Dome of Delay

Select Board meeting: first aired two days later

Now I understand the frustration our neighbors to the north feel--what we locals call "the hilltowns"--having to live without high speed wireless Internet.

The Amherst Police Station was a state of the art building at birth 20 years ago when wireless did not exist. Since then Amherst, Mass has become one of the very few municipalities in the nation to provide free wireless to the citizenry with a wide swath of the downtown covered, including Town Hall (where Select Board meetings usually occur) and the Police Station, except for the "Community Room".

About twenty years ago the state started pressuring cities and towns to make all municipal buildings handicapped accessible--especially those that host public meetings. That edict was even used as ammunition for the expensive Town Hall renovation Override 15 years ago, although it failed to convince voters both times at the ballot box. (Town Meeting eventually took out a $3 million renovation loan and former Town Manager Barry Del Castilho--not to mention his secretary who he later married--got a fancy new office.)

Wireless Internet is fast becoming the norm, like handicapped accessibility or air conditioning.But a journalist's age old prime directive remains the same: enforce the people's right to know. And in this digital era, interested people also have a right to get it instantly.
Meanwhile, 2.5 hours later in the meeting...

The right response

Christian Michael Waterman, center

I think most of us would agree that everybody deserves a second chance (with the possible exception of pedophiles and Osama Bin Laden) especially if that bad behavior is a result of intoxication brought on by day to day pressures that can bubble over like a well shaken can of Pepsi.

Take Christian Michael Waterman, age 19, for instance. After ingesting enough psychedelic mushrooms to agitate an elephant he did stupid things resulting in an arrest by UMPD, a trip to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital and negative publicity on the pages of the Daily Hampshire Gazette, forever emblazoned on the Internet.

But rather than crawl into a hole and ignore his mistake or--even worse--defend it, Mr. Waterman did the right thing: acknowledging an error and sincerely apologizing for it.

Unlike the rowdy bad boys at 83 Morgan Circle who defend (note Comments--especially the most recent) their late night revelry that terrorizes neighbors, reduces property values and burdens the town treasury.
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DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE
UMass student arrested after Thursday night scare at MacKimmie Hall
SCOTT MERZBACH
Staff Writer

AMHERST - A man exposing himself to student security monitors at MacKimmie Hall, a dormitory in the Southwest area of the University of Massachusetts campus, was arrested after several police officers subdued him on the night of April 14.

Christian Michael Waterman, 19, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was arrested at 10:10 p.m. on charges of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14, open and gross lewdness, disorderly conduct and being a minor in possession of alcohol, said UMass Deputy Police Chief Patrick Archbald.

Officers were called to the building's lobby after Waterman, a dual English and sports management major at the university, began disturbing students and tried to go through a binder containing personal information about visitors to the dormitory. Waterman then touched and grabbed a woman in the chest area, putting her in fear, before dropping his pants and underwear, Archbald said.

Archbald said Waterman also made several irrational comments during the incident, repeatedly yelling out "Wu Tang" and talking about former President Bush.

When officers got there, Waterman became combative and, after a brief struggle, was placed under arrest.

Amherst Fire Department paramedics also responded because Waterman may have been under the influence of narcotics, police said. He was brought by ambulance to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton for treatment.
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Thu, 04/21/2011 - 00:23 — CWaterman

I Tripped..and Fell

The article fails to mention the root cause of these lewd events. I took a near-toxic amount of psychedelic mushrooms and lost all control of my physical and mental faculties. I am deeply sorry for my transgressions and apologize to all of the people that I have hurt.

My time spent in the hospital over this weekend was eye-opening as my support system rallied around me. I thank my mother for rushing to my side in this tremendous time of need.

I literally have no recollection of these events, and I apologize to the security monitor specifically for overstepping bounds. Thank you to the UMPD for an excellent handling of my extreme belligerence.

I'm sure many will respond with skepticism and negativity, but this is the truth, I am sorry, and I all I can do is accept my consequences and move forward.

Thank you,

Christian Waterman
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Hey Christian,

I run the 'Only in Amherst' hyperlocal webiste and I'm a reporter for WHMP
news, and I just wanted to verify that you posted the apology on Gazettenet
article yesterday?

I wish more students would man-up and apologize for their bad behavior.

Last night I had someone--probably a rowdy student--defend the bad behavior of
party house residents by suggesting I hang myself.

Larry Kelley
http://onlyintherepublicofamherst.blogspot.com/2010/12/party-house-of-emester.html

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From: Christian Waterman
To: amherstac@aol.com
Sent: Thu, Apr 21, 2011 9:22 am
Subject: Re: Verification check on apology

Yes it's my sincere apology I'm trying to do as much damage control
and public relations work as possible to counteract this extremely
damaging story.

My life is being changed with every person that reads that article so
I at the very least want the truth to be out there concurrently.

I'd like to publish an article/apology somewhere about the mental
duress myself and other students are feeling under the pressures of
college. Even though this story is out about me, it means nothing to
the person I am and any thing else on the Internet suggests a
completely different portrait.

I spoke to the paper and apparently they are more than comfortable
with potentially ruining student's lives.

Thank you for Your recognition.

Christian Waterman
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On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 10:41 AM, wrote:

Hey Christian,
From a journalistic point of view the Gazette would be remiss to go back and edit the original story. You did what you did, and that is a matter of public record. But what they should do is follow up on the arrest article in a bigger way, and in a sense make you the 'poster boy' for the way to properly respond to having made a mistake.

Most people would agree that everybody deserves a second chance (with the possible exception of pedophiles).

Do you have a photo (headshot) I could use?

Larry



I like to use this shot..it's me and my mentor, professor Steve Jefferson

Sport management professor that had a near-fatal stroke last September..really was a life-changing event

He is trying to raise $25000 to fund his rehabilitation and return to the classroom so I would love to get him as much press

I really just want to apologize to all of the people that I have hurt and let down because I truly have been undergoing personal evolutions into a better human being

Only time will heal these wounds and my actions will have to speak louder than words

Here's some more of me in the media: bo.st/ThinkAlive

The Think Alive Foundation is also presenting 7 grants to Amherst Middle School students next Thursday and looking to secure media coverage..I can forward along the completed press release ..Visit thinkalive.org for more information


Support Japan,

Christian Waterman
Sport Management / English '13
Treasurer, Association of Diversity in Sport
Director of Programming, Real Music Xposed
(917) 628-1425

Douse the Nuke

Tonight the Amherst Select Board voted unanimously to extend the Nuclear Free Zone all way to our neighbor to the north by urging support for a shut down of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant next year on the original schedule forty years after the controversial plant was first commission.

Amherst added their voice to 51 other communities who also oppose the current plan by Entergy to continue generating power after receiving a 20-year license extension from federal regulators. The state legislature has voted to close the plant and the company filed a lawsuit claiming federal authority supersedes state authority.

Amherst, along with Cambridge, was on the forefront of the Nuclear Freeze movement having voted itself a "Nuclear Free Zone" in 1988 and opposed the siting of a GWEN tower (a post nuclear attack communications system) anywhere in Amherst.

Select Board chair Stephanie O'Keeffe read an email from Senator Stan Rosenberg (D-Amherst) urging support for the resolution.

Amherst's Anti-Nuke activists: Dick Stein (in red) Thomas Lindeman

The anti-nuke resolution (before amending) and other background

Party house of the weekend

28 Kellogg Avenue

So you would think a rental property located directly opposite Ann Whalen subsidized housing near the Senior Center in the heart of downtown Amherst would be a tad more responsible with noise in the wee hours of the morning.

Not our young rowdies living at 28 Kellogg Avenue, however. And as a result five young adults arrested: four of them for both "noise" and "nuisance house" violations ($600 each) and one young lady for an open container of alcohol ($300).

What goes around...

Larry Shaffer turns on the charm for Amherst Town Meeting

UPDATE Wednesday April 20: The Gazette today reports a sanitized version of Mr. Shaffer's new job prospects. Interestingly enough it appears in the print edition but not online. Editors probably did not want to allow Comments that could bring up dirty laundry. UPDATE: 8:45 AM: So about an hour after I posted that first update it magically appeared online. Coincidence I guess.
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ORIGINAL POST: Sunday evening (a tad ahead of the Gazette)

My two site meters act like canaries in a coal mine, early alerting me to something of note suddenly occurring. On Tuesday a tsunami of hits from Facebook landing on a "Party House of the Weekend" post from last December almost crashed my widget.

I was actually in the middle of drafting an email to APD wondering if something terrible had just happened at 23 Tracy Circle (thinking somebody blew their brains out after posting a suicide note on Facebook linking back to me) when I managed to trace it back to the juvenile "F_ck the Fines" Facebook group.

Then a couple days ago I noticed numerous hits coming from Michigan all Googling "Larry Shaffer, Amherst" with some of them adding the term "gay". Hmm...

Turns out that former Amherst Town Manager Larry Shaffer is tops on the list for city manager of Jackson, Michigan a city about the size of Amherst (which should be a city). The gay thing is probably from his public interview use of the term "partner" for his um, other woman, Jane Ashby.

The one he divorced his wife over, and then suddenly retired from bucolic Amherst (with a taxpayer funded $62-K going away present) to follow her out to her new professorship at Central Michigan University.

I asked a conservative buddy of mine who makes Michigan her home which scenario would play better in Jackson: A gay man applying for city manager or a straight one who had an affair with his secretary while still married (costing taxpayers $23,000 to hush up) then flew the coop to be with yet another woman. All hypothetical examples of course.

Considering Michigan is more conservative than Massachusetts, with a huge evangelical community in Grand Rapids and a large Muslim population outside Detroit, it sounds like neither of my hypothetical scenarios would play out well.

So forget Mr. Shaffer's folly of charging a tax on Christmas trees sold by Boy Scouts, or getting spanked by the ACLU for attempting a heavy handed takeover of the July 4th Parade to accommodate left wing zealots or even purposely fudging figures to protect a municipally owned black hole of a golf course; his final undoing is a character flaw as old as Adam and Eve--and in this cyber age, one that cannot be hidden behind a fig leaf.



My conservative Michigan buddy agrees

Pass the Ganja, man!

Town Center 3:10 PM Day One

Fine for public consumption alcohol: $300, a criminal offense

Fine for public consumption of marijuana: $100, a civil offense

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Sunday morning Day Two (7:00 AM) The calm before the storm

(12:45 PM)

Stoner discussion page

The Springfield Sunday Republican reports Interestingly this morning's Front Page print edition omits the photo of Matthew James and Niki Snow smoking pot and run a more family oriented photo of them juggling. And they change the headline from the cutesy "Annual Extravaganja festival lights up in Amherst" to a more boring "Marijuana fest mix of pot, policy"

The Boston Globe Reports

They HAD a secret #2

Two years ago the assistant I.T. Director was let go for sending an email complaint about his boss to town manager Larry Shaffer, also copied to the entire Select Board.

I filed a public documents request for said dispatch; the town manger turned me down citing Exemption C, the most often used excuse: "Personnel and medical files or information; also any other materials or data relating to a specifically named individual, the disclosure of which may constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

But in late February I requested any and all "separation, severance, transition, or settlement agreements made since January 1, 2005 between the town of Amherst and their employee's that include compensation, benefits, or other payments worth more than $5,000."

So here it is: Just another case of an employee who suddenly disappears (with $25-K in hand)
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A Gazette reporter called yesterday to interview me about the original post concerning the town manager's sudden retirement with a $62-K going away present and his, errr, administrative assistant also disappearing that same day with a $22-K payday after only 3-and-a-half years employment with the town.

He wanted to know "why the people should care?" Good question. Not sure I answered well enough for him and even if so it may never see the light of print anyway, so I will answer it again here.

Of the 13 individuals covered under these agreement more than half of them are simply routine retirements or early retirements. But because they are all kept secret, it casts a shadow on those that are routine, as though they did something wrong.

When the town attorney informed the town manager he had to give up the documents, Mr. Musante requested another week to contact the former employees via snail mail to inform them that someone had been given their legal agreements.

And I'm sure some of them--even those who should not be--started to get nervous.

The highest payout ($44,000) was actually the most normal in that it was a very-high ranking employee with over thirty years of distinguished service. That settlement included unused vacation pay, sick time, personal days, longevity pay, etc.

Another woman who had left the same position Ms. "Jane Doe" occupied (administrative assistant to the town manager--and I'm told by multiple sources did a much better job) was not on the settlement list, because she received no money. Since she voluntarily resigned her town position for a better job at Amherst College, you would expect no such settlement.

So then why did "Jane Doe" get paid $22-K when she "voluntarily" resigned ten months later?

If the former town manager Larry Shaffer had used $22-K out of his $25-K going away present, then I would have not pursued this case so vigorously. But since it was all funded with tax dollars, I honestly believe the people have a right to know.