A Horrible Tragedy

The District Attorney's office released a statement late this afternoon in the tragic death of a 67 year old Amherst woman last night and I guess I can see why they took their time issuing it considering the unthinkable reality of what happened.

When was the last time you looked behind your car at night to see if someone was flat on the ground near the rear tires before backing up?

 Click to enlarge/read

So I guess the bricks and mortar media was close when they originally portrayed it as a "car vs pedestrian."

But after the horrendous incident in town center six weeks ago where a drunk driver piloting a speeding truck trampled a man sitting on a bench waiting for a PVTA bus, people are naturally suspicious.

Especially when they see the phrase "State Police have been called in to investigate" which insiders know happens with ANY unattended death. 

Transparency is always the better option, even when the facts are so jolting. 

Round Two: Final Round?

Over 400 signatures handed in yesterday afternoon

The Town Clerk's office certified the 200 signature required to bring the $67 million Mega School back to Town Meeting for a second bite at the bitter apple.

The first time around it failed miserably and stands little chance of gaining the two thirds vote it needs to pass, since the meeting will be happening prior to the annual election (March 27) so the exact same Town Meeting membership will be voting on the exact same proposal.

The Select Board will meet Wednesday morning to confirm the Town Meeting date for the single article warrant so it will probably happen a day or two before February 1st.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Amherst Select Board meeting via remote viewing

The epic 5-4 vote of the Charter Commission on Monday night in favor of a Mayor/Council to replace antiquated Select Board/Town Meeting was kind of like the Battle of Midway, a major turning point.

But it would have been far less dramatic if it had been a 4-4 tie.

Which is why the Charter Commission asked our illustrious Select Board back in mid-June to allow them the common sense ability to do "remote participation" via Skype, Facetime, or even old fashioned conference call.

A member can participate and vote on something but they do not count towards a quorum.  Thus a 9 member body could not have 5 members participate via remote participation.

The state allowed it back in 2012 and the Regional School Committee started using it years ago.

The diffident Select Board is overly concerned because it's not just something they can grant to a particular committee, otherwise they probably would have instantly granted to the Charter Commission, but it's simply an all-or-nothing declaration.

And apparently they don't overly trust some of our many committees to figure out 21st century technology even though the average 8-tear-old has no problem doing it.

Town Manager Paul Bockelman, no stranger to using social media, will bring back a proposal for  their January 9 meeting.

Thus it should be in place for some of the epic Charter Commission island hopping engagements coming up soon where members have already stated they will not be physically able to attend.

A Fateful Decision?

Charter Commission last night (Julie Rueschemeyer not yet arrived)

 Town Meeting last moth:  four sessions, 3 hours each; Nine sessions last Spring

The Amherst Charter Commission, after nine l-o-n-g months of public meetings, made their first real decision concerning a core requirement for any form of government that's legal in Massachusetts and fortunatley it was the right one:  replace Town Meeting with a smaller more efficient and professional Council.



The first hour or so of the meeting saw each member give a brief presentation of where they are at and it was quite clear that five favored replacing Town Meeting and three did not.  But Julia Rueschemeyer was missing at the time due to car problems.

Nick Grabbe however hit the nail on the head during follow up when he said it's better to go with the right Charter even if it is only endorsed by a 6-3 vote than to compromise too much to get it to a 7-2 or 9-0 vote of the Commission.

Bingo!

Ironically the nine-member Charter Commission is pretty much acting like a nine-member City Council:  put them in a room to deliberate over a given problem and let them come up with a solution.

So even a 5-4 vote passes, and somewhere down the road if voters give it that same 55% approval it pretty much proves the Council/Commission "represents/matches the will of the voters."

Fifteen years ago in the early stage of deliberation the Charter Commission took their fateful vote and decided to ditch Town Meeting by a 7-2 margin.  And six months later when the Charter was completed it was the exact same 7-2 vote to send it to the voters.

In fact the two Town Meeting loyalists back then became almost obstructionists after that initial kill-Town-Meeting vote and started to work against the Charter well before it was complete.

Of course the other fateful decision they made by a much narrower 5-4 vote was to keep a Town Manager and give him more authority than a Mayor who would be pretty much a ceremonial figurehead.

Let's hope this Charter Commission has learned from (recent) history.

The Price of Protest

Pipeline protest prevented bank entry for 6 hours (although drive up was open)

Throughout the occupation no less than a dozen supporters were always on scene

The four arrested do-gooders who chained themselves to the main entry and exit doors of TD Bank on Triangle Street blocking access for six hours all pleaded not guilty and brokered a deal with ADA Bob Opsitnik to reimburse the town $800 for all the public safety personnel they needlessly tied up.

Now $200 each may not sound like much, but the usual court cost imposed is $50 and I've seen a few set at $100 but the only time in memory it went that high was for the infamous case of the Blarney Blowout when most of the perps reimbursed the town $200, wrote a letter of apology to APD and did 40 hours of community service.

Since these protesters were apologetic to APD the entire time of the incident, no need for a letter of apology and their idea of "community service" would probably be standing in town center with their anti-pipeline signs.

Since the four were egged on and supported throughout the occupation by about 20 other like-minded individuals if they split up the total cost it only comes to $35 or $40 each.

But I can assure you if this happens again the next four perps will not get off so (relatively) easily.  

Alyssa Johnson-Kurts

Harrison Greene

  Paxton Reed

  Marc Oston

Killer coverage via the Amherst Wire

(Although I wish they interviewed the young woman who quit to find out why)

Charter Fork In The Road

The Amherst Charter Commission has scheduled a marathon four hour meeting Monday night in an attempt to close out the year with a major milestone setting a direct course for a noteworthy final destination:  a new and improved local government.

And all roads lead through the question whether Town Meeting should continue beyond the 257 year mark?

At the consultants urging -- with time starting to run out -- the Commission will probably come to a straw vote on whether to keep Town Meeting in some form as the legislative branch.

A majority of members have telegraphed enough discontent with Town Meeting to indicate a yes vote for a replacement Council form of legislative branch, but a 5-4 vote will not be overly reassuring to the voters who have to approve the new Charter by majority vote.

But even Gerry Weiss,  stalwart defender of Town Meeting seems agreeable to at least downsizing the body from the current 240+ members and he also liked the idea of replacing the five member Select Board with a Mayor, but was told by the consultants the Attorney General would not accept such a hybrid.

Back in 1996 a Charter that failed miserably downsized Town Meeting to 150 members, kept a Town Manager but added a separate Council and a weak Mayor (elected only to lead the Council).

Something for everyone to hate.

The most contentious issue that will create the most enthusiasm for both enacting and/or defeating the new Charter proposal is this  issue about keeping or killing Town Meeting.

The Charter Commission, after nine months of meetings, public hearings and general outreach needs to bite the bullet and make this epic call. Now!

Hint:  Any new Charter that maintains antiquated Town Meeting -- in any form -- is doomed to failure. 

Don't Do The Crime

Soknang Chham arraigned before Judge Ross for murder

Eastern Hampshire District Court this afternoon hosted more police officers than I have ever seen including representatives from Belchertown, Amherst, State and a few extra bailiffs for good measure.

 State and local PD stood in the Courtroom

And midway through the arraignment of Soknang Chham for the shooting death of Jose "Joselito" Rodriguez after an outburst from a couple spectators you understand what the extra security was all about.

Crowd of friends and family 

The entire proceedings took perhaps 45 minutes but the actual time in the Court Room for Judge Ross was probably no more than 10 minutes, although he quickly left the room briefly after the outburst and then returned for the second arraignment.

 Click to enlarge/read

 Soksot Chham arraigned for accessory after the fact to murder

The court room was packed with about three dozen friends and family of the deceased.  The actual murder trial will probably take place in Northampton Superior Court since Eastern Hampshire District Court does not deal with full blown murder trials.