Rewired WiFi

Fred Hartwell installs WiFi unit on Main Street lightpole  this afternoon

So after the spiffy new Cisco wireless routers were installed around town last month, IT Director Kris Pacunas noticed they were not performing up to promised specifications.  And when you are paying $75,000 for a new toy, promised specifications matter.

Cisco sent out a crew to try to bring the units up to speed, but could not make it happen.  Thus the town did what any consumer would do:  sent the items back for a full refund. 

The IT department then went into tech-geek mode and came up with their own "access point" gizmo's using component parts from a number of different manufacturers.  Now, according to Pacunas, the newest new system, using five antennas, is ten times faster, with three times the coverage, all for $43,000 or a 40% savings over the original system.

 Newest units could be painted black to match ornate poles in the downtown

The newest system also has "client link" (version 2.0) so it works well with smart phones and tablets, which more and more Americans use to access the Internet.

As of today 18 of the units have been installed and the entire system of 27 (possibly 28) units should be fully functioning by January 1st.  A Happy New Year indeed for all us Internet junkies. 

Salud!

Mission Cantina, 485 West Street, South Amherst: about to more than double in capacity 

Acting as Liquor Commissioners last night, an enthusiastic Amherst Select Board unanimously approved an "alteration of premises" thus allowing Mission Cantina to serve alcohol in the newly expanded space, which effectively doubles the physical size of the popular South Amherst eatery.

Select Board member Aaron Hayden noted how happy he was to take part in this bureaucratic procedure for Mission Cantina as it  "demonstrates a very successful business." SB member Diana Stein then quipped, "Which means you have to wait to get in there."

The restaurant opened in the summer of  2011 and has seen lines out the front door almost since day one.  The original facility only has four tables seating a total of sixteen, while the new addition will add five tables seating twenty, or more than doubling the restaurant's seating capacity to thirty six.

The Zoning Board of Appeals approved a Special Permit required for the expansion/renovation on August 3rd, although owners did note on their Facebook page that it required seven months to acquire a building permit.

The $45,000 expansion, is now almost complete with a mid-January opening expected.  In addition to business as usual -- great food -- Mission Cantina plans to start serving a lunch menu and staying open into the late night. 

Visible Symbols

 Crocker Farm Elementary School, Monday morning

So for the first time in memory, I was actually happy not to see an overt police presence, even though that was the expectation.  Not that uniformed officers make school children or their parents nervous.

At least, normally, not in Amherst.

But these times are far from normal.  The shock waves from Friday's mass murder are still profoundly in the present, like the dark gloomy weather that delayed by two hours the opening of the Amherst schools this morning.

A police department is, by nature, reactionary.  You see something wrong, call 911, and they come quickly.  But they can't possibly stand guard, at all our schools, during all their hours of operation.   For that we would need to mobilize the National Guard.

And is that the message we want to send to our kids:  Our schools can only be safe when patrolled by armed guards?

Amherst has come a long way in implementing strong security protocols, a byproduct of Jere Hochman's tenure circa 2003-2008.  Before that, the doors remained open during school hours.  In spite of what happened at Columbine in 1999.

But then again, when I grew up in Amherst a generation ago, my mother never felt the need to lock the front door at night.

Our flag is at half staff today to honor and remember those innocent lives lost ... but will soon return to its routine position atop the staff.  Friday however -- like 9/11 -- was a morning to never forget.

Do Over?

 Scott Brown could put his left over campaign paraphernalia to good use

President Obama may has just given the GOP an early Christmas present if reports coming out in reliable mainstream media are true, that Massachusetts Senator John Kerry will become the next Secretary of State. 

Yes, Governor Patrick could stack the deck somewhat by appointing a real contender to occupy Kerry's senate seat rather than just a warm body term-limited to the day of the special election, as was done when Senator Kennedy died.

And look how well that turned out for the democratic party.

When it comes to special elections, Scott Brown has already accomplished the unthinkable -- snatching the throne occupied by a political deity for almost fifty years. 

Obviously in his recent farewell address, Scott Brown all but announced a return to the campaign trail:  "Depending on what happens, and where we go, all of us, we may obviously meet again."

A lot sooner than most democrats expected, obviously.

The horror ... the horror ...

Last week when the first dispatch went out over the airwaves saying a child was hit by a school bus at an Amherst elementary school, my mind instantly flashed back to the horror of three years ago where a 2-year-old child broke free from his mother at a bus stop and ended up under the wheels of moving bus.

One of my daughters at the time was the same age as the child killed in that horrific accident.

Yes, it's human nature to always initially fear the worst: You hear about an earthquake in a foreign county where friends or family are vacationing, and instantly assume they have been impacted. Last week I titled that post "A Parent's Worst Nightmare," because nothing can be worse than losing a child. Nothing.

So I'm at a loss to now come up with a headline that captures the bottomless horror of an incident that erases the lives of twenty innocent children, all of them the same age as my youngest.

As CNN anchor Aaron Brown watched the second tower collapse live on air on that unforgettable morning he said somberly, "There are no words ...".

Once again, as our entire nation mourns, there are no words.

The Power Of Symbols

 Amherst Town Common: A Menorah, Merry Maples, Town Hall, Oh My

When I was growing up in Amherst in the shadow of a smaller, quieter UMass, we townies had a minimum cut off for folks who transplanted here -- mostly because of the University -- as to how long it required before they could call themselves a  "local":  roughly 20-25 years. 

And of course the very first thing they needed to learn was not to pronounce the h in Amherst. 

So only you "locals" would remember off the top of your head the reason why the Am'erst Merry Maple is not called a Christmas Tree.  And why there's now a Menorah on the town common alongside those "holiday" trees.

In November, 1990 the Jones Library Board of Trustees voted 4-1 (Arthur Quinton being the lone opposition) to ban "religious displays" at the library, including a small five foot tall Christmas tree that traditionally adorned the Children's Room.

The reaction was instantaneous and largely negative:  A tidal wave of Letters to the Editor and columns in the Amherst Bulletin (back when it had influence), public meetings, and even vandalism to the Menorah.

Because the Jones Library is a building governed by a Board of Trustees, they were well within their rights to implement the ban, even though it was excoriated by critics town wide.

Amherst cannot prevent a private group, like the Chabad House, from erecting a religious symbol on the town common; but the town itself, because of the separation of church and state, cannot put up a manger scene, or Menorah.

Even in the Jewish community opinion was sharply divided:   Jewish Community of Amherst stated public space (the Jones Library or Town Common) should not display any religious symbols, and the more liberal Chabad House invoked the "Constitution allows religious freedom" argument for the Menorah, and also agreed the Christmas Tree in the library was fine. 

So the simple answer today is: a private group, Chabad House, continues to make the effort to display a Menorah on the town common; but no private group has come forward to display a Christmas Tree.  Since the Merry Maple display is private, erected by the Chamber of Commerce and most recently assisted by the Business Improvement District, they can call it anything they want, including, gasp, a Christmas tree.

The original sentiment behind banning the blatantly Christian symbol so revered this time of year was of course not to offend ... anyone.

Although in so doing, the Jones Library Trustees managed to offend almost everyone. 

Taking No Chances

 Lt. Ron Young (center) APD head of Detectives questions young man (seated) in custody

Sad update (Friday afternoon):  Amherst School Superintendent Maria Geryk's statement on today's tragedy

Gov Patrick has ordered flags lowered to half-staff until 12/18/12 as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated in Newtown.

 

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When a PVTA bus rider called 911 around 2:20 Thursday afternoon to report a man perched on a high roof of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity with a gun, in the very heart of UMass/Amherst, police took no chances, descending on the scene in force along with UMPD.

An arrest was quickly made and the young man transported to Amherst Police Department headquarters.  According to Captain Jennifer Gundersen, the gun was a BB gun.

William C. Lewis, of 4760 Doylestown, Penn., was charged with disorderly conduct and possession of a weapon while committing a breach of peace.