Then There Were 24

Town Clerk Sandra Burgess (standing) distributes ballots with 2 names on them

Town Clerk Sandra Burgess held a special election in Town Hall this evening whereby a 4-4 tie vote from the March 31st election was broken by a vote of current Town Meeting members to elect the 24th member to represent Precinct 5.

Amherst has 10 precincts with 24 members per precinct.

Current Precinct 5 Town Meeting members

Interestingly 13 of the 23 members (54%) showed up for the 5 minute election.  Nina Wishengrad won a narrow decision 7-6 over Mark Kelly.  In the March 31st election a whopping (sarcasm) 7.5% of Amherst voters bothered to turn out. 

Town Meeting starts April 27 and drones on until all 30 articles are acted upon.

A Third Chance

Liberty Lynn stands before Judge John Payne with Attorney Chamberland

It's certainly not a good sign when your own defense counselor calls a case "extremely alarming."  

But Attorney Chamberland then quickly told Judge Payne that his client heard loud and clear a "wake up call" and she has since "turned her life around."

Liberty Lynn was arrested by Amherst police 5/18/14 for Driving Under the Influence 2nd offense with her 8-year-old son in the vehicle, drug possession, and resisting arrest.

She has been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings since that incident almost one year ago, and volunteered to use a "sobrietor" which has verified her abstinence from alcohol. 

She now has a part-time job and the Department of Children & Families returned custody of her son.

Judge Payne dismissed three of the four charges and placed her on probation for two years (with drug/alcohol screenings) and imposed fines of $650 for the 2nd offense DUI charge. 

Fowl Holiday Weekend?

"Smartie" was bird napped from Swartz Family Farm on Meadow Street Saturday afternoon

With the long holiday weekend providing the best spring weather thus far this year, two concerts and a car show at the Mullins Center, Extravaganja on the Town Common, Spring Football at UMass with tailgating, the stage was certainly set for an epic (bad) newsworthy weekend.

 Empty UMass McGuirk Stadium Friday 7:00 PM

Packed tailgating outside the Stadium 6:15 PM

 Extravaganja Saturday afternoon:  6,000 people, zero problems

And yes APD was busy handling noise complaints all over town.   And AFD had their usual share of substance abuse runs -- mostly alcohol related.

But the story that seemed to resonate the most via my Twitter and Facebook live coverage was that of "Smartie" the stolen chicken.

Around 3:30 PM Saturday afternoon with the western quad area of Townhouse Apartments filling to capacity, a college aged blond woman grabbed Smartie while walking past Swartz Family Farm heading west.

Townhouse eastern quad Sunday the following day, not nearly as packed with party goers

Another concerned young woman alerted Sarah Swartz to the theft, who then marched over to Townhouse Apartments in search of Smartie.

The kids she talked to expressed genuine concern and took her to see the "Godfather" of Townhouse, a well-dressed, articulate, tall young man who asked her a bevy of questions, while texting on his smartphone, and then assured her Smartie would be returned.

Sure enough, three hours later, Smartie was back on the farm.  Fair is foul, and foul is fair.

 Fade

 So yes, I'm having one of my genius friends fabricate a protective Kevlar skin for my baby

His Way

Chick Delano  1945-2015

The shortlist of dynamic characters who helped forge the idyllic Amherst we revere today just got a little shorter with the sudden, unexpected passing of (Harry Arthur) Chick Delano -- a true entrepreneur, back before most people knew the meaning of the word.

Delano's, founded 1977, was a downtown fixture for 30 years, or the Amherst version of Cheers (at least in the early hours of the day).

I only went there once I'm almost ashamed to say, but it was one of the most memorable days of my life after my South Amherst apartment pretty much burned to the ground on a Friday-the-13th, November, 1987.

My wife and I needed to chill, and Delano's quaint laid back atmosphere and ice cold draft beer was exactly what we needed most.

A dozen years later (1999) Chick and I went head-to-head on the infamous 'Smoking Ban in Bars War', to this day the most arduous political battle I have ever fought.

Unlike a certain Select Board member who aligned himself with the renegade bar owners I respected that Chick was fighting for the rights of his clientele to smoke and not just out of self interest, as he had by then given up the habit.

Three years later we served together on the Amherst July 4th Parade Committee, restarted in the tragic wake of 9/11 after a 30 year hiatus. Kevin Joy formed the committee in mid-April of 2002, giving us little time before the BIG event.

Chick and I headed up fundraising, and in only ten weeks raised a little over $7,000. He had a natural charm that people from all walks of life could easily trust.

Yesterday afternoon at the Lord Jeffery Inn in downtown Amherst over 250 family and friends -- some of them former competitors -- gathered in the Dickinson Room to pay their final respects to a man everyone knew as "Chick."

Fighting back tears family members spoke briefly, reminding us all of the indelible power of love.  And the ceremony concluded, aptly enough, with Ol' Blues Eyes belting out "My Way."

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows and did it my way!

Extravaganja 2015

Downtown Amherst 2:00 PM

The 24th running of the pot rally on the Amherst Town Common went off without a hitch, other than the normal traffic congestion you would expect for such a sizable crowd -- the likes of which Amherst all too seldom sees. 

Like last year's disastrous Blarney Blowout, great weather was a major contributing factor.

To compare the two public events is nothing short of astounding:  Blarney Blowout 2014, with 4,000 participants, had 58 arrests and many thousands of dollars in property damage.

Extravaganja 2015 had more than half again as many participants with zero arrests and zero property damage.

Almost from the start time of high noon the Town Common was packed to capacity.  The Amherst Farmers Market also debuted today so that too contributed congestion in the morning.

Extravaganja 5:30 PM

Downtown food service businesses and our two local tow truck companies certainly had a field day.

Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingstone recently announced this would be the last year he would sign off on the (free) permit required for Extravaganja to use the Town Common.

 Town Common Sunday morning.  Looks like they were never even there

So it will be interesting to see what becomes of this annual political rally that, unlike so many other liberal causes, actually made a difference.

Town Common day before Extravaganja

A Little Off The Top

Kendrick Park

The UMass Stockbridge School of Education Urban Community Forest Climbing Lab turned out in force this morning to help the town spruce up Kendrick Park.

Bucket goes up about 60'

Today is one of the two days designated by the Select Board as Arbor Day, with the other one being the Sustainability Festival next week.

Professor Brian Kane, head of the Graduate program, shows how it's done 

Amherst Tree Warden Alan Snow is a graduate of the 4-year program with a degree in Urban Forestry so he invited the dozen students and 2 professors (Brian Kane, Dennis Ryan) to come hone their skills on the urban forest anchoring the north end of town center.

Kendrick Park, which was donated to the town, is one of many major renovation projects awaiting funding with an estimated cost around $3 million. 

No Gas For You!

East Street School: future home to Leisure Services Supplemental Education (aka Rec Dept)

The natural gas moratorium on new hook ups called by Berkshire Gas is not only hurting local businesses, but town government as well.  And that means all of us local taxpayers.

Last month the Joint Capital Planning Committee approved $3 million in building and equipment needs for the fiscal year starting July 1st.  Part of that proposal (which still needs Town Meeting approval) included $20,000 to convert aging expensive oil heating units at the East Street School to natural gas.

But now that Berkshire Gas is playing hardball in support of the new Kinder Morgan Tennessee Gas pipeline, Finance Director Sandy Pooler said the $20,000 request is being put off.