Oh Say Can You See (Or Not)

 

More like a postage stamp

UPDATE:  Two hours after publication a new -- slightly larger flag -- replaced the postage stamp one.

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Anyone remember last month when town officials were quick to use the "BIG-American-flag-on-town-common-flies-24/7" excuse to justify their inexcusable position to ban the extra commemorative flags on 9/11?

Let's hope the BIG flag is back by Saturday, for the AFD open house.  If not, how about flying the commemorative ones?

Meanwhile, last week at Fort McHenry:

"A flag so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance."

Photo by Lauri Hittner Finch

A Cordial Affair

 Mayor Takahashi far left, Town Manager John Musante middle right, Austin Sarat far right Jones Trustee President

Jones Library Director Sharon Sharry likes to think of a public library as "the town's living room."

Tonight the Jones downstairs Woodbury Room transformed into just such a comfortable gathering place, as the Library hosted a gala reception to honor visiting dignitaries from our sister city, Kanegasaki, Japan.

  Amherst College Dining Services catered the event (yes, apple pie for desert)

Select Board and Amherst School Committee members, Jones Library Trustees, and  Town Manager John Musante represented the town, and our Japanese friends included Mayor Yoshiichi Takahashi, Akira Nitta, Superintendent of Schools and Kazumi Chiba, Vice Chair of their Town Assembly

On Monday the Amherst Select Board and Town Manager signed a renewal of the 20 year old Sister City Friendship Agreement.

A friendship that will only grow stronger over the next 20 years.

 

Flag of Japan flies on Amherst Town Hall turret

DUI Dishonor Roll

 On average, one in three people will be involved in a drunk driving crash in their lifetime

Just to show there is a cultural connection between rowdy Party Houses, Blarney Blowouts, Hobart Hoedowns and drunk drivers, I give you Joseph J. Buckley, age 23, a UMass student from Billerica, Massachusetts.

 

Joe Buckley

Now Joe was arrested by APD at 2:00 AM, early Friday morning after quenching his "Thirsty Thursday" with too much alcohol and then getting behind the wheel of a car.  He was pulled over on Lincoln Avenue, near UMass.

At the May, 2010 Hobart Hoedown Joseph Buckley was arrested for assault on an officer after throwing beer bottles at police.  Obviously UMass was pretty lenient on him as he is still a student three years later, and still being arrested by Amherst police. 

Back To Work!

Big ol' excavator operated by skilled laborer at Amherst Middle School tennis courts project this morning

The strike is over and with that 100 or so skilled laborers from the International Union of Operating Engineers Local Union 98 are back on the job.  

And while Union 98 may not have gotten everything they asked for, they did manage to get a raise in pay over the next three years and the formation of a study group to keep entry level job positions that act as a feeder system for the higher paid, more skilled, positions.

As my favorite Journo professor once said on the floor of Amherst Town Meeting.  "A good compromise is one that makes neither side perfectly happy."

Strike Heats Up

Warner Brothers Construction (non striking) crew on Triangle Street 11:30 AM

BREAKING NEWS:  Strike has been settled.  Machine operators will be back on the job tomorrow morning.  (An early Christmas present).

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"Work" resumed on the town's Triangle Street road project, albeit s-l-o-w-l-y as the International Union of Operating Engineers Local Union 98 are still on strike, and they are pretty much the skilled heavy equipment operators.

Laborers from a different union doing basic manual labor on Triangle Street

Thus Warner Bros is trying to finish this job using less than optimal work procedures .  For instance using a non-union job foreman, in this case John Baronas, to run the roller.  

 

John Baronas in white helmet (obviously not a Hollywood Western thing)

Mr Baronas was not overly happy about having his picture taken, as he came over to me and said somewhat sternly, "If any of my men come to harm, I will hold you personally responsible."  

I of course pointed out the Amherst police officer within spitting distance of the work site.  And that we are standing on a public street and he is using public tax money to break a union, um, complete the project.

Party House of the Weekend

 

419 Old Farm Rd, Amherst.  (normally) a quiet neighborhood

Once again we have a "new" first time address for party citations but one that's owned by a "usual suspect," Onesta Properties LLC, aka Pipleline Properties, aka Chad O'Rourke and Daniel Feldman.

Although I'm starting to wonder if there's problems in paradise as far as the student rental market is concerned, since Onesta Properties LLC, aka Pipeline Properties, aka Chad O'Rourke and Daniel Feldman just flipped two rental properties (12 Sunset Court and 747 Main Street) for a cool $899,000 total.

Let's hope DNB Properties LLC is a tad more careful with tenant selection.

Amherst police responded to a neighbor's call for help to quiet a loud party around 1:00 AM early Sunday morning.  The throng of "college aged youth" was less than cooperative with police so on top of the $300 noise ticket, each resident of the house earned a bonus "nuisance" ticket, also for $300.

Yes, that's a total of $600 for each rowdy resident.

Arrested, hands cuffed behind their backs and taken to APD headquarters where they were locked up until paying a $40 processing fee to the Clerk of Courts:

Daniel J. DuBois, age 19, 44 Cogswell St, Haverhill, Robert S. O’Neil, age 20, 30 Holmes Lane, Milton, and Rui R. Pereira and Timothy J. Stoops both age 20, and both from 419 Old Farm Road 419 Old Farm Rd, Amherst.

All four of them, amazingly, UMass students.

Justice For Danny?

 Roadside memorial for Daniel Haley, age 24, Rt. 116 Amherst/Hadley border

Every time somebody tells me to just "wait until there's a tragedy" so town and state officials will get deadly serious and do something about the prevalence of alcohol induced mayhem in our Happy Valley, I cringe.  

In fact, I get downright angry. 

Because I know that tragedy has already occurred, snatching from friends and family a promising young life just starting to hit stride.

Daniel Haley, age 24,  was only weeks away from graduating UMass/Amherst, an endeavor he worked hard to accomplish -- covering both the study requirements of a chemical engineering major as well as working to cover the cost of higher education. 

He was killed by Brittini Benton of Sunderland, also age 24, who was driving the wrong way on Rt 116 in Hadley, while under the influence of alcohol.  A lot of it! (BAC of 0.179, more than twice the legal limit).

A second offense no less.

But Ms. Benton, unlike Daniel Haley, will continue to age.  Only now she will do it from the cramped confines of a prison cell.  For the next five to seven years.

I asked a family member, great uncle Mike Haley, if he was satisfied with the outcome of the trial and the punishment recently meted out to Ms. Benton by our justice system.

Mr. Haley said the sentencing had brought "some form of closure" but obviously it was a "very hard day for the family."  Mike Haley and  Daniel's cousin -- who was more like a sister -- read prepared statements and the assistant DA read the statement of Daniel Haley's heartbroken mother.

The sentencing had been delayed three months so Ms. Benton, who became pregnant after the accident, could have her child.

The "system" allowed her back on the road only seven month after the first DUI.  The system delayed sentencing for over three months so she could bring a child into the world.

And not all that many years from now, the system will allow Brittini Benton back into a our free society; and who knows, maybe even allow her to drive a car again.

 "I only wish Danny had that opportunity," said Mike Haley somberly.

And if Massachusetts made interlock ignition switches mandatory after the FIRST offense for DUI, that alone would have saved him.  

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Time to close the loopholes