Unintended Consequences

 

Rolling Green Apartments, 204 units

In a college town where over half the housing units are rentals the sudden doubling of the Community Preservation Act tax to 3% combined with a whopping increase in property valuations at all the major apartment complexes will almost certainly lead to rent increases for the average consumer, many of whom can't afford to buy a home.

In a town with an average tax bill already one third higher than surrounding communities! 

Back on May 5 when Amherst Town Meeting voted to put the CPA question on the ballot (but unlike the wording of the question shown to voters, did not vote yes to the increase) I pointed out to Town Meeting, overwhelmingly made up of homeowners, that Amherst is half owned by tax exempt entities -- mainly our institutes of higher education.

Thus the overburdened other half have to contribute more than their fair share to the town revenue stream.  I also pointed out that the November elections would get less than a majority turnout and to me (and my Irish mother) that is not democracy.

Vince O'Connor, the main architect of the CPA tax increase, replied that in his 40 years experience in Amherst the November elections had never attracted less than a 50% turnout, and he was expecting this one not to go below 70-75%.

According to Town Clerk Sandra Burgess the recent election had a 37.8% turnout.  The 2010 November election had a 45.39% turnout. 

Do over.

Thank You Veterans!

American Legion Post 148  and VFW Post 754 combined color guard

It's a simple thing really, that we learn as children (some of us the hard way):  saying "please" and "thank you".  Some of us do it verbally, or send a Hallmark card, or buy flowers or some other token of appreciation for someone who went out of their way for us.

 Arthur Quinton recites In Flanders Fields from memory

Today the town showed thanks to those men and women who have served our great nation, going out of their way for all of us, to defend the freedoms we all too often take for granted.

 Town Manager Musante:  "Thank you and happy Veterans Day"

'Twas a simple ceremony, with a nine-member color guard standing at attention, a brand new main flag climbing to full staff while five dozen people sang the national anthem acapella because the smart phone version would not work.

 Perfect day to unveil new main town flag (windstorm damaged the predecessor)

Both Town Manager Musante and Select  Board Chair Aaron Hayden gave a simple thank you, as did guest speaker former staff Sgt. Nathaniel Dunnican, a UMass senior, whose speech was interrupted by the town clock striking the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11th month ...

 

Veterans Agent Steven Connor had technical difficulty getting the Nation Anthem to play, so ...

Blarney Blowout: Caught On Tape

North Pleasant/Fearing Street 2:30 pm. Have to wonder what his mother would think

The 3/9/13 Blarney Blowout -- with "only" six arrests -- was my Story of the Year for that news filled year, and unless a C5A falls out of the sky and vaporizes our pitifully small downtown commercial district, the Blarney Blowout of 3/8/14 -- with 58 arrests -- will be a repeat winner.

The recent pumpkin fest mayhem in Keene, N.H. certainly demonstrated Amherst is not the only college town where student parties can merge into one giant blowout.

 Keene State College 10/18/14 (Seth Meyer photo)

Although I do notice a lot less hand wringing over the actions of N.H. local and state police -- almost all of them in full riot gear -- using tear gas, O.C. spray, dogs, sponge bullets and a helicopter to restore order.

There were some striking similarities between the two disturbances:  both were caused by college aged white kids with no social justice goal in mind, other than the infamous "right to party."

And in both cases public safety personnel were caught off guard (despite plenty of advance warning signs) by the sheer magnitude of the events, especially how early in the day the trouble started.

In Amherst, heavily outnumbered police managed to bring the crowds under control by 3:00 pm with no real injuries.  The final confrontation took place near North Pleasant and Fearing Streets at the "gateway" to UMass, almost contiguous with the outskirts of Amherst downtown.

New Hampshire authorities were trying desperately to keep the marauding students away from the heavily promoted, family oriented pumpkin festival in city center, although their riotous behavior got even worse after darkness fell.

 North Pleasant Street, high noon:  Dead stop.  PVTA buses cancelled.

I have been a strong supporter of the police response that day simply because I was there and saw first hand why chemical munitions were needed.  Now we have further proof, in the form of video shot that day by a UMPD officer, who was hit by flying debris well before the pepper balls starting flying.

Responding to my Freedom Of Information request UMPD gave me a digital folder containing all the video shot that day:  59 MPG clips ranging in duration from 3 seconds to 3 minutes.  Most of them pretty useless.

The filming didn't start until after the rowdy crowds had been dispersed in the North Amherst Brandwine and Puffton Village Apartments area, but they do capture the major confrontation near the Pike Frat House, 374 North Pleasant Street on the corner of Fearing Street where the crowd of students was estimated at 2,000.




The $160,000 Davis Report seems to question, in general, the use of chemical munitions and more specifically if the crowd was given enough time after the "order to disperse" had been given.  If you watch the two almost contiguous videos the total time from the moment the dispersal order was given until the first pepper ball fired is 30 seconds.




Two seconds after a large bottle of alcohol (not empty) exploded at their feet, well within striking distance of APD Chief Livingstone (who was not wearing protective gear), police opened fire with pepper ball guns.

Also note that the total number of surrounded police is less than 10, so they were outnumbered by way more than 100-1.

According to North Western District Attorney spokesperson Mary Carey this morning, all but one of the 58 arrested have completed their journey through the justice system.  No one received a jail sentence. 

 Maye he was too drunk to hear the dispersal order?

Nitwit holding Barstool Sports banner.  Website that revels in juvenile behavior (with a special fondness for UMass bad behavior)

Taken after the original confrontation in North Amherst, but before the major confrontation at Pike Frat on North Pleasant/Fearing Street

Smooth Sailing

Pine Street, North Amherst (town owned construction staging area on right)

That loud celebratory roar you heard last week reverberating from North Amherst was not another Blarney Blowout. Just neighbors collectively breathing a sigh of relief that Pine Street has, finally, been paved.

Well, initial coat anyway. Final coat and sidewalks are scheduled (after some minor tweaking this week) to be completed next year.

All's Well That Ends Well

AFD and UMPD on scene UMass Lederle Tower early last night

The one call I hate to hear is what is known as a Q5, public safety code for suicide.  Oftentimes with a kind of tension in the voice of the first responder that you do not normally hear for all the other emergencies they deal with on a day-to-day basis.

Last night around 7:20 pm a father called UMass Dispatch (which is not affiliated with the town of Amherst Dispatch) to report his son had just threatened to jump from Lederle Tower.  Considering he was in the Tower at the time of the call, a threat to be taken quite seriously.

Immediately a bevy of UMPD officers responded, found him pretty much within minutes, and called AFD for a "section 12" (psyche evaluation) transport to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital. 

His parents, who live in a nearby town (suburb of Springfield), headed there as well. Hopefully a happy ending.  Or at the very least, certainly not the sorrowful ending that could easily have resulted.

In other words, the system worked.

But I wonder and worry what would have happened had this harrowing call come in later in the night (or early in the morning), on those special days in a college town when rowdyism gets completely out of control?

When all our ambulances are tied up carting drunk students to CDH, and police -- both UMPD and APD -- are dealing with alcohol fueled mayhem, pushing response times to over an hour?

In other words, next time the system may not work quite so well.

Sincerest Form Of Flattery

8/10/2013 Torch Run for Special Olympics

The downside of publishing 10,000 photographs over the past 7.5 years is it's sometimes hard to recognize when someone borrows one without permission, a clear violation of copyright law.

I'm not surprised when the understaffed mainstream media does it with breaking news (although they are getting better about asking for permission) but I was a little surprised the town and UMass would do it.

Well I guess technically it was U3 Advisers, the $60,000 consultant hired to map out a strategy for future growth of housing and economic development between the town and our #1 employer UMass/Amherst, the flagship of higher education in an education oriented state.

But the town published the "Final Report" on the town website, as did the Town Gown Steering Committee on their state website.

I actually did notice the photo when it was first used at the preliminary presentation back in early August since I  have enjoyed covering the jointly produced by APD/UMPD "Torch Run" to benefit Special Olympics.

This past year I notice my friends in the mainstream media didn't cover the annual event, but since they did the year before I just assumed the photo was one of theirs and used with permission.

Or taken by any number of folks who work for the University in "community relations".  Rumor has it they even hired a few students to do social media to counteract my pain-in-the-ass blog.

A Town Meeting member recently posted to the privately owned Amherst Town Meeting listserve Blarney Blowout thumbnails via Google images (which is not a copyright violation) in response to another Town Meeting member asking about the Torch Run photo (where was it taken and what was the event) used in the U3 Advisers final report. 

 Fearing Street 2:10 pm (UMPD video screen grab)

Yes, the Blarney Blowout will be l-o-n-g remembered -- as well it should.  In fact, I'm working on a story for Monday that uses previously unpublished video of the sad day taken by a not overly happy UMass police officer.

So get ready for the UMass PR machine to counter with high resolution photos of kitties and unicorns.  At least I will not have to worry about them stealing those from me (not my kind of photo shoots).

 APD Chief Livingstone (center) without riot gear, North Pleasant/Fearing Street 2:10 pm 

screen grab from UMPD video shot that day

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt

Everyone, Judge Payne included, stands for jury entering the courtroom

In a Jury trial held Wednesday at the Eastern Hampshire District Court, Deoclecio Artur, age 38, was found "not guilty" of the charge Operating Under the Influence of intoxicating liquor by a Jury of six.

The incident occurred back on Feb 21 when AFD Fire Chief Tim Nelson called Dispatch somewhat late on Friday night (10:47 PM) to report an "erratic operator".

Chief Nelson first observed the pickup truck as it came on to South Pleasant street via a clumsy turn where both the front and rear tires of Mr. Artur's truck went up over the curbing.

Chief Nelson, on his way home from a long day/night at Central Station, followed the truck for 1.8 miles observing him swerving over the center double yellow lines "five to seven times" and almost hit a PVTA bus that had stopped to release passengers -- one of them handicapped.

Mr. Artur pulled into the busy Hess Station on the corner of Rt 116 and Pomeroy Lane, going inside to get a coffee. Chief Nelson testified that Artur tripped upon entering the store.  Officer Corsetti, a nine year veteran of the department, soon arrived and Chief Nelson pointed out Artur.

Corsetti made contact in the Hess station and asked him to step outside. When the police officer looked back wondering why Artur was not close behind he noticed that he was having trouble getting out the double doors which require a push from the center line rather than left or right margins.

Corsetti had instantly picked up the "strong smell of alcohol" as well as those other associated signs of intoxication: glassy blood shot eyes and thick tongued slurred speech.

But, as usual, it was a busy time of night for understaffed APD, with reports of minor car accidents starting to come in, so Corsetti -- who had not actually witnessed Artur driving -- offered him a "gentleman's agreement":  Call someone for a ride and pick your truck up tomorrow.

 Officer Corsetti under cross examination by Attorney Chamberland

Artur called his mother in South Hadley, but she told him it would take 20-25 minutes to get there, which kind of defeated the purpose of the agreement, to allow Corsetti to return to patrol.

At this point the officer told Artur he would give him a ride to APD headquarters where his mom could pick him up. Convinced he was in no condition to drive officer Corsetti was simply not going to take the chance that Artur would simply jump in his truck after the officer left the scene.

Artur became agitated shouting, "You can't arrest me, you got nothing on me!" Convinced by up close examination that he did have something on him, Corsetti then decided to do a Field Sobriety Test and walked Artur over to a flat, paved, lighted area in front of the dumpster.

 Hess Station on West Street where FSTs performed

Corsetti patiently explained, and even demonstrated, the nine step turn, and one legged stand and then asked Artur, "Is there any reason you can't do this test?" (besides being drunk of course) to which Artur simply replied, "I'm cold".

He repeatedly lost his balance and missed every single step in the return phase of the 9 step heel/toe walk, also failing to stay on a strait line vector.  On the one legged stand he didn't count out loud as instructed (count to 30 by using "one thousand" after each number) and only made it to 7-one-thousand (minus the "one thousand").

In other words, he failed miserably.

Corsetti took him to APD for booking.  The booking video, presented to the jury by the defense, certainly does not show a staggering, slurring drunk (although the quality of the film left much to be desired).  Although I did notice Artur briefly use both hands to stabilize balance when coming up from a bent over position after removing his shoes.

 Deoclecio Artur on the stand

The defense made much of Artur being from Brazil where Portuguese was his native language, suggesting he did not understand the officer's FST instructions.  Although the prosecutor countered that he came to America when he was 12, graduated from an English speaking High School and trade school and even his mother proudly pointed out on the stand that he was fluent with English.

It was indeed cold that night and the defense put a Hess worker on the stand who testified it was slippery as she had to put down salt on the front entryway.  She also called Artur "a regular," although she didn't remember interacting with him close up that night.

 Amherst College weather station shows temperatures that night just above freezing (33.85 degrees)

Defense Attorney Chamberland also requested and made much of records from the Amherst DPW showing "spot treatments" had taken place around town at the time of the incident.

The defense also put a co-worker on the stand to testify that Artur had complained of a back injury due to heavy lifting while on the job as a carpenter prior to the DUI incident.  And medical records (well, chiropractor) showed he did seek treatment for a back injury, but not until April/May -- well after his February arrest.  

And the prosecutor did point out that Corsetti asked if there were any reason he could not perform the tests and Artur did not mention back problems.  In fact just prior to his arrest Artur had been at the Amherst Brewing Company, where he admitted to drinking "two beers," playing pool for almost three hours with friends.

One of those friends testified that Artur "was fine" just before leaving the establishment.  That same friend had left a little earlier and had texted Artur to, "Be careful the rotary is very icy."

The prosecution pointed out that you do tend to bend over and assume other physical postures while playing pool. Artur also admitted to not missing any days from carpentry work due to the back injury, and couldn't even remember the exact incident that caused it.

In his closing statement Attorney Alfred Chamberland reminded the jury that the American system of justice is built on a "presumption of innocence, and it's important you hear this term over and over again:  Guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."

He paused for just a dramatic second then quickly added:  "The Commonwealth fell incredibly short of that."

The jury agreed.

Two vital pieces of information, however, were not presented to the jury:  Artur had a previous DUI record; and he refused to take the chemical Breathalyzer back at APD station -- the test that is admissible in court.

In Massachusetts neither of these telling bits of information are allowed as evidence in a trial where the defendant must be found guilty, "beyond a reasonable doubt."