No graphic videos here

So as I feared, when the judge in the involuntary manslaughter trial of former Police Chief Ed Fleury ruled the jury could see the horrific video (but not hear the sound track) of a little boy accidentally shooting himself in the head at point blank rage, that opened the door for the evidence to go public--and in this day and age that guarantees Internet viral video status.

Judge Peter Velis , over the objections of the prosecution and defense attorneys, has now ruled the digital video can be turned over to the media. Ugh!

And even if my friends at the Springfield Republican and Daily Hampshire Gazette decide they are a family newspaper and the content just too graphic and disturbing to disseminate, somebody will publish it, and once it gets out it will explode across the web like a photon torpedo.

According to the National Press Photographers Association code of ethics:

"Treat all subjects with respect and dignity. Give special consideration to vulnerable subjects and compassion to victims of crime or tragedy. Intrude on private moments of grief only when the public has an overriding and justifiable need to see."

As Mr. Fleury's attorney pointed out a few months ago, there is no dispute about the fact that an Uzi is a deadly weapon. And no dispute that it caused the death of an 8-year-old child. Does the jury really need to see the blood and brain tissue to be convinced?

I have the right to not to watch it, which--like the gruesome beheading of Danny Pearl video--I will choose to invoke. Unfortunately the jury in this case has no such choice.

My original lament

Ch. 22 reports

Party House of the weekend

Amherst Police issued only one $300 ticket for a Noise Violation to the responsible leaseholder at this single-family farmhouse at 92 Cowles Road (Yes, owned by WD Cowles, Inc) but, in addition, six cars were towed and two Bad Boy Brothers aged 18 and 20 were arrested for assaulting a police officer. According to Police narrative:

While attempting to clear the roadway of approximately 30 people, two became physically assaultive with Officers. With the assistance of OC (pepper spray) they were placed into custody.

Gold's Gym, AKA Leading Edge revival loses its luster

A desperate price structure that already failed once yet still more than twice as expensive as Planet Fitness

So here it is January--peak month for health club member sales nationwide--and Lazarus has not yet arisen from the grave. 'The Leading Edge' went out suddenly on October 19th and almost immediately otherwise sane folks who are exercise addicts started a movement to reopen the club.

By "movement" I mean more in the Arlo Guthrie sense:

And if three people do it! Can you imagine three people walkin' in, singin' a bar of "Alice's Restaurant" and walkin' out? They may think it's an organization! And can you imagine fifty people a day? I said FIFTY people a day . . . walkin' in, singin' a bar of "Alice's Restaurant" and walkin' out? Friends, they may think it's a MOVEMENT, and that's what it is: THE ALICE'S RESTAURANT ANTI-MASSACREE MOVEMENT! . . .

Their Facebook page attracted under 150 like minded fans before disbanding last week in favor of the blog. And yeah I'm a BIG fan of the Power of the Blog, and what I love about Blogger is simple publishing and it's even simpler for Anon folks to interact with the site. So for them to now have under 500 "members" who pledged to join --but put down NO money--once the business opens (by simply clicking a link) is stunningly inadequate.

At its peak (when still called "Gold's Gym") the business probably had 3,000 members paying on average twice the low-end membership rate now proposed and even on the day they died 'The Leading Edge' probably had a 1,000 members, having lost a gaggle to 'Planet Fitness' and the new $50 million Umass Recreation Center two miles down the road.Yes, this billboard probably costs about $5,000 month

By now the vast majority of their former clientele--down 60% from those peak years mid decade-- have joined other clubs in the area. Even more important, the fitness instructors have found other options, either taking up with Hampshire Athletic Club or renting space in town by the hour or taking the major step of opening a storefront facility targeting group exercise aficionados thus draining away about one-third of the target demographic.

Simply put, the overhead at 'The Leading Edge' killed them: prime location rent, utilities sucked up by the cavernous commercial space, and of course the employees required to cover very extensive hours of commercial operation.

If long time members had been paying attention they would have seen the handwriting on the wall two years ago when the owners abandoned the 'Gold's Gym' franchise (in order to save money of course) and relaunched as 'The Leading Edge'.

Ironically the volunteer committee of former members attempting to orchestrate this long-shot revival have chosen the name of another former dead club 'The Gym', which was located at appropriately enough the Mt. Farms Mall back when it was known as "The Dead Mall".

And now the Mt Farms Mall--far from dead since Wal Mart moved in--hosts 'Planet Fitness' where predatory pricing is the norm. Thus even now with the proposed unrealistically low rates for 'The Gym' they are still more than twice as expensive as 'Planet Fitness'.

Although virtually all of them commence with good intentions the tragic reality is about one-third of new business start ups fail in the first year. The chances for survival of a committee-run gym are anexorically slim, especially in this cutthroat market.

But fortunately, we will never know--since 'The Gym' will never actually open.

And so it begins...

This one's for ALL of you

For the majority of family men or women who are rapidly approaching retirement, the routine work grind becomes a winding down process: use up sick days, vacation time or personal days--especially around Christmas, when a major New England storm is bearing down on your workplace.

But, like the vast majority of public safety officers, John (Jack) Maguire, age 60, doesn't fit the profile. And as a result he will never again hug his wife, celebrate the major milestones of his three grown children, or regale friends and neighbors at a backyard barbecue.

The 34-year veteran Woburn cop, also like the vast majority of police officers, had never outside of routine practice fired his gun in the line of duty.

The night after Christmas, in the middle of a blizzard, he broke that record--firing it for the first and last time.

The burden for a public servant like officer Maguire is that they serve the general public. To make a mistake using lethal force is unthinkable, thus they think v-e-r-y judiciously...and thinking s-l-o-w-s reaction.

But when dealing with a malevolent misfit who has nothing to lose, that brief pause can be fatal. Such is the thin blue line that protects us all--a line that has now grown even thinner.

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Governor Patrick Duval has ordered by decree the American and state flags in the Commonwealth to half staff often over the past year to honor the passing of public servants from Massachusetts. The men and women range from politicians to police officers and, of course, the military.

And yes, all of the younger ones were men who died in war--two of them World War II Veterans whose remains were only recently recovered. ##############################################

FINAL ROLL CALL

Cpt. Harold Brown killed in action in Afghanistan
Former Lt Governor and State Senator Sumner Gage Whittier
Former House Clerk Wallace Mills
Former Minority Leader, Francis W. Hatch
Sergeant Robert J. Barrett killed in action in Afghanistan
World War II Veterans Corporal Richard Loring and Staff Sergeant John Farrell
Former House Member Frances Alexander of Beverly
Sergeant Joshua D. Desforges killed in Action in Afghanistan.
Former House Member Ralph E. Sirianni
Former House Member Nancy Caffyn
State Police Sergeant Douglas A. Weddleton who died in the line of duty
State Representative Robert Nyman
Spc. Scott A. Andrews killed in action in Afghanistan
Corporal Paul Fagundes who died in the line of duty
Pfc. Clinton E. Springer II, who died in Afghanistan
Jonathan M. Curtis who was killed in action in Afghanistan
Middlesex County Sheriff James V. DiPaola
First Lieutenant Scott Milley who was killed in action in Afghanistan
Sergeant James A. Ayube, II killed in action in Afghanistan
Pfc. Ethan Goncalo who died in Afghanistan
Officer John Maguire Woburn Police Department killed in the line of duty
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May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be always at your back.May the sun shine warm upon your face.May the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, May the Lord hold you in the palm of His hand.

Gotcha!

So it comes as little surprise to me (see photo below) that our expensive town website--newly redesigned and indeed pretty spiffy--attracts a slew of visitors looking for information to pay their parking tickets. Because if you are one day over the 21 days allowed, the price more than doubles.

Gotcha again.

But from a public relations viewpoint I'm not so sure that is the kind of thing Amherst should advertise on the main page of the town website, which is quickly becoming the initial point of greeting with consumers, some of whom may be prospective residents.

Amherst has one of the highest property tax rates in the area; almost twice that of our next door neighbor Hadley--a farm community surprisingly welcoming of commercial business especially around Rt. 9, the main traffic corridor to the area's number one employer Umass.

Yet we enforce parking for profit the way a southern hicktown enforces speeding as a major contributor to municipal financing.

Sure, beleaguered small business owners in the downtown want efficiently controlled parking to allow for maximum turnover allowing more potential costumers threw the door, but it can also reach a point where folks will be turned off by the cold calculating overly efficient enforcement and take their business elsewhere, where the parking is free.


The Springfield Republican reports

Obviously an unhappy customer

Death Row zoning decision

Jeff Bagg, town planner. ZBA Chair Tom Simpson, Hilda Greenbaum, Barbara Ford.

9:30 PM
The Amherst Zoning Board of Appeals shook off a constant chorus of complaints from nearby neighbors and unanimously approved a special permit for family practitioner Dr. Kate Atkinson to occupy a 16,000 square foot LEED certified building she plans to construct in a Professional Research Park on the outskirts of Amherst Woods, an upscale neighborhood where Dr. Atkinson also resides.

The $2.5 million building will add to Amherst's anemic commercial taxbase (currently under 10%) while keeping a vital service in town.
########Live Blogging########Live Blogging######

The Zoning Board of Appeals is like the Governor in that they decide if a business venture will live or die. Tonight they play that role to the hilt. Holding off their final decision about whether Dr. Kate Atkinson, a general practitioner in the endangered field of family medicine, can build a larger facility in her hometown, in an research park until this final meeting of 2010.

Starts 7:30 PM. (On time). No public comment tonight, just a discussion of the board.

Hilda Greenbaum is concerned about adding additional office space when there are currently vacancies in the stock of town commercial properties now. (And of course Ms. Greenbaum would know as she owns a fair amount of property in town.)

Also concerned that the second floor would, gasp, also be occupied by medical practitioners thus turning the building into a "medical center."

Dr. Kate could add one medical employee and house them in the upstairs location but they would be limited to only 22 hours of operation. Ms Greenbaum wants to know how that would be enforced--especially during flu season when that provider may be, God forbid, tempted to stay in the office and put in extra hours.

Tom Simpson and Jeff Bagg both respond that it would be the job of the building commissioner to enforce the hours of operation.

Dr Kate: I do a lot of work from home on the computer.

Building commissioner Bonnie Weeks: "I don't think the bylaw is greatly concerned with a once in a while thing--especially if an emergency. As long as they routinely keep track of their hours it should be easy to see if they remain complaint with the bylaw."

Dr. Kate: We have evening hours now and it's very quiet. Many incidents are handled over the phone.

Hilda: What if she has a weight watchers group after 7:00 PM?

Dr Kate: And that would be bad, why?

Jeff Bagg: Limits on number of people who can occupy that space via conditions.

Tom Simpson: We can limit number of days for after-hours usage in upstairs meeting room by condition. Say, once a month. We can limit use of exercise room to only employees of the practice.

Dr. Kate: Exercise room is only for employees.

Jeff Bagg likes the idea they are starting to talk about "conditions" rather than voting no.

8:25 They seem satisfied now with hours and use of the upstairs space (with conditions).
Next issue: Retention basin for storm water runoff. Hilda G. wants a fence to protect kids from falling in.

Tom Simpson on the issue of traffic: 13 patients per hour is their max so it's not going to be a huge increase.

Hilda Greenbaum: "If we turned it down due to traffic we would get laughed at."

Jeff Bagg: Traffic study confirms traffic will not see a major increase.

Hilda G: Can this practice support the overhead of that building? (worried that Dr. Kate will belly up and sell to someone else.)

Tom Simpson: That's not our concern.

Tom Simpson: Are we agreed the (medical) use is allowed and acceptable with conditions?

Other two members agree.

8:45 PM

Conditions: Exercise room only for employees. Limited number of full-time employees. If second floor is rented, the tenant must come back to Zoning Board for approval. Fence around the retention basin at least 24" high. 2nd floor meeting room can only be used for educational purposes. Limit of three full-time medical practitioners, total max of 120 hours per week. Permit expires on change of ownership or management.