Fire Glendale Road

 AFD Assistant Chief Stromgren directing the attack

214 Glendale Road, South Amherst

Amherst Fire Department knocked down a structure fire at 214 Glendale Road South Amherst in about a half-hour this cold morning, confining the major damage to a family room addition at the rear of the house, where the fire originated, and roof.  There were no injuries.

Assistant Chief Lindsay Stromgren was on the scene directing the efforts of two original responding engines and an ambulance, that were quickly supplemented with many more pieces of heavy apparatus.

AFD Incident Report

Anxious moments until firefighters confirmed nobody was in the house

Amherst police were first on the scene reporting smoke and fire on the back porch which quickly spread to the attached one family ranch.  Animal control officer Carol Hepburn also responded but no word if there were any pets impacted. 

High pressure hose getting the job done

 

AFD Engine 2 (Quint) on scene

Note large natural gas liquid propane tank bottom left, near where fire started.  Yikes!

Assistant Chief Don McKay (center) also on scene

AFD Chaplain Bruce Arbour (left) on scene

Pine Street Stabbing

 66 Pine Street

Accused slasher Noah Kelly Pfister made a brief appearance this morning in Eastern Hampshire District Court before Judge John M.Payne Jr.,  and by way of his attorney Thomas Whitney entered a plea of "not guilty" to the charge of "assault with a dangerous weapon."

He remained seated the entire time, letting his attorney do all the talking.  Two Amherst Police detectives sat close by.

The case was continued to this Friday at 11:00 AM to give the prosecution time to coordinate the testimony of three witnesses -- the victim (Henry Lancaster-Goguen), an Amherst police officer, and one bystander present that night.

The 58-A hearing is a "Motion for Pre-Trial Detention" (under MGL 276) made by the prosecution to declare Mr. Pfister "dangerous" and should be held in jail until trial.  Until then he remains in police custody and Mr. Pfister was escorted back to jail by Detective Tina Knightly. 

Defense Attorney Whitney told the Judge he would be calling two witnesses present that night. In addition he requested from the prosecution copies of photos and videos taken during the investigation and audio of the 911 call.

 Reading between the lines of the "Statement of Facts," safe bet the defense will be "self defense."

   Pine Street Stabbing

Party House of the Weekend

 902 East Pleasant Street, North Amherst

So as I mentioned last week when the house a couple doors down made my pernicious Party House list, these neighborhood single-family homes were actually built for families to live in, and now many have been converted to student housing.

While these particular perps did not throw bottles at police officers they were hardly cooperative when officers arrived after someone in the neighborhood complained about the noise and foot traffic.

All four responsible tenants were issued both noise and nuisance house tickets amounting to $600 in fines.  Interestingly if they had been arrested they would have appeared before Judge Payne yesterday, and he routinely fails to enforce both tickets, allowing the matter to be settled for just $300. 

Slasher Weekend

 A 15" double-edged blade can ruin your entire evening

Maybe it was the full moon, or the unseasonably warm weather or -- more likely -- too much alcohol, as this past weekend turned a tad violent with Amherst Police Department (and AFD) dealing with two separate dangerous weapon assaults.

The Pine Street incident early Saturday morning where a UMass student was stabbed multiple times by Noah Kelly Pfister, 24, who was arrested when he turned himself in at APD headquarters this afternoon.

And on Sunday a little after 10:00 PM at Village Park Apartments, adjacent to UMass, a couple of gentlemen got into a disagreement and one, Russell St. Andre, age 50, used a sword cane to settle it.

He must have grown up on James Bond movies.

   Sword Cane assault

Party House from the Past

621 East Pleasant Street, formerly known as Babetown, early November

Just to show our Building Department means business when issuing tickets for zoning violations, aka slovenly behavior, I give you this morning's proceeding in Eastern Hampshire District Court where Building Commissioner Rob Morra put in an appearance to follow up on tickets written to 621 East Pleasant Street for, among other things, cars parked on the lawn rather than in the driveway.

My more ardent readers -- who especially like to read the comments -- will remember 621 East Pleasant was the household that was going to file suit against me for shining a light on their not so neighborly behavior.

The owner of the house, Robert Bonsall, failed to appear this morning in Civil Court; and if he does not appear in Criminal Court on 12/20 to answer the charge he will be arrested.  Merry Christmas. 

Red Is The New Black

Cherry Hill Golf Course: always stormy  

Red ink continues to outline Amherst's municipal white elephant -- the appropriately titled Cherry Hill Golf Course.  Set against a bright blue sky background it might make an all-American logo for government waste and mismanagement.

Last year the beleaguered business lost $47,000 and this year -- at the half way point -- they are again on target to lose well over that amount.

Of course town officials will write it off as almost a wash or talk about "net operating profits" conveniently ignoring the hidden costs -- employee benefits, ($37,529) and capital improvements ($26,654).

Yes, the FY14 "operation budget" is $240,100 but the real cost of running the golf business this year is $304,283.  And with total revenues now at season closure standing at only $90,701 (below last year's $96,537) safe bet the course will not even generate the $242,569 total it did in FY13.

So my conservative projection for total losses in the this fiscal year finishing June 30 is $60,000 -- or a little over the cost of one full time firefighter, police officer or yes, even a teacher (well, almost). 

Next year (FY15) will be exponentially worse since the (hidden) capital improvements cost will be in the $100,000 range.

Time to board up the sinking sand trap.

Five year plan for capital improvements (not part of "operation budget")

Frisky Friday

 

APD on scene 66 Pine Street 12:55 AM

Well okay, technically early Saturday morning.  The late night  "Bewitching Hours" between 10:00 PM and 2:00 AM when the Zombie herds start to stagger in a synchronous swarm:

Police and medical personnel responded quickly to 66 Pine Street, North Amherst around 12:35 AM for reports of a "stabbing to the neck."  Although upon police arrival the victim claims to have suffered the injuries in a fall.

A police officer rode in the ambulance with the victim to Cooley Dickinson Hospital and patrol officers on the scene (five cruisers at one point) called for a memory card for the camera and a detective.  Police also escorted two witnesses back to APD headquarters to give statements. 

Upon arrival at CDH the severity of his injuries were such that he was quickly shipped off to Baystate Medical Trauma Center in Springfield.  One of my sources used the term "multiple stab wounds," adding "He's lucky to be alive."

66 Pine Street, North Amherst

This morning neighbors report the house was blocked off by yellow crime scene tape as State Crime Lab investigators were on the scene. 

While police were still investigating what happened at 66 Pine Street a report came in at 12:55 AM (from private security on site)  for a fight involving up to 10 college aged youth at Townhouse Apartments a few hundred yards down the road.  UMPD was called in to respond.

And at 1:35 AM Engine 4 (Call Force) and Engine 3 responded to Brandywine Apartments in North Amherst for a drunk 23-year-old male who had punched a wall injuring his hand, and was then talking about suicide.

Since all of our ambulances were tied up, Northampton Fire Department had to respond.

@amherstac wow, what is in the water in North Amherst tonight? Or—maybe it is alcohol rather than water at work
— CitizenWald (@CitizenWald) November 16, 2013

And then, about an hour ago, this news of the weird:

AFD  en route Hamlin Dorm UMass for male student who thinks he awoke to a broken leg.  Reports drinking heavily last night.  Umm, yeah.
— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) November 16, 2013

MassLive catches up with story