Do I hear $6 million?

ARHS for sale, but apparently not for rent

Well that's one way to solve all the problems Amherst Regional High School has been having of late with lockdowns and racial incidents.

The kids are kind of undervaluing their home however, as taxpayers put $22 million into renovating/expanding the facility back in 1996.

Senior prank from Friday: bologna used to spell out graduation year (non vegetarian students):

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Double Vision

 West Street/Country Corners Road X 2

So yes, this is what you get when two expensive state road projects butt up against each other:  the current $3.1 million road straightening project for The Notch and the $6 million dollar Atkins Corner roundabout project from last year where West Street and Country Corners Road seemed to be a point of overlap.

Well at least residents of Country Corners Road will have no problem finding their street.
  

Thirsty Thursday Party House

 473 Pine Street, North Amherst

Apparently the B52 carpet bombed topography of Pine Street did not stop 400 or more "college aged youth" from descending on 473 Pine Street, located in the "historic village of Cushman," for a party that got out of hand.

So much so that two of the bad boy tenants, Brian T Viscariello and Harris B Stone, both age 20 and both UMass students, were arrested.

Meanwhile, in a nearby college town:   Storrs, CT Riot

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Suddenly On A Sunday

AFD at Blarney Blowout trying to get to a patient on Fearing Street

Not that I needed a graphic reminder or anything, but the compassionate professional and timely manner in which the Emergency Medical Services responded to my 12-year-old daughter yesterday underscores why I'm such a BIG fan of public safety.

When my wife called to say Kira had been thrown from a horse at a farm just over the town line in Hadley I instantly said, "Call 911!".  She already had.

Hadley FD (Rescue 1) arrived quickly and when I was en route at speeds a tad greater than the speed limit I heard them over the scanner hand her over to AFD for transport to Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

That alone was calming, knowing she was in good hands and that they were heading to CDH rather than Baystate Medical Trauma unit in Springfield.

I got there in time to be with her for a few moments in the back of the ambulance and my wife went along for the ride to CDH.  Amazingly it was her first trip in an ambulance, as it was for my daughter. They both thought the speed, sirens, flashing lights and occasional honking of the horn was "pretty cool."

Fortunately she was wearing a well fitted helmet and hit the somewhat soft earth rather than the wooden fence.  And hospital x-rays showed no damage.  A happy ending indeed.

This attention getting incident served to remind me of how vital our first responders are, and how easy that is to take for granted.  I just wish AFD had the staffing level to provide this kind of quality service 24/7, seven days a week.

Because had my daughter been in need of an AFD ambulance at other times of the day or night, she may have had to wait for a mutual aid ambulance to arrive from a surrounding town.

As both a parent and a taxpayer, I find that unacceptable.

Meanwhile, over the weekend, half the EMS calls to UMass were for drunk students.

   AFD Runs April 4-7

My daughter fell off a horse.  Thanks Hadley FD and AFD for being there (quickly) for her.
— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) April 6, 2014

A safe way for Kira to ride

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Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

One of the really nice noisy events hosted in the college town of Amherst -- one that underscores how responsible a bar can be -- happens today, Sunday, at Rafters Sports Bar on University Drive, where over 250 participants shed their hair for a great cause.

The St. Baldrick's foundation event raises money for research grants targeting childhood cancers.  This local annual endeavor has a target goal of $75,000 and already has raised $55,000.

Local first responders have adopted this important event, so if you want to see off duty police and fire personnel go the way of Telly Savalas, stop in this Sunday (after church of course).

And bring your checkbook!

 

"Who loves ya baby?"  And who doesn't love kids!

Expensive Renovation Plans

Wildwood Elementary School, Amherst

Considering the school disarray just over the past two months -- black on white racial bullying, endless "lockdowns," and racist graffiti left in rest rooms -- it's probably not the best of times for Amherst Town Meeting to discuss a BIG ticket item like elementary school renovation/expansion.

Occasionally Town Meeting can put aside emotion, but it still may be a tough sell considering the declining school age population in Amherst, where high property tax rates and recent problems in the schools could be causing a bit of an exodus of families with school aged children.

 APD @ ARHS school lockdown April 2nd

Article #17, although it doesn't give a dollar amount, would authorize the expenditure of $1 million for a Wildwood "school feasibility study"-- 60% of which would be covered by a state grant courtesy of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (who gets their funding via 1% of the state sales tax).

The comprehensive study will analyze the costs for a major renovation of the aging, circa 1970,  school -- but could also conclude demolition is in order.  The study would also look at whether Amherst will even need three elementary schools in the future.

The $400,000 town portion of the project is already funded so to speak.  Last year Town Meeting approved that amount via borrowing to replace the original boilers at Wildwood, which have had a hard time producing hot water.  The boilers have not yet been replaced but if the school is to be renovated at mostly state expense it makes sense to roll that replacement into the major renovation. 

Article #18 would redirect that previous $400,000 appropriation to funding the feasibility study.

 East Street School.  Just front ramp to entryway will cost $100K

Town Meeting will also vote under article #16 to spend $700,000 to rehab the East Street School which has been abandoned for a few years.  Facilities Director Ron Bohonowitcz told the Joint Capital Planning Committee that just to make it handicapped accessible will cost $100,000.

The plan is to move Leisure Services and Supplemental Education (Rec Dept) out of the Bangs Community Center into the newly renovated brick building, although LSSE does not seem overly enthused about the idea.


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Brushfire

AFD Engine 2 on scene Leverett

AFD assisted Leverett FD with a brush fire two miles over the Amherst town line just off Rt 63 this morning.  Today was a class three fire day, meaning it's fairly easy for brush fires to occur.

 Leverett FD on scene

In fact while Engine 2 was assisting Leverett FD,  Engine 1 was called to Shays Street for a small brush fire they quickly extinguished.

 

AFD and Leverett FD snuffing out hot spots

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A Magic Bullet?

Naloxone aka Narcan

Hollywood movies and television aside, the chances of full recovery for a patient who suddenly drops due to heart failure and receives CPR from a bystander are pretty low.

But the chances of an individual who stops breathing due to heroin reaction fully recovering after a bystander administers Narcan is astonishingly high.

CPR is a skill that must be learned and practiced so therefore is more prone to misapplication due to situational stage fright, or just being rusty from a lack of practice. Narcan is easy to administer, just a simply squirt up the nostrils, and takes effect immediately.

Because of the "opiate epidemic" in our state Governor Patrick recently declared a "state of emergency" directing the Department of Public Health to make Narcan more widely available to all first responders and friends and family members of drug abusers.

In Amherst, since AFD professional firefighters are all either Paramedics or intermediate EMTs, Narcan has been available for a very long time.

Although Assistant Chief Don McKay points out the price has almost doubled in the past year, and drug companies are having a hard time keeping up with demand.

A 4 milligram bottle (providing two doses) now costs $171.  And of course that was before the Governor's order, which will dramatically increase demand.

The main impact of loosening the restrictions to get Narcan in the hands of first responders could be felt at 111 Main Street, the Amherst Police Department.  Since police are constantly on patrol they are almost always the first to arrive to emergency situations.  So equipping them with this vital life saver is only common sense.

Unfortunately Governor Patrick has been vague about providing money for training and stocking a supply of the expensive drug.

According to Amherst police Captain Jennifer Gundersen:

"We are currently discussing this internally and how we would pay for both the training and NARCAN, both being expensive.Given that both our FY14 and FY15 budgets are already set, without either state or an additional appropriation of local funding, we would not be able to do this in the near future given fiscal constraints."

In New York every state and local law enforcement officer will have access to Narcan via a new $5 million program funded by assets seized from drug dealers. Talk about justice!

And while Amherst is somewhat insulated from life's realities, the nightmare of drug abuse death does happen.

Twenty years ago 17-year-old Ozzy Klate, a promising ARHS senior, succumbed to a heroin overdose.

FDA approves new injector system

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Lockdown!

Amherst Regional High School 3:00 p.m.

Amherst Regional High School went into lockdown just after 2:30 p.m. this afternoon as students were preparing to leave at the end of the school day.

A heavy police presence at the moment but no fire department ambulances, so that's a good sign.

#####

Apparently visiting coaches coming to the school to recruit candidates signed in, put on ID badges and went about their business, left,  but then reentered the school without resigning in ... and could not be instantly found.

Hence the panic button.

UPDATE 3:30 p.m.

#####

So lost in all the confusion of today's yet another lockdown was the news that Michele Tesauro, yet another school principal, is resigning -- this time from Crocker Farm Elementary School after less than a year on the job.

Two months ago (on a Friday naturally) the schools announced Betsy Dinger was resigning as Middle School Principal and Monical Hall from Fort River Elementary School, although she is staying in the ARPS system in the black hole known as Central Office.

Principals' offices in the ARPS system should come with a revolving door:

In December of 2012 Michael Hayes suddenly resigned as principal of the Middle School, Ray Sharick resigned from Fort River in 2011, Matthew Behnke quit as Wildwood principal in 2010 and Glenda Cresto quit the Middle School in 2009.

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Summer Survival Skills

Demonstrating they work well together both on the streets and in the woods, Amherst and UMass Police Departments are teaming up once again to jointly sponsor a Police Youth Adventure Academy this summer.

The versatile program provides 20 children the golden opportunity to learn police procedures in the morning and then spend afternoons negotiating a ropes course.

And best of all, the entire one week program is free!  So hurry up parents, enrollments are limited.

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Inevitable end?

A life turned upside down by heroin and crime came to a sudden end for 31-year-old Christopher Desjardin, a Vermont native who made his presence known here in Amherst by stealing laptops from unsuspecting UMass students last year.

When the obit reads "passed away suddenly," that's usually code for either a drug overdose or suicide.  Or, maybe, both.  Because using a drug like heroin is a fairly easy way to kill yourself. 

The Vermonter who gave me the heads up, a father who set up a successful sting to get back his son's stolen laptop resulting in the arrest of Desjardin, feels badly for his family but not so much for Mr. Desjardin.

When crime has touched you or a family member, it's hard to be forgiving.  Especially when the perp is a repeat offender.

Massachusetts just declared a "public health emergency" to address the rising tide of opiate abuse.  One of the recommendations is to spend more money to increase treatment and recovery services -- especially in state prisons and county jails.

When Eastern Hampshire District Court Judge Poelher handed down a sentence (11/15/13) for Christopher Desjardin on 13 counts of stolen property, the six months jail time was to include "mandatory drug treatment."  That was only 4.5 months ago.

But even if Christopher Desjardin stayed in the system until May 15, the call of the needle would someday, perhaps, prove too strong.



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DUI Dishonor Roll

Hunter Caggiano reads police report while in Eastern Hampshire District Court yesterday.  His case was continued to 4/24

Click to enlarge/read

Since 1994, roughly 1/3 of all motor vehicle fatalities have involved alcohol-impaired driving. #NoAprilFools
— NTSB (@NTSB) April 1, 2014

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Where There's Smoke

Ladder 1 and Engine 2 (quint) on scene Mullins Center last night

The Amherst Fire Department closed out a far from monotonous Monday searching for the cause of a fire alarm at the Mullins Center practice rink.  The call came in just before midnight and the combination of audible fire alarms sounding and eyewitness reports of "smoke in the building" caused it to be dispatched as a "box alarm", bringing a swift all-hands-on deck response.

 Engine 4 at Mullins Center

Turns out the alarm was triggered by a burned out fan motor in the ventilation system.

The chimney fire on Strong Street, called in around 8:30 p.m., was the real thing but firefighters managed to contain the blaze before it could do serious structural damage.

An hour earlier our versatile first responders assisted residents on Triangle Street with a flooded basement.

Engine 2 aerial ladder came in handy

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Helen (Ice) Berg Strikes Again

 

A happy Helen Berg at Select Board meeting 3/31

At tonight's Select Board meeting during the 6:30 p.m. "public comment" period former (or maybe not) Select Board candidate Helen Berg confirmed she has contacted the ACLU and Attorney General regarding her complaint about ballot placement.

Berg, who came in a distant 3rd at the annual Town Election last week, complained to town officials when her name appeared 3rd of the 4 Select Board candidates.  Berg insisted she should be 1st as state statute says non-incumbents (in this case all four candidates) should be placed on the ballot alphabetically.

Town officials did throw out those ballots and arranged a do-over drawing of names because the original meeting of the Board of Registrars was not properly posted.  But they continued to use the traditional method of randomly drawing names from a hat rather than using the state method, which would have place Berg in the top position.

Either way the two top vote getters enjoyed a more than four-to-one margin of victory.  Berg will have a hard time convincing a judge that placement on the ballot alone cause such a dramatic thrashing.  Although, judges are known to be sticklers when it comes to rule of law.

Another town election would cost taxpayers $12,000.





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Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

Glazed Doughnut Shop in a Dead Man Walking building

One of the really hard things about renting commercial space for your mom and pop business -- which includes the vast majority of Amherst small business owners -- is you have no incentive to put tons of money into the physical structure, since you will only be enhancing the value for your landlord.

Which is why you sign a somewhat long lease at start up, because there are of course finishing costs particular to your business that you can't expect the landlord to cover, but consist of items you can't very well take with you when you leave somewhere down the distant road.   Hopefully, for a building you can call your own.

Like hot water heaters for instance.  When the Glazed Doughnut Shop first moved into the space formerly occupied by Family Wireless, the hot water heater was the size of a breadbox; and being a bakery you need a fair amount of hot water.  So out went $3,000 for a new larger unit with all the copper piping now required to meet commercial building codes.

In all owners Keren and Nick Rhodes, high school sweethearts who now probably see more of their business than they do of each other, estimate they spent $15,000 two years ago on finishing costs that they can't take with them.

Why leave a lovely location with three years left on a lease (and an option to renew for five more years)?

Well, town insiders pretty much now agree that the entire Carriage Shops complex is toast -- actively sought for a classy mixed use commercial/residential complex that will act as a major anchor for that side of the downtown.

And will be great for business in Amherst.  But not so great if you are a current tenant of the Carriage Shops.  Hence the problem.  On the one hand the Rhodes support the revitalization of the commercial complex but can't take the risk of losing the roof over their heads without another place to go.

Meanwhile, a doughnut throw away, a commercial spot opened up, larger and in an even better a location (although slightly haunted by frequent turnover).  A perfect port in a gathering storm.

Problem now is they need $15,000 to prepare the new space.  A big hit for a small business barely out of their rookie year. 

So they are turning to you.  "Mm going to try with a little help from my friends."  Which of course means a crowd funding website like Indiegogo.

Come on Amherst, we talk the talk about supporting local business.  Well, here's your poster family.

Glazed Doughnut Shop Indiegogo campaign    

Racial Fallout @ ARHS

Kathleen Anderson addressing joint Amherst Pelham School Committee meeting

The NAACP seems to have the answer to recent troubling racial events at Amherst Regional High School:  sensitivity training for all employees, A-L-L employees.  And that these cultural competency trainings become a "graduation requirement for all students."



So yes, under those carpet bombing conditions the perp responsible for leaving racist notes in bathrooms targeting a teacher of color will probably be ensnared in a "competency training session", but you have to wonder if it will do him or her any good? 

Not to mention wondering how much all this training is going to cost.

The Associated Press reports

 

Greenfield PD had a solution

 

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N-word, C-word, F-word, Oh My!

So I guess if a staff member overhears a black student using the N-word to a white student, that's okay.

Or if ARHS teenagers decide to do "The Vagina Monologues" again next year, then the C-word will be okay.

Or if student calls another friend, who is not gay,  a "fag" in an endearing sort of way, then that's okay.

Let the witch hunt begin.

Phillips Street Fiasco

 33 Phillips Street, Amherst

Meanwhile, six weeks ago:

And, most recently:

Urinetown?

The final piece of the puzzle has fallen into place in the school lock down scare with confirmation the perp who infiltrated Amherst Regional Middle School and asked a young student for his urine was simply trying to obtain a clean sample for his probation officer.

I guess drugs will do that.

Not to sound like a Gazette editorial, but on the one hand I applaud how quickly the school officials hit the panic button when the perp seemed to get lost wandering around the Middle School for a half hour.  But on the other hand, his easy access to an innocent school child mid-morning of a school day gives rise to security concerns.

I would also, for the first time in memory, give the schools high marks for transparency for sending out a series of alerts concerning the concerning situation.  Right up until Wednesday night 6:30 p.m. when they went silent.

While this final piece of information is troubling, it's still a bit better than some of the scenarios that sprang to mind when rumors first leaked out about the "concerning comment" made in a boys lavatory.

One of the reasons the schools are now in such hot water with the NAACP over how they handled the racist attack on a teacher of color (branded as "anemic") probably stems from the cover up that took place over the incidents that first occurred way back in October.

One of the refreshing things that came out of the "public accountability" session yesterday between UMass officials and students over handling of the Blarney Blowout was the insistence by Chancellor Subbaswamy that the process would be "transparent."

So if an educational bureaucracy the size of UMass can subscribe to the notion of sunlight providing the "best of disinfectants", why not our public schools?

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Blarney Blowout: Standing Firm

Enku Gelaye, Chancellor Subbaswamy, VC John Kennedy

The day of the Blarney Blowout 4,000+ students took to the streets of Amherst with alcohol as motivation to do no good.  Enough of them indulged their demons to where the vastly outnumbered Amherst Police Department had no choice but to intervene.  And intervene they did.

On March 11, about 100 students held a protest march from the Student Union to Whitmore to underscore their demand that APD apologize for using sterner methods than saying "pretty please" to disperse the unruly crowds.

Today Enku Gelaye on her first day as permanent VC for Student Affairs, Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy and VC for University Relations John Kennedy sat before a crowd of about 60 students for a "public accountability" forum.

 Thousands were invited, few showed up

One student noted the lack of turnout for the event and then proceeded to talk about a prior incident of police brutality when he was arrested for Driving Under the Influence.  Not a great way to gain sympathy.

Another student clearly and succinctly stated, "Students like to get drunk."  He too was not a paragon of potential solutions.  

The Amherst Police apology demand never even came up, and a good portion of the talk about rough police treatment centered on UMPD response during the Red Sox Riot last October and the failed attempt of having a University sanctioned event at Southwest that night.  Which of course went very well right up until the moment the game ended and then quickly degraded into a riot.

UMass Chancellor Subbaswamy did not back down, or even so much as blink, from his stern condemnation issued the day after the Blarney Blowout.  

The Chancellor reminded the group that UMPD is under his direct control but Amherst Police are not.  And they had to make instant decisions, on the ground, without the luxury of time to call him or his staff for consultation.

But he reaffirmed how Amherst town officials are in favor of the extensive study (led by Edward Davis) commissioned by the University which should be completed in two months.   With an action plan that both the University and the town are now sorely motivated to make happen. 

Before the next Blarney Blowout, or whatever new juvenile name they come up with.

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Middle School Scare

 APD at Amherst Regional High School this morning

UPDATE 6:30 PM

   Geryk Update: School lockdown

#####

The first emailed bulletin from the Amherst Public Schools this morning was a heart stopper:  Three schools had gone into "lockdown" because an unauthorized male was inside the Middle School.  An announcement over the PA system said he had ducked into a bathroom where he made a strange remark to a student using the bathroom.

The next bulletin an hour or so later gave the all clear, but little else.

 

Then at 3:08 p.m. the final bulletin gave more of the backstory and the exceedingly good news that APD had made an arrest, even though it was on an unrelated charge:

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Election Aftermath: Turmoil in the Making?

 Amherst March 25 election 2014:  Do over?

If Helen Berg -- 3rd place finisher in a 4-way race where the top two win a Select Board seat -- gets her way, Amherst taxpayers will spend another $12,000 for a "do over" of yesterday's election.

Ms. Berg finished 3rd garnering only 379 votes compared to the two winners, Andy Steinberg with 1,843 and second place finisher Connie Kruger with 1,700.

Or what most political insiders would consider not even close.  In fact, you don't even have to be a political insider to consider that not even close.

Helen Berg speaks at  3/17 Select Board meeting

The technicality stems from placing the order of candidates names on the ballot.  Traditionally the town has always drawn names from a hat for order of placement, thus giving our Polish friends with surnames ending in W a chance to be first on the ballot.

At the February 6 meeting of the Board of Registrars, that took about 45 minutes, all the contested town wide races and Town Meeting races were done this way.  Ms. Berg complained about her 3rd place drawing stating the town should go alphabetically, thus placing her first on the ballot.

The town currently operates under the Amherst Town Government Act which was enacted in December, 2001.   And the that document is silent on how to place names on the local election ballot.

Therefore the safest course of action would be to abide by state statute.  

Her complaint did raise a red flag, and it was then the Town Clerk noticed the February 6 meeting of the Board of Registrars had not been properly posted according to Open Meeting Law.

At that point -- with a do over already in the works, meaning a reprinting of all the ballots, both the town attorney and Town Manager looked at whether the town should go by state statute and simply list all candidates alphabetically (as requested by Ms. Berg), or do it the way it has always been done.

They decided to properly repost the Board of Registrars do over meeting for March 5th, redo the random drawing, and then reprint the ballots.  The only change in Select Board order was Ms. Berg moved up a notch to #2 on the ballot and Mr. Boothroyd moved down to #3 from his former #2 spot.

And it certainly seems like being #4 on the ballot did not hurt Connie Kruger any.

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Another angry Select Board loser:

   Boothroyd Rant

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