Amherst Outlier?

Wildwood Elementary School

UPDATE 1:00 PM Wednesday

Turns out it WAS a paperwork thing.  Wildwood actually has the best rate of immunization out of all three elementary schools rather than the worst.  Yeah.

School response on immunization

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Original story Yesterday

If my youngest daughter attended Wildwood rather than Crocker Farm elementary school, would I be concerned about the recent Department of Public Health document exposing immunization rates in our public schools that clearly show Wildwood compliance with state law dramatically lower than our other two elementary schools?

Click box to enlarge/read

Mass Kindergarten Immunization Survey Results 2013-2014

Well yes, yes I would.  Very concerned.

I'm hoping the dangerously low rates published are just a paperwork thing and that Wildwood -- with the largest Kindergarten population (57) of the three Amherst elementary schools -- simply forgot to submit a state form on time.  Or that the 32% not fully immunized have at least had the initial shot and are scheduled for the next.

Although I asked school officials last week for any explanation and thus far have heard nothing back.  Never a good sign: 

Simply put, the math does not add up.  If an average of 64% of the children at Wildwood are fully immunized and 3.8% have an "exemption," then what about the other 32.2%?

The Amherst Board of Health has not had to deal with Measles, Polio, Rubella or Mumps in recent memory, but they did see a case of Chicken Pox last year, and a few Haemophilus influenzae type B infections in the recent past.

Considering the threshold for maintaining a "herd immunity effect" to prevent measles is 94%, the two-thirds of parents at Wildwood who did immunize their children deserve to know what's up with the one-third who may not have.

Actually, everyone in town deserves to know.

Senator Elizabeth Warren agrees:  GET VACCINATED

USA Today data base has Wildwood at slightly lower numbers than state report

No Contest

Amherst Town Hall in a storm

You would think in a town where activism is a badge of honor more people would show interest in the highest elected political office.  Well ... one-fifth of the highest office, as it takes five Select Board members to fill the executive branch better represented by one Mayor.

Maybe Doug Slaughter's surname scared off the competition.   But he's the only candidate running for the lone available seat currently occupied by Aaron Hayden, who took out nomination papers but then changed his mind and pulled a Lyndon B. Johnson.

The only other potential candidate who took out papers, which require the signatures of 50 registered voters, was Richard Strahan who gave a UMass dorm room address.

Vira Douangmany at Town Clerk's office, after handing in her nomination papers

The School Committee will see a contest as last year's candidate Vira Douangmany will square off against incumbent Lawrence O'Brien and ambitious newcomer Phoebe Hazzard, who took out her nomination papers at 3:30 PM and returned them at 4:45 PM, only 15 minutes before deadline.  There are two open seats. 

 TracyLee Boutilier happy about returning her papers

The Housing Authority will also see a contest as two candidates have filed for the one open seat, which is a five year term.  TracyLee Boutilier, who lost last year to well-known Peter Jessop, and newcomer Emilie Hamilton.

Jones Library Trustees race will be as quiet as a library with only two candidates running for two seats, both incubments who currently occupy those seats: Austin Sarat and Tamson Ely.

Town Meeting, the cumbersome 240 member legislative branch, will have contests in just half of the precincts for the eight 3-year terms available in each of the ten precincts.  

Walk The Plank

I didn't even notice it yesterday morning when I took a quick "drive by" shot of the DPW getting it done in town center at the height of the storm and posted it to my Facebook page.

But if you look closely at where the UN flag normally is, you can see pranksters had replaced it with a pirate flag.  Flying upside down no less.  The pretty blue UN flag, which was new three months ago to replace a tattered one, is currently M.I.A.

Somebody finally noticed the switch this morning and down came the skull and crossbones.

Let's hope that sagacious town employee also takes a closer look at the main flags in town center:  The P.O.W. flag is looking a tad ratty. 

POW flag looking as haggard as, well, one of our POW's

Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

Amherst Town center 10:11 AM (depending on who you believe)

So hopefully the town clock will be running soon (probably not today) as it could simply be that somebody forgot to wind it, which is a chore required twice a week.

An electronic motor that would pretty much guarantee round-the-clock accuracy would cost $21,000.

Because the Community Preservation Act committee is more than flush with money now that the town voters decided to allow a doubling of the CPA tax you would think somebody would put in for it under "historic preservation."

Director of Facilities Ron Bohonowicz tells me that the historic old bells actually work but have been silent these past 15 or so years due to neighbors complaints (12 noon or 12 midnight could be a tad noisy).

There's also a special fire bell up in ye old historic tower operated by a big barrel of rocks that would send out a different faster type of ringing to alert fire fighters.

Even Miss Emily took note of the "ticking of the bells" calling firefighters to the Great Fire that devastated the downtown the night of July 4th, 1879. Although Town Hall was not yet constructed, so the bells probably came from the original fire station in town center.

A decade later, on March 11, 1888 smack in the middle of a major blizzard another conflagration took out the Palmer Block in town center, where Amherst Town Meeting convened.  The town acquired the land and constructed Town Hall the following year.

Since town officials refuse to allow the 29 commemorative flags to fly in town center this coming 9/11, maybe they will allow the bells of Town Hall to ring once more ... in memory of the unforgettable. 

Call In The Cavalry

APD Chief Scott Livingston (right) presents his budget to the Amherst Finance Committee

In his budget presentation to the Finance Committee  last week Amherst Police Department Chief Scott Livingstone brought the fiscal watchdogs up to date on his response to the $160,000 Davis Report -- especially timely since the anniversary of the unforgettable Blarney Blowout fast approaches.

While the Town Manager has added two new police officers to his FY16 budget (starts July 1st) the net result is really only one increase for APD, since a 3-year Department of Justice grant that formerly financed one officer will no longer pay for that officer.

Thus the Chief is still looking at ways to add patrol officers to his overburdened department.

His second in command, Captain Jennifer Gundersen outlined a grant proposal for more officers that has been submitted, but the problem is Amherst is a safe and somewhat wealthy community, which lowers the odds for grant approval.

Captain Gundersen also told the Finance Committee the cost to implement joint training with UMass PD -- another Davis recommendation -- is $1,200 per hour, with 24-36 hours required. Not the kind of money that's easy to find in a tight budget.  

The good news from the Chief, however, is Amherst recently signed the "Western Mass Mutual Aid Pact." This will  allow the surrounding towns police departments to respond when a call is put out for help.

 Blarney Blowout 3/8/14

Interestingly regional law enforcement departments started working on this pact in response to the freakish Springfield tornado in the summer of 2011.  Fire Departments have been successfully using mutual aid for many years now.

The Chief stated the activation notice has already been issued for March 7th.  So unlike last year, a bevy of local police officers will be available to back up Amherst, UMass, and State police. 

And presumably UMass will continue to use the successful tactics recently employed for the Super Bowl, most notably banning guests on campus the weekend of the event.  Last year 7,000 visitors registered the night before Blarney Blowout.

The winning formula is really quite simple:  less students, more cops.

Play Ball! (Or Frisbee)

North Amherst playing field (left)

Back when I was growing up in our sleepy little college town, w-a-y back, before the Southwest high rise towers or W.E.B. Du Bois Library first poked the sky, a playing field in Amherst pretty much meant baseball and football.

Soccer or Ultimate Frisbee were as foreign as a place called Vietnam.

These days God's green earth must be multipurposed, to keep all the outdoor sports enthusiasts happy.

And while Amherst has more Conservation open space than you can shake a hiking stick at, the number of playing fields for organized sports have failed to keep up with demand.

The old "cow field" in North Amherst, formerly the playground attached to the now retired North Amherst School, will get a $50,000 makeover with Community Preservation Act money assuming the CPA Committee forwards the request to Town Meeting for the final approval.

A fence along the border with Sunderland Road will certainly make it safer, and parking for 15 cars at the north end of the field will keep users from having to cross Sunderland Road.

The renovations would take place during the fall of 2015 and spring of 2016, and be ready for use later that summer.

In this age where youngsters are all too occupied by smart phones, computers and tablets, it's nice to see the return of an old fashioned playing field for team sports.

Or just a soft quiet place to lay down late on a hot summer night, to gaze up at the wonder of the universe.

The Taste & Price Of Safety

 Taste of Amherst (always late  June) 2014

The Taste of Amherst, that downtown summer institution that brings bliss to Valley foodies and our local restaurant industry, will get a tad safer if Amherst Town Meeting approves DPW Chief Guilford Mooring's $20,000 capital request for Park Replacement Equipment.  As will that other major event, Extravaganja.

Technically the historic Amherst town common is a park.

And the current electrical system becomes a spider web of potentially dangerous cords anytime there's a major function. Because some of those major events attract thousands of visitors, a shocking incident is always a possibility.

The $12,000 worth of Spider Boxes will not only organize all the temporary wiring to help reduce tripping over them, but also brings important ground fault circuit interrupter protection, which comes in handy on rainy days.

The Merry Maple "holiday" tree on the town common was knocked out a couple times last December due to a combination of faulty wiring and rainy weather.

Merry Maple will be insulated against  power outages

The FY16 budget does not commence until July 1st -- a tad too late for this year's Taste of Amherst.

Guilford Mooring pitching to the Joint Capital Planning Committee 2/5/15

But Mr. Mooring is hoping to get the Business Improvement District and Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce to front the money to buy the spider boxes as soon as possible, and then reimburse them out of his FY16 budget, assuming Town Meeting approves the $20,000 capital item.