Ironically enough our first responders are busy as usual on this day dedicated to them by the stroke of Governor Charlie Baker's pen. Such is life for the dedicated men and women who have chosen to perform public service in a college town.
APD station back lot
The folks who freely run into danger while everyone else is sprinting away, who see things not meant to be seen in an effort to help any and all citizens, even those who don't always appreciate them until suddenly they're needed.
AFD Central Station
Thin red & blue lines, that stand squarely between chaos and order.
In the span of just a few hours the crowd of college aged youth at the westernmost green space at Townhouse Apartments in North Amherst grew from a couple dozen to a couple thousand. Fair enough, considering the beautiful spring weather and this being a l-o-n-g holiday weekend.
But when you mix that large a crowd in an enclosed area with copious amounts of alcohol, there's bound to be trouble.
Townehouse Apartments 6:30 PM: plenty of debris available
Around 6:30 PM a 911 call came in reporting a debris fire in the middle of the large crowd. AFD responded and staged until APD, who had already put a mutual aid call to Hadley and Northampton, could secure the area.
Townehouse Apartments 7:00 PM: clean up in aisle 5
And secure it they did, even though outnumbered hundreds to one.
Sunday afternoon, the following day
At the 2013 Blarney Blowout, the year before the one that made national news but still compelling enough to be my "Story of the Year", AFD had to respond to the middle of the crowd for an ETOH (alcohol poisoning) college aged female.
They were greeted with a hail of ice, cans and bottles (some of them full), thus APD was forced to wade in to break things up, resulting in six arrests.
The following year was even worse with 58 arrests resulting in enough national publicity to give the town and UMass a black eye and a renewed sense of purpose about killing the Blarney Blowout.
And in 2015 and 2016 with the assistance of 225 police officers, stern messaging from the University combined with a parking and overnight guest crackdown and a Mullins Center concert, the Blarney Blowout is no more.
But anytime there's nice weather late in the spring semester the potential for an (unnamed) blowout is pretty high.
The sun could be setting on our current form of government
The $30,000 request for tax monies to support the work of the 9-member Charter Commission over the next year smoothly straddled a major hurdle on Thursday night by garnering the unanimous support of the Finance Committee after a brief presentation from Commission Chair Andy Churchill.
Andy Churchill (center) Chair of the Charter Commission
The Finance Committee is an independent watchdog group appointed by the Moderator charged with advising Town Meeting on any and all financial related articles.
Thus if the Charter Commission should propose a governmental restructuring that retires Town Meeting -- as the last Commission did -- the Finance Committee could be no more.
The first major outreach event by the Commission is scheduled for May 12th at the Amherst Regional Middle School where they will take public comment for two hours (7-9PM).
The fate of Town Meeting, which starts May 2nd, will be the top topic.
Pelham Elementary School has Maria Geryk for Superintendent but is not in the Region
Over a dozen supporters of Aisha Hiza, a mother who has been banned from school grounds for advocating in behalf of her child, read a statement of support at the Regional School Committee on Tuesday night during Public Comment.
Committee Chair Trevor Baptiste tried not to let the discussion go very far because as he rightfully pointed out it's not a Regional School Committee issue (Middle or High School), but in fact a Pelham School Committee issue since the child attends Pelham Elementary School which is currently not part of the Region.
By the sounds of Attorney Tate's letter to Ms. Hiza the Pelham School Committee, which only meets once per month, will take up discussion of her complaint against Superintendent Maria Geryk at their May 4th meeting.
And since it's an Executive Session it will be hard to tell if Pelham School Committee Chair Tara Luce recuses herself, since she is employed at Amherst Crocker Farm Elementary School thus, technically, Maria Geryk is her boss.
Kathy Mazur tells RSC it's back to the drawing board on school consolidation
The Amherst Regional School Committee heard a defeatist update from HR Director Kathy Mazur, who was charged with scoping out the merging of Middle School students into the High School building, which represented a complete turn around from her optimistic presentation back in late January projecting annual cost savings of $800,000.
The High School was expanded/renovated 20 years ago and has a current capacity of 1,700 while the projected population of both High School and Middle School grades 7-12 this coming September is only 1,340.
But Ms. Mazur said after viewing comments from over 960 individuals she has changed her mind:
"There are very few grades 7-12 schools in Mass with over 1,000 kids. It's a LOT of students. Our cafeteria is challenged now."
Mazur said there was "great interest" from a variety of groups in reusing the building, but the Region cannot make a profit by renting out space.
The Middle School is currently used by Greenfield Community College after regular school hours and the town's Leisure Services and Supplemental Education recently moved into an unused portion of the building.
West entrance Whitmore Admin building around 6:30 PM
UMPD did not waste any time today in day three of the UMass sit in at Whitmore Administration building to protest their fossil fuel investment portfolio.
Just after 6:00 PM, official closing time for the building, they gave the dispersal order which about 150 took to heart and marched out of the building. But 19 did not, and were summarily arrested.
Students line up along main ramp around 5:30 PM to support protesters inside
They will all be arraigned tomorrow in Eastern Hampshire District Court probably before Judge Estes, who was in a good mood this morning, joking about his Prius and whether the defendants took a bus or bicycle to get to his courtroom.
Tomorrow, with another 19 crowding the courtroom, he may not be as jovial.
Yesterday was a high water mark for student involvement in public affairs the likes of which I have not seen in many years.
Amherst Regional Middles school students brought their sink Columbus in favor of Indigenous Peoples' Day to both the Regional School Committee meeting and the Town Meeting Warrant Review in Town Hall.
Amherst Regional School Committee meeting 6:30 Public Comment period
Click to enlarge/read
And of course the UMass Whitmore protest -- a good old fashioned sit in take over of a public building -- escalated to the point of physical arrest for 15 students who wish to force their University to divest from fossil fuel investments.
After arraignment students waited in hallway to talk to Assistant DA
In Eastern Hampshire District Court this morning all 15 decided to represent themselves and negotiate directly with Assistant District Attorney Bob Opsitnick.
15 student protesters were arraigned before Judge Estes three at a time
At conclusion of building sweep protesters chanted "We will be back"
As part of a plea deal all 15 of them were offered and they accepted the following:
Pre-Trial Probation for 4 Months, $50.00 Monthly Probation Fee. They
all have the option to do Community Service in lieu of cash.
Conditions of Probation are: Stay away from Whitmore Hall AFTER 6:00 pm and perform 20 hours of Community Service. Part of those 20 hours will be to participate in Look Park cleanup on Earth Day.
