Friday's No More

The painful but necessary decision by The Massachusetts Daily Collegian to cease putting out a Friday print edition after almost 125 years is l-o-n-g overdue.  In fact they should cease all print editions, period.  And go all digital, all the time.

According to a Pew report less than 10% of people under the age of 30 confirmed reading a newspaper the previous day while, conversely, about half of adults over the age of 65 did read one.

But as those older readers die off they are not replaced by a younger generation of digitally native adults.

The average age of a UMass undergrad is 21, with only 7% age 25 or older.   The math is pretty simple.  Quite frankly, marketing a print newspaper on the Amherst campus is kind of like installing pay phones around the Campus Center.  Or bringing back horses as a means of transportation.

The Internet allows instantaneous, unlimited, and wicked cheap news production.  Embrace it!

30

 Happy Birthday Collective Copies

In old fashioned journo 30 means "end" of the story, but in business -- when measured in years -- it means an extraordinary accomplishment, especially when you are a niche entity to begin with.

Amherst worker owned collectives account for less than 1% of the businesses in town, but Collective Copies also stands out because they have withstood the test of time.

And they would not have lasted this long if not fulfilling job #1 for any service business:  customer service.

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Collective Copies Open House today 3pm: self-publishing workshop, and a raffle of co-operative-made merchandise. All events are free and open to the public!

Nasty NIMBYs

 

Cowls Tree Farm:  "Respectful visits welcome"

It's certainly one thing to mount a protest campaign including lawn signs, newspaper columns, and vocal gatherings at public meetings -- something I applaud -- but another thing altogether to deviate into criminal activity.  And I consider vandalism criminal.  As does the law.

Last week someone defaced a wall in the bathrooms at Cowls Building Supply in North Amherst with the graffiti "Leave Cushman Alone!" Sort of betrays that it was politically motivated.

Cowls Building Supply

Also last week members of the  "Save Historic Cushman" group filed a complaint with state and local authorities over logging practices at the forest off Henry Street Cowls wishes to sell to a developer for student housing.

On Monday the Amherst Conservation Commission and state Department of Conservation and Recreation toured the site and found nothing major amiss. 

Amherst Conservation Commission and State officials on site

Which comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with the 9th generation Cowls family,  the largest private landowners in the state and tree huggers since before the term was invented.

Just as it only takes a tiny minority of irresponsible party hardy students to give all students in town a bad name, so it is with activist groups.  Ironically the Save Historic Cushman folks are worried about rowdy student behavior and yet one or two of them are putting on an equally pernicious performance.

And since bad things often comes in three's:  At the Amherst Sustainability Festival Saturday on the Town Common a young conservation minded female working at the W.D. Cowls, Inc tent handing out free seedlings was verbally accosted by an older woman who represented herself as a member of Save Historic Cushman.

Including the mean barb, "You want the woods to look as ugly as you are," which sent her sobbing to the safety of her car.

Also on Saturday afternoon AFD responded to a brush fire along the cleared area just above Henry Street, far enough away so it could not have been sparks or a cigarette thrown from a passing vehicle.

First responders thought it was human activity that caused the fire, as in a party bonfire. But now I wonder:

Would someone take this hot button issue to an extreme, fighting fire with fire?

 

AFD Henry Street brush fire Saturday 2:45 PM

Henry Street Fire

DUI Dishonor Roll

 

 36% of all traffic deaths in Massachusetts are DUI-related 

Lucky thing you were not using the crosswalk on E Pleasant Street early Saturday morning or you may have run into Cecilia Jean Jensen -- or, more likely, she could have run into you.

(Repeat) Party House of the Weekend

 1190 North Pleasant Street, Saturday afternoon

With the official inauguration of UMass Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy, SoccerFest, Amherst's Sustainability Festival, events at Amherst College and the Ice Stars for Warriors event at the Mullins Center, our quaint little college town was in overdrive this past weekend.

As was revelry of the obnoxious kind. 

 

APD heading toward N Amherst bus stop for throng of students acting up

 

APD swoops in to suggest students get off the roof of former Watroba's

In all, Amherst Police made 38 arrests!  All but two for rowdy activity fueled by alcohol:  13 for noise  at numerous party houses, 13 for open container or underage drinking, 7 for "disorderly conduct" and one for DUI.

First up, the Bad Boys at  62 Summer Street -- all six of them!  

Arrested for noise violations Saturday night around 11:00 PM:

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220 North East St, Amherst

Next up, and about an hour later  (midnight Saturday) but in another part of town, 220 North East Street:

owned, naturally, by an LLC. 

 

Late Friday night into early Saturday morning Towne House Apartments --  #87 in particular -- was once again the scene of a large enough party to attract a police response. And four arrests:

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Alpha Tau Gamma, 118 Sunset Avenue

And of course what would a rowdy weekend be without some assist from a Frat: Alpha Tau Gamma, where an outdoor party was warned by APD Saturday at 1:00 PM and again at 5:00 PM.   Still, in the early morning hours of Sunday, one overly combative Jacob Scott Dennis, 15 Aztec Way, Sharon, MA, age 22, was arrested for Disorderly Conduct, Resisting Arrest and Simple Assault. 

The Hobart Hoedown failed to materialize (stationing a cruiser at the entrance to the complex helps) but an altercation did occur at 51 Hobart Lane 2:30 AM Sunday morning with police arresting perps for Disorderly Conduct:

Dominick M Ferrante, 88 Old Greenfield Road, Shelburne Falls, MA, age 21 and Tyson Dowdy, 4 Chapman, Greenfield, Ma, age 23

Once again a ubiquitous police presence -- UMPD, APD and State PD -- managed to keep a lid on any major disturbances, although if you are a neighbor to any of these cited party locations, not much consolation.

 

State Police K9 unit responds to disturbance near Old Towne Tavern

Mullins Center Command

 Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ...

Once again local fire departments successfully came together in mutual aid to work as a team, only this time fire or carnage of any kind was not involved.

Using Ladder 1 from AFD, a really big flag from NFD  and a lot of coordination from UMass Campus Safety and Fire Prevention Department, Old Glory was proudly raised high above the Mullins Center for the fantastic benefit show, Ice Stars for Wounded Warriors, held this past weekend.

Giving good reason for crowds to cheer -- even before getting into the venue.

Photos courtesy Ed Mientka

Titans Times Two

Stan Ziomek "Mr. Baseball"

One ran the Amherst DPW for 40 years, where he worked with less than pleasant materials daily, where multi-million dollar projects going right could be offset by a nickel-and-dime pothole repair going wrong;  while the other ran Amherst Town Meeting for 19 years, where bread-and-butter local issues can take a back seat to national and international affairs.

And everyone wants to have their say, about everything.

 

Amherst went all out in town center for Stan Ziomek Day

Saturday was "Stan Ziomek Day" here in Amherst, and the gorgeous spring day culminated in a gala reception in his honor at the glamorous Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Hadley.  The hall was packed with town and UMass officials, sports enthusiasts and just plain salt of the earth folks.  

Harrison Gregg, keeping control

My tenure in Town Meeting spanned about three quarters of Harrison Gregg's time as moderator.  And while I never saw him as "the enemy" the competitor in me viewed him as an obstacle to overcome.  So we kind of went at it like Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee.  I of course was the confederate.

But I never thought he was willfully unfair or capable of anything underhanded.  His love for the institution of Town Meeting could match General Grant or President Lincoln's love for the Union.

And THAT, I always find worthy of salute.