The price we pay (cheaper than the alternative)

"...right of the people peaceably to assemble..."

Well we all know the Main Stream Media loves irony, and any hard news editor with ink still left in their veins probably lives by the journalistic credo "if it bleeds, it leads;" thus the horrific shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords by a deranged gunman on Saturday morning (she is shown here only a few days ago reading the First Amendment) is getting a lot of ink, or bandwidth as the case may be.

Unfortunately politicians and pundits like to use compelling stories ripped from the headlines to push their political agenda. So now we're hearing talk about toning down the political rhetoric (directed at those evil conservatives of course) that is poisoning the public debate.

Sounds to me like an assault on the First Amendment.

As the ACLU would say, "The best way to deal with bad speech is with more, good speech--not censorship!" The First Amendment can--like life in the real world--be a tad rough around the edges.

But I find the thought of more government infringement far more nightmarish, as I envision the government's muzzle dangling over me like the Sword of Damocles.

Or perhaps it's a hangman's noose.

Bernie Goldberg agrees
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They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

And yes, it did not escape me or others in the MSM that one of the innocent victims--nine year old Christina Green (and my daughter Kira is nine)--was born on 9/11/01.

Let's hear it for USA Today, they know how to liveblog a press conference:

Update at 1:17 p.m. ET: "The ubiquitous nature of the Internet means ... hateful speech more readily available than 10-15 years ago. That absolutely represents a challenge to us," Mueller said. He said the FBI is still doing an analysis of computers seized in the search.

Too bad Mr Mueller did not do his job in the months leading up to 9/11...

(For those of you new to my blog--and Google Analytics tells me that 23% per day are--click the Tag Label below "First Amendment" for previous diatribes.)

Better to reign in Hell

UPDATE: Friday 5:00 PM

So not much happened last night at the meeting. The NIMBYs were as few as they were subdued (only two showed up, down fairly dramatically from our previous dozen or so meetings). The Request For Proposals seeking a consultant to do our "visioning process" were not due until today at 4:00 PM, and I just received word that four companies responded and they all seem to be "substantial, accomplished firms".

Thus our next meeting in two weeks should be far more interesting. And yes, I get to Chair that one as well.

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ORIGINAL POST:
Tonight the Amherst Redevelopment Authority continues its long slog through the morass of the public process as we continue to gingerly lay the foundation for the Gateway, a mixed-use development seamlessly connecting downtown Amherst with Umass, our flagship of higher education and number one employer in Western Massachusetts.

After 20 years of attending countless political meetings in the People's Republic of Amherst as spectator, participant and citizen journalist tonight will actually be the first time I have ever chaired a meeting.

Yeah, it should be--as the Chinese would say--"interesting."

They've got a secret

The Select Board gave Larry Shaffer (on left) the thumbs up for his mysteriously sudden retirement
UPDATE: 4/17/11

How it all, finally, turns out
And continues...

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UPDATED: Friday 9: 30 AM

The interesting thing is in the official minutes they did give me only one sentence is redacted. Hmm...

However, the entire one-hour-and-twenty minute executive session "discussion" was covered by Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe (demonstrating her PR flak background) in only two sentences. So the other way to look at it is they redacted half the damn report!

The other telling thing about the Town Attorney blowing me off is that he cites "Wakefield Teachers Association vs School Committee of Wakefield"; and that had to do with a middle school male teacher being disciplined for making inappropriate written comments to a couple of his young female students and being "disciplined" (No, strangely enough he was not fired only docked three weeks pay).

A judge ruled that since the documents in question had to due with the "performance" of a public employee it was exempt from Public Documents Law request. So I guess it boils down to who initiated the break between Shaffer and the town. Did he do it of his own volition because he was getting old and tired and simply wanted to retire or did the Select Board get wind of some inappropriate activity and implement disciplinary action?
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Supervisor of Records
Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth
McCormack Building, Room 1719
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108

Dear Mr. Cote,

I wish to appeal the recent decision of the Town Of Amherst denying me the vast majority of minutes from the 8/30/10 Select Board Executive Session to discuss the sudden retirement of then Town Manager Larry Shaffer, the highest ranking appointed public official in town with an annual salary of $127,528.

The Executive Session lasted over an hour and resulted in the Town Manager being released from his employment contract two years early, AND the payment of four months bonus pay. Since all the monies are tax dollars, The People who financed this arrangement have a right to know the details.

And since Mr. Shaffer almost immediately applied for Town Manager/City Manager positions in the state of Wisconsin, it's obvious he did not abruptly retire from Amherst due to a medical condition.

As always, thank you for service championing the peoples right to know by keeping government records open and transparent.

Larry Kelley
596 South Pleasant St.
Amherst, Ma 01002

So much for "open government" bragged about on the town website


Thought I was doing pretty good up to this point, but I just knew a "However" was coming...




Page 2 legal response via google docs

Party house of the weekend #2

So these bad boys at 1107 North Pleasant Street are already in the running for "party house of the semester"--and the semester has not even started.

Although APD only issued one $300 Noise ticket last weekend to this establishment they garnered five one night last semester (9/25/10). And apparently they know the cost because one of the tenants tried to avoid it by, umm, fleeing the scene (maybe he headed to Mexico).

According to police narrative:

"I observed a vehicle stuck in the front yard with its rear bumper in the roadway as well as loud music to be ongoing and unreasonable coming from the location. I observed approximately 50-60 guests inside. The resident who was at the front door fled from the scene before receiving a Noise Violation ticket which will be mailed to him by certified mail."

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.