Friday Frolics

11 Eames Avenue , Amherst

Intermittent rain was not enough to dampen the renegade party spirit of the hard core party hardy types as evidenced by this repeat offender. And an unusual one at that as it's not a rental but owner occupied.

Neighbors called police around midnight last night to complain about throngs of loud people in their yard.  When police arrived they spotted a bevy of college aged youths fleeing the basement of 11 Eames Place and dispersing into the woods.  But they still found around another 60 hiding in the basement.  They also found the owner and arrested him for Noise and Nuisance violations.

Arrested for Noise and Nuisance:

Reed Smith, 24 Pain St, Wellesley, Ma, age 27 (owner of the property)
Christopher Roy, 11 Merridan Rd, Weyham, Ma, age 21
Kelly Norton, 62 Karen Ln, Abington, MA, 18 arrested for resisting arrest, underaged drinking

They Have Landed

Amherst Biennial: Encounter 2 by William Brayton @ The Lord Jeffrey Inn

Gotta Go?

Gotta Go Taxi is one of nine companies servicing Amherst 

Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingstone will meet with the owner of GottaGo taxi tomorrow to discuss a weekend incident noted in APD logs.

After pulling over a GottaGo taxi around midnight Friday, initially for a broken tail light and not having the "taxi" sign illuminated, the officer also found the commercial vehicle that carries the general public had a rejection sticker, the taxi was unlicensed and the right front tire and left rear tires were missing lug nuts. Yikes!

The company owner also refused to come to the scene when called by dispatch.

The taxi industry has grown exponentially in Amherst just in the past half dozen years going from one or two operations to a peak of ten. Oftentimes at party houses taxis will stream to the scene and unload a cargo of students like those little cars in  a circus clown act.

According to Chief Livingstone the inspection and enforcement end of taxi regulation has fallen into the lap of APD.  About half the taxis doing business in town have thus far been inspected and carry a yellow sticker, like a Good Housekeeping seal of approval.

The town is working on a new set of regulations that will go into effect January 1st and will require the installation of fare meters, an expensive upgrade to existing fleets that may stimulate a few more companies to withdraw from this competitive market.

Gotta Go taxi at the scene of Hadley Hoe Down down last month

Can You Hear Me Now?

 Good crowd for community forum.  Pat Archibald UMPD front left, John Musante town manger front rt

Clearly the crowd who packed the community room at the new $12.5 million UMass police station tonight to discuss uncivil off campus behavior of some UMass students could be broken into two distinct groups:  those who seem satisfied with efforts thus far to curb unruly behavior (UMass officials) and those who are not (townsfolk). 

And townsfolk outnumbered UMass officials, who were there in force.

 UMPD Chief John Horvath

Perhaps Fearing Street resident John Fox summed it up best with the last statement taken at almost exactly 7:30 PM, the scheduled end time for the "community forum".  Mr. Fox made brief allusion to Afghanistan and declared "the surge" is simply not working.  Not enough cops, and not enough programs.  Things are getting worse!  Time for something new.

 Two Johns:  John Coul front, reacts to John Fox's final statement of the night

Unfortunately that something "new" did not come out of tonight's meeting.  To quote the cliche, "same old same old."

Almost all the townsfolk in attendance seemed to agree that unruly behavior towards Amherst police should have zero tolerance with instant repercussions.  In other words, automatic expulsion.  But Enku Gelaye, Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students did not want to say what offense garners automatic expulsion, or even illuminating what line the five students (out of 652) did cross to get expelled.  Although she did reiterate they take assault of any kind "very seriously."

An affable Enku Gelaye, perhaps too affable for chief disciplinarian 

So yes, our gracious hosts staged a successful by-the-book community event, and they will no doubt sleep well tonight.  And perhaps even some of the townsfolk in attendance will also sleep well tonight, content that at least their voices were heard.  

Problem is, how well will they sleep this coming weekend?

Truth To Power

 UMass/Amherst:  Juggernaut of the Happy Valley

Leave the torches and pitchforks behind, but do bring to the meeting a protective passion for the most important possession you own:  a home.  Because if you do not feel safe and comfortable in your own home then everything else is secondary.

And how can you feel safe and comfortable when the noise level in the dead of night is akin to a highway construction project, or hoards of strangers stream by, some taking the time to vomit or urinate (or worse) on your front lawn, or a drunken pair decided to kick in your front door while your family is fast asleep? 

When it's your life and that of your family routinely inconvenienced, it's of no consolation that the University of Massachusetts is in the top ten for housing students on campus.

The fact of the matter is rowdy student behavior from a tiny minority of off campus UMass students is a major problem, and UMass needs to hear that loud and clear. 

The answers employed -- handing out oatmeal cookies or creating whimsical cartoon characters in PR handouts -- have not worked.  Neither has the discipline meted out over the past year.

So let them hear that tonight, on their home court.  After all, a bitch session is better than nothing.  (Maybe they will have a staff psychiatrist open the meeting with,  "I'm listening.")

Bermuda Triangle For Civility

The first weekend of renewed joint patrols between University Massachusetts PD and Amherst PD has yielded (rotten) fruit as officers on foot patrolling Lincoln Avenue/McClure Street had to dodge a bottle thrown from the bushes by John Moffitt of Andover, MA, age 19, who was arrested for underage drinking and disorderly conduct. 

"Disorderly conduct" is an apt description for that entire area, a kind of town/UMass DMZ border, although -- as usual -- problem houses made their presence known in other areas far from the UMass campus.  Take for instance 120 Amity Street, almost in the center of town.

120 Amity Street, Amherst

APD was called at 1:39 AM early Saturday morning to clear a crowd of 150-200 "uncooperative" guests from the "one family" residence and arrested two uncooperative party hosts: Nikoli Sotil, 209 E Granby Rd, Granby, MA, age 21 and Nick Freiter, 257 School St, Taunton, MA, age 21

Police were called to #25 Hobart Lane yet again for a party of 100-150 inside the apartment and another 200 milling around the road in front around 12:30 AM early Saturday morning.  Two residents were issued noise tickets and another cited for underage drinking.

A half hour later on North Pleasant Street, within spitting distance of Hobart Lane, Andy Thach, 7 Olympia Drive, Amherst, MA, age 22 was arrested for disorderly conduct and was noted to be "extremely ETOH" (drunk).

Around that time (1:02 AM) a patrol car was flagged down on Sunset Ave by a female advising the officer another very drunk young man was trying to fight with people and he appeared to have urinated on himself.   After running down Sunset Avenue onto UMass property, he was arrested by UMPD

In the furthermost reaches of North Amherst (1:10 AM) police were breaking up a party at 198 Sunderland Road because of loud noise and with 30-40 guests near the road a car barrelled by almost hitting some in the crowd.

Police chased the gray sedan and pulled it over on Rt 116 (yes, the same highway where a UMass student only weeks away from graduation was killed last year by a drunk driver going the wrong way) and arrested the driver Kevin Chan, 352 Silver Lane, Sunderland, MA for drunk driving.

Also in North Amherst  (2:21 AM) at the intersection of Meadow Street and North Pleasant the commercial center of N. Amherst police arrested Christopher Wade for drunk driving.


And of course what would a weekend of revelry be without Phillips Street?

 45 Phillips Street

Early Sunday morning (1:16 AM) police responded yet again to 45 Phillips for a loud stereo and guests up on the roof who were "very uncooperative."  One of the guests tried to prevent the arrest of his brother and he was also arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Arrested for both Noise and Nuisance House:
Ian Reeb, 285 Highland St, Dedham, MA, age 21
Alex Bazin, 112 Country Club Rd, E. Longmeadown, MA, age 20
Joshua Scott, 33 Portulace Dr, Spfld, MA, age 20
Matthew Scott, 33 Portulace Dr, Spfld, MA, age 26
Joseph Dingmann, 814 Shore Rd, Rocassett, MA, age 21

Late Friday around midnight police observed two youthful looking individuals exiting #19 Phillips Street carrying a 12 pack of beer, an address where police had visited previously to speak to tenants about civility.  Both were issued summons for underage possession of alcohol.  

 19 Phillips Street

Around midnight Saturday police were called to 84 Sunset Avenue, a one family home actually occupied by a family, for a Breaking & Entering.  Arrested for underage drinking, open container, and destruction of property over $250 in value:

Joseph Murphy, 6227 82nd St, Middle Village, NY, age 19
Amasith Phrommavanh, 5 Fawn Circle, Old Saybrook, CT, age 18

51 Phillips Street Monday morning. Rooftop party remains.

 AFD kept busy at our institutes of higher education with ETOH (passed out drunk) and  false fire alarms

AFD Mid October Weekend 

Sugarloaf High

View from Mt Sugarloaf, Sunderland

iPhone Panaram