Frat-Boy Frolics

374 N Pleasant St,  Pi Kappa Alpha. Managed by Kendrick Properties

Early this morning Amherst Police delivered unto the President, Chris Lehmann, and two Vice Presidents of Pi Kappa Alpha, a frathouse animal house on the gateway to UMass, one $300 ticket each for "Nuisance House" violations after separate incidents over the weekend.

The first occurred Friday afternoon when police cruisers were flagged down in front of the frat to relocate two pesky patrons causing a disturbance.  The frat was hosting a closed event party and apparently the two males were gatecrashers.

The more serious incident occurred early Sunday morning (12:30 AM) when APD responded to a call to quell a fight at yet another party at the 374 North Pleasant Street frat.  One individual, who was jumped by "ten frat brothers" after tumbling down stairs, was repeated kicked in the head while on the ground by a perp wearing construction boots.  AFD transported the victim to Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

According to APD logs:

While clearing out the frat, I located a subject who had been kicked in the right eye two or three times.  AFD was contacted and arrived on the scene and transported to CDH.  Before the victim left the scene he was able to identify the suspect who was then taken into custody.

Arrested:
William Sawyer Chaplin, 120 Ocean Ave, Woodmere, NY, age 19, A&B, disorderly conduct
Nicholas Pepe, 222 High St, Stirling, NJ, age 20, A&B with dangerous weapon
Brian Patrick Lewis, 99 Laurelwood Dr, North Attleboro, MA, age 21, assault with dangerous weapon

Summons issued:
Alexander Labib, 48 Woodland Rd, Roslyn, NY, age 20, A&B

Springfield Republican Reports (Bad boys make the Big Time)

Sunday setting

Sustain this!

Southwest: Another Garden Grows 

Even with hundreds of millions of dollars spent over the past decade sprouting buildings from "new dirt" UMass has found a way--albeit small--to reduce their carbon footprint by locating sustainable  gardens sprinkled throughout the campus.  Currently UMass/Amherst is the only public school of higher education with a Permaculture Garden program.

Now they have received a tip of the golf cap from President Obama as the UMass Amherst Permacuture Initiative was the top vote getter (with 59,857)  in the "Campus Champions of Change Challenge", where the top five ideas win a  trip to the White House.   

Maybe the President will toast them with beer made from locally grown barley and hops.

Frisky Friday

Amherst Police Department 111 Main Street

While maybe not as outrageous as last week--at least as far as actual $300 Noise and Nuisance citations issued--Amherst Police were, nevertheless, kept busy ricocheting all over town to quell loud parties.

In the short span of three hours, between 11:30 PM and 2:45 AM, police visited ten locations to issue warnings for loud noise.  So yes, if APD should visit any of these locations again this evening they will be far less inclined to simply warn the boisterous inhabitants.

Warnings Issued:
473 Pine Street, Colonial Village #160, Puffton Village #221, 71 South Prospect Street 2nd floor, Salem Place Condo #17, 45 Leverett Road, The Boulders #162G, 45 Leverett Road (again), Puffton Village #78 and #83,

That's a (final) wrap

"That's a wrap"at 23 North Pleasant St. in downtown Amherst is no more.  But they still have locations in Pittsfield, Dalton and Williamstown, although kind of far for take out.

The sandwich shop opened just under a year ago.  And since restaurants occupy the top of the list for start up failures, I guess it's not shocking news.  They seem to have followed the business model of Bueno Y Sano by targeting college towns, although that popular burrito establishment is just around the corner, while local culinary icon Antonio's Pizza is only two doors down.

White Hut also recently opened nearby.  Downtown Amherst is like a Mall's food court, with the rents almost as high.  A small business is full time enough when the product you offer is non perishable.  Throw in the fresh ingredient factor and the work is never done.

But more will come.  They always do.

Previous tenant

Figures don't lie, but...

 Click to enlarge (if you can handle the truth)

Well, I knew the Amherst school system was pretty weak with math, but this is ridiculous.

Rather than use the actual dollar amount of $697.73 vs. state average of $445.97 or a difference of $252.76 per student (57% higher!) for presenting administration costs, the Amherst Regional School Committee was shown an overall percentage figure of the Region's total spending instead (4.03%), which averages a whopping $17,144 per student vs. state average of $13,055.

Or if you prefer percentages, a whopping 31% over state average.

When Rick Hood ran his yacht factory, if his labor costs were on average 31% higher than a competitor, it's hardly reassuring that administration costs were--as a percentage of total spending--average, because that means the actual dollar amount spent on administration would still be 31% higher than it should be.

Simply put, the $251.76 extra per child in current administration cost over state average, times 1,545 regional students comes out to an extra annual administration cost of $388,969.20! 

The real reason for such high admin costs

 The Amherst Bulletin "reports"

Shutesbury shoot out widens

Now come Alan Seewald, former Amherst, current Northampton city attorney and private practice attorney, to join the Shutesbury library legal fray by filing a "Motion To Intervene" on behalf of ten No voters requesting a Superior Court Judge review three additional yes votes, besides the one already ruled invalid, on identical grounds: residency.

The three challenged votes--two Pills and another Buck-- are the same previously challenged ones the Board of Registrars allowed at the January 25 recount where they did, however, sustain one challenged vote: Christopher Buck.  That brought the contentious vote tally back to 522-522, override fails.

Pro-override voters then filed a lawsuit against the Town Clerk and Board of Registrars demanding a Shutesbury couple with 37 years of residency, but who winter in Florida, be disenfranchised; and that Christopher Buck--who signed a legal document in Kentucky shortly before the Shutesbury election with the provision, "I do not claim the right to vote anywhere outside Kentucky"--be counted.

Now counter-petitioners are asking the Judge to rule Christopher Buck's wife Jessica, who also lives with him in Kentucky, ineligible.  Shoshana Holzberg-Pill, and Jacob Holzberg-Pill, who live and work full-time far from the bucolic community of Shutesbury, also make the short list.

And if that is not reassuring enough, attorney Seewald throws in the kitchen sink, asking the judge to declare the entire second override election invalid because town officials--in their haste to fast track the library--neglected to return to Town Meeting for a second spending authorization contingent on a Proposition 2.5 Override.

This entire legal maneuver will be made moot in the likely event the judge disagrees with pro-overriders and allows the original January 25 decision of the Board of Registrars to stand.   

Shutesbury Library Answer and Statement of Claim