Archive | March, 2011
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‘THANK GOD for the PLANET,” or IF WE DON’T DO THE JOB, THE BB NEVER GETS ITS LATEST COP CAPER, plus MORE on STEROIDSGATE and the LEADERSHIP OF CHIEF WYNN

BY DAN VALENTI (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MARCH 31, 2011) — “Thank God for The Planet.” So began an almost weepily grateful  note we received this morning in connection with Conor Berry’s story in the Boring Broadsheet today headlined, “Police seek attack reports.” We shall keep the flowery content of the note’s remainder unto ourselves. In […]

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COLONIALS BACK BIGGER AND BETTER @ BELOVED WAHCONAH PARK, plus, PPD OFFICER KIRCHNER, at $98,429.16 COMPENSATION, 27th in CITY FOR PAY in 2010, and HOW DEEP IS THE STEROIDS PROBLEM? HOW HIGH IS THE SKY?

BY DAN VALENTI Colonials Lived up to the Promises This Friday, the Pittsfield Colonials will have their second annual “pep rally” lunch for advertisers and sponsors at Blantyre in Lenox. The Planet shall be there as an invited guest. Team owner Buddy Lewis, meeting with The Planet yesterday, reports brisk sales of billboards, program ads, […]

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STEROIDSGATE: HOW FAR REACHING IS THE PROBLEM IN PPD. SOME MEMBERS SPEAK OUT, plus, BERKSHIRE GREENS, NEW PAC, GRILLS LENOX SELECT BOARD CANDIDATES

BY DAN VALENTI (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, March 29, 2011) — Doesn’t SteroidsGate — the federal probe into the use of illegal steroids by police officers, including those in the Pittsfield Police Department — amount to one question? That question is: How extensive is the use of steroids in the PPD? By “use,” we mean buying, […]

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MORE ON STEROIDSGATE, BERRY-HELLER II, THE DEMISE OF NEWSPAPERS, and WHAT’s UP (& DOWN) WITH LIBYA?

BY DAN VALENTI (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, March 28, 2011) —Today, The Planet has some odds and ends to present, and then we will share the posts from two guest writers, up and down, on the United States’ recent adventurism in Libya. SteroidsGate, the Berry-Heller Chronicles & More SteroidsGate isn’t going away any time soon. There’s […]

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THANKS TO BERRY, THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE RECLAIMS ITS PROUD NAME, FOR A DAY ANYWAY, plus, MUCH MORE ABOUT ‘STEROIDGATE’

BY DAN VALENTI (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, March 26, 2011) — For a day anyway, and we hope for much longer, the local daily once again became The Berkshire Eagle. It was not the Boring Broadsheet, and it shed that label for today the way Clark Kent shed his two-piece gabardine for a set of blue tights […]

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PLANET CONFIRMS: FEDS PROBING PPD AS STEROIDS STORY GROWS, plus MARCHETTI WEIGHS IN, and AVJ. TEACHER’S PAY IN BAY STATE? A WHOPPING $67,577 a yr!

BY DAN VALENTI Feds Swoop Down on PPD (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, March 25, 2011) — The Planet can now confirm the extensive involvement of the federal government into a drug investigation involving the Pittsfield Police Department. According to a high-ranking city hall source, “the feds (Postal Investigators) are heavily involved.” Prior to this, no city, […]

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MORE ON PPD STEROIDS BUST, a RHETORICAL CLARIFICATION; UNCOVERED: EVIDENCE OF CHEATING IN CITY FLAG COMPETITION, plus THE PLANET AND WBRK — COOKING

BY DAN VALENTI The Planet has confirmed, through two three independent sources, that at least one Pittsfield police officer was busted in connection with illegal use/possession/reception of anabolic steroids. The latest confirmation, from a PPD source formerly of senior leadership rank, told The Planet: “It is very true. It’s too bad for the [Department]. We […]

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DRUG BUST OF PPD OFFICER(s?) CONFIRMED, LAST CALL FOR COUNCIL QUARTET, THE POLITICS OF MOSQUITOES, & PEANUT ALLERGIES DRAW NUT CASES

BY DAN VALENTI Last Call, Gents. (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, March 23, 2011) — First, the barkeep announces “Last call” for Peter Marchetti, Paul Capitanio, Uncle Gerry Lee, and Jonothan Lothrop for compliance on our Three Top Questions survey. Each has until midnight tonight to go on record stating their views on PCBs, Hill 78, and […]

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THE LOVE OF LOCAL FOOD, ‘TEA-LEAF’ MEETING FOR COUNCIL TONIGHT on IFFY PERSONNEL MOVES, & THE PERFECT SOLUTION FOR DOWD-WAHCONAH PARK NAMING CONTROVERSY

BY DAN VALENTI (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, March 22, 2011) — Food. We need it to live. Many of us love it past the point of need. Food is the sun that had to shine on the planets. It’s a the soil that nurtured the seeds. Food is rain, wind, and weather. What we eat is a […]

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YON MAKES IT 7-4; PRESSURE BUILDS ON CAPPY AND MARCHETTI, plus FERRIN SHOWS A KILLER INSTINCT

BY DAN VALENTI In a corrected score to our recent poll of city councilors on three of the most important questions facing the city (PCBs and industrial toxins, Hill 78, and unfunded liabilities), The Planet stands at 7-4 as Ward 1 councilor Christine Yon posted the following on our website: 03/20 at 5:29 pm CHRISTINE […]

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WHITE, WARD, KROL, NICHOLS, SHERMAN, & MAZZEO COME THROUGH FOR WE the PEOPLE on 3 CRITICAL Qs; LEE, MARCHETTI, YON, CAPITANIO, and LOTHROP “SHIT THE BED” ON SAME

BY DAN VALENTI Today, we present the views of city councilors on the three “show stopping” questions that should, and will, if common sense and wise care have anything to do with it, become enormously important in municipal Campaign 2011. To recap and as a continuation of the discussions initiated on and by The Planet, […]

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CHEF DE LA SODA SHARES CORNED BEEF, LAY OFF THE GUV, COUNCILORS TO WEIGH IN ON PCBs, HILL 78, & UNFUNDED LIABILITIES

BY DAN VALENTI In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, and to move briefly away from the flotsam and jetsam of local perfidy, hostile takeovers, and the thumb-pumpkins of politics, The Planet asked our food consultant, Chef Pierre Francois De la Soda, to submit an appropriate recipe. The recipe is real (no joke), and tonight, in […]

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The GREAT GARDEN VARIETY THEFT: SOURCES, DOCUMENTS REVEAL CZARINA RUFFER & BCAC TAKEOVER OF WESTSIDE FARM PROJECT WAS HOSTILE … & IT WAS AN INSIDE JOB

BY DAN VALENTI (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MARCH 16, 2011) — The plot thickens like gobs of gorilla glue in the subarctic regarding the hostile annexing by The Machine of the Westside Farm Project (WFP) from the hands of grassroots gardeners. The move, which sources say is the brainchild of Department of Community Development Czarina Deanna […]

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MIXED RESULTS FROM THE BB, $1 MILLION PLUS RAISE FOR CITY TEACHERS ISN’T ENOUGH, and CZARINA RUFFER STEALS A COMMUNITY GARDEN

BY DAN VALENTI (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, March 15, 2011) — The Boring Broadsheet is forever living up to its name, though once it a while it presents a story that actually would qualify as fitting for a real newspaper. The Planet refers to Dick Lindsay’s informative piece on the continuing riff-tiff between the Pittsfield School […]

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UNWELCOME TO PITTSFIELD, POISONED CITY, plus, A FLAG FACT and, is THE GOP BLOWING IT OVER MUSLIMS?

BY DAN VALENTI Pittsfield is Poisoned FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE (MARCH 14, 2011) — Alone among local media, The Planet has driven the recent and urgent discussion on industrial poisons in Pittsfield. Ironically, this came about as the result of a development that, at first, appeared to have nothing to do with PCBs, mercury, and the […]

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THE PLANET PRESSES CITY COUNCIL ON 3 KEY ISSUES, plus, DOES PITTSFIELD NEED A FLAG?

BY DAN VALENTI Toxins, Hill 78, and Unfunded Liabilities: Planet Puts Councilors on the Spot First things first, as my sequential numeraries insist: Today, The Planet sent the following e-mail to 11 city councilors: MY RIGHT HONORABLE GOOD FRIENDS For www.planetvalenti.com, I am looking for on-the-record positions on the following issues. I invite your written […]

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