A Proud Beacon

Old Chapel sits next to the tallest library in the country

Work begins this summer on the historic preservation of a central located iconic symbol that has become virtually synonymous with UMass/Amherst. 

The Old Chapel, built 1885, has been abandoned since the 1996 when the UMass marching band moved on.  But it has remained a hard-to-miss, pretty-as-a-picture, scene-stealer ever since. And will become even more so after the renovations are complete.

The $21 million project is expected to be completed in fall, 2016

Last summer the Old Chapel was nominated for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places by the private advocacy group Preserve UMass. 

Amherst currently has seven individual  locations listed on National Register of Historic Places including of course the Dickinson Homestead, West Cemetery and the Strong House in town center.

Historic buildings don't always fare so well on the UMass campus

Mega Merger In The Making?

Jones Library, Amherst town center

At last night's Community Preservation Act Committee meeting, while advocating for $20,000 to do an archaeological site survey of the Strong House historic property in town center, Jim Wald mentioned the Amherst Historical Society is considering a future alliance with the Jones Library, their immediate neighbor.

Click to enlarge/read

Thus the archaeological survey (which will use ground-penetrating radar) will come in handy when the Jones Library doubles in size, possibly using Strong House property.  Since the Strong House is such a historical treasure the state would require an archaeological survey prior to any construction taking place anywhere on their property.

 Simeon Strong House, home to Amherst History Museum

Jim Wald also pointed out the 1750-era Strong House was originally a home designed for Simeon Strong, an upper crust Amherst resident (the original 1%).   Now as a public museum it houses over 1,500 artifacts related to the history of our town.

The Jones Library expansion could provide plenty of climate controlled, handicapped accessible space to help store precious artifacts under museum control possibly including the only known surviving dress of Amherst's most famous resident, Emily Dickinson.

Strong House left, Jones Library right

Last spring Town Meeting approved $25,000 in design money (matched by a $50,000 state grant) to get the ball rolling on an expansion that would double the size of the current Library.

The last time the Jones was expanded/renovated was in 1993.  The state would pay half the cost of the renovation/expansion, with a total price tag in the $10 million range. 

Of course the Jones Library will have to get in line with competing major construction projects looming on the horizon, including the forever talked about South Fire Station, a new Department of Public Works building and the renovation or demolition of Wildwood Elementary School.

Show Me The $

Jones Library Trustees meeting this afternoon

The Jones Library is looking for a new investment manager for their endowment, currently valued at $7,666,247.48 and probably the $611,219.78 in the Woodbury Fund as well.

Chris Milne, President of New England Capital sent in a resignation letter the day after Christmas, but he will continue on as an "active manager" of the funds on a month-to-month basis until the Trustees hire a new firm, probably by April 1st.

NEC had actively manged the Jones Library endowment since 2009.  Annual returns since then averaged 5.34%, but the Jones Library had set a benchmark goal of 8.77%, a hefty $250,000 per year difference.

Since "active manager" investment advisers underperformed 75% of the time compared to simply, safe, lower cost,  "Index Fund" investments, the Trustees are considering making index based investing a cornerstone of any new management strategy. 

The overall goal of the Jones Library Trustees is to ensure the endowment's annual return at least matches the amount withdrawn every year to support Library operations. 

A PC Dilemma

Middle tree (pin oak) standing in the way of solar

When two admirable goals collide -- especially when they concern anything "green" -- how do you decide which worthy option prevails?

In this case reducing carbon footprint by going solar vs killing a tree that provides shade in the summer, absorbs evil carbon dioxide and helps to prevent storm water run off. 

For the Amherst Public Shade Tree Committee, having to decide whether a homeowner should be allowed to remove a stately old pin oak tree to allow the sun better access to solar panels going up on his house and garage, the decision was an easy one.  Let the tree live.

Although the Committee did vote during a site visit last month to allow the one next to it to go, which tree warden Alan Snow confirmed was in bad shape.  APSTC has no control over trees on private property. 

The homeowner is going to remove additional trees on his property but plans to replant smaller ones in their place to "offset the carbon footprint."

 Adjacent pin oak (resembling a y) will be removed

At the public hearing yesterday the homeowner did not help his case all that much.  He cited a contractors estimate of only a 15% loss of solar efficiency caused by the tree and suggested if the Shade Tree Committee prevented him from neutralizing this tree on town property he would be forced to take out a much larger pin oak further back on his property.

To which member Nonny Burack responded, "That sounds like a threat to me."  The homeowner snapped back, "No, it's a plan."

The Shade Tree Committee unanimously reaffirmed their vote from the previous site visit to stay the execution of the 19" diameter tree.

Tree Warden Alan Snow, who has final authority, said although the oak was "beat up" by the 2011 October Halloween storm it was still "healthy" and he thought it would be "nice to give it a shot."

The Tree Warden quickly ruled  to "deny removal of the tree."  But he did say he would meet with the contractors to decide how best to prune the tree to allow better sun exposure on the solar panels.

Amherst Public Shade Tree Committee (currently looking for one new member)

Still Work To Be Done

AFD on scene UMass Mullins Center for ETOH concert goer

The war on rowdy student behavior seems to have taken a major positive turn with UMass student off campus code of conduct violations down 63% from last year, and Amherst Police Department noise/nuisance tickets down 66%. 

Great news for sure, but the war on stupid behavior still has a ways to go.

The other equally important part of the equation is the drain on Emergency Medical Services brought on by "substance abuse" calls that needlessly tie up ambulances, and on occasion fire trucks that have to act as medical first responders.

A little over 9% of AFD's 4,478 emergency medical runs (410)  in 2014 were because of substance abuse, down ever so slightly from 2013 when almost 10% of 4,328 EMT runs (422) were due to drugs and/or alcohol abuse.

Naturally our institutes of higher education are outliers.   In 2013 UMass substance abuse runs came in at 27% of total (219 out of 848), Amherst College at 26% (39 out of 152) and Hampshire College at 24% (17 out of 71).

In 2014 UMass was down ever so slightly with substance abuse runs at 25% (202 of 808), Amherst College up a little at 27% (50 out of 184) and Hampshire College also up ever so slightly at 25% (19 out of 77).

In other words no improvement whatsoever. 

The problem with these preventable substance abuse cases is they all seem to come around the same time (late night/early morning on weekends) severely straining staffing levels at AFD.

Yes, even with additional money from UMass to put two extra ambulances in service (making 5 total) on weekends there were a few times in September when that was not enough.

The day will soon come when someone's life slips away while awaiting an out-of-town mutual aid ambulance to arrive.  That cost is incalculable.

Our Flag Was Still There?

Town Hall Turret Saturday morning

You sagacious local types may have noticed the official town flag disappeared sometime on Friday afternoon, and as of this morning was not yet back in its perch.  As usual the wind was to blame.

Of course this past weekend was peak time for all the returning clients to our lifeblood, our salvation, our reasons for being: UMass/Amherst, Amherst College and yes, even Hampshire College.

 Amherst Town Flag

Although Amherst is 256 years old the official town flag only became a reality two years ago, but don't ask why wheat plays a major design role since it was never an Amherst thing even back in the good old pre higher education agrarian days.

The Chamber of Commerce picked up the tab for six of the flags ($88.48 each), with one going to hang in the Boston Statehouse Hall of Flags.

One of the many reasons I fight so hard for the 29 commemorative American flags to fly every 9/11 rather than every five years (on "milestone anniversaries"), is precisely because of our returning students.

To those of us who were old enough to drive on that stunning day no symbolic reminders are necessary.

But if you were age six and under -- as many thousands of incoming college freshman were -- nothing adequately captures the misery of those moments forever frozen in time, when those majestic towers of glass and steel vaporizing before your eyes.

While some in Amherst -- okay, maybe only one -- view the American flag as a symbol of "terrorism and death and fear and destruction and oppression," to the vast majority of us it represents hope.

An ideal worth trumpeting -- especially on the saddest anniversary in our recent history. 

Higher Ed Mooch?

As I mentioned a few days ago, unlike UMass/Amherst or Amherst College, Hampshire (our little "alternative" college in South Amherst) pays nothing for emergency services provided by Amherst Fire Department even though it is the third largest property owner in town.

Click to enlarge

Hampshire College also has the larges number of  "still alarms" which are automated fire alarms typically answered by at least one, and sometimes two, fire engines.   These responses are not paid for by insurance as the ambulance runs are.

 AFD raw number breakdown of 5,914 total responses (2nd highest in history)

In 2014 AFD had 188 total responses to Hampshire College with 106 -- 56% of them -- for false fire alarms, usually "cooking smoke."

In 2014 AFD had 1127 total responses to UMass/Amherst with 208 -- 18.5% of them -- for false fire alarms.

In 2014 AFD had 251 total responses to Amherst College with 55 -- 22% of them -- for false fire alarms.

In 2014 AFD had 5914 total responses within the five communities they serve (Amherst, Leverett, Pelham, Shutesbury, Hadley) with 1,436 of them for fire related emergencies, or 24%.   So the response profile of both UMass (18.5%) and Amherst College (22%) for medical vs fire comes in around average.

Unlike Hampshire College.

 Hampshire College from on high

If Hampshire simply paid the town the same amount annually as Amherst College ($90,000) we could afford to add two firefighters to bolster our dangerously low staffing levels.

Last year AFD had to rely on out-of-town "mutual aid" ambulances 44 times.  That too is insurance money that could have gone to increase staff, thus providing better, faster service to all.

Hey Hampshire: time to pony up!  (And you may want to start teaching students how to cook.)

Not Inclusive Enough?

The Vagina Monologues 1996 (left) vs later edition

Well I guess I don't have to worry about Amherst Regional High School ever doing another sanctioned performance of the Vagina Monologues on public school property now that the bastion of PC feminism Mount Holyoke College has mothballed VM because it's not "inclusive" enough to include transsexuals.

As some of you may sadly remember ARHS was the only high school in the nation to allow VM back in 2004, only five years after being the only entity in history to ban a performance of West Side Story.

After Principal Mark Jackson was soooooo impressed with an off campus production put on by the kids in 2007 he allowed VM back at the ARHS in 2008, but not since then. 

My main complaint with the work of "art" is the repeated use of the C-word (rhymes with bunt).

Ensler claims she wanted to "reclaim" the word.  And we see how well that has worked out over the past two decades.  Right up there with reclaiming the N-word, although the hipper 5-letter version does actually gets used way more often than it should these days.

And the monologue, ‘The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could’ glories sex between an adult and underage girl after the minor had consumed vodka.

In the original version published, in 1998, the girl is only 13 and the monologue closes with her gushing:

“Now people thought that it was a kind of rape. I was only thirteen and she was twenty-four. Well, I say, if it was a rape, it was a good rape then, a rape that turned my sorry-ass coochi snorcher into a kind of heaven.”

Yikes! Can you imagine if a white, middle aged, Republican had authored that?

Yes I did attend the 2004 showing at the high school because Fox News paid for my ticket and requested I attend.  And no, I did not try to record it.

Obviously it's not a First Amendment violation for the public schools to ban taking pictures of minors on school property (although you have to question the wisdom of the schools allowing those minors to perform R rated material).

 Calvin Terrell, Amherst Regional Middle School last week

And the schools fulfilled the requirement of copyright law by posting public notice a week before the event that VM was off limits to recording.  Also, unlike Calvin Terrell's "performance" at the Middle School last week, a fee was charged at the door.

Maybe when Terrell returns to perform next academic year he can dress up as a vagina, just for old time sake.

Higher Education Subsidy?

Ladder 1 at UMass HVAC malfunction fire 12/2/14

Undoubtedly the presence of Amherst College (our #1 land owner), Hampshire College (#3 landowner) and UMass/Amherst (#2 landowner) provide the #1 opportunity for employment in town while also providing boatloads of "college aged youth" for our anemic business sector.

But do these tax-exempt institutions really pay their fair share, especially considering property taxes are the #1 revenue source for municipal services?

 AFD Engine 1 at Amherst College Crossett Christmas disturbance 12/7/14

A look at the cold hard facts reveals a simple answer:  Hell no!

In his budget presented yesterday to the Select Board and Finance Committee (and almost certainly to be passed this spring by Amherst Town Meeting) Town Manager John Musante allocates to the Amherst Fire Department $4,466,729.

 2014 was busiest year in history for AFD medical runs (2nd busiest overall)

In 2014 AFD had their second busiest year in history with a total of 5,914 runs with 1,566 of those going to our three institutes of higher education, or 26.5%, which works out to $1,182,789 worth.

UMass paid us $350,000 for AFD protection via a "5 Year Strategic Agreement" (that is now 2.5 years past due for renewal) and Amherst College paid $90,000.  Hampshire College paid zero. 

So total intake to the town coffers is $440,000 on a fair share of $1.2 million!  All these monies simply go into the town's General Fund, not directly to AFD.

Based on service provided, UMass (19% of AFD runs) should have paid us $848,678; Amherst College (4.25% of AFD runs) should have paid $189,835; Hampshire College (3.18% of runs) $142,041.

Amherst College is our #1 landowner and #1 taxpayer because of all the houses they own and rent to professors, and some commercial property (Amherst Golf Course and Lord Jeff Inn).

Last year Amherst College paid around  $490,000.  Hampshire College is our #3 largest landowner, but only paid $67,000 in property taxes on all their holdings last year.

 AFD on scene Hampshire College 12/9/14 for minor fire

Amherst College donated $90,000 to the town last year for AFD protection while Hampshire College -- one of the most expensive liberal arts colleges in America -- donated zero.

If the Town Manager could get our Colleges and University to pay their fair share for vital services, we could easily add a few firefighters to that overburdened public safety department.

And have money left over for a downpayment on the forever talked about, new South Amherst Fire Station.

Status Quo + Budget

Town Manager Musante (center) presented his $21.6 million budget in 40 minutes

Unlike the Amherst public schools the town side of the budget is easily living within its means.

The FY16 budget (starts July 1st)  presented today by Town Manager John Musante to the Select Board and Finance Committee is a 2.5% increase over the current year, and even allows for an increase in badly needed police personnel by two officers.

Although APD will still be down three sworn positions from where they were a decade ago, and two grant funded positions dried up over the past few months.

Musante on adding police

Of course this budget falls terribly short by not also increasing Fire Department personnel, the other -- equally important -- half of Public Safety.  

Other staff additions includes an Economic Development Director, who presumably will work hand in hand with the Chamber of Commerce and Business Improvement District to increase business activity in a town still suffering from an anti-business reputation.

The DPW department will also get an "Administrative Analyst Position" to provide better customer service by being proactive with information.  Seems any time the DPW does a major road project, like the recent Pine Street reconstruction, tempers flare over the pace of the project. 

Interestingly the Town Manager did not follow up on his memo to the Select Board last summer suggesting it was time to relook at leasing out the Cherry Hill Golf Course, which annually costs as much as hiring two new firefighters.

The public schools make up more than a majority of the overall Amherst budget and at the moment they are looking at almost a $1 million in red ink, possibly requiring the axing of 17 employees.

The schools are separate from the town budget presented today although both require Town Meeting approval in the spring.  The only direct crossover is the one-third funding the town does provide for Amherst Together

The Select Board will now work with the Town Manager's budget (hopefully finding a way to add a couple of firefighters) and the Amherst and Regional School Committees will work with School Superintendent Maria Geryk once her sure-to-be-controversial budget is finally presented later next month.

A rant on why a bleeding-heart liberal advertises on a more right-leaning publication in a left leaning community.

 Mike Seward

Editors note:  This is only the 2nd "guest post" I have published over the past 8 years.  Self serving perhaps, but considering all the nasty  comments I've published directed at me over the years from Cowardly Anon Nitwits ...

There was an item in the news recently that caught my attention.  Masslive.com reported that Only in the Republic of Amherst blogger Larry Kelley complained about not being allowed to film an event at a public building, thereby violating his First Amendment right.

The article didn’t mention anything about what school officials had to say about it, however.

As is often case on Masslive, anonymous posters chimed in on the topic.  One caught my eye because it characterized the author of this blog as an “insane agitator and provocateur” who is hated by the public and public officials for his “confrontational manner”.

It went on to characterize this blog as an “anti-democracy screed” and relegated it to the “right wing paranoid luny (sic) bin”.

I don’t always agree with Larry, but I proudly advertise on this blog regardless.  Allow me to explain why I advertise, why others should advertise, and why those who don’t agree with him should read his blog.
  
While I can appreciate why liberal-minded folks like myself may disagree with Larry’s opinions, it is undeniable that his blog provides a service and fills a void.  It would be a mistake to compare what he does to Fox News, a so-called “news organization” that I would characterize as an actual right wing paranoid loony bin. 

Larry has broken stories that were later picked up by more mainstream publications like The Republican/Masslive.com and Daily Hampshire Gazette.  He also reports items that aren’t covered by either organization that should be covered. 

The press is supposed to challenge public officials, even if it requires a confrontational style to get the answers. 

The Masslive/The Republican reporter should have “confronted” school administrators about Larry not being allowed to film a public event in a public building and included their response in the article.

The framers of the U.S. Constitution enumerated free press protections in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights because they knew that an informed electorate was essential to democracy.

They knew that voters need to know the who, the what, the why, the how, and the when of what their public officials are doing in order for a democracy to function.

Today’s press is failing voters miserably in more ways than one, and what follows are just a couple of the many reasons why―and why the citizens of Amherst should be happy to have another source of information.

Today’s press is too reliant on “official” sources and press releases.  They don’t investigate the facts independently as the Fourth Estate should.

I published a news site of my own in Belchertown. It was called Belchertown-News.com.  I know it is a lot of work to cover and promote the news. (My appreciation for what Larry does is another reason I support this blog with advertising.)

While I was unable to make it sufficiently profitable to quit my day job, I still get press releases all the time.   Because I receive press releases, I can tell you that too many of them are simply paraphrased and published by mainstream news agencies.

Sometimes they just get their information from a police agency’s Facebook status. They don’t investigate the facts for themselves.  They don’t try to find out if there is more to the story.  This includes press releases from organizations, town officials, businesses, and everyone else.

They just take it for granted that what they received was true and distribute it to the masses for consumption.  How is that good for democracy? 

I post Belchertown-related stories from other news agencies at Facebook.com/BelchertownNews.  As such, I contribute to the problem I just discussed by distributing said stories further.   I still post my own scoops on occasion, as well.

Another way our press fails us is through media consolidation.  There is  too much synergy and not enough energy in news reporting.  Most of our press, both locally and nationally, is owned by just a few media conglomerates.

These media conglomerates have their own interests that sometimes conflicts with that of the public they are supposed to serve―whether it is their own interests or the interests of their advertisers.

Just look at Comcast-owned NBC News and their lack of coverage of net neutrality, a topic that could potentially have a very significant impact on our democracy.

And when the media are making millions on political campaigns, well, the conflict is self-evident and especially egregious. 

Two of our local television media outlets―WGGB (Channel 40) and CBS3 Springfield―are owned by just one corporation: Meredith Corporation.   The Republican/Masslive.com is owned by Advance Publications. Even Daily Hampshire Gazette and its family of newspapers isn’t locally owned.  It is owned by Newspapers of New England.

Media consolidation dilutes the news.

One perspective is portrayed across multiple venues, thereby limiting the number of news items that the people of the cities and towns of the Pioneer Valley actually need to know.

I watched CBS 3 Springfield a few times, and it seemed that too many of their stories began with, “According to our media partners Masslive and The Republican...”  What’s the point of multiple news sources if they all report the exact same thing?

Isn’t the point of a robust press to provide multiple perspectives and allow for more news stories to be reported?  How is media consolidation good for public?
 
As someone who ran his own news website for one town, I also know that there are a ton of stories not being covered that should be covered.  Think about it. Every single town has a regular schedule of selectmen meetings, school committee meetings, planning board meetings, zoning board of appeals meetings, and more.  Each of those meetings has multiple items on their respective agendas.

Think of all the potentially important news stories not being covered because there aren’t enough resources to cover them.

The public can’t do anything about what they may not want their public officials  doing unless they know about it beforehand, and the public not finding out something until it is too late happens more often than you think.
  
Of course, we shouldn’t dismiss the fact that more of the public needs to take an interest in what is happening.  I’ve seen people stand up at Belchertown’s Annual Town Meeting and ask questions about things that were widely reported in the news.

The more people paying for news would go a long way toward improving news coverage.  

The community should embrace Larry’s efforts for all these reasons, at the very least.  He is just one local guy helping to fill a large void to serve the public interest.

You don’t have to agree with everything he writes to do so. The news shouldn’t be consumed to validate one’s worldview.  It should be consumed to help inform it.  That’s why multiple perspectives are essential.

Those perspectives shouldn’t just be limited to the same story, either. Different perspectives are also offered in the types of stories that are covered.

If it is true that the public and public officials hate Larry, as the anonymous Masslive commenter claimed, then it is likely because the public and town officials have forgotten what a free press is all about. 

Box Alarm Station Road

Chicken coop was a total loss

AFD responded to a chicken coop fire this afternoon up a very steep incline on Station Road, bordering on the town of Belchertown.

Originally the box alarm indicated the structure fully engulfed and threatening the nearly residence, but Chief Nelson arrived first on scene to report that it was relatively a safe 30 or 40 feet away.

Chief is not above helping with hose

Just as the hoses were being charged, another fire alarm came in from Amherst College and engaged Engines 2 and 4.  Thus at that moment four engines were engaged with pretty much the entire on duty staffing.

Engine 1 had primary

Engine 3 Student Call Force provided back up further down the hill

Once the water flowed the fire was quickly snuffed out

Too Secretive?

UMass Southwest Towers, built 1963

To no great surprise Chancellor Subbaswamy, head of the flagship of higher education in our education oriented state located in an education oriented town, has decided to end the "confidential informant program" overseen by UMass Police Department to get drug dealers off the streets.

Well, since UMass doesn't really have streets, off the pavement anyway.

Dumb decision.

As some of you may remember I first published the death certificate of Eric Sinacori last spring and caught a boatload of grief for doing so.

And no, I had no idea he was involved as a "witness" (according to the District Attorney's office) or "confidential informant" (according to the Boston Globe).  At the time I just thought people should know such a tragedy can happen in our little "college town."

Because when you cover up a student death by heroin here and a death where alcohol contributed  there, average people fail to get the true picture of the problem and fail to act to address it.

Now when a student dies from a drug overdose -- and they will! -- the University will have even more reason to cover it up.

Because people will rightfully say an informant may have given UMass police the vital information needed to take out the dealer prior to the victim injecting poison in their veins.

Once again UMass is putting their public image over public safety.
 

Click to enlarge/read

UMass Office of News & Media Relations reports

First Amendment Warrior

Calvin Terrell, Social Justice Warrior

Yes I did feel a bit like the school kid squealing to a higher authority about an altercation on the schoolyard that left you fuming, even a couple days later.

The Chair of the Regional School Committee, Trevor Baptiste, did not seem to initially understand my complaint with School Superintendent Maria Geryk.



Obviously she did not pay the woman to snatch my iPhone (last words, "no videotaping" is Maria Geryk) but she did give verbal commands -- before and after the incident -- declaring a ban on videotaping.

And the Superintendent did not seem overly concerned about the physical nature of the altercation brought on by her edict. 

To ban journalists from recording an event should always make you wonder:  what is it they don't want you to know?

Masslive reports (as usual Comments are the best) 

Flashback

The Four Bs

The Trolley Barn, 68 Cowls Road, North Amherst

Developer Cinda Jones, never at a loss for promotion, has come up with a novel pitch to fill the last remaining floor containing two four-bedroom apartment units in the newly opened Trolly Barn in North Amherst, dubbed "Three Bettys and a Bob."

Since women outlive men by about five years, it's not overly surprising that senior women outnumber senior men so why not target this demographic more directly?

Click to enlarge/read (and put your glasses on!)

Certainly is nice to see an Amherst developer targeting a demographic other than "college aged youth."  Although us aging Wilma fans will be disappointed with the choice of Betty.
 

Worth Tweeting About?

Amherst Regional Public School Twitter account

One of the sillier ideas floated at last night's Amherst Regional School Committee meeting is to rely on Twitter as an official "repository" for questions and information dissemination concerning the controversial Regionalization effort expanding the current 7th - 12th grade four-town Region all the way down to Pre-K through 6th grade.

Yes, in this digital age two-thirds of Americans use Social Media but only about 16% are on Twitter.  Facebook is still the king, with well over half of all Americans participating.

The Amherst Regional Public School Twitter account, with 261 followers, does not have a stellar following of parents/guardians considering the total enrollment at ARPS is 1,441 students -- over five times that.  (And presumable a fair number of students have two parents or guardians.)

Maria Geryk does not have a Twitter account, but there is a parody account

And unlike Facebook, with Twitter there's a 140 character limit per tweet, which kind of limits complicated discussions.  Although Twitter is absolutely awesome for breaking news.

Interestingly, one of the many complaints the Regional School Committee heard last night during "Public Comment" came from Janet McGowan concerning transparency and public outreach over this important, expensive endeavor, which one RSC hilltown member aptly described now as a "race to Town Meetings."

Regional School Committee Embraces Digital

Amherst Regional School Committee

The Amherst Regional School Committee voted unanimously this evening for the "alternate posting" option allowed under Open Meeting Law for regional entities to post legally required meeting notices on the ARPS regional website rather than individually in all four towns that make up the region.

The RSC has run afoul of the posting requirements having to cancel  meetings at the last minute because they were not properly posted in Pelham where the Town Clerk only works one day per week.

Member Katherine Appy wanted to delay tonight's vote until their next meeting because the Attorney General letter finding the RSC in violation of Open Meeting Law was not included in the packet for tonight's meeting, even though it had been distributed at their 12/8 meeting.

The AG found found in favor of a Open Meeting Law complaint filed by a former member, Tom Flittie, over the July 14 meeting called by then Vice Chair Trevor Babtiste.  The meeting was legally posted in all four towns but then Amherst pulled down the notice at the request of then RSC Chair Lawrence O'Brien.

Other members pointed out the AG finding the committee in violation due to posting protocol was all the more reason to vote in favor of it now so that the streamlining could begin immediately.

Appy reversed course and said she would vote in favor as long as the RSC took up discussion of the Attorney General's finding at their next meeting.

The Whole Story

Emerson Auvenshine (6' 2", 190 pounds) stands before Judge Shea

So here's yet another example of the state's new domestic violence law protecting the perpetrator from public scrutiny. 

You may have read in the bricks and mortar media that Emerson Auvenshine, age 24, a UMass senior, was arrested by APD on Sunday for Breaking & Entering and Malicious Destruction of property valued over $250.

As a result he was immediately suspended from the UMass Hockey team, but he was on crutches in Eastern Hampshire District Court on Monday due to recent ACL knee surgery, so his athletic career at UMass was over anyway.

Now what the other media outlets did not tell you, because they can't afford to send reporters to District Court, is that Mr Auvenshine was also charged with Domestic Assault & Battery on his former girlfriend.

Because of the law passed back in August police departments can no longer report domestic assault cases and have to purge them from the their daily logs.  So the only way to get that information is to hear it in open Court and then request the documents. 

Click to enlarge/read

Let The Contest Begin

Aaron Hayden (center in sweater) Chair of Amherst Select Board

Yes, the local political season has already begun -- even though nomination papers for the March 31st Annual Town Election are not due at the Town Clerk's office until February 10.  

Doug Slaughter, current Finance Committee and Town Meeting member, has taken out papers for the one lone seat on the 5-member Amherst Select Board.

Current Chair Aaron Hayden's seat is the only one up (next year two seats will be up) but he is about to pull a President Johnson and announce that will not seek nor accept the nomination for his seat in the upcoming election.  Not that Select Board candidates are nominated by a party.

Doug Slaughter as member of Finance Committee (standing)

So no, at the moment, even if Mr. Slaughter turned in his nomination papers with the 50 required signatures, we do not really have a "contest."  Not yet anyway.

Interestingly (at least to me anyway) Slaughter voted in favor of my 2007 Town Meeting petition to fly the commemorative American flags annually on 9/11 (that lost by a two-thirds vote), as did recently elected Select Board member Andy Steinberg.  

And the two current long-time Select Board members Alisa Brewer and Jim Wald have always voted "yes" when the Chair allowed the Select Board to come to a vote on it. 

Mr. Hayden always voted "no" and as Chair, last year, did not even allow the SB to vote on it. 

Modern Age Of Education

Textbook Annex:  Will continue to operate as gift shop under Follett Corp.

For generations students have dutifully lined up the first few days of school to get their expensive textbooks at the aptly named Textbook Annex.  As of this coming fall semester that quaint tradition, like using a payphone, goes the way of video rental stores.

UMass has cut a 5-year deal with Amazon, the largest Internet based retailer in the country, which will allow convenient free delivery of textbooks at an average savings of 31%.

Lower costs for quality higher education is the reason many students choose UMass/Amherst in the first place, so this deal will only enhance that attribute.

Fortunately for Amazon -- should they ever implement drone delivery -- the Amherst Town Meeting ban on drones was only advisory.  And few officials outside of Amherst listen to Town Meeting.

That's What I'm Talking About!

Today's issue of Charlie Hebdo:  "All is forgiven"

Popular American wall poster 1970s