The Hubster

Quabbin threatened

2009-07-16T13:51:00.002-04:00

It may seem like a small issue, but an invasive mollusk could jeopardize our drinking water supply. The Globe reports that the zebra mussel, originally from Russia, came to the US in the 1980s and is now in western Massachusetts. The zebra could "wipe out native aquatic life, clog water intake pipes, and foul drinking water supplies," according to state officials, who are developing emergency plans to deal with the potential menace. In the meantime, fishing will be limited, as boats can trabsport the mussel from different bodies of water.

The Quabbin, created by the flooding of four central Massachusetts towns in the 1920s, is one of the finest sources of drinking water in the country. Fishing is usually allowed using rowboats, but motorboats and swimming are prohibited.

Dangerous decision

2009-07-08T08:44:00.002-04:00

Despite a law requiring seat-belt use, fewer drivers in Massachusetts buckle up that any other state -- fewer than even New Hampshire, which is the only state without a mandatory seat-belt law. It's shocking to me.

Seven of the drivers killed in the wee hours of the Fourth of July were not belted in. Some say it makes them uncomfortable, some say it messes their clothes. I have a cousin who refuses to do it despite being an otherwise intelligent, reasonable man.

Honestly, I belt up every time, no matter how short my trip. I was sporadic until I saw a program on TV where a woman who was in an accident going just 35 mph had to have a hole drilled in her brain to relieve the pressure. That stuck with me, and I never forget to use my seat belt.

What a lucky man

2009-07-06T15:28:00.005-04:00

When the doorbell for my apartment rings repeatedly it is usually a longtime friend who wants to be intentionally annoying for a laugh. Otherwise, it means trouble. Being that it rang this morning at 8:05 I immediately knew -- despite still being half asleep -- that someone was prompting me to move my car because it was time for street cleaning.

I threw on shorts and popped my feet into sandals, then ran outside. I squinted in the morning sunlight and looked up and down the street. There was one car to my left and one to my right. Despite their looking nothing alike, I couldn't remember which was mine. Then I looked down to make sure I had put some clothes on.

I ran to my car as a Traffic Department employee stood next to it. He had been persuaded by my neighbors to wait just a minute before writing a ticket. I moved the vehicle across the street and thanked my neighbors. They not only saved me from getting a ticket (How much is that these days?) but from possibly getting towed, which is a hassle and carries a price tag around $150. Man, I lucked out. Later I bought the neighbors a case of beer.

It's a crime

2009-07-06T10:21:00.005-04:00

The Globe has a story today about the hazards of summer -- skin cancer, Lyme disease, EEE, West Nile, etc. -- and how they've been overblown, causing widespread worry when the dangers are relatively tiny. This idea is a microcosm of a bigger problem in our society: we worry too much about the wrong things.

Recently I heard Lenore Skenazy, author of a book called Free-Range Kids, on NPR and she cited crime figures that show that, as a rule, children are as safe today as they were when their parents were growing up. Crime did rise for a decade beginning in the mid-1980s, but the number of murders, assaults, rapes and abductions are way down in recent years. The perception, however, is that we live in crazy times and that children need to be chained to their parents.

This paranoia is fostered by local news and true-crime TV shows, but it isn't reality. Of course, every child -- every person -- who is the victim of a crime is one too many, but American parents seem consumed by the idea that a stranger is going to leap out and snatch their kid. Any review of the facts will show that when children are abducted or harmed it is almost always a relative or close friend; when they are reported missing it often turns out that they've run away or that they're with dad.

I remember going to see Michael Moore's film Bowling for Columbine and thinking that it'd be a liberal crusade against guns -- a crusade I support -- but the theme was actually quite different. Moore has been an NRA member since he was a teenager. His movie focuses on the fear that many Americans have that someone is going to burst through their door to attack them, rob them and/or hold them hostage. Again, this is an irrational fear. That is not to say that it never happens, but that it is extremely rare. Watching local TV news and true-crime shows, however, you'd think it happens every other day in your town.

As a result, people in the United States arm themselves with all sorts of weaponry and fight against laws that would exercise some control of their armaments. In the movie, Moore crosses the border and walks around Toronto -- a big urban center -- and into people's homes. Turns out they don't lock their doors as often in Canada because they don't fear crime the way we do. They aren't bombarded with fearmongering on the tube every day.

Yes, I know: crime does happen, and it can be devastating, but I don't believe that we should let the way we live be controlled by TV stations desperate for higher ratings.

Read 'em and weep

2009-07-04T11:43:00.002-04:00

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen

united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

LUC announces grants

2009-07-03T09:20:00.003-04:00

The East Boston Land Use Council recently presented $20,000 in charitable grants from the Leonard Florence Memorial Trust Fund. Included are scholarships for local students in private schools and money for non-profit agencies.

The list can be viewed at EastBoston.com.

Should we be alarmed?

2009-07-01T14:04:00.003-04:00

East Boston is protected by one less fire company today. The city has "browned out" Engine 56, located on Ashley Street in Orient Heights, along with companies in Dorchester and South Boston, in accordance with its new policy to avoid paying overtime when a certain number of firefighters call in sick.

It is unclear to me whether Ladder 21, which operates from the same firehouse, is still on duty. Eastie also has firehouses at 239 Sumner Street (just outside Maverick Square) and 360 Saratoga Street (just outside Day Square).

This is the latest in a war of hostility between the Menino Administration and Local 718, the firefighters union, which has been without a contract for three years.

Here comes the...fog?

2009-06-30T20:34:00.008-04:00

Though the calendar says that July is about to begin, I would swear it is October. Today I stopped by the beach (Shay's if you grew up here, Constitution if you didn't) and found the lifeguard chairs empty. There was no one there to guard. Some small children were in the play area, and three had ventured onto the sand to make a sandcastle.

Over at Piers Park a steady wind blew off the water and a bank of clouds sat atop the city skyline, a blanket thrown down to keep us from seeing the sun. The showers and cool temperatures are forecast to continue until at least Friday. Don't despair: the 4th of July looks like it'll be around 80 with mostly sunny skies.

Losing a civic force

2009-06-30T09:03:00.003-04:00

The Boston Globe did a seven-part series last week called, "Failing our athletes: The sad state of sports in Boston Public Schools." It was an in-depth look at an issue from many sides with dozens of interviews, several sidebars and online video clips. Back in the fall there was an investigative series called "Unhealthy System," about Partners HealthCare's impact on health care in Massachusetts, and earlier last year there was the definitive exploration of the life of Ted Kennedy in a week-long series.

This is the kind of journalism that we're seeing less of these days, as newspapers -- especially big-city dailies -- are forced to tighten their belts, laying off staff, closing bureaus and shrinking their mission. Technology is forever changing the world in many ways, and the relative merits of it all can be debated, but I think it's clear that we are seeing, and will continue to see, less reporting of important stories with ample resources as only a large, stable newspaper can do.

Some of the Globe's most important work was the series and subsequent reporting on the Catholic Church abuse scandal. Seven years ago the paper pulled back the cloak on the sins of Cardinal Law and others. You can still see the massive amount of stories, images, documents and video that relate to the story on Boston.com. That kind of commitment to an issue and that kind of civic responsibility is something that only a newspaper possesses.

When the Globe dies we are going to lose all that -- and be worse off for it.

Unreasonable school behavior smacked down

2009-06-26T10:29:00.006-04:00

Thankfully the Supreme Court showed some common sense in the decision released yesterday ruling that a 2003 strip search of a middle-school student violated her Fourth Amendment rights. When I saw reports on this case being argued a few months ago, I thought it was outrageous and that only an idiot would think that the school officials acted reasonably and legally. Well, the Court's ruling was an 8-1 decision -- which validates my thinking because Clarence Thomas, the lone dissenting voter, is an idiot.

Six years ago Savana Redding was an eighth-grader in Arizona when a classmate was found to have some prescription-strength ibuprofen. The classmate told school administrators that Redding had some of the pills and the girl was searched. When a look through her backpack and outer clothing turned up nothing, Redding -- an honor student with no disciplinary record -- was told to take off her clothes and to move aside her underwear as two female school officials looked on. No contraband was found.

Redding was understandably upset by the encounter and never returned to the school. Her mother, with the help of the ACLU, brought suit against the school district and the offending school officials. The district court agreed with the school district, but the appeals court reversed the decision and the Supremes upheld that outcome.

The Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution says, in part, that, "The right of the people...against unreasonable searches and seizures...shall not be violated..." In this case, I think, the school officials acted unreasonably in a couple of ways. First, what they were looking for did not meet the standard of "imminent danger." If the allegation was that Redding had a gun in her pants or a vial of anthrax, then the safety of everyone in the school would be immediately at risk. One or two ibuprofen wasn't going to bring the building down. The school's reasonable suspicion may have given them legitimate cause to search Redding's backpack and to make her empty her pockets, but not to have the teenager take her clothes off.

Secondly, the accuser was another middle-school student -- one who was in trouble and looking to shift blame or bring someone else down. If a teacher had observed Redding passing out ibuprofen to classmates then it would be reasonable to expect the school to push this to another level, but even then I think you'd want to call in the parents -- Redding's mother was not informed of what was going on -- or to follow up in some other way.

Of course, Redding might, at one point, have possessed the pills in question. I'm not vouching for her innocence. However, given the two lines of argument above, it seems clear to me that school officials exercised their authority in an unreasonable manner and subjected the girl to a humiliating experience -- one that violated her Constitutional rights. Justice John Paul Stevens -- who I admire more and more -- called the actions of the school officials "clearly outrageous conduct." Stevens went on to write that, "it does not take a constitutional scholar to know that a strip search of a 13-year-old child is a significant invasion of constitutional rights."

Weekend festival

2009-06-25T05:51:00.003-04:00

The Sacred Heart Festival takes place this weekend, with music, food and games on the schedule. This is the third year for this event, which is held behind Sacred Heart church, located on Brooks Street between Paris and Morris streets.

The festival runs Friday from 6 to 11 p.m. and Saturday from 4 to 11 p.m. "Disco Diva" Evelyn Champagne King is the featured musical guest on Saturday evening. There will also be picnic games, a watermelon eating contest, henna artists and a big 50/50 raffle.

Money raised by the festival goes to youth programming at the parish.

A lost war

2009-06-24T15:44:00.003-04:00

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof makes an argument that we need to drastically change the nation's policies with regards to illegal narcotics. "This year marks the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s start of the war on drugs," he writes in his most recent piece, "and it now appears that drugs have won."

One former big-city police chief says:

“We’ve spent a trillion dollars prosecuting the war on drugs. What do we have to show for it? Drugs are more readily available, at lower prices and higher levels of potency. It’s a dismal failure.”

Kristof adds that the War on Drugs has left the US with five times more people imprisoned than the world average, while at the same time enriching criminals and terrorists. He raises some good points in the column and everyone who makes policy in this country, or who cares about it, should read it and start thinking about new approaches.

Streamlined

2009-06-23T22:26:00.002-04:00

Single-stream recycling comes to Boston on July 1, the mayor announced today. We'll no longer have to sort our paper and plastics. More items than ever will be accepted and residents will get 64-gallon buckets to place their recyclables curbside. This should increase the number of people who take part in the recycling program, as well as make it easier for all of us.

Globe: 'Hey, Massport lied'; Eastie: 'No kidding'

2009-06-22T01:03:00.004-04:00

In an editorial today The Boston Globe is shocked...shocked!...that Massport has not lived up to promises that were made to facilitate the construction of Runway 14/32. Of course, the residents of East Boston have said many times that Massport's leaders have been lying to this community for more than 40 years.

A federal judge lifted a 30-year injunction to allow the laying down of the newest runway partly because the agency, as the Globe says, "argued that it would reduce delays when strong northwest winds ruled out use of other runways, without sending substantially more flights over any of the nearby neighborhoods." And then?

Since the new runway’s completion in 2006, there has been a major increase in takeoffs over East Boston, Chelsea, Somerville, Cambridge, and Medford. The airport and the FAA owe it to Logan’s neighbors to reduce the burden on them without compromising on safety.

And what is their excuse for this bait-and-switch? "Massport officials say the problem was not easily foreseeable..." Thousands of pages of reports and studies, and thousands of dollars paid to lobbyists and to lawyers, and they didn't know what the hell they were doing. Good job. Maybe I'm giving them too much credit. Maybe they're just incompetent.

Nope. They're incompetent AND they're liars.

Takin' it to the streets

2009-06-21T20:13:00.003-04:00

The developments this week in Tehran are, by turns, stirring and disturbing. The people of Iran are standing up against their theocratic dictatorship and wide fissures among the country's leadership have been exposed. Meanwhile, some police and militia in the streets have beaten many and killed some.

The role of modern technology in all of this is fascinating, and some of the best places to follow the story are Andrew Sullivan's blog on The Atlantic Monthly's web site, a site based in the US called Tehran Bureau, the BBC, The New Yorker magazine's News Desk blog, and The New York Times blog The Lede.

Though a few blowhards on the right are shouting that President Obama needs to offer more public support for the Iranian protesters, most observers -- including conservatives George F. Will, David Brooks and Pat Buchanan -- have said, correctly, that the US cannot allow Iran's government to tie the unrest in the streets of Tehran to foreign elements. Of course they will do that anyway, but this is a movement that began domestically, and everyone inside and outside Iran knows it. Obama's comments so far have been just right, and there is no doubt that his administration is monitoring the ordeal closely.

There's also no doubt that the US would like to see the reactionary duo of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei out of the picture, but if Obama were to stand up and shout that it would only negatively impact the outcome. We are not, after all, about to send in the American military to defend the protesters or to fight the Revolutionary Guard. Therefore, our maneuvers here require wisdom, tact and patience -- and thankfully we have the right guy in charge on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Eastie in the news

2009-06-20T08:51:00.003-04:00

***A New York Times story bemoans the effects of the housing bust on the three-deckers of New England, including a reference to East Boston.

***There was recently a nice story in the Boston Business Journal on Robert Lewis, 37, vice president of the Boston Foundation, who grew up in East Boston.

***After bringing the race back for two years, Suffolk Downs has announced that its signature event, the MassCap, won't be held this year.

Stepping out for a good cause

2009-06-19T15:58:00.003-04:00

Right about now people are checking in for the Relay for Life at East Boston Stadium and they will be on hand for the next 24 hours, rain or -- well, looks like there is no other option. More than $20,000 has been raised so far for the American Cancer Society by the 23 teams who are taking part. You can add to that total by going to the Eastie Relay for Life web site.

Recognizing 'compelling case' for discount

2009-06-19T14:19:00.004-04:00

Outspoken Turnpike Authority board member Mary Connaughton had an op-ed piece in yesterday's Boston Globe in which she recognized that the agency's days are numbered and advocated that tolls be eliminated on the pike. She also mentioned the residential toll discount, admitting that "the program may have merit and the residents of East Boston argue a compelling case..."

Connaughton believes that the discount should be funded directly from the state rather than from other tolls, as such policies tend to pit regions against each other. Whatever the mechanism, it is nice to see someone who doesn't benefit from the program stand up for the legitimacy of it.

Was feast killed by politics?

2009-06-17T11:30:00.006-04:00

The web site Change for Boston has a lengthy post on the cancellation of this year's Italia Unita festival. The site claims that the annual East Boston feast was, in essence, squashed by the mayor in a case of political retribution. Here is the key paragraph:

Long time East Boston resident and talk show host Michelle McPhee says the real story is the festival organizer Pasquale Capogreco, president of Italia Unita, is a Michael Flaherty supporter for the Boston Mayor’s race. Menino told Richard Lynds – executive director of the East Boston Foundation, a trust that supports community organizations – to pull the plug on the funding. Lynds had multiple weak reasons not to grant the festival the its annual $15,000 commitment.

Now, Change for Boston seems to be expressly devoted to unseating Menino in the coming mayoral election. The posts on the site are written by "ADMIN," so for all I know it could be part of Councilor Flaherty's campaign, and I can't find any other references on the Internet to McPhee breaking this story.

I have no other information on this issue, but I thought I'd point out the allegation.

The revolution will be texted

2009-06-17T07:04:00.004-04:00

While we in the US are debating the negative physical and emotional effects of text messaging and Internet-based social-networking sites, these modes of communication just may be the unstoppable weapons that help people break free of oppressive governments around the world.

I personally have Luddite tendencies (at least philosophically; practically speaking, my refusal to get an iPod is a rather weak line in the sand) and I join the chorus of those decrying the ubiquity of young people constantly texting (even while behind the wheel) or of the seeming foolishness of following anyone's every move on Twitter. However, this week's upheaval in Iran over the apparently stolen presidential election seems to be fueled by high-tech communication, despite the emabttled government's attempts to cut off those connections.

In China, where the totalitarian regime succeeded recently in keeping public demonstrations to a minimum during the days that marked the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre (to end mass public gatherings that happened without the help of texting or the Internet), modern communication resources are used to spread stories of the corruption of local government officials. The Communist Party's massive efforts at controlling information is less than perfect.

So it seems that our rapidly developing communication technologies have a big upside for those who have lived under the cloak of oppressive governments, and it appears to be just a matter of time before newer and less-controllable modes of information-spreading completely tip the balance. In this regard these devices are the printing presses of the 21st Century, and I'll try to remember that the next time someone talking on a cell phone almost runs me over.

Safe cracking

2009-06-16T08:18:00.003-04:00

In a move that would make the Taliban smile, a group of Christian conservatives in Wisconsin is demanding that a young adult book be publicly burned. How long before they're calling for another Inquisition?

The book, Baby Be-Bop, by award-winning writer Francesca Lia Block, is about "a young man's discovery that he's gay," according to Salon.com. The Christian Civil Liberties Union has filed suit against the West Bend Public Library, alleging that displaying the book has caused mental anguish to people.

The group that initiated this ridiculous imbroglio is called West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries, which is the part that makes me angry. Libraries should not be, must not be, "safe" -- not in line with the usage of the word in this context: non-controversial; bleached of ideas; espousing only viewpoints in line with conservatives.

No! Libraries, books, words, ideas, art -- all of these things are dangerous. They threaten those in power; they make people think; they attack the status quo. That is the point. The concept of a "safe library" sounds like an Orwellian term. It's where the tortured citizenry goes to be reeducated in the beliefs of a totalitarian regime.

I don't want safe libraries, or safe books, or safe art. Freedom, justice, equality, compassion, tolerance and truth depend on unsafe ideas being spread as widely as possible.

The Times that tries men's souls

2009-06-14T10:02:00.008-04:00

There was a comment posted a few days ago by a reader pointing out that this week's East Boston Times congratulated, on page 14, the graduates from the class of "2008." Paging through the June 10 issue I also saw that a headline identified photos from East Boston High School's "ACADMEMIC AWARDS BANQUET."

Of course, mistakes happen. The Times got the year right on Page 13, and the error on the following page was in a heading that was likely carried over from last year and just slipped by. Someone should have caught the misspelling of "academic" -- especially in a story about schools -- but I've edited newspapers, and I know that headlines and captions are often written last, sometimes moments before files are uploaded to the printer.

The things that really trouble me about the local weekly are elsewhere in this week's issue: on page 1 and page 20. The lead story opens with this paragraph: "A second East Boston school in less than a month has been shut down due to a nasty flu outbreak." That was breaking news on June 3, the day that the Boston Public Schools sent out a news release announcing it, but seven days later -- the day the Times hit the streets -- it was an old story. The article should have opened with "Youngsters at an East Boston elementary school return to their classrooms tomorrow after a sudden week-long vacation prompted by fears of a flu outbreak." Or something to that effect.

Besides the untimely angle, the Times story does not quote the school's principal or any teachers or any students or any parents. There are a couple lines in quotation marks from school superintendent Carol Johnson, but they are taken from the aforementioned BPS press release. Why not include comments from those affected by the story? Why not follow up on the closing of the Umana, which happened a couple weeks ago, by asking their principal how the shutdown affected his school?

On the back page is what we've come to expect from the Times: eight static photos of Chamber of Commerce members. (There is also the obligatory photo of politicians on page 1.) This marks 199 weeks in a row we've seen the same faces doing the same things in our local newspaper. The 2000 census said that there are 38,413 people living in East Boston. Not all of them can be found at meetings of the Chamber of Commerce.

Creek soiree

2009-06-12T16:47:00.005-04:00

The 6th annual Chelsea River Revel is taking place tomorrow and includes music, food and a road race. The Meridian Street Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic for the festivities, and sunny skies are forecast, with temperatures in the upper 60s. According to an email I received, the schedule will include:

A 5K race at 10 am; one-mile kids' race at 9:30; timed racewalkers' race at 9:45.
Festival on the bridge from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. featuring:
Live music on two stages
Free games and activities for kids of all ages
Food vendors selling a wide variety of great food
Local artists with their work on display and for sale
Live performances
Environmental boat cruises on the creek!

For more information go to the Chelsea River Revel web site.

Cleaning up Gitmo

2009-06-10T15:35:00.003-04:00

If I was unjustly imprisoned for years by an individual, a drug cartel, a rebel army or a sovereign government, I'm sure that fury and hatred would have long ago boiled over in my brain and that taking violent action against my oppressor could be something I'd agree to. The fact that The New York Times reported last month that an unreleased Pentagon study showed that one in seven terror suspects released by the US were back in the fight against this country isn't surprising. The mystifying part is that the other 86% have seemingly been able to put the experience behind them enough to move on with their lives. (In the days after the NYT story it was reported that the actual figure was probably less than one in seven.)

In the past 48 hours we've heard that one suspected terrorist has been transferred from Guantanamo Bay to New York City to stand trial and that the tiny island nation of Palau, formerly a US protectorate, has agreed to take up to 17 Chinese Muslims -- a group that has been held since 2002, even after a federal judge found that they have not been connected to any crimes.

The saga of those held at Gitmo is shameful, complex and ongoing, but the crux of the matter is that the US government has been holding people -- some dangerous, but most not -- for years without charges in violation of both our Constitution and the Geneva Conventions. Some on the right are in a tizzy about the actions of the Obama Administration, but the president recognizes that something needs to be done with the remaining 240 detainees. We cannot, and we should not, continue to hold them indefinitely without some sort of legal process.

The clock cannot be turned back, but the Bush Administration completely boggled this issue. As I see it, individuals held for violating criminal statutes need to be processed through the justice system of the government where the alleged infractions took place, whether in the United States, Iraq or Afghanistan. If someone is captured as a prisoner of war, then international law applies and that person has to be released when the battle is over (in these cases, when Baghdad or Kabul fell), unless the individual is charged with war crimes. Then an international war crimes tribunal should handle the case. There are no other categories and governments cannot just create a classification ("enemy combatant") to suit their needs.

It is time for America to move forward on this matter and for the Right to stop playing the fear card.

Proper disposal of hazardous waste

2009-06-07T16:22:00.004-04:00

Trash that contains some form of hazardous waste should not be put out for normal curbside pick-up, but rather disposed of in a more responsible manner. Many residents -- myself included -- have not taken advantage of the city's services in this area, but I need to step up and do so, as do all of us.

Every few weeks there is a Hazardous Waste Drop-Off Day scheduled in a different part of the city. Yesterday (sorry I didn't post this earlier) it was at UMass-Boston, but there will be another on June 27 at the West Roxbury Public Works Yard. I believe that East Boston is in the rotation, so if you'd rather not drive across the city (and I, for one, have never even been to West Roxbury -- and got lost on my only visit to Hyde Park) just need to be patient.

To see a list of the items that are accepted on drop-off days, click here. We should keep in mind that these things are hazardous if dumped in a landfill with the rest of our refuse, as they contain chemicals that can leach into the ground and eventually into the public drinking water supply. The list includes products that many of us have in our houses and apartments: drain cleaner, art supplies, insecticides, aerosol cans, mercury thermometers, batteries, turpentine, bleach, nail-polish remover, and much more.

Televisions and computer monitors are not accepted at the drop-off, but -- even easier -- the city's public works department will pick up these items curbside if you call them at 617-635-7574. For more information go to the City of Boston household hazardous waste web page or call 617-635-4959.