Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

One of the really nice noisy events hosted in the college town of Amherst -- one that underscores how responsible a bar can be -- happens today, Sunday, at Rafters Sports Bar on University Drive, where over 250 participants shed their hair for a great cause.

The St. Baldrick's foundation event raises money for research grants targeting childhood cancers.  This local annual endeavor has a target goal of $75,000 and already has raised $55,000.

Local first responders have adopted this important event, so if you want to see off duty police and fire personnel go the way of Telly Savalas, stop in this Sunday (after church of course).

And bring your checkbook!

 

"Who loves ya baby?"  And who doesn't love kids!

Expensive Renovation Plans

Wildwood Elementary School, Amherst

Considering the school disarray just over the past two months -- black on white racial bullying, endless "lockdowns," and racist graffiti left in rest rooms -- it's probably not the best of times for Amherst Town Meeting to discuss a BIG ticket item like elementary school renovation/expansion.

Occasionally Town Meeting can put aside emotion, but it still may be a tough sell considering the declining school age population in Amherst, where high property tax rates and recent problems in the schools could be causing a bit of an exodus of families with school aged children.

 APD @ ARHS school lockdown April 2nd

Article #17, although it doesn't give a dollar amount, would authorize the expenditure of $1 million for a Wildwood "school feasibility study"-- 60% of which would be covered by a state grant courtesy of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (who gets their funding via 1% of the state sales tax).

The comprehensive study will analyze the costs for a major renovation of the aging, circa 1970,  school -- but could also conclude demolition is in order.  The study would also look at whether Amherst will even need three elementary schools in the future.

The $400,000 town portion of the project is already funded so to speak.  Last year Town Meeting approved that amount via borrowing to replace the original boilers at Wildwood, which have had a hard time producing hot water.  The boilers have not yet been replaced but if the school is to be renovated at mostly state expense it makes sense to roll that replacement into the major renovation. 

Article #18 would redirect that previous $400,000 appropriation to funding the feasibility study.

 East Street School.  Just front ramp to entryway will cost $100K

Town Meeting will also vote under article #16 to spend $700,000 to rehab the East Street School which has been abandoned for a few years.  Facilities Director Ron Bohonowitcz told the Joint Capital Planning Committee that just to make it handicapped accessible will cost $100,000.

The plan is to move Leisure Services and Supplemental Education (Rec Dept) out of the Bangs Community Center into the newly renovated brick building, although LSSE does not seem overly enthused about the idea.


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Brushfire

AFD Engine 2 on scene Leverett

AFD assisted Leverett FD with a brush fire two miles over the Amherst town line just off Rt 63 this morning.  Today was a class three fire day, meaning it's fairly easy for brush fires to occur.

 Leverett FD on scene

In fact while Engine 2 was assisting Leverett FD,  Engine 1 was called to Shays Street for a small brush fire they quickly extinguished.

 

AFD and Leverett FD snuffing out hot spots

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A Magic Bullet?

Naloxone aka Narcan

Hollywood movies and television aside, the chances of full recovery for a patient who suddenly drops due to heart failure and receives CPR from a bystander are pretty low.

But the chances of an individual who stops breathing due to heroin reaction fully recovering after a bystander administers Narcan is astonishingly high.

CPR is a skill that must be learned and practiced so therefore is more prone to misapplication due to situational stage fright, or just being rusty from a lack of practice. Narcan is easy to administer, just a simply squirt up the nostrils, and takes effect immediately.

Because of the "opiate epidemic" in our state Governor Patrick recently declared a "state of emergency" directing the Department of Public Health to make Narcan more widely available to all first responders and friends and family members of drug abusers.

In Amherst, since AFD professional firefighters are all either Paramedics or intermediate EMTs, Narcan has been available for a very long time.

Although Assistant Chief Don McKay points out the price has almost doubled in the past year, and drug companies are having a hard time keeping up with demand.

A 4 milligram bottle (providing two doses) now costs $171.  And of course that was before the Governor's order, which will dramatically increase demand.

The main impact of loosening the restrictions to get Narcan in the hands of first responders could be felt at 111 Main Street, the Amherst Police Department.  Since police are constantly on patrol they are almost always the first to arrive to emergency situations.  So equipping them with this vital life saver is only common sense.

Unfortunately Governor Patrick has been vague about providing money for training and stocking a supply of the expensive drug.

According to Amherst police Captain Jennifer Gundersen:

"We are currently discussing this internally and how we would pay for both the training and NARCAN, both being expensive.Given that both our FY14 and FY15 budgets are already set, without either state or an additional appropriation of local funding, we would not be able to do this in the near future given fiscal constraints."

In New York every state and local law enforcement officer will have access to Narcan via a new $5 million program funded by assets seized from drug dealers. Talk about justice!

And while Amherst is somewhat insulated from life's realities, the nightmare of drug abuse death does happen.

Twenty years ago 17-year-old Ozzy Klate, a promising ARHS senior, succumbed to a heroin overdose.

FDA approves new injector system

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Lockdown!

Amherst Regional High School 3:00 p.m.

Amherst Regional High School went into lockdown just after 2:30 p.m. this afternoon as students were preparing to leave at the end of the school day.

A heavy police presence at the moment but no fire department ambulances, so that's a good sign.

#####

Apparently visiting coaches coming to the school to recruit candidates signed in, put on ID badges and went about their business, left,  but then reentered the school without resigning in ... and could not be instantly found.

Hence the panic button.

UPDATE 3:30 p.m.

#####

So lost in all the confusion of today's yet another lockdown was the news that Michele Tesauro, yet another school principal, is resigning -- this time from Crocker Farm Elementary School after less than a year on the job.

Two months ago (on a Friday naturally) the schools announced Betsy Dinger was resigning as Middle School Principal and Monical Hall from Fort River Elementary School, although she is staying in the ARPS system in the black hole known as Central Office.

Principals' offices in the ARPS system should come with a revolving door:

In December of 2012 Michael Hayes suddenly resigned as principal of the Middle School, Ray Sharick resigned from Fort River in 2011, Matthew Behnke quit as Wildwood principal in 2010 and Glenda Cresto quit the Middle School in 2009.

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Summer Survival Skills

Demonstrating they work well together both on the streets and in the woods, Amherst and UMass Police Departments are teaming up once again to jointly sponsor a Police Youth Adventure Academy this summer.

The versatile program provides 20 children the golden opportunity to learn police procedures in the morning and then spend afternoons negotiating a ropes course.

And best of all, the entire one week program is free!  So hurry up parents, enrollments are limited.

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Inevitable end?

A life turned upside down by heroin and crime came to a sudden end for 31-year-old Christopher Desjardin, a Vermont native who made his presence known here in Amherst by stealing laptops from unsuspecting UMass students last year.

When the obit reads "passed away suddenly," that's usually code for either a drug overdose or suicide.  Or, maybe, both.  Because using a drug like heroin is a fairly easy way to kill yourself. 

The Vermonter who gave me the heads up, a father who set up a successful sting to get back his son's stolen laptop resulting in the arrest of Desjardin, feels badly for his family but not so much for Mr. Desjardin.

When crime has touched you or a family member, it's hard to be forgiving.  Especially when the perp is a repeat offender.

Massachusetts just declared a "public health emergency" to address the rising tide of opiate abuse.  One of the recommendations is to spend more money to increase treatment and recovery services -- especially in state prisons and county jails.

When Eastern Hampshire District Court Judge Poelher handed down a sentence (11/15/13) for Christopher Desjardin on 13 counts of stolen property, the six months jail time was to include "mandatory drug treatment."  That was only 4.5 months ago.

But even if Christopher Desjardin stayed in the system until May 15, the call of the needle would someday, perhaps, prove too strong.



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