By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, SEPT. 13, 2011) — We received a lot of mail (and several comments for posting here on THE PLANET) concerning yesterday’s column. We share two typical responses, each with permission.

We hit a nerve. THE PLANET can tell, objectively, when our readership spikes. To the dismay of our critics, we draw thousands to this site each day. Should the trend continue, we shall be rivaling then outdrawing any other news/commentary website in the county, including, of course, the Boring Broadsheet.

This came in from JAY SEE-F:

The DA says two of the victims were just in “the wrong place at the wrong time.”  All accounts say two of the three victims shared the apartment where they were riding out hurricane Irene with a third friend

and were confronted and/or attacked.  Is the DA saying we are no longer safe in our homes and apartments? Wrong place/wrong time sounds random. This sounds like a home invasion and not so random. But, on another

level if there are wrong places and wrong times, wouldn’t it be wise to share that with the general population?

Evidently, JAY, the District Attorney disagrees that it would be wise to share important information with the general public. The DA is a politician, pure and simple, with everything that this implies in a GOB-run town.

DID MURDER VICTIM SEEK PROTECTION? A HUGE QUESTION DEMANDS AN ANSWER

This is Pittsfield, remember. The story gets more startling. There is reason to believe that the murder victim who was to be the star witness against Mr. Hall had asked law enforcement officials for protection before he was murdered. It appears he didn’t get it. THINK ABOUT THIS, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN.

We put the following open question to District Attorney David Capeless, Police Chief Mike Wynn, and Mayor Jimmy Ruberto: Did the victim ask for protection? Did he seek protective custody? If so, to whom did he make his request? What answer was he given, and by whom? This is a serious question with enormous potential liability issues. Peter Marchetti: You are the council’s VP. You have a position of power. You can make such an inquiry on behalf of We the People. Will you do so, sir?

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CITY’S SAD DECLINE IS ONLY TOO WELL KNOWN

THE PLANET also received this e-mail from “Champion,” which we share because it testifies to many salient points we have addressed in connection not only with this case but also in addressing the decline of the city in general:

I think it is a real tragedy that the City leadership does not capitalize on the former residents like myself who loved this community and are willing to do something to help the place .  Look at the Facebook comments from former residents and you’ll see a great resource untapped.

I  could probably sum up the history of  the city politics from my childhood  with a description:   organizational incest….same people, same relationships, same old ideas, etc. The sadness is when the new blood comes  who have ideas (art galleries, restaurants, etc.),   the  leadership too quickly gets enamored with these saviors and starts catering to out of towners and forgets the every day folk.  These new venues may work in tourist season, but I see most of these places having struggles. How come five or so of the top tourist attractions have changed directors in the past year???

Pittsfield was a blue collar town and the shopping mecca in the cultural Berkshires. It was GE that was the lifeblood of the community and with a peak of 12,000 employees kept the community going (in spite of its burying PCBs around the town so no one would ever forget them). With the loss of GE there were many many workers still left here and the next generation too.  These are not the people that aren’t involved in the art, theaters and restaurants.  The majority of Pittsfield cannot afford these things. When I would come to town I would hear the negativity from these folks left behind.

I remember reading about the chemical dependency phenomena when Hillcrest Hospital  imported heavy druggers into the City for  treatment to get NY Medicaid bucks. Bucks were used up in 30 days and patients let out the door. Pittsfield had a virtual welcome sign as a   virginal area for heroin and coke dealers. Welcome serious drug problem! Because of this   lets build  a bigger jail to house the  newly settled criminals. Too bad the jail was three times what was needed.   So lets fill  empty cells with cons from other communities who of course brought their publically assisted families into the community to be closer to them. I found online that the median income of Pittsfield went from $10K above the State average  down to $10K below.  This is all stuff you know well and I am sure have written about. Very sad, but I still felt we could turn lemons into lemonade.

I have followed my hometown as an “outsider” for the past 40 plus years and you can get a sense of why I wanted to give back. It saddens me when I go down North St. too.

In Champion’s paragraph about the “chemical dependency phenomenon,” he hits at a huge, invisible problem that THE PLANET alone has discussed in print, on the air, and now in cyberspace. Pittsfield sold out. It took the drug trade with welcome arms. It built an unnecessarily large county lockup (in Lanesboro, and wouldn’t you love to know the crooked deals that led to it being located there!!) so it could take in the cons from other communities. Those cons brings their riff raff with them, and they, of course, immediately go on welfare and ride on the taxpayer’s back. Why haven’t you see this story in the Boring Broadsheet? Why? Because it doesn’t dare expose the racket, for fear of pissing off the GOB.

This is what the political leadership of Pittsfield has given the citizens of Benigno Numine. Isn’t it interesting the deafening silence you get on this issue from the candidates for office in Campaign ’12.

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PATRICKS’ STIFF ITS WAIT STAFF, ISN’T THAT RIGHT, KUFFLINKS?

THE PLANET also received this, from “The Stooley,” a conglomerate of spies who are on the payroll to provide us with the view from the streets.

Here’s a great story line for you from Patrick’s Pub. Seems they’ve been keeping the tips from the underemployed working Moms. Also, the growing-up-fast unwed mothers that have been trying to put food on their tables have been getting short changed from the owner of Patricks. Guess the only ones to not get cheated out of the tips are the bartenders that can grab the cash from the patrons before it gets the cash register…

I bet the last time Joe and Mary Jane Kapanski ate there they thought the cute little blond was getting the tip.

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THE PLANET had this story before anyone. We let the BB publish it first, just to keep the fight fair. Our contact in the state AG’s office told us Patrick’s illegally kept $25 grand from employees. The state fined the pub $4,800 and ordered the whiskey dealers to pay the money it had stolen from its defenseless help.

Patrick’s, according to a probe by the state Fair Labor Division of the Attorney General’s office, violated the law with its policies on tips. One would think that a responsible business would check with the law, first, not last. Or do you think it was deliberate, so the owners could pocket tens of thousands of dollars it had no right hogging up?

THE BB quotes one of the gin joint’s owners claiming with a straight face that the policy of cheating the waitstaff out of tips was “designed to benefit all employees.” Can you believe these stiffs?

The AG ordered the rotgut rotisserie to pay back more than $30 grand to staff.

QUESTION FOR ANYONE WHO KNOWS: Isn’t Matthew “Kufflinks” Kerwood somehow related to the pub owners or in some way isn’t he associated with Patrick’s Pub?

Innocence by Association, apparently, but of course, THE PLANET could be wrong.

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SEWER SYTEM IS ‘ENERGIZED,” or, IN PITTSFIELD, SHIT DOES RUN UPHILL

Yesterday, sewersin about 10 southeast neighborhoods backed up into basements and homes. THE PLANET’s investigation determined two likely causes:

(1) influx from sump pumps and (2) flooding, particularly on South Street.

The Pittsfield sewer system has a 25 million gallon capacity. At 25 million and one gallons, the system back up. Literally, the shit at that point begins to flow uphill.

In a great euphemism, when the Pittsfield sewer system is in this condition, the city refers to the system as being “energized.” THE PLANET’s not kidding. TRANSLATION OF ‘ENERGIZED’: The pipes are full of shit.

In Pittsfield, sewer taxes go up each cycle for this express purpose: To render miracles such as repealing the law of gravity. Everywhere else, crap runs downhill.

Of course, the sewer lines are not the only things in town pregnant with guano, as we’ve learned, for example, from Peter Marchetti’s excuses for ducking THE PLANET’s fair questions in front of a camera.

The following little exchange puts the sewer matter in perspective. This, by the way, is an actual exchange of dialogue that took place between a bedraggled city homeowner and the mayor’s office:

HOMEOWNER: “Let me put this as simply as possible. When am I going to be able to flush my toilet again?”

MAYOR’S OFFICE: “I don’t know.”

Kinda says it all, eh?

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MUCH MORE GOING ON AT SEVERAL FRONTS, INCLUDING THE STATE REP CAMPAIGN, THE COLONIALS’ SITUATION, AND “ETC.” STAY TUNED.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.