Those Darn Extremists

 Amherst Town Room, Town Hall

So the accusations are starting to fly faster than quail frantically fleeing the hunter's birdshot.

The venerable Amherst Bulletin in today's editorial has strongly suggested I am an "extremist" for wishing to fly commemorative flags in the downtown to remember, commemorate, honor the 2,997 citizens slaughtered that awful day. 

Well I suppose if I'm in the same camp as the Amherst firefighters, who issued a strong statement of support for flying the flags every 9/11, that's okay with me.

And Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe borderline resorts to libel/slander in the same Amherst Bulletin front page article by strongly suggesting I purposely, willfully "exploited people's misunderstanding and oversimplification of this issue."

Interestingly the article closes with an exchange between O'Keeffe and an ardent flag supporter who thanked her for clarifying the complications, but even so, still thought the commemorative flags should fly on 9/11.   Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Last night around 10:30 PM WWLP Ch 22 News put up another flag flap story stating unequivocally that I "questioned the patriotism" of Amherst and town manager John Musante on my Fox & Friends live appearance on Sunday morning.

They even interviewed an Amherst resident who was aghast that I would dare to question their patriotism. Only thing is I never even remotely suggested that. The interviewee  probably got it from the Gazette coverage where Ms. O'Keeffe is complaining about uninformed viewers questioning her patriotism.

Bu you would think the reporter could have at least watched the five-minute-30-second Fox interview, or maybe contacted me for comment/fact checking. She had been stalking me on Twitter for the past two weeks, so it's not like it would have been hard for her to reach me.

I notice this morning the story has been pulled from wwlp.com

Free At Last

 Snell Street Bridge yesterday

Busy Snell Street reopened to normal traffic yesterday, after being closed since August 13 during business hours Monday through Friday for the Snell Street (bike path) Bridge replacement.

According to Victoria Sheehan, DOT program manager, "The project is on schedule with an anticipated completion date of October 12, 2012. The bridge is being raised from 10’-1” to 11’-1” (12 inches).

Alas, not widened however.

A Voice of Reason

Reynolds Winslow, Chair of the Human Rights Commission, tried to slow down the Amherst Select Board's rush to veto flying 25 commemorative flags in the downtown to remember the 2,997 citizens denied their human rights that awful morning.

To no avail.

Town officials will now invoke the 'West Side Story' defense to avoid placing the issue on the upcoming Select Board meeting of September 10, the eleventh anniversary of the more infamous SB meeting of 9/10/01. 

When the national media picked up the story of "West Side Story" under fire in Amherst (1999) by a vocal minority for alleged racial stereotyping  and the debate decibels had risen to ear shattering proportions, school officials cancelled the play ...not because they agreed with the critics but because the strident debate had become to distracting.

Now this flying-the-25-commemorative-flags-on-9/11-once-every-five-years story has taken on a life of its own.  And the real loser is the town.

Masslive Springfield Republican covers the story in catchy, but fair and balanced, way

UMass: On The Hook For $18K

 Ernie's Towing.  The calm after the storm

Moving 12,500 students on to campus in a short amount of time is bound to create a snafu or two.

Take the parking/no parking screw up on Labor Day where, according to the Mass Daily Collegian, 180 automobiles were towed from a parking lot (at $100 a pop) they had a valid permit sticker but were not aware UMass enacted temporary restrictions to accommodate the massive move in.

Best spin of the month (although it's still very early in the month) goes to Eddie Hull, the executive director of Residential Life: “I think you will agree that we did a good job in putting students in a position to be successful and avoid this unhappy circumstance.” Yeah, proper parking information is critical to putting folks "in a position to be successful."

Now if only UMass would put the more over-the-top rowdy students who besmirch the reputation of the flagship University in a "position to be successful" by expelling them, then maybe some of the party hardy types would take civility a little more seriously.

One of the more egregious Party House of the Weekend entries occured last November near the Amherst/Sunderland border, where 800-1,000 drunken party goers packed into a rental house assaulted heavily outnumbered members of the Amherst Police Department.

A serious line to cross.

But if you check with UMass people finder today, as I just did, three of the five are still listed as students (even one who was charged with "assault on an officer" and "resisting arrest").  Unacceptable.

A few months ago I asked UMass under Public Document Law for “an electronic copy of any and all internal written reports (made in hard copy or electronic) concerning discipline or suspension of any fraternity/sorority at UMass/Amherst since September 1, 2010.”  Thus far they have stonewalled the request.

As former Chair of the Amherst Select Board Elisa Campbell pointed out on my Facebook page:

"I think it is long past time for UMass to report to us - the citizens of Amherst - the penalties they give out to students who act this way. I recognize that they may not be able to list names - FERPA may apply - although this is *not(* an academic pursuit or record - but they can at least do press releases that say "this weekend x number of students were expelled for bad conduct" or whatever. As it is, they claim to have "consequences" for students who behave really badly but we citizens never learn about it - why should we believe it ?"

A Symbol of Hope

Editors Note: Amherst does fly the American flag on the Town Common and Police/Fire stations 24/7 365 days a year.

The town purchased "commemorative flags" (currently numbering 25) in the summer of 2001 using tax money assigned to the veterans department commemoration fund, and on the night of September 10, 2001 created a policy restricted them to only six occasions per year, one of which is Memorial Day.

The commemorative flags were allowed to fly on 9/11 on the first anniversary in 2002 and again in 2003 but not in 2004 thru 2009.  Amherst Town Meeting in 2007 turned down my "advisory" article  to the Select Board (as only the Select Board has authority over the public ways, so it's their call) by an astonishing two-thirds vote.

Under public pressure the Select Board in 2009 came up with a "compromise" based on the Town Meeting vote, saying that since one-third of Town Meeting supported the flags they can go up once every three years. So they flew in 2009.

Then in 2010 Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe (who voted in favor of the flags flying annually when she was a town meeting member) turned down my annual request and came up with another compromise only allowing the commemorative flags up every five years or what she called "milestone anniversaries".

Thus the commemorative flags flew in 2011 on the tenth anniversary and are currently not scheduled to fly again until 2016.

"A groundswell of people"

On the night of September 10, 2001 during a two hour discussion about everything both good and bad our flag represents, the most over-the-top statement came from a UMass professor and town meeting member who sacrilegiously branded our flag "a symbol of terrorism and death and fear and destruction and repression."

As she returned to her seat, a grandmotherly flag supporter said sternly, "Shame on you!"

On the night of August 27, 2012 Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe did not even vote on my request to fly those flags on 9/11, instead opting to pocket veto the idea. And as part of the excuse Ms. O'Keeffe seems to suggest that nobody in town cares whether the flags fly this year or not.

Shame!

Because I think she's wrong, and so does the media and every person I've encountered on the street over the past few days.

Just since Monday this sad story has been published with prominent placement in The Daily Hampshire Gazette, The Amherst Bulletin, Springfield Republican (note 100+ comments), WGGB Ch 40 and WWLP Ch 22 local TV, FoxNews national website and tomorrow morning on their national TV show, Fox and Friends.

And most sadly, one of the articles was picked up and published on the September 11th Families' Association website.

The Amherst Select Board routinely meets again on September 10, the eleventh anniversary of that infamous Eve of Destruction meeting. Let's hope they come to their senses and allow the commemorative flags to send a signal that in Amherst, like everywhere else in this great country of ours, we do care.

Deeply.

Amherst Firefighters Union supports flying the flags!

$aving a Camperdown? Yes!

 The stately Camperdown Elm on Amherst College Campus released from Death Row

Amherst College has wisely decided that you can't really put a price on a majestic historic treasure like their almost one of kind (in Amherst anyway) Camperdown elm.

Yes, Amherst's largest landowner and second best liberal arts college in America will pay the $100,000 cost to safely relocate the Camperdown to a new spot on Pratt Field rather than simply cut it down and chalk it up to collateral damage in the $12.5 million renovation project.

 Trees on both sides of the Camperdown will not survive realignment of track

Amherst College Director of Facilities Jim Brassord announced the stunning news last night to a group of concerned neighbors (concerned about the Camperdown, noise, traffic, etc) while giving them an update on plans for the major construction project impacting their neighborhood. The project starts after the football season finishes this fall. 

 Camperdown Elm will provide shade for generations of Amherst College students to come

Nobody knows for sure when the tree was planted, but just over a 120 years ago, when Pratt Field was first constructed is a pretty good bet.  And yes they can easily live to be 200 or more years old.

Sure $100K is a lot of money, but less than 1% of the overall budget for the project.

 Amherst Shade Tree Committee wrote to College President Biddy Martin pleading for  Camperdown's salvation

All the Camperdowns in existence today emanate from a single tree created by grafting a mutant alien branch found on the forest floor to a Wych elm on the estate of the Earl of Camperdown in Dundee, Scotland circa 1835.

Combine that unique pedigree with the weeping nature of Camperdown canopy and it's no wonder it attracts an almost religious like following among tree lovers.

Historical preservation at its finest