Party House (s) of the Weekend

As you could probably tell from my previous report covering the alcohol soaked Friday night into Saturday morning that overwhelmed our Emergency Medical Response system, the other byproduct of free flowing alcohol-- noise/nuisance -- was also in abundant supply.

Amherst police broke up a party at #17 Salem Place Condominiums early Saturday morning (12:33 AM) arresting three UMass students for both noise and nuisance house Town By Law violations.  The second charge usually results if the party hosts are uncooperative at the front door, or there's a large number of attendees, with some of them underage.

Arrested by Amherst police: Enrico A. Aloi, Kyle A. Crist and John L. Tremblay all of them age 21 and all UMass students.

In Eastern Hampshire District Court this morning all three accepted the plea bargain whereby the criminal charges are switched to a civil charge.  Judge John Payne, Jr. only enforced the $300 noise ticket and reduced the other $300 ticket to zero, even though an Assistant District Attorney had suggested the second charge be $50.

 

1008 North Pleasant Street (note car parked on lawn)

Saturday around midnight police broke up an even larger party at 1008 North Pleasant Street very near the UMass campus and directly across the street from the natorious Hobart Lane.  Five students were arrested, although one (Arian Hashemi-Pour) claimed this morning he was not a resident of the house so the charges could have been thrown out. 

Arrested for noise:  Arian C. Hashemi-Pour, 22  and Sana Jameel, Patricia L. Martin, Nicole Scepkowski and Adriana N. Sobel all of them 21 and UMass students all.

The four actual residents of 1008 North Pleasant Street (all the females) also agreed to the plea bargain with a  $300 fine going to the town and an additional $100 court costs to settle the matter. (Plus the $40 each paid to the court clerk to be released from APD jail).

 35 Northampton Road

Police also arrested two female UMass students at 35 Northampton Road (Rt 9) for noise and nuisance house violations just after midnight Saturday into Sunday morning.  Christina Kingdara, 20,  and Allison N. Wolf, 19, both UMass students.

Again Judge Payne nixed the nuisance charge and allowed the plea bargain of $300 to the town and $100 in court costs.

Interestingly all the students arrested by APD for underage drinking and/or open container violations were fined more heavily than Party House perps.  The plea bargain cost them $300 to the town, $100 to the court plus completion of the BASICS program at UMass, which also has a $100 fee.

Another Frisky Friday?

 

UMPD hands out ticket this morning on Fearing Street (town property)

UPDATE Midnight:

 Baby Berk

The Baby Berk, a large UMass food truck, was not doing a whole lot of business around 11:30 PM, parked alongside Mass Ave in a parking lot near Lincoln Avenue.  The food truck was supposed to draw students away from migrating down Fearing Streets and Lincoln Avenue by giving kids an incentive to walk through campus.

A large group of perhaps a dozen volunteers were stationed at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Fearing Street attempting to redirect students away from the residential neighborhoods, but they were gone by midnight (although advertised to be out until 2:00 AM).

APD has been busy all night doing "liquor violations" and they have made many arrests.  The Personal Transport Vehicle was activated at 11:00 PM to efficiently cart the perps to APD headquarters.  

UPDATE 10:15 PM

I can almost guarantee there will be no problems on Phillips Street this evening as the APD/UMPD joint patrol includes UMPD's mounted patrol unit. Unlike last September.

UPDATE: 9:00 PM 

Fire at Mill Valley Estates 7:30 PM

A "box alarm" at Mill Valley Estates apartments in South Amherst around 7:30 PM brought a massive and swift response from both APD and AFD.  The stove fire was quickly put down by an officer first on the scene with a portable extinguisher carried in the trunk of his cruiser.

UPDATE 3:15 PM

Hadley police just chased a motorcycle into Amherst on Rt 9 at speeds over 100 mph, sometimes on the wrong side of the road.

The errant bike took a right in town center and headed south on Rt 116.

And no, he did not slow down two miles down the road for Crocker Farm Elementary school, which was just getting ready to let out for the day.  Grrrr.

The perp abandoned his bike, and APD now has it tagged as evidence.

Original Post 1:00 PM

Amherst Police patrols have been doing CP (Community Policing) activity all morning with the usual suspects: rental properties along Fearing, Phillips, Meadow streets, and the infamous Hobart Lane.

Thus, if after knocking on doors and politely informing residents to be on civilized behavior over the weekend and then later having to respond to said location for bad behavior, let's just say a stern response is more easily justified.

Amherst PD and UMPD joint patrols start in earnest this weekend, AFD will have two extra ambulances staffed and ready to go -- paid for by UMass -- and State Police are but a phone call away. Yes, the little college town of Amherst is ready.  For anything.

Stan Rosenberg reports on his Facebook page (and Twitter) that he met this morning with Amherst and UMass officials to discuss student off campus bad behavior.

Let's hope he champions the idea of an off campus RA bouncer to nip problems in the bud, as done at Boston College.

Wow, I'm somebody now.  A discussion topic at Reddit.

Fireground: College Street Command

195 College Street, Amherst "single family" home

By the time an Amherst police patrol confirmed "smoke coming from the building" Amherst Fire Department had already committed three engines dispatched in a hurry to 195 College Street after the "box alarm" first sounded around 10:10 PM last night.

Yes, another basement fire. And like the Hobart Lane basement fire last September this one also narrowly missed becoming a tragedy. Especially since the building inspector discovered far more bedrooms than allowed by law.

While it was only a dryer fire, I'm told the machine and all the clothes inside were incinerated with thick smoke filling the entire structure.  Like my six year old daughter, fire loves to climb.

So if it starts at the lowest point possible in a wood frame structure, it's ravenous appetite is all the better served.

Fortunately AFD stopped it in a hurry.  But when the building inspector arrived, as is standard procedure with any structure fire, he found inadequate smoke alarm system and more than twice as many bedrooms as shown on the official town property card (seven vs three).

Kind of makes you wonder why anyone would need seven bedrooms in a single family unit only zoned for four unrelated housemates? 

The house is owned by195 Amherst LLC not to be confused with 197 Amherst LLC or 162 Amherst LLC all three "sold" for $1 each by Sandra Weisman of Brooklyn, NY.  In addition Ms Weisman also sold for $1 162 South East Street with all these transactions dated December 24, 2112. 

Merry Christmas.

Note name of owner

   195 College Street Amherst Fire

Townehouse Transformation

Townehouse west quad 2:30 PM Satruday

The final glorious spring weekend before UMass finals went well, with fewer large gatherings compared to last week where the Mill River Recreation area was trashed and the usual spots -- Hobart Lane and Townehouse Apartments -- swelled with college aged youth like an old fashioned beach party.

A ground level view

 Townehouse west quad 4:45 PM

Only Townehouse Apartments quad area grew large and loud on Saturday with a peak crowd of perhaps 1,500, a little less than last week.

A handful of Amherst police stood by most of the day to observe and interact with students coming and going but pretty much allowed the students to have fun.

UMass Community Liaison Eric Beal and APD's Neighborhood Liaison Officer Bill Laramee has spent plenty of time during the week interacting with students at the usual hot spots.

Townehouse west quad 6:30 PM

At one point late in the day a Townehouse security guard reported a bottle was thrown at him by someone who disappeared back into the crowd, but fortunately the incident did not escalate.

And, unlike last week, nobody set any furniture on fire in the middle of the quad.

 Townehouse west quad Sunday morning 7:00 AM

ZBA Accepts Surrender

ZBA Chair Eric Beal, Thomas Ehrgood member, Rob Morra Building Commish, Attorney Larry Farber in hot seat

It took two hours and ZBA Chair Eric Beal seemed to want to let the public thrashing of a prominent local landlord go on for two more hours, but he finally relented and voted along with his two fellow board members to allow Grandonico Properties, LLC -- AKA Lincoln Realty -- to withdraw their appeal of the Building Commissioner's $100/day fine for violation of the town bylaw restricting one family units to four unrelated housemates.

 Town Attorney Joel Bard, Jeff Bagg town planner, Hilda Greenbaum ZBA member

Originally the Grandonicos appealed the Building Commissioner's decision, claiming they should not be fined because they were unaware of their tenants (overcrowding) actions and should therefor not be held accountable.

The tenants -- all UMass students -- contacted UMass legal services and their attorney, Carol Booth, put together overwhelming testimony showing the Grandonicos were well aware, and in fact encouraged, violation of the town zoning bylaw.

 Seven roommates!

After a potentially catastrophic fire that started in an illegal basement bedroom of #20 Gilreath Manor on September 13, the tenants were told by their landlord to hide evidence of bedrooms in the basements, which borders on obstruction of justice -- a criminal charge.  

After these documents became public due to the ZBA hearing (and this blog), the Grandonicos wished to turn off the spotlight by simply withdrawing their appeal.  Tonight they got their wish.

Click to enlarge/read

But the ZBA still strongly reaffirmed the right of the Building Commissioner to levy fines on the landlords for infractions that occur on their property.  A message that will not be lost on other landlords in town.

The Hobart Lane Cover Up

Front Row: Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe, Jonathan O'Keeffe Planning Board, Alisa Brewer, Select Board rear seat front

Dean of Discipline

Hobart Lane:  A usual suspect

As Party House apologists are fond of pointing out, UMass is the largest employer in Amherst, thus making us a "company town," thus making disturbing behavior that disrupts neighborhood tranquility town wide mere collateral damage to be endured for the greater good.

Or something like that.

Last year Amherst police politely handed over to UMass the names of 652 students arrested for rowdy behavior : Noise, Nuisance House, Open Container, Unlicenses Kegs, Under aged Drinking.

Since UMass is only in session roughly seven months out of the year, that amounts to 23 arrests per week.  Just this past semester APD made 105 arrests for Nuisance House violations alone.

Since Nuisance House tickets are issued to all tenants that can be found on the premises at the time of the disturbance, it usually amounts to three per incident which works out to 35 dwellings or two per week (usually on weekends.)

All the above statistics are reactionary.  A neighbor calls 911 to complain about loud noise or other disruptive behavior and the police show up.  By then things are already out of control.

UMass, our largest employer, needs to hire an Off Campus RA to proactively patrol the usual suspect streets and enforce the student code of conduct, which UMass now claims to apply to off campus behavior.

A combination between bar bouncer and Jr High School Principal in charge of behavior.  The town recently hired a code enforcement building inspector to better police slumlords who specialize in high demand student rentals.

Since UMass provides the supply side, it's only fair they share in the oversight.

DUI Dishonor Roll

Early Friday morning was not a particularly safe time to be driving in Amherst, although APD made it safer by taking two drunk drivers off the road, both of them female UMass students, and both incidents close to the flagship campus jam packed with potential accident victims. 

Stopped originally for speeding and "marked lanes violation" (swerving) at 1:17 AM on North Pleasant Street near infamous Hobart Lane, police arrested 21-year-old Hannah David, 58 Mt Vernon St, Fitchburg, MA, for Driving Under the Influence.

And a couple hours later at 2:58 AM on Phillips Street, the other infamous street in town, police stopped 20-year-old Meghan Fleming, 10 Valentine Road, Hopkinton, MA for "marked lanes violation".  The officer then noticed a "strong odor of alcohol, bloodshot glassy eyes, and slurred speech."

Ms Fleming took the Portable Breathalyzer Test and failed with a PBT of .173% -- more than twice the legal limit.  She was, however, smart enough to refuse the more sophisticated, fixed/stationary breathalyzer back at the station -- the one that provides results that are admissible in court.

So, theoretically, she loses her license for 180 days, unless of course she beats the DUI charge, which is now made harder to prove without the more sophisticated breathalyzer results.  And the fact she refused to take it cannot be used in court as evidence.

Although police also found a marijuana pipe and a small amount of the drug in the vehicle, so that will provide evidence to back up the DUI charge.  

Yeah, great system we have here in Massachusetts.  

Earlier in the week two other young ladies -- both UMass students -- were also taken off the road, handcuffed, and escorted back to APD headquarters under arrest.

Sunday, January 20 at 6:10 PM police stopped 22-year-old Lauren Derouin, 196 Triangle St, Amherst, and arrested her after she failed a Field Sobriety Test.  She did, however,  refuse to take the breathalyzer. 

Wednesday, January 23 at 1:09 AM police stopped 21-year-old Emily Rookwood, 3 Madison Rd, Marblehead, MA, for speeding (estimated 45 in a 30 MPH zone).  She failed the Field Sobriety Test and was transported back to the station, where she refused to take the breathalyzer test.

Help Delayed = Dangerzone

Main Street/South Whitney Friday 5:00 PM 10/14/11

Welcome Reddit/UMass readers. Click the "nuisance house" tag for the cavalcade of party house winners over the past year

########################

God help Amherst residents should a medical emergency or fire have happened last Saturday night around 10:00 PM; sure, Northampton FD would have arrived...eventually.

Rowdy student behavior doesn't just keep residents awake on weekends--it also squanders the precious resources of the Amherst Fire Department. And it's not like UMass has a fire department of its own.

The Mullins Center, owned by UMass, so a tax exempt entity, hosted a giant party on Saturday night in the form of Deadmau5 a DJ "artist" who mixes music and probably plays it loud enough to garner a $300 noise ticket if he were playing on Meadow Street or Hobart Lane.

The AFD wisely based an ambulance and paramedic crew on scene and, sure enough, they handled eight cases (alcohol related) thus avoiding a costly trip in time to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital, where the average turn around for handling a single drunk student (once they get there) is an hour, more like an hour-and-a-half if blood, vomit or other body fluids spill inside the ambulance.

Meanwhile between 9:16 PM and 11:50 PM four more cases of ETOH (too much alcohol) required transport to the hospital, thus depleting the cavalry should Fort Amherst require assistance. You know, the normal working person who pays property taxes to help finance our $4 million Fire/EMS system.

Yes, the student call force (for fire calls only) and one professional firefighter to supervise were available, but if your most precious asset was in imminent danger--is that the response you expect?

Update/correction: UMass does pay a fee (like hiring police for a traffic detail) for the extra ambulance assigned to the Mullins Center for special occasions.
The UMass Daily Collegian reports (the fines are working!)

Just another typical weekend for AFD

AFD reports

Frightening Weekend Party House (s)

Hobart Lane late Saturday night.  

APD deployed the PTV (Personal Transport Vehicle) for the numerous alcohol related busts. Although kids kept referring to it as the "Paddy Wagon."

 33 Phillips Street:  come out come out wherever you are

Yeah, I guess that's the most frightening thing about my headline title:  the weekend is not even over yet and already there are enough party house contenders to bring on writers cramp from recording all the details.  With Halloween on a Wednesday the excuse to party with frightening vigor impacted this weekend, probably next weekend, and of course the actual "holiday" dead center between the two.

And now that UMass cancelled all classes Monday because of #Frankenstorm, that will -- for a tiny but destructive minority -- become yet another excuse to party all the time, party all the t-i-m-e.

But Paul Markham, Phillips Street most infamous resident, will probably not be in a celebratory mood.  Three weeks ago the young, white, hipster rap star wanna-be removed his childish ode to UMass "Welcome to the Zoo" from YouTube after garnering almost 100,000 hits and a plethora of negative comments.

 Next door to #33 Phillips

Hopefully it was something I said ...

Late last night after a patrol car spied two under aged residents consuming alcohol from an open container a black-and-white armada descended on #33 Phillips Street where police arrested 8 college aged youths, three of them for open container and underaged drinking and the other five (including Markham) for two usual town bylaw infractions, Noise and Nuisance ($300 each), as well as the unusual state charges of "keeping a noisy and disorderly house" and "disturbing the peace."

Which looks to me like officials are clearly sending a message to #33 Phillips Street.  Since Markham is tone deaf, no guarantee he will get that  message.

#####

 Town Center late last night.  Bars were very busy all night up to 1:00 AM closing

 Police arrested young man for causing a disturbance in town center late last night

Late Friday around midnight police were called to 985 North Pleasant Street and discovered about 100 youth milling about outside and another 50 in the house.  One young lad got things off to a bad start by being particularly uncooperative and attempted to flee on foot.  He then resisted arrest, assaulted an officer and broke his expensive flashlight.

 985 North Pleasant Street

Andrew DeAngelo, 44 Auriga St, Dorcherster, Ma, age 20 arrested for open container, underage drinking, A&B on an officer, resisting arrest, disorderly, and destruction of property.

Arrested for Noise and Nuisance:

April Dawn Huff-Ring, 6 Hathway, Arlington, Ma, age 21
Jonathan Weingart, 200 Hudson St, Northborough, age 22
Cathryn Alyse Carmichael, 62 Reardons Field Ln, Attleboro Falls, Ma, age  21
Daniel Harold Fenichel, 985 N Pleasant st, Amherst, Ma, age 21


Arrested for noise:
William Hickey, 182 Hollaston Ave, Arlington, Ma, age 22
Scott Baron, 3 Stonecleave Ln, Swampscott, Ma, age 22

Ownership card for 985 North Pleasant Street, Amherst

 #####

Around 1:00 AM early Saturday police busted up a loud party at 219 East Pleasant Street because of noise and "lots of people spilling into the street."

219 East Pleasant Street

Arrested for noise:

Erik Doty, 26 Plain Rd, Hollis, NH, age 21

Nicholas Powers, 5 Nolan Ave, Milford, Ma, age 21

Cameron Smith, 11 Maple St, Upton, Ma, age 21

David Hoch, 219 East Pleasant, Amherst, Ma, age 21

#####

And a party weekend would not be complete without an apartment complex joining in the fray: 1:10 AM Salem Place Condos lower Main Street. Loud noise and stereo. "Clearly unreasonable" according to APD first responder.

And the reporting party said they had warned the residents earlier to quiet down or they were going to call the police.

Arrested for Noise: Ashley Ann Zimmerman, 120 Curtis Ave, Attleboro, Ma, age 20 Kelly Elizabeth Marsh, 7 Ward Ln, Medway, Ma, age 20 Deryn Lee O'Brien, 652 Lynn Fells Parkway, Melrose, Ma, age 20

#####

Which leads me to me to just one more, exceedingly sobering thing.

An old friend and long-time Amherst resident forwarded me an email response she received just this morning that left her in tears, from a 26 year old, Chinese-born American woman serving in Afghanistan as an occupational therapist.

Hello XXX,

Thank you so much!!! I just got your box of goodies and we love them. The cookies are all gone. 

I have 10 soldiers (wounded) with me from a smaller military location of only 200-300 total soldiers.  A few days ago they were under attack and many were injured.  According to them, they do not have hot showers and food most of time. Their living condition is similar to a 3rd world country ... if not worse.

They loved your cookies and some of the younger soldiers (18-20yr) cried while they were eating them.

You made my day with all the sweet and lovely reading materials. I gave them to the soldiers who needed them more.  

I am really proud to be an American and really proud of myself and the job I do here. God placed me in this location.  This job allows job me to assist others, while giving me a bigger dream and better appreciation of life and freedom.

Thank you for being my supporter and friend. Please, pray for our Soldiers

 

Fire Postmortem

 Gilreath Manor, main building, six units

Two violations jump out in this AFD report, one not so serious, one deadly serious.  Amherst has a zoning bylaw limiting unrelated tenants to four per household -- that's the not so serious violation.

State building codes requires two means of egress from a basement bedroom -- that's the deadly serious infraction.

As I pointed out in my original post, what if the fire had happened in the wee hours of the morning rather than 12:00 noon?  A fire across the main floor would have trapped anybody asleep in those basements.

Two bedrooms per unit times six units:  "Nobody gets out of here alive."

Hobart Lane Fire Redacted

Tools of the Trade

Hobart Lane:  PTV in action

If ever a term described Amherst Police Department's capital equipment requests for next year it would be "the usual".  Well, almost. (No drones however).

Three front line cruisers, AKA patrol cars, i.e. "black-and-whites," at a total cost of $105,000.  These vital vehicles are on the go 24 hours a day, seven days a week and as a result only last two or three years.  The department is currently on a four year replacement cycle: replace three cruisers annually for three consecutive years and then four in the fourth year.

Since the iconic Crown Vics are no longer manufactured, the replacement vehicles will all be Ford Taurus Police Interceptors, which are crash rated to 75 MPH.  Thus the vehicles are safer, as well as roomier for extra comfort, and fiscally sound via better gas mileage.  

 A reliable response vehicle is required for first responders

Last year was a replace-four year but there is still money left over from that appropriation, so the department is putting $45,000 of it towards a new Personal Transport Vehicle or PTV.

Not to be confused with the racially insensitive term "paddy wagon."  Although I heard a number of college aged youth use that term as they were being loaded into the vehicle last fall.  The current van has over 136,000 miles on it.

Left over FY13 money ($12,000) will also be used to purchase a Harley Davidson motorcycle coming off lease (with only 1,492 miles on it).  A few years ago APD had a mounted horse division but that was put out to pasture due to budget constraints.

No horse patrol but we have (2) Harleys

Also requested is an in-cruiser wireless camera system for two cars ($10,500) that shoots digital audio and video and immediately downloads as the patrol car pulls into the station parking lot.  The raw video protects officers from liability (false claims of inappropriate conduct) and can be used in a court of law for evidence in drunk driving arrests.

The department requested these two camera systems last year but was delayed to save money.  That year the department had to upgrade its communication system at a cost of $125,000 to come into compliance with FCC "narrow band" regulations.

Captain Pronovost left, Chief Livingstone left center Kay Moran JCPC Chair right

Joint Capital Planning Committee's target goal is to spend 7% of total budget for capital items.
 
While a total police request of $172,500 ($57,000 already appropriated) may sound like a lot, considering the FY14 APD operation budget is, like the Amherst Fire Department, just over $4 million, a 7% slice for capital should come to $280,000.

Not a bad deal for safety.

Party Street of the Weekend: Phillips St.

10:30 AM

Amherst Police Department's crack down on rowdy students behavior continued this past weekend with an escalation of tactics: rather than issue $300 tickets for alcohol violation perps were arrested, cuffed and thrown in jail.

And with a shift to "sector" saturation greater police presence (both APD and UMass police) occurred all around the Gateway corridor--especially Phillips Street, Nuting Avenue and North Pleasant Street as well as the usual suspects, Hobart Lane and Sunset/Lincoln Avenues.

In all Amherst Police arrested over 25 college-age students rather than issuing a $300 ticket--mostly for "open container" and "underage drinking" violations. One more arrested for Driving Under the Influence and only one $300 ticket issued for "open container" and two for "noise" violations.

With a $10,000 state grant providing for additional police overtime, expect greater police presence on weekends between now and graduation.

Bad boys bad boys, whatcha going to do
whatcha going to do when they come for you?

A Safer Place To Be

Gilreath Manor, Hobart Lane, Amherst

When the occupancy rate at Gilreath Manor went from zero to 100% last week, for the first time in perhaps a generation, the 14-unit apartment complex was completely up to code.  

Even the owners' expensive attorney admits to the Amherst Board of Health " ... the work was performed in the manner approved by the board and in a professional manner, leaving the units in a safer and better condition than before."

Amen.

Because on September 19th of last year, the main building pictured above could easily have become a death trap.  Too many occupants and not enough smoke detectors is bad enough, but throw in illegal basement bedrooms and a slow burning fuse to a potential powder keg has been ignited.

For a landlord in a college town like Amherst to lie to investigators and try to delay their inspections, and then try to place blame on tenants by pretending they did not know about extra roommates living in illegal basement bedrooms (when in fact they encouraged it) would be considered standard operating procedure for slumlords. 

But when it's a prominent second-generation family business empire and the individual at the helm is also the Amherst Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors President, let's just say the complicated case became a high profile affair.

And the Grandonicos lost.  No more flagrantly violating the (no more than) four unrelated housemates bylaw, having two bedrooms in the basements of Gilreath Manor (one per unit is now legal) or being less than attentive to safety codes with smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

Thus sending a loud and clear message that the town is truly serious about cracking down on sub par rental housing -- no matter who the owners are.

The outcome of this particular case was a major reason the controversial "Rental Permit Bylaw" passed Town Meeting so overwhelmingly last May.

Although there was a brief dust up in late June when the Board of Health thought the Grandonicos were being disrespectful, which is of course not a good idea when you require an official variance.

But as you can see from the public documents back story, all's well that ends well.

Another hectic weekend for APD

1057 North Pleasant Street, Amherst @ 6:45 AM Sunday

Saturday night as the witching hour fast approached, a half dozen squad cars and the large transport van (referred to as a "paddy wagon" way back in the day) converged on the center of Meadow Street directly in front of the main entry to Townhouse Apartments, where students had been congregating all night long--fueled by warm humid air and beer.

Like Old West cowboys, APD herded the massive crowd of students away from Meadow Street--which by then had become impassable to cars--back into the confines of the sprawling apartment complexes that consists almost entirely of UMass students.

Then they turned their attention to the large house on the slummy side of Meadow Street with all the cars parked on the lawn, which had been attracting overloaded taxis for most of the night--contributing to the gridlock on Meadow Street.

As the officers moved as a unit towards a side entrance where a few residents were still milling about I heard the clang of an empty beer can ricochet off the road at their feet.

This congested, claustrophobic--dangerous--scene of too many students and too few cops was replayed on Phillips Street, Hobart Lane, and upper North Pleasant Street between 10:00 PM and 1:00 AM. With students crossing those roads freely back-and-forth in droves, I'm amazed there were no people vs car incidents.

Meanwhile, back in Amherst center McMurphy's and Stackers had lines of young people waiting to get to the bar, while next door a friendly crowd formed in front of Antonio's Pizza, happily chowing down. Cell phones chirped, a street musician played the xylophone and an incessant car alarm was almost drown out by the cacophony of loud conversations coming from consumers all along the busy street, looking for something to do.

Just another late Saturday night in our little (college) town.

374 North Pleasant Street, Amherst @ 6:40 AM Sunday

Even more revelry

1:30 AM. Just another warm Saturday Spring late night in Amherst. About a hundred revelers—most of whom just stumbled out of nearby bars—hang out in front of Antonio’s Pizza by the slice while an Amherst PD Mountain Bike officer keeps a close eye.

An hour earlier I watched three officers shut down a block party at notorious Hobart Lane that collectively included about 500 partygoers.

Captain Scott Livingstone pointed his flashlight with one hand and his trigger finger of the other hand and barked to a group of 25 or so “Go somewhere else!” And they sheepishly slinked away.

"What's in the cup, Missy!" he demanded from another young women gingerly holding a large plastic red cup that she quickly put down on the sidewalk in an upright postion and scampered off, her high heels clickety clicking. Livingstone swiftly closed the distance and swung his locked right leg in a perfect arc catching the cup at the very top, neatly knocking it horizontal (without getting any of the foamy contents on himself.)

Texas Rangers got nothin up on Amherst PD!

One Million Down ...

So I should have stayed up a little later last night because sometime just before midnight the milestone one millionth visitor came a calling.  Not that my sitemeter gives me their email so I can award him/her a prize.

Over the past seven years I have tried to cover the stories that my friends in the bricks and mortar media may have missed, or to cover them in a way that offers more of the backstory.

Living here all my life and having operated a small service-oriented business for 28 years gives me Google-like institutional memory and a fairly extensive list of ultra-reliable sources.

Sources who trust my use of "off the record," knowing that North Koreans could hold a flamethrower to my head and I would never give them up.

If you looked at my widget for "popular posts" (which is continuously updated real time) four months ago, six of the top ten stories had nothing to do with  "rowdy student behavior."

Cowardly Anon Nitwits constantly accuse me, a proud UMass grad, of being "anti-student" where all I ever write about is the tiny minority of students who screw up.

So I kind of liked that I could respond with, "60% of my top ten stories have nothing to do with students behaving badly."  Well unfortunately, that is no longer the case.  This year's Blarney Blowout -- not exactly a "tiny minority" of students -- pushed not one, but two new posts into the top ten.

Now 60% of my "popular posts" do involve student bad behavior (4 of them specifically related to Blarney Blowout).

But I take great journo pride in the two stories that were pushed out of the top ten:

The potentially catastrophic basement fire at a Hobart Lane (students) apartment that exposed a (well known) landlord coverup of shoddy conditions -- including orchestrated violations of the bylaw restricting one family units to no more than four unrelated tenants.

A case that came at just the right time to help pass the Amherst Rental Registration & Permit Bylaw last year, the most important piece of legislation enacted by Town Meeting in a generation.

And the other case that you have also read about here more than any other media outlet:  A working class family unfairly sanctioned by an overly PC Amherst School system.  A sad story that is still ongoing.

I hope to be around to bring you a conclusion.

Labor Day in a College Town

 

Town center 1:20 AM this morning

Last night into early this morning seemed to be the busiest time this Labor Day weekend for Amherst public safety personnel.  With all hands on deck APD managed to keep things under control, with no major disruptions -- aka Blarney Blowout -- to report.

 133 Fearing Street, Sunday morning

Around 10:00 PM the alcohol related arrests began -- open container, underage drinking (usually in combination) -- in and around the immediate neighboring streets to our UMass flagship:  Fearing, Phillips, Alan streets, Nutting and Lincoln Avenues, Hobart Lane, Meadow Street and with assist from UMass Police Department,  all along North Pleasant Street.

These early interventions send the message that law and order will be maintained.




Amherst Fire Department, on the other hand, was pushed to the breaking point.  Around midnight, just after dispatch issued a call for two off duty personnel to come in for station coverage.

Northampton Fire Department had to respond for a call to a high rise Southwest dorm for a female with a head injury.

At the time all five of our ambulances were tied up -- the majority of them dealing with passed out drunk students.  Late Sunday into early Monday morning AFD responded to UMass for a total of 11 emergency medical calls -- seven of them for ETOH students.



Over the course of the evening I passed by the scene of a young person down (usually female) with concerned friends trying to help them up at least a half-dozen times.  Particularly concerning because a young woman died last year after falling and hitting her head while staggering down Fearing Street with friends. 

The previous night APD and AFD responded to 45 Phillips Street for a young woman passed out in the yard.  She was only seventeen. 


127 E. Pleasant St. around midnight "First and last party of the semester."

Party Concert

UMPD evidence confiscated early in the evening from one vehicle

UPDATE 6:20 PM:  Saturday night is not starting out so hot.  Another dumpster fire at Hobart Lane.  And the fireworks at North Amherst Winterfest stimulates a bevy of calls to 911

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Like the melody of a song that gets stuck in your head, "200 Commonwealth Ave", the Mullins Center address, will stay with me for a while as that became a loop run for Amherst Fire Department ambulances starting even before the Rusko concert (drunken young woman fell and broke her arm).

UMass Police did their best to be proactive: patrolling expansive parking lots with an armored car and unmarked patrol cars--swooping in when alcohol was visibly in possession by minors--but on nights like this, you may as well bail out the ocean with a plastic red cup.

Riot buster on patrol outside Mullins Center

The concert started at 7:30 PM, but over an hour later coatless young men in short sleeve shirts and young women dressed in even shorter black skirts with midriffs exposed, streamed down Commonwealth Avenue from the Southwest area heading toward the Mullins Center, while many of the vehicles converging on the scene had out-of-state license plates.

The good thing of course is the concert kept thousands of students on campus, the bad thing, however, is our Fire Department became like a Domino's Pizza delivery service--carrying cargo from the Mullins Center to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

And the saddest thing? It's become routine.

AFD ambulance at the Mullins Center. Load 'em up