From Other Sources: News For And About Amherst: Local News Roundup For October, 2022

Special Halloween Edition.

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, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, 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.

This week, our roundup of local stories that we were unable to cover in The Indy is preceded by a few stories about the upcoming Halloween holiday.

Halloween Stories
Twenty Ways To Fete A Plastic-free Halloween by Katie O’Reilly (10/27/21). Want to hear the spookiest true tale we’ve heard recently? Plastics are on track to contribute more climate-change-causing emissions (to the tune of at least 232 million tons of greenhouse gases annually) than coal plants by 2030, according to a new report out of Bennington College. The reason? As fossil fuel companies seek to recoup falling profits, they’re increasing plastics production. The stats left me feeling less than festive this Halloween. My all-time favorite holiday has become a plastic pollution nightmare. Research from Hubbub, a UK-based charity, found that an estimated 2,000 tons of plastic waste—the equivalent of 83 million plastic bottles—gets generated from “disposable” Halloween costumes in a single year. It isn’t hard to discern the problem—most of the costumes, candy wrappers, decorations, and party favors are made from petroleum-based plastics. All Hallows Eve can be all the more awesome without plastic. Take Random Acts of Green, a Canadian social enterprise that for the past six years has hosted a HallowGreen Challenge that encourages classrooms, businesses, and offices to take on challenges like “Bring an item back from the dead. Repair it” and “Bare Bones: Buy fruits and veggies without plastic.” Here are tips for how to have a plastic-free Halloween that is not only easier on the environment but also easier on your pocketbook. (Sierra)

A Brief History of Halloween by Amanda Pagan (10/26/18). All Hallows’ Eve, or Halloween as it is commonly referred to, is a global celebration on October 31. It developed from the ancient Celtic ritual of Samhain, which was, in the simplest terms, a festival celebrating the changing of the seasons from light to dark (summer to winter). This would usually take place around November 1. Traditionally, a bonfire would be lit, sweets would be prepared, and costumes would be worn to ward off evil spirits as the ancient Celts believed that, at this time of year, the veil separating the worlds of the living and the dead was at its thinnest. Early Christian officials tried to impose their own holiday in an effort to stop their converts from practicing non-Christian festivals. Pope Gregory III deemed November 1, All Saints’ Day, a celebration of Christian martyrs and saints, and November 2 became All Souls Day, a day for remembering the souls of the dead. All Saints’ Day later became known as All Hallows’ Day, and the previous day, October 31, became known as All Hallows’ Eve, then later, Halloween. Despite the best efforts of the church, people still continued to celebrate Halloween with traditional bonfires, costumes, treats, and a focus on spirits of the dead. (New York Public Library)

How Halloween Has Traveled The Globe by Amber Dance (10/26/18). Whether trick-or-treating in the United States or costume play celebrations in Japan, Allhallows Eve has taken many forms as its traditions travel the world. (Sapiens)

Tips For A Safe Halloween by The Town of Amherst (10/29/22).  

General Safety Tips:

• Carry glowsticks or flashlights to be visible. Wearing reflective outerwear can also be helpful if out after dark.
• Wear a mask that allows you to see and a costume that doesn’t create a tripping hazard.
• If driving, stay alert for children and others in the streets.
• To prevent choking, don’t allow children under five to have hard candies.
• Ensure that all candies are wrapped and that packaging is intact.

(The Amherst Indy)

Amherst News
UMass Student Hit By Car At Same Site Of Fatal Spring Crash by Will Katcher (10/21/22). For the third time this year, a University of Massachusetts Amherst student was struck by a car while crossing the same stretch of road near the campus core, school officials said. The student survived the collision near the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Sunset Avenue last Thursday, the spot where a 20-year-old student was hit in March, and not far from where a freshman was killed by a car in February, a UMass spokesperson said. The university spent this summer adding elevated crosswalks, improving signage and upgrading other safety features on Massachusetts Avenue and similarly well-trafficked campus roads after the two spring semester crashes. UMass spokesperson Ed Blaguszewski said by email Thursday that further study of pedestrian safety and planning for additional roadway improvements is ongoing. (MassLive)

Amherst Town Officials, School Superintendent, Near Agreement On CRESS Role In Schools by Scott Merzbach (10/21/22). Unarmed community responders will have a role in promoting conflict resolution at the Amherst’s public schools, but any responses to school buildings and events from the town’s new public safety team will be guided by terms of a memorandum of understanding. Members of the Amherst School Committee on Tuesday gave supportive comments to the draft deal that is expected to be signed by Superintendent Michael Morris, Town Manager Paul Bockelman and Earl Miller, the director of the Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service, or CRESS, program.
(Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Amherst Family Warns Of Near Death Experience After Eating Toxic Mushrooms by Amanda Bang (10/20/22). A Massachusetts family that survived a near-death experience after foraging mushrooms is sharing their story in hopes of preventing others from making the same mistake.  Kam Look and her son, Kai Chen, of Amherst, foraged mushrooms outside a few weeks ago to cook with as part of their dinner. Look and Chen, originally from Malaysia, foraged mushrooms that were very similar to those they safely consumed in Malaysia. The two became ill and went to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton. They were later sent to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester because of their severe condition, according to the press release. Both were suffering from life-threatening liver damage, which has a death rate of 30% to 50%, the hospital said. A new special investigational drug, Legalon, was flown from Philadelphia at the request of toxicology expert Dr. Stephanie Carreiro, as no other therapies were available. (WCVB)

Bringing It All Home: Umass Graduate Col. Jason Fettig Will Lead The U.S. Marine Band In A Performance At The University by Steve Pfarrer (10/20/22). When Jason Fettig received his degree in music from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the spring of 1997, he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do. Graduate school was one possibility and teaching was another, but his future was not yet clear. Almost as “a little bit of an accident,” Fettig says, he ended up auditioning for a spot in the U.S. Marine Band, nicknamed “The President’s Own” — and 25 years later, Fettig now directs the acclaimed ensemble and has the rank of colonel. And on Oct. 22, Fettig returns to his alma mater to conduct the Marine Band, currently on tour in the Northeast, in a 7:30 p.m. performance at Frederick C. Tillis Performance Hall, a concert that is free and open to the public. The band, the country’s oldest continuously active professional musical organization, last performed at UMass in 2017. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

UMass Dissenters Fight Against University’s Connection To The Defense Industry by Izzy D’Amico (10/20/22). UMass Dissenters is a student-led anti-militarism movement at the University of Massachusetts. They appeared on campus at the start of the fall 2022 semester and have been holding weekly meetings in Machmer Hall since the end of September. Their goal is to pressure UMass to “divest in war, reinvest in life and repair relationships with communities most affected by war.” The group functions as a chapter for the national Dissenters organization. According to their website, “Dissenters is leading a new generation of young people to reclaim our resources from the war industry, reinvest in life-giving services, and repair collaborative relationships with the earth and people around the world.” On their social media pages, UMass Dissenters state that UMass “fuels war” and “invests in death.” A common criticism made by the group is the University’s partnership with Raytheon Technologies, an American company that produces aerospace and defense technology. In April 2022, the company was awarded a $500 million contract to develop new combat ships for the U.S. Navy and modernize pre-existing naval systems. (Massachusetts Daily Collegian)

UMass Houses Students In A Local Hotel To Combat Over Enrollment by Corinne Arel, Olivia Capriotti, and Mia Vittimberga (10/20/22). On Aug. 7, 2022, University of Massachusetts notified 117 transfer undergraduate students, along with three resident assistants, via email that they would be housed in the Econo Lodge hotel located in Hadley instead of on campus. The email came one day prior to housing assignments in order to inform students of what the hotel move-in process would look like. UMass also held two info sessions over Zoom on Aug. 8 to further explain the details sent in the email. UMass admitted hundreds more first-year students than anticipated, resulting in a lack of on-campus housing. In an effort to create more beds, UMass utilized economy triples and quad designed rooms. They eliminated COVID-19 isolation housing, giving them 200 extra beds. Additionally, office spaces were converted to dorms creating 60 additional beds.Despite these efforts, the University was still short on housing for its students. UMass chose to keep all first-year students on campus, making what is traditionally transfer housing in McNamara Hall available for freshmen students. However, this left transfer students with less on-campus housing options. (Massachusetts Daily Collegian)

$180k State Grant Caps Capital Campaign For Amherst’s Drake Venue by Scott Merzbach (10/19/22). A capital campaign for the build-out of downtown Amherst’s first live performance venue, which opened last spring, is coming to a close after the Drake and the Downtown Amherst Foundation this week received a $180,000 state Cultural Facilities Fund grant. The Drake, located on North Pleasant Street, was the recipient of one of three Cultural Facilities Fund grants awarded in western Massachusetts, all in Hampshire County, by MassDevelopment and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Two Amherst Restaurants Rating As Among New England’s Best By Yelp  by Will Katcher (10/19/22). For the owners of two Amherst restaurants, Pita Pockets and Lili’s, seeing their businesses on Yelp’s annual list of the best restaurants in New England was a welcome surprise. It was less of a shock for their customers. Both Pita Pockets and Lili’s Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant serving the cuisine of the county’s Xi’an region, earned top marks from Yelp — the restaurant review website that last week released its 2022 list of the top 100 restaurants in New England. Lili’s, on North Pleasant Street in Amherst Center, placed at number 12. Pita Pockets, about two blocks up the road, was 54th. (MassLive)

Data And Statistics Covered In Amherst Regional Public Schools Meeting by Rory Liddy (10/18/22). After a year of starting school earlier, the Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee discussed the results of a survey sent out to parents, students and staff about the survey during their Oct. 11 meeting. The survey was compiled by Margo Pedersen, a town intern from Amherst College. The new start times were 9 a.m. for Amherst Regional High School (ARHS)and Amherst Regional Middle School (ARMS), and 8:10 a.m. for elementary schoolers. According to the survey, over 50 percent of students, families and staff experienced the change as “net positive.” Students’ mental and physical health improved, while the scheduling shift helped many working parents better balance their home life with their job. 47 percent of students reported always getting enough sleep on school nights, and another 30 percent reported getting enough “sometimes.” 70 percent of staff agree that students are more alert during their first two periods of the day. (The Amherst Reminder)

North Amherst Co-housing Community Dumps Pioneers Valley Name by Scott Merzbach (10/16/22). A cohousing community in North Amherst is changing its name, shedding the use of a term that many who live there contend emphasizes European settlers at the expense of the Indigenous people who earlier made their homes in the region. At a meeting Tuesday at the Pulpit Hill Road site, members of the property that has been called Pioneer Valley Cohousing agreed to rename it Cherry Hill Cohousing, the name by which the site has already been known in many official documents. Audrey Child, who has lived at the cohousing for 28 years, said the decision follows more than a year of discussions, with resident Andrew Grant being the lead proponent by bringing up concerns about disrespect for Indigenous people and connotations of the use of the term “pioneer” about who the land belongs to. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Front Of Former Judie’s Restaurant Demolished With Oyster Bar On The Way by Scott Merzbach (10/11/22). Demolition of much of the facade at the former Judie’s Restaurant in recent days may have startled some passing by the downtown location, but the work is about bringing a new tenant to the location, according to a representative for the property owner. As Archipelago Investments converts the 51 North Pleasant St. eatery to the Amherst Oyster Bar, much of what has faced the street and sidewalk since a 2007 remodeling has been torn down. Dylan Barstow Manz, an Archipelago representative, explained that the sunroom portion of the building was compromised, and that water damage was discovered while gutting the interior. The sunroom and ramp leading to the main entrance have been removed. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Amherst’s Elementary School Building Project Enters Schematic Design Phase by Rort Liddy (10/4/22). After a late-August vote by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) approving its spatial allotment, the new Fort River Elementary School project has entered schematic design phase. New design features will include greater environmental sustainability, better educational practices and mental health benefits for students and faculty alike. Of Amherst’s three elementary schools, the Fort River and Wildwood schools are the oldest, both built in the 1970s by the same designer. They are virtually identical inside and out. Town Councilor and Chair of the Elementary School Building Committee Cathy Schoen said that at the time of their conception, the schools were not built with regard for energy costs, sustainability, mental health, or special education facilities.  Schoen described a wide variety of design flaws as the impetus for replacement. There is a dearth of natural light throughout the building; the library and the gym have no windows and many of the classrooms and corridors are dark because of insufficient windows. The lack of proper air circulation makes certain areas hard and costly to heat, while other areas hard to cool. (The Amherst Reminder)

Flagship Campus Warms To Brutalist Style, Awarded Moderinism in America Award by Scott Merzbach (9/12/22). An ongoing campaign to offer appreciation for Brutalist architecture on the Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts, including 1970s-era buildings such as the Randolph W. Bromery Center for the Arts and the Murray D. Lincoln Campus Center, is garnering national recognition. Docomomo US on Monday announced that UMassBRUT, which has promoted the architectural form on both the Amherst and Dartmouth campuses, is one of 12 projects across the country receiving a Modernism in America Award. “The UMassBRUT campaign stood out in the Inventory/Survey category for its all-hands-on-deck approach to rallying large educational institutions around better stewardship of their modern resources,” wrote the nonprofit organization, whose name is derived from its mission of documentation and conservation of buildings, sites and neighborhoods of what is known as the Modern Movement. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

Other Interesting Stuff
Price Tag For Cooley Dickinson’s ER Expansion Jumps by Brian Steele (10/19/22). The cost of expanding, renovating and reconfiguring Cooley Dickinson Hospital’s emergency department has climbed nearly 25% since last year, leaving boosters to shore up funding ahead of a planned groundbreaking in the spring, while the existing space is seeing historic numbers of patients. As with other significant projects in the region, including the Jones Library expansion in Amherst, costs have risen over initial estimates because of inflation and COVID-related disruptions in supply chains, Cooley’s senior development officer Jenn Margolis said. The number of patients visiting the emergency department today is more than double than when it opened in 1975. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

PVTA Gets $67.5 Million Jolt In Federal, State Funding For Electric Buses, Chargers And Workforce Training by Jim Kinney 10/18/22. The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority will add four new electric buses to its fleet of 12 and add 20 new and faster plug-in chargers at its operations and maintenance center which only has six smaller devices now thanks to $67.5 million in state and federal funding announced Tuesday. “We want our entire fleet to be electric,” said Sandra E. Sheehan, administrator of the regional transit authority. The buses will be ordered in the spring. Once they arrive, 12.5% of the PVTA fleet will be electric, 16 buses out of 129, Sheehan said. Of the $67.5 million, $54 million is from a Federal Transit Authority Grant through its Low- and No-Emission and Bus-Facilities Grant programs. The rest is a state match, Sheehan said. (MassLive)