And The Winner Will Be?

Amherst, founded 1759, is in the final stages of choosing new Town Manager

   Amherst Town Mgr Search Schedule

Final Chance

Court is in session:  Select Board, Temporary Town Manger, Town attorney

Acting as Liquor Commissioners the Amherst Select Board last night had to balance two sometimes competing interests:  the ability of a small business to survive in an ever increasing competitive market and the protection of public safety i.e. keeping underage patrons from procuring alcohol.

Obviously the latter takes precedence.

After an hour of testimony, including that of Police Chief Scott Livingstone and Detective Brian Daley, and then another painstaking hour of discussion, they unanimously voted to suspend the liquor license of Panda East for a total of 55 days, May 4th through June 27.

Fifty days for the two new incidents and 5 days that were given in "abeyance" for the original incident in January.

 Detective Brian Daley and Chief Livingstone give sworn testimony to Select Board

Thus the Select Board softened the blow somewhat by allowing the suspension to run out during the late spring into summer, a slower time of year in our little college town.  Although they will be dry during busy commencement weekend.

At one point the specter of outright revocation was raised, and then another suggestion by Doug Slaughter of seven full months (June 1st to the end of the year) was briefly discussed.

Even after the number of days under discussion for suspension came down to a month or two, Mr. Slaughter suggested the start of the penalty be September 1st rather than the slow summer months.

Attorney Kristi Bodin attacked the most egregious incident where a 17-year-old female was allegedly served two Scorpion Bowls and required hospitalization for alcohol OD by stating all the evidence was hearsay and they were being denied the basic right to cross examine witnesses.

Ms. Bodin also pointed out after the January incident where Panda East was sanctioned for serving 17 underage patrons the recipe for Scorpion Bowls was reduced to one shot of alcohol.  And it's hard to imagine two shots could put someone into a stupor requiring hospitalization.

 Attorney Kristi Bodin, Amy Wu manager Panda East

The young women did tell investigators she went to a UMass dorm room after being at Panda East so it's quite possible -- in fact likely -- more alcohol was then consumed, pushing her over the edge.  

But the second incident where a 20-year-old used a fake Rhode Island license to successfully acquire alcohol was pretty much beyond reproach and even acknowledged by Attorney Bodin that her client "dropped the ball."

Although interestingly the night of the second incident APD was doing a sting operation using four 20-year-old UMPD cadets and all four were denied service after being carded.

In her closing argument, like any good defense attorney who is cornered, Attorney Bodin threw herself on the mercy of the "court" saying her client desperately wants to stay in business.

After the last incident in January she has been trying to change the image of the business back to a restaurant rather than a drinking establishment.

And after these most recent incidents Ms. Wu purchased a $5,000 electronic scanning machine to detect fake I.D.s  Although Temporary Town Manger Peter Hechenbleikner pointed out you still need to use commons sense since a real license can be used by the wrong party.

In addition to pulling their liquor license for 55 days the Select Board also gave Ms. Wu until that June 27 end date to have the liquor license transferred over to her name from that of current absentee owner Isaac Chow.

The Select Board also told the Town Manager to come up with a 11" by 17" sign to be prominently posted in the front entry of the eatery displaying the dates their liquor license is suspended. 

So does the punishment fit the crime?  Well, yes and no.

Since the Select Board let them off easy for the first incident back in January by only immediately pulling the license for two days -- a Monday and Tuesday no less -- this 55 day sanction seems rather stern.

But I have to wonder if one of the downtown bars involved with the infamous Blarney Blowout were involved rather than an iconic restaurant would the punishment have been a tad more severe?

Either way, it's getting harder and harder for small businesses to survive in the downtown.

And after the slew of publicity this incident has now generated combined with the real threat of revocation for another incident -- with APD on the watch -- I think Panda East has, finally, learned a hard lesson.

"The quality of mercy is not strain'd ..."

The Empire Strikes Back

Amherst Media is main beneficiary of Comcast ten year contract

Comcast, the mega media giant who owns the sole cable franchise for Amherst, responded to the town's 10 year renewal RFP with an in-your-face comeback.

While the 5% cut of $6.2 million in annual revenues ($317,000 to Amherst Media for local access this year) is pretty much a given, the only real negotiation will be over the one-time equipment upgrades.

The town requested $2.2 million and Comcast responded with $450,000 -- the exact same amount they provided ten years ago.  Ouch!

And they hired their own consultant to counter the two "ascertainment hearings" the town held to get feedback on Comcast services.

 Click to enlarge read

So yes, this is going to get interesting.

And if not resolved by mid-October, the town's 7,000 subscribers could see their televisions go dark.

Although our Temporary Town Manager assured the state oversight authority that the town expects to come to a deal before deadline.

DUI Dishonor Roll

Amherst -- at least the part not under UMass -- was pretty safe over the long weekend with APD not taking a single impaired driver off the road.  Maybe everybody is using Uber these days.

 Luke O'Malley, age 20, stands before Judge O'Grady

UMass police did arrest one student for impaired driving, in a parking lot.  One that was loaded with a couple thousand tailgaters.  O'Malley had his case continued until next month so he could hire his own private attorney.

Click to enlarge/read

UMass Stadium 6:45 PM  More at parking lot tailgate than in the stadium

Party House of the Weekend

287 Grantwood Drive

In spite of the perfect weather that prompted large outdoor gatherings of alcohol fueled events over the long holiday weekend the individual party house scene was pretty tame, only one.  Although APD had a total of 20 arraignments in Eastern Hampshire District Court on Tuesday, mostly alcohol related.

 5 young ladies stand before Judge O'Grady but are not arraigned

Judge O'Grady insisted the Assistant District Attorney deal with all the students who did not have a record prior to arraignment in order to keep their records squeaky clean.  But the deals he made for all five residents who were arrested at 287 Grantwood Drive was the usual plea deal:

Pay the town's $300 Noise Bylaw fine, take the UMass "Brains at Risk" program, and stay out of trouble for the next four months and the original arraignment will not even take place although all of them have to return to District Court on August 19th. 

When Products Compete

William Fraser long time City Manager Montpelier Vermont

While it has now become somewhat of a joke the correct pronunciation of Amherst minus the h actually served a purpose a generation or so ago before social media and a t-shirt slogan let the cat out of the bag.

My Irish mother pointed out to me that it was a simple way of telling townies from outsiders, from folks who had roots in our little town (even back then a "college town") and folks who may not care as deeply as we do.

Last night the Select Board held an interesting public discussion of questions they will ask the three Town Manger wannabes next week.

 Amherst Select Board reading interview questions for 3 Town Manager finalists

Interesting because they were in open public session and did not want to divulge the actual questions since the three candidates could simply watch the Select Board meeting over the next few days on Amherst Media and prepare themselves for the questions.

But one word from one question was divulged --"outsider" -- because Connie Kruger wanted it changed to "newcomer."  Fair enough.  All three candidates are on level ground because, unlike Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek, none of them are townies.

 Click to enlarge/read

Mr. Fraser will by carrying additional baggage, however, since some people will see his recent actions as playing one community -- that he has served for 21 years -- against another.

Others will simply note he would be coming to our awesome community with a 50% raise, so more power to him.

Vermont Times Argus reports

High Tech By The Slice

Iconic Bank building bottom right adjacent to Jones Library

The stunning former First National Bank building located in the heart of downtown will soon be a beehive of entrepreneurial activity, as Boston based WorkBar is expanding to our little college town.

The bank building, owned by Barry Roberts, has been empty since last summer when TD Bank consolidated into their Triangle Street building in the north end of downtown.

WorkBar is kind of like a health club for entrepreneurs whereby you pay a membership fee to come in and use the facility whenever you need it.  They offer full and part time memberships payable by the month and will be featuring high speed wireless gigabit service.

The center of town is about to get a much needed shot in the arm!