DUI Dishonor Roll

Just to show how extraordinary three cases of heroin OD over a 1.5 hour period Sunday night was, Amherst Police arrested only one impaired driver over the entire weekend.  Hadley PD also bagged one. 

AFD & APD responding to a North Amherst Apartment complex for yet another heroin overdose, 3rd separate one this evening.

— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) November 16, 2015

 Thornton Benjamin, age 20, arraigned before Judge Payne

Both had a plea of not guilty entered in their behalf, and will return to Eastern Hampshire District Court on December 10th with their private attorneys.

Rachasima Tran, age 22, arraigned before Judge Payne

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A Queen Falls Hard

Holly Holm threw 8 kicks total and they all landed 

You know an athlete has reached the tipping point for media saturation when their choice of a presidential candidate makes national coverage, even if it is Bernie Sanders.

No one has done more for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts than Ronda Rousey.  She became a revered symbol -- a unique combination of brains, beauty and bravado -- in a sport where bloody violence sometimes turns off mainstream viewers.

Going into her latest title defense with Holly Holm she was the overwhelming favorite, and obviously she believed the hype.

But this is America, and we love the underdog.  Thus her stunning loss via knockout -- a head kick no less -- was widely celebrated.

Football aficionados use the term "On any given day" to promote parity in that other sport that can also be a tad violent.

If outcomes were all but guaranteed it kind of spoils the thrill of watching.  And paying for those rights to spectate.

As John F Kennedy once said, "Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan."

I hope Ronda takes her loss to heart, trains harder, and comes back with a renewed respectful attitude we can all be proud of. 

Afflict The Comfortable

Amherst College:  Named after the town, not the General

At least they didn't vandalize the sign

The irony is probably lost on Amherst Uprising -- a cadre of students of color suddenly energized about how evil their expensive college of choice is -- but one of the prime jobs of journalism is to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."

Combine that with my favorite saying, "If a tree falls in the forest and a digital journo is not there to cover it, it does not make a sound," and you will understand why I shake my head over the First Amendment issues that seem lost on student protestors.

 Blood was spilled on the streets of Chicago

When Chicago police were beating the daylights out of Hippie/Yippie protestors at the Democratic Nation Convention in 1968 the bloodied youth started chanting, "The whole world is watching, the whole world is watching."  And indeed it was.

Just as they were in the early 1960s when the Freedom Riders were being persecuted by southern mobs as good old boy police stood by and did nothing.  But the images beamed back to middle class America awakened the silent majority thus giving "voice to the voiceless."

Indeed "The pen is mightier than the sword" -- especially now in the digital age -- but your ideas still need to hold up in the open marketplace provided by the mainstream media where they receive wider vetting.

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 More than a majority of AC students are non white

Preaching to your already converted followers on Twitter or Facebook and holding closed-to-the-media events defeats the purpose of an "uprising."

Besides, if can't deal with criticism or the challenge of a debate then maybe your cause is not all that sustainable.

And here's the other "intentional parody" account, that has since been terminated:

I'm still trying to figure out of this is a parody Twitter account

The good news is the Lord Jeffs beat arch rival Williams and went undefeated for the season

Signature Saturday Success

 Amherst For All starts the campaign 8/27/15

 

Amherst For All 8:45 AM this morning

The Amherst For All Charter change enthusiasts report a whopping 700 signatures collected throughout town today, well over the target goal of 500. 

That now puts the effort at 2,400 signatures or 75% of the  way to the final goal of 3,215 signatures.

That enormous number represents 15% of the registered voters in town, and is required to get a Charter change question on the ballot for the annual election coming up March 29. In addition voters will elect a 9-member Charter Commission to hash out a new and improved form of governance.

Steering Committee member Jerry Guidera is confident the group will have the required number of signatures by Thanksgiving, giving the entire town something extra to be thankful for on that most revered holiday.

Feed Me!

Moving truck was heading west on Snell Street 8:20 AM

The truck eating bike path bridge scored another meal this morning as a moving van found out the hard way about the narrow, not-overly-tall bridge over Snell Street.

Fortunately no injuries to the occupants or the bridge but the truck will need some tender loving care before it rejoins the fleet.

 More damage caused by coming out than going in

The state replaced the old Central Mass Railway bridge in the summer of 2012 ,which did raise it one foot from 9.6 feet high to the current 10.6 feet, although the narrow width stayed the same.

Looks like the truck made it pretty far under the bridge before contact took place so it was probably not like hitting a solid brick wall.

 State should think about placing their sign a tad higher up

Although if the driver had tried this three years ago when the bridge was a foot lower the impact would probably have been a tad more explosive.

 Mass Dept of Transportation bridge inspector arrives 10:20 AM

Sweating The Contract

Amherst Media is main beneficiary of Comcast ten year contract

Even though the Comcast ten year cable license -- worth $6.3 million last year -- does not expire until October, 2016 the Cable Advisory Committee started off this morning's meeting somewhat in panic mode.

Co-Chair Kris Pacunas is worried a deadline or two in the complicated process could have been missed which would give Comcast added bargaining strength whenever they do finally sit down at the negotiation table.

At their initial mid-June meeting, their 1st since 2006, Peter Epstein, their $200/hour legal counsel, did say he wished to send Comcast an "initial contract offer" by November 1st.  And as of this morning the Committee was miles away from having that contract prepared.

In fact their attorney has not even yet provided them with a contract template that contains all the boiler plate language that is standard with any cable contract.  And the all important timeline is now out of date.

Attorney Epstein at 9/24 Ascertainment Hearing (and Comcast stenographer)

The Committee will be sending attorney Epstein a memo outlining their complaints about his performance to date and they will also be contacting the Select Board, who has final authority to sign the lucrative contract, as well.

He did attend one of the two required "Ascertainment Hearings" co-sponsored by the Cable Advisory Committee and Select Board but does not keep in close touch with the committee.

Mr. Epstein came highly recommended by Amherst Media who benefits by the 5% cut of Comcast revenues ($317,000 last year).   That 5% amount is written in stone, and these days may not even be a slam dunk.

The main bargaining issue seems to be the one-time capital upgrade to equipment that comes once every ten years.

In the last 2006 contract that amounted to $450,000, and this time around Amherst Media is looking for many times over that for the ability to broadcast their 3 channels in high definition.

Left to rt: Adrienne Terrizzi, Kris Pacunas (Co-Chair), Joan Golowich, Demetria Shabazz (Co-Chair)

In addition, one Cable Advisory member of the five has showed up to only one meeting so far,  and now that the heavy lifting has started Co-Chair Pakunas said he would contact him to find out if he will stay on the committee or not.

Next meeting the agenda calls for the Committee to have from attorney Epstein a new timeline with specific dates, a one page "summary of community needs" which includes the 5% cut of cable revenues, amount of one time capital needs money, maintain local customer service office, etc.

The Committee will also discuss having the Select Board file a complaint with Comcast over breach of the 2006 license which required all town buildings to be hard wired for live broadcast capability.

Over the years parts have been cannibalized from other locations like Jones Library, DPW, Police Station or High School in order to prioritize Town Hall and the Middle School (where Town Meeting takes place).

So not only do a majority of town buildings no longer have the ability to live broadcast, but even the two major buildings (Town Hall and the Middle School) where all the important meetings occur, the outdated equipment teeters on the brink of ruin.

Next meeting is scheduled for Monday November 30th.  But before the Committee adjourned Co-Chair Pakunas told fellow members, "I feel better now."

One Is The Loneliest Number

Chancellor Subbaswamy is proud of being #1 (out of 1858)

It will be interesting to see if Chancellor Subbaswamy gets to keep his top dog #1 UMass license plate, which actually does look lovely on his Lexus.

The Globe says: only 1554 UMass license plates sold. I say: only 1,500 more to Go @AlumniUMass Go UMass! http://t.co/ACIg5CueEy

— Kumble R. Subbaswamy (@KSubbaswamy) May 25, 2015

Chancellor was unconcerned with Boston Globe May 24 story on slow sales 

Although I would have liked it a tad better if designers had made room for "Amherst" somewhere on the plate.

The UMass license plate program, making UMass the first university in the state to have one, has been fraught with problems since first being seriously discussed over ten years ago.

The Registry of Motor Vehicles will not even fire up the presses until 1,500 have been preordered and even then an additional 1,500 need to be sold by the end of the second year bringing the total on the road to a minimum of 3,000.

That two year anniversary just passed in October and the current number of plates on the road is only 1,858.  Not even close to the 3,000 required.

The Alumni Association had to put up a $100,000 performance bond to guarantee 3,000 plates would be sold so now the state can keep all or part of that.

The University only makes $28 per plate sold and for a while the AA was paying the $40 plate fee and $20 swap fee in order to stimulate sales but even that failed to move numbers in the right direction.

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 6/6/15 minutes of Board of Directors meeting

In June the Alumni Association Board of Directors by unanimous vote allocated $150,000 to "support the license plate business plan" to reach the 3,000 goal by October 1st. 

Coincidentally enough the Boston Globe did a story on 5/25/15 shining a light on lousy sales using the total figure of 1,554.

Thus an entire summer plus September and October -- and a $150K -- only managed to bring the number up to the current 1858

Will be quite a while before this # sees the road, if ever

And with only 1858 plates sold in our state boasting 120,000 (hopefully proud) UMass/Amherst graduates, that makes for a 1.55% market penetration.  I give that an F.