DUI Dishonor Roll

 In Massachusetts, driving fatalities for those under 21 rose 7.1% in 2011

Unfortunately things -- at least all thing things concerning alcohol -- returned to "normal" over the weekend with a high volume of AFD transports to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital for ETOH and three APD arrests for drunk driving.

Scary thing is in two of these cases the perps (Katelyn Pascale, age 21 and Colin Hurd, age 22) drew police attention by crashing their vehicles, and in both instances the mishap areas were active party house scenes with a decent volume of foot traffic within close proximity.

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For Phaly Lach , age 49, a second offense.  Three strikes and you're out.

Awash in ETOH

AFD loading up drunk Amherst College student

This Amherst Fire Department weekend run report is beyond the pale:

   AFD Weekend Drunks by larry_kelley_1

In spite of having five ambulances staffed -- two of them courtesy of UMass -- and the recent certification for Engine 1 to perform emergency medical responses we still had to rely on mutual aid via Northampton FD for an emergency call at Hampshire College (2:13 AM) for, naturally, an ETOH female.

And yes, I realize ETOH is only one small step away from death and therefore are a legitimate "emergency" that requires the highly trained services of Amherst Fire Department.

But there's still a B-I-G difference between somebody who voluntarily drinks themself to a point beyond oblivion and someone else who has a car accident or attack of appendicitis through no fault of their own.

This over indulgance in alcohol is sickening -- on a number of levels!  

Amherst Firefighters Local 1764 take on the matter

Party House of the Weekend

 196 Triangle Street, Amherst

Another usual suspect in the ongoing battle against rowdy behavior.  No not this particular house,  but the management company who owns and, err, manages it:  Eagle Crest Property Management, conveniently located at 55 North Pleasant Street above Stackers, a downtown bar. 

Early Sunday morning (1:13 AM) a noise complaint brought police to 196 Triangle Street one of the oldest streets in Amherst, thus making it one of the town's oldest neighborhoods (as in predating the existence of UMass/Amherst).

Notice that both apartments were engaged in rowdy behavior.  Gotta wonder how selective Eagle Crest is with their tenants. 

Maybe the $1,200 in fines will dissuade the bad boys in apartment #1 from becoming repeat offenders.  Maybe.

Weekends were made for ...

 Phillips Street (or maybe a zombie movie) just after midnight

So as weekends in a "college town" go -- especially this being the last one of summer -- things went relatively smoothly.  Of course APD, UMPD and AFD were busy as could be, but not to the breaking point.

Cooperation between the town first responders has always been outstanding, but the integration between town police-and-fire and UMass police and Environmental Health & Safety has gotten much better over the past year or so. 

This weekend UMPD was very visible at Party House responses -- even a few miles from campus.

The magic hours seem to start just after midnight through about 2:00 AM as both Friday-into-Saturday and last night into-this-morning there were times when APD was backed up on noise complaints, some of them being held for upwards of a half-hour before units could respond.

AFD, even with a shift of thirteen on (4 extra paid for by UMass) each night there were times when all five ambulances were on the road -- with many of those calls ETOH (alcohol OD) students.

The roving herds of students were not as much in evidence Friday but w-a-y more so last night into this morning.  No signs of the "Walk This Way" crew either night trying to redirect traffic off Fearing Street, which was the usual Grand Central Station last night.

Although late Friday night there were times when Sunset Avenue, contiguous with Southwest towers, was almost impassible by car due to foot traffic.  Not so much because the students were in overwhelming numbers, but simply because the groups of a dozen or so decided to walk in the middle of the road.

Considering that is also the time drunk drivers are out it's only a matter of time before a bad interaction between car and pedestrian occurs.  Early this morning for example APD  bagged a drunk driver at the still busy with foot traffic Fearing/Allen Street location around 1:30 AM.

When calling for back up the officer on scene told dispatch the vehicle had "clipped the curb pretty good." 

About That Explosion ...

 UMPD closed off Cold Storage Drive during the incident keeping folks away from lot 12

So for those of you wondering what that loud explosion was Friday night around 10:00 PM emanating from near UMass Graduate Research Center and reverberating to surrounding towns, fear not:  nothing exotic like a terrorist attack or meth lab gone awry.

Although, it was lab related:  an old, possibly unstable, container with less than 16 ounces of tetrahydrofuran turned up during a lab clean out and the normally clear liquid had started forming crystals, which are potentially explosive.   Local authorities took no chances.

AFD Chief Tim Nelson, who is a district team leader for regional HazMat response, took command at the scene.  The container was escorted to an out-of-the-way location near parking lot 12 and then detonated by Mass State Police bomb squad experts.

All in all, a seamless team effort by AFD, UMPD, UMass Environmental Health & Safety and Mass State Police.

 AFD Central Station 4/12/13.  DPW truck (rear) was used to transport chemicals out of town center

Back on April 12 AFD had a similar experience, only the potentially dangerous materials were brought directly to them.  An Amherst resident cleaning out his dad's basement (dad was a former chemist) brought a cardboard box full of old unmarked chemicals to Central Station on a busy Friday afternoon.

The items were placed in the back of a very large DPW truck and quickly but gently escorted to the top of the Notch where they were destroyed in a controlled demolition. 

AFD has four members on the Western Mass Regional Hazardous Materials Team and they drill on a monthly basis.  Last night the training came in handy.  

Unintended Consequences?

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life Enku Gelaye

As we head into the fair weather weekend, in anticipation of rowdy behavior, UMass disciplinarian Enku Galaye sent out a friendly email reminder to students to be on their, um, best behavior.

After all, off campus students are ambassadors for our flagship of higher education in the state.

Can't hurt for sure.  But there are always those who are not overly receptive ...

 Other informational emails

Ban The Blarney

 

McMurphy's downtown Amherst 3/10/12 10:45 AM

UPDATE (Sunday afternoon):   

Looks like the "Half Way to Blarney Blowout" promotion disappeared from the McMurphy's Facebook page over the past 24 hours. What's up with that? Something I said, hopefully.

Original Post:

"You're name is mud" may still be a familiar expression as the negativity is obvious -- even if you don't know the sad story of Dr. Mudd and his cold hearted patient, John Wilkes Booth. 

The term "Blarney Blowout," unlike the innocent doctor just doing his job,  has also earned a mud like moniker.  A well deserved one.

This promotion encourages exuberant college aged youth to consume copious amounts of alcohol starting very early in the day, all in the name of profit.  What could go wrong?

In July an Amherst man was acquitted of rape using the "morning-after-regret" defense.  Of course the morning after was a follow up to a day of partying during the "Blarney Blowout" 2011 edition.

And we already know the pernicious public safety impact of the 2013 event, when thousands of youth packed the quad area of Townhouse Apartments requiring a bevy of police (town, state and UMass) dressed in riot gear to bring under control. 

UMass/Amherst recently became serious about the dangers of out-of-control partying.  Cancelling Fantazia at the Mullins Center due to concerns over the drug "Molly" certainly demonstrate that. 

The 5-member Amherst Select Board are also the town's "Liquor Commissioners" (and ironically enough, "Sewer Commissioners".)

If Umass can impose its will on the privately operated Mullins Center to cancel a potentially dangerous production, the Select Board should follow suit and come down on McMurphy's Uptown Tavern like a ton of kegs.

And that's no blarney.

Giving responsible drinkers a bad name