What NOT To Call A Police Officer

Phillips Street, midnight 9/1/14

As I pointed out in my weekend wrap up, Phillips Street -- the slummiest street in Amherst -- was almost impassable to vehicular traffic just after midnight in the Sunday overnight leading into Labor Day morning.

Problem with that is an ambulance or fire truck can't make it down the street, and when you mix that large a crowd with equally large amounts of alcohol it's not uncommon for an ambulance or firetruck to be needed in a hurry.

So Amherst police, acting like herding dogs, will move in to redirect the crowd.


Obviously Luke V. Gatti did not want to be herded ...

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Page 2 continues:  "a temper tantrum like behavior.  Mr. Gatti then clenched his hands and held his arms in a defiant manner consistent with an agitated state.  He was arrested for Disorderly Conduct."

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Tuesday Judge Payne imposed a $100 (Court cost) fine and placed Mr. Gatti on probation for four months.

 Luke Gatti, age 18, stands before Judge John Payne

About 30 minutes after his original arraignment Mr. Gatti returned to the courtroom to ask Judge Payne for extra time to pay the $100 fine, as he did not want to place it on his credit card. 

Makes you wonder who gets to see a copy of his monthly statement.

Dog Bites Children Story

 New sign at Crocker Farm Elementary School

I'm feeling remiss to even publish the link to this petition on everyone's favorite left wing platform, Change.org, since I'm sure it will probably stimulate a signature or two and School Superintendent Maria Geryk tells me she gets livestreamed email notification with each signature.  Yikes!

I always thought not having dogs on school grounds during school hours was the kind of thing you did not need to put signs up over.  Kind of like those warnings on motor oil not to drink the product.

Considering today's front page Gazette article confirms the dog that viciously attacked two school children on school grounds during school hours still has not been identified, thus forcing the children to undergo rabies vaccination, it's probably not the best time to start such a petition drive.

I was also a little taken aback by the Gazette naming the two children.  Our local hometown newspaper has a policy of not naming sexual assault victims so why should dog assault be any different -- especially when they are juveniles.

I've named (and received bitter criticism over it) college aged youth who died via heroin overdose or falling while under the influence of alcohol or even a suicide victim who used a dangerous (to first responders) chemical cocktail in an enclosed automobile. 

But I would not have named the children involved in this traumatic event, even with parent permission.

Although I would be happy to publish the name of the irresponsible dog owner who selfishly left the scene thus sentencing those two children to a scary procedure.

Anyone have any tips? 

First Lockdown of the School Year

File this under the "that didn't take long" department.  And no, the dog biting incident at Crocker Farm Elementary School last week doesn't count since the school did not go into lockdown.  Although it was a traumatic enough incident.

Sometimes saying only a little about an incident is worse than saying nothing at all.  And in the Amherst Public School system, you never have to worry about them saying too much.

Obviously parents who received this email are wondering why the heck an entire elementary school would enter lockdown simply because one child "fell ill" on the playground.

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What the heck was the illness, Flesh-eating bacteria?

Last year was a travesty of loony lockdowns.  This year is not starting well.

ARPS Employee Handbook procedures

AFD Labor (intensive) Day Weekend

AFD Engine 1

In spite of four additional  professional firefighters funded by UMass over the long weekend allowing for five ambulances to be staffed, we still needed mutual aid assist from Northampton FD for an emergency call at Amherst College in the Sunday overnight.

While UMass still has far too many ETOH (overly intoxicated) runs, the percentages seem to be improving. Last spring oftentimes the majority of EMS runs to our flagship University were alcohol related.

Although I suspect some of those trauma via falls with head injury could have been somewhat alcohol related.

   AFD Labor Day Weekend Runs

And So It Begins ...

 

This Frathouse sign raised a few eyebrows from parents (and generated a few calls to APD)

Yeah, I know a bit of a cliched headline.  But the two most common refrains to my live tweeting and Facebooking the festivities over this l-o-n-g weekend was that line along with, "They're baaaaaaack."

Northwestern District Attorney Dave Sullivan was in Court this morning.  Message to students:  "Respect your neighbors, respect yourself."

I even heard both those comments in the halls of Eastern Hampshire District Court this morning, where proceedings were delayed by 20 minutes in order to properly process the paperwork from 20 Amherst police arrests.

Yes, almost all of the arrests were alcohol related and almost all of those involved Umass students.

As usual the District Court used the "diversion" program (converting infractions from criminal to civil) to more efficiently handle the caseload.  For "open container" infractions the perps will pay $300 town bylaw fine, $100 in court costs, take the Brains at Risk alcohol education program at UMass, and be on probation for four months.

For the "minor in possession:" $100 court costs, Brains at Risk program and four months probation.

 Junior Meach stands before Judge Payne for DUI.  Case continued to 10/23

Surprisingly there was only one Driving Under the Influence arrest, Junior Meech, but that doesn't include the driver in the somewhat spectacular accident on South East Street last night, because he has not yet been processed.

 DUI incident 706 South East Street last night. PD arrested Ailton Correia, 22

UMPD had only one arrest compared to APDs twenty, so maybe UMass/Amherst scientists have developed a good behavior force field that encapsulates the sprawling campus.

Phillips Street was almost impassable Sunday night around midnight

Things That Go Bump In The Night

The car driven by Ailton N. Correia, age 22, was traveling at a good clip down a hill on scenic South East Street and careened off the road hitting a tree immediately in front of a solid brick house.

Many emergency vehicles were on scene

Both occupants were ejected from the vehicle and both were transported to Baystate Critical Care unit in Springfield (rather than a routine transport to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton).

 Officers take measurements for accident investigation

An Amherst Police officer accompanied the ambulances to Bay State and the driver of the car, Ailton N. Correia, 22 was arrested for driving under the influence.

 

Car cut a swath through bushes, across lawn, into tree near house

706 South East Street  Still debris on lawn morning after

A Really BIG Clambake

 Hot time on the Haigis Mall

Thousands of students descended on the Haigis Mall late this afternoon, turning it into the area's largest food court.   For the 5th year in a row, UMass/Amherst has set a world record for food consumption.

Well, the world according to Guinness (no not the beer company).

This year it was an old fashioned New England Clambake: clams, steamers and lobster.  3,003 servings to be exact.  And it took less than two hours to serve them up under the watchful eye of a Guinness "adjudicator."

 UMass Chancellor Subbaswamy readies the starting horn

UMass Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy stoked the hungry crowd with a spirited speech and of course even more uplifting, tunes from the UMass Marching Band.

 

Professor Amilcar Shabazz (center) SGA President Vinayak  Rao (right) SGA VP Jacob Schissel (left) doing their civic duty

Serving World's Largest New England Clambake, celebrating local food and UMass commitment to sustainability pic.twitter.com/ElxvxKtvpt
— Kumble R. Subbaswamy (@KSubbaswamy) September 1, 2014