Chicopee Police and online bullying

In response to “Public Information or Public Shaming?: Some say Chicopee Police enable bullying on their Facebook page,” published July 11-17, 2019.

Thank you for covering this phenomenon. I have noticed it and it’s not good for society. It reminds of the show COPS and how showing people at their worst is entertainment for people who love to judge others who are hard on their luck.

— Mo Amadeus, website comment

Police departments shouldn’t be on social media, period. There’s no use case you can describe (power outage, weather event, public safety messaging, etc.) that wouldn’t be better suited for distribution though the TOWN social media presence.

— Jeff Hobbs, Facebook comment

The Chicopee Police Department has to get a clue to move beyond the bullying culture that I recall from the Chicopee of my growing up there. It’s like the Chicopee bullies just grew older and not wiser and shifted their focus from bullying over appearance or atypical neuro function to issues of race and class.

— Lisa Sergienko, Facebook comment

Police records/ arrest records, police call logs, and mug shots are public information… so they are keeping the public informed with out the public having to search it out. And I’m not saying it’s right or wrong.. I simply don’t care. Don’t want your self made public, don’t do stupid shit.

— Missy Miller-Clapp, Facebook comment

The Chicopee Police Department definitely seems to have a lot of fun with it, and many locals seem to flock to those posts to feel better about themselves.

— Eric Cunha, Facebook comment

They delete comments from the page that they don’t like. They claim it’s the poster who deleted it but that’s not true. I’ve had several of my comments deleted by the Public Information Officer. I can’t even comment on the page anymore because I’m blocked from doing so.

— Jeannie LisBeth, Facebook comment

More often than not, comments on these pages are insults and attacks rather than praise. I don’t think much can be done about it though. There will always be people needing to put their two cents in on an already awful situation.

— Patty Silva, Facebook comment

Talos, in film

In response to “Valley Show Girl: TALOS, Over 10 Years in the Making,” published July 11 – 17, 2019.

Dear Jennifer,

I read your article “TALOS, Over 10 Years in the Making” in the July 11 issue of the Valley Advocate. Interesting information, to be sure, especially the part about how the concept for the music was inspired by Greek mythology, and William Theis’ involvement with the track “Argonaut.” These two sections directly point to the 1963 movie Jason and the Argonauts, in which the giant bronze statue named Talos comes to life and threatens the Argonauts.

A side story about the Jason movie is that the woman who played Medea, Nancy Kovack, has been married to conductor Zubin Mehta since 1969. I’m a classical music baritone in the Springfield area and beyond, so I really enjoy interesting stories about such things.

Best wishes for continued success with your writings.

— Steve Curylo, email