Blogger Larry Kelley and his drone visit UMass

By Mack Cooper

Larry Kelley demonstrating his drone to UMass journalism students

Local journalist Larry Kelley and his drone have become famous in Amherst over the 10 years that his blog, Only in The Republic of Amherst, has been alive. Or maybe the better word is infamous.

Kelley, a fifth-generation Amherst resident and UMass graduate, has posted around 6,500 stories on his blog over the past 10 years and his blog averages 120,000 hits per month, making it more popular than the local paper, the Daily Hampshire Gazette, according to Kelley.

Kelley covers everything from traffic accidents and structure fires, to Amherst Select Board meetings and UMass party houses, and he isn’t afraid to expose people's names and faces, a tactic that hasn’t made him super popular with some people who wind up with their picture on his blog. 

He doesn’t care that some people disagree with his strategies saying that he is tough on everyone and everything he covers. When Kelley was asked what he thinks of people who contact him demanding their picture be taken off his sight, he responded by saying, “Sometimes you have a wart. Learn to live with it.”

Kelley is known to cover DUI arrests and often goes into the courtroom to take pictures of the accused. This has made him very unpopular with defendants and parents of defendants who aren't pleased with their legal troubles being made public. But all the complaints Kelley gets doesn’t deter him from posting, as he said he believes that people will be less likely to drink and drive if they know they will end up with their face plastered on his blog.

Kelley doesn’t run his blog in order to make a living but rather to keep the people of Amherst informed about local events and to keep local officials honest. Kelley said he has even helped out the fire department while covering a structure fire with his drone. While he was shooting an aerial shot of a building on fire, the Amherst Fire Chief used the images from Kelley’s drone to determine that the roof of the building was gonna collapse. He then used that information to order all of the fire fighters in the building to evacuate and sure enough, the roof collapsed a few moments later.

The drone, which Kelley calls Birdie 2, has become a staple of Only in The Republic of Amherst and allows Kelly to get great aerial photos and videos. He has images on his blog of car accidents, UMass parties, structure fires and many others. He uses the drone to capture shots he wouldn’t normally be able to capture and the drone allows him to get closer, while staying farther away, from dangerous stories or events unfolding.

Kelley, being known as a character, was asked if he followed all the proper FAA rules when flying his drone. “So far I haven’t broken them,” said Kelley, “so far,” before he proceed to fly his drone over students' heads, a violation of FAA regulations. (Note -- Kelley disputes the drone was directly above students' heads.)

Kelley said he sees himself as an essential part of the Amherst community, and a voice for the full time Amherst residents that aren’t associated with any of the university's. When asked if he knows about any other towns that have a freelance journalist like him, he said “Every town should.”