From Other Sources: News For And About Amherst:  Local News Roundup

This feature offers links to selected articles that might be of interest to Amherst readers. I favor, in these postings, with a few exceptions, material that is not hiding behind a paywall. Hence, I have reduced my postings from sources like the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and MassLive which are doing some great reporting but which make their articles inaccessible without some sort of payment. On occasion, an article seems too important not to mention, and in such cases I will post it, and leave it for the reader to decide whether to pay for access. If you have read something that is germane to what I’ve been posting in this feature, please share the link in the comments section below.

There’s a lot happening in Amherst this spring and so I am once again providing links to a series of local stories that didn’t make it into the Indy over the last three weeks.  Thanks to our other local news sources for covering these stories.

Opinion:  Amherst’s Support For Cancelling Student Loan Debt by Ian Rhodewalt (6/2/22). I applaud the Amherst Town Council for making the morally right decision to vote to pass a resolution calling for President Joe Biden to cancel all student debt, and want to thank councilors Pat DeAngelis, Ana Devlin Gauthier, Ellisha Walker and Andy Steinberg for leading on this issue. It was unfortunate that, during the council’s May 16 meeting, instead of the cosponsors being able to first present the resolution and facilitate a discussion on its merits, or share what led them to sponsor it, a recent New York Times opinion piece published to throw cold water on the robust movement for student debt cancellation, took center stage. This editorial, which cited flawed data from right wing figures and institutions such as Betsy DeVos, the National Review, the Heritage Foundation, and others to make dubious claims about student debt almost derailed the conversation about the resolution on the table. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

UMass Hockey’s Miracle On Ice: The Little Pond That Could by Richard McCarthy (6/2/22). There is a little pond on Old Farm Road in Amherst, about four-tenths of a mile from Old Farm’s intersection with Route 9. It is marked by an official printed sign that says “Gull Pond/Town of Amherst/Conservation Area.” There is also a homemade wooden sign beside it, with “Turtle Xing” painted on one side, “Go Slow” painted on the other side, and drawings of turtles on both sides. In the warm weather months, you sometimes see a person or two fishing from the pond’s edge. In the winter, you might see a few skaters on a patch of ice they’ve shoveled off, and there might be enough of them with hockey sticks for a pick-up hockey game. At all times of the year, you could see someone observing its wildlife, which includes birds, beavers, and even otters. One day in February 2021, there was a line of vehicles parked alongside the pond, a line the length of which I’d never seen there before. When I looked out on the pond, I saw that two fair sized skating areas had been shoveled off. On those two surfaces were skaters who, like the vehicles, I’d never seen the likes of at the pond before. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Amherst School Committee To Address Gun Safety At Tuesday Night Meeting by Lexi Oliver and Samantha O’Connor (5/31/22). That meeting is set to kick off virtually Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m. Ahead of the meeting, the committee posted a draft resolution regarding keeping the schools safe. This comes one week after the deadly elementary school shooting in Texas.The draft read, in part: “The presence of armed school resource officers has not been shown to reduce gun-related incidents or violence in schools…whereas, student and school safety is enhanced through initiatives that support school climate, including cultivating student social and emotional learning and health.”It went on to say:“Let it be resolved that the Amherst School Committee commits to the following: indefinitely continuing to not employ the use of school resource officers (SROS) in all of our schools; ensuring the resources are available to continue to provide for mental health supports for students.” They also said that they will provide mental health first aid training to staff, as well as training in safety protocols like lockdowns and shelter-in-place. They also said they will work to provide resources to families and caregivers surrounding children and teen mental health and secure firearm storage. (Western Mass News)

White Lion Brewing And Marcus Camby Team Up On Future Amherst Brewhouse by Scott Merzbach (5/30/22). Marcus Camby, whose standout basketball career as part of the University of Massachusetts Minutemen is recognized with a statue outside the Mullins Center, is working with White Lion Brewing Co. to bring a nano brewhouse to downtown Amherst in the fall. The Springfield company announced May 18 that the retired NBA player, with whom it partnered to create the Marcus Camby New England IPA in January, will continue the relationship with the development of a site, in retail space at 104 North Pleasant St., that will offer one-time experimental ales, a test kitchen, a taproom and an outdoor social space. (Amherst Bulletin)

Division 4 Track: Amherst’s Moriah Luetjen Wins State 400 Meter Title by Hannah Bevis (5/30/22). Amherst’s Moriah Luetjen is still just a freshman, but she ran the race of her life on Monday to earn her first state title at the MIAA Division 4 Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Already a medalist in the 200-meter dash, where she placed third with a 25.73 on Thursday, Luetjen blew by her opponents in the final heat of the 400-meter dash in what her coach Christopher Gould called a “breakthrough” performance. Luetjen crossed the line with a time of 58.06, a full 2.82 seconds faster than her seed time; she was ranked fifth heading into the event. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Amherst Homeless Shelter Pioneer Kevin Noonan Steps Down by Scott Merzbach (5/25/22). A resident who twice has overseen sheltering efforts for homeless people in the community, including pioneering work when Amherst in 2009 offered its first site for people to keep warm and safe during the cold weather months, is again departing from the position. Kevin Noonan recently resigned as executive director of Craig’s Doors: A Home Association Inc., a role he returned to in the fall of 2019 after the previous leadership team stepped down. Also leaving the agency at this time are Denise Barberet, administrator and assistant executive director, and Jeremiah Blankenbaker, who had served as director of operations. Gerry Weiss, president of the Craig’s Doors board, said the decision was based on wanting to have new leadership moving forward, and that advertising will soon seek a new executive director. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Commentary: A Privilege Keeping The Doors Open by Kevin Noonan (5/26/22). On two separate occasions I’ve been honored to serve as the executive director of Craig’s Doors — A Home Association, Inc. My time with the agency came to a close this past week and I offer this reflection. Craig’s Doors provides shelter and services to people who are unhoused. In 2011, when we started this new nonprofit organization, we named it after a gentle man who had been homeless. Craig D. Lorraine, a Navy veteran, spent his days playing the marimba on the streets of Northampton. After a particularly exhausting day, Craig once shared that he just wished he had a “door.” Sadly Craig died, at the age of 45, before he ever got one. Over the years, Craig’s Doors has become the premiere agency sheltering individual adults who are homeless in eastern Hampshire County. Each winter, along with dedicated staff and volunteers, Craig’s Doors helps people to survive the unforgiving northeast winds and freezing temperatures. (Amherst Bulletin)

Requests To Defund Amherst Police Heard At Budget Hearings by Dylan Corey (5/24/22). The remainder of public comment centered around support for the community service recommendations by the Community Safety Working Group (CSWG). Amherst residents and students demanded that the council focus on cutting the Amherst Police Department’s (APD) budget and using the funding for racial and environmental reparative programs. “I’m here today to urge the council to meet the demands of the Defund413 Amherst, which involve cutting the APD budget by 47 percent, funding and implementing the CSWG’s recommended programs, and reducing the size of the APD,” said Amherst College senior Andrea Munoz Ledo. “The reallocation of these funds will allow for better public services that center racial and environmental justice and that will actually serve the community’s needs. The point is not to negate the positive experiences that people have had with the APD, the point is to address the negative, problematic and often traumatizing experiences that a large amount of people, notably people of color have had.” (The Reminder)

Amherst Rallies For Reproductive Rights by Rebecca Pereira (5/16/22). over 50 Amherst protestors, among them parents and children, college students, and grandparents who can recall firsthand fighting to codify abortion rights in their youth, marched from UMass to downtown Amherst echoing the same chant that has reverberated across the country for weeks — “we will not go back.” Often handing her decaled bullhorn to her son, who, standing tall at three-and-a-half feet, strained to agitate the crowd as it marched the length of North and South Pleasant streets, Tiara Alanna Cooper led and organized the Rally for Reproductive Rights, a demonstration that wore many shades of activism but settled on indignation over despondency. (The Shoestring)

Across Massachusetts Shrouded Corporations Are Scooping Up Single Family Homes by Jenifer B. McKim (5/16/22). Christine Thompson lived in a cozy three-bedroom, single-family house on a quiet residential street in Springfield for more than 50 years. But in January, the 72-year-old widow was forced to move out after the unexpected death of her husband left her in financial ruin, leading to a foreclosure auction. Now the house is owned by a limited liability company called Ruby Realty, LLC, whose owners manage hundreds of rental units in western Massachusetts. Thompson lives about 20 miles away in a rental unit, still hurt over how she was treated by new owners.“I know people are out to make money. I understand that,” she told GBH News. “The worst thing was how I felt and how I was treated. We are human.” (GBH News)

Hadley Town Meeting Adopts Ban On Single Use Plastic Bags by Scott Merzbach (5/6/22). Hadley is joining several of its neighboring communities in prohibiting businesses from using single-use plastic bags, foam containers and plastic straws. By a majority vote at Thursday’s annual Town Meeting, and after about 30 minutes of discussion, residents adopted the plastic reduction bylaw, to go into effect Jan. 1, 2023, that is similar to ones in place in Amherst, Northampton, Easthampton and South Hadley.“Communities all over the United States and all over the world are speaking up to say we want a sustainable world, we don’t want oceans to be filled with toxic chemicals, we don’t want our food to be filled with toxic chemicals,” said Erika Hollister of Middle Street. “For us to be able to say to all those fast-food restaurants on Route 9 please help us to improve the situation, I think it’s a good thing.” (Daily Hampshire Gazette)