Saturday, September 19, 2009

To serve and protect



Even a wounded bird of prey. This unhappy critter slowed traffic to a crawl on Rt 116 about a quarter-mile south of town center for over an hour this afternoon. When Environmental Police showed up to bag him he took flight.

6 comments:

Mary E.Carey said...

Good reporting, Larry. You're working overtime lately.

Larry Kelley said...

Thanks Mary,
It was on my normal bike route. although I did use my Mountain Bike rather than road bike and that bike lacks a carry along fanny pack, so I did not have my camera.

But I zipped home (only a half-mile all downhill and then back, which of course was all uphill)

I tried to interview the bird but... no luck.

Anonymous said...

I bet if the Environmental Police were volunteer they would have been able to respond faster....

Larry Kelley said...

Amherst PD responded instantly and stayed with the bird until the Environmental officer arrived.

Kristi Bodin said...

And it's important to protect the hawks and such because they keep the pigeon population in check which in turn keeps the guano levels in the Town Hall attic from getting too bad and releasing toxic fumes in the air...though I suppose there might be some toxic fumes emitted from Town Hall even without the pigeons.

Larry Kelley said...

God how I wish I had my blog back then.

I had gotten the "air quality study" under Public Documents Law (the town paid $10,000 for) and it turned out the BEST quality air was in the attic because it was so hot and dry (in spite of the poop on the floor which apparently does not go airborne).

But Barry Del Castilho was determined not to let Dave Keenan clean it up for free (one of the few time I think volunteers are fine) so the town spent another $45,000 to have men in spacesuits come clean it up.

Barry of course went on to marry his then secretary who posed on the front page of the Amherst Bulletin wearing a surgical mask in his office.

Like Amherst Town Meeting, I could not make this up!