Pool to open this summer

No, not the War Memorial outdoor pool closed two years ago--but town officials decided to think outside the empty pool box and provide a way for folks to beat the heat this summer. The Middle School indoor Pool will be open for the first time in four years to the general public on a limited basis for open and lap swimming. Some of the $65,000 Town Meeting appropriated last month will go to pay the school department to cover the overhead and the balance put towards repairing the War Memorial Pool for a reopening next year. The town will also apply to the state for grant money to help cover the costs, estimated at $175,000.

And speaking of family values, at the very beginning of the three-hour meeting Alisa Brewer made it a point to actually affirm that the Amherst Select Board is officially marching in the privately run July 4 Parade. The past few years some of the five marched as individuals. Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe, and Ms. Brewer are confirmed, Aaron Hayden probably yes and Diana Stein due to "bad knees" will not march. Jim Wald was absent from the meeting.

When all else fails, lawyer up

Click on Lawsuit for entire document

If a judge can throw out an arrest where perps are busted red handed with guns, drugs and a bootleg cable/Internet connection because the search warrant had the wrong house color or some such nonsense, then I suppose the NIMBY lawsuit filed against the town (and threatened against BlueWave Capital) to prevent a solar farm from sprouting on the old dump by citing a technicality, stands a chance...like snow in the Sahara.

The state is now on a crusade to encourage public/private renewable energy projects, and solar farms on old landfills is a shining example. The disputed deed restriction (or lack thereof) was/is between the town and the Department of Environmental Protection.

According to Boston based attorney John Wadsworth, who specializes in Environmental, Energy and Natural Resources law: "If there is any violation it is a violation of DEP solid waste regulations for not recording the restriction, not something that prevents DEP from revising the restriction for this use."

If DEP had any concerns, then why did they grant the permit last year for the Final Comprehensive Site Assessment?

Since the eight households have a combined assessed value of around $4 million, safe to say they can afford the litigation co-op entry fee (when Mary Streeter tried to rally NIMBYs on Larkspur Drive to legally battle the decision to allow Dr. Kate Atkinson to build a medical office in the Research Park out that way the entry fee would have been $2,000 each).

But the $8,000 to $10,000 cost to squash this nuisance lawsuit will be spread out over 10,000 housing units who will benefit many times over by the $1 million per year net gain in economic benefit to the town. A bright future indeed.

Amherst B&E continues...

In addition to petty theft from intruders gaining access via unlocked doors or windows over the weekend, Left Click Computer, a downtown business, was hit by slightly more professional perps who cut all the outside phone lines and disabled another interior alarm system located in an upper corner closet.

Thieves made off with a couple Macbook computers and a small amount of cash leaving behind a single plastic glove on the ground near the northeast corner of the building where "entry appears to have been gained". O.J. Simpson, currently incarcerated, is not considered a suspect.

Free at last

Station Road May 31

Station Road is finally now open for routine traffic after a train derailment the last day of May. The very next day Amherst was also visited by violent weather that had unleashed a devastating tornado on downtown Springfield.

Obviously the two unusual events are not connected.

Although...this other Amherst "news" website may try to tie them together. Yikes!

Station Road June 12

Charter school suspends staff

Congressman Richie Neal flanked by PVCIC Executive Director Rich Alcorn and his wife Principal Kathy Wang.

Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School Principal Kathy Wang and 3rd grade teacher Regan Hall were suspended without pay by the school as of Monday June 6.

Since Kathy Wang was under suspension, her husband PVCIC Executive Director (the Charter School equivalent of a School Superintendent) Rich Alcorn sat in for her at this morning's previously scheduled 'Principal's Chat' to update the 40-50 parents who attended.

The Department of Children and Families recently found that disciplining a 9-year-old student by placing him in solitary confinement for an entire school day constituted"neglect," and named Wang and Hall individually as a responsible "perpetrator".

According to the PVCIC handbook such a finding is automatic grounds for suspension, a bylaw the school's attorney deemed "archaic". The Board of Trustees--the Charter School equivalent of a School Committee except all are appointed rather than elected--will meet in a private executive session on Monday June 13 to discuss their fate.

The possible outcomes range from termination to immediate reinstatement with back pay.

Amhersty Art

A mural shaped like Hampshire County, lamenting the cost of war, was unveiled last week perched on the side of the Amherst Cinema building in downtown Amherst. The activist art project is a collaboration of area high school youth and Hampshire College mentors who are members of 'Get Up Get Down' a program run by the Youth Action Coalition. The project cost about $500 in supplies and was sponsored by Amherst area businesses.

Neighbors immediately filed a lawsuit over the presence of Wind Turbines, citing noise, visual pollution and disturbing the nesting ground of the Conservativo Republicas, an endangered species in Amherst.

Pay the Piper

23 Tracy Circle To: amherstac@aol.com
Sent: Mon, Jun 6, 2011 5:39 pm
Subject: [Only in The Republic of Amherst] New comment on Party House repeat offenders.

So Larry as you can see, this is matt. i just want to ask you in a civil manner to please take down the names and home addresses from you "second offense" page. Yeah, we were arrested, for watching the bruins play the flyers in game 4 if you need more facts about loud tv and yelling. but please, im asking you refer to us as "residents" "children" or any of you other nicknames youve given us. i understand that the information was probably in a police report or something you research. but when a family member puts my families home address in google and sees this, i get questioned clients, parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles all have to hear about it without knowing the facts.
i realize that some of the members in our house may not be the most mature people in the world, but that is why were in college now and you once were. stupid things happen to people by circumstance too so dont be so quick to judge.
i will answer anything you have to say privately and not on this blog if you want info to write about. get back to me

ill be watching the bruins
###############################################

Matt,
Yes, I was a UMass student once and strangely enough I worked as a bouncer at 'The Pub' in downtown Amherst to pay my way, dealing with rowdy UMass kids.

And yes your name was indeed on a police report--which is a public document. Perhaps why if you Google yourself you will also pick up the Amherst Bulletin article that came out a few days after mine:

"xxxxxxxxx, and Emerson E. Rutkowski, 19, and Michael H. Upham, 20, both of Swampscott, were arrested on charges of violating the town's noise bylaw and violating the town's nuisance house bylaw, police said. Each charge carries a $300 penalty, meaning the three men could be subject to $1,800 in fines."

Have you asked Scott Merzbach to remove your name and address from the Amherst Bulletin website?

Larry

################################################
Sent: Tue, Jun 7, 2011 5:33 pm
Subject: Re: Party House winner

Actually Larry i have asked him too.
his article is in archive and not a direct link so it doesn't return a page when searched
cant you just respect my wishes as being enough? i feel like you're taking swings at me here for no reason. all i want is the names off, is that really too much to ask?
################################################
Well when I Google your name and town I do indeed come up #1, but Gazettenet and the Amherst Bulletin come in at #2 and #3--and the Bulletin is free so a paywall would not interfere with folks pulling up your offense.

Have you paid your fines?
################################################
yeah i paid my fines. fun story though the town of Amherst screwed up yet again. i paid my fines; they took my money and, luckily, gave me a reciept but never acknowleged it in their books. i then get a call from a friends in high places saying there is a warrant out for my arrest. as steve miller would say they took the money and ran. i went to the courthouse today. and for the second time the judge, 2 different judges, laughed at the charges blamed the town for yet again another mistake dismissed the warrant and charges and wiped my record completely.

just take it down

################################################
From: amherstac@aol.com
To: xxxxx@student.umass.edu
Sent: Thu, Jun 9, 2011 10:06 am

Matt,

Chief Livingstone just confirmed that you paid $600 for the most recent noise violation and a previous nuisance house violation. So I'm going to bend the rules of journalism and delete your name but not Emerson E. Rutkowski, 36 Puritan Park, Swampscott, MA age 20 and Michael Upham 53 Sherwood Road, Swampscott, MA age 21.

I'm tempted to demand you write a letter of apology to your Amherst neighbors and the APD as well as remove the term "Zoomass" from your Facebook page, but then I would run the risk of being called a "bully".

Tell your friends that my friends in high places confirm that an arrest warrant will be issued in August if they do not make good on the fines. And until then, if anyone should Google their name and hometown…

Larry