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Only in The Republic of Amherst

  • Never forget.

    Number of comments: 11


    “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
    Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto




    “With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounded determination of our people [...]
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    Posted: December 07, 2009, 9:19am EST
    by LarryK4

  • Shedding Light (but not a lot)

    Number of comments: 12

    So I'm far from an art aficionado, but less far from a Yankee farmer with some degree of common sense. The art project "Shedding Light"--sponsored by the Amherst Public Arts Commission--strikes me as pretty dim.

    It simply looks like Bob The Builder is inside' [...]
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    Posted: December 06, 2009, 8:12pm EST
    by LarryK4

  • Come all ye faithful

    Number of comments: 4

    So last evening, for a few moments anyway, the seriousness of world and national events--more troops in Afghanistan, Tiger Woods indiscretion, party crashers at the White House--were forgotten. Drown out by a chorus of Christmas songs. [...]
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    Posted: December 04, 2009, 9:05pm EST
    by LarryK4

  • Death Star christened

    Number of comments: 10

    About a month after it finally opened (a month behind schedule) the gigantic, gleaming $52 million recreation center received a formal unveiling this afternoon with Chancellor Holub and President Jack Wilson (neither of them dressed in work out clothes) doing the honors behind a podium [...]
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    Posted: December 03, 2009, 6:40pm EST
    by LarryK4

  • "Real Revolutions" indeed!

    Number of comments: 8

    “In real revolutions things get worse before they get better. .. One of the bad things I think is going to happen is, I think civic corruption is just going to rise for towns and regions of under about half a million people. Which is [...]

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    Posted: December 03, 2009, 11:20am EST
    by LarryK4

  • The making of a Merry Maple

    Number of comments: 4

    As they have done seemingly forever, Shumway & Sons Landscaping (a venerable Amherst surname, in business seemingly forever) donate their time and expertise to decorate the official town of Amherst, errr, Holiday Tree.

    And yes, now that a Commenter reminded me, the Merry Maple [...]
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    Posted: December 02, 2009, 9:04am EST
    by LarryK4

  • Unique address marker

    Number of comments: 18
    [...]
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    Posted: December 01, 2009, 11:09am EST
    by LarryK4

  • They're Baaaack...

    Number of comments: 20

    Okay, now we can exude the Christmas spirit; the Amherst Pelham Boy Scouts have set up shop on Kendrick Park as they have done for 50+ years (waiting, mercifully, until the day after Thanksgiving ) to sell trees over the next month where profits pretty [...]
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    Posted: November 29, 2009, 1:34pm EST
    by LarryK4

  • And another one gone...

    Number of comments: 20
    So it was announced at a Wednesday staff meeting that Department Head Epi Bodhi, Director of the Amherst Health Department is retiring. Ms Bodhi will probably best be remembered for the caustic Smoking Ban in Bars battle, dubbed the "issue of the year" by the venerable Amherst Bulletin for 1999. [...]
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    Posted: November 27, 2009, 9:35am EST
    by LarryK4

  • A Thanksgiving Story

    Number of comments: 6
    (From the archives 11/21/07)

    Only in Arlington would posing for the greatest illustrator in American history on assignment for media juggernaut The Saturday Evening Post pass for routine.

    Richard (Dick) Hagelberg returned to the family dairy farm after surviving five years in the 9’th [...]
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    Posted: November 25, 2009, 10:22am EST
    by LarryK4

  • The Media Internet revolution: Version 3.0

    Number of comments: 8

    We believe in the nimble, street-level approach to collecting news. We hope to offer great writing from seasoned journalists as well as fledgling reporting from citizens who agree to cover public meetings. Life is a Journey, and we are unfurling our sails.

    Mary Serreze
    [...]
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    Posted: November 23, 2009, 11:19am EST
    by LarryK4

  • 11/22: That other awful day

    Number of comments: 7

    From the archives: (Yeah, scary to think I now have archives)

    The ornate condolence certificate, autographed by the President, arrived two months after the sudden death of my father—a combat veteran who helped overthrow the Japanese in the Philippines but never discussed it with [...]
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    Posted: November 22, 2009, 9:22am EST
    by LarryK4

  • Sign sign everywhere a sign

    Number of comments: 22
    Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind / Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign

    So this large sign out by state owned Rt 116 coming into North Amherst goes one better on copyright "fair use" borrowing. Not only the white on [...]
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    Posted: November 19, 2009, 11:18am EST
    by LarryK4

  • A tale of two signs

    Number of comments: 16


    So four years ago when the town ripped off the state's design logo for signage (that Mass charges $1,200 annually per location) Hickory Ridge Golf Course was paying for this sign in South Amherst, but Cherry Hill in North Amherst got theirs for free (two [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2009, 8:57am EST
    by LarryK4

  • Let's break out the booze and have a ball

    Number of comments: 7
    The Lord Jeffery Inn

    I owe you a draft beer Mr Marx, payable on opening night spring, 2011 at the Boltwood Tavern--assuming the newly renovated Lord Jeff Inn keeps the concept of a low-key, relatively inexpensive pub as part of the fancy more expensive Inn [...]
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    Posted: November 17, 2009, 8:31pm EST
    by LarryK4

  • When the State breaks trust

    Number of comments: 16

    When Town Manager Larry Shaffer signed a 5-year Strategic Agreement with Umass for roughly $100,000 more than they had been paying Amherst for fire/ambulance protection the year before, he allowed them to take credit for the $100,000 Payment in lieu of Taxes Amherst receives from [...]
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    Posted: November 16, 2009, 1:48pm EST
    by LarryK4

  • Gotta love local TV journalism

    Number of comments: 27
    Okay, so let's forget attractive young cub TV reporter Jackie Bruno (in a C+ market area) botched Umass President Jack Wilson's surname (not Williams); and how the NJ State Trooper was killed (not by a bomb but by a handgun.) or the assault on two Mass State Troopers (also from [...]
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    Posted: November 13, 2009, 2:38pm EST
    by LarryK4

  • A proud tradition indeed

    Number of comments: 21

    (9:00 PM ) So tonight the forces of fear and oppression won out, and all of us are microscopically worse off.

    The academic forum on a twenty-year-old sedition trial where the main culprit was acquitted, but served 18 years on other charges did go [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 8:26pm EST
    by LarryK4

  • Yes, this is America

    Number of comments: 27


    At Least SOMEBODY at the Boston Herald has integrity

    So I can’t even remember the last time I disagreed with my friends at the Springfield Republican, but today they kind of blew it with an editorial on Ray Luc Levasseur’s censored Umass [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 9:53am EST
    by LarryK4

  • Worth dying for

    Number of comments: 18
    UPDATE: 6:45 PM So the on-again, off-again speech by convicted domestic terrorist Raymond Luc Levasseur at Umass, you know, that bastion of higher education where the market of ideas--no matter how whacked--can be discussed in a civilized manner, is now OFF.

    And if I had [...]
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    Posted: November 11, 2009, 11:30am EST
    by LarryK4

  • Accuracy in reporting

    Number of comments: 47

    UPDATE Wednesday morning The Boston Herald Screams

    UPDATE Tuesday 10:00 PM The Boston Globe steps up

    UPDATE 2:30 PM: So apparently it was not the Umass bureaucrats who reconsidered domestic terrorist Raymond Luc Levasseur's speech and showed some spine by allowing' [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 9:07am EST
    by LarryK4

  • How high can you fly?

    Number of comments: 3




    [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 7:03pm EST
    by LarryK4

  • Should Citizen Journalists be trained?

    Number of comments: 7
    Well of course there should be training! But then the question becomes who does the training?

    The Umass on-line certificate program is of course a good start because it sets minimum standards that allow motivated individuals to tap into a proven brand name for journalism.

    But once [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 10:29am EST
    by LarryK4

  • UMass Library Under Fire

    Number of comments: 23

    No, not from "cleared" Gitmo detainees relocated to the People's Republic of Amherst, just from the usual suspects--right wing radio shock jocks who moonlight as Boston Herald columnists.

    And yes these are the same folks who flamed Umass Amherst last spring when Nitwit left' [...]
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    Posted: November 06, 2009, 10:05am EST
    by LarryK4

  • Incoming!

    Number of comments: 29
    WBUR Boston radio reports (NPR affiliate)
    Cartoon in today's Amherst Bulletin (also loaded with Letters and Columns on Gitmo)
    Ruth Hooke addresses Amherst Town Meeting

    UPDATE: 9:20 AM So conservative Boston talk radio station 96.9 WTKK called and will be' [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 10:36pm EST
    by LarryK4

  • To Be Continued...

    Number of comments: 3
    Town Meeting that is. Tonight @ 7:30 (well more like 7:40)

    Article #9 expanding the potential for medical establishments to locate in a research park will take at least an hour as the NIMBY's bring all guns to bear (fortunately they do not use IEDs.)

    Articles #11-13 are' [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 9:03am EST
    by LarryK4

  • Amherst Town Meeting Fiddles...

    Number of comments: 28
    Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe explains the Interstellar Alien Landing Port

    But seriously folks, tonight the campaign for a multi-million dollar tax Override began.

    The Finance Committee gave a verbal report that parroted the Assistant Town Manager's presentation a few weeks back to the illustrious [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 11:01pm EST
    by LarryK4

  • An American institution

    Number of comments: 12


    So, ugh, Amherst Town Meeting starts tonight--the 250th.5

    Only 14 articles compared to around 40 in the Spring so it should not take all that long. And the only article that will generate interest is #14, last on the list, thus no chance [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 10:30am EST
    by LarryK4

  • Hear ye, hear ye: Town crier needs material

    Number of comments: 7
    What things would you do as editor of a Citizens Journalism effort to increase public input?

    I would establish ‘beats’, ‘channels’, or compartmentalized sections on the site (just as a newspaper has national, local, sports, entertainment, living sections etc).

    All of these sections would have their own Forum [...]
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    Posted: November 01, 2009, 8:13am EST
    by LarryK4

  • Downtown fright fest

    Number of comments: 6
    A hundred or more families turned out for Halloween Kids Parade March last night.



    Heaven must be missing an angel. [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2009, 8:27am EDT
    by LarryK4

  • Tragic Catch-22

    Number of comments: 15

    No matter the sentence imposed by our system of justice on 75- year-old Parvin Niroomand, who drove W-A-Y over the centerline into the opposite lane to impale 33-year-old cyclist Misty Bassi on a bright sunny Memorial Day morning and then fled the scene, nobody wins...absolutely [...]
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    Posted: October 29, 2009, 2:32pm EDT
    by LarryK4

  • Waiting to kill

    Number of comments: 0

    [...]
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    Posted: October 29, 2009, 1:34pm EDT
    by LarryK4

  • Still sinking in a sand trap

    Number of comments: 35

    So at Monday night's illustrious Select Board meeting our highly-paid bean-counter bureaucrats presented a how-we-doing budget analysis now that FY2010 is one-quarter completed.

    (Naturally ACTV screwed up the live broadcast so us taxpayers have yet to see it, but I grabbed a PDF of' [...]
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    Posted: October 27, 2009, 9:33am EDT
    by LarryK4

  • Blockbuster fast forwards to extinction

    Number of comments: 15

    So after a dozen years dominating the Happy Valley video/DVD rental market the Blockbuster in the Stop and Shop Hadley stripmall is going the way of the Dodo bird. A tad too late for 'Video To Go' the iconic, slightly funky, video store that opened [...]
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    Posted: October 25, 2009, 9:04am EDT
    by LarryK4

  • Becoming a Citizen Journalist in Amherst?

    Number of comments: 20
    There’s always room for one more; and God knows I could use the help.

    First off, establish a blog…and then behold the power. Like many things involving the Internet, they are free. Perhaps the main reason print news industry has become a “dead man walking.”

    Writing is of [...]
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    Posted: October 24, 2009, 10:48pm EDT
    by LarryK4

  • The Gitmo shuffle

    Number of comments: 41

    Obviously the cataclysmic events of 9/11 brought national attention to the Amherst Select Board decision from the night before restricting the display of 29 commemorative American flags in the downtown.

    Around 6:00 AM that morning the AP sent out a brief one-paragraph article about [...]
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    Posted: October 23, 2009, 8:57am EDT
    by LarryK4

  • Ruth Hooke on welcoming Gitmo guys to Amherst

    Number of comments: 18
    Whew! So yesterday's 443 hits set a new world's record (about half coming from Boston radio station WTKK 96.9) surpassing last year's 412 when the AP covered Ms. Awad resigning as Amherst Select Board member citing stalking and harassment by little old me as the reason. This of course set' [...]
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    Posted: October 22, 2009, 10:00am EDT
    by LarryK4

  • Selectman Weiss speaks

    Number of comments: 24
    Mr. Weiss's Chariot.

    So Boston radio personality Michael Graham wanted to hear Mr. Weiss out on this proposal to allow (2) "cleared" Gitmo detainees to resettle here. Happy to oblige him.

    The warrant article (#14) Town Meeting will vote on does not contain any' [...]
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    Posted: October 21, 2009, 10:14am EDT
    by LarryK4

  • Innocence restored

    Number of comments: 12
    So I’m sorry my Conservative friends, but have we lost our humanity?

    These two 'Guantanamo Guys'--at least according to Federal officials charged with protecting us (although they did do a lousy job that awful morning)--proclaim them “cleared”. They did not do a God damned thing on 9/11. Their only [...]
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    Posted: October 20, 2009, 3:31pm EDT
    by LarryK4

  • Lesson learned?

    Number of comments: 8
    So when I saw the other day that the illustrious Amherst Select Board would be voting on a street closing for Lincoln Avenue to celebrate a safe Halloween block party, I was wondering if the recent disastrous "experiment" to close off that same street to through traffic (mainly to and [...]
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    Posted: October 20, 2009, 10:44am EDT
    by LarryK4

  • It's Baaaaack...

    Number of comments: 8

    So the UN Flag (liberated last week--probably as a dorm room decoration) has been replaced, for the 4th or 5th time in the last few years. Paid for by a UN Committee, who also apparently donated the flagpole all those years ago. [...]
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    Posted: October 19, 2009, 11:30am EDT
    by LarryK4

  • What do people want from the media

    Number of comments: 7
    People want the media to inform, entertain, amuse and they want it all instantly. A Herculean task for the industry—especially since a lot of folks want it free.

    But above all, readers want to trust the source. You expect the New York Times or Wall Street Journal to thoroughly [...]
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    Posted: October 18, 2009, 9:19am EDT
    by LarryK4

  • The Power and Class of New England

    Number of comments: 0
    George Parks demonstrating Power and Class.
    Chancellor Holub, who knows a good thing when he sees it.
    Former Drummer Boy (actually tuba), State Senator Stan Rosenberg

    So in addition to the $52 million Recreation Center 'Death Star' [...]
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    Posted: October 17, 2009, 2:20pm EDT
    by LarryK4

  • You can always go, downtown!

    Number of comments: 0


    10:30 AM
    Busy day today as Central Fire Station has an Open House (Pancake Breakfast tomorrow at North Station). The Fall Foliage Walk was just getting started (raising money for A Better Chance) and they were already lining up at [...]
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    Posted: October 17, 2009, 10:51am EDT
    by LarryK4

  • No great loss

    Number of comments: 11
    So for the first time in a generation the UN flag in front of the People's Republic of Amherst Town Hall is missing. I have an inquiry out, but it is after all late afternoon Friday so I will probably not get an immediate response.[...]
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    Posted: October 16, 2009, 4:38pm EDT
    by LarryK4

  • Death Star delayed

    Number of comments: 38


    So I was kind of wondering when the venerable Umass Daily Collegian would get around to correcting their front page article, above the fold, with photo from two weeks ago trumpeting the opening that day of the $52 million Recreation Center, what I [...]
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    Posted: October 15, 2009, 11:47am EDT
    by LarryK4

  • Boo!

    Number of comments: 4
    [...]
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    Posted: October 13, 2009, 2:55pm EDT
    by LarryK4

  • Killing a Ghost Bike

    Number of comments: 33

    Ch 3 TV picks up the story

    UPDATE: Tuesday 6:00 AM
    Today's Gazette (using top photo above with permission) states a driver contacted police at 5:31 PM on Saturday after observing two men attacking the bike with axes. Hard [...]
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    Posted: October 12, 2009, 9:20am EDT
    by LarryK4

  • A view from the top

    Number of comments: 0
    Makes even the juggernaut Umass seem small and insignificant

    [...]
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    Posted: October 12, 2009, 6:06am EDT
    by LarryK4

  • Well if everybody is a journalist, who's the reader?

    Number of comments: 4
    Take Sides: do you agree with Jay Rosen's definition of "the people formerly knows as the audience."

    Jay Rosen: The People Formerly known as the Audience

    Yes, I completely agree with Rosen that high technology has changed EVERYTHING concerning news production and news consumption, where the word [...]
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    Posted: October 11, 2009, 2:20pm EDT
    by LarryK4
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