255th Starts Just Fine

Amherst Finance Committee

Like a proud army marching off to war across the comfortable confines of familiar territory, the opening night of Amherst's 255th Annual Town Meeting started off just grand.  The question is how well will the army look a month from now after endless combative discussions ... almost always coming down to money.

With a few articles put off to other nights, a few more placed on an automatic "yes" consent list and the benefit of non-controversial articles stacked at the begining of the 45 article warrant, Town Meeting managed to make it to article #16, THE BUDGET.  $68 million worth in total.

 Amherst Select Board making a hasty retreat

Tonight the Jones Library's tiny percentage of that overall budget came up for discussion.  Library Director Sharon Sharry closed her bubbly presentation with, "We're here because of you and for you." The $1,741,512 budget item passed unanimously.

  Jones Library Director Sharon Sharry

And since it was now 10:00 PM, Town Meeting would have to vote approval to continue discussion of THE BUDGET.  The "yes" votes were 4 or 5, the "no" votes 150 or more.  Town Meeting called it a night.

Excellence Once More

 Amherst Police Department, 111 Main Street

To no great surprise to anyone who has been paying attention over the past three years, the Amherst Police Department last week received the good news that their state accreditation has been renewed.

Back in 2001, not long before the terrorist attack underscored the ultimate sacrifice all of our first responders face on a daily basis, the Amherst Police Department first achieved accreditation -- only the second department in the state to do so.

Of course the downside to being such a highly-trained, well-regarded department is town officials figure they are sort of like the Texas Rangers "one riot, one ranger" routine, and as a result can continue to keep the department understaffed. 

Party House of The Week

 188 Sunderland Road

Yes that's right, I had to change the "Party House of the Weekend" headline just to cover these three Wild Women, as their over the top party occurred on a WEDNESDAY night.

Must have been an ode to "hump day".  Yikes!

Weekend Wrap Up

 Occupants of downtown Lincoln Building party on nearby roof

In spite of it being the last weekend UMass is still in session and picture perfect weather throughout, overall the weekend went well from a pubic safety perspective:  lots of fender benders, numerous noise complaints -- but relatively few arrests -- and only one DUI, but it was a doozy.

On Sunday afternoon (only minutes after someone sent me the above photo) police responded to a complaint about a large gathering of college aged youths from Lincoln Building apartment #201 on the adjoining roof of Bueno Y Sanyo.  Police told the 30 or so perps to shut off the radio and get inside.

Which they did.  Quickly.

 Police broke up a party at 202 College Street early Sunday morning leaving each of  the two responsible tenants with $300 civil violation tickets for both "noise" and "nuisance" or a cool $600 each.  Probably could also have issued them tickets for littering. 

200/ 202 College Street early Sunday morning

And of course our young exuberant friends at the rowdy house located on well traveled North Pleasant Street (#800) were out during the day Saturday with the "You Honk We Drink" sign.

 Not a lot of honks, but they drank anyway

 

800 North Pleasant early Sunday morning 

Someone recently decorated the house on the corner of Meadow Street and North Pleasant (1190 North Pleasant), recently purchased by Jamie Cherewatti with a slogan.   Consider it, I guess, a rallying cry for Amherst Town Meeting when they take up discussion of the Rental Registration & Permit system on May 20.

"Eyesores" days are numbered.

AFD To The Rescue

 

AFD on scene top of The Notch

Saturday, one of the most gorgeous days of the year so far, was a great day for a hike, and as it turned out for the Amherst Fire Department technical rescue team, a great day for a technical rescue.

A young woman hiking with family about two-thirds of the way to the top of Bare Mountain (the trail that leads from West Street up to the first summit) fell and  injured her ankle.

The first responder to reach her realized motorized gator units could not make it to the remote location,  so the Amherst Fire Department mobilized its "technical rescue team" which includes Northampton Fire Department personnel.

AFD packing up after successful rescue.  Chief Tim Nelson 2nd from right

With Chief Nelson directing from a makeshift command off the parking lot to the Notch visitors center, the entire rescue was successfully completed in just over two hours.

 

Chief Nelson at improvised command 

With this weekend at high risk for brush fires and the college town of Amherst  party season at peak bloom, safe bet AFD will not be able to relax for the rest of the weekend.

 

   Lots of rescue hardware on scene Notch Visitors Center

Third Watch

 AFD at Mullins Center 1:30 AM for patient with "altered mental status"

Amherst police and firefighters were kept on the go last night (Friday) into early Saturday morning instigated by warm temperatures, alcohol, and opportunity:  That brief luxurious time period just after UMass classes are complete, but finals have not yet started. 

And yes, trouble areas were mostly the usual suspects:  a few outside unpermited bonfires on Phillips Street (#45 and #51), a loud party at 15/17 Fearing Street, a passed out drunk in front of College Pizza, and of course a DUI.

Around 12:45 AM a patrol car observed a vehicle driving erratically on South Pleasant Street dead in the heart of downtown.  He took a right on Northampton Road (Rt 9) with the patrol car in close pursuit, was pulled over and descended on by a swarm of cruisers.  The college aged youth flunked his Field Sobriety Test, was arrested and his car towed.

 Ernie's Towing escorts DUI vehicle to impound 1:15 AM

I retraced the trajectory of the vehicle, a potentially deadly weapon, and could not help but notice the downtown was especially active.  How many could have been seriously injured if he lost control and plunged into the crowd in front of Antonio's?

Antonio's downtown Amherst 1:00 AM

Dispatch recieved a call from a young lady around 2:10 AM complaining about a "loud party" at 69 Meadow Street. The Anonymous caller only wanted it "quieted down, but doesn't want anyone to get in trouble."  

Party hardy types apparently were not on the same page, as APD arrested two for "disorderly conduct".

 

69 Meadow Street, Amherst 

Making The Sausage

I did an interview yesterday with a nice young man from the UMass Journo program for his final paper -- specifically involving my favorite course, Journalism Ethics.

The easy question concerned whether I ever hesitate publishing names and addresses of perps arrested for bad behavior.  Well, no. 

But as usual it's the gray area questions that make you think.  Such as: do I give unfair out-of-proportion weight to one story or series of stories?  That I get accused of all the time.  Again talking Party Houses, DUI, and in general, rowdy student behavior. 

As of this morning, over 6 years, I've published 2,539 posts.  I did not even start my popular "Party House of The Weekend" series until November, 2010 and I have published under 200 of those, or less than 10%.

Or as a professional flack would say, "90% of Larry's stories do not concern rowdy student party houses."

My DUI Dishonor Role started 18 months ago, so there have been only around 30 of those posts, and only about half the "winners" are students.  So once again a very tiny percentage of overall articles.

And the widget on my main page that calculates my most "popular posts" of all time show 6 out of 10 are not related to rowdy student behavior. Thus I never feel pressured to come up with stories to fit that preordained narrative.

These days I have three levels of response to a story:  Level one is no more than a tweet.  Something I hear on the scanner or a quick photo of something that is borderline interesting, but not worthy of much more than 140 characters (but a photo is still worth 1,000 words).

Level 2 is it's worth more than a tweet, so it gets posted to my Facebook page (always a photo) as well.

And Level 3 is something that has risen to the level of posting here on the blog with a link (and intro headline) crossposted on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin.  But yes, I occasionally have a slow news day where something whimsical still gets Level 3 treatment.

 

"Electric Flurry" photo tweeted last night around 10:00 PM

Last night, normally a Level 2 story, is a good example.  I expected the concert at the Mullins Center to be more of a problem than it turned out to be.  At 10:00 PM I tweeted a photo of the concert in progress with the report that AFD had already transported one to the hospital.

And then, the next morning (today) I posted on Facebook another photo from later in the concert when foam was being sprayed on concertgoers with the report that the event actually went quite well and the crowd was very well behaved.

Electric Flurry follow up photo posted to Facebook this AM

So sure, if it had been the disaster like some of the previous techno concerts I would have used a heavier Level 3 response.

And railed against the Mullins Center, UMass and clueless parents over youthful patrons tying up emergency responders due to their irresponsible activity, which I find unacceptable.

Now, however, the Mullins Center "Electric Flurry" concert has just risen to a Level 3 story anyway.   

And yes, today has been a slow news day ... so far.