A Drunk Run Weekend

AFD with assist of Agawam and Easthampton FD did 28 drunk runs over the weekend

A full 75% of the "emergency" ambulance runs generated by our institutes of higher education were alcohol induced, something that is easily preventable.

 Yes the town will be reimbursed by private insurance or the parents pocketbooks to the tune of around $1,000 per trip, so the college aged youth ETOH runs are probably downright lucrative.

Mullins Center Friday night

But the real problem with having so freakin' many drunk runs over the past weekend is they tie up our emergency personnel, who are all pretty darn good at what they do but not capable of being in two places at once.

 AFD on scene Mullins Center late Friday night

Thus an ambulance carting a drunk student to Cooley Dickinson Hospital is not availble to us when we call 911 for a friend or loved one who is suddenly having urgent need for medical attention.

The ambulance from another town that responds via "Mutual Aid" takes a lot longer than our own  coming from Central or North Station.

And when you can't breathe, every second counts.

   AFD drunk runs 9/11 weekend

DUI Dishonor Roll

The rate of drunk driving is highest among 21-25 year olds (23.4%)

Only one arrest for drunk driving over the weekend, about as typical as they come (the modus operandi, not the number):  Jesse Korzen, 21, a former UMass student and somebody not unknown to our police department, as he was arrested back in January for alcohol related rowdy behavior.

His twitter masthead seems to show a typical day drink gathering out at Townhouse apartments in North Amherst which was Ground Zero for the last three out-of-control Blarney Blowouts.

Click to enlarge/read

Jesse Korzen in District Court reading his arrest report

In Eastern Hampshire District Court this morning Mr. Korzen was represented by what looked to be a high priced attorney (keep in mind Korzen was arrested on Sunday).   He took a standard 24D plea disposition, probably because of the Breathalyzer results of .15% -- almost twice the legal limit.

Korzen will lose his license for 45 days, pay $650 in fines/fees, take a driver education program and be on probation for the next year.  As long as he stays out of trouble (here or in New York) the case will be "dismissed", although "Continued Without A Finding" is pretty much an admission of guilt.

His attorney asked Judge Payne to waive the travel restrictions since he lives in New York, and the Judge agreed.

Coincidentally enough -- what are the odds? -- I received an email about an hour after Korzen's District Court appearance from his roommate who was also arrested back in January, requesting deletion of the article.   

The guaranteed way of keeping your name from appearing on these pages is pretty simple:  Don't get arrested.

Worth Mooing About

For the 1st time since mid-1990s Mitchell Farm will host a dairy operation

Tregaverne will keep 14 cows and 40 goats at the 340 North East Street location

Thanks to a unanimous vote of the Board of Health the sale of raw milk is now legal in the town of Amherst, but will come under state oversight.  In addition the board also voted to allow pasteurization of milk at a newly proposed micro creamery, Tregaverne.

Health Director Julie Federman, although not overly keen on the idea of raw milk, did tell the board that Massachusetts has  "robust" oversight of anything milk related.  

 Ronnie Wagner (far left), Shannon Rice-Nichols (immediate left)

And the owner of the proposed creamery, Shannon Rice-Nichols, a trained micro biologist, told the Board she would test the milk weekly and the (closed) herd of 14 cows twice per year.  The milk would also be free of glyphosate/GMO and come packaged in 100% recyclable containers.

Rice-Nichols has an extensive agricultural background having been involved with 38 creamery operations previously, to which  BOH member Julie Marcus replied, "Your credentials are the kind we want in our town."

She plans to use the Community Supported Agricultural model so all milk sales have to occur on site and signs conspicuously displayed informing consumers about the potential hazards of raw milk (Coliform, E. Coli, Salmonella, etc).

In addition every batch will be recorded, so if any problems do occur and a recall is needed it will be easy to trace the whereabouts of the milk.  

Tregaverne will be a Massachusetts B Corporation with expected annual sales in the $300,000 range with some of the proceeds donated to a local social service agency, SafePassage.  The business is expected to employ a half-dozen part time employees and pay them a fair hourly wage.

In addition to raw milk the operation will also produce other "cultured products" aka, cheese under the "Ferment This!" label.  Tregaverne will be a R&D scale micro-creamery so as to experiment with recipes.  As such batch sizes will be capped at 1,000 liters. 

" Ferment This" label:  painting by Arapawa Island goat named "Mouse"

Ideally Rice-Nichols would like to open the new creamery before the snow falls.   

local consumers will now get more choice with their dairy products, the town gets another badly needed addition to the commercial tax base, while historic structures get put to good reuse.  

A winning trifecta indeed.

Raw milk providers in Massachusetts

Mullins Center Command

AFD ambulance backing into south entrance Mullins Center late last night

Friday night into early Saturday morning, although certainly stressed, our emergency medical system worked.  Most times, the center holds. 

At the first major Electronic Dance Music concert of the semester-- 'Life In Color" paint party -- a dozen patrons required ambulance transport from the Mullins Center to either Cooley Dickinson Hospital in nearby Northampton, Holyoke Medical Center and/or Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield.

Additional hospitals were used in order to keep Cooley Dickinson emergency ward from being overwhelmed, as this weekend is a busy time throughout the Valley.

The first call for an ETOH patron occurred at 8:00 PM, and Mullins Center Command terminated just after midnight.

In addition to the dozen transports -- 11 of which were alcohol related (ETOH) -- AFD's on site command center overseen by Chief Tim Nelson treated and released an additional 14 patrons for self induced illness brought on by substance abuse.

 Agawam and Easthampton FD were contracted to assist AFD

AFD brought in two outside ambulances, one from Easthampton and the other from Agawam, to deal directly with Mullins Center patients so as to keep the five AFD ambulances available for the rest of the town.

The concert attracted 3,000 patrons and from around 10 PM into the early morning hours a stream of scantily clad college aged youth could be seen traversing Commonwealth Avenue from the Mullins Center back to Southwest Residential area, many of them stained with pink paint.

Chief Nelson was quite satisfied with overall response of his department, quoting baseball great Ernie Banks "We're all here, we might as well play."

"People are going to imbibe too much, that's just a reality," said the Chief, who summed it up succinctly:

"We planned for this and we trained for it ... The system worked."

The next major Mullins Center challenge will occur over for Halloween weekend.  Let's hope it does not sell out with 9,000 vs the 3,000 youth who attended last night's event ...

 Umass after dark last night (Mullins Center top left)

Remember

Town center 7:27 AM

The town put up the really BIG flag this morning, at half staff, to remember the 2,997 fellow citizens who started their morning just like we did now, but never lived to see the sun set on that ignominious day.

Amherst Fire Department will hold their 13th annual ceremony at Central Station this morning at 9:45 AM, and if it is still raining ... I'm sure no one will even notice.

MassLive reports

 9:35ish Getting ready for the ceremony

9:45ish Final lineup

10:30ish Final moments in town center 

Big flag mournfully flapping 3:00 PMish 

New York City 9/11 night (photo by Richard Marsh)

Ch 22 TV reports

But Will The Residents Complain?

 West Cemetery:  The most historic/sacred ground in Amherst

The Agricultural Commission was receptive to DPW Division Director of Trees & Grounds Alan Snow's  proposal to allow sheep grazing in town cemeteries, an all natural way of keeping the green green grass at an acceptable height.

Ideally the town would use a mix of sheep and goats, since the latter "browse" and would consume weeds, shrubs and invasive species.

 Our Civil War dead are buried in West Cemetery

The proposal is still very much in the preliminary stages.  The next step is to seek permission of the Historical Commission.  Snow believes there may be grant money available to help pay for the experiment, and if all goes well the critters could be munching away next spring.

This section of West Cemetery kept in a more "natural" state

Historic West Cemetery, where the older area is already kept in a more "natural" condition  (cut only once per year) is envisioned as a test site.

Don't worry, the critters would not be given a key to the Dickinson family plot.

Emily Dickinson, "The Belle of Amherst," 2nd from left

DUI Dishonor Roll

Drunk driving costs each adult in the United States almost $800/year

Last weekend, with beautiful but hot weather and our little college town suddenly doubling in size, and APD still engaged in "Drive Sober or get Pulled Over" campaign, the conditions were all too good for a bevy of impaired driver arrests.  Especially since the previous weekend had a whopping five arrests.

But I'm relieved to say there were only two arrests.  Only two potential killers. 

May the odds be ever in our favor.

 Samuel Hurst-Macdonald, 21, arraigned before Judge John Payne

 Click to enlarge/read

In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Tuesday Mr. Hurst-Macdonald, a UMass student, took a standard 24D plea deal disposition.  He will lose his license for 45 days, pay $650 in fines and be on probation for the next year.  But at least he saved himself the hefty legal fees. 

#####

Gary Hochron, age 57, had his case continued until next month