(4/9/07) Here's a collection of bits and pieces of news and information for the second week of April.
All the Rage: Ruth Hooke was featured in the main news photo on the Boston.com home page last Tuesday, headlining this story about the Raging Grannies' court appearance for trespassing. The photo, alas, is not included with the article, which is annoyingly common on that site.
Farmers' Forum: The Amherst Agricultural Commission will hold a Farmers' Forum on Tuesday evening, April 10th to address how the commission can best meet the needs of local farmers. There will also be discussion of issues including farm productivity, grant availability, web-based marketing and agricultural preservation. The Forum takes place at the Hitchcock Center (525 South Pleasant Street) and begins with dinner at 6:30 p.m., followed by the program at 7:00 p.m. For more information, call the Amherst Conservation Department at 259-3045.
A Bushie Among Us: Former White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card, Jr. will give a talk titled The American Political Landscape: Looking Towards 2008, on Wednesday, April 11th at 11:00 a.m. in the UMass Student Union Ball Room. The event is free and open to the public, and kicks off the new Talking Politics lecture series, sponsored by the UMass Civic Initiative. Card, a Holbrook native, was President George W. Bush's first Chief of Staff, serving from 2001 to 2006.
Other Great Talks: More fascinating local lectures this week include: Gale McClung reading from At War and At Home: One Family's World War II Correspondence, which she and her husband Robert M. McClung edited, Tuesday, April 10th at 7:00 p.m. at the Jones Library's Special Collections; Amos Brandeis, Manager and Chief Planner of the Alexander River Restoration Project – a collaboration between Israelis and Palestinians – on Wednesday, April 11th at 4:30 p.m. at Hampshire College's Franklin Patterson Hall; and Geoff Nunberg, linguist and National Public Radio commentator, discussing the origin and development of words and their relation to social and political concepts in a talk titled What Words Can Teach, Thursday, April 12th at 4:00 p.m. in room 65 of UMass' Bartlett Hall. All are free and open to the public.
Come back later: The Department of Public Works office will be closed on Friday morning, April 13th, for a training session. It will open that day at noon.
ID your Kid: Child Identification Day will be held Saturday, April 14th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Post Office on University Drive. Participants will receive free child identification kits, with the photo and fingerprints of each child, and a list of safety tips for parents to review with their kids. The event is conducted by the Amherst Police Department, in partnership with the Amherst Post Office and the Molly Bish Foundation. For more information e-mail Amherst Police Lieutenant Jennifer Gundersen, or call her at 259-3012, or call Lynda Cousineau at the University Drive Post Office at 549-0523.
Major League: Did you read the Gazette article last Thursday about Matsuzaka mania in the Valley? And the part about local lawyer Jim Masteralexis, who is sports agent for Tomo Ohka, Manny Delcarmen, and others? Amherst's interim Town Counsel also represents big leaguers! His services can't come cheap, but at least we're not paying Scott Boras.
Haz Mat Alert: Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day is Saturday, April 21st at the dump landfill transfer station. Pre-registration is required and to do so, you can print out and mail in this form. Completed forms are due by Wednesday, April 18th. For more information, call 259-3050, extension 0.
Run or Walk: The 14th Rafters' College Towne Classik Five Miler race/walk will be held Sunday April 29th, to benefit the Jimmy Fund and the Amherst Police Relief Association. Registration is required, and that form is available here. The entry fee is $18, or $20 if postmarked after April 18th. The first 400 registrants get free t-shirts. Check out the registration form for details on the Team Challenge, post-race barbecue, and free massages.
On the Map: Google Maps and Google Earth recently added Amherst's high-resolution aerial photography into their amazing mapping data, so you will now get the same great images there as you do on the Town's public GIS viewer. You can also use Google Earth to see cool three-dimensional renderings of downtown buildings, thanks to Mike Olkin and other really smart folks at Town Hall. You can take a little tour of our SimCity below by clicking the triangle "play" button in the lower left corner.
-- Stephanie O'Keeffe
