UPDATE: 5:00 PM So as you can see, most of the critters are just fine. Although I have unconfirmed reports that up to a half dozen "show cows" perished in the fire.
9:00 AM Amherst, Northampton and South Hadley FDs assisted Hadley in snuffing out the smokey fire at Goulet Farm just behind the two Malls.
Early this morning I was pleasantly surprised to read a guest column by Izzy Lyman, my forever friend and once the token "conservative columnist" for the Daily Hampshire Gazette. We were kind of bookends as I was then the token "conservative columnist" for the Gazette's sister publication the Amherst Bulletin.
Izzy of course submitted this over a week ago and only today it saw the light of ink. So yeah, a tad dated. Now you know why I call the Gazette crusty.
########################################### On one recent evening – specifically January 19th – I wished I still lived in Massachusetts.
For many years, bombastic Amherst was Home Sweet Home, and I spent a chunk of that time happily writing bombastic newspaper columns.
What I would have given to cover the People’s Candidate’s victory party.
Oh, to watch herstory become history.
Oh, to be able, after years of seeing a “D” after every name in the congressional delegation, to simply gaze at the lone “R.”
Oh, to take a stand against Wall Street bailouts, ACORN hustlers, Cash for Clunkers boondoogles, and Rachel Maddow’s point of view.
Oh, to be in Massachusetts on a wintry election day and vote for Scott Brown for the seat formerly held by Teddy Kennedy.
Candidly speaking, however, Senator-elect Brown is not this Tea Party sympathizer’s cup of tea.
Brown, after all, isn’t really a social conservative. He supports civil unions, and he is pro-choice. Two strikes.
He is also “passionate” about improving that dinosaur known as public education. The Cosmo Centerfold strikes out, even with Kurt Schilling’s staunch support.
But these are times that try men’s and women’s souls, and, for once, improv, not hard-line stands, seemed the better way to take a shot at taking down the mighty Massachusetts Liberal Machine. For once, voting for a third party candidate was not only a wasted vote but a wasted opportunity.
Plus, there was something about Scott. Unlike Bill Weld, the quintessential Rockefeller Republican, as well all those other colorless moderates the Massachusetts GOP endlessly promotes, Brown comes across as playful and credible. He is of the masses and yet a cut above them - campaigning in the beloved truck, the wife and daughters who didn’t flinch in front of the camera, the grueling triathlon training, the J.D. degree, and the national guard service. If Brown insists on continued support of the War on Terror, at least, he is no chickenhawk. He has been a Minuteman-in-waiting for quite some time.
On a more wonkish note, Brown’s lack of enthusiasm for nationalizing health care, as well as his unabashed support for free enterprise and lower taxes, were deal breakers in wooing social conservatives and free-thinking libertarians to his camp. And if the Next Big Thing in the U.S. Congress is passing comprehensive immigration reform, Brown’s opposition to amnesty is a stand for economic justice, especially when the unemployment rate is over 10 %. Same goes for his opposition to granting driving privileges and in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.
The saintly Gerald Amirault, declaring himself a Scott Brown supporter, gave the campaign gravitas. Amirault, falsely accused of child rape in the notorious Fell Acres day care case, deserved a small measure of justice for the extra time he spent in prison, thanks, in part, to Cruella de Coakley badgering Gov. Jane Swift to deny Amirault clemency.
And that brings us to the Attorney General. “Marcia” is that instantly recognizable cliche – the Northeast Corridor feminist who practices law and crusades against ‘hate’ crimes but sticks up for open borders - aloof, earnest, dull, and out-of-touch. Martha Coakley didn’t lose this race because she is a woman. It’s that she is “that woman.” The kind of gal that would have pimped, legislatively-speaking, for this Democratic administration by supporting the largely-discredited public option. Also the kind of gal that hassled little old ladies in gardening clubs, over their financials, while receiving support from Emily’s List.
No thanks.
She just wasn’t Kennedy-torch-bearing material. She was more like someone Barack Obama would have appointed ‘Social Justice Czar.’ Aloof, earnest …
Conversely, a creative thinker might argue that the silver-haired, athletic, public-servant- oriented Brown could have been a distant Kennedy cousin, albeit one who hung out with showbizzy Protestants, snuck peeks at Fox News, and shopped at Big Box stores.
It will be interesting to see how this all turns out, but supporters of Scott Brown need to remain engaged, since he is up for re-election in 2012. He is now Ken to Sarah Palin’s Barbie, and his every move will be scrutinized. The Bay State’s establishment press, academia, and branches of government remain unapologetically statist, so he will need all the help he can get from bloggers, tweeters, podcasters, youtubers, and every other establishment-rocking citizen journalist and alert citizen around. Perhaps Brown could be persuaded to go rogue vs. elite, and have a few coffees with Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), instead of rushing to play hoops with the President. Being schooled by the elder statesman from Texas on how to honor the Constitution is, I would argue, the better use of this rookie’s time.
Meanwhile, January 19th remains a date to remember. It was on that day that the good people of Massachusetts liberated themselves from that ball and chain known as ‘politics as usual.’ They have now joined the mainstream.
Welcome! ############################################# Of course at this moment State Senator Stan Rosenberg must be thinking: DAMN!
So venerable, iconic, ancient, Amherst Town Meeting, that bastard--I mean bastion--of democracy continues to suffer from the snooze factor.
By yesterday's Ballot deadline for the 3/23 election (and it only takes one name--your own--to get on the Ballot) out of eighty 3-year-seats available seventeen of them lack a single candidate, or better than 20%.
And only one of ten Precincts (each with 8 open 3-year-seats) actually has a contest...although barely: 9 candidates for 8 seats.
As I titled yesterday's post, "When Products Compete" (they get better). When there's no competition you get, well, mediocrity.
Maryland, roughly the same size and population of Massachusetts, has 24 school Superintendents while Massachusetts has 279. One good reason the state is now pushing cities and towns to regionalize schools. Obviating a couple hundred highly-paid bureaucrats adds up to real savings.
In overly educated Amherst the School Superintendent's position is the platinum standard of public employment.
When Gus Sayer suddenly left seven years ago at $104,000 and Jere Hochman arrived at $135,000 then Town Manager Barry Del Castilho whined his way to a mid-year $10,000 raise, but still only topped out at $125,000, which remains the salary level of the current Town Manager (+ $6,000 or $7,000 car/cell phone allowance.)
The new Amherst School Superintended Alberto Rodriguez debuted at $173,000 ($158,000+ $15,000 housing/auto allowance)--a 20% raise over his Golden Boy predecessor Jere Hochman. The School Superintendent of Longmeadow makes $124,000
No wonder Amherst spends well over the $401 per student state average on administrators: $550 per student in the elementary schools and $582 at the Amherst-Pelham regional schools . Longmeadow, on the other hand, spends $331 per pupil on administrators.
But now the Town Manager and School Superintendent, our two highest paid public employees, are hoping the teachers union will enact "give backs" on their FY11 contract--specifically step increases and COLA, which combine for a whopping $1.3 million.
Chances of that happening are right up there with Scott Brown winning over Amherst three years from now in his Senate reelection bid.
Longmeadow has about half the total population of Amherst, with a property tax rate slightly higher ($18.28 vs. $16.95 per $1000), a school system consisting of three elementary schools with grades K-5, two middle schools with grades 6-8, and a single high school for a total school population of approximately 3,100 students or almost exactly the same as Amherst's 3,086.
Longmeadow's $11,356 per pupil expenditure is well below Amherst's $15, 223 at the elementary level ($16,131 at the Regional High School) or a difference of over $12 million per year.
The Longmeadow School Committee just announced a two-year teacher contract with ZERO Cost Of Living Allowance; and only a 1% step increase both for the current Fiscal Year (2010) and FY 2011 that starts July 1.
Amherst teachers finagled a 3% COLA in FY11 (in FY10 it was 3.5%) and about half the teachers will also receive an additional step increase of 4%. This combo alone comes to $1.3 million next year.
If our diffident School Committee had negotiated the same contract benefits (besides staying employed) of only 1% step increases next year, it would make a million dollar difference. And $1 million would obviate many, many teacher layoffs. The Republican reports:
Just received this from Umass (advantage of being a "non-traditional" student I guess): ###############################
To the Campus Community:
Staff at the Central Heating Plant are monitoring a potential problem, which could disrupt the delivery of steam and heat to campus buildings. Please be advised that the probability of an outage is low, and that all necessary precautions are being taken. Campus activities will continue as planned this weekend. We will advise the community of any changes in the situation.
Coming of age in 1969 as a freshman at St. Michael's High School in Northampton you could not help but be smitten by J.D. Salinger's stunning work, 'The Catcher in the Rye'. Plus, the similarity between Mr. Salinger and Emily Dickinson, The Belle of Amherst, was strikingly similar.
My freshman English teacher Sister Bernard Francis whom we all called "Bernie"--but never to her face--had assigned a book report presentation before the entire class on any novel that struck our fancy.
I decided to accompany my daring talk on 'The Catcher in the Rye' with a photo slide show almost like a PowerPoint presentation ; and, being the rebellious Holden Caulfield type, I could not resist shooting the scene where Caulfield--who hates profane graffiti especially when it is within the view of children--erases a "Fuck you," while noting he can't possibly erase them all.
Probably one reason 'Catcher in the Rye' is high on the list of books banned from schools and libraries--although equally high when measuring books taught in public schools.
But this was St. Michael's, a classic old style private Catholic school. The nuns could do whatever they wanted, including corporal punishment.
For my final slide I projected a rather large "Fuck You" etched in white chalk on the red brick exterior of the school; I took the photo holding the camera in my right hand while my left hand used an eraser to cover only the F--so everybody instantly got the idea.
Yes, it caused a bit of a group gasp. And then almost everyone turned to look at the teacher who was sitting in the back of the room with the lights down. Her face had turned scarlet red--readily noticeable against the backdrop of her black-and-white nuns habit. But she said nothing.
As she slowly got up from the small wooden student desk and walked toward the front of the room, I was sure my hand would soon be stinging from the impact of a wooden ruler. She simply said, "Thank you Mr. Kelley, return to your seat."
In those few moments, as she angrily approached me, the angst between her roles as an English teacher and Catholic nun played out, and--fortunately for me--the English teacher won. ############################################# Miss Emily (of course).
I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you — Nobody — Too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! They’d banish us — you know!
How dreary — to be — Somebody! How public — like a Frog — To tell one’s name — the livelong June — To an admiring Bog! ############################################# My other blog reports
UPDATE: 5:00 PM So as you can see, most of the critters are just fine. Although I have unconfirmed reports that up to a half dozen "show cows" perished in the fire.
Longmeadow has about half the total population of Amherst, with a property tax rate slightly higher ($18.28 vs. $16.95 per $1000), a school system consisting of three elementary schools with grades K-5, two middle schools with grades 6-8, and a single high school for a total school population of approximately 3,100 students or almost exactly the same as Amherst's 3,086.
Coming of age in 1969 as a freshman at St. Michael's High School in Northampton you could not help but be smitten by J.D. Salinger's stunning work, 'The Catcher in the Rye'. Plus, the similarity between Mr. Salinger and Emily Dickinson, The Belle of Amherst, was strikingly similar.
