The Color of Money

So Overriders picked the perfect color scheme for their lawn signs. Hey, at least this time around they were clever enough to order them. Three years ago they did not bother--one of the many huge mistakes they made under the leadership of Rick Hood, now a candidate for School Committee.

A-Rod strikes out!

Catherine Sanderson reports on the Gazette report

The Springfield Republican follows up (actually using the Gazette as a source)

UPDATE Monday Morning (quarterbacking): The crusty Gazette finally caught up with this story. Must be a tad embarrassed as they threw up a brief last night on Gazettenet, but back dated it to Saturday. And intrepid forever reporter Nick Grabbe had to resort to using persons "with direct knowledge of the situation," as sources but of course unnamed.

The Regional School Committee meets tonight in Executive Session to try to put together Dr. Rodriguez's going away present. For sure he will demand the rest of this year's salary (about $40,000) but he may ask for all of next year's as well ($158,000.) Probably will not have the gall to also ask for the $15,000 in housing/transportation. If so, let's hope the School Committee pays him off in pennies so he gets a hernia dragging them back to sunny Miami, Florida.
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UPDATE: Saturday around noon:

So sorry for not responding to all the Comments that occurred after I, finally, hit the "publish" button close to midnight last night as I then retired.

And sorry for deleting the post "We interrupt this regularly scheduled program..." which had garnered a few comments because I was sitting on this "A-Rod Strikes Out" story in draft for sooooo many hours that when I finally got the corroboration I needed for some reason it published below the placeholder, throw-away post signaling something BIG was in the offing.

So I just deleted that entire post (only the 2nd time in three years I have done such a thing.)

When someone taunted me by email about being out of touch on this story with the bricks and mortar media possibly beating me to it (and at that point it was written, the photo uploaded and my right hand was hovering over the publish button) I instantly flashed back to that great scene in "Tora, Tora, Tora" where the lowly staff Sergeant had tried to get his commanding officer to do something after the rookie commander of the USS Ward reporting attacking an enemy submarine at the mouth of Pearl Harbor, early on the morning of December 7.

The Commander, not happy about working on a gorgeous Sunday. barked "Corroboration, I need corroboration!" A few hours later he bursts into the same office with his eyes wide open and jaw hitting the floor and the lowly Sargent (busily answering the phone and stamping forms at a frantic pace) looks up, points his hand at the huge picture window overlooking the Harbor now filled with burning, dying ships and shouts, "There's your corroboration!"

ORIGINAL POST: late last night

After less than a year as the highest paid Amherst "public servant", School Superintendent Alberto Rodriguez will go the way of the previous (less than) Super, Alton Sprague who took his co-Superintendent wife, two months of taxpayer funded salary, and flew the coop.

In this case, Rodriguez will be winging back to Miami, Florida where "we play hard, hard, hardball" he bragged to the Amherst Bulletin last year, declaring he would have no trouble surviving in the People's Republic of Amherst.

Once again Maria Geryk steps up to cover as she did previously after the aged co-supers disappeared with two months left on their one-year contract, and most recently for the numerous days A-Rod took as vacation/sick time.
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SUPERINTENDENT ‑ CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT

4. TERMINATION: This Agreement may be terminated or modified by mutual written agreement of the parties. In the event that the Superintendent desires to terminate this Agreement before the term of the Agreement and his employment expires, he may do so by giving at least one-hundred twenty (120) days’ notice of his intention to the Committees. This Agreement may be terminated by the Committees prior to its expiration, for good cause, but not without prior written notice to the Superintendent of the proposed reasons for termination.

There they go again!

So ten or twelve years ago the spineless Amherst Town Manager Barry Del Castilho actually showed some backbone when Umass banned a rapist from living on-campus but did not expel him from classes, so naturally he relocated to the People's Republic of Amherst.

Barry did what many highly-paid professional bureaucrats do: he filed a memo/letter of protest, that went nowhere.

Now Umass is once again embroiled in a deja vu controversy mishandling yet again an admitted rapist, allowing him to stay on as a student. But apparently they kicked him off campus.

Amherst currently hosts 3 or 4 "Level Three" sex offenders --meaning the state in their infinite wisdom considers them "likely to reoffend" but they are still free to live and roam where ever they damn well please.

Since this Umass perp was never convicted of the rape allegation that he admitted to, he does not have to register with the local police department as a "Sex Offender."

Thus, local citizens and police have no idea of his current whereabouts.

Amazing that Umass uses the Catholic Church of twenty years ago (also a story broken by the Boston Globe) as a guide for dealing with sex offenders: just quietly ship them off to another unsuspecting community.

The venerable Daily Collegian reports

The old blame the blogosphere routine

So the Emperor hates it when anyone questions his flashy new clothes--especially as to why they do not resemble a hospital johnny.

But rather than deal with the issue of going AWOL for an entire week before filling out the mandated paperwork (Family Medical Leave Act), something that would get a teacher, janitor or bus driver fired the hot-under-the-collar Superintendent unloads on the evil Internet.

But he trains his fire not on the legitimate folks who used the interconnected instantaneous Web to expose and question (rather subtly at first) his extended absence, but focuses on those damn snarky Anons. Although strangely, he says he doesn't read blogs--but he attacks Anon comments made on blogs. Hmm...

Well Dr. Rodriguez, if you don't read the blogs then how do you know what the Cowardly Anon Nitwits are saying?

And next time you pretend not to look at those time-wasting, evil blogs maybe you should read a tad more closely. The issue was not the legitimacy of taking "sick" time in advance for a medical procedure, it was scheduling a fair amount of "sick" time in advance with no explanation whatsoever.

And even the memo/spreadsheet tossed to the Regional School Committee on 2/9 did not have all of last week on it. Not much "transparency" there, eh?

At the 3/1 School Committee discussion Regional Chair Farshid Hajir told the Super to submit an "updated/revised" memo to reflect the unannounced disappearance over the past week and an explanation for the sick leave absences scheduled in April as outlined in the sparse 2/9 memo.

I have been blogging for three years now with over 175,000 unique visitors and only one of them came from Miami, Florida--just last week as a matter of fact, coincidentally when the Super was AWOL in sunny Miami, Florida about a half-hour after an Anon posted comments questioning his whereabouts.

And isn't this the same cocky guy who bragged to the crusty Amherst Bulletin one year ago, "I'm going to be tested, and you guys will see that it's not about that," he said. "I have the mettle to take that fire."

Looks like his mettle came up short.

The Bully reports one year ago

The Bully reports today

Thank God Amherst School Committee member Irv Rhodes is black, otherwise Kathleen Anderson (sitting on his left) would have been all over his case for daring to defend the rights of the taxpaying public (admittedly overwhelmingly none minority in the People's Republic) to question the habits of the highest paid "public service" employee in town, who just happens to be Cuban American.

Selectboard's Top Ten list (not ready for prime time)

So you can tell illustrious Amherst Select Board Chair (Princess) Stephanie O'Keeffe's only work experience was as an auto industry PR flack.

Fifteen minutes of the official tax-funded March 1 public Select Board meeting was wasted honing a "top ten" list of reasons why overburdened taxpayers should support the March 23 $1.68 million tax override.

And then they spent time discussing when the best time would be for their propaganda to appear in the local bricks-and-mortar media. Let's hope the crusty Gazette/Bulletin plays it fair and balanced and allows the Amherst Taxpayers for Responsible Change equal time.

Here we go again.

So three years ago in one fell swoop almost 100 of the 250 'No More Overrides' signs disappeared over night.

One of the nitwit teen-aged perps dropped his cell phone and a pack of cigarettes next to the mangled metal stakes and Amherst PD tracked him down. He made good on court ordered restitution--although he never gave up his band of accomplices--and the signs were replaced.

This past weekend the only sign on display in the entire town was stolen. Since I live next to the DPW I figured with winter weather the sand/salt pile garners a lot of traffic. And yes it was very, very secure--nailed into a wooden stockade fence with four large nails. Next time I'll booby trap it with C-4.

This incident has been reported to the Amherst Police Department and is pending approval Amherst Police Department 111 Main Street Amherst, MA 01002 413-259-3000

General Information Incident Type Theft Temporary Report Number T10000031 Report Date 03/02/2010 09:55 AM

There they go again with rookies in command

UPDATE: 9:00 PM So obviously Kevin's guitar strings are strung a tad too tight. Now he's up to 1,000 signatures by March 8. Hmmm...He has only managed less than two-thirds that over the past two months on a internet petition sight with no barriers whatsoever to "signing" but he's going to get a 1,000 in under a week on real paper?

I'll bet him $1,000 that is not going to happen.
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March 2, 2010

Dear Amherst Town Meeting:

I have read that, "the Select Board has proposed a $1.67m override to deal with
yet another budget deficit which is the result of the Town living beyond its
means. We need greater accountability for what and how we spend." Forcing many
residents to sell their homes?

If this is true, why have we stood by while you, the Amherst Town Meeting,
engaged in this behavior? How is that Amherst Town Meeting, who are responsible
for oversight of our governing body, the Amherst Select Board, is not
accountable for our deficit spending, forcing many residents to sell their
homes? If our elected representatives, the Amherst Town Meeting, who are
responsible for oversight, is not accountable, they should be dismissed by
town-wide referendum at the next available election.

The deadline for Citizen Petitions is March 8 and I will have no trouble
getting a thousand signatures to put the item on the agenda at Town Meeting: “Why is
Amherst Town Meeting, who are responsible for oversight of our governing body,
the Amherst Select Board, not accountable for our deficit spending, forcing
many residents to sell their homes?". Amherst citizens MUST KNOW!

This is a question that MUST be answered: “Why is Amherst Town Meeting, who are
responsible for oversight of our governing body, the Amherst Select Board, not
accountable for our deficit spending, forcing many residents to sell their
homes?". I will file a petition today.

Thank you all for your effort and hard work making our town great.

Best, Kevin Collins

cc: Select Board of Amherst
Town Meeting members, attached

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UPDATE: Tuesday 3:45 PM Gotta love his naive enthusiasm!

From: kevin@redbarnmusic.com
To: amherstac@aol.com
Sent: Tue, Mar 2, 2010 1:24 pm
Subject: Re: Why is the Select Board forcing many residents to sell their homes?

Why, Larry! I didn't know you cared!

Really, that is very nice of you. Thanks.

Kevin


From: amherstac@aol.com
To: kevin@redbarnmusic.com
Sent: Tue, Mar 2, 2010 3:19 pm

Hey Kevin,
So I'm told by an ultra reliable source that you are a "really nice" guy--"idealistic" but nice. As I'm sure Ricky Boy Hood was three years ago when he was in W-A-Y over his head, as you are now. I really don't blame you or Mr. Hood as the old rule applies: "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

The real fault here--now and then--is with Baer 'The Turk' Tierkel, the burly man behind the curtain. He would have made a great Pentagon general during the Viet Nam conflict.

Keep in mind I only fight when I know I"m right--and I then I fight to win; however, I always play by the rules--and I'm smart/experienced enough to actually study them. You should give it a try.

Larry

Sent: Tue, Mar 2, 2010 4:12 pm
Subject: Re: Why is the Select Board forcing many residents to sell their homes?

Hi, Lare
Please don't get me wrong, I only do this for fun.


From: amherstac@aol.com
To: kevin@redbarnmusic.com
Sent: Tue, Mar 2, 2010 4:47 pm
Subject: Re: Why is the Select Board forcing many residents to sell their homes?

Hey Kevin,
Yeah, it shows.
LK


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ORIGINAL POST:

Three years ago the Amherst Center types let Ricky Boy Hood spearhead the campaign to pass the 'Amherst Plan' $2.5 million Override. He should have done them a final favor and fallen on that spear a month before he sent the campaign spiraling into the abyss.

Now it's equally naive, tenderfoot, Kevin Collins--who takes credit for starting the Blank Check Pro Override Online Petition two months ago still less than two-thirds to the target goal of 1,000.

Yet he threatens Stan Gawle with getting 600 signatures on a honest to goodness hard copy petition (a Hell of lot harder than getting folks to click a mouse at their convenience) in only a week.

Well gee there Kevin, if it took you six weeks to get 600 signatures (many of them out of state, too young to vote, or anonymous) how the Hell are you now going to do that in only a week where they all have to actually scribble their names on an official form and be of-age registered voters?

Of course if Mr. Collins was not such a tenderfoot he would know it only takes ten signatures to get on the ballot for Amherst Town Meeting. Yeah, I guess even he should be able to handle that.
###################################
From: kevin@redbarnmusic.comkevin@redbarnmusic.com>
Subject: Re: Why is the Select Board forcing many residents to sell their homes?
To: SelectBoard@amherstma.gov
Cc: townmeeting@amherstma.gov, moderator@amherstma.gov, gawles@verizon.net, ngrabbe@gazettenet.com
Date: Monday, March 1, 2010, 1:27 PM

Dear Select Board of Amherst:

I read that “Out of control spending coupled with wasteful and in-efficient use
of our tax dollars is forcing many residents to sell their homes.”?

http://www.nomoreoverrides.com/

If this is true, then what kind of people are we?

And if it is not true, why have we stood by for the last two years and watched
while a Town Meeting member preyed on the fears of the elderly and less
fortunate? What kind of people are we, then?

Stan Gawles has a point and we need to do something about it! I think the
entire Town Meeting should examine this question: why is the Select Board, our
governing body, forcing residents to sell their homes?

The deadline for Citizen Petitions is March 8 and I will have no trouble
getting 600 signatures to put the item on the agenda at Town Meeting: “Why is
the Select Board, our governing body, forcing many residents to sell their
homes?”. Amherst citizens MUST KNOW!

This is a question that must be answered: Why is the Select Board, our
governing body, forcing many residents to sell their homes? I will file a
petition today.

Thank you all for your effort and hard work making our town great.

Best,

Kevin Collins
Amherst

cc: Town Meeting members, attached Amherst Bulletin

#################################################
From: amherstac@aol.com
To: gawles@verizon.net; kevin@redbarnmusic.com; selectboard@amherstma.gov; townmeeting@amherstma.gov; moderator@amherstma.gov; ngrabbe@gazettenet.com
Sent: Mon, Mar 1, 2010 9:06 pm

Subject: Re: Why is the Select Board forcing many residents to sell their homes?

Can we keep a secret and not tell this tenderfoot you only need ten signatures--not 600--to get on the venerable annual TM warrant???
Larry K