Don't mess with God

So according to aging activist Vince O'Connor, somebody (a former Select Board member and long-time Town Meeting member--so my guess is Rob Kusner) will move to divide the CPA article (you already know about the Civil War tablets restoration reduction of $20,000 coming up) to cut the entire funding for the North Congregation Church Slate Roof repair.

You know, that quaint, gorgeous old building that dominates North Amherst center. And gee, the request is all of $7,000 (approved 7-0 by the Community Preservation Act Committee) And for that the town gets a legal permanent promise to maintain the historical preservation of the property.

That way no Frat House could buy it and erect neon Budweiser signs in the belfry. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

Glory, glory

Amherst's "Sacred Dead Tablets" in storage

So as Civil War battles go the losses at Fort Wagner (under 1700 total with 90% of them Union attackers) were relatively minor; like the damage done to the Empire of Japan’s capital city of Tokyo by Doolittle’s B-25 bombers only four months after Pearl Harbor.

But they both made history because of a far greater symbolic meaning. And as such should always be remembered.

The ill-fated attack on Fort Wagner led by the 54'th Massachusetts Volunteers dispelled the notion that black soldiers couldn’t (or wouldn’t) fight. And the daring air raid on Tokyo sent a message to Japan early on: you messed with wrong country.

Amherst Town Meeting will take up the issue of restoring the Civil War tablets and placing them back in Amherst Town Hall where they were proudly displayed back in the early 1900’s. Two members of the Community Preservation Committee issued a minority report suggesting the total cost to clean all six and display two tablets at $65,000 is $20,000 too high.

Hmmm…Amherst spent almost $300,000 to preserve the Kimball House in North Amherst (now dwarfed by the aircraft carrier sized house behind it) but we can’t spend one-quarter of that to restore and display these donated tablets to honor locals who served--especially those who gave their "last measure of devotion"?

West Springfield City Hall

The Kimball House in North Amherst

The only thing we have to fear...

Yes, my daughter attended her final swim lesson at Amherst College. Living in fear is no way to live. One of the great advantages of living in the greatest county on earth is that when we declare war on something, we win.

Sent: Fri, 1 May 2009 2:52 pm

Subject: Saturday Swim Lessons

Greetings from the Amherst Pool!

We will be having the final Saturday lessons as scheduled tomorrow. We are aware of the cases of swine flu on the Amherst campus but after speaking with administrators who have been in constant communication with medical personnel, we are comfortable conducting lessons as usual since none of our instructors have been affected. We are encouraging them to take all necessary precautions and to find a substitute instructor if they are not feeling well.

If you and your children are healthy we encourage you to come for the last day but if you have doubts about your health we ask that you please do not attend your lesson.

We hope to see you healthy tomorrow!

Thank you again for participating in our swim lesson program!

Sincerely,

Karin Brown
Assistant Men's and Women's Swimming Coach
Amherst College


Well I guess not everyone showed up:
Monday, May 4:

Thank you for your notification. As I'm sure with other parents, we decided
to keep our children home. We were not comfortable sending our kids after
reading all the precautions that are being taken to protect other AC
students from infection. The swimming classes have been great and it was
unfortunate that you could not have postpone the lesson for the following
Saturday.

We also were not comfortable with your statement, "We are encouraging
them to take all necessary precautions and to find a substitute
instructor if they are not feeling well."  It would have felt better if you
said something like, "Any staff who is not feeling well will not teach."
Parents need clear supportive statements.  Thank you.

I've got a secret

Click to enlarge/read

UPDATE: Friday afternoon
So the Gazette, finally, caught up with this fascinating behind-the-scenes soap opera on the hiring of the new Super. And they even allowed me attribution for breaking the story but describe me as a "town meeting member."

But today's Amherst Bulletin has a mention of my 'Trespass Order' getting lifted (on highly read page 3) where I'm described as a "town meeting member and local blogger." Out of those two, I of course prefer the latter.
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UPDATE Thurdsay: 1:45 PM
So I had to change a stinky diaper and other daddy duties thus did not add any comments. I wanted to get this up fast (not that I was worried about the Gazette getting around to it) and I think the document and vote speaks volumes.

But you gotta wonder...on this most important symbolic issue (and politically savvy PR folks know well it is the little things that matter to voters)one-third of the Regional School Committee could not be bothered to show up and vote? Yikes! But hey that's what you get with unpaid volunteers.
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ORIGINAL POST: 12:30 PM Picture only (15 minutes after receiving the document)

More hats than a haberdashery

Click to read the coalition

Vince O’Connor has created more front organizations than the Mafia. The Zoning groups Alisa refers to during her cross-examination were all created by Vince over a particular issue. All of his “coalitions” are one trick ponies designed to give the cause more gravitas. And since it only takes 10 signatures to get on the warrant he has a small but dedicated following of ‘The Usual Suspects’.

The ban is lifted

I had a very nice meeting this morning with Superintendent Geryk. The Trespass Notice is vacated. And I made the same deal with her that I made with BIG Al the former Super (who is still getting paid): That anytime I visit a school I will announce myself at the main office.

Of course BIG Al enacted the Trespass Notice anyway, even though I honored my end of the deal.

Wow...now I can attend Town Meeting. Kind of like the Governor giving a death row inmate a stay of execution but sentencing them to hard labor breaking rocks in the desert sun.

A stirring symbol

Click to enlarge/read

Adhering to that antiquated bricks-and-mortar media custom “never apologize, never explain” today’s Gazette editorial hits the perfect, hard-to-reach high note of the Star Spangled Banner.

Too bad they did not sound off last year.

Note to all you folks outside the Happy Valley: the Amherst Bulletin is the 30+-year-old (red headed lesbian bastard stepchild) sister publication of the venerable 220+-year-old Daily Hampshire Gazette.

Bully Editorial last year