O Captain! My Captain!

UPDATE: Saturday (2/28) high noon:
Okay so both newspapers have now justified their existence and reported the resignation of our acting co supers. And of course the School Committee thanks them for their service and wishes them well in the future and all that bureaucratic BS. By next week, like the Anne Awad affair, nobody will remember their name.

So now the announcement Monday night of the new full-time, non-acting Superintendent (where this same School Committee will screw up again) can stand (or fall) on its own merits.

UPDATE: Friday (2/27) 3:30 PM:
Yeah, now the truth can be told: From the Illustrious Select Board no less (auto generated "as a rule"):

From: Alisa V. Brewer[AVBREWER@COMCAST.NET]
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 3:02:39 PM
To: Select Board
Subject: Clipping Service: Interim Amherst superintendents Helen Vivian and Alton Sprague quit, health reasons
Auto forwarded by a Rule

UPDATE: Friday (2/27) 7:00 AM
Well amazingly the crusty Gazette caught up, written by illustrious editor Noah Hoffenberg himself (hopefully the Gazette has not laid off all the reporters). Of course School officials would neither confirm or deny the Supers demise but that in itself is confirmation.

Catherine Sanderson made a good point saying the full-time staff had to step up anyway when the interim folks came in suddenly, so they will be able to handle things for the next few months. My two year old had a "bacterial respiratory ailment" recently and the antibiotics cleared it up within a week. Hmmm...

UPDATE: 10:45 PM

Gotta wonder if the Gazette managed to get some school official to go “on the record” about this (Thank God!) breaking development. We will know in about six hours. Although sadly, folks who read the hard copy edition will know before Gazettenet.com internet readers.

And yeah, you gotta love the irony: the highest paid position in the People’s Republic of Amherst occupied by a formerly-and-should-have-stayed- retired married couple who despise this newfangled blogesphere, have their demise first telegraphed via the web.


UPDATE: 3:00 PM Hell No, I did not call the former, acting, not-so-super Co-Superintendents to confirm this news bulletin. But, as I'm sure you all know, I have reliable sources (and lots of them.) For the record, it will be made official Monday night.

ORIGINAL POST 1:30 PM
So the Amherst Bulletin will need to replace the “Super Column” written (I hope not on town time) by married couple Helen Vivian and Alton Sprague, former ‘Acting Co-Superintendents’ of the venerable Amherst School system.

After verbally agreeing to take the rudder in Greenfield they jumped ship and signed a one-year contract with Amherst thru June 30 at a cool $135,000. (With a two-month severance clause so they will get paid for March and April but not May and June)

They got off to a bad start. After the tragic death of a 2-year-old child in September run over by an Amherst School bus, it was revealed the Supers were at Cap Cod closing up their summer cottage.

Then, when the budget crisis caught fire, they melted like a cheap candle.

In response to a School Committee member suggesting a ‘virtual suggestion box’ so concerned folks could email the School Committee or school staff from the convenience of their computer, Mr. Sprague famously responded that in his 40 years working in public schools, “nothing good has come from a suggestion box.”

Then they were late with data unanimously requested of them by the Amherst School Committee. And a major flip-flop on reorganization plans, and maybe a tad too much support for the relatively small number of vocal parents decrying the Marks Meadow School closing.

Add it all up and they were, quite simply, in way over their heads.

What would Jesus, Muhammad, Krishna, or Yahweh do?

So what would have happened if that Airbus 320 that desperately ditched in the freezing Hudson with 155 souls aboard last month had consisted entirely of Amherst School teachers and administrators?

They withdraw to the wings and some science geek calculates that if they all stay put the plane will sink enough to place them into freezing water up to their chests; but if they throw six or seven overboard they will stay comfortably high and dry?

And of course even first time flyer's know that when an air traffic controller frantically reports that they lost a blip, emergency response is instantaneous--and in this post 9/11 world--pretty well coordinated.

If the Teachers Union forgoes their COLA (cost of living raise) it will save well over a million dollars—enough to keep the venerable Amherst Schools treading water. Or they can sacrifice their compatriots.

Although I'm sure nobody could confuse the actions of that heroic pilot with the "Acting, Interim Co-Superintendents" of the (once) venerable Amherst School System.

And I bet the Cops, Firefighters, DPW and Town Hall union folks would all follow suit. And at least the Town Manager (the second highest paid employee right behind our not so Super School Supers) is showing some leadership in this issue by refusing his COLA.

A stand up School Committee member reports:

There they go again...

Okay, so you would think when the illustrious Select Board agenda has this item under Town Manger Report: Recent Select Board Meeting Broadcast Issues (like when they sent out only audio for an entire recent meeting) that ACTV would go out of their way to make this production the most perfectly transparent, seemless broadcast ever.

Well...they start out by airing the view of an empty chair and table for the first five minutes (although the audio of Princess Stephanie came across perfectly.) Then Mr. Root does a surprise presentation from the peanut gallery and no one tells him to come to the microphone so folks could hear what the Hell he was talking about.

Finally they got the cameras pointed in the right direction—just in time to show Dave Keenan’s three card monte, shell game production.

While ACTV receives only $4,000 in direct funding from the town it does get 5% of Comcast’s revenues from the roughly 8,000 subscribers that adds up to over $250,000 annually. Money that would otherwise go to the town.

So it is in every sense of the word Amherst taxpayers’ money (only picked from a different pocket)

Of course the hilarious thing is Mr. Root is babbling something about a new Internet Bank debuting (and he suggests maybe the town could invest taxpayer funds) and you can’t really hear a word he is saying because ACTV, once again, screwed up.

And notice the pernicious pregnant pause over the word “profits”. His Lordship Gerry Weiss clearly says, “we heard you!” (Socialist that he is); but in fact, NOBODY else did. Perfect metaphor for Amherst town government: living in a bullet proof bubble.

Sooooooo just what we need now (at a precarious time in history for the banking industry) a new, multi-level marketing Internet banking scheme. Yikes!

How scary is this! (at least in the United States of America?)



UPDATE: 11:30 PM

Okay, since some of you asked nicely here's a clip of Dave Keenan's presentation.

Yes, he did shuffle the 3 cups around a few times at the very beginning and middle of his Dog+Pony Show, and No Princess Stephanie did not want to hazard a guess as to where the candy laid (or is it lied?) at the very end. (Although I think Bill got it right)

Frosty morning

11:00 AM

Kendrick Park "skating rink" 11:25 AM

Amherst Town Center. High Noon

Vote for Miss Emily!

So I find it a tad bit odd that the Governor would encourage cheating (but hey, he's a Democrat) to decide what national/state treasure in Massachusetts gets forever remembered on the back side (not to be confused with ass end) of a US Mint quarter.

For instance, I know a Umass Math Professor who like to auto-generate phone calls to the Daily Hampshire Gazette (to overwhelm and shut down their phone lines) when they publish a non-flattering story about him (although now that he's no longer on the Select Board that probably no longer happens)

But I'm sure it has to be even easier to set up an automated system to vote continuously for your choice via the Internet. I only voted once, and of course I voted for Miss Emily.

Vote here: (as they say in Chicago: "early and often")

"Like a thousand points of light" (X 100)

So on this auspicious occasion –my 100,000 visitors—it’s time for a blogging retrospective. First off, I feel about blogging the very same way I felt about my first hip replacement surgery: what the Hell took me so long?

As for my hips, simple vanity: I was too young for that (and would rather limp badly and take forever to climb a simply set of stairs than spend a week flat on my back zoned out on pain meds and then six weeks on crutches)

As for blogging, I actually worried about not enough material for a decent numbers of posts per week (with my initial target being three or four.) Now I worry about too much material.

Yesterday for instance I did four posts (and actually had a 5’th—a photo of 'The Evergreens'--but never got around to it, besides Mary Carey scooped me on that although you can tell from her photo that she took it later in the morning because the snow is still showing in mine).

The thing I liked about radio advertising—either for my business but especially for politics—is the immediacy. I would cut a commercial and within an hour or two it was on the air.

Blogging is the ultimate combination of text, photos and video instantly uploadable. And you can go back and change anything and republish instantly. Plus, cheap point-and-shoot digital cameras are so easy to use and are small enough to hide in a pocket until needed (but only used on/from public property of course).

A rundown of the last two years highlights:

Highest number of hits: The day the Associated Press issued a national story about my blog bringing down former Czar…. what’s her name? Oh, yeah Anne Awad, ensconced in South Hadley but wanting to keep her locally elected town position in the People’s Republic of Amherst. (414 hits.)

And of course without this blog she would still be a sitting Amherst Select Board member (even though commuting to South Hadley) 'His Lordship' Gerry Weiss would still be Chair and 'Princess' Stephanie (the former blogger) would still be stenographer/secretary rather than Chair, with a “new majority” of fairly normal folks.

#2 (coming in around 375 hits): a tribute/post that I dreaded doing because it concerned a young Amherst firefighter David Pollack, who died suddenly at age 27. I rolled it into a mention of Homer Cowles, the ultimate Yankee farmer and former Deputy Fire Chief who died the week before (but at a more acceptable age of 83--if death is indeed ever acceptable), and my landlord and long-time neighbor Dick Johnson who also passed that week (and did more for this town than most folks will ever know).

But my sitemeter told me the vast majority of folks were coming to me looking for information about David Pollack.

#3: The death of a child. One by bus accident the other by drowning in a back yard pool. It just does not get any worse than that; as I stated both times, if you can think of something worse please don't tell me.

Post with the most legs, meaning it still gets one or two hits per day and every time I see it on my sitemeter I'm depressed. Let’s call it a terrible tie:

The suicide of Jenny Kim, a promising Amherst College student; and “Hall of Shame” where I simply list all Amherst Town Meeting members (by an overwhelming majority) who voted against flying the flags in town center to remember/commemorate 9/11, the worst day in the last two generations of American history.

Quickest response ever from a high-ranking town official to an upload: The 2’nd in a series of three posts (over six weeks) showing the People’s Republic of Amherst is too cheap to provide hot water at the lavatories at Wildwood Elementary school.

47 minutes after uploading a blurry photo of a brand new thermometer clearly showing a bathroom water temperature of only 70 degrees, Acting Interim School Co-Superintended Alton Sprague called me spitting-and-swearing, threatening to have me arrested (and suggesting I was a pedophile).

Only time I hesitated about hitting the “publish post” button: In China, last summer, after we had toured my first daughter’s orphanage and I could tell we took them by surprise and--unlike five years earlier--got an actual glimpse of the kids routine overcrowded existence.

And I could have sneaked a photo or two (the “guards” escorting us were not exactly highly trained) but I figured things were so bad I should be able to get that across with just words. But still, I did not want to put my family in danger either.

Biggest victory due to the 'power of the blog': The flags in downtown Amherst flew this past 9/11, for the first time since 2004 (that too had a lot to do with Ms. Awad no longer a player). And damn well better next year or there will be Hell to pay.

Oh yeah, that May 1, 2007 $2.5 million Override that I helped knock down and thus far has saved taxpayers over $5 million and counting.

Biggest regret? Lost personal relationship with media friends—reporters and editors—who probably now consider me the enemy because of this newfangled Blogesphere/Web that threatens their existence.

Plans for the future? A political revolution! And this time, I have the power...

And what is wrong with this picture?

Amherst Center High Noon

UPDATE: 5:35 PM

On Feb 19, 2009, at 3:53:00 PM, "State House Events (BSB)" wrote:
From: "State House Events (BSB)"
Subject: RE: Half Staff Notification. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.....
Date: February 19, 2009 3:53:00 PM EST
To: amherstac@aol.com

Hey Larry,

The Bureau has setup on our website a flag status page you
can find it at www.mass.gov/bsb on the
right side of the page currently it has “flags at half staff” when they are not
it says “flag status” I don’t know if that helps, but you can always find
information about the flags there.

I am currently working on sending out a clarification
email because we have a lot of people in the Commonwealth who are being “difficult”
and I hope to clear up a lot of stuff. Keep an eye out tomorrow for it.

I hope this helps in some way,

Suzzette

On Feb 19, 2009, at 5:28:48 PM, amherstac@aol.com wrote:
From: amherstac@aol.com
Subject: Re: Half Staff Notification. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.....
Date: February 19, 2009 5:28:48 PM EST
To: Sh.Events@state.ma.us

Hey Suzzette,

Yes it does!

Just that fact that someone in state government cares...that helps.

And obviously your ultimate boss the Governor (who I voted against) DOES CARE, otherwise he would not have taken the time to issue the order in the first place to bring down the flags for 12 hours today.

For those "difficult" nitwits, you should remind them that Jonathan R. Roberge of Leominster, Massachusetts who died Monday, February 9, 2009 in Iraq was only 22 years old! He had a long life ahead of him--especially if he decided to work at McDonald's rather than enlist.
He was not even supposed to be on duty that day, as he was covering for a fellow soldier who asked him to fill in.

AGAIN: we need to do a better job! Your doing your job for sure
(thank you) but can we get a few more folks to do theirs?
Larry
#################################################################

UPDATE: 2:45 PM

-----Original Message-----
From: amherstac@aol.com [mailto:amherstac@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 1:14 PM
To: Events, Sh (BSB)
Subject: Re: Half Staff Notification. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.....

Hey Suzzette,

So I still can't figure out why the People's Republic of Amherst
figured it out on Tuesday but not today. As I say in this most recent
post: there'e got to be a better way! Every town/city in the state
should direct somebody to subscribe to your half staff email service;
but until then the Governor might want to issue a hard-copy press
release to all the major media. This man gave his life, can't we make
an extra effort to remember that?

Larry

http://onlyintherepublicofamherst.blogspot.com/2009/02/and-what-is-wrong-with-this-picture.html



-----Original Message-----
From: State House Events (BSB)
To: amherstac@aol.com
Sent: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 2:05 pm
Subject: RE: Half Staff Notification. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.....

Larry,

I feel your pain! I am going to forward your email to the Governor's Office and
ask if it would be possible for a press release to go out. Keep in mind,
sometimes we get the confirmations very last minute.

Thanks,
Suzzette

State House Events
Bureau of State Office Buildings
State House, Room 1
Boston, MA 02133
617-727-1100 x35532
617-727-7700
sh.events@state.ma.us

Sent: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 2:37 pm
Subject: RE: Half Staff Notification. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.....

Hey Suzzette,

I appreciate that. But WAY more importantly, so will the families
living in our Commonwealth who have to deal with an infinitely bigger
bigger pain.

I called the Public Safety line a moment after emailing you and they
just called back and said the flags are now at half-staff. Better late
than never I guess.


Larry
###########################################################

ORIGINAL POST: HIGH NOON'ish

The Governor ordered all state and local flags to half-staff on this day to honor and remember the ultimate sacrifice paid by Jonathan R. Roberge on Feburary 9 in the far off land known as Iraq.

Umass got it right. Amherst College, Big-Y (my favorite flag because it is so BIG) and even Police, Fire, and Schools did not.

Come on folks, there's got to be a better way. The bricks-and-mortar media on the day before Daylight Savings goes into or out of effect always puts on the Front Page "remember to reset your clocks".

Because yeah, if every worker in America was an hour late for work how much would that cost the economy? But then six months later if they arrived an hour early it probably would be a wash.

Can't we get a little news blip saying: the Governor has ordered all flags that he controls at half staff, and maybe--just maybe--everybody else would join in? I'm sure if they knew about it they would.

This man gave his life to protect our way of life. REMEMBER THAT!

What's wrong with this picture? Let me count the ways. Click to enlarge, but even then--since it is LIMP (a perfect metaphor)and Soooooo faded, you many not be able to figure out that this is the UN Flag--also at full staff.