In the mainstream, mostly

UPDATE: Wednesday 10:00 AM

So I was almost perfect in my predictions yesterday. Amherst went W-A-Y overboard supporting all the Ds including the Governor, and voting "No" to all the binding ballot questions except for the non binding vote on taxing pot where we voted strongly in favor.

Turnout was 45%--a little more than half what we muster for a Presidential election and certainly twice what we normally muster for a local town election.

My only surprise on a state level was the repeal of the booze tax. Of course Amherst voted overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the tax. But considering what happened on a national level yesterday a lot of folks in Massachusetts will be crying in their chardonnay for the next two years, so I guess it makes sense they would want to repeal the tax on alcohol.
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Original Post: election day 10:00 AM

So it's not too hard to predict how the People's Republic of Amherst will vote today: All Ds all the way, as in the straight Democratic ticket will win by more than a landslide (somewhere in the vicinity of 80% of the vote.)

The binding Questions will be about the same: Nix sales tax on booze or reduce the overall sales tax to 3% will lose by the whopping margin, as will the Question to repeal 40-B the affordable housing state law. And of course the non-binding question to tax pot the same way we tax booze will pass handily.

Voter turnout will be half what we get for a Presidential election and more than twice the average turnout for an annual spring town election (where the candidates have far more influence on 'All Things Amherst'.)

No longer fearing the 1st

So today marks the very first 1st of the month in 28 years where I did not experience some degree of trepidation brought on by making the rent. Actually my longtime landlord, Dick Johnson, told me early on that payment was due on the 1st but as long as it arrived by the 10th that was considered "on time." Naturally I took to getting it there on the 9th or 10th.

But the 1st of the month always set off that reminder alarm that a sizable chunk of my total monthly overhead was now due, and the clock was ticking.

Yes the Amherst Athletic Club closed June 21 but my new landlords were kind enough to allow me three months at greatly reduced rent--that I pushed to four--so I could try to sell a hundred or so very large, heavy commercial exercise machines one piece at a time; that otherwise would have sold for a song at public auction in the middle of a very hot summer.

Yesterday was the final, final day although I ended up with four pieces remaining--three of which "sold" Sunday morning but the deals never went through.

Although I now have one more week (gratis) to sell them, not having to worry about paying November's rent made the finality hit home this morning--and the weight of treadmill lifted from my tired shoulders.

So again tomorrow I will awaken, minus trepidation, and get through an entire day, without trepidation, and go to bed, minus my old friend, trepidation. Feels weird... Empty.

Don't mess with an angry angel

So Amherst's annual Halloween Fest attracted hundreds of family folks to the downtown this afternoon for some trick or treating around the downtown businesses (well, except maybe for the bars) and the big parade from Sweetser Park to the Bangs Community Center for more games and activities. My little angel had a ball.


Even though it was a Sunday afternoon, the Gazette managed to assign veteran ace photographer Gordon Daniels to cover the festivities (and when you have a photographer like him, who needs a reporter for a 1,000 words or so?) so watch for his artwork in an upcoming ink and paper edition.

As an old school legacy entity the Daily Hampshire Gazette is really good covering weekend events as long as you give them a few months notice. Breaking stories is another story altogether.

As in, if 9/11 happened on a Friday/Saturday/Sunday, we would read it in print on Tuesday.

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.