Merry Maple lighting 2010

Merry Maple. Tony Maroulis, Amherst Chamber of Commerce Executive Director recording the auspicious moment on his iphone

Yes folks, that's it. The (in)famous Merry Maple. Only in Amherst.

It's beginning to look at lot like Christmas...

Ahhhhh, the Merry Maple--not to be confused with Christmas Tree--lighting ceremony tomorrow in town center (although not nearly the same without Umass superstar marching band leader George Parks, may he rest in peace) and the Boy Scouts selling Christmas trees on the north end of town as they have done for over 60 years.

God bless us everyone!

Oldie but Goodie (and naturally you read it here first)

One sided "partnership"

Umass is obviously the largest employer in Western Massachusetts (a good thing) and the second largest landowner in Amherst--almost all of it tax exempt (not such a good thing).

The School of Education deals in, obviously, education. So I'm trying to figure out why Amherst would give UMass $96,000 (half of it going to a lone Professor) to help the academics do what is, essentially, their job?

And no, the fact that most of it is American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money is not a good enough answer.

The main reason Umass gave the town free use of Mark's Meadow school for so many years is because they viewed it as a "living laboratory" for their graduate students, and it allowed professors to design real world curriculum for the School of Education. So why are we now paying a grad students $34,000 for essentially that same thing?

Good local schools are a top priority for a potential professor or grad student with a family deciding whether to come to Umass. Speaking of which, Amherst taxpayers already subsidize the annual full cost of public education (over $16,000 per head) for the 50 or 60 school age children who live under a Umass tax-exempt roof.

A "collaboration" should be a two-way street, not a gilded yellow brick road.

Copy of the $96,000 contract

The Amherst Bulletin reports (better late than never)


My original report.

Amherst Schools positive spin

A sad symbol, misused?

In case you were wondering why the American flag is at half staff today (and will be "until further notice"): it's not for a Massachusetts soldier who died defending their country or the passing of an ex-President; it's for Middlesex county Sheriff James V. DiPaola who died November 26...by his own hand.

According to the 'Mash' theme song, "Suicide is painless." And for the perpetrator it probably is--especially in this case--with a gunshot to the head. But for the loved ones left behind it is a wound that never heals.

DiPaola was in the media spotlight even before he ended his life as investigative journalists in Boston exposed his scheme to collect both a $98, 500 pension and $123,000 sheriff's salary. Attorney General Martha Coakley was also investigating alleged campaign finance irregularities.

And now Governor Patrick, a fellow Democrat, has ordered all state flags to a position of mourning as a final tribute. I guess if the American flag represents anything, it is indeed freedom.

Although, the freedom to kill yourself is not high on my list.

Party House of the Weekend

All was quiet on the Western Front this past weekend as most of the party hardy types went home for Thanksgiving. No $300 Nuisance House or Noise Bylaw tickets issued.

So my winner this week is a 2006 black Toyota driven off the road by a 29-year-old male who was charged with texting while driving and operating under the influence. Yikes!
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And on another (sour) note: Amherst Police know the identity of the Antonio's pizza perp, but at the moment can't charge him with anything. I guess this is where a local politician decides "there ought to be a law," and files legislation to make it a crime to order lots of pizzas and not bother to pay for them

Floating over Springfield

The Big Guy got time off from Yankee Candle to attend
Sheriff Michael Ash. Scandal? What Corrections scandal?
Always dapper Mayor Sarno.
Cute kid watching big penguin
This one made me hungry
Raggedy Ann looking, well, raggedy--especially compared to the Mayor.
Hometown hero. The Cat in the Hat (after a breakfast of green eggs and ham).
Garfield striking a ta-da pose

We were located at the end of the parade route and by then Dora The Explorer had evidently gotten lost. But I assured my daughters that Yankee Candle would give Santa Claus December 3rd off, so he can attend the Merry Maple lighting ceremony (otherwise known as a Christmas Tree)in the People's Republic.

Reteaching an old dog...

For my new feature "Party house of the weekend," I attend the press briefing at Amherst Police Station around 9:00 AM on Monday morning, which until now pretty much consisted of only one reporter, Scott Merzbach from the Daily Hampshire Gazette; convenient enough for me, as I drop off my 3-year-old at the Spring Street Preschool 100 yards away at 8:45 AM.

Thus I had the story of the $3,900 scam suffered by the greatest little pizza shop on the planet, Antonio's, at the same time as Mr. Merzbach.

And like a lot of things concerning Amherst, I have a bit of a personal connection. Out of all the business owners I have known and called friend over the past 30 years none were better than original founder Bruno Matarazzo, may he rest in peace.

And of course I can beat the Gazette by a few hours--even on a really bad day. But I also had what I was looking for: a "party house" with 500 "guests", three tenants arrested for bad behavior and ticketed for violating the newly-escalated-in-price Noise and Nuisance town bylaws to the tune of $1,800 total.

The overwhelming plus side of a blog is the speed of publishing, downside is you only have a Front Page. What's a news blogger to do?

I drove from the Police Station to the party house about a mile down the road for a quick photo. Antonio's would have been closer by half. The loss to Antonio's was $3,900--a hell of a lot for sure, but their markup has got to be at least 50% so it was really less than $2,000. Thus roughly the same economic impact as the $1,800 in fines handed out to three denizens of the party/nuisance house.

So I went with the party house story. The Gazette online went with both a few hours later and the next day's print edition carried a slightly more fleshed out article about the pizza rip off (with better placement than the party house article), including an interview with the owner.

The Daily Collegian had followed up quickly online (getting an important fact wrong), then the Springfield Republican, local TV stations and then the motherload: the AP National wire.

Even this morning my friends at the Springfield Republican published an editorial about the affair. As of now over 200 news outlets have picked up the story. Yikes!

So don't worry too much about Antonio's losing $3,900. This amount of press is priceless in an advertising sort of way.

And for me, I relearned an old lesson from my 'News Reporting and Writing' class almost exactly 25 years ago: "Dog bites man, not a story; man bite dog, now that's a story."

Only in Amherst would an out-of-control, alcohol-fueled party of 500 collage-aged kids packed in a one-bedroom house resulting in 3 arrests (one charged with possession of a stun gun) and $1,800 in fines be considered routine.