East Herkimer Fire Department Sold

Hits: 417

by Stephen Ames Berry

8/19/19 – This post amused many of our murderous neighbors when it first appeared. (“There they go! Get the ladder!” the Sykes gang’s Carrie Ann Bass would holler as we walked by.) There was no ladder, as we later learned after  toxic clouds were wreathed our home; they were using handfoggers to dispense organophosphate pesticides into our open office window whenever we went for a walk. 

Herkimer's Douglas Barton now Chief of the East Herkimer Fire Dept
East Herkimer Fire Dept Roster April 2017. Douglas Barton is now Chief

Well, as I live and breathe. After being gassed in February and poisoned in March, we took a bit of a vacation. When we left, our neighbors, Herkimer’s Douglas Barton and Joyce Barton, appeared to be going through tough times: home rarely, woebegone looks, no more convenience foods, house dark, kids sad and angry.

Returning ten days later, we found the Bartons’ lives seemingly touched by gold. There was Joyce Barton on her 333 Pleasant Avenue command porch,

Joyce and Douglas Barton's rental residence 333 Pleasant Ave Herkimer
Joyce Barton and Douglas Barton’s 333 Pleasant Avenue Herkimer NY rental residence.

passing out favors to her throng of fair weather friends, as when she was the undisputed queen of Herkimer’s bustling drug trafficking row.  And  a welcoming friend to new neighbors.

herkimer's Joyce and Douglas Barton (2014)
Joyce and Douglas Barton (2014)

Since our return, Joyce Barton’s been busy networking again with like-minded neighbors, partially in response to our unexpected return. (So many crestfallen faces when we pulled into driveway and emerged, relaxed and tanned. )

I suppose to the watching hopeful along Herkimer’s Pleasant Avenue, it seemed we’d abandoned our poisoned Herkimer home, packed up our pets, a few things and fled. Had I been hired to dispose of such nosy neighbors as we, dead or alive, I’d have then demand my money, reporting mission accomplished. But would have had the brains to not spend like a sailor.

And what did Douglas Barton do with his share of the Barton’s sudden golden shower? Douglas Barton bought the East Herkimer Fire Department. (Volunteer company–one engine.) How else to explain his meteoric return from the ranks, following his…suspicious…garage fire and

Dopuglas Barton - 333 Pleasant Avenue Herkimer suspicious garage fire
Extract of forensic video analysis of Fire Chief Barton’s fire. Note wisp of vapor to left and wafting of garage to the left. Barton is about to enter the truck, seeing nothing.

subsequent demotion from Deputy Chief? And those threats of arson coming from his porch one turbulent evening, directed at us and heard by many? If these are the attributes of a good fire chief, then we’re all doomed if catastrophe strikes.

Lac Megantic train explosion
Lac Megantic Quebec burns following DOT-111 tanker car train explosion. The train was hauling 50,000 barrels of crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken crude oil. About 1,000 DOT-111 tank cars daily cross Herkimer’s CSX railway bridge.

East Herkimer Fire Department’s Empty Boots

Looking at the fire company’s roster (top), all their other top ranks are suddenly empty. They weren’t when Douglas Barton was returned to the ranks. Perhaps there was vehement opposition to Barton’s election as Chief, with old hands quitting in disgust? Or maybe they just ate some bad food and passed away.

Empty firefighter boots – 9/11

Of Firemen and Ladders and Poison

When I think firemen, I think ladders.

The long-term salting of our furnace with a powdered insecticide required little finesse. The dosing of our home did with a spray-gun dispensed pesticide did. It was skillfully and stealthily carried out via a ladder, over a period of months in broad daylight. And done several times weekly with the aid of some of our depraved neighbors, who served as lookouts, calling the ladder man when we went for our morning walks and as we returned. Here’s one suspected lookout: 334 Pleasant Avenue Herkimer’s “The Blessing.”

poisoners' lookout 326 Pleasant Avenue Herkimer NY
“The Blessing” 334 Pleasant Ave. Herkimer. Street harasser and suspected poisoners’ lookout.  if you point a camera her way she calls you a pedophile. We’ve found in Herkimer that those who, like Curtis Cool, shriek “Pedophile!”, are usually trafficking drugs and/or kids.

The objective, as with the furnace salting, was to continuously poison us so we’d slowly sicken and die, never suspecting we’d been  murdered. We’d just pass away, as have probably many other Herkimer murder victims here over the years. Well, the word is now out, and jig is up. Spring is here and the ground may soon give up its dead to autopsy.

For reasons which will later sound not at all paranoid, our systematic poisoning probably began even before we moved into our house, three years ago. That cold diabolical plan was destroyed by the enraged nighttime pesticide attack of February 22nd. (See Herkimer Jewish Blogger Gassed) The attack was apparently sparked by our sharing The Herkimer Post’s annual blog statistics a two days earlier: 20,000+ worldwide view of Herkimer crime. The Barton’s and Curtis Cool, aka Curtis Dolan, rocketed our blog to success. Neither does well in sunlight. Nor does Herkimer.

Curtis Cool, aka Curtis Dolan – The Bartons’ Silent Backer?

Had I to guess who was bankrolling the Bartons, I’d say Curtis Cool, aka Curtis Dolan. Curtis has long been chums with the Bartons. He seemed a cash-heavy entity when he lived next door at 328 Pleasant Avenue, renting Herkimer Clerk of Courts’ Harriett Tangorra’s house. Curtis, who waged a lengthy campaign of harassment against us, is rumored to be the scion of Herkimer’s most respected drug manufacturing family. In Herkimer County, New York, this would grant him the status of untouchable nobility; Curtis Cool could only be tried before the Herkimer Drug Lord Himself.

the herkimer ny drug lord
The Herkimer Drug Lord – Only Known Photo (Courtesy The Boys in The Bunker.)

Certainly Herkimer Police and fire officials refused to take complaints against him, possibly fearing they or their families might be poisoned. Because of us and our widely-viewed blog, Curtis had to give up his comfy digs next door and beat an ignominious retreat. He may harbor a grudge.

A Heartfelt “Thank You” to the Herkimer Community

Lastly, we’d like to thank the Herkimer community and authorities for their outpouring of support and sympathy following two well-publicized,  heinous attempts on our lives within the last two months. Their names and organizations are below:

[THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK]

Oh well. As folks in Herkimer say with a shrug, “It’s Herkimer.”

herkimer ny government
The 3 Wise Monkeys of Herkimer

Herkimer’s community ethos is one which historically has left a lot empty shoes behind.

Herkimer NY Community Ethos - End Result
Holocaust Victims’ Shoes (US Holocaust Museum.)

Perhaps a viewing of Schinlder’s List might help restore Herkimer’s atrophied social conscience?

Oh. Hail to the Chief:

East Herkimer Fire Dept sold to Douglas Barton
Douglas Barton, Chief. East Herkimer Fire Department

 

Herkimer Crime 2016 – 20,421 Worldwide Views

Hits: 350

by Stephen Ames Berry

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” Albert Einstein

Forget Herkimer diamonds. Crime-ridden Herkimer New York’s greatest attraction is the village’s anarchic three-ring circus of brazen criminals, trafficker-coddling cops and willfully failed governance. In 2016, Herkimer’s unchecked, in-your-face lawlessness brought The Herkimer Post and its YouTube videos over 20,000 worldwide views. The human fascination with the grotesque drove our annualized viewing audience up 33% from our last statistics posting in March of 2016.

The Herkimer Post enjoyed 8,432 page views from 2,379 readers across 6 continents in 57 countries, with an average of 1.95 minutes per view. Our YouTube videos–Herkimer crime, all the time–brought 11,989 worldwide views averaging 3.32 minutes apiece. Top Herkimer Twitter tweets sparked at least 13,674 impressions, engagements and retweets, which aren’t counted in the 20,421 tally.

Living in Herkimer Village is convenient: except for our Herkimer Meth Bridge series, we’ve rarely had to travel more than 20 meters from our home on Herkimer’s wistfully-named Pleasant Avenue to acquire source material: Herkimer criminals trying to drive us from our home and Herkimer cops trying to intimidate us into silence just kept coming into our cameras or onto our microphones.

Herkimer Post 2016 – WordPress Page Views, Users, Sessions

 

Herkimer Post 2016 WordPress Sessions – Top 10 Countries

Notes on Google Analytics’ Metrics

  • One session can have multiple page views. Herkimer Post visitors viewed an average of two posts per session.
  • 2,777 blog visitors landed on the  Herkimer Post’s home page rather than a specific posting. They could have then selected one or more more categories and scrolled through the posts. Their views of individual posts wouldn’t have been recorded.
  • Country = “Not Set”: Origin may be a hidden ISP.
  • Best reporting option is 365 days. Calendar year selection not offered.

Herkimer Post 2016 Top Page Views

Herkimer Crime 2016 Top Blog Post

Our top recorded blog post for 2016 was of our neighbor and first Herkimer visitor, young mom Melodie Shulze, who dropped by with her mom Melissa Shulze to cuss us out for photographing our street and accuse us therefore of being pedophiles. Although the incident occurred in 2015, Melodie Shulze’s elder abuse has proven an object of repugnant fascination both on our blog and YouTube. (Melodie recently vanished from our street following an unusual flurry of Child Protection Services’ activity.)

Joyce Barton and Douglas Barton Win Herkimer Crime 2016 Top Posts Tally

Otherwise it was a postings slugfest in lawlessness and depravity between 333 Pleasant Avenue’s Bartons and 328 Pleasant Avenue’s Curtis Cool. It was won by the Bartons with 4 top posts: Herkimer Man Sexually Abusing Car was our 2nd top post, harassment dished straight from the Barton’s as they gleefully helped harass our very pregnant daughter. (Captured on a highly visible surveillance camera. )

Three other top 2016 posts featuring appearances by Joyce Barton and or Douglas Barton were Drug Trafficking On Herkimer’s Slumlord Row, [VIDEOS]Herkimer Crime – Drunks Along the Mohawk [VIDEOS], and Mission Accomplished! Fire Chief Barton’s Fire Revisited. This last highlighted a forensic video analysis of then-Deputy Fire Chief Douglas Barton’s garage fire, coincident with what appeared to be a large state and federal crackdown on Herkimer’s abundant meth makers. (The Bartons have apparently since abandoned their home-based enterprises and seem to be scrambling to make ends meet.) The drug trafficking post and related videos are from 2015; they’ve taken on a life of their own, drawing viewers month after month. (IP addresses hint law enforcement may be using them for surveillance analysis training.)

Curtis Cool Takes Close 2nd In Herkimer Crime 2016 Top Postings Tally

Herkimer Court Clerk Harriett Tangorra’s long-time tenant Curtis Cool (aka Curtis Dolan) did well in three Herkimer Crime 2016 posts: Herkimer Thug Curtis Cool Again Fails to Burn Out Neighbors, in which his unchecked pyromania was on full display, and an associated post, Herkimer Fire Chief John Spanfelner Sees Nothing. But Curtis truly shined, along with Herkimer Police Officer Jason Crippin, in Herkimer Police & The Nanny Nanny Boo Boo. Accompanied by Curtis’ videoed zaniness, it relates how Officer Crippin gave us to understand that in Herkimer New York, the nanny nanny boo boo is exculpatory for criminal harassment. (As folks here sigh with a shrug, “It’s Herkimer.”)

Herkimer Crime 2016 – 11,989  YouTube Views

In 2016, Herkimer crime drew over 11,989 YouTube views in 51 countries with a total viewing time of 23,409 minutes, or 390 hours. (16.25 days.)

Our YouTube audience wasn’t the same as that of the The Herkimer Post: most YouTube viewers didn’t come from our blog posts, but from other YouTube viewers and referrers. Many of our videos contain links to our other Herkimer crime videos, making it possible to build viewership through a chain of referrals embedded in video descriptions, and also build blog readership through links to our blog. Curtis Cool’s 13 videos and the Barton’s 14 videos provided the virtual framework for widening our follower base.

In 2016, videos of Joyce and Douglas Bartons’ Pleasant Avenue activities had 6,815 views, with a watch time of 6,698 minutes, or 4.65 days. Their top video was 2015’s enduring Herkimer Crime on Parade – 333 Pleasant Avenue (5088 views). But Curtis Cool (aka Curtis Dolan) blew the Bartons’ Crime on Parade out of the water with his bravura performance in Curtis Cool Street Harassment of 6/11/16: 154 hours (9,224) minutes, or 6.40 days. Herkimer’s untouchable Golden Child’s criminal harassment of his elderly neighbors was watched by 2,385 people on 6 continents, just one of Curtis’ series of street harassment videos. (Curtis abruptly moved after we hinted in a post that he might be involved in darker things than drug dealing. “The guilty flee where no man pursues.”)

Honorable Herkimer Crime Mention: Herkimer’s Historic Crack House Keeper. 926 minutes, 611 views. Not an elder abuser street harasser on a par with Curtis Cool, but the only one to have physically assaulted me. (He appears to have been deleted from the ‘hood.)

Herkimer Crime 2016 On YouTube – Top 10 Videos

Top 25 YouTube Herkimer Crime 2016 Videos

Herkimer Crime 2016 YouTube Viewers By Country

Herkimer Crime Watching COUNTRIES Page 1

 

HERKIMER CRIME WATCHiNG COUNTRIES Page 2

 

Herkimer Crime 2016 On Twitter

I didn’t go through Twitter to extract the analytics of views of our Herkimer crime tweets, which are automatically tweeted by our blog upon posting. They’d have to have been ferreted out of Twitter tweet by tweet, and the analytics for each manually copied and totaled. No. Life is short, death is long.

I have 72,000 Twitter followers. All of my posts make an impression. The more colorful, such as those of our Apricot Emperor or Herkimer crime, often create a thousand or more impressions. I’ve no idea what an impression is, and, reading Twitter’s definition, neither does Twitter. But those tweets do leave a large and consistent impression of Herkimer, and it’s not pretty.

Here’s a typical Tweeter analytics summary of some Herkimer crime tweets:

 

Acknowledgments

We thank all who’ve read our blog or viewed our videos. We hope they’ve given you some insight into what failure of governance looks like, and the stark reality of life when crime rules the streets of a once pastoral village.

We’d like to also thank Herkimer’s Curtis Cool (aka Curtis Dolan), his landlady Harriett Tangorra, our neighbors Joyce Barton and Douglas Barton, Herkimer Police officers Patrolman Haight, Patrolman Jason Crippin and Sgt John Scholl II, and Herkimer Fire Chief John Spanfelner, for helping make 2016 a very successful year for The Herkimer Post. Forward together into the New Year.

A sincere and especially heartfelt thanks to the New York State Police, Night Court, Trapper Ron, the New York State Intelligence Center, the US Drug Enforcement Agency and other US Department of Homeland Security entities, without whose officers’ vigilance and dedication to duty this post wouldn’t have been written.

And a big tip of the hat to Herkimer’s resident drones and their watchful wizards.

Quadcopter in dronebox
Quadcopter drone nested in a remote solar-powered recharging drone box. H3 Corp photo.

 

Herkimer Mobbing – Joyce Barton, Sgt. Tall, Officer Short

Hits: 366

by Stephen Ames Berry

 

It’s been quiet along Herkimer’s Pleasant Avenue. We’re keeping busy remodeling and writing posts that we hadn’t gotten around to, besieged as we were the last several years by neighborly attacks on ourselves, our pets and our home. As Herkimer has a new police chief, we’ll be having posts about past incidents involving some of his officers. We’re beginning with the Herkimer mobbing incident of June 15, 2015.

Herkimer criminals lend new meaning to homesteading
Outpost 330 – Herkimer Criminal Neighbors Give Fresh Meaning To Homesteading

It’s obvious that deprived of work hustling product from now-absent meth cookeries and crack makers, many of South Herkimer’s once abundant scrotes  have moved on. Pleasant Avenue is down to two homes owned by career criminal families, either in their own names or through proxies, and one homeowner who consistently rents her property to various members of a well-protected regional crime family.

State and federal law enforcement, augmented by surveillance drones, have swept the streets of Herkimer Village clear of its traditional  in-your-face wholesale drug trafficking. Attempts to move narcotics trafficking into the woods near the village were reported and crushed. 

Herkimer Police Stand Fast

Yet one Herkimer institution that’s endured unchanged through all the tumult of our three years on Herkimer’s Pleasant Avenue is the Herkimer Police. In our experience, they’ve never heard a complaint worth taking, though some of its officers have proven quick to respond to the needs of well-monied criminals. (We do like several of the Herkimer cops, who do the best they can, boats against the stream.  My naming them probably wouldn’t help their careers.)

333 Pleasant Avenue Herkimer mobbing – June 15, 2015

One of our first experiences with a Herkimer police response was on June 15, 2015. The below is from my email of 6/22/15 to Herkimer Mayor Anthony Brindisi, supplemented by later information. (Mayor Brindisi is reportedly a former Herkimer police officer.)

My entire touchingly naive email to Mayor Brindisi follows at the end of this post. It was written before we realized that Herkimer enjoyed a wide reputation as pirate haven, it’s booming cash economy driven by well-protected, interlaced networks of criminals, protected by a co-opted local government. The orchestrated mobbing incident below is a typical ploy used by drug gangs to maintain turf control. (I’ve added the bracket information.)

Herkimer's Joyce Barton and Douglas Barton
Herkimer’s Joyce Barton and Douglas Barton in happier days

From my letter to Mayor Brindisi:

This past Wednesday evening,  we were the focal point of an obviously preplanned and terrifying outpouring of mob hatred triggered when my wife asked ball playing children in front of our home to please stop throwing objects at our house, notably a ball at the side, and rocks at the security camera covering our driveway. About 40 people stood watching from the opposite sidewalk and the porch of 333 Pleasant Ave.

Joyce Barton's 333 Pleasant Ave Herkimer NY
Barton Residence 333 Pleasant Avenue Herkimer

Within less than 30 seconds of her polite request of the ballplayer children, who were quite polite, the adults poured off the opposite sidewalk and the porch of 333 Pleasant Ave. and into the street, screaming at my wife, with one of them (Joyce Barton of 333) coming  within inches of my wife’s face and screaming that my wife was “crazy” “all cracked out” and “stupid.” The invective continued, with others, notably the red-faced male in his twenties (see below) repeatedly coming up to within inches of my wife’s face, showering her with similar invective.

Hearing the din, I rushed outside. People came up to our faces, taunting us.  Out of the raw chaos and tumult of the mob, we recall such distinctive phrases as: “Go back to Florida!” “Stay on your side of the street! “Don’t yell at my daughter!”(Joyce Barton again—very much a ringleader. We never raised our voices.) “Punch me! Punch me!” (This last screamed said by several as they thrust their faces into ours, notably again Joyce Barton, of 333.)

Former Herkimer Deputy Fire Chief Douglas Barton's Former Helmet
Following his garage fire, Douglas Barton is no longer a deputy chief

And, most frightening of all twice,
“We’re going to burn you out!” (This from a man in front of Deputy Fire Chief Douglas Barton’s 333 Pleasant Ave, whom my wife believes she can identify.)

I called 911.  [911 was utterly disbelieving.] Before the police arrived, I was assailed by a red-faced male in his twenties who told me inches from my face to “get off our fucking street!” and when asked who he was, said “None of your motherfucking business.” He appeared to be either drunk or high. Our exchange continued for a moment. (A former behavior teacher, I never raise my voice in a volatile situation.) He concluded by spitting at my feet and storming back to the porch 333 Pleasant Avenue. The moment before, he’d subjected my wife to the same treatment, complete with spit.

Herkimer Police Response – Sgt Tall and Officer Short

Herkimer Police
Herkimer Police Sgt Tall & Officer Short

Two Herkimer police officers  responded. In the chaos we didn’t capture their names, but have since referred to them as Officer Short and Sergeant Tall.  As they appeared, about ten people scuttled from the street, leaving about 25-30 people there, notably those from 333, headed by Joyce [Barton] and reinforced by the red-faced chap, who were the most vocal and aggressive. The sergeant went to [amiably] question the people congregating across from us on and around the porch of 333 Pleasant Ave, leaving us in front of our house with Officer Short. [later revealed to be  Officer John Scholl.]

Officer Short-Scholl took our names and asked my wife if we could have precipitated events by crossing “to their side of the street,” seemingly affirming our assailants in their belief that they owned a public area.  She said no. My wife asked [Officer Scholl] if he was familiar with what’s been happening on this street to us over the past year [see letter below], given the numerous police responses. He said no. She attempted to brief him, but after about three sentences his eyes and his attention wandered and he appeared overcome by boredom. He told her to contact the landlords of our assailants and perhaps, after multiple complaints, they’d evict them. “You never know.” She then asked him how many people are allowed to congregate in a public street and if there’s any statute governing this? He said there was no limitation or statute, adding that “Herkimer’s very casual about it.”

New York Penal Code – Article 240 – § 240.10, Unlawful Assembly, clearly defines what was happening on Pleasant Avenue as “an unlawful and tumultuous activity likely to cause alarm,” a Class B misdemeanor. [The mob members were also committing First and Second Degree Harassment.]

Things having quieted down somewhat in front of 333 Pleasant Ave, Sergeant Tall then rejoined [Officer Scholl] and us.  My wife…told him twice of the man from 333 threatening us with arson, which the sergeant twice ignored. [As with much else in Herkimer, it’s wise to hear nothing.]

herkimer ny government
The 3 Wise Monkeys of Herkimer

Then, shockingly, the officers departed without dispersing the remaining 20-30 still hostile belligerents once again lining the sidewalk across from our home.

herkimer-ny-pleasant-avenue-visual-motif-june-2015
What the Herkimer Police Left When They Skedaddled-Visual Motif-Herkimer Pleasant Avenue Mob 6/17/15

Aftermath

Later that evening, my wife was taking the trash out to our tote in the driveway, when hecklers on the porch of 333 Pleasant Ave began taunting her. To demonstrate that they were mistaken that they owned the street, she crossed over to their porch and attempted to humorously engage them in conversation. It didn’t go well. Insults were exchanged. (“Go inside and take a nap, granny.”) The same man as before threatened [from the Bartons’ porch] “We’re going to burn you out.”

The rest of the evening, the occupants of 333’s porch shined several large halogen lights at our bedroom window. Two cars of teenagers the age of those resident in 333 pulled up in front of our house several times, rap music blaring, screaming, “We’re gonna make you call the police!” (They sounded high or drunk.) Feeling we’d already trouble our police enough for one day, we didn’t bother calling them again…

Mayor Anthony Brindisi Responds to Herkimer Mobbing Incident

Mayor Brindisi called me the day after receiving my email. He seemed quite upset and said he’d look into it.

Two months later, Mayor Brindisi responded to his officers’ dereliction of duty by promoting Officer Scholl to sergeant–sending a clear message to his police, the community and its cash-heavy criminal enterprises.

Following a later Herkimer Police incident, Mayor Brindisi encouraged me to “play offense,” which we’ve done, though not in the way he meant.

Where Are They Now?

Sergeant Tall we never saw again. The Herkimer Police have some part-time officers; he may have been one of them.

Sgt. Scholl and I meet occasionally, most recently when I was attacked by a young meth tweaker on Herkimer’s Pleasant Avenue. (The lad’s since disappeared, leaving open the position of Keeper of Herkimer’s historic crack house.)

Herkimer Police officers and district attorney
Herkimer police officers and District Attorney: Left to right: Officer J. Crippin, Herkimer District Attorney Jeffrey Carpenter, Sgt. John Scholl II, Capt. Jeffrey Crim

Joyce Barton and Douglas Barton appear to be having lean times–this following their cameo appearances in our posting and videos of drug trafficking on Herkimer’s Pleasant Avenue. This was followed by our forensic video analysis of Fire Chief Barton’s garage fire, and videos of the Bartons’ harassment of our pregnant daughter. 

Both Bartons seem to be employing their vocations elsewhere, notably Douglas Barton, who leaves early, comes home very late and is sometimes gone overnight. Also absent are the fast food wrappers laughingly gifted our lawn by the some of the Bartons’ kids and their chums.

The Bartons threatened us with a lawsuit last year, alleging that our widely-viewed videos of their activities had caused them to “suffer[ed]damages to their reputation”  and “exposed the Bartons and their family members to contempt and ridicule.”  We were heartened. Apparently we aren’t the only ones who believed their conduct depraved and despicable.

The Bartons appear to have dropped the matter, perhaps after being told the amount of the required retainer and their chances of success.

More Herkimer crime and police postings to come. It’s a snowy day here in Upstate NY. Great day to edit videos and write.

Toodles.

 

333 Pleasant Ave Teenage Girl Bullies: A lesson for you!

Hits: 259

by Linda Kaidan

Herkimer’s 333 Pleasant Ave’s Teenage Girl Bullies can learn a wonderful lesson from this 9 year old girl. She saw a problem–homeless people– and decided to solve it. No matter how old you are or how nasty your family might be, you can change the world for the better. You are not dust flying in the wind, aimlessly blown here and there. Rather, you are the sum of your deeds and every day matters. Each good deed you do increases your beauty. The opposite is also true.

As you grow older, you can look back with joy and contentment at a life well-lived or you can gaze upon a sad and wasted existence. The choice is entirely yours. Perhaps you can try changing 333 Pleasant Ave Teenage Girl Bullies to 333 Pleasant Ave Teenage Girl Heroes and make that the title for what you are going forward 🙂

333 Pleasant Ave Teenage Girl Bullies can be teenage heros. Work together in creativity and self development.

Try being an entrepreneur, recycling free and discarded materials into products you can sell in flee markets and on craigslist or create a song and dance company. Look at kickstarter.com and get some inspiration. The whole world is out there for you to participate in and to inform your own creativity and strength. You can be a gold metal winner in life, starting right now!

 

Another Bad Day for Herkimer’s Douglas Barton

Hits: 318

by Stephen Ames Berry

Sad Sack Doll
Sad Sack Rag Doll

I’ve been sitting on Another Bad Day for Herkimer’s Douglas Barton for a while. I was abruptly reminded of it this morning as alert sirens wailed over the Herkimers and Herkimer and East Herkimer fire units roared past. Fearing that  Herkimer Fire Chief Spanfelner and former East Herkimer Deputy Chief Douglas Barton were among the responders,  I hurried home, hoping it was just an air raid and armed myself with a cognac. Here’s the posting:

April 30th was another bad day for Douglas Barton of the East Herkimer Fire Department. Earlier this year Barton lost his garage in a sudden blaze at 333 Pleasant Avenue, a rental he shares with the lovely Joyce Bartonanother bad day for Herkimer's Douglas Barton. Then came the Herkimer Post’s publication of a forensic video analysis of key moments of Deputy Fire Chief Barton’s fire. In it we asked what Chief Barton knew and when he knew it. (No answer yet.) We forwarded that link to New York State authorities.  Barton was returned to the ranks of his volunteer fire company. (Perhaps for a hoot they sometimes let him blow the air horn.)

Herkimer Police investigation at 333 Pleasant Avenue

A Herkimer Police officer appeared at Barton’s home at 333 Pleasant Avenue on 4/30/16 shortly after Barton arrived. Barton’s truck and house were photographed. His truck was carefully inspected, with special attention to the left front area, especially the wheel well. (We’ve noticed that Supreme Court Clerk Harriet Tangorra’s tenant Curtis Cool, aka Curtis Dolan of 328 Pleasant Avenue, enjoys fiddling with his own wheel well. Must be a drug street thing.)

Hard to tell without video enhancement, given the distance from the camera and the drizzle, but Douglas Barton may have been issued a court appearance ticket. 

It’s heartening to see authentic local law enforcement on Herkimer’s Pleasant Avenue. It’s coincident with the abrupt retirement of our Pleasant Avenue neighbor, Herkimer Police Chief Joseph Malone, outed by an ethics investigation. Only a year ago the Herkimer Police contented themselves with at best gently chiding the Bartons when they did something foul, sometimes even supporting their reign of terror of the street by attempting intimidation under the color of authority.

Pleasant Avenue’s drug trafficking has fallen off, thanks to the feds and the state.  Decent folks are moving into newly sold homes and many of our drug scum have left. Perhaps the Bartons will soon join them. (Chief Malone still commands in Mohawk.

 Author Stephen Ames Berry is a former officer of Harvard University and a veteran of the National Security Agency’s US Army Security Agency. He lives in Pleasant Avenue’s historic Camera House.

Herkimer Post’s 90 Day Statistics: 3,388 Views Of Failed Governance

Hits: 390

by Stephen Ames Berry

“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” Albert Einstein

Herkimer Post’s 90 day statistics are remarkable for what began a few months ago as a small village’s gardening and environment blog. It’s our crime videos of course. Cameras don’t lie. “What did you expect?” asked one of my former students when I expressed surprise at our stats. (He follows us from Florida.) “You’re embedded on Freak Street. It’s the lure of the grotesque.” “But our police chief lives on this street.” “OK,” he laughed.

There are, believe it or not, some very nice people on this street and in the Village of Herkimer. But viewers can see nice at home. They’ve been coming to Herkimer’s Pleasant Avenue in their thousands to see the not-nice. What they’re reading about and seeing are the fruits of willfully failed governance. Thousands of views of the unchecked criminality swirling about the rental home of one family long entrenched on this once truly pleasant street, allowed to run it as their matriarch sees fit. And they have, as our videos show.

Why? As our blog’s visitors see from our posts and videos, Pleasant Avenue is Herkimer’s Drug Central. A lot of narcotics and cash flow through Herkimer, which lies astride the New York Turnpike, an easy few hours drive to New York City and Canada. It’s an ideal location for narcotics trafficking. And as good businessmen, experienced criminals will typically invest resources to protect their territory.

Count with the Count:  Herkimer Post Blog views

We hadn’t paid much attention to the Herkimer Post’s blog’s statistics since our first article in November. And we never checked the YouTube analytics for our postings’ related videos. Although we knew our posts of the booming drug trafficking and criminal antics here on Herkimer’s Pleasant Avenue were drawing far more readers than our real estate or environmental posts, we had no idea how many more. Then the other day we heard a neighbor remark, “No one reads their stupid blog.”

So we counted. And counted again. And were stunned: 2,092 views of our blog posts and 1,296 views of its associated YouTube videos, totaling 3,388 views since our founding. Our YouTube viewers watched 1,957 minutes of Herkimer’s Pleasant Avenue in action. (32.6 hours)  The YouTube summary analytics are here and also here.

Herkimer Post’s readers and its YouTube viewers are drawn from all 50 states, with a smattering of YouTube viewers watching from Europe and Asia. Only about 33% of our YouTube viewers during this period came from our blog–the rest found our videos either on YouTube, or came to them via social media or from forwarded links.

Herkimerpost.com Google Analytics data

Herkimer Post page views as of 2.23.16
                                                     Herkimer Post page views as of 2.23.16

And below are the less reliable WordPress’ Top Posts figures. They show which were our most popular WordPress posts, but the count per post is low: The author can ensure a special post is the first to greet blog visitors by sticking it atop her blog’s home page. (See line 1 below, “Home page/Archives.”) A reader typically arrives on the home page–a  blog’s landing page–and there’s the post. For example, Herkimer Man Sexually Abusing Car was our lead home page post for several weeks, as were Drug Trafficking on Herkimer’s Slumlord Row, Drunks Along the Mohawk and Fire at 333 Pleasant Ave. Herkimer NY. Each undoubtedly received several hundred more views than individually enumerated below by title: (Left click to enlarge.)Herkimer Post Top Posts


Herkimerpost.com’s YouTube Videos – The Power of Many Short Videos

Our most successful posts were those with multiple videos. A post on our blog may only have a modest number of views, such as Fire at 333 Pleasant Ave Herkimer, which drew a mere 23 readers. But with compelling YouTube videos embedded in the post, that post soared in overall popularity.

Re-titled Fire Chief Barton’s Fire on YouTube and edited into six consecutive short videos, Fire at 333 Pleasant Ave drew 506 views on YouTube, a 1:22 ratio. Surprisingly, as the below “Top 10 Video” analytics show, only 38% of our viewers came from our blog. 62% were from YouTube itself, the result of searches and suggestions from other viewers.  Many of them appear to have come from Berry’s 81.7k Twitter followers. Fire Chief Barton’s Fire attracted 529 viewers worldwide for a total viewing time of 298 minutes or 5 hours. (Click to enlarge.)

The Fire Chief’s Fire – YouTube Views, Watch times and viewer demographics

Herkimer Fire Chief's Fire YouTube Views Watch time viewer demographicsThe YouTube views for the unfortunate Fire Chief Barton’s fire, though, pale in comparison to those of the crime videos of Herkimer’s Pleasant Ave. Drug Trafficking On Herkimer’s Slumlord Row was seen by 348 viewers worldwide for a total 1,165 minutes, or 19.41 hours. The videos embedded in Herkimer Crime – Drunks Along the Mohawk were enjoyed 673 times worldwide for 708 minutes, or 11.8 hours.

Pleasant Ave Herkimer- TOP Crime Videos YouTube Views, Watch times and viewer demographics

Pleasant Ave Herkimer- Top Crime Videos
Herkimer Post’s Most Popular Posts
Total WordPress and YouTube Views

Herkimer Post Most Popular Crime Posts and Videos

conclusion

Herkimer, as with many of New York’s Mohawk Valley communities, is hoping to regain its long lost prosperity from the ripple effects of the billions of dollars being poured into the Nano Utica Initiative, a visionary high-tech manufacturing complex under construction in Utica, an easy 30 minutes commute away. Unfortunately, Herkimer is an impoverished, crime-ridden community, ranked as one of the 10 worst places to live in New York State. What we’ve been subjected to since moving to Herkimer two years ago bears that out–death and arson threats, dog poisoning and beating, burglary, mob menacing, police failure to protect.

We at Herkimer Post are determined to ensure that anyone considering moving to Herkimer is aware of all its aspects. We want no one else to walk blindly into we what did here on Herkimer’s Pleasant Ave. All our crime posts are tweeted to Utica Nano @nanoutica, their partner ams AG in Styria, Austria (@amsAnalog),
and to our governor @NYGovCuomo.

We like Herkimer and believe in its future. We’ll continue to help ensure that future by covering, and uncovering, all aspects of our community in the hope that new and better days lie ahead for Herkimer.

Acknowledgements

The Herkimer Post would like to thank it’s 300+ email subscribers for their continuing interest, some from such distant points as Stockholm, Sweden, Graz, Austria, Sofia, Bulgaria and India, as well as its editors’ YouTube and Google+ subscribers and legions of Twitter followers.

We’d also like to thank the New York State Police and the US Department of Justice for their support, and cloistered elements of the US Department of Homeland Security for having our backs.

The Herkimer Post is especially indebted to its 333 Pleasant Avenue neighbors, the Joyce Barton and Douglas Barton family, and their patron-landlords, Alan and Clara Klock of Cherry Valley NY, for our  blog’s success. (See how they helped. Check out our Crime Archives.)

2016-02-22 13.06.11
333 Pleasant Ave Herkimer NY, home of Joyce Barton and Douglas Barton, nominated Herkimer’s First Family.

In fact, Joyce and Douglas Barton have done so much to bring the attention of the world to the Village of Herkimer that The Herkimer Post would like to nominate them as Herkimer’s First Family. Their accomplishments reflect what can be achieved by unchecked intimation and brazen conduct on a lawless street, aided and abetted by a willful failure of governance.

Written by Herkimer Post Crime Editor, author Stephen Ames Berry. Berry is a former officer of Harvard University and a veteran of the National Security Agency’s US Army Security Agency.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fire at 333 Pleasant Ave Herkimer NY Jan 10, 2016

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Garage fire at 333 Pleasant Ave Herkimer

A fast moving fire today consumed the garage located at 333 Pleasant Ave Herkimer NY. The fire started as a small blaze at the left side of the garage. Smoke billowed up and towards the right. This soon turned into an explosive blaze that fortunately did not spread to any nearby homes. A popping noise followed by a loud boom indicated a minor explosion. Property tax records show 333 Pleasant Ave to be owned by Alan and Clara Klock of Cherry Valley. It’s rented to East Herkimer Fire Department Deputy Chief Douglas Barton and Joyce Barton.

At their request, The Herkimer Post has provided extensive footage of the fire and events surrounding it to Herkimer police and fire investigators. We may have additional coverage in a later post.

Security camera video records fire at 333 Pleasant Ave Herkimer

A security camera located directly across the street recorded the fire.  The initially insignificant flames and smoke went unnoticed even by people walking right by them. At 13:59 the occupants of 333 Pleasant Ave evacuated. Firefighters quickly arrived and extinguished the fire. An investigation is underway.

The timeline below is a small sample of the video clips recorded by security cameras:

1313 Here’s the garage, soon be a smoldering skeleton of burnt wood.

1326 Deputy Fire Chief Barton arrives home – seems oblivious to blaze

1334 Deputy Fire Chief Barton leaves from driveway – still seems oblivious to blaze.  Note what appears to be tendril of smoke in the lower left of Barton’s’ garage picked up by standard surveillance camera at 200 feet.

1349 Smoke billows from garage

4/28/16 Update — See Mission Accomplished! – Fire Chief Barton’s Fire Revisited for forensic video analysis of a crucial part of the 333 Pleasant Ave fire videos. What did Douglas Barton know and when did he know it?

 

 

 

Herkimer Crime – Drunks Along The Mohawk [VIDEOS]

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A Herkimer Crime guest posting by Stephen Ames Berry.

More Herkimer crime on parade, its magnet again the home of Joyce Barton and East Herkimer Fire Department Deputy Chief Douglas Barton. On November 18, the Barton’s 333 Pleasant Avenue home saw two performances of public drinking, street brawling and yet another sign of drug trafficking, with multiple police responses. (333 Pleasant Avenue Herkimer is owned by Alan Klock and Clara Klock of Cherry Valley, per tax records.)

Herkimer Crime and 333 Pleasant Avenue

Herkimer’s 333 Pleasant Avenue is no stranger to rowdiness,  mob menacing, noise pollution and high-traffic nighttime activity.  Screaming of obscenities and threats of violence are common here in Herkimer crime central, whose unwholesome heart is often the Barton residence.  It’s not unusual to hear threats directed at small children here on Pleasant Avenue–short outbursts often ending with a nasal “Now!”, a loud slap and a wail of pain. It is unusual, however, to be able to capture sequential criminal activity cascading through one day.

It grew from scofflaw public drinking into a domestic brawl of about thirty very loud minutes.  The major combatants were the bottle-bearing Booze Brother (below) and Joyce Barton’s older daughter, a noted soccer player.

Herkimer’s Booze Brothers Arrive

It began with the arrival of the Booze Brothers. They sauntered down Pleasant Avenue to the Barton’s and hung out there, chugging from a liter alcohol bottle. It became clear that bottle bearer was waiting for someone. When she arrived, the battle began.

Audio is needed to truly appreciate the volume of the screaming and the torrent of mutual abuse.  It drowned out a telephone conversation I was having in my living room, windows closed.

Much alcohol-fueled male rage and anguish–sounded as though he felt betrayed by the Barton girl.   (She’s off to the right, occasionally visible.) She held her own, even when all three males joined in,  as loud and as abusive as they.  The Continue reading “Herkimer Crime – Drunks Along The Mohawk [VIDEOS]”

Herkimer Malicious Trespassing – More Ball Games [VIDEOS]

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Herkimer Malicious Trespassing
In Herkimer, group vandalism helps build team spirit and fill pockets.


Herkimer, Where Criminal Trespass is a Team Sport

Just when you thought it was safe to go out in your driveway again, the team sport of Herkimer malicious trespassing takes the field again.
If you read my previous post about The Ball, you’ll know that earlier this summer my neighbors called the police on me when I refused to return a ball deliberately kicked at me with great precision from across the street. It was kicked by a beefy teen, striking me on the back of my legs.
The responding Herkimer Village Police Officer, the pseudonymous Officer Heist, threatened to arrest me for Petit Larceny, duped by this very old scam. He accused me of intending to steal the worthless ball used to assault me, the one I’d already tossed into the neighborhood’s adjacent playing area. It was outrageous!

Ball Harassment Continues
Malicious trespassing in Herkimer is  a popular team sport. The innocent children whose ball the Herkimer Police leaped to defend have taken to vandalizing our car under the pretext of retrieving their (new) ball. The ball rolls into our driveway frequently, although the street is perpendicular to the driveway. A baller retrieves the ball, off camera. During his or her stay, our car is scratched or sprayed with acid. Repeat. Repeat. Obviously it’s at their parents’ instigation. These kids are probably paid in cash or drugs. The State Police appear to have clamped down on their parents following their abusive mob interaction with us in the street. (Herkimer’s Pleasant Avenue is a quietly sanctioned haven of drug trafficking, its workers flush with drug money.  There are signs that things far more heinous go on here, also involving children. )
I ordered one girl from my driveway the other day, telling her she was trespassing and not to return. She screamed “Don’t you ever talk to me that way!” As you’ll note from the video clip of her departure, she was quite indignant and circled her hand about her head, indicating that any defiance to her outrageous behavior was insane.  Politeness and respect are obviously strangers in her family. Sadly there is an arrogant expectation that my home is a public way to be used however and whenever my neighbors see fit.
Additional cameras have been brought on line. More are coming. We live as I did in Cote D’Ivoire West Africa, where each home’s a fortress, and anarchy prevails.

What I’ve Learned from Herkimer’s Officer Heist and the Pleasant Avenue Ball Harassment
Shrugging our shoulders in helplessness because, Hey! It’s just Pleasant Avenue, ill-serves us all. There are two underlying problems here. The most important is attitude. As a community, we must provide basic services, or we’re not a community. If we can’t do this alone, we have to ask for help. To be a successful community rather than one in name only, we have to change to an “I think I can and I will try” attitude. Too often when problems are discussed here, even the best of Herkimer’s people sigh, shrug their shoulders and say, “It’s Herkimer.” (At some point, perhaps the citizens of Gomorrah probably did the same.)

Herkimer is crime-ridden and  plagued by poverty. Many of the children on our street are very intelligent, but they are not engaging intellectually – their education is pathetically inadequate. Some are reading grade levels below what they should.  It’s obvious the school system treats them as pariahs and tracks them as such. At least one middle school student didn’t know what the Atlantic Ocean is. One doesn’t know what an ocean is. A very bright and likable neighboring 9th grader  is periodically made campfires from his homework assignments.  He correctly determined that Herkimer considers him social junk that his school’s job is keep him off the streets during the day. Like many kids in Herkimer, he’s filled with rage and hopelessness.

We can do better than this, Herkimer. If not now, when?

Linda Kaidan

Herkimer’s Slumlords and Drug Traffickers

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333 Pleasant Ave Herkimer NY
333 Pleasant Ave Herkimer, Home of Joyce Barton and Douglas Barton

You might think it’s a no-brainer to talk to your neighbors about your street. Well, after a year of living here, we have, and been informed that local slumlords, owning at least 19 homes in the area, ten of them on Pleasant Ave., Herkimer, make tidy incomes from HUD’s subsidized Section 8 housing vouchers program. The landlords are paid directly by the county housing authority. Though required to maintain their Section 8 properties in compliance with HUD Section 8 housing performance standards, you’ll often find these homes in disrepair both outside and inside, in direct violation of HUD requirements and Herkimer zoning codes

On Herkimer’s Pleasant Avenue, you’ll find some of it renters, both Section 8 and private, have criminal histories, abuse drugs and their children and traffic drugs. This unwitting but successful connivance between Herkimer’s slumlords and drug traffickers has emboldened the Pleasant Avenue’s criminals with a sense of ownership of street and created a menacing sense of anarchy for homeowners. And made Pleasant Avenue a sanctuary for criminals, a Mohawk Valley pirate hole. But it’s only succeeded because of a silent third party, the Village of Herkimer, whose failure of governance is seen through the condition of the street’s rental properties and its lackadaisical policing. Pleasant Avenue’s volatile mix of besieged homeowners and low-income renters can only become a peaceful, if uneasy one with a regular and effective police presence.

Herkimer's Slumlords and Drug Traffickers
State Police Drug Raid, Brandon Hart Residence, 331 Pleasant Ave., Herkimer, NY (8/1/14)

All residents must realize that private property means private. My driveway is not your play area. Streets are for automobiles and not ballgames and boisterous gatherings. There are many games that can be played on the grass in backyards: basketball, badminton, volleyball and croquet. Reading books aloud can be fun, too. You’ll find it cooler and safer in your own backyards. Hint – Most children play in the backyard or at a school yard, and not in the middle of the street, especially for hours on end, in front of the homes of people their parents don’t like.

The appalling, dangerous and unpleasant traditions that have been allowed to develop here on Pleasant Avenue in Herkimer over the last 4 years are at odds with neighborhood safety. We are entitled to the same  and peaceful and quiet enjoyment of our homes as the rest of the rest of the Village of Herkimer enjoys. We pay taxes for municipal and state services. We expect street brawls, disorderly conduct and  harassment and mob menacing to be nonexistent or immediately squelched by a prompt, firm and consistent police response.

Herkimer is truly one of the most beautiful places to live anywhere. But it’s important to feel that all of our community is safe and that residents respect each other rights. For this to happen, we have our work cut out.

  • Going forward we hope our Herkimer police will promptly curtail illegal assemblies, brawling, harassment and trespassing.
  • Let’s help families teach their children to engage in safe, fun and productive activities in the summer and throughout the year. Free help can come from volunteers and game drives.
  • Let’s ensure that all of Herkimer’s rental homes, both Section 8 and private, are regularly inspected in compliance with local code and HUD performance standards.
  • Help foster good behaviors by installing surveillance cameras and being quick to share clips with police, Neighborhood Watch, and post on WordPress and social media.
  • Focus on and foster self-respect. Everything we do is valuable. Let’s invest in creating, learning and sharing, and divest ourselves of hostile and destructive activities
  • Let’s replace bullying, menacing and name calling with communicating.