BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, OCT. 27, 2015) — THE PLANET has learned more about Gungate. It is, as we say in the business, a story “with legs.” Our probe is ongoing, and we must do more digging before we can report on information that, if it bears out, would ratchet up Gungate on the Scale of Consequence. The alarm, like that kid’s gun, is locked and loaded.

The story of a 13-year-boy bringing a loaded gun to school has already revealed two gravely serious aspects that Pittsfield authorities have tried to downplay from the get-go:

• What appears to be an attempted coverup by the school superintendent — When Jason “JIV” McCandless rushed a press release to publication, he did a couple of odd things. First, he went through the mayor’s office. Why would Dan Bianchi allow the school superintendent franking privileges on use of the mayor’s letterhead? It has not been explained.  Second, JIV released false information, “assuring” the public the gun wasn’t loaded. The gun was loaded.
• The superintendent’s admission that other students were “involved.” Involved? How so? How many? JIV said the “involvement” was serious enough to warrant suspension but stopped short of details, again leaving a baffled and worried community guessing. That other students were “involved” suggests many things, including a conspiracy to commit mayhem.

Many questions remain:

• Who owns the gun in question?
• How did the student get access to the gun? Same with the bullets.
• Is this the first time this student has brought weapons to school?
• Has this student been involved in other troubling behavior? What was done about it?
• What kind of gun?
• What there a bullet in the chamber? As to this question, according to a local gun owner, if the answer is yes, it would “all but prove” the kid “meant business.” Our gun source devised a “Risk Scale” that rates the likelihood of mayhem:
  • Gun loaded, bullet in the chamber — 95% chance the kid meant to kill people.
  • Gun loaded, clip inserted but no bullet in chamber — 80% chance.
  • Gun not loaded, loaded clip available but not in gun — 65-80%.
  • Gun not loaded, clip present but without bullets —50% and under.

Did Politics, Not Criminal Justice, Drive the Investigation?

As for the response of city officials, more than one qualified source, including a couple in the criminal justice system, question the actions of the police, Mayor Dan Bianchi, ward 4 councilor Chris Connell, and the school superintendent while the incident was unfolding. Essentially, the concern boils down to the question of “Why were they allowed ‘in’ during the first stages of the investigation?”

A law enforcement officer not from Pittsfield said that during the incident itself, politicians and administrators should not have been on the scene. Police should have secured the scene to preserve the integrity of the probe. It should have been left to the police to secure the site, gather evidence, and do the initial investigation without the presence of politicians.

We can’t fault Connell. It’s his ward. He quickly went to the scene. We would have done the same thing. But did anyone from the police department tell Bianchi and McCandless they couldn’t be in the building while the probe was in its initial phase? If not, why not? Did politics, not criminal justice and public safety, become the driving force of the investigation? For example, if Bianchi and McCandless agreed the situation should be downplayed for PR purposes, would they lean on the investigating officers in any way? Did they? Was there obstruction of justice?

THE PLANET doesn’t know and neither does anyone else in the community, because Pittsfield officials do not trust Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski with the knowledge they need to “govern themselves” and to stay abreast of new developments so they can make informed choices — especially during an election season. In this information void, rumors will spread.

In our previous column, we asked if JIV’s actions in Gungate warranted a suspension or firing. We answered yes. But where on earth is the Pittsfield School Committee on this? Why isn’t chairwoman Kathy Yon out front? Why hasn’t she called for hearings?

It doesn’t take John LeCarre to come up with the plot: Yon and the rest of them have been bought out by The Suits. Pity is how cheap they come.

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“He who cannot command himself should obey. And many can command themselves, but much is still lacking before they also obey themselves.” — Friedrich Nietzsche, from Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Third Part, #4, (1891).

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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