

And then, the next morning (today) I posted on Facebook another photo from later in the concert when foam was being sprayed on concertgoers with the report that the event actually went quite well and the crowd was very well behaved.

Electric Flurry follow up photo posted to Facebook this AM

So sure, if it had been the disaster like some of the previous techno concerts I would have used a heavier Level 3 response.

And railed against the Mullins Center, UMass and clueless parents over youthful patrons tying up emergency responders due to their irresponsible activity, which I find unacceptable.

Now, however, the Mullins Center "Electric Flurry" concert has just risen to a Level 3 story anyway.   

And yes, today has been a slow news day ... so far.

Ding Ding!

Amherst Trolley downtown this morning

The quaint new trolley service, where all roads lead to downtown Amherst, starts this weekend with a test run via the Amherst Invitational Ultimate Tournament on Saturday: one trolley will be running shuttle service between the field locations (ARHS & UMass) and downtown. 

According to Business Improvement Director Alex Krogh-Grabbe, "That will be the beginning of their special event shuttle service, which we plan to continue through the summer. Fixed-route loops between the UMass campus and downtown will commence in the fall, Thursday-Sunday."

No word as to whether they will be serving Rice-a-Roni.

Early Weekend

No classes and the first really hot day of the year means crowds of college aged youths at Puffer's Pond in North Amherst.  A noontime throng of 100 had grown many times over by 2:00 PM and by 4:00 PM, with assist from UMPD, Amherst police had cleared the beach.

After all, town officials did not want to see a repeat of last year.  

APD Chief Livingstone was directing Operation Break Up and when I asked him an hour later if the beach was closed he replied, "Not closed to everyone, just people with alcohol."

Around 6:00 PM one of the officers stationed at the pond arrested a college aged perp who had been skinny dipping and consuming alcohol.  He was charged with "indecent exposure" and "open container" violations.  

Friday's No More

The painful but necessary decision by The Massachusetts Daily Collegian to cease putting out a Friday print edition after almost 125 years is l-o-n-g overdue.  In fact they should cease all print editions, period.  And go all digital, all the time.

According to a Pew report less than 10% of people under the age of 30 confirmed reading a newspaper the previous day while, conversely, about half of adults over the age of 65 did read one.

But as those older readers die off they are not replaced by a younger generation of digitally native adults.

The average age of a UMass undergrad is 21, with only 7% age 25 or older.   The math is pretty simple.  Quite frankly, marketing a print newspaper on the Amherst campus is kind of like installing pay phones around the Campus Center.  Or bringing back horses as a means of transportation.

The Internet allows instantaneous, unlimited, and wicked cheap news production.  Embrace it!

30

 Happy Birthday Collective Copies

In old fashioned journo 30 means "end" of the story, but in business -- when measured in years -- it means an extraordinary accomplishment, especially when you are a niche entity to begin with.

Amherst worker owned collectives account for less than 1% of the businesses in town, but Collective Copies also stands out because they have withstood the test of time.

And they would not have lasted this long if not fulfilling job #1 for any service business:  customer service.

#####

Collective Copies Open House today 3pm: self-publishing workshop, and a raffle of co-operative-made merchandise. All events are free and open to the public!

Nasty NIMBYs

 

Cowls Tree Farm:  "Respectful visits welcome"

It's certainly one thing to mount a protest campaign including lawn signs, newspaper columns, and vocal gatherings at public meetings -- something I applaud -- but another thing altogether to deviate into criminal activity.  And I consider vandalism criminal.  As does the law.

Last week someone defaced a wall in the bathrooms at Cowls Building Supply in North Amherst with the graffiti "Leave Cushman Alone!" Sort of betrays that it was politically motivated.

Cowls Building Supply

Also last week members of the  "Save Historic Cushman" group filed a complaint with state and local authorities over logging practices at the forest off Henry Street Cowls wishes to sell to a developer for student housing.

On Monday the Amherst Conservation Commission and state Department of Conservation and Recreation toured the site and found nothing major amiss. 

Amherst Conservation Commission and State officials on site

Which comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with the 9th generation Cowls family,  the largest private landowners in the state and tree huggers since before the term was invented.

Just as it only takes a tiny minority of irresponsible party hardy students to give all students in town a bad name, so it is with activist groups.  Ironically the Save Historic Cushman folks are worried about rowdy student behavior and yet one or two of them are putting on an equally pernicious performance.

And since bad things often comes in three's:  At the Amherst Sustainability Festival Saturday on the Town Common a young conservation minded female working at the W.D. Cowls, Inc tent handing out free seedlings was verbally accosted by an older woman who represented herself as a member of Save Historic Cushman.

Including the mean barb, "You want the woods to look as ugly as you are," which sent her sobbing to the safety of her car.

Also on Saturday afternoon AFD responded to a brush fire along the cleared area just above Henry Street, far enough away so it could not have been sparks or a cigarette thrown from a passing vehicle.

First responders thought it was human activity that caused the fire, as in a party bonfire. But now I wonder:

Would someone take this hot button issue to an extreme, fighting fire with fire?

 

AFD Henry Street brush fire Saturday 2:45 PM

Henry Street Fire

DUI Dishonor Roll

 

 36% of all traffic deaths in Massachusetts are DUI-related 

Lucky thing you were not using the crosswalk on E Pleasant Street early Saturday morning or you may have run into Cecilia Jean Jensen -- or, more likely, she could have run into you.