Water, Water, Everywhere

UMass Water Tower, Orchard Hill, E. Pleasant Street, Amherst

The $1 million renovation of the UMass 1.5 million gallon (less than a dollar a gallon!) water tower is complete.  The tower is now back on line helping to provide adaquate water pressure throughout Amherst's water/sewer system.

And yes, in the event of a fire, you can bet the fire hydrant in front would provide a heck of a flow. 

DUI Dishonor Roll

 

What is 3.2 deaths per 100,000?  National average for alcohol related fatal accidents

So amazingly, with as much alcohol that flowed freely over the weekend, Amherst police only made one arrest for Driving Under the Influence.

Of course maybe they were so busy doing crowd control for the THOUSANDS of migrating students in and around UMass that they did not have the time to concentrate on those potential roadway scud missiles.

Early Sunday morning (1:18 AM) police arrested UMass student Michael J. Defazio, age 21, near the VFW on Main Street, only a stone's throw from Amherst town center (and the police station).

Hopefully they still teach "learning from your mistakes" in Sport Management.

Almost exactly 12 hours later on Twitter (tweet now deleted):

In need of a road bike
— Mike DeFazio (@mikeydefaz9) September 1, 2013

Drunken Revelry, Record Fruit Salad

 Breaking News:  UMass Food Fetish

So if you ever wondered why UMass schedules these goofy waste-of-food Guinness World Record events over the Labor Day weekend, I offer you today's edition of the Daily Hampshire Gazette.  Yikes!

While maybe not quite as bad as the "Blarney Blowout" screw up, it's still a sad state of journo affairs when the town of Amherst (Leverett, Pelham, Shutesbury and Hadley) can be essentially unprotected for emergency medical calls because all five ambulances are tied up, mostly with drunk students, and the only thing the newspaper publishes is a public relations puff piece. 

But yeah, that fruit salad must have been pretty epic.

   College Town Labor Day by larry_kelley_1

A Final (And Future) Request

"The People" wish to weigh in ...

Memo:  Amherst Select Board

Re:  Citizen Petition to fly the commemorative flags every 9/11

The Town Clerk informs me all the signatures required for requesting that you place the 9/11 commemorative flags advisory question before the voters on March 25, 2014 were certified.

I would ask that you take up official discussion of this at your next scheduled meeting Monday, September 16, while the awful anniversary is still fresh in our minds. 

As you know this petition now has to be acted on by you at least 90 days prior to March 25.  

I would also point out that you have until close of business tomorrow to call a Select Board meeting for Monday, September 9 ... in time for allowing the flags to fly this coming 9/11.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this important matter.

Larry Kelley

Labor Day in a College Town

 

Town center 1:20 AM this morning

Last night into early this morning seemed to be the busiest time this Labor Day weekend for Amherst public safety personnel.  With all hands on deck APD managed to keep things under control, with no major disruptions -- aka Blarney Blowout -- to report.

 133 Fearing Street, Sunday morning

Around 10:00 PM the alcohol related arrests began -- open container, underage drinking (usually in combination) -- in and around the immediate neighboring streets to our UMass flagship:  Fearing, Phillips, Alan streets, Nutting and Lincoln Avenues, Hobart Lane, Meadow Street and with assist from UMass Police Department,  all along North Pleasant Street.

These early interventions send the message that law and order will be maintained.




Amherst Fire Department, on the other hand, was pushed to the breaking point.  Around midnight, just after dispatch issued a call for two off duty personnel to come in for station coverage.

Northampton Fire Department had to respond for a call to a high rise Southwest dorm for a female with a head injury.

At the time all five of our ambulances were tied up -- the majority of them dealing with passed out drunk students.  Late Sunday into early Monday morning AFD responded to UMass for a total of 11 emergency medical calls -- seven of them for ETOH students.



Over the course of the evening I passed by the scene of a young person down (usually female) with concerned friends trying to help them up at least a half-dozen times.  Particularly concerning because a young woman died last year after falling and hitting her head while staggering down Fearing Street with friends. 

The previous night APD and AFD responded to 45 Phillips Street for a young woman passed out in the yard.  She was only seventeen. 


127 E. Pleasant St. around midnight "First and last party of the semester."

A Casualty Of Confrontation

Stop The Retreat: A movement in the weeds

So for the Anons who questioned the combative headline in my first ever guest post (probably my last) in the war over "The Retreat" -- high end housing for college students, our #1 demographic -- I offer the following sad Facebook exchange:

Hey, if the national media can cite Facebook as attribution for an alleged 11-year-old's taunting of President Obama over the supposedly imminent attack on Syria, I don't feel bad using Facebook here. 

The Amherst Bulletin, obviously still clinging to its long retired role as supreme gatekeeper, allowed NIMBY opponent Jack Hirsch two columns attacking "The Retreat", the second one where he took on Mr. Grabbe by name.

When Mr. Grabbe asked editor Larry Parnass for the right to respond he was turned down because the editor-in-chief wanted to give Mr. Hirsch "the last word."

 

(outnumbered) Nick Grabbe invoking 1st Amendment rights at 7/29 Select Board meeting

Okay, fair enough (not really) I suppose -- except in this week's Bulletin they publish another attack on "The Retreat" and again Mr. Grabbe is mentioned by name, with an almost snarky like quality you expect to find on a blog rather than staid old fashioned print newspaper.

Yes as President Truman once observed the public arena can be an uncomfortably warm kitchen, but in Amherst it's more like one-room commercial pizza joint on a hot, humid late-August afternoon.

Amherst:  where even the h is silent.  And now you know why.

Welcome Back Students!

 164 Sunset Avenue, 12:45 PM Friday (must be liquid lunch)

Well, maybe not these particular students.  Or this particular address.