Puffer's Pond Tweak

 Puffer's Pond:  Paradise of Amherst

Amherst Town Meeting will vote a creative funding deal for repairs at arguably the town's #1 recreation attraction, Puffer's Pond. 

Last spring Town Meeting overwhelmingly approved $15,000 to repair the fencing around the dam to keep pesky youth (and photographers) from climbing the rocks.

Since that article passed Conservation staff subitted to the state a grant proposal for $36,000 for additional repairs to the trails and beach area.  The grant requires a 50% match, so the town will use the original $15,000 already appropriated along with $3,000 in private donations to cover the match.

 Damn people keep climbing up onto the dam

Article 8 calls for authorization of the full grant amount ($36,000) and applies the $18,000 in available funds towards that amount to cover the matching grant requirement. 

If the state approves the $36,000 grant request, thereby giving us an additional $18,000 to work with, it has to be expended before June 30, 2014.  If the state turns down the application, Amherst will simply use the original $15,000 to repair/install fencing.

Got that?

A Bridge Too Far

 Mill Street Bridge near Puffer's Pond, closed last year due to safety concerns

The Amherst Select Board heard a report this evening from Town Manager John Musante concerning the North Amherst Mill Street Bridge, closed last year by "emergency" order of the state after their inspectors discovered problems during a routine inspection six months prior to giving the town the close order.

Now suddenly they wish to put us on a "fast track" for possible renovation in 2017 (making you wonder how they would define "slow track").

The Town Manager seemed a tad timid about that and responded with a letter saying the town hired a consultant to do an engineering study to outline four possible options:  Simply keep it the way it is, closed to motor vehicles and allow only pedestrian and bicycles; replace it with an improved structure but limited to bikes and pedestrians only; rebuild a bit stronger but only for one lane of traffic; and finally, do a standard rebuild of a two lane bridge with 4' to 5' sidewalk. 

At the 6:30 Public Comment period retired UMass history professor Louis Greenbaum urged the Select Board to reopen the bridge ASAP.  During the Town Manager's report concerning the bridge Vince O'Connor presented the board with a petition urging the bridge be reopened to one-way vehicular traffic while the engineering study process is going on.

 

Some locals would like it to remain closed, keeping it a giant planter

Drunk Runs Escalate

 AFD and UMPD assist intoxicated UMass student early Sunday morning (12:53 AM)

Saturday night was even worse than Friday for all things alcohol in our little college town; but fortunately the calls were spread out -- just barely enough -- so mutual aid from a surrounding Fire Department was not required.

Of course it helps greatly that AFD brings in extra staffing on weekends, almost doubling from the weekday level of 7 first responders up to 13.  With that, five ambulances and a fire engine can be simultaneously staffed.

Ominously, the first ETOH call came in Saturday at 7:53 PM from the Mullins Center, during a UMass hockey game, for two intoxicated college aged youth, one male and one female.  The night before the first (of six) ETOH cases started later, at 9:18 PM.

Before the dawn of Sunday morning AFD would do 8 runs to UMass vs 6 the previous night.

But the one incident that stands out in my mind and makes me question whether things will ever get better occurred at Amherst College:  A3 is dispatched for an ETOH male at Crossett Dorm at 11:13 PM and upon arrival at the scene requests assistance from Engine 1.

 AFD Engine 1 and A3 Amherst College Saturday night 11:15 PM

While paramedics are all inside dealing with the patient, a pack of boisterous students in preppie attire walk by.  I hear one of them say loudly, "Go ahead, that would be awesome."

One young man sprints across the street to position himself alongside Engine 1, holds out his iPhone at arm's length taking "selfies" while holding up a can of beer in the other hand.  

Two hours later AFD would respond again to Amherst College for an ETOH female with a head laceration due to a fall.  Which of course could have been fatal.

I wonder if the smart ass who took the stupid selfies a few hours earlier gets that?

   AFD drunk runs mid-Oct by larry_kelley_1

 

Yes, 22 ETOH calls, almost two-third of them to UMass, is a new record for this year.

Pancakes!

Jaws -- I mean Jada -- enjoying her pancakes at North Station

John Belushi had his "Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger" and this morning the Amherst Fire Department had pancakes and more pancakes at the annual PANCAKE breakfast.

And yes, for us meat eaters there was also bacon and sausage.  All proceeds benefited the SAFE program (Student Awareness of Fire Education).

 AFD North Station, built 1972

Having experienced a major structure fire up close and personal, I'm living proof that it can happen to anyone.  Key word being "living".  Because when The Beast comes calling, knowing what to do can save your life.

The SAFE program brings 4th graders into this important education process; and based on reports from my older daughter Kira, the kids love it.

UPDATE Monday afternoon:  Ed the canada goose wandered off, last seen heading towards UMPD headquarters across the street.

The unofficial greeter this morning:  A Canadian Goose who waddled onto the station front yard on Friday and has taken up residence.

No Riot, Lots of Rangers

UMass Southwest Towers, built 1963

UMass Police Department did not need riot gear last night, Mass State Police and Amherst Police Department were not required for backup and the horse patrol with their majestic mounts did not have to push back a large unruly crowd of fired up youth.

In other words, no Red Sox riot last night. 

The rain of course helped.  A few minutes before midnight, with the game down to the final three outs, the cloudy conditions gave way to a decent downpour.  Not a deluge, but enough to make you think twice about dawdling outdoors unprotected.  And no, alcohol does not count. 

At 11:57 PM (with the game outcome now obvious) UMPD command issued the bulletin:  "All cadets remain at your posts.  Do not take midnight break."  A few moments later the game finishes and a collective cheer could be heard echoing around the Southwest Towers.

At 12:25 AM UMPD command issues another bulletin:  "Hold your positions for another 15 minutes."

And at 12:45 AM the order to stand down and "report back to your stations for reassignment." 

But then, at 12:58 AM:

UMPD Dispatch:  some media cameras just arrived and the students are "performing" for them.
— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) October 20, 2013

And again, at 12:59 AM:

UMPD:  cameraman from ch22 news has been asked not to stir them up.
— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) October 20, 2013

A Bad Moon On The Rise?

Moon rise, dusk South East Street looking East

Alcohol once again played a major role in overnight mayhem Friday, with the seasonably clear comfortable weather and bright full moon playing a supporting role.

Not that I believe a full moon has the power to bring on temporary madness.

But after one particularly bad run late last night for first responders, I'm starting to wonder ...

The initial bad signs started earlier than usual (9:15 PM) with a UMPD officer reporting "a fleet of yellow school buses full of drunk kids" driving slowly around the outskirts of campus.  Three minutes later AFD responded to the first ETOH (alcohol OD) call of the night:  A male resident of Van Meter Dorm passed out in the basement "laying in his own vomit."

AFD on scene UMass Parking lot 34, 11:45 PM

At 9:24 PM UMPD requests another ambulance for a student in lock up who passed out.  A few minutes later the same officer requests, "clean up in the cell block bathroom."

A little before 11:00 PM AFD responds to JFK Southwest Tower 12th floor for an ETOH male passed out in the lounge.  About 45 minutes later UMPD requests an ambulance for a student passed out in the parking lot of lot 34 off Massachusetts Avenue.  

Then comes the call from Hell:  A young man flipping out from a combination of "booze, speed and ecstasy".   A1 transports him to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital with a UMass police officer along for the ride because the patient was so "agitated."

About an hour later the UMPD officer who rode shotgun in A1 reports back to Dispatch that the perp assaulted one of the medical staff in the ER.  

 

Monkey Bar is busy around midnight

At the stroke of midnight, with the glorious moon high in the sky,  A5 responds to Puffton Village for an ETOH college aged female.  And with that call all five ambulances are now tied up, almost all of them for "substance abuse" runs.

Fortunately no serious medical incidents requiring an ambulance occur,  as AFD would then have to rely on mutual aid, and the patient would have to wait until an ambulance from a surrounding town arrived to transport them to the hospital (Although an AFD fire engine would have responded with an emergency first responder aboard to stabilize the patient until that ambulance arrived).

 Busted!  DUI Fearing Street midnight

 FST #fail

Also at midnight APD pulls over a car on Fearing Street for driving with no lights (must have been the full moon).  The young man is given a Field Sobriety Test, fails, and is arrested.   At the time Fearing Street is a bee hive of activity with clusters of students ambling in every direction. 

At 12:25 AM an Amherst police officer near 695 Main Street reports a young man being taken into "protective custody" because at this point, "he can't even figure out his name."

12:45 AM Fearing Street: Four school buses filled with "college aged youth"

At 12:45 AM I come across the four yellow school buses dropping off a crowd of boisterous passengers on Fearing Street at exactly the same location of the DUI arrest a half hour earlier.  

At 1:45 AM I hear yet another report of a drunk young male only this one is wandering in the middle of a main thoroughfare, South Pleasant Street.  And since the address given is pretty much my house, I head that way (at reasonable speed of course) from town center.  

The 20-year-old male is attempting to thumb a ride but is being a tad too, err, aggressive about it.  I swerve to avoid him, although I was taking a left to go into the access road to my house anyway, and the headlights immediately behind me belong to an APD supervisor.

After a 15 minute or so "discussion" the young man is taken into "protective custody."  By now the APD cell block is filling up with youthful perps awaiting the Clerk of Courts arrival to send them on their way with a promise (and $40 processing fee) to appear at Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday morning.

Meanwhile the moon, so far overhead, is still beaming brightly ... looking peaceful. 

State Spanks Monkey Bar

Monkey Bar, 63 North Pleasant St, Amherst

The Alcohol Beverage Control Commission punished a downtown bar popular with "college aged youth" for, among other things, serving a minor -- their 10th such offense since opening in the year 2000.

In addition to losing their license to serve alcohol for the month of September (prime time business month in a "college town") owner Mauro Aniello also paid a $7,080 fine as a "compromise" on additional sanctions.

   State Spanks Monkey Bar

Back story told in emails (Or: what a pain the town is in dealing with Public Documents)