Helen (Ice) Berg Strikes Again

 

A happy Helen Berg at Select Board meeting 3/31

At tonight's Select Board meeting during the 6:30 p.m. "public comment" period former (or maybe not) Select Board candidate Helen Berg confirmed she has contacted the ACLU and Attorney General regarding her complaint about ballot placement.

Berg, who came in a distant 3rd at the annual Town Election last week, complained to town officials when her name appeared 3rd of the 4 Select Board candidates.  Berg insisted she should be 1st as state statute says non-incumbents (in this case all four candidates) should be placed on the ballot alphabetically.

Town officials did throw out those ballots and arranged a do-over drawing of names because the original meeting of the Board of Registrars was not properly posted.  But they continued to use the traditional method of randomly drawing names from a hat rather than using the state method, which would have place Berg in the top position.

Either way the two top vote getters enjoyed a more than four-to-one margin of victory.  Berg will have a hard time convincing a judge that placement on the ballot alone cause such a dramatic thrashing.  Although, judges are known to be sticklers when it comes to rule of law.

Another town election would cost taxpayers $12,000.





If you like this story help make this happen:

Indiegogo fundraiser for Amherst Record Digital News

Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

Glazed Doughnut Shop in a Dead Man Walking building

One of the really hard things about renting commercial space for your mom and pop business -- which includes the vast majority of Amherst small business owners -- is you have no incentive to put tons of money into the physical structure, since you will only be enhancing the value for your landlord.

Which is why you sign a somewhat long lease at start up, because there are of course finishing costs particular to your business that you can't expect the landlord to cover, but consist of items you can't very well take with you when you leave somewhere down the distant road.   Hopefully, for a building you can call your own.

Like hot water heaters for instance.  When the Glazed Doughnut Shop first moved into the space formerly occupied by Family Wireless, the hot water heater was the size of a breadbox; and being a bakery you need a fair amount of hot water.  So out went $3,000 for a new larger unit with all the copper piping now required to meet commercial building codes.

In all owners Keren and Nick Rhodes, high school sweethearts who now probably see more of their business than they do of each other, estimate they spent $15,000 two years ago on finishing costs that they can't take with them.

Why leave a lovely location with three years left on a lease (and an option to renew for five more years)?

Well, town insiders pretty much now agree that the entire Carriage Shops complex is toast -- actively sought for a classy mixed use commercial/residential complex that will act as a major anchor for that side of the downtown.

And will be great for business in Amherst.  But not so great if you are a current tenant of the Carriage Shops.  Hence the problem.  On the one hand the Rhodes support the revitalization of the commercial complex but can't take the risk of losing the roof over their heads without another place to go.

Meanwhile, a doughnut throw away, a commercial spot opened up, larger and in an even better a location (although slightly haunted by frequent turnover).  A perfect port in a gathering storm.

Problem now is they need $15,000 to prepare the new space.  A big hit for a small business barely out of their rookie year. 

So they are turning to you.  "Mm going to try with a little help from my friends."  Which of course means a crowd funding website like Indiegogo.

Come on Amherst, we talk the talk about supporting local business.  Well, here's your poster family.

Glazed Doughnut Shop Indiegogo campaign    

Racial Fallout @ ARHS

Kathleen Anderson addressing joint Amherst Pelham School Committee meeting

The NAACP seems to have the answer to recent troubling racial events at Amherst Regional High School:  sensitivity training for all employees, A-L-L employees.  And that these cultural competency trainings become a "graduation requirement for all students."



So yes, under those carpet bombing conditions the perp responsible for leaving racist notes in bathrooms targeting a teacher of color will probably be ensnared in a "competency training session", but you have to wonder if it will do him or her any good? 

Not to mention wondering how much all this training is going to cost.

The Associated Press reports

 

Greenfield PD had a solution

 

If you like this story help make this happen:

Indiegogo fundraiser for Amherst Record Digital News

N-word, C-word, F-word, Oh My!

So I guess if a staff member overhears a black student using the N-word to a white student, that's okay.

Or if ARHS teenagers decide to do "The Vagina Monologues" again next year, then the C-word will be okay.

Or if student calls another friend, who is not gay,  a "fag" in an endearing sort of way, then that's okay.

Let the witch hunt begin.

Phillips Street Fiasco

 33 Phillips Street, Amherst

Meanwhile, six weeks ago:

And, most recently:

Urinetown?

The final piece of the puzzle has fallen into place in the school lock down scare with confirmation the perp who infiltrated Amherst Regional Middle School and asked a young student for his urine was simply trying to obtain a clean sample for his probation officer.

I guess drugs will do that.

Not to sound like a Gazette editorial, but on the one hand I applaud how quickly the school officials hit the panic button when the perp seemed to get lost wandering around the Middle School for a half hour.  But on the other hand, his easy access to an innocent school child mid-morning of a school day gives rise to security concerns.

I would also, for the first time in memory, give the schools high marks for transparency for sending out a series of alerts concerning the concerning situation.  Right up until Wednesday night 6:30 p.m. when they went silent.

While this final piece of information is troubling, it's still a bit better than some of the scenarios that sprang to mind when rumors first leaked out about the "concerning comment" made in a boys lavatory.

One of the reasons the schools are now in such hot water with the NAACP over how they handled the racist attack on a teacher of color (branded as "anemic") probably stems from the cover up that took place over the incidents that first occurred way back in October.

One of the refreshing things that came out of the "public accountability" session yesterday between UMass officials and students over handling of the Blarney Blowout was the insistence by Chancellor Subbaswamy that the process would be "transparent."

So if an educational bureaucracy the size of UMass can subscribe to the notion of sunlight providing the "best of disinfectants", why not our public schools?

If you like this story help make this happen:

Indiegogo fundraiser for Amherst Record Digital News

Blarney Blowout: Standing Firm

Enku Gelaye, Chancellor Subbaswamy, VC John Kennedy

The day of the Blarney Blowout 4,000+ students took to the streets of Amherst with alcohol as motivation to do no good.  Enough of them indulged their demons to where the vastly outnumbered Amherst Police Department had no choice but to intervene.  And intervene they did.

On March 11, about 100 students held a protest march from the Student Union to Whitmore to underscore their demand that APD apologize for using sterner methods than saying "pretty please" to disperse the unruly crowds.

Today Enku Gelaye on her first day as permanent VC for Student Affairs, Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy and VC for University Relations John Kennedy sat before a crowd of about 60 students for a "public accountability" forum.

 Thousands were invited, few showed up

One student noted the lack of turnout for the event and then proceeded to talk about a prior incident of police brutality when he was arrested for Driving Under the Influence.  Not a great way to gain sympathy.

Another student clearly and succinctly stated, "Students like to get drunk."  He too was not a paragon of potential solutions.  

The Amherst Police apology demand never even came up, and a good portion of the talk about rough police treatment centered on UMPD response during the Red Sox Riot last October and the failed attempt of having a University sanctioned event at Southwest that night.  Which of course went very well right up until the moment the game ended and then quickly degraded into a riot.

UMass Chancellor Subbaswamy did not back down, or even so much as blink, from his stern condemnation issued the day after the Blarney Blowout.  

The Chancellor reminded the group that UMPD is under his direct control but Amherst Police are not.  And they had to make instant decisions, on the ground, without the luxury of time to call him or his staff for consultation.

But he reaffirmed how Amherst town officials are in favor of the extensive study (led by Edward Davis) commissioned by the University which should be completed in two months.   With an action plan that both the University and the town are now sorely motivated to make happen. 

Before the next Blarney Blowout, or whatever new juvenile name they come up with.

If you like this story help make this happen:

Indiegogo fundraiser for Amherst Record Digital News