Shining A Light

Amherst Regional School Committee "retreat" 8/14/14

So yes, I probably should have been a jerk and required the Amherst Pelham Regional School Committee to hold a special meeting just for me -- after all, fulfilling your duties to the Open Meeting Law is important no matter how trivial the detail.

Perhaps why a legal friend of mine describes me as a "strict constructionist" (well, at least most of the time).  It would also have drawn more attention to the issue so that maybe even my friends in the diffident mainstream media would cover it.

The Regional School Committee went into Executive Session at their 8/26 meeting to rubber stamp generous raises for School Superintendent Maria Geryk and her new Assistant Superintendent Mike Morris.

It will be interesting to see the "discussion" minutes.  I honestly wonder if any of them considered the not overly melodious message these generous raises send to the rank and file, who grudgingly get sometimes less than the rate of inflation.

The Alcohol Made Me Do It

Joshua Kahikina (right) Attorney Habhab (left) stand before Judge Shea

Opening his defense with "Everyone reacts differently to alcohol," the public defender told Judge Shea about an experience in college (which must have been when LBJ was President) where he offered to buy his date a drink and she responded, "You wouldn't like me when I drink."

He transitioned to his client Joshua Kahikina, age 22, standing on his right, describing him as "Hawaiian and Native American," and that he "should not be consuming alcohol at all."

Mr. Kahikina was arrested by Amherst police in the early morning hours the first weekend of March for destruction of property (vandalism to car), assault on the driver who required transport to Cooley Dickinson Hospital for a gash in his head, and when police tried to bring Kahikina under control he punched an officer in the mouth with his left hand.

Attorney Habhab told the Judge his client was "working on holistic medicine on his own" and as long as he stayed away from alcohol he's fine.  The public defender proposed his client pay restitution to ($1,400) the victim, who was in the courtroom, in exchange for a continuation without a finding for one year on all four charges.

Assistant District Attorney Russo was adamant about a "guilty" finding on the first two assault counts, describing them as "very serious".  The Judge agreed.  The public defender whispered to his client and they quickly caved. 

Judge Shea found Joshua Kahikina "guilty" on the first two charges and continued the other two for one year without a finding.  He will pay $1,400 in restitution to the victim, $50 Witness Protection fee to the courts, and be on probation for one year with unscheduled alcohol testing.

And hopefully he will never again get physical with a cop, or anyone else.

On The Ground Again

Robert Auffinger taken into protective custody by APD Wednesday 5:30 PM

On Monday morning in Eastern Hampshire District Court Robert Auffinger, age 35, told Judge John Payne that the half full glass jar he was carrying on Main Street near the VFW contained only "fruit juice".

The Judge rolled his eyes saying he had a hard time believing that, and even the Assistant District Attorney had trouble keeping a straight face.

But Auffinger insisted, saying he would be "crazy to walk around Amherst with alcohol."

The Judge reduced his fine from $300 to $100 and allowed him to do "community service" instead of cash.

Of course, considering how often he ties up our first responders he would do Amherst an even greater community service: by leaving.

 AFD had to check him out before he was taken into protective custody

DUI Dishonor Roll

Katherine Gilligan, age 19, stands before Judge John Payne; her case was continued to next month

Amherst police also arrested South Amherst resident Savana J. Paciulli, age 21, over the weekend for driving under the influence of narcotics (heroin). She was turned in by her mother who appeared in District Court on Monday morning, and had a side bar with Judge Payne.

After her daughter did not appear by the "second call," Judge Payne had a warrant issued for her arrest.

Click photo to enlarge/read 

More Blarney

Cian Davoren, age 22

This morning in Eastern Hampshire District Court before Judge Shea, one of the last remaining Blarney Blowout cases (out of 58 arrests) ended in a last minute plea deal just before the Judge was to call in a jury. 

Cian Davoren, age 22, had been arrested March 8 around 1:30 PM (close to peak time for the mayhem).  According to ADA Matt Russo he was one of between 4,000 and 5,000 college aged youth acting out of hand, and refusing to comply with police orders to disperse.

Although in Mr. Davoren's case he approached officers and was giving them grief over his sister getting a dose of pepper spray. 

Apparently chivalry is not dead among UMass students. 

But when you push your case before heavily outnumbered police officers and repeatedly ignore their request to back off, you get arrested -- chivalry or not.

The two charges (rioting and failure to disperse) were merged into one count of "disorderly conduct" and Judge Shea imposed the usual sanctions:  Case continued without a finding for one year, four months probation, $200 "restitution" fine fee to Amherst Police Department, and a letter of apology to APD.

While I have no problem with the resolution of this particular case, coming on the heels of the $160,000 Davis Report, which focused blame on the wrong party, the timing certainly could have been better.

Party House of the Weekend

 340 Amity Street, Amherst

Amherst police busted a party house located on Amity Street, a busy road but still a residential neighborhood, near midnight on Friday and all five of them accepted the typical plea deal offered by the prosecution:

Pay the town bylaw ticket fee ($300) and stay out of trouble for the next four months and the charge of "unlawful noise" is dismissed.

 A gaggle of offenders

As the five of them crowded around the front podium Judge Payne asked if they all live together, to which they all responded in the affirmative. 

After hearing the details presented by the prosecution, after all five agreed to the "diversion" from criminal to civil complaint, one of the braver of the five asked Judge Payne if they could have a discount since they were all "full-time college students."

The Judge paused for a moment, then asked again (while they were under oath) if they all lived at the same address.  Again they responded "yes".  So he said, $100 each. 

Thus they got off pretty easy.  Of course the Building Commissioner may have something to say to their landlord about violating the town bylaw restricting a one family house to no more than four unrelated tenants.

Expensive At The Top

If you ever wondered why Amherst Regional Public Schools have such a dramatically higher than average cost per student, $20,328 this year vs state average of around $14,000,  just look at recent employee compensation raises. 

Assistant Super Mike Morris, Superintendent Maria Geryk

Superintendent Maria Geryk goes from $147,000 to $158,00 a 7.5% raise.

Assistant Superintendent Mike Morris goes from $100,000 to $115,000 a 15% raise

Sean Mangano

Sean Mangano, Finance Director, goes from $49,429 to $95,000 a 90% raise

Talib Sadiq, School Climate Coordinator,  goes from $54,395 to $78,861 a 45% raise

Meanwhile all the King's horses and all the King's men (and women) subsist on a 2 or 3% raise.