Collateral damage

6:15 PM

So if you ask recently retired Amherst Police Chief Charles Scherpa for a shortlist of the hardest working most dedicated person in Public Safety, Animal Control Officer Carol Hepburn would be exceedingly high on that list.

And as you can see from this afternoon's photo, she is also an Elections Warden.

But when the Override goes down, her full-time job as Animal Control Officer goes to half time, thus costing her $21,820. I bumped into her at the Hess Station in front of my Club early one weekday morning and she asked me how I thought the Override vote would go? "Down," I said--and then quickly added, "Sorry about that." "Why," she responded curiously.

"Because your job is half at stake."

"Don't worry about me," she said with Yankee certainty, "I'll be fine."

I hope so.

No concentration of power there...

1:55 PM

So here we have (dead center), Princess Stephanie O'Keeffe, Chair of the venerable Amherst Select Board and to her immediate left John Coull, Chair of the venerable Amherst Redevelopment Authority who is also, of course, her Dad.

Below Mr. Coule is my stunning daughter Jada. Interestingly the Amherst Select Board and Amherst Redevelopment Authority are the only two entities in the People's Republic with the awesome power of eminent domain.

Override rage continues...

1:45 PM

Hmm...so this is a public Facebook post brought to you by an Amherst Middle School teacher (you know, somebody vested in the status quo); and normally I would say 'who cares' as she is one in a hundred or so and certainly entitled to her opinion under the First Amendment.

But what is particularly scarier is she is also part of that elite insider group known as the Middle School Principal School Search Committee. You know, that secretive little group outspoken, overly-public School Committee member (and blogger) Catherine Sanderson was recently purged from.

An anonymous letter-snail mailed to me last week from a school insider indicated great concern about not hiring an "insider" for that ultra-important position of Middle School Principal. Double Hmm...

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1135648190>

These are turbulent times on the Amherst School Committee, made worse by
poor conduct on the part of Committee members associated with ACE. I've been
to several meetings of the Regional School Committee and watched, appalled,
at how Sanderson and Rivkin display open contempt and mistrust of Educators
and Aministrators, attempt to undermine the Committee chair, and are hostile
toward Committee members who don't share their views. They vote as a block,
work together to get their motions forwarded, and communicate behind other
Committee member's backs in open meeting. Adding Spence into this mix would
create an even larger "block" of these like minded folk, who really don't
represent a majority view in Amherst, and choose divisiveness over true
leadership. We need diverse views that represent the community on the
Committee, and there are several candidates that will do this. Read and
learn about all of the candidates and vote!

My Anonymous Snail Mail Letter post

Who shoots the photographer?

11:00 AM

Gordon Daniels, is by far the very best thing about the Bricks-and-Mortar Daily Hampshire Gazette. A Grand Master photographer with over 30 years experience. Look for this scene on their Front Page...umm, tomorrow.

None of the Above (mostly)

Click to enlarge

10:30 AM

So I can now confirm the No votes are in the lead--as is Rob Spence for School Committee.

Riders on the storm...

9:45 AM

So it's nice to see Ricky Boy Hood outnumbered in town center by 2-1. And notice Rob Spence for School Committee supporters are not, unlike Jonathan O'Keeffe, also holding a pro-override sign. Irony is if Spence gets elected the School Committee--for the first time in a generation--would have a majority of sensible center types and might actually wrestle that Sacred Cow under control thus obviating the need for Overrides.

All roads lead to...

The Ballot Box

7:15 AM So we're off. And already the Overriders have me confused. No large display ad in this morning's bricks-and-mortar Gazette. So where the heck did they spend the remaining $3,000 in campaign contributions? (60% of total raised!)

Maybe they figured out this was going down and they are saving it for round two, after Town Meeting comes back with yet another tweaked version of this Override. You know, Custer thought it was a good idea to divide up his cavalry...

Overriders current campaign disclosure