The Governor Came Calling

 Governor Deval Patrick

In what may be his last visit to Amherst as Governor, Deval Patrick spoke to an enthusiastic crowd of 150 gathered at Kendrick Park, representing a cross section of business, education and political leadership in our little college town.

And since he was announcing a state $1.5 million infrastructure improvement grant for the north end of town center, immediately across the street from where he was speaking, the crowd only got more enthusiastic.  The money will fund relocating ugly utility lines underground. 

 Town Mgr Musante, Governor Patrick, Stan Rosenberg

In his speech future president of the Mass Senate and forever resident of the town, Stan Rosenberg called Deval Patrick, "The best governor for public higher education in more than forty years.  Absolutely ... no question about that!"

 

Kendrick Place will benefit by the $1.5 million state grant, aesthetically speaking 

Third Chances

 Kyle Kielbasa stands before Judge John Payne 12:30 PM today

Judge John Payne did not agree to the prosecution's request to "revoke bail" for Kyle C Kielbasa, arrested on the day of the Blarney Blowout for waiving a handgun around while under the influence of alcohol at the popular Hanger Pub & Grill on University Drive.

On the charges of Driving Under the Influence lodged yesterday after a spectacular accident on Bay Road around 4:40 PM that caused closure of the busy road for the rest of the night, Judge Payne entered a plea of not guilty and continued the case until November 7.

The prosecution pointed out that Mr. Kielbasa was under a "no alcohol" order from the previous incident and that both serious incidents (waiving a gun, crashing a car) indicate that when he drinks he "gets dangerous."

The prosecutor told Judge Payne a 911 caller was following behind Kielbasa and reported him as an erratic operator, and the first police officer on the scene of the wreck reported an "overwhelming smell of alcohol."

His lawyer freely admitted Kielbasa has a problem with alcohol.  He has been going to AA meeting, getting therapy and even had a doctor prescribe medicine that blocks the craving for alcohol.

 Yesterday's accident on Bay Road.  Photo by Michael Seward

But after recent hand surgery the pain medications clashed with the anti-alcohol medicine, so he gave up on the anti-alcohol medicine and started back using alcohol. 

Judge Payne said he would not revoke bail but would, however, "ratchet it up":  Kyle Kielbasa must now report to his probation officer three times per week (with alcohol testing), attend five Alcoholics Anonymous meetings per week, reside with his parents, and maintain an 8:00 PM to 5:00 AM curfew. 

Terminate With Extreme Prejudice

 New sign at Crocker Farm Elementary School

Town Manager John Musante told the Amherst Select Board -- who in addition to being water/sewer and liquor commissioners are also in charge of holding "dog hearings" for dangerous canines -- that the pit bull who attacked two children at Crocker Farm School the 1st day of school has been "euthanized".

The owner never responded to a letter from the Commonwealth giving them seven days to request a dog hearing before the Select Board, thus allowing the board to wash their hands of the mess.

Animal Welfare officer Carol Hepburn could have placed the dog up for adoption but considered it beyond hope of rehabilitation, as in unsafe. 

Since the children had to undergo painful, frightening anti-rabies protocol it's no wonder the owner never came forward to claim the dog.  Not worth the lawsuit from parents I suppose.

And since the owner was irresponsible enough to allow the dog to roam free on a school playground while school was in session, not surprising they were irresponsible enough to allow the dog to be terminated.

Petition failed to sway school officials decision to ban dogs during school hours

Bait & Switch?

Clearly petitioner Vince O'Connor told Amherst Town Meeting that Article #38 was not a vote to increase the Community Preservation Act tax -- I mean "surcharge" -- from 1.5% to 3%. 

It was instead that most cherished of Democratic principals to simply allow the voters of Amherst the God given right to double the tax, err, "surcharge."

But if you read the state "summary" for Question 5 on the November 3 state ballot it clearly gives the impression that Amherst Town Meeting supported the tax increase itself. 

Kind of like the confusion that takes place every year at Town Meeting when the Finance Committee unanimously supports CPA spending articles.  What they are really supporting is the fact that the appropriation is "an appropriate use of CPA money."  In other words it's not illegal.

But isn't that why we spend $100,000 per year on a Town Attorney?  The Town Attorney does vet Community Preservation Act articles for anything that could be challenged so why do we need the Finance Committee's opinion when they are not legal experts?

Such is the charmed life of all things CPA.

One Car Crash Bay Road

 Live wires!

Amherst Police expect Bay Road to be closed for an "extended period" as Western Mass Electric is dealing with a utility pole snapped in half by an impaired driver who rolled his vehicle into the pole at high speed around 4:40 PM.

Heavy police and FD presence

AFD originally started transport to Cooley Dickinson Hospital but rerouted to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield (25 miles away), which has a critical care unit.

Amherst police have called in Amherst College Police to assist and AFD has toned out for three off duty firefighters to report in for "station coverage."  Belchertown police closed off Bay Road as it enters their town.

 Injured driver being loaded aboard A4, safely staged about 100 yards from scene of the crash

An Amherst police officer is also on board the ambulance  because the driver will be charged with Driving Under the Influence.

Another Unattended Death @ UMass

 At 7:45 PM only two police vehicles were on scene

UPDATE 2:30 PM

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UPDATE 10:30 AM  NorthWestern District Attorney spokesperson Mary Carey confirms no foul play suspected in last night's unattended death at McNamara Dorm:

 Click to enlarge/read

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Original Post midnight last night:

UMPD and State Police are investigating the "unattended death" of a female student at McNamara Dorm in the Sylvan Residential area of UMass that occurred early Sunday night.

The body was first discovered around 7:30 PM. Although AFD was called to the scene, they did not attempt transport to a hospital.

UMPD and the state Crime Prevention And Control (CPAC) unit were on the scene until around midnight.  The family of the deceased was escorted by UMPD to a nearby hotel.

By 9:00 PM another three police vehicles were on scene

Dance The Night Away

 

UMass Haigis Mall 10:15 PM Friday

This coming weekend -- and in a "college town" the weekend begins on Thursday -- should be a notable one for our understaffed public safety departments.

 The crowd was exuberant but, fortunately, well behaved

On Friday night UMass PD came very close to calling in the Amherst Police Department for help dealing with a large crowd (700-1,000) of somewhat scantily dressed youth congregated at the Haigis Mall awaiting bus rides to Holyoke for an Electronic Dance Music event, a fundraiser for breast cancer promoted by a local fraternity.

That event was so popular the Fire Marshall shut down entry soon after I took these pictures, and most of the crowd above did not actually board the rented yellow school buses.

 AFD responded to the scene for an over intoxicated student

The UMPD officer in charge told Dispatch to hold off since "APD probably has their hands full about now," and indeed call response at the time was delayed by up to an hour as Amherst police were dealing with the simple routine of weekend in a college town when the weather is still warm.

On Thursday the Mullins Center hosts Skrillex a notable EDM artist, and of course the following weekend is Halloween -- the mother of all excuses to party hardy.

Main ingredients in the making of a not so perfect storm. 

I'll See Your Blarney Blowout & Raise You

 Keene State College this afternoon (Seth Meyer photo)

Looks like police in bucolic Keene, New Hampshire didn't read the $160,000 Davis Report deconstructing police response to the March 14 Blarney Blowout.

And by the looks of photos posted to social media the drunken angry crowds do not appear quite as large as those faced by Amherst and UMass police that ignoble day.

 Blarney Blowout March 2012

When alcohol fueled college aged youth start throwing beer bottles and cans -- some of them full -- police simply have to act.  And if they are not wearing riot gear there's a much greater chance of the officer being injured.

 Blarney Blowout March 2013

It really is a chicken and egg kind of thing.  If rowdy youth listened to heavily outnumbered police and dispersed rather than dangerously escalating things via thrown objects, tear gas would not fill the air.

Blarney Blowout March 8, 2014

Our Survey Says ...

Calvin Terrell stands before angry public school parents

In yet another front page Gazette follow up -- pretty much a rewrite of a Masslive story from earlier this week -- concerning the disturbing presentation that occurred to our Middle School children on October 2, results from a parent survey that I requested via Public Documents Law  (thus far ignored) for the raw results gets a brief mention.

 Calvin Terrell:  Not my fault!

As I suspected, a majority (54%) of the 103 parent/guardians responding had problems with the presentation.  And only 15.5% thought the Schools should "continue the work begun by Calvin Terrell."

Considering the "work" to fight racism and bullying is an admirable goal, not a very good overall response to such a leading open ended question. 

Of course if the aging Gazette actually had children in the schools they would have actually received the survey and would know that it was anonymous. Doesn't get much more "private" than that.

Thus when the Schools do get around to responding to my Public Documents request and blow me off  like they did the diffident Gazette with the old "information that could be considered student records" thus protected by state privacy law, I will call them on it. 

What Other Admins Make

Maria Geryk, Sean Mangano, Mike Morris

Just so I'm not accused of being an Irish sexist bully picking on a female CEO by publishing Maria Geryk's five (5) year taxpayer funded contract, here's the other two contracts for recently promoted males. 

   Mike Morris ARPS Contract

Interestingly Mr. Morris gets three (3) years as Assistant Superintendent and Mr.Mangano only gets two (2) as Finance Director.  

   Sean Mangano Contract ARPS

Not that I would accuse anybody of sexism because of that.

Also have to wonder in his contract what is meant by "good cause" under the termination heading?  Since his predecessor Rob Detweiler simply disappeared, aka was fired, back in January for what may have been "good cause".

But since the Schools refuse to talk about it, we will never know.

Don't Feed The Trolls

2nd day in a row for above the fold headlines (both racism and Ebola)

In response to the first incident of racial vandalism aimed at black teacher Carolyn Gardner at Amherst Regional High School back in October last year, Amherst school officials simply covered it up.

It was only after an incident of student bullying that led to a Facebook "threat" and the dramatic closing of the High School that ongoing incidents of racism and bullying became public.   Although it didn't fit the Politically Correct agenda because it was black on white bullying.

So I have to wonder what would have happened at UMass if officials and the impacted students had simply cleaned up the graffiti and said nothing?  

Yes racism is intolerable, but then so is nuclear war.  One of those things where you don't get much of a public argument from an opposing view -- especially here in "Nuclear Free" Amherst.

Unless of course you're an anonymous troll.

Status Quo Budget

Four Boards:  Finance, Schools, Select Board and Library

When all was said and done, after a one hour rich-in-graphs presentation by Finance Director Sandy Pooler at tonight's Four Boards Meeting, the best guess for overall revenue increases next Fiscal Year  (FY16) is a comfortable 2.5%, or what Select Board Chair Aaron Hayden described as a "status quo budget."

 Current Fiscal Year Schools account for 52% of all spending

But with no increase in police or fire personnel, not an overly safe one.

Reserves of $9,152,345 this Fiscal Year best in ten years

Platinum Parachute?

Superintendent Maria Geryk, RSC members Lawrence O'Brien, Katherine Appy

So for those of you who honestly think the lap dog Regional School Committee and Union #26 would ever even remotely consider terminating the $168,000 per year contract of Amherst Pelham Regional School Superintendent Maria Geryk (and the free services of her husband Kurt) take a gander at her very recently signed five-year contract.

Although it was retroactive a full year (2013) it would still take a buyout of 3.5 years or $553,000 tax dollars.  Which, simply put, ain't gonna happen.

   Maria Geryk Schools Contract

What Are They Afraid Of?

Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in, the sunshine in

   UMass Response: Open Meeting by Larry Kelley

Pretty quick response:

From: Manganaro, Kevin (AGO) (AGO) <kevin.manganaro@state.ma.us>
To: Larry Kelley <amherstac@aol.com>
Sent: Thu, Oct 16, 2014 9:52 am
Subject: RE: Open Meeting complaint Amherst and UMass (There they go again) 

Hello Mr. Kelley,
Thank you so much for your e-mail. If you wish to file a complaint, you may do so on the appropriate complaint form by following the procedure found here:
http://www.mass.gov/ago/docs/government/oml/ago-open-meeting- law-complaint-form.pdf
The complaint must first be filed with the public body no later than 30 days after an alleged violation, or, if the violation could not reasonably have been known at the time it occurred, then within 30 days of the date when it could have reasonably been discovered. The public body then has 14 business days to respond.
Thank you, Kevin
Kevin W. Manganaro Assistant Attorney General

#####
From: Larry Kelley
To: kevin.manganaro
Sent: Thu, Oct 16, 2014 10:05 am
Subject: Re: Open Meeting complaint Amherst and UMass

Kevin,
Since the meetings have not yet occurred and there is an opportunity to avoid such a violation by having your office determine that they should be open meetings (I assume UMass personnel would abide by such a decision) how does one go about finding a form to fill out for that kind of a determination?
Larry

Click to enlarge/read

They Had A Secret

Amherst Pelham Regional School Committee meeting last night

So I guess the way this works is the Regional School Committee and Union #26 directly oversees Superintendent Maria Geryk so that's why her salary/raise is an exact amount, and then they gave her a range for the new Assistant Superintendent, Mike Morris and the new Director of Finance Sean Mangano who she directly oversees.

Hey at least she didn't use the absolute top end with both those salaries. Although as I pointed out last month Mr. Morris @ $115, 000 gets a 15% raise and Mr. Mangano @ $95,000 a whopping 90% raise.  

Notice too there was no discussion whatsoever about job performance.  Like none.  Zero.

And since Tara Luce is an employee of the Public Schools that Maria Geryk oversees, she probably should have abstained. 

Interesting that rookie School Committee Chair Trevor Baptiste, who comes on like an opinionated bull in a dainty china closet, did abstain (for no apparent reason).

Click to enlarge/read

"Vetting Communities"

 Calvin Terrell dealing with unhappy customers

If you operate a service business and someone complains about your product you can either blame the customer and ignore the complaint, or think about what you may be doing wrong to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Smart businesses -- the ones that stay in business -- choose the latter.

Obviously Calvin Terrell, who sells racial harmony with a side order of anti-bullying, doesn't subscribe to that theory.  Perhaps why he worked at a Red Lobster rather than owning one.

Although he is smart enough not to bite the hand that feeds him, in this case Amherst College ($38,000 -- a lot of bread!).

But his way of dealing with the snowballing controversy over his graphic presentation to young children is to blame the Schools.  Which of course is -- like the anecdotes he uses in his presentations (Columbine, Lord Jeff's infected blankets) -- partially correct. 

Yes the Schools should have sent out the parental notifications warning parents about the graphic nature of Terrell's pitch.  But I'm also certain that if the Schools knew exactly how graphic that pitch was going to be they would never have allowed it in the first place.

To suggest that Amherst of all places is an atypical outlier and somehow overly sensitive about mature material is absurd.

If Terrell bothered to do his homework he would know that ARHS was the only high school in America to perform the decidedly R rated 'Vagina Monologues' in 2004, and five years before that created an international uproar by cancelling 'West Side Story' because of alleged "racism."

Both controversies brought on by overly empowered 17-year-old's.

The Schools have now gone into their usual mode of dealing with controversy.   Stick your head in the sand and wait till things blow over.

Worked well with the "Nut Ban" controversy.  Last night the Regional School Committee voted to set a policy that allows administration do pretty much what they want with nuts (insert joke here).

And a year from now that same diffident Regional School Committee will vote a policy allowing the administration to bring in any speaker they damn well please.

Well at least David Koresh is no longer available.

Public Comment?

Trevor Baptiste, the only minority member of Regional Agreement Working Group at 6/12 meeting

UPDATE 3:00 PM  School Superintendent Maria Geryk has kindly negotiated a live session between Mr. Terrell and concerned parents.  Next year.   And only now is he "developing an outline of his presentations"?!

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Tonight's 6:00 PM Amherst Pelham Regional School Committee meeting -- so soon after the Calvin Terrell disaster at the Regional Middle School -- should be nothing if not interesting.

In his first act as the new RSC Chair Trevor Baptiste proposed changing the restrictive "Public Comment" period to allow for more extemporaneous input after the disastrous June 24 meeting cost Lawrence O'Brien the chairmanship. 

The public comment period had become a hot bed of activity around racial issues -- and deservedly so.  The predominantly white committee (7 of 9) was having trouble concentrating on their routine agenda items.

At a June 18th meeting of the Equity Task Force, Chair Amilcar Shabazz purportedly talked about an unreported -- more like covered up -- violent racial incident where three black youths "aggressively and seriously assaulted" a white youth because he was the "greatest student racist they could find."

Unnamed members of the Equity Task Force seemed to think Shabazz violated the (FERPA) rights of all the youth involved, since insiders were well aware of the incident and the names of all concerned.  But us lowly outsiders -- who represent the vast majority -- had no idea the incident had even taken place.

Individual Chairs of the school committees that make up the Region, circumventing the Open Meeting Law, signed a sharply critical memo chastising Shabazz and apologized to the parents of the white child involved.

Lawrence O'Brien Chair (for a day) 6/24 RSC meeting

In response, RSC Vice-Chair Trevor Baptiste called a renegade Regional School Committee meeting without approval of then Chair Lawrence O'Brien to countermand the 7/15 memo pillorying Shabazz.  That single motion passed by unanimous vote of the five members (out of nine) who dared to show up. 

And at the next meeting of the full Committee (8/14) Baptiste was elected chair, trouncing O'Brien (5 votes to 3).

So how is Mr. Baptiste -- one of only two black members of the RSC -- going to handle this sad, sadistic episode where a well-paid black motivational speaker terrorized all too many 7th and 8th graders with violent images of loved ones being gunned down before their innocent eyes?

#####

No controversy is complete without an internet poll (not mine)

Poll Of The People

Calvin Terrell demonstrating the power-of-the-universe-in-a-phone routine to upset parents  at packed 10/3 Middle School Principal's Coffee Hour

Mass email to parents 10/3 (click to enlarge/read)

Amazing Maze (Mike's Of Course)

Maze is designed to be visible in proper orientation from nearby Mt. Sugarloaf

Today is a beautiful day to take in the scenic New England beauty provided by Mother Nature.  Or in the case of Mike's Maze in Sunderland, an all natural work of agrarian art crafted with a little help from a local farmer. 

"The School Messed Up"

Assistant Superintendent Mike Morris (far left) Calvin Terrell (multi-colored cap), none too happy parents (right) 10/3 meeting which Terrell thought was an "emergency meeting"

A friend and l-o-n-g time reader likens my school posts to, "distant underwater tremors that turn into 30 foot waves breaking on the beach."

Amherst Public Schools "Media Climate & Communications Specialist" Carol Ross

My boots on the ground coverage of last week's (10/3) "Coffee hour with the Principal" took a few days to catch fire, but as of now the Comments are fast approaching the limit allowed by Blogger, a barrier previously broken only once (school related of course) out of over 3,368 posts published.

 Today's Gazette editorial:  (go to Google News and search using the headline)

While it took the Gazette almost a week to catch up to the shocking story of race/anti-bullying "motivational" guru Calvin Terrell terrorizing our children, they now seem to be making up for lost time. 

Today for instance, in the highest circulating edition of the week, the venerable Daily Hampshire Gazette presents a very thorough editorial decrying the sorry affair.

Although in their typically diffident manner they fall short of demanding the schools exterminate their relationship with Terrell.

A glaring oversight. 

 Last year Terrell was paid $2,700 for one day gig

Springfield Sunday Republican Reports 

Opposes But With An Open Mind

Mainstream media this fine morning

Okay, which is it? Is UMass President Robert Caret going to keep an "open mind" even though he doesn't "like the feel" of the UMass Police Department informant program, or does he just flat out oppose the program as indicated by today's Gazette above-the-fold headline?

Of course keep in mind this is the same bureaucrat who just days after the Little Bighorn, err, Blarney Blowout, told the same media in regards to the response of overwhelmed police: "There looked to be some unprovoked overreaction." (emphasis mine)

Caret also went on to show how well he does his research (this from a higher-education leader) by questioning why town officials allowed bars to open early on the infamous day of the Blarney Blowout, which is just flat out not true.

UMass Chancellor Subbaswamy has named a "working group" of 11 -- as opposed to a "committee" which would be subject to Open Meeting Law -- to come back by the end of the semester with a recommendation concerning the use of informants by UMPD. 

Considering only one of the 11 is in law enforcement (and his paycheck is dependent on keeping President Caret happy), safe bet the program will be scuttled.

Public Relations taking priority over Public Safety.

In the particular case of Eric Sinacori the one question that really needs answering is did he go from an "informant", where his ID is protected, to a "witness", where his ID is not protected, and then go back to being an "informant".

Because under those conditions, even in the bucolic backwater of Amherst, his safety would have been compromised.

Don't Do The Crime ...

 

Looking southwest Amherst town center

As if being a small business in Amherst isn't already hard enough.  Apparently somebody is targeting them for the quick and dirty way to raise money:  by Breaking & Entering in the dead of night.

Captain Gundersen (note correct spelling) confirmed there have been four business break ins over the past two months, but three of those were just in the past 30 days.  And of course she would not divulge the names of the businesses, but did confirm two were dead in the center of town, one center/east and the other center/west.

Middle School Lockdown

APD & AFD on scene ARMS 10:45 AM

Okay parents set your stopwatches to see how long it takes school officials to let us know the Amherst Regional Middle School went into lockdown this morning for just about an hour.

Amherst police first responded to the school and then called for Amherst Fire Department to do a "psychological evaluation" on a young male student.

After about a half-hour on scene he was transported to Cooley Dickinson Hospital. Yes, having both police and fire personnel come through your front door to deal with a troubled student is certainly worth going into lockdown.

But it would be nice if all parents were notified, so rumors don't get started.

 AFD Engine 2 and NFD A1 on scene UMass Totman Gym 11:25 AM

Not long after that Northampton Fire Department had to send an ambulance our way -- the 2nd one of the morning to come to us via mutual aid -- because AFD was so swamped.

 AFD Engine 4 on scene Fort River School 1:40 PM

And then around 1:30 PM, AFD Engine 4 and Chief Nelson responded to a (false) fire alarm at Fort River School.

Three different school responses all within hours of each other.  No wonder we're known as an "educated community."

Too bad we don't show it by adequately staffing our beleaguered first responders.  

UPDATE:  4:30 PM email sent to parents