Nothing To Ho Ho Ho About

What kind of message will SantaCon drunk Santas in the downtown send our children?

You would think after the downtown bar promotion that forever changed the way Amherst views St. Patrick's Day -- and dare I even breath its name? -- our illustrious downtown dens of debauchery would give up on pernicious promotions ... period!

But Nooooooo, and now they are after the most blessed holiday of all, Christmas. Where, Only In Amherst, is it celebrated with a Merry Maple tree on the town common.

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Rather than coinciding with the last day before Spring Break for a Blowout this Christmas promotion coincides with the last day of classes, which is celebratory enough as it is.

Let's hope the Grinch has a chat with "Event Mavericks."  Soon.

UPDATE: Saturday morning
Now that the Gazette has, finally, caught up with this story it will be interesting to see if it actually happens or not. Especially since the promoter's own former place of employment -- Club Lit -- has pulled out.

Get Your Goat

#goatsofthemilldistrict

It's not all necessarily bad stuff Amherst police have to deal with on a day-to-day basis.

Although it does provide for comic relief, the freedom loving herd of goats out on Sunderland Road in North Amherst do tend to pull a Houdini a tad too often.  Like around noon today for instance:

 Police officer and farmer chase the goats back home

And since they always seem to  head for the green pasture adjacent to busy Rt 116, it will be a sad day in Amherst should they ever get hit by a car.

Aerial drone video of our freedom loving goats

Meanwhile Hadley police late this afternoon managed to capture and return an escaped horse to his barn after a scary run down Middle Street (Rt 47) headed towards ultra busy Rt 9.

Lunch Time Warriors

Marching students pause to pose in front of Student Union

Why is it protests at UMass always seem to start at high noon an end pretty much by 2:00 PM?

At least the one at Amherst College went on for a few days and actually occupied a building (Frost Library) with students of color pulling a good old fashioned sit in. Of course that ended recently and a month from now pretty much everyone will forget what it was over in the first place.

The UMass protest this afternoon was well organized, although the followers could have used enunciation lessons as they marched to the Student Union, as it was hard to understand what they were chanting.

And then when they did get to Whitmore Administration building the chanting was more understandable but did not really give a clue about what they were protesting.

 Protesters form a circle at entrance to Whitmore Administration Building

So whatever they were protesting, the assistant Chancellor promised to get back to them by Friday with an emailed response.

Polite Whitmore employee holding the door open for protesters

Otherwise the black lady with a bull horn said she'd be back.

Forest For The Trees

 36-38 South East Street (Fort River School behind)

The Amherst Planning Board and Tree Warden Alan Snow will hold a joint "Scenic Roads" hearing tonight to decide the fate of four trees on South East Street, which is of course a "scenic road."

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The owners of the rental property at 36-38 South East Street need to reconfigure their parking lot to keep within the Rental Permit Bylaw regulations and there's pretty much nowhere to go with the pavement other than that piece of paradise.

Three of the four trees are nothing to write home about, but one of them is healthy and scenic and therefor worth saving.

And the rule is if you can't save the tree worth saving then you will most likely have to pay the town a replacement cost of $90 per inch. Which adds up with mature trees. In this case 18 inches or $1,620.

Obviously the canopy and shade created by one mature 18" tree is probably greater than that provided by nine immature 2" trees (which the town will use to replace it).

Back in July, 2013 the Planning Board overruled the Tree Warden and voted to allow the owners of a house on the other end of South East Street,  #666,  to remove ten trees for a new driveway entrance.

But because Mr. Snow did not back down on the "replacement costs" totaling $6,000 the owners decided not to go the clear cut route and today the trees are still part of the scenic byway.

Our Other Problem

Those who chase the dragon get burned

Last week the Amherst Select Board, acting as liquor commissioners, spent two hours in heated public discussion weighing the problems caused by alcohol in our little college town.

They were trying to decide if a well run small business on the outskirts of downtown should have one of many beer/wine permits still available.

 Amherst Center Store located across street from Kendrick Place near UMass

Neighbors were nothing if not united in opposition citing student rowdiness, and the closeness of Amherst Center Store to both the UMass campus and of course the new controversial Kendrick Place apartments which they claim is overly populated by students.

The Select Board narrowly approved the liquor license by a 3-2 vote.

Heroin is of course an illegal drug, and unlike marijuana it will always stay that way.  For good reason.  It is killing our citizens -- especially our youth -- at an unprecedented rate.  More than 1,000 heroin/opioid deaths last year in the progressive state of Massachusetts.

AFD Runs Mid November

I hope the three heroin overdoses over a very short period of time AFD and APD had to deal with Sunday night serve as a wake up call.

Before it's too late.   

Close The Barn Door

Colorful barn at 332 West Street, South Amherst front view

Side view

Even though Amherst Town Meeting approved $75,000 in Community Preservation Act funds almost two years ago for rehabilitation of the historic barn that's hard to miss on West Street (Rt. 116) in South Amherst, the barn may not survive much longer.

The town tax money was never spent and the property just changed hands at the beginning of this month.

And the barn today looks sadder than it did two years ago when the CPA committee was told the owners insurance company wanted it removed immediately because it was a liability/safety issue.

Interim Town Manager Dave Ziomek will give the Community Preservation Act Committee an update next month as town officials are trying to talk the new owner into saving the landmark.

I asked town assessor David Burgess if renovating the structure would increase the valuation of the property hence increasing the tax burden on the homeowner:

If the barn is restored then the value would probably go up and, in anticipation of your next question, no not by $75,000.  I imagine if that much money was set aside it would be to replicate what how the building was originally, i.e. historical materials, whereas assessments are based on replacement costs in today’s materials for the same use.  

The assessor was more concerned about why the property just sold for well under his current assessed value.

DUI Dishonor Roll

Just to show how extraordinary three cases of heroin OD over a 1.5 hour period Sunday night was, Amherst Police arrested only one impaired driver over the entire weekend.  Hadley PD also bagged one. 

AFD & APD responding to a North Amherst Apartment complex for yet another heroin overdose, 3rd separate one this evening.

— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) November 16, 2015

 Thornton Benjamin, age 20, arraigned before Judge Payne

Both had a plea of not guilty entered in their behalf, and will return to Eastern Hampshire District Court on December 10th with their private attorneys.

Rachasima Tran, age 22, arraigned before Judge Payne

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