Opportunity lost

Since Town Manager Larry Shaffer champions the relationship with our "good friends" at Umass, and since he crafted a fairly useless five-year strategic agreement with them a few years back, and since he is now talking about a $12 million new fire station in South Amherst with renovations to North Station (on land donated by Umass) and Umass is currently constructing a $12.5 million police station immediately next door why couldn't he have worked out a deal to merge the projects thus creating a joint Public Safety building?

What the Hell, nearby sits the monster $10 million heating plant that never threw a BTU of heat. So Tilson Farm has plenty of space available.

Umass news flacks report

Urban Renewal

The Amherst Redevelopment Authority will take historical Town Hall in downtown center by Eminent Domain and sell it to private local developer Barry Roberts.

One of the main goals of the ARA is to stimulate the economy and reduce blight. Since not much happens at Town Hall this action falls well within the ARA purview. Although the Amherst Select Board, who meet weekly in Town Hall, also possesses the power of Eminent Domain and is chaired by Stephanie O'Keeffe, daughter of ARA Chair John Coull.

Next Thanksgiving should be interesting in that household...

"The Vagina Monologues": Third time is the charm

Amherst School Czar Mark Jackson (Principal of both the Regional High School and Middle School) announced that Amherst Regional High School would once again perform the "The Vagina Monologues" next Valentine's Day.

But this time, the play will also be used as sex education curriculum in the Middle School for a full year culminating with a joint performance next February. No indication of which school student gets to perform the "Reclaiming Cunt" monologue.

Jackson will also lead a one-man bullying seminar using his pernicious performance at the public 3/9 School Committee meeting--where he brow beat School Committee member Catherine Sanderson--as a perfect example of overly dominating male behavior.

Town Mangler says sayonara

One of the better kept secrets in town now appears outed: Town Manager Larry Shaffer announced his marriage to former full-time critic Dave Keenan and both have placed their respective abodes up for sale.

Unconfirmed rumors say they will live temporarily with former Select Board Czar Anne Awad and her husband former Amherst Selectman Robie Hubley in South Hadley, repository for so many cast off Amherst town officials.

Political pundits had been scratching their heads over Mr. Keenan not running for Select Board this past March 23rd (as tenth time is the charm.)

A new saddle for a dying horse

The Select Board approved Town Manager Larry Shaffer's capital request for infrastructure improvements at the Cherry Hill Golf Course, completely enclosing the nine-hole business under a weatherproof dome. The $25 million project will be paid for with state and federal grants and--everybody's favorite Manna from Heaven--Community Preservation Act money.

"Now golfers will not have to go to Florida in the winter to get their weekly fix," said the Town Mangler.

H in Amherst comes out of the closet

After 250 years of proudly silencing the h in Amherst--thus exposing carpetbaggers, rookies and ne'er do wells only migrating here for the money or cute co-eds, town officials unanimously approved a by-law requiring the maligned letter of the alphabet be given full rights and respect when it comes to pronouncing the People's Republic of Amherst.

Rush to judgement

UPDATE: Wednesday morning

So Izzy Lyman, my conservative cohort and former (Happy) Valley Girl--also known on the Masslive Amherst Forum as 'Icky' Lyman--just jumped in with her take on the sad Phoebe Prince affair.

The Castillo Chronicles



ORIGINAL POST Monday morning
Why is it Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel took so long to issue her findings of no-fault in the tragic death of two-year-old Abraham Espinoza under the wheel of an Amherst school bus?

Even with two accident reconstruction police reports (Amherst PD and State Police) completed in May both declaring the event a tragic accident, her final report did not come out until early September--almost a full year after the horrific event.

In the equally tragic troubling case of Phoebe Prince a young girl who committed suicide, the DA after a lightening like two month investigation brings criminal charges against nine youths, some of them--"stalking" or "Statutory rape"--quite serious.

Actually, considering the overwhelming public interest in this case, any charges rendered by the DA are serious. Like for instance, "disturbing a school assembly."

Six months ago, when I published my complaint about the length of time taken on the Espinoza case, my friend the Grumpy Prosecutor replied: "A terrible fact of life is that tragic things happen, but they do not always involve criminal conduct. Not every tragic death can be vindicated in a court of law. But this case, and all the people concerned about it, deserved a thorough review, and the amount of time involved is one indication that that happened here."

And in a follow up comment: "The point is that we need the folks who are bringing criminal charges to be careful about it. Because, guilty or not, the person being charged is going to be very miserable. You remember being publicly accused of engaging in "stalking" and how that felt, don't you, Larry?"


All too well, all too well indeed.

Yeah, even the venerable Washington Post gets it

Justice delayed

Yeah, this is what I'm talkin about