Archive | March, 2012
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‘A BEAUTIFUL WORK OF PEACE’ — MLB HAS LOST ITS ALLURE, THOUGH IN THE MIND’S EYE, THE GAME CAN NEVER DIE

By DAN VALENTI Planet Valenti News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012) — Someone told us they opened the Major League baseball season in Japan the other night. It came as news. We don’t follow MLB any more. That admission surprises many people, even to this day. There are still a segment […]

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CITY ATTORNEY LEANS ON SUPT. APPLICANT, FORCES HER TO WITHDRAW APPLICATION … DUPERE ACTION RAISES BIG QUESTIONS OF LEGITIMACY … plus … MORE ON TRAYVON MARTIN CASE — DID A HOODIE HELP GET HIM KILLED?

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2012) — While we can’t say for sure who will be the next superintendent of schools in Pittsfield, we can say definitively that Christine Canning will not be the Chosen One. THE PLANET has learned that Canning, author of the highly […]

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GLAD WE DIDN’T TAKE PART IN TRAYVON HOODIE PROTEST … NILAN-MOORE RUMBLINGS … NUCIFORO SLAMS NEAL’S PAYMENTS TO SON …

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012) — We’re not sorry we haven’t fallen for the Trayvon Martin overreaction. The teenager lost his life, prematurely, and for that we are sorry. We will not, however, join the mindless herd in wanting to turn this unfortunate boy into […]

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YOU DON’T KNOW ME … WE PLAY A CHARACTER CALLED ‘DAN VALENTI,’ AND HE IS BUT THE WHITE WALLS OF A REBELLIOUS HEART … SCHOOL COMMITTEE TO ACCEPT ‘LATE APPLICATION’ or ‘UH-OH,’ FOLKS, ‘HERE IT COMES’ … ALF BARBALUNGA ANSWERS THREE QUESTIONS

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012) — Every so often, THE PLANET receives an invitation as a local celebrity to sit in judgment of some contest, drive a bus as a promo stunt, flip pancakes, that sort of thing. Each time, we have to stop, take […]

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THE ‘SAGA OF HANK HAZLEWOOD’ or HOW THE GASBAG WORDS OF THE PITTSFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOLS ON BULLYING DON’T AMOUNT TO SQUAT … YOU WON’T BELIEVE THE LENGTHS TO WHICH THE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION FAILED HANK, HIS MOM, AND TAXPAYERS

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2012) — Schools, bullying, an unresponsive school department, and a determined mom: How’s that for today’s menu and that of the weekend, in which the Orange advance to the Elite Eight. SCHOOLS: A TALE OF BULLYING THAT AMPLIFIES THE SERIOUS JOKE […]

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PARKS COMMISSION IN (CHEESY) ACTION: IT MAKES YOU WANT TO TAKE A SHOWER … RAMSDELL IDENTIFIES WHAT WAS MISSING FROM ROOM 203 TUESDAY NIGHT … PLUS, THE PLANET GIVES FAIR WARNINGS TO ALL CITY COUNCILS, BOARDS, COMMISSIONS, and COMMITTEES — WE THE PEOPLE ARE WATCHING, AND THE PLANET WILL BE NAMING NAMES

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2012) — Yesterday, THE PLANET got a gander at one of the many boards and commissions that serve WE THE PEOPLE in the oft-slovenly but necessary business of city government, in this case, the Pittsfield Parks Commission. We had attended, along […]

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NILAN-MOORE PRETRIAL HEARING POSTPONED TO MAY 2 … PARKS COMMISSION GETS SMART, APPROVES RAMDELL ‘TOBY II’ DOG WALK PERMIT, 5-0 … VOTE INCLUDES THE TAINTED COMMISSIONER, MR. NILAN … PLANET ATTENDS, JUST TO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING WAS DONE NICE AND PROPER … plus … THE PERMITTING PROCESS IN PITTSFIELD: A KAFKA-ESQUE NIGHTMARE

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary PRE-TRIAL CONFERENCE IN NILAN-MOORE CASE POSTPONED TO MAY 2 (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2012) — We were all set to post today’s entry on THE PLANET when we learned that the Nilan-Moore Case pretrial conference, originally slated today in District Court, was postponed to 9 […]

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THE WONDER OF DOGS … TOBY II HEARING TONIGHT @ 7 p.m. … PRETRIAL HEARING IN NILAN-MOORE CASE SET FOR TOMORROW (OR IS IT?) … THE LEGAL DEFINITION: WHAT IS A PRE-TRIAL HEARING (YOU WILL BE SURPRISED)

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2012) — Having made it through the non-existent “winter,” we can now move to the pursuits of spring, when young men’s fancies turn to dog walks. WE BELIEVE IN DOG The Berkshires’ own Josh Billings put it best: “A dog is […]

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NILAN-MOORE PRETRIAL HEARING SET FOR WEDNESDAY … TOBY II: KEN RAMSDELL, ON BEHALF OF EVERY DECENT, LAW-ABIDING, TAX-PAYING, HONEST PERSON IN PITTSFIELD STANDS TALL BEFORE PARKS COMMISSION TOMORROW NIGHT … COMMISSIONERS TO HOLD HEARING ON TOBY II DOG WALK … YOUR ATTENDANCE IS REQUESTED IN SHOW OF SUPPORT … PLANET WILL BE COVERING

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary ADD 1 MARCH 19, 2012, LATER IN THE DAY * BRIDGE UPDATE — We add this item from the Parks Commission agenda tomorrow night (see main post, below), for those who contacted us today: An update on the Lakeway Drive temporary bridge will be presented. It’s item […]

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!!BULLETIN!! SOURCES — ELM STREET ROBBER CAUGHT …PITTSFIELD SCHOOLS’ HANDBOOK FOR PARENTS, STUDENTS: LIES WRITTEN BY LIARS … IN LENOX, THEIR SCHOOL MOB BOSS WANTS A SPENDING HIKE OF 8.1% … MR. MITT CONTINUES INEVITABLE TRAIPSE TO VICTORY

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary ADD 1 (MARCH 17, 2012, 2:20 p.m.) SOURCES: ELM STREET ROBBER CAUGHT We break into our regular weekened coverage to report that, according to sources, the woman wanted for a string of robberies in the Elm Street area was arrested and charged this afternoon in Pittsfield. Police […]

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KINNAS: ‘The Taxpayers Lost Big Time Last Night’ — SCHOOL BOARD KNIFEs PETITION TO HALT SUPT. SEARCH … WE HAVE STARTED OUR OWN NEWS’PAPER’ … GROWING NUMBER OF RESTAURANTS, AIRLINES, THEATERS, CINEMAS, ETC. WANT TO BAN THE BRATS — THE PLANET HAS ALL THAT AND MORE

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2012) —   “The taxpayers lost big time last night.” That’s how school committeeman Terry Kinnas characterized the action of his colleagues last night in a 5-1 shooting down of his petition to halt the search for a new superintendent until the […]

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NUCIFORO POURS ON THE COAL IN ANSWERING NEAL ATTACKS … SCHOOL BOARD: TRANSPARENCY TAKES A POWDER, and, CLOSE VOTE SEEN IN KINNAS PETITION … ‘BORROWED BUT UNEXPENDED FUNDS’ RAISES $$ QUESTIONS … COUNCIL APPROVES FERRIN APPOINTMENT, 7-4 … plus … SANTORUM WIN IN DEEP SOUTH WON’T STOP MR. MITT

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary —–00—– (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2012) — Congressional candidate Andrea Nuciforo came out swinging in response to the hatchet job launched against him in a double-barreled shotgun story published on page one Sunday in the Boring Broadsheet. In an e-mail sent to THE PLANET, Nuciforo […]

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MITT HAS OLD Mo’ AND ELECTORAL MATH ON HIS SIDE … BB SINKS TO NEW LOW WITH HATCHET JOB ON NUCIFORO … MAYOR WANTS COUNCIL TO STICK TAXPAYERS WITH GROSSMAN’S DEMOLITION BILL … plus … BEEPERS WILL MEET-‘n-GREET IN LIQUOR STORE!

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012) — There’s an old saying in politics that we just made up: “As Guam goes, so goes the nation.” This bodes well for Mitt Romney, candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. He won an overwhelming victory in Guam. He also […]

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FOR SALE: LONGER BLANKETS … KINNAS ACTS TO HALT PREMATURE SCHOOL SUPT. SEARCH … HOW DIFFICULT CAN IT BE FOR NO SHOW TO SUPPLY A SIMPLE 8-TRACK TO THE POLICE? … PEDA BOARD MEMBER ADMITS HIS CREW IS USELESS AND TOOTHLESS …

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary ——————————————————– FOR SALE: LONGER BLANKETS (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2012) — Having sprung forward into Daylight Savings Time, we still laugh at the concept. By changing the way our human instruments measure the cosmos, we pretend the world has adjusted to us rather than the […]

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THE PAPER CHASE — IS SPERANZO ‘STONEWALLING’ THE POLICE REQUEST TO BYRNES HEARING TAPE? … AND HAS THE AUDIO RECORDING OF THE BYRNES HEARING ALSO MAGICALLY DISAPPEARED? … RUSH TO JUDGMENT: VOX DECISION TO PULL LIMBAUGH MADE LOCALLY; WBEC DISSES A LOT OF LOYAL LISTENERS … plus … RUSH II — FLUKE’s TESTIMONY WAS NOT BEFORE CONGRESS; IT WAS ONLY STAGED TO LOOK THAT WAY

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 2012) — In the Nilan Moore Case, as most are familiar with, Team Nilan made what on the surface appears to be an incredulous claim at her arraignment. Barrister Tim Shugrue claimed that because key documents have gone missing, the case should be […]

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CHUCK GARIVALTIS, MEET JIMMY BROWN: THE PHOTO … PLANET PRESENTS CONOR BERRY’S EXCLUSIVE UPDATE ON NILAN-MOORE CASE … plus … WE HEAR FROM SUSAN MOORE, WHO SLAPS BACK AN IDIOT

By DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2012) — First, we brings you the great photo mentioned in a lively exchange of comments about Jim Brown, the greatest running back in NFL history, and Chuck Garivaltis, one of the greatest athletes to ever come out of Berkshire County. […]

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