In Memory of...

So on some days I would just assume not open email or answer the phone or for that matter read the Gazette obituaries (yeah, I’m now at that age where I go there rather quickly.)

As of now I learned all three ways about that irrevocable thing we call--oftentimes only in a whisper--death. And the People’s Republic of Amherst is now ever so diminished by the loss of these three individuals.

From an email I learned of the sudden sad passing of Amherst Call Firefighter David Pollack (the song refrain “Only the good die young” springs to mind--but that would cast a shadow on the other two, who were not exactly young but still full of life the last time I saw them.)

I only met David a few times (the most recent 9/11 ceremony at the Amherst Central Fire Station was the last time) but we obviously shared that core respect for all things American that he was happy to tell me about and encourage me to fight on.

Homer Cowles, the quintessential Yankee Farmer, also passed last week that I was surprised to see in the Gazette. Strangely enough, in addition to forever farmer and long-time service in Town Meeting and a half-tenure as Select man he was also a former call firefighter who worked his way up to Deputy Chief in charge of training the Student and Call force (although retired by the time David Pollack came on board)

I can honestly say in my 15 + years enduring Town Meeting Purgatory, the ONLY person I ever looked forward to walking up to the podium to speak was Homer Cowles who just had that engaging homespun way of telling a story.

And my long-time neighbor--and even longer time commercial landlord--Dick Johnson, a larger than life kind of guy (who always wore a cowboy hat and at well over 6 feet tall let’s just say he stood out in a room) succumbed to cancer.

When I was a teen-ager living in the Amherst Irish enclave of Crow Hill, THE upper crust place to be (that my mother only dreamed about) was Echo Hill Development (built by Dick Johnson and his long-time partner Gerry Gates).

And as part of the attraction they had an indoor swimming pool and outdoor tennis courts that spun off from the housing development and became the stand-alone Hampshire Fitness Center, my main business competitor for the first ten or 15 years of my existence (now of course it is Ponzi scheme idiots like Planet Fitness)

Although he tried to stay below the radar over the past 40 years or so I did hear that in the late 70’s or early 80’s Dick ran for Select Board and lost. No big surprise since that was about the time Amherst started down the road to anti-business zealotry.

Rest in peace my three friends. You will be—and in fact already are--missed.


AmherstFD website

Frosty mountain

Saturday morning 10:45 AM

"Houston, we have a problem."

UPDATE: 11:50 AM Okay, as one or two of you noticed, I posted a hot link for Amherst School Committee contact info (apparently located on the old site) and for some reason the link just would not work. So then I simply went to the new site (you know the one that does not want an Electronic Suggestion Box) and was stunned to learn Amherst had cancelled school today regionwide. Yikes!

Hmmm…so I had no problem whatsoever getting my daughter to the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley this morning. What’s up with that? ‘The Powers That Be’ allow a health hazard to exist at Wildwood but they are ever so super-conservative about calling off school for a tiny snow dusting? And their security is such that anyone can walk in the front door unchallenged (well except for a sign saying report to the office first which is of course like a bank posting a sign at the entryway saying "please check masks and guns with the security guy sleeping in the corner.")

Well anyway, here’s the link to the fancy new District Web Page and somewhere on there you should be able to find contact info for the venerable Amherst School Committee. Tell them to do their job!

Amherst Regional Public Schools

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UPDATE: Friday morning 10:10 AM

So normally I update or correct at the Post in question. Somebody just emailed and wanted me to point out on my upload three days ago (an eternity in Internet time) about the School Committee nixing an electronic Suggestion Box should have mentioned that not all School Committee members voted against the common sense idea.

Well, I did reference Mary Carey’s article in the UltraCrusty Gazette (and will post hotlink to the repeat in today’s Bully). But she’s right. And I also think the entire issue is germane to this current controversy because parents with children at Wildwood could have used the Suggestion Box to request the schools abide by Public Health standards and provide hot water.

So just for the record: the two who voted in favor of hearing from the taxpayers who fund our expensive schools were: Catherine A. Sanderson (yes she’s also the ONLY one who voted against the School Committee's “retreat” next month--something that pushes the envelope on the Open Meeting Law.)

And Kathleen Anderson--who is nothing if not independent--also supported the idea of hearing from us little people (and apparently she will not attend the “retreat” because the facilitator is not of color.)

The Bully reports

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FINAL UPDATE (for tonight) 11:04 PM: So the brand new Wal-Mart thermometer did not contain mercury and there was no broken glass to clean up (as it fell in the sink.) And—perhaps more important--I’m not a Pedophile, or a Stalker or even a “Town Provocateur. "

The initial Comment to this post (that published at 3:20 PM) occurred at 3:48 PM with great concern (not about the cold or dirty brown water that apparently has been the norm since September) but about the possible “mercury poison” from a tiny thermometer.

And when Co-Superintendent of Schools Al Sprague (who splits $125-K with his wife) called me at 4:18 PM on my unlisted home phone number he initially ranted about the mercury thermometer (and almost seemed disappointed to learn it contained no mercury). I particularly liked his antiquated line admonishing me to “act like a man” and talk to school officials “face to face”. Something I may soon take him up on.

When all is said and done, however, the simple fact remains: Wildwood’s “HOT” water temperature was ONLY 70 freaken degrees! How many of you nitwit Anon’s (or Gazette editor's for that matter) take a shower or bath in 70 degree water? And would you frequent a restaurant that washed dishes at such a sub-tepid temperature?

Sure you need to worry about scalding children (Co-Superintendent Sprague was shouting something about that as well) or even saving money on energy, but the cursory Google research I did on hot water and children’s safety routinely states: “If your water-heater setting is at a safe level (between 120°F and 125°F, you don't have to do anything. There is no advantage to setting the thermostat below 120°F.”

And what the Hell was the all that brown crap that came out of the other sink? When the Amherst DPW “flushes the lines” they always warn everybody there may be some sediment stirred up and to let the water run for a little while longer. I did not see that town-wide advisory this afternoon.

Former Czar Anne Awad tried to have me arrested for proving she moved to South Hadley (and where is she now?) to no avail; so school officials should forget ‘Attacking the Messenger’ and get down to solving the real problem: Wildwood has no hot water!
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UPDATE: 8:00 PM: Well the Comments are still coming fast and furious. I had to teach my wife’s Karate class (she’s in Mexico doing her other job—the one that pays) and I had children to feed (my own) and now need to put them to bed. But I will have one more UPDATE before the night is done.

UPDATE: 5:58 PM: The ‘Comments’ are coming fast and furious. I agree, in this post 9/11 world an adult should not be able to just waltz into an Elementary School and do whatever they please (even if only going to the bathroom).

Spin it any way you want: the need for more money via an Override to “save our schools” or “what the hell is going on here where water temperature is only 70 degrees and the color is a tad scary.” And if you can believe those damn anonymous folks on MassLive, this has been going on since SEPTEMBER!

So go ahead: beat up on the messenger (I can take LOTS of punishment); but something certainly ain’t right at Wildwood Elementary School in the People’s Republic of Amherst.
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UPDATE: 4:45 PM So I just got a call from Al Sprague “Interim Co-Superintendent of the Schools” who seemed a tad perturbed. He demanded to know if the thermometer contained mercury (and of course it did not) because he was about to send out a Hazmat Alert (can you imagine how much that would cost state taxpayers?)

Then he asked if I “signed in” to enter the building, which of course I did not. I pointed out that if you tried to enter the Pioneer Valley Chinese Charter Immersion School at 2:00 PM you would have to ring a buzzer to get in (the doors are only open at 8:15 AM for drop off and at 3:30 PM for pick up and the Principal is usually standing in the doorway greeting parents.)

He then threatens to get a “restraining order”. So I verbally assured him (with my almost 2-year-old daughter as witness) that if I ever feel the need to return to Wildwood Elementary School I would be happy to “sign in”. No restraining order necessary (that too cost money.)
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ORIGINAL POST 3:20 PM
I entered Amherst’s Wildwood Elementary School (the one my daughter almost attended if Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School had not found a roof over their head two years ago) at 2:00 PM with my camera in one hand and an empty clean glass and thermometer (brand new from Wal-Mart at 99 cents) in the other.

And I figured the kids all would all have had lunch by now and the Men’s bathroom probably had not seen a lot of use over the past hour or so. I was, once again, the only one in there for the entire time (about 6 minutes)

At my house, where I have a brand new home heating system including new water heater (my old one died about a month ago) I set the thermostat on my new water heater as low as it would go. Then I ran the hot water for 60 seconds captured some in a glass and gingerly lowered the thermometer in and waited 2.5 minutes. Temperature came to 98 degrees


Repeated that same exercise at Wildwood Elementary School: Temperature came to 70. Kind of a big difference.

Sorry for the blurry photo but I was holding the thermometer and white paper background in one hand and taking the photo with the other and then dropped the thermometer (and it broke) so I could not take another shot or two with different light settings. But trust me, the temperature read 70 degrees.

In the other sink (this bathroom had two) I ran the hot water and got that nasty looking reddish/brown water--and it felt as cool as the sink that I used in the temperature test.

Something is definitely amiss in the People's Republic.

Do as I say! (Not as I do)

UPDATE: Thursday, 9:20 AM

So the Crusty Gazette did not cover /expose the health hazard going on since September at Wildwood Elementary School in this morning’s edition. Now you know why I call them Crusty.

But they did cover the “restructuring “ of our elementary schools proposal that somebody posted as a Comment yesterday (so I’m not sure if that qualifies as scooping them or not).

The article by Mary Carey is of course a lot more thorough than what you might find in the blogesphere but then that’s why she makes the big bucks. There was a, perhaps inadvertent, odd juxtaposition of paragraphs that I found illuminating:

Just keeping the schools running at the current level would require an increase of 7 to 8 percent in the $20.6 million budget. The schools will instead be aiming to increase the budget by only 2 percent over last year.

"I've never dealt with decreases of this size," the co-superintendent said.

Only in Amherst is a 2% budget increase considered a “decrease”
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ORIGINAL POST: Wednesday afternoon
So if you can believe those damn anonymous “spurious” and “ugly” comments posted on local online forums; well actually there’s only one, Masslive (Amherst) Forum, as the Crusty Daily Hampshire Gazette spiked their lively one seven years ago: Wildwood Elementary School (built in 1970), entrusted with over 400 Amherst children, has no hot water.

And furthermore, if you can believe another anonymous commenter who provided (in a journalistic sense—if you acknowledge anonymous sources) corroboration, they have been running on cold water since September!

I decided to be that investigative journalist I always wanted to be and took a trip up to Wildwood this afternoon, figuring a formal Freedom of Information request could take weeks.

Sure enough, no freaken hot water! And then I went back to recheck over an hour later (figuring maybe multitudeness kids used that bathroom and temporarily overwhelmed the hot water heater). The video is from the second visit.

Now if Puffton Village or Southpoint Apartments lost running hot water in the wintertime, the People’s Republic of Amherst Building Inspector would instantly shut them down. And since private management knows that, the problem would be corrected overnight.

Last month the US economy shed over 500,000 jobs--mostly from manufacturing, construction and retail. But, education and government actually experienced job growth. Ahhh…the dramatic difference between 'I'm-here-to-help-you' Government and the 'source-of-their-funding' Private Sector.

God help us!

Hear no evil

This from Mary Carey's article in Saturday's Crusty Gazette about the School Committee voting down an online suggestion box: " We don't see a need for a blind suggestion box, a blog site for people to complain," said Alton Sprague, interim co-superintendent, summing up the view expressed by a majority of School Committee members.

In his 40 years working in public schools, "nothing good has come from a suggestion box," Sprague said. Comments about school employees on local online forums have been "spurious," he said. And the tenor of some of the email officials have received in response to a fatality involving a school bus earlier this year and the coming closing of the middle school pool has been "ugly."

So you gotta wonder how the Facilitation of the Community Choices Committee, feels about that Old-School statement denigrating anonymous surveys—after all, the FCCC relied almost exclusively on the 497 responses from Amherst taxpayers to formulate their budget recommendations to the Select Board and Finance Committee.

Perhaps Mr. Sprague was a tad unhappy with the Masslive Amherst Forum “discussion” of the tragic bus accident that took the life of a toddler. Somebody questioned why the Sprague’s were on vacation at the Cape at the beginning of the school year; kind of like a Health Club owner taking off the first two weeks in January--the best month of the year for the industry (New Year’s resolutions.)

And somebody offered up as a defense their (slightly) advanced ages. Yikes!

The recent anonymous survey of town employees turned up problems with the Town Manager’s style of leadership and resulted in the Select Board at the very least suggesting he work on it.

Many industries specifically solicit employee feedback for cost containment and often will reward good ideas with a chunk of the money saved. That way everybody wins. If you don’t like what somebody writes then don’t act on it (other than to delete).

But how are you going to know what you don’t know if you refuse to even listen?

Sunday, December the 7'th

Another one of those dates we should never, never, never forget.

Even if your knowledge of the awful event only comes from Hollywood movies, the sights and sounds reinforce the Hell that was “A date which will live in infamy”.

Had their never been a Second Wave of fighters and bombers swarming like angry bees—but way less effective because all the smoke from dying battlewagons now obscured the fleet--and even if the First Wave broke off the attack ten minutes into it, about half the personnel damage had been done.

The Arizona had already become a tomb for 1,177 of her crew.

UPDATE: 7:30 PM
So amazingly the People’s Republic of Amherst, unlike last year (or the previous twenty or so) actually remembered to bring the town flag to half-staff. Not so for the blue blood private colleges like Smith, or Amherst College and even our public flagship Umass (although they remembered last year but maybe those budget cuts axed the flag protocol person).






Or even the town of Hadley.

Yes, Virginia, even in Amherst.

UPDATE: Monday, 12/8 9:30 AM As Mary Carey pointed out the great thing about a blog is that you have expert readers who can set the record strait. So I just received an email from an overly reliable member of Amherst PD who wanted to correct one of Ed's comments about traffic control:

The Univ. Police Dept. is ENTIRELY in Charge of the Traffic Detail for Commencement. It is THEIR plan and they hire us. (APD). They tell us where they would like officers to be and which direction they want traffic routed. I believe they use a plan that was designed by the students themselves.

ORIGINAL Post 12/5 8:00 PM Okay so this year the Merry Maple (not to be confused with a Christmas Tree)is a tiny bit more merry than last year when it looked like the poster tree for a North Korean anti air raid illustration. The Umass band under the amiable direction of George Parks was outstanding as always.