Amherst police captain, Hadley praised for curbing student drinking

By M. ELIZABETH ROMAN and SCOTT MERZBACH Staff Writers

Published on December 28, 2007

A bylaw approved in Hadley last year is credited with cutting unruly parties in the town.

And for creating the bylaw, Hadley's selectmen and Town Meeting are among the recipients of this year's Lamplighter awards, which honor efforts to combat dangerous drinking behavior in the Amherst area.

The awards are given by the Campus and Community Coalition to Reduce High Risk Drinking. The town of Hadley was awarded for its passage of bylaws to require licensing of kegs and prohibiting open containers on public ways.

Other recipients include: Amherst Police Capt. Michael Kent, a founding member of the coalition; the University of Massachusetts Advancement Communications office for its work on promoting the coalition through materials and a Web site; and UMass Transit Services, which has had social norms display ads posted inside buses that UMass students ride.

The awards were handed out Dec. 7 by interim UMass Chancellor Thomas Cole at the university's Marriot Center, said Martha Nelson Patrick, director of the Office of Community Relations at UMass and co chairwoman of the coalition.

The coalition, made up of representatives from UMass and surrounding communities, began its work in 2004 as an outgrowth of the Problem Solving Partnership.

The partnership started in the mid-1990s with a community policing grant received by Amherst police.

"We have worked in our larger coalition and in subcommittees to revise campus policies, encourage consistent enforcement, amend local bylaws, disseminate educational materials and get out social norms messages," Patrick said in a statement at the awards dinner.

Hadley change

The award to Hadley's selectmen and Town Meeting came following the passage of the new ordinances aimed at reducing underage drinking. Patrick said she has been told by Selectman Gerry Devine and Town Administrator David Nixon, both of whom serve on the coalition, that the new rules have caused a 50-percent decline in unruly parties.

Divine announced the award at the Hadley selectmen's meeting Wednesday. He said police broke up 12 parties this year, compared to 28 last year. Some of those parties drew more than 700 students.

Kent, a 26-year veteran of the Amherst police who is in charge of patrol operations, is a founding member of the group. Kent has worked locally and also made presentations at regional and national meetings on the subject, as well as guiding other law enforcement agencies in prevention efforts.

Last year, he and Sally Linowski, the other co-chairwoman of the coalition, spoke at the U.S. Department of Education's National Conference on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention,

The Advancement Communications office, under the leadership of Lisa Perlbinder, has provided the coalition with guidance, design and technical assistance in promoting its work.

Finally, transit services, represented on the coalition by Alan Byam and Diana Noble, has provided information about issues and trends in student drinking and displayed social norms messages "It's the Law 101 and 102" in buses students ride.

The next initiative the coalition will launch is what is being called a Retail Partners subcommittee that will work with local bars, taverns and liquor stores to establish and promote best practices in advertising, ID checks and service. This initiative will be completed in partnership with Sue Cairn from the Strategic Planning Initiative for Families and Youth.