Blowing The Whistle

Competition of a different kind

Since Amherst Regional High School officials overreacted to the initial incident by declaring a "lockdown" over two errant assistant coaches from Smith Vocational High School, no big shock they are now blowing the whistle on the earnest young recruiters ... which may not look good on their resumes.  

Since both assistant coaches signed in the day they visited ARHS obviously they were not trying to hide anything.  And by not signing out they only demonstrated unfamiliarity with a security system that is a tad confusing.

Smith Vocational High School, operated by our sister city to the west, Northampton, is one of two vocational schools that attracts away Amherst Regional students (thereby impacting the school's budget via payouts).  

Between Smith Vocational and Franklin County Technical ARHS lost 38 students this year.So maybe there's a measure of payback involved in this bit of hyperbole.

Of course when the shoe was on the other foot ...

The past four months in the Amherst schools have been a three ring circus.  

Continuous lockdowns, racist graffiti in the High School bathrooms targeting a teacher of color, and a racial bullying incident (that did not fit the PC agenda) that lead to a Facebook "threat" that closed the High School.

Fortunately the senior prom went off last Friday without incident (or at least any incidents that required police intervention).  This Friday ARHS graduation is hosted at the Mullins Center, which seemingly straddles three police jurisdictions -- Hadley, Amherst and UMPD.

According to APD Chief Livingstone:

"I have met with school officials and with Chief Horvath of UMPD regarding the High School graduation and after graduation party and I’m confident that the security measures planned will be adequate and sufficient.

 

Our goal is that it is a safe and enjoyable evening for all of those in attendance…"

Hypocrisy?

ARHS side entrance (Dylan Akalis need not apply)

The Amherst Regional High School Senior Prom is this weekend and graduation at the UMass Mullins Center the following weekend.

Dylan Akalis, although graduating from ARHS, will not be at either milestone event.

Perhaps if he invited his male, minority friend to the senior prom -- you know, the one he affectionately used the N-word with -- PC school officials would fall all over themselves to allow a same sex couple to attend.

Dylan's dad reports the family will be out of town over the next two weekends as a preemptive strike in case there's a "racial incident" at either of the school sponsored events.  Not being in the area with your entire family as witnesses makes for a pretty good alibi.

Since Dylan has not set foot on school property since the Facebook "threat" incident closed the school on  January 27th,  that has been the case for the vast majority of the racial incidents involving anonymous notes and/or graffiti left in ARHS rest rooms targeting teacher of color Carolyn Gardner. 

Yes Dylan was around for the first incident that happened in October, but since school officials purposely did not report it to Amherst police and worked diligently to cover it up, the other incidents that followed (after Dylan was long gone) were probably not the work of a copy cat.  

ARHS senior Camila Carpio was given a "social justice" award at the Sojourner Truth Memorial Celebration on Sunday.  She's the outspoken young lady who outed Dylan with a very misleading public Internet petition to ban Dylan from the senior prom and graduation.  

A petition that does not seem to be doing well, with a goal of only 100 signatures: the vast majority of the current "65 supporters" are NOT from Amherst and are not ARHS students.

When I asked the schools for a recent memo sent to them by Paula Akalis they redacted Dylan's name (and school personnel) "per confidentiality regulations."  Since Dyan was never charged with a crime and never appeared before a judge, newspapers would not be allowed to use his name either.  

Yes Ms. Carpio is a private citizen (who seems to covet the public limelight) so she is less bound by regulations than the Schools or a newspaper ... but that still does not make it okay.   

So where's the "social justice" in that?

There he goes again...

So once again the People's Republic of Amherst has a Field of Dreams--errrrr, I mean wheat, growing smack dab in the middle of Kendrick Park.

The Kendrick Park Committee is issuing their report about what to do with the donated landscape and cheered the Town Mangler's sorry attempt at a skating rink. Last year we spent thousands in DPW labor and got only one or two days of skating out of the deal; way cheaper to have rented ice time from the Mullins Center.

Maybe this winter Mr. Shaffer should hire a expert consultant to create an outdoor skating rink.

Ironic isn't it? Larry Shaffer loves the Rockwellian idea of an open small-town public skating rink for families to enjoy, but he bullies the July 4'th Parade Committee by withholding police and fire vehicles because he wants anti-war protesters to get the free publicity paid for on the Parade Committee's dime.

Last year's fiasco

Party Central Report

Unlike last weekend, when Amherst Police handed out seventeen $300 noise tickets, this past weekend was, according to detective Dave Foster, "remarkably quiet," with only six noise warnings and three $300 nuisance house tickets issued to one location at 16 North Hadley Road...although the same three individuals were also arrested for underage possession of liquor.

Perhaps it was a recovery pause after the blow out Patriots Day long weekend that included two drunk driving arrests, the death of a 24 year old motorcyclist from a wrong way driver, and a massive party at Puffers Pond that left the recreation area looking like a garbage truck exploded.

Police were of course pro active, with every available officer on duty.  They also arrested almost as many college aged youths as last week for underage drinking/open container violations, 24 this weekend ($7,200 worth of fines) vs 25 last week.  And unfortunately, like last week, two drunk drivers.

On Saturday early afternoon police called a landlord to inform him a party was brewing at one of his rentals.  According to police logs they then:  "Returned to speak with residence and advised them that our response there was imminent and that if called we would be taking enforcement action.  After being advised of options, parties decided to have an alcohol free picnic with 500 pounds of steak and lobster to eat."

Later around midnight College Street residents called APD to help assist with removal of "unwanted guests."  And police were only too happy to assist, removing "Approximately 80-100 from house and yard.  No problems, cleared with full cooperation of residents."

The weather was not a factor in the more civilized behavior, as the rain held off until almost midnight Saturday.  And the DPW did not spike the water supply with tranquilizers.  Maybe--just maybe--the civility sermon is getting through.  Maybe.


AFD: calm after the Thursday night Mullins Center fiasco

Blarney Blowover?

A sagacious Fade user (Anon of course)

After spending serious amounts of tax dollars for a free Mullins Center concert, beefed up public safety staffing and countless hours of input from the UMass PR department, will it all come together tomorrow for a, comparatively, positive outcome?

Well yes, of course it will. Mainly because you can't get much worse than what happened last year.

But the #1 reason, once again, will not be so much all the measure taken by Amherst and UMass officials and the excellent work of the Student Government Association. Or even all the breathless press attention this past week (the Gazette set a record for front page stories).

Environmental conditions, aka THE WEATHER, will play the major role in keeping a lid on rowdiness. The Townhouse quad just isn't the same if you have to wear snowshoes. 



And the #2 reason will be a major police presence. I also notice on social media how students would prefer to deal with UMass PD over Amherst PD. And as long as they stay on campus that is all but guaranteed.

Although the LEOs they really don't want to mess with is Massachusetts State Police, who were out in force for Superbowl Sunday and like General MacArthur they "shall return."

Just for fun, in response to a silly "secret plan" hatched on BlarneyChat to party at Lot 25 near the busiest road on campus, I started a rumor it was going to be a landing zone for the MSP helicopter.

About an hour later a Fade user came up with a great graphic.  Behold the power of social media, which cuts both ways.

 Townhouse Apartments 9:30 this morning 

Hitler had his Atlantic Wall, which failed to keep out the Allied invasion. Townhouse has a chest high concrete-like wall of snow completely encircling the quads, ground zero for Blarney bad behavior over the past three years.

Kids would need a backhoe to clear it now.

Fade users with no sense of humor

#####

Downtown bars taking delivery 11:30 am, meanwhile just around the corner:

APD having Mass Emergency Management communications equipment installed

Only 365 days until Blarney 2016.
— ZooMass (@ZooMass) March 8, 2015

Cross your fingers folks

UPDATE: 10:00 PM Still waiting for my friends at the Daily Hampshire Gazette and Springfield Republican to get on this story. Even the Umass Daily Collegian got it up around 6:00 PM. I went to bed but they did both get around to the story just before midnight--better late than never.

3:45 PM
So Saturday just after high noon we will know if the town of Amherst--who supplies Umass all of their water--will have to issue a "Boil water" alert. And if you live in a dorm that could get tricky.

Normally that would not be a huge B-I-G deal, an inconvenience for sure, since it is mid-October and Umass is in session. But Umass is hosting the sold out Phish concerts this weekend at the Mullins Center and they tend to attrack a H-U-G-E crowd. Presumably that crowd of 20,000 will require water. Although any excuse for them to drink other beverages will probably go over well. Yikes!
##############################################
To the Campus Community:

During recent routine water testing, the Town of Amherst identified
limited instances of total coliform and E. Coli bacteria in its water
system, which supplies the campus. Further tests are being conducted
and results will be available Saturday afternoon. Public health
officials will determine at that time whether a “Boil Water Order” is
needed.

Should such an order be issued, the university will activate a campus-
wide precautionary plan to minimize any potential health risks. This
will include ample supplies of bottled water and hand sanitizer and
detailed instructions on how to take preventive measures.

Further details about the water testing can be found on the Town of
Amherst web site at www.amherstma.gov.

The university will continue to communicate with all members of the
campus community on the status of this health advisory.


Donald Robinson
Environmental Health and Safety


A history lesson about water--or lack thereof in Amherst

Town website gets the word out

Third Watch

 AFD at Mullins Center 1:30 AM for patient with "altered mental status"

Amherst police and firefighters were kept on the go last night (Friday) into early Saturday morning instigated by warm temperatures, alcohol, and opportunity:  That brief luxurious time period just after UMass classes are complete, but finals have not yet started. 

And yes, trouble areas were mostly the usual suspects:  a few outside unpermited bonfires on Phillips Street (#45 and #51), a loud party at 15/17 Fearing Street, a passed out drunk in front of College Pizza, and of course a DUI.

Around 12:45 AM a patrol car observed a vehicle driving erratically on South Pleasant Street dead in the heart of downtown.  He took a right on Northampton Road (Rt 9) with the patrol car in close pursuit, was pulled over and descended on by a swarm of cruisers.  The college aged youth flunked his Field Sobriety Test, was arrested and his car towed.

 Ernie's Towing escorts DUI vehicle to impound 1:15 AM

I retraced the trajectory of the vehicle, a potentially deadly weapon, and could not help but notice the downtown was especially active.  How many could have been seriously injured if he lost control and plunged into the crowd in front of Antonio's?

Antonio's downtown Amherst 1:00 AM

Dispatch recieved a call from a young lady around 2:10 AM complaining about a "loud party" at 69 Meadow Street. The Anonymous caller only wanted it "quieted down, but doesn't want anyone to get in trouble."  

Party hardy types apparently were not on the same page, as APD arrested two for "disorderly conduct".

 

69 Meadow Street, Amherst 

A Singular Achievement

ARHS graduate Dylan Akalis receives diploma via Holyoke School Committee member Erin Brunelle yesterday in the backyard of this grandfather's house

As graduation parties go it was all wonderfully typical:  Proud parents, lots of extended family, friends, classmates;  well wishers both young and old, with enough variety of race and ethnicity to make the United Nations proud. 

But the b-i-g difference is this party started before the diploma was issued, with the party's guest of honor the only person present in a cap and gown.   And the person who handed him his hard earned diploma was indeed a public school official, but from another city.

Yes for Dylan Akalis it's been an up and down senior year, but the final outcome -- graduating from Amherst Regional High School in spite of being banned from the June 6 graduation ceremony at the Mullins Center -- was still sweet.

Dylan you may remember was bullied by three black youths (physically assaulted by one of them) for use of the supposedly hip version of the N-word to congratulate a black friend for a stellar basketball performance.

School officials did nothing to stop the harassment, so in self-defense Dylan anonymously posted to a Facebook confessions site a threat about bringing a weapon to school.

As a result the High School was closed for a day (even though authorities identified Dylan many hours before the start of the school day) on Monday, January 27th.  Dylan was handed a 12 day suspension for use of the N-word and invoking a weapons threat.

Most hurtful, however, was the erroneous allegation that Dylan was a racist. 

Feeling betrayed by the Amherst schools the family kept Dylan out for the rest of the year, assuming since he had enough credits Dylan would be allowed to graduate and march with his friends at the graduation ceremony.  Wrong.

Amherst school officials did say they would send a high ranking administrator to the planned June 22 party to officially hand him his diploma.  So that was something.  Sort of.

But when Superintendent Maria Geryk fired Dylan's dad a few weeks back for using the common electrician term "master and slave units" in front of a black school employee, Dylan decided he wanted nothing more to do with Amherst school officials.  Ever.  

Thus no official representative from Amherst Regional Public Schools attended the Sunday graduation celebration.

Too bad, because they could have learned a thing or two about family values. 

Dance The Night Away

 

UMass Haigis Mall 10:15 PM Friday

This coming weekend -- and in a "college town" the weekend begins on Thursday -- should be a notable one for our understaffed public safety departments.

 The crowd was exuberant but, fortunately, well behaved

On Friday night UMass PD came very close to calling in the Amherst Police Department for help dealing with a large crowd (700-1,000) of somewhat scantily dressed youth congregated at the Haigis Mall awaiting bus rides to Holyoke for an Electronic Dance Music event, a fundraiser for breast cancer promoted by a local fraternity.

That event was so popular the Fire Marshall shut down entry soon after I took these pictures, and most of the crowd above did not actually board the rented yellow school buses.

 AFD responded to the scene for an over intoxicated student

The UMPD officer in charge told Dispatch to hold off since "APD probably has their hands full about now," and indeed call response at the time was delayed by up to an hour as Amherst police were dealing with the simple routine of weekend in a college town when the weather is still warm.

On Thursday the Mullins Center hosts Skrillex a notable EDM artist, and of course the following weekend is Halloween -- the mother of all excuses to party hardy.

Main ingredients in the making of a not so perfect storm. 

Fight Fire With Fire

More than a few tailgaters did not make it to the game

 Weather was a plus

Since yesterday's tailgate for the 1st UMass football home game went so well. maybe the powers that be should consider replicating the party this coming March to mitigate the Blarney Blowout.

Which of course they pretty much do anyway with an expensive concert at the Mullins Center.  So maybe allow tailgating there, or hold the concert at the McGuirk Stadium.

 Future scene from the Walking Dead

Seems the camaraderie of cars, youthful exuberance, the outdoors, and of course alcohol can be mixed in such a way so as not to lead to a wildfire of mayhem.

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.

Blarney Blowout 2016

Morning briefing 7:15 AM  100+ police vehicles and AFD on scene

 #####

Parking ban prevented extra thousands from attending

8:25 AM:

Townhouse quads in North Amherst are quiet as police are blockading both entrances 

Police blocking entrance to Townhouse Apartments

Parking lots near Southwest still have plenty of room

 Ch 22 with their hard to miss camera

High Noon:

UMPD at Mullins Center concert:  "Still under 1,000 patrons and we have more leaving than coming." #blarneyblowout

— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) March 5, 2016

2:30 PM:

Townhouse quads quiet like a church mouse, although party activity in the front yards along Meadow Street

PD blockade was extremely effective 

PD blockade at Puffton Village, another usual flashpoint

 State Police Helicopter Air 1 flew lazy loops all morning into early afternoon 

 AFD responding for the 2nd time to 11 Phillips Street for a false fire alarm

APD K9 "Dash" assisted with party control on Shumway Street and College Street

Police broke up noisy gathering on Amity Street near town ctr

 
8:00 PM:  Good night Blarney:

6:30 AM The Morning After:

 Meadow Street

Phillips Street

 Fearing Street

Urinetown?

Olde Towne Tavern, formerly Charlie's Tavern

So last weekend's nightlife had its lighter moments, in spite of the obnoxious drain on AFD resources babysitting drunks at the Mullins Center Rusko concert, as usual, alcohol related.

According to APD logs (early Saturday morning 1:55 AM):  "A group of college aged individuals approached me and asked where there was a legal place for the them to urinate.  I advised them to ask the staff at The Sub to use their facilities.  They did not ask at The Sub and proceeded to urinate at the old Charlie's Tavern.  The three observed were identified and sent on their way."

Relieved no doubt.

Like The Pub, located next door, Charlie's opened its doors during the anything goes 1970s--happy hours, lower drinking age, smoking in bars, lax attitudes towards drunk driving--but weathered all the changing attitudes and regulations...until the spring of 2010, when Charlie's Tavern closed suddenly after a long run of thirty years.

Within months banners appeared announcing Olde Towne Tavern "Coming Soon."  The Zoning Board approved a Special Permit last year to take up business where Charlie's left off, and the Select Board approved the all important $3,500 liquor license.  Then, nothing.

The principals also own Stacker's and McMurphy's located uptown within staggering distance, so it's a safe bet they will indeed open for business; I'm told later this month or next, in time for St Patty's Day, the mother of all drinking holidays.


McMurphy's is infamous for its St Patty's Day "Kegs 'n Eggs" promotion--a Mardi Gras like atmosphere where the alcohol starts flowing at 10:00 AM, although the owner described the clientele as "an older crowd."

But hey, at least they have functioning bathrooms.