Granby01033

I was pulling for Mike Kent (GHS '81) to become Amherst's Chief of Police. I had nothing against Scott Livingstone (GHS '77),  another Granby High School graduate, but Mike and I went to school together. We even played a season of junior varsity baseball together.  Mike's a class act. My guess is that Livingstone is too. [...] Read more »

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Last Monday, the selectboard voted to put the fine for a marijuana citation into the D.A.R.E. Program, which, among other things, funds a mammoth basketball and cheerleading camp in July and Granby's K-9 unit.
GRANBY - The town will direct any $100 fines levied for possession of small amounts of marijuana to its Drug Abuse Resistance [...] Read more »

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Mike Kent (GHS '81) was appointed to the position of interm Chief of Police in Amherst. He fills in for the recently retired, long-time Amherst police chief Charles Scherpa, husband of retired Granby High School English teacher Cathy Scherpa.
Mike has served on the Amherst Police Department since 1981. He has held the rank of captain [...] Read more »

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Sheriff Joe Arpaio's a great guy. The Springfield native hates immigrants and likes neo-Nazi's.  Of course, he's popular. This blogger for the Phoenix New Times has the goodies, along with video. So do the White Supremacists that love him.
--Mb   Read more »

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Credit Governor Deval Patrick for doing something about cost-cutting on the use of civilian flaggers on road projects. Call it a first step if you like, but a first step doesn't count for much when you're going nowhere.
The use of state police on road projects can certainly be maddening,  but I never believed the Governor's claims of how much using civilian flaggers would save. After [...] Read more »

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From the Granby Police Department Blog:

At approximately 1:58 AM , a Tractor Trailer truck driven by Joseph S. Lemire of Columbia Ct. struck the Historic Aldrich Mill on Aldrich Street. The truck was attempting to deliver a load of sod to the Orchards when the driver took a wrong turn.
The  top the the Trailer unit, [...] Read more »

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The Granby Police Department has received grants for increased traffic patrols and preventing underage drinkers from obtaining alcohol from Granby package stores.
The DHG reports:

According to Lt. Alan Wishart, over the next few weeks the department will use grant funding from the Massachusetts Highway Safety Division to increase patrols focused on ensuring that motorists are wearing [...] Read more »

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Sheriff Joe Arpaio has his fans. Most bullies do. At least when they're funny. Some think he's effective, but his better known antics, which include making prisoners wear pink underwear, look more like showboating than justice.
He's used his authority to abuse and intimidate the press in Maricopa County, AZ, and now he's being investigated for his treatment [...] Read more »

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Amherst Police Chief Charles Scherpa is the husband of long-time Granby English teacher Cathy Scherpa. She retired some years ago and will now have some company at home.
Although the Amherst Selectboard is in the process of establishing a search committee for the next chief, and though I haven't heard anything so far,  Captain Michael Kent (GHS '81) could [...] Read more »

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Fans of bad television (like me) watch those shows where spectacular accidents happen. There are least a few episodes showing police officers getting clipped by passing cars or some drunk driver plowing into their car, in spite of lights flashing, during a traffic stop.
A new Massachusetts law aims to protect police and a drivers that [...] Read more »

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Although I suspect State Trooper Jonathan Bray will not face charge for yanking Trina Davis from her car and spraying her with capiscin, I think his behavior was over-the-top. Unfortunately, some cops are like that. There's an us versus them attitude that can be infectuous, particularly among state cops, that doesn't always lead to sensitivity to [...] Read more »

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If a state trooper pulled my wife over on her way to excercise class and she ended up face down on the pavement dosed multiple times with pepper spray, I'd be out for blood.  Of course, my wife  is blonde haired, blue-eyed, and 5' 2".  Aside from perhaps some emotional issues that might have complicated this very routine traffic stop, [...] Read more »

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The last I checked, it was almost impossible to sue the government. I don't know if Bob and Carol Ward have discovered new grounds for doing so. I posted on this story previously here.  Sandra Constantine filed a story yesterday in the Springfield Republican. Here it is: 
The complaint also states that at the outset of [...] Read more »

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 Every time I hear a Granby citizen complain that we don't receive enough grants, I think of the Granby Police Department, which has consistently applied for and received them.
I don't know if the video works, but the link is there.
From WWLP (Channel 22, for you young folks): Read more »

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When Granby resident Attorney Robert Ward and his wife Carol left for vacation in 2005, they left their house in the hands of house sitter, former client, and brother of a neighbor, George Murphy.
Murphy, a recovering alcoholic and Gulf War veteran had spent time in the VA Hospital in Leeds. Unfortunately, he started drinking, became suicidal, and told his estranged [...] Read more »

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The Republican's article on the police contract confused the hourly wage with salary.
Here's the real deal:
Part-time police officers earn $16.58 an hour.
Full-time officers start at $19.12 an hour. Their maximum is $21.85. The maximum salary for a full-time patrolman is  $45,488 a year, not including over time.
Sargeants are on a step schedule. The first step is [...] Read more »

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No one likes wasting money. Critics say that paying police details is a waste of money. According to the New York Times. At issue are the police officers who make "sometimes as much as $40 an hour, meaning that some earn $15,000 to $40,000 a year beyond their salaries."

Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen said there would [...] Read more »

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Schools can be a dangerous place. My cousin's husband Connecticut State Trooper John Holston found this out the hard way. John was working as a School Resource Officer (SRO) at the Regional High School for Hebron, Andover, and Marlborough when a fight escalated into a brawl between 9 students. The minor injuries he sustained turned out [...] Read more »

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On my way to work one winter morning, I stopped for coffee at the O'Connell's on the corner of Burnett Road and West Street in Ludlow. A state cop was picking up some coffee and reading material. He was headed out to a construction site. He would be spending the next several hours in his [...] Read more »

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