diff --git a/settings.py b/settings.py
index cbc7fde66..52cfd30ab 100644
--- a/settings.py
+++ b/settings.py
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ import django.http
 import re
 from mongoengine import connect
 from boto.s3.connection import S3Connection, OrdinaryCallingFormat
-from boto.connection import BotoServerError
 from utils import jammit
 
 # ===================
@@ -704,15 +703,11 @@ if DEBUG:
 # =======
 
 S3_CONN = None
-try:
-    if BACKED_BY_AWS.get('pages_on_s3') or BACKED_BY_AWS.get('icons_on_s3'):
-        S3_CONN = S3Connection(S3_ACCESS_KEY, S3_SECRET, calling_format=OrdinaryCallingFormat())
-        if BACKED_BY_AWS.get('pages_on_s3'):
-            S3_PAGES_BUCKET = S3_CONN.get_bucket(S3_PAGES_BUCKET_NAME)
-        if BACKED_BY_AWS.get('icons_on_s3'):
-            S3_ICONS_BUCKET = S3_CONN.get_bucket(S3_ICONS_BUCKET_NAME)
-except BotoServerError, e:
-    print " ---> Error: %s" % e
-    
+if BACKED_BY_AWS.get('pages_on_s3') or BACKED_BY_AWS.get('icons_on_s3'):
+    S3_CONN = S3Connection(S3_ACCESS_KEY, S3_SECRET, calling_format=OrdinaryCallingFormat())
+    if BACKED_BY_AWS.get('pages_on_s3'):
+        S3_PAGES_BUCKET = S3_CONN.get_bucket(S3_PAGES_BUCKET_NAME)
+    if BACKED_BY_AWS.get('icons_on_s3'):
+        S3_ICONS_BUCKET = S3_CONN.get_bucket(S3_ICONS_BUCKET_NAME)
 
 django.http.request.host_validation_re = re.compile(r"^([a-z0-9.-_\-]+|\[[a-f0-9]*:[a-f0-9:]+\])(:\d+)?$")