On The Ground Again

Robert Auffinger taken into protective custody by APD Wednesday 5:30 PM

On Monday morning in Eastern Hampshire District Court Robert Auffinger, age 35, told Judge John Payne that the half full glass jar he was carrying on Main Street near the VFW contained only "fruit juice".

The Judge rolled his eyes saying he had a hard time believing that, and even the Assistant District Attorney had trouble keeping a straight face.

But Auffinger insisted, saying he would be "crazy to walk around Amherst with alcohol."

The Judge reduced his fine from $300 to $100 and allowed him to do "community service" instead of cash.

Of course, considering how often he ties up our first responders he would do Amherst an even greater community service: by leaving.

 AFD had to check him out before he was taken into protective custody

DUI Dishonor Roll

Katherine Gilligan, age 19, stands before Judge John Payne; her case was continued to next month

Amherst police also arrested South Amherst resident Savana J. Paciulli, age 21, over the weekend for driving under the influence of narcotics (heroin). She was turned in by her mother who appeared in District Court on Monday morning, and had a side bar with Judge Payne.

After her daughter did not appear by the "second call," Judge Payne had a warrant issued for her arrest.

Click photo to enlarge/read 

More Blarney

Cian Davoren, age 22

This morning in Eastern Hampshire District Court before Judge Shea, one of the last remaining Blarney Blowout cases (out of 58 arrests) ended in a last minute plea deal just before the Judge was to call in a jury. 

Cian Davoren, age 22, had been arrested March 8 around 1:30 PM (close to peak time for the mayhem).  According to ADA Matt Russo he was one of between 4,000 and 5,000 college aged youth acting out of hand, and refusing to comply with police orders to disperse.

Although in Mr. Davoren's case he approached officers and was giving them grief over his sister getting a dose of pepper spray. 

Apparently chivalry is not dead among UMass students. 

But when you push your case before heavily outnumbered police officers and repeatedly ignore their request to back off, you get arrested -- chivalry or not.

The two charges (rioting and failure to disperse) were merged into one count of "disorderly conduct" and Judge Shea imposed the usual sanctions:  Case continued without a finding for one year, four months probation, $200 "restitution" fine fee to Amherst Police Department, and a letter of apology to APD.

While I have no problem with the resolution of this particular case, coming on the heels of the $160,000 Davis Report, which focused blame on the wrong party, the timing certainly could have been better.

Party House of the Weekend

 340 Amity Street, Amherst

Amherst police busted a party house located on Amity Street, a busy road but still a residential neighborhood, near midnight on Friday and all five of them accepted the typical plea deal offered by the prosecution:

Pay the town bylaw ticket fee ($300) and stay out of trouble for the next four months and the charge of "unlawful noise" is dismissed.

 A gaggle of offenders

As the five of them crowded around the front podium Judge Payne asked if they all live together, to which they all responded in the affirmative. 

After hearing the details presented by the prosecution, after all five agreed to the "diversion" from criminal to civil complaint, one of the braver of the five asked Judge Payne if they could have a discount since they were all "full-time college students."

The Judge paused for a moment, then asked again (while they were under oath) if they all lived at the same address.  Again they responded "yes".  So he said, $100 each. 

Thus they got off pretty easy.  Of course the Building Commissioner may have something to say to their landlord about violating the town bylaw restricting a one family house to no more than four unrelated tenants.

Expensive At The Top

If you ever wondered why Amherst Regional Public Schools have such a dramatically higher than average cost per student, $20,328 this year vs state average of around $14,000,  just look at recent employee compensation raises. 

Assistant Super Mike Morris, Superintendent Maria Geryk

Superintendent Maria Geryk goes from $147,000 to $158,00 a 7.5% raise.

Assistant Superintendent Mike Morris goes from $100,000 to $115,000 a 15% raise

Sean Mangano

Sean Mangano, Finance Director, goes from $49,429 to $95,000 a 90% raise

Talib Sadiq, School Climate Coordinator,  goes from $54,395 to $78,861 a 45% raise

Meanwhile all the King's horses and all the King's men (and women) subsist on a 2 or 3% raise. 

Yet Another Lost Weekend

 

AFD A5 on scene slummy Phillips Street for ETOH female with head injury 12:09 AM

Amherst Fire Department made twenty eight (28) Emergency Medical Services calls to UMass Amherst over the weekend, twenty five (25) of them for overly intoxicated "college aged youth," and quite frankly the other three traumas I have a strong suspicion alcohol was a contributing factor.

   AFD Fantazia Concert Runs

Let me repeat that:  At least 89.2% of all "emergency" runs to our flagship institute of higher education last weekend were for otherwise intelligent people who voluntarily drank themselves almost to the point of death.

AFD Engine 1 and Engine 3 on scene Theta Chi Frat 496 N. Pleasant Street 12:23 AM

And notice too just after midnight Saturday-into-Sunday morning in the midst of a flurry of ETOH runs two engines responded to an alarm at Theta Chi fraternity.  What if that had turned out to be a major structure fire?

With all our ambulances (and 80% of the on-duty crew) dealing with drunks, how effective a response could they have mustered?

"A Job Well Done"

 3/19/13 AFD loads ETOH female after dealing with combative crowd (note PD not wearing riot gear)

So yeah, I suppose you have to take a pro-police statement coming from firefighters, those other highly trained public servants, with a grain of salt.

After all, let's look at what happened last year at the Blarney Blowout, which was localized to Townhouse Apartments quad area.

When AFD was called to the scene for a young woman who had passed out from too much alcohol, she was dead in the center of a boisterous drunken crowd of well over 1,000.  And as they tried to negotiate their way through that undulating maze of humanity the unarmed firefighters, who do not wear riot gear, came under fire.

At first just snowballs, but quickly escalating to cans and bottles -- some of them full. 

APD waded into the crowd (without riot gear) to escort the firefighters out of a dangerous situation.  And not long after they marched back into that crowd to disperse them (while wearing riot gear helmets) resulting in six arrests and no injuries.

 3/9/13 Police in riot gear helmets break up Blarney Blowout at Townhouse Apartments

The key points to remember about this year's disastrous Blarney Blowout -- which shows a pattern -- are 1) police were overwhelmingly outnumbered and 2) they only used force after the largest drunken crowd anyone has ever seen in our little college town started to hurl ice, rocks, bottles and cans. 

Yes, police made 58 arrests -- a LOT more than last year.  But still no injuries.