Death to Ninjas

Top row: Nunchaku, brass knuckle knife, push dagger. Middle row: Ninja claw, throwing starsBottom row: Balisong Philippine knife, and my favorite: a razor sharp double-edged dagger made from high impact plastic rather than metal, so you could easily sneak it aboard commercial airplanes.

A martial arts instructor who ineptly led a band of Ninjas into a late night breaking and entering that turned into a sadistic murder was sentenced to death by a Florida jury.

As I mentioned last year with a post concerning Supreme Court Justice Sotomayer during her confirmation hearings, my first extensive brush with The Media as a "source" started around the fall of 1983 when I undertook the Sisyphean task of getting a federal law passed to ban mail order martial arts weapons into states--like Massachusetts-- that had declared them illegal.

My main concern was the safety of children, who were indeed getting their naive little hands on dangerous weapons. I figured if it was happening in the bucolic, venerable Amherst schools what the hell was happening in some of the tougher inner-city urban districts?

The crusade started about this time of year as I remember one of the first follow up press releases I issued after the more urgent SOS about the easy availability of the ninja weapons--a byproduct of the karate media's fascination with the Ninja fad--was just before Halloween, warning parents not to let their children dress up as Ninjas, since the black outfits were designed to merge with the night and the last thing you want is kids going around the neighborhood invisible to traffic.

My secondary concern was the image and reputation of the martial arts industry--specifically the thousands of karate schools nationwide that were teaching the true tenets of the martial arts and exposing hundreds of thousands of children to the proper aspects and benefits the discipline offers.

Nunchakus (two billy clubs connected by a chain) and multi-pointed throwing stars had become a hot item with street gangs, and with industry leader Black Belt Magazine glorifying Ninjas on the cover about to behead an opponent with a sword, I figured it was only a matter of time before some impressionable nitwit did it for real.

Sure enough, along came California mass murdered Charles Ng (1985) a self-described "ninja warrior" who used the weapons in a most sadistic way on terrorised kidnapped victims, all while he videotaped the mayhem. And sure enough, Newsweek Magazine (back when they ruled supreme) put his haunting face on the cover with the banner headline "Karate killer!"

I hate it when history repeats itself.

Failsafe

So as I pointed out on Saturday when I was the only reporter to show up at the Amherst Police Station turned War Room to observe the coordination of officials from various fiefdoms handling what could have been a major health alert, Princess Stephanie reaffirmed on Monday night that indeed public officials were on edge. As well they should have been.

Twice now in the past 13 months--both events at most inopportune times--the town has undergone this public health scare. If I were a terrorist trying to maximize damage from sabotaging the public water supply in Amherst, I would probably choose Labor Day weekend when the students return in waves (last year) or the first ever Phish concert at the Mullins Center (this year) which brought an extra 20,000 people to the town.

Unfortunately the Town Manager reported to the Select Board that we may "never know" the cause of the false coliform and E. coli positives (but then, how do we know they were false?)


The Springfield Republican reports

Gateway Project creeps forward

So tonight's Amherst Redevelopment Authority meeting was pretty much the same old, same old. Although tonight we had all five ARA members present--including Governor appointed Jeanne Treaster--and only five NIMBY concerned citizens, where usually there are a dozen or more.

And tonight we had four representatives from Umass our major partner in this project: Vice Chancellor Todd Diacon, Nancy Buffone,Executive Director, Office of External Relations--both of whom have been regulars for the past three months or so (gluttons for punishment that they are.)

Also joining the festivities this evening a couple of new folks: Dennis Swinford, director for campus planning and Lisa Queenin, Director of Community and Regional Legislative Relations. What a way to break them in.

But at least we know Umass is plenty serious about this development project, as are we.

Feed me

Out with the old (right), in with the new (center)

Amherst took one giant leap into the space age of trash removal by installing solar powered trash collectors in the downtown. The $4,000 units, purchased with a state energy grant, hold about 5 times the amount of normal trash. A built in sensor detects when full and then engages the compacting phase. And it's powered by solar cells located on the top of the unit. Thus saving labor and space at the landfill.

Downside is you can't practice basketball with crumpled paper like you can with the basic $100 receptacles because you have to grab the handle and open the unit, which some germphobes may find a bit disconcerting.

Health Club wars

UPDATE: 10/26 Tuesday morning
So who needs reporters when we have Faceboook? Sounds like the meeting last night of Leading Edge "gym rats" at Basta e Basta was about as disorganized as the final days of the Club itself.

A former member reports:

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Original upload: 10/25 Monday afternoon

The Springfield Republican reports (via a Daily Hampshire Gazette reporter)

So I'll try to be a tad less critical of my friends at the Gazette and Republican as today's Business Section long form article simultaneously published in both is a pretty good analysis of the current state of the volatile fitness market in the healthy, Happy Valley.

Reporter Scott Merzbach did his homework and even took into consideration feedback posted to the original Gazette breaking story (as late as it was) on the sudden closing of 'The Leading Edge' gym in Amherst and the diatribe the same nitwit posted on my blog.

The Anon insists of course that the appearance of a low-cost chain outlet like 'Planet Fitness' and the $50 million Rec Center (otherwise known as the Deathstar) going on-line one year ago, had little impact on 'The Leading Edge' and the "real story" was the soap opera antics of the two owners Peter Earle and Joanne Delong. Yeah, and Santa Claus is Muslim.
All the average person need do to assess the impact of a 'Planet Fitness' or others of that ilk is to consider what would happen with their buying habits if suddenly a sparkling new gas station (owned by a regional chain) opened on Rt. 9 in Hadley charging only $.69 for Regular--four times less than the prevailing price of $2.79?

Sure, somebody with business sense might wonder "How can they do that?"; but as long as you get your gas at that ridiculously cheap price, why would you care?'Bally Total Fitness' pioneered the low-cost, high-volume, pack-them-in-price modality 40 years ago, but they were smart enough to tie consumers in for 24 to 36 months to an unbreakable contract.

And when they killed the other clubs in the market they would also raise their rates.

'Planet Fitness' doesn't do that (I guess that is to their credit.) They simply sell as many memberships as possible at give away prices and hope most of their clients never show, which is probably close to the truth.

But I have to admit the soap opera aspects of the recent demise of 'The Leading Edge' is kind of fascinating. Apparently after the two experienced Gold's Gym franchise owners in Boston (who had given Peter Earle his start in the industry with a sales job) wisely bailed in 2004 two years after founding Gold's Gym Amherst, Ms. Delong--an attorney not known for her level of fitness--came to the rescue and bought in as half owner.

Interestingly she used her ownership of a business condo at 30 Boltwood Walk in town center as the major payment "transferring" one-half ownership to Mr. Earle. Although the legal papers (probably drawn up by her) were not legal and now Mr. Earle has filed a lawsuit against her.

Either way, I had toured that particular location in 2004 just after Pruddy Gomez finally gave up on his boisterous bar Amherst wished to quash for a slew of zoning violations. Interestingly, Pruddy used his landlord Joanne Delong as an attorney, so she was making money off his rent and his legal troubles.

Regardless, the place was beyond a dump by that point. I think the asking price was about $200,000 and if it was in turn-key shape I probably would have purchased it, but the state of disrepair required another major investment to rectify. At the time the valuation was $200,500.

Thus half-interest was worth $100,000. Sweet deal to buy half of Gold's Gym back when it still had that Gold Standard name for essentially a worthless piece of paper. According to industry standards a recreation business is valued at about double annual sales, and I assume Gold's did at least $1 million in sales in 2004, thus making the value of the business $2 million.

It would be interesting to see how much cash Ms. Delong came up with in addition to the worthless $100,000 property deed?

Amherst dodges another bullet

Epilogue: So here it is 9:15 PM and my friends at the Springfield Republican still have not covered this rather important piece of news. Umass sent out perhaps 15,000 emails to staff and students yesterday and posted the potentially catastrophic news on their main website as did the town of Amherst at about 3:30 PM and it took both the Gazette and Republican till almost midnight to get it up on their websites. Inexcusable.

And only now at this late hour has the Gazette put up a "breaking" news story telling readers that boiling water is not necessary. It broke...a long time ago.

Town officials disappointed me a tad as well. They obviously knew I--the only reporter who took enough interest to show up-- was sitting out in the hallway waiting for the results, which they had around 1:15 PM.

I actually thought I heard clapping in the room about that time but it was muffled and a young college student who was waiting to report a stolen Mac laptop was distracting me. At 1:20 PM they send out the reverse 911 robocall from Town Manager John Musante saying the coast is clear. Info Tech Director Kris Pacunas had told me earlier that it only takes a few seconds to make that happen. Then at 1:31 PM the town website is updated with the news. SB Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe even emailed a few folks at 1:40 PM to give them the news. Meanwhile I'm pacing the hallway ten feet away worried I'll get a parking ticket. As Rodney Dangerfield would say, "I don't get no respect!"
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Liveblog: Arrived Police Station town center 11:45 AM

UPDATE: 1:47 PM Water tested safe. I'll drink to that!

12:04 We will know any minute now.

Town officials are hunkered down in the war room: new phones brought in, a couple hardwired computers (for Internet, since the anticipated results will be emailed). Stephanie O'Keeffe Select Board Chair and Town Manager John Musante just arrived. Guilford Mooring DPW Chief, has been here for a while. Fire and police officials of course (we are, after all, at the Police Station.) Kris Pacunas, Director of Technology.

12:17 PM Still waiting out in the lobby. Yeah, they threw me out of the war room.

12:24 PM Dave Ziomek, Conservation Chief, just left the room saying he was "the runner."

12:26 PM He just returned, and I asked if the "Results were in?". "No", he replied

12:47 PM Still nada. And my battery is running low. Wonder if they're serving coffee in there?

12:58 PM GRRrrrrrrr...

1:14 PM I just noticed the change the time on the town website to say after 1:00 PM for info up from 12:30 PM. Not sure what the hell is taking so long.

1:

Cross your fingers folks

UPDATE: 10:00 PM Still waiting for my friends at the Daily Hampshire Gazette and Springfield Republican to get on this story. Even the Umass Daily Collegian got it up around 6:00 PM. I went to bed but they did both get around to the story just before midnight--better late than never.

3:45 PM
So Saturday just after high noon we will know if the town of Amherst--who supplies Umass all of their water--will have to issue a "Boil water" alert. And if you live in a dorm that could get tricky.

Normally that would not be a huge B-I-G deal, an inconvenience for sure, since it is mid-October and Umass is in session. But Umass is hosting the sold out Phish concerts this weekend at the Mullins Center and they tend to attrack a H-U-G-E crowd. Presumably that crowd of 20,000 will require water. Although any excuse for them to drink other beverages will probably go over well. Yikes!
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To the Campus Community:

During recent routine water testing, the Town of Amherst identified
limited instances of total coliform and E. Coli bacteria in its water
system, which supplies the campus. Further tests are being conducted
and results will be available Saturday afternoon. Public health
officials will determine at that time whether a “Boil Water Order” is
needed.

Should such an order be issued, the university will activate a campus-
wide precautionary plan to minimize any potential health risks. This
will include ample supplies of bottled water and hand sanitizer and
detailed instructions on how to take preventive measures.

Further details about the water testing can be found on the Town of
Amherst web site at www.amherstma.gov.

The university will continue to communicate with all members of the
campus community on the status of this health advisory.


Donald Robinson
Environmental Health and Safety


A history lesson about water--or lack thereof in Amherst

Town website gets the word out