Blarney Blowout Report: Finally!

Townhouse Apartments, Blarney Blowout March 2013 (6 arrests that year)

So I could have guessed that Umass would use a Friday -- the day when mainstream media takes a siesta -- to release the long awaited $160,000 Ed Davis report, analyzing the largest disturbance in recent town history, aka the March 8 Blarney Blowout.

 Town center March 8, 2014 10:00 AM

Amherst police arrested 55 "college aged youth while UMass PD arrested only three.

But I still think tomorrow's press conference will get respectable media exposure -- as well it should.

Get The Lead Out

Amherst Town Meeting will vote on a citizens petition article targeting fluoride -- produced in China -- used in the municipal water supply. 

The petition requests the town purchase the additive only from providers who can guarantee the purity of the product, and calls for the water department to test shipments to ensure they are free from contamination.  

The town of course follows strict state imposed testing requirements on the water supply, and in the most recent "Water Quality Report" (2013) Lead and Copper tested below actionable levels, although those tests were taken in 2011.

The next test for lead (required every three years) is serendipitously scheduled for late October, in time for the Fall Special Town Meeting which starts November 5.

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Party Perp Redux

Luke V. Gatti stands before Judge John Payne Monday morning

I'll let the Amherst Police Department "Statement of Facts" speak for itself. I'm beginning to wonder (If I may speculate) if Mr. Gatti has Tourette's syndrome.

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And yes -- in the interests of being fair and balanced -- I did reach out to Mr. Gatti for comment:

Party House of the Weekend

 115 Belchertown Rd, Amherst

Been so long since Amherst police busted a party house for "Noise & Nuisance" (at $300 a pop) I barely remember how to write these.

Ah, blessed are the summers in a college town.  Unfortunately now over.

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 APD "statement of facts"

The 3 amigos stand before Judge John Payne Monday morning

Since this episode was their first brush with the legal system the prosecution stuck a typical deal called "diversion," where the criminal charges are diverted to civil charges, and each of the perps accepts responsibility for one-of-the-two $300 bylaw violation tickets.

$900 to the town coffers and, hopefully, a lesson learned.  

Unacceptably Typical AFD Weekend

 Antonio's Pizza Saturday afternoon

Amherst Fire Department responded to Antonio's Pizza Saturday afternoon just after 1:00 PM for a minor electrical fire.  At the time Central and North station each had only two professional firefighters available, who quickly scrambled their response via Engines 1 & 2.

But had that fire occurred just 12 hours later, the extremely popular downtown eatery would have been jam packed with students AND the fire department would have been unable to muster much of a response.

   AFD Sept Weekend by Larry Kelley

Because at 12:55 AM Sunday morning a mutual aid ambulance from Northampton had to handle a call as AFD was dealing with four substance abuse cases, all within a half hour, all of which required transport to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital.    

What's it going to take to awaken town officials, another Station Nightclub incident?


Trigger Warning.  Extremely graphic:

Never again. Please God, never again

Repeat Party Offender

Luke V. Gatti (center) and father (right) appear before Judge John Payne this morning

Apparently Phillips Street, alcohol, Luke Gatti and late night weekends, make for a bad combination.  Perhaps because he's only 18-years-old, but still no excuse for such outlandish behavior.

Arrested two weeks ago on Phillips Street for disorderly conduct (which included calling a detective the N-word), this time around Mr. Gatti seemed to go out of his way to get arrested yet again on that same notorious street, and when taken back to the police station, assaulted an officer. 

With his father looking on, Luke Gatti was arraigned this morning before Judge John Payne who set bail at $250, taken out of the $1,000 bail posted over the weekend to get out of jail. 

Noting the arrest only two weeks ago Judge Payne said to Gatti,  "I'm a little concerned you're going to pull a trifecta before the month is over."

Gatti will appear in Eastern Hampshire District Court with his hired lawyer on October 15 for a pre-trial conference.

Unless of course, in the meantime, he gets arrested again. 

Click label "Luke Gatti" below for additional stories

Privacy vs Free Speech

I always cringe when Massachusetts hastily passes a new law in reaction to a high profile event, such as the exceedingly good intentioned Domestic Abuse Law in response to Jared Remy murdering his girlfriend that now, unfortunately, forbids police was releasing names of perps arrested for domestic abuse.

Or the recent "upskirt" law criminalizing peeping toms who take surreptitious photos of women in public places.

According to the Governor's press release:  "The legislation makes the secret photographing, videotaping, or electronically surveiling of another person's sexual or other intimate parts, whether under or around a person's clothing or when a reasonable person would believe that the person's intimate parts would not be visible to the public, a crime."

Okay fair enough, no arguments there.

But I now wonder if that is the fledgling law UMass administrators are using to bully a freshman for tweeting a picture of a couple -- clearly anonymous, without "intimate parts" showing -- having sex in state subsidized housing on the campus of a state subsidized flagship of higher education?

Amherst College can do pretty much whatever they want in relation to the First Amendment because it doesn't apply to them, since they are not a "government" institution.  UMass/Amherst is, however, a state funded institution -- so the First Amendment clearly does apply.

Arguably our single most valuable freedom enjoyed as Americans.

If the young student who innocently tweeted that image-shattering photo (My God, 18 year old students actually have sex on a Thursday afternoon!) had instead published a photo of white Ferguson police officers combating black protesters, UMass Office of News & Media Relations would fall all over themselves championing her for standing up to authority.

Yes of course the First Amendment can indeed be, um, messy -- especially in this instantly publish Internet age.

Westboro Baptist Church @ UMass 4/16/14

I don't like the racist, homophobic signs carried by the attention seeking Westboro Baptist Church any more than you do.   But suppressing their rights today based on content, only means tomorrow it could be your message banned.

Fuck the censorship!