Above the law?

UPDATE: 2:30 PM Now my sources are telling me that they switched back their Homestead to Amherst after this matter became public last week. Hmmm...But they still have to explain the matter of the mortgage with Florence Savings Bank that clearly states they will reside in the home in South Hadley by June 10. Or maybe the will remortgage by then.

Request to remove Amherst Town Official for residency violation
To: ago@state.ma.us

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108
May 20, 2008

Dear Attorney General Coakley,

According to the Amherst Town Government Act,
“A town meeting member ex officio or elected town meeting member who removes from the town shall cease to be a town meeting member.”

On April 10’Th, after winning election to Amherst Town Meeting on April 1’st, Robie Hubley signed a Declaration of Homestead on a house located at 4 Jewett Lane, South Hadley.

The notarized legal document clearly states: “I own and am possessed and occupy said premises as a residence and homestead under Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 188.”

According to the Secretary of State’s office: “A Homestead can be declared only on an applicant’s ‘principal residence’. A person can have more than one residence but the statute only allows the protection on one’s legal domicile.”

On Monday, May 12 a Town Meeting member made a “point of order” over this residency issue and after a very brief discussion Moderator Harrison Gregg squelched debate with the terse statement “That’s all we’ll deal with that at this meeting.”

Last night (May 19’th) Mr. Hubley again attended Amherst Town Meeting, sat in the member’s section and participated in a Tally Vote on a Warrant Article.

Please consider this a formal application for the Office of the Attorney General to initiate a ‘quo warranto procedure’ to remove Mr. Hubley from Amherst public office due to this residency violation.

Amherst voters in Precinct Nine have been and continue to be deprived of a representative who resides in their own District, one who shares the same experiences and possess a vested interest in that neighborhood.

The public interest requires a prompt resolution of this matter.

Sincerely Yours,


Larry Kelley
460 West St
Amherst, Ma 01002
Amherst Town Meeting Precinct 5
Amherst Redevelopment Authority

A matter of respect

You may not want to click to enlarge

Child pornography laws strictly forbid the publishing of sexual explicit photos (or even suggestions thereof) but it’s perfectly fine for the Daily Hampshire Gazette to publish this stark Front Page photo showing the remains of a child who suffered a violent death?

There were other--less shocking--ways to illustrate this terrible tragedy in China.

Books or Balls (as in golf)? Only in Amherst!

Amherst Bully (for them) article

Sent: Mon, 19 May 2008 11:11 am
Subject: A chance to keep the Jones Library open on Mondays!

Town Meeting members have demonstrated how important the Jones Library is for our community. That doesn't mean we always agree about the right method for funding the library or the right venue for making changes to the budget.Here is an opportunity for all of you who love the Jones Library to keep the library open on Mondays. An anonymous donor has offered to match any $20 dollar gift with a $10 match. For any of you can afford it, please show your support for the Jones Library, and stop by the library with your donation!

Thanks,

Julia R

Almost Gone

Get out of Dodge

So Ms. Awad told a reporter she was going on vacation to Cape Cod. But why would you leave on a Wednesday and be photographed (by a crazy stalker blogger sitting comfortably in his car rather than hiding in the bushes) on early Friday afternoon at your new estate in South Hadley?

Morning in America

Yeah, I know...

Aftershock. It registered 5.5 on the Richter scale as opposed to the original 7.9 monster that has left 5 million Chinese homeless and perhaps 50,000 dead--all too many of them children.

I talked to my adoption agency guru late this afternoon (based in Manhattan) and she reported that they have a small office in Nanjing, located on the 16'th floor of a highriser, 700 miles from the epicenter of the original quake . The building actually swayed. Kind of like our World Trade Center North or South Tower absorbing the initial blow of an incoming commercial aircraft.

Jada, located only about 150 miles from ground zero, is fine. But: so very, very many are not.