Those trapped in the city faced an increasingly lawless environment, as law enforcement agencies found themselves overwhelmed with widespread looting. Looters swarmed the Wal-mart on Tchoupitoulas Street, often bypassing the food and drink section to steal wide-screen TVs, jewelry, bicycles and computers. Watching the sordid display and shaking his head in disgust, one firefighter said of the scene: "It's a f---- hurricane, what are you do with a basketball goal?" Police regained control at about 3 p.m., after clearing the store with armed patrol. One shotgun-toting Third District detective described the looting as "ferocious."
"And it's going to get worse as the days progress," he said.
In Uptown, one the few areas that remained dry, a bearded man patrolled Oak Street near the boarded-up Maple Leaf Bar, a sawed-off shotgun slung over his shoulder. The owners of a hardware store sat in folding chairs, pistols at the ready.
Uptown resident Keith Williams started his own security patrol, driving around in his Ford pickup with his newly purchased handgun. Earlier in the day, Williams said he had seen the body of a gunshot victim near the corner of Leonidas and Hickory streets.
"What I want to know is why we don't have paratroopers with machine guns on every street," Williams said.
Like-minded Art Depodesta sat on the edge of a picnic table outside Cooter Brown's Bar, a chrome shotgun at his side loaded with red shells.
"They broke into the Shell station across the street," he said. "I walked over with my 12-gauge and shot a couple into the air."
The looters scattered, but soon after, another man appeared outside the bar in a pickup truck armed with a pistol and threatened Depodesta.
"I told him, 'Listen, I was in the Army and I will blow your ass off,'" Depodesta said. "We've got enough trouble with the flood."
The man sped away.
"You know what sucks," Depodesta said. "The whole U.S. is looking at this city right now, and this is what they see."
In the Bywater, a supply store sported spray-painted signs reading "You Loot, I Shoot" and "You Bein Watched." A man seated nearby with a rifle in his lap suggested it was no idle threat. At the Bywater studio of Dr. Bob, the artist known for handpainted "Be Nice or Leave" signs, a less fanciful sentiment was painted on the wall: "Looters Will Be Shot. Dr. Bob."
Officials watched helplessly as looters around the city ransacked stores for food, clothing, appliances and guns.
[snip]
New Orleans' homeland security chief, Terry Ebbert, said looters were breaking into stores all over town and stealing guns. He said there are gangs of armed men moving around the city.
The Times-Picayune newspaper reported that the gun section at a new Wal-Mart in the Lower Garden District had been cleaned out by looters.
Boston police officials say there are more guns on city streets than at any time in at least six years, and they are stepping up efforts to stem the flow of the weapons, many of which they believe are being brought illegally into Massachusetts from out of state.
David Hemenway, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and the author of "Private Guns, Public Health," a 2004 book about the impact of guns on society, said criminals tend to arm themselves as others become armed, meaning that it is critical to make guns less accessible.
Authorities said many guns appear to be stolen weapons from other states that are brought to Massachusetts, which has some of the strictest gun laws in the country.
Rarely does a suburban homeowner beat a burglar to the draw in his living room at 3 a.m.
Ask criminals why they carried a gun while robbing the convenience store and frequently the answer is,"What are you, retarded?""So I could get the money and not have to hurt anyone." But as Hemenway explains, "Then something happens. Maybe somebody unexpectedly walks in, or the storeowner draws a gun."
"Your heart is racing. Next thing you know, somebody is dead."
Hemenway scoffs at the rote objection, "A determined criminal will always get a gun," responding, "Yes, but a lot of people aren't that determined. I'm sure there are some determined yacht buyers out there, but when you raise the price high enough, a lot of them stop buying yachts."
A twice-convicted rapist, who a jury refused to keep locked up, is accused of kidnapping a teenage girl in Framingham and gang-raping her with three other men.
Authorities say the 18-year-old girl was grabbed in front of an apartment complex and driven to a nearby town where the men took turns raping her.
[snip]
Davila was first convicted of rape in 1995 as a 15-year-old, Hettinger said. He was put under the supervision of the state Department of Youth Services.
"In 1998, he was at home, still under the supervision of DYS, and he committed another rape," Hettinger said.
According to published reports, Davila, then a 17-year-old high schooler, grabbed a 19-year-old woman as she walked by, dragged her into a bar parking lot in Framingham and raped her.
Davila served more than two years in prison for that crime. Prosecutors attempted to have Davila civilly committed, but failed, Hettinger said.
"Mr. Davila was released by the jury," said Hettinger.
"He was not found to be a sexually dangerous person."
Davila is also a registered sex offender, but the Sex Offender Registry Board has not designated what level he is yet.
TAUNTON - Jessica Corriera, 19, got so tired of being harassed when she took her baby out for walks that she got a license to carry pepper spray for protection.
"I don't feel safe around here," Corriera said one recent morning as she walked her 5-month-old baby in a carriage to the store.
"I got the pepper spray for our protection," said Corriera, who lives on Fourth Avenue near St. Jacques Church.
"I go for walks with my son on these streets all the time and there's always punks and weirdoes hanging around."
Matt Mello, 22, also of Fourth Avenue, says he doesn't "feel safe at all on my street."
"The police are on my street every week, sometimes twice a week. There's a few houses where there's always trouble and drugs," he said. "They harass me and they even harass my father."
Kara Narciso said she does not feel safe taking her children for walks in the Oak Street area near the fire station.
"I don't want my son exposed to the stuff and the people I see around there," she said.
Instead, she takes her children to Boyden Conservation Refuge on Cohannet Street, but even that area has been vandalized over the past year.
Narciso also takes her children to Hopewell Park, where on a recent morning she was playing baseball and running bases with her son Noah, 4.
"We like it here," she said as her 7-week-old son Elijah slept in his carriage. But...
"My husband is looking at property in New Hampshire."
Welcome to our state, please help keep it special
By KEITH MURPHY
Guest Commentary
DEAR NEW neighbor,
Welcome to New Hampshire. You have made a tremendous decision in moving to this state, this hidden jewel. It is a not a decision you will regret.
New Hampshire's crime rate is consistently ranked among the lowest in the United States, while the per capita income is among the highest. For two years in a row, New Hampshire has been recognized for having the highest quality of life in the nation, as well as for being the healthiest state in which to raise a family. For a small state, New Hampshire's terrain is amazingly diverse. From the tallest peak in the Northeast to the shores of the Atlantic to idyllic New England towns, you will be stunned at the sights you will see and the experiences that await you. New Hampshire is as America was, and we welcome you.
In adopting New Hampshire as your home, you have adopted a sacred duty: to keep it the special and unique place that brought you here. To do this, you must understand why New Hampshire remains the fastest growing state in the Northeast while our neighbors struggle with social and economic instability.
The key to New Hampshire's high quality of life is that our government is small. Our citizens have wisely avoided a general sales or income tax, starving our government of the main sources of funds that have created bloated, ravenous bureaucracies in other states.
We know that the proper purpose of government is to protect people from each other, not to run a giant charity operation. Even if it were moral to take money from people and give it to others, government is inefficient at it anyway, and taking care of the needy is too important not to leave to voluntary church and community groups.
New Hampshire's tiny government, small tax rates, and high incomes and quality of life must seem a contradiction to people in other states. The truth is that because our government transfers less money to the needy, we're more likely to help our family members and neighbors in private ways, without a tax agency getting involved.
Most of our legislators still respect our inherent rights as a free people, rights that have been declared archaic and legislated away in other states. In New Hampshire, we are still free to carry a firearm in public if we choose. Again, this fact combined with our minuscule crime rate must strike people from elsewhere as a contradiction. The truth is that because we are free to carry firearms, criminals live in fear of us and not the other way around.
We are free to not wear a seatbelt, or to not wear a motorcycle helmet. Most of us do these things anyway, given that it is good common sense, but we recognize that legislating common sense is a dangerous slippery slope we don't want to approach. We are happy to make our own decisions as adults, and to let our neighbors make theirs, knowing that each of us must live with the consequences of our decisions.
In short, it is because we are still free that we are so successful as a state. We ask no more of our neighbors than absolutely necessary, and when it cannot be avoided we keep the decision-making as local as possible. Thus, whereas most of the "local" decisions nationally are made by counties or regional authorities, we in New Hampshire still prefer to do nearly everything at the town level.
If a native should give you a sideways glance upon learning of your foreign origin, please understand it is because many thousands of people have been drawn here by our freedoms and the resulting opportunities. So many of these people fail to realize what makes New Hampshire such a great state, and upon arrival they set about voting for bigger and bigger government. The tragedy is that they could unwittingly change New Hampshire into the place from which they've just escaped. This year's cigarette tax increase and law mandating bicycle helmet use for children are just the latest holes in the dike.
Please, now that you know what makes your new home so special and unique, help keep it that way. Vote for candidates and policies that will result in smaller, less intrusive government.
"Live free or die." Welcome home.
A task force formed by Massachusetts mayors wants the state to consider boosting excise tax rates on cars and city taxes on restaurant meals, and moving thousands of municipal retirees to Medicare, according to the group's draft report.
"24" will have a four-hour, two night season premiere on Jan. 8 and 9, (8 p.m. EDT), before moving to its regular Monday slot on Jan. 16.
NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore early Monday and charged toward this low-lying city with 145-mph winds and the threat of a catastrophic storm surge.
Katrina edged slightly to the east shortly before making landfall near Grand Isle, providing some hope that the worst of the storm's wrath might not be directed at the vulnerable city.
Heros Previlon felt immune to the dangers of driving a taxi cab at night in Boston, assuaging his family's fears by saying: "What can happen? I have God."
Yesterday, after the hardworking Haitian cab driver was slain over a $7 fare, Previlon's extended family, six siblings who live in the Boston area, cried out to God with one word, "Why?"
BOSTON --Diners who can't finish that bottle of wine at dinner might not have a problem anymore. A bill sponsored by Sen. Richard T. Moore would allow people to take home leftover wine from restaurants, The Boston Globe reports.
At least 30 states, including New York, Connecticut and Vermont, allow diners to take home wine that is left in the bottle. But Massachusetts law limits the sale of wine in restaurants and hotels to dining areas.
"It's not a radical idea" to let people take leftover wine home, City Councilor Paul J. Scapicchio told The Globe.
The bill would require the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission write rules on how restaurants could send opened bottles of wine home with diners.
Some diners said the idea makes sense.
MADISON, N.H. -- When a police car inched up the dirt road next to the town softball field, the people gathered there on a recent Friday night -- some with beer cans in hand -- barely looked up. None of them moved. There was no need to hide the cooler or toss the open cans.
It is far from Madison to the French Quarter, but public drinking is legal in this picturesque White Mountains hamlet. And that is exactly how residents here like it.
"People should be able to have a drink and socialize, and the assumption should not be that they are irresponsible," said Jane Lyman, who had gathered on the softball field at dusk with her husband, Chuck, and a half-dozen other organizers of the town's "Old Home Week" celebration.
Ladies, take action now! Head on down to your local police station to pick up your "No Raping Allowed" buttons. These attractive buttons are 3" in diameter, come in bright easy-to-see colors, and are now available for a $25 fee (pending applicant's criminal background check and fingerprinting). Order now and receive, free of charge, a set of four "Don't Abduct Me" buttons for your children.
Yeslinette Burgos says she is asked for sexual favors by males almost every day.
In the 10 minutes it takes for her to walk from the Jackson Square MBTA station in Jamaica Plain to her summer job on Centre Street, Burgos is whistled at, followed, and often peppered with obscenities by groups of men, young and old, who hang out near the housing developments, barber shops, bodegas, and street corners along the way. She just turned 16.
"Every other block there's a guy saying things," said Burgos, a diminutive teen with dyed blonde hair, a pierced tongue, and sheepish smile. "You walk by, you put your head down, and you walk faster."
It'll get worse when school starts and the crowds at the T station grow larger, Burgos said. But she and a dozen other girls her age who reside and work in the area have devised a plan to deal with their harassers.
They are going to hand the men cards that say "Please Respect Me" and spell out definitions of sexual harassment.
It's a move designed to educate the men and boost the girls' self-esteem, said community organizers who helped guide them -- but it also puts some Boston police officials on edge as they urge the girls to avoid confronting potentially threatening people.
Jackson Square has been the scene for rape and other violence against women.
Last year, 14-year-old Kelly Lee Johnson was stabbed in the abdomen after exchanging heated words with a 15-year-old boy as she waited to take the bus to school at the MBTA station. In November, a 17-year-old girl was kidnapped and raped by five teenage boys after she left the station and was forced into a basement inside the nearby Bromley-Heath Housing Development at gunpoint.
Police Probe South End Home Invasion
Victim Not Injured
BOSTON -- Boston police are looking for a man behind a brazen, late-night home invasion in Boston's South End Wednesday.
Police said a man made his way into an apartment at 106 St. Botolph St. just before 10 p.m. Wednesday.
There are reports the man climbed up construction scaffolding surrounding the building. Once inside, the man tied up the homeowner and made off with cash and jewelry.
The victim was not injured.
there is a guy on espn
world poker tour
slicing a carrot
by flinging playing cards
with stunning accuracy
seems impossible
and a tad scary
CANTON, Ohio -- There are 490 female students at Timken High School, and 65 are pregnant, according to a recent report in the Canton Repository.
The article reported that some would say that movies, TV, videogames, lazy parents and lax discipline may all be to blame.
School officials are not sure what has caused so many pregnancies...
A loud pop on a city street corner. A gun confiscated. A 12-year-old boy arrested. Amid the daily grind at Boston Juvenile Court, it was pedestrian fare, and prosecutors requested $5,000 bail.
But to Judge Paul D. Lewis, the case was fresh evidence of a world gone mad. He set 50 times the bail, $250,000 cash, for the South End boy yesterday morning.
"These kids don't take responsibility for anything," Lewis, 64, said in an interview after the court hearing. "They're fearless. It's out of control. It's beyond out of control."
"I was shocked," said the lawyer, Mariann Samaha, who plans to appeal the bail. "God, he's 12 years old. He has no judgment."
MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Gas station owners are wrestling with a dilemma. They are trying to make sure people don't steal gas without hurting profits from other parts of their business.
Many stations have gone to a pay-first policy, but they said that cuts down on browsing and buying in gas station stores, which is a big chunk of their income.
The case of an Alabama gas station owner run down and killed by a driver who police believe was escaping with $52 worth of fuel comes as no shock to industry experts.
"As the price of gas climbs, people's values decline," said Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores.
Lenard said the death of Husain "Tony" Caddi, 54, has captured national media attention for two reasons: It shows that soaring gas prices make people angry enough to steal, and gas retailers are tired of putting up with it.
"We're in uncharted territory. We're seeing more people going to prepay than ever before," Lenard said. "I think we'll look back on 2005 and say 'Remember when we used to be trusted to pay for our gas?"'
Firearm Removal Program
Contact Detective James Heffernan at (508) 799-8651
to arrange removal of unwanted firearms.
Carl Ruth is being held without bail in the death of Janice Ruth, whose body was found May 5 in the couple's apartment. She had taken out a restraining order against her husband in 2003.
A gang of prisoners tunnelled out of a Brazilian jail - only to emerge in the prison yard.
The 67 men emerged just 30 centimetres short of Timoteo Prison's main perimeter wall.
They had painstakingly planned the break out but failed to build the tunnel long enough.
As they emerged from the tunnel, they found guards already waiting to take them back to their cells, Jornal da Globo reports.
A police spokesman said: "They were so frustrated and we could not hold our laughter, they were really dumb!"
"In this particular community, there was an incident involving gunfire, and we sent a squad on bicycles the very next night."
- BPD spokesman, Sergeant Thomas Sexton
"I know, it was stupid, but I thought the camera would scare them."
- South End resident and crime victim, Carlos French
"But I can't judge an individual for trying to keep his family safe."
- Sandy Martin, coordinator for the South End Lower Roxbury Youth Workers Alliance (on Mr. French's decision to "arm" himself with a video camera to protect his family from gun-toting thugs)
For years, Boston has been one of the least successful cities in the US at catching and prosecuting murderers, and it's only getting worse.
[snip]
Simply put, the BPD's homicide unit has the worst track record of any big-city police department in the country.
At the same time, Boston's homicide rate continues to rise, in sharp contrast with the trend in other US cities. Nationally, the murder rate is at its lowest in decades and still dropping. But Boston is on track for its highest murder tally since the early 1990s - even though its population has shrunk. Boston had an official total of 225 homicides between 2001 and 2004 - an increase of more than 50 percent from the previous four years. No other US city experienced anything similar.
BOSTON - While fans are rocking to the Rolling Stones inside Fenway Park, police officers armed with noise meters will be positioned outside the ballpark Sunday night.
If the noise surpasses 70 decibels on the surrounding streets, Patricia Malone, director of the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing, will be alerted, and she will tell concert host Clear Channel to turn it down.
80 dB = Noisy office, electric shaver, alarm clock, police whistle
70 dB = Average radio, normal street noise
60 dB = Conversational speech
(Associated Press photo)
GARY HILLMAN summed it up when he pointed out that bigger savings can be had during regular sale offers ("Tax-free weekend a gift to retailers," Aug. 15), but no one has mentioned that consumers were only cheating themselves by not paying a sales tax.
Five hundred million in retail sales equals $25 million in lost tax revenue -- money that could have gone to public schools, transportation, or public safety. I'm sure Massport would have appreciated some extra funds to keep our transportation hubs suicide-bomber-free.
MITCH KRPATA
Brighton
Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem
By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.
We ran out of Federal XM-193 .223 FMJ ammunition on Tax Free Day but a new shipment arrived on Thursday.
A) Why, hundreds, if not thousands. All those John Kerry voters take great pride in being compassionate liberals, who care deeply for their fellowmanperson - especially those less fotunate individuals living in the lower-income, minority neighborhoods.
B) At least five or six. I mean, who wouldn't?
C) One.
DES MOINES -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is a surprising top choice for president among Iowa Republicans, according to a poll to be released today -- more than two years before the state's first-in-the-nation caucuses.
Among 400 Republicans who said they are likely to attend the 2008 caucuses, Rice received the backing of 30.3 percent. U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona was second in the survey with 16 percent, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani received support from 15.3 percent. Roughly 20 percent were undecided.
BOSTON -- Boston Police are on the hunt for a man they say pushed a woman out a second-story window.
Open letter to Mayor Menino:
If it saves just one life, wouldn't a city-wide ban on windows make sense. Now, I won't go so far as to suggest a total ban on the transmission of sunlight into people's homes, but would propose a "common-sense" piece of window safety legislation that would outlaw all open windows located on the second floor or higher. In the interest of striking a "compromise" between the "window safety" supporters and the "pro-window violence" crowd, this ban would apply to new construction only.
Current property owners in the city could apply for a Class "B" Transparent Wall Opening License ($100 filing fee) that would permit them to comply with the new regulation by having solid Plexiglas panels installed in all windows 15' or more from ground level.
Residents who wish to keep their high-altitude assault windows will need to apply with the Inspectional Services Department for a Class "A" High-Altitude Windows License. Applications for such must be accompanied by a letter demonstrating the applicant's need for functional windows. Merely expressing the desire to listen to the birds outside, or to allow the circulation of fresh air in one's home will not be considered a sufficient reason for issuance of said license.
Please, Mr. Mayor - it's for the children.
Kenneth M. Kemp, 29,...
...of 59 Rindge Ave., Cambridge, was arrested Aug. 5 on charges of drunken driving, according to a report. At about 2:40 a.m., a car reportedly sped out of the drive behind the fire station and pulled out onto Cambridge Street, in front of a police cruiser, causing the officer to brake sharply. The car had no lights on and was stopped at a traffic light, police said. The suspect was allegedly argumentative and incoherent during questioning.
During booking, the suspect reportedly cursed officers and refused a Breathalyzer test. While being bailed at about 4:20 a.m., the suspect allegedly argued with police and called them names. "You have no ****ing idea how ****ing connected my mother is to Mayor Menino," he reportedly yelled. "My mother is the ****ing deputy superintendent of the Boston schools."
He continued to curse and yell and suddenly ran down Henshaw Street and officers lost him, police said. He was soon reportedly found hiding under a porch and was caught and handcuffed on charges of disorderly behavior. He made a phone call at the desk saying, "Mom, come use your clout," according to the report.
QUINCY - Setting himself up for another showdown with gun advocates, Police Chief Robert Crowley has refused to let a downtown sporting goods store sell firearms and ammunition.
Ronald Hidalgo, owner of Sportsman's Den on Southern Artery, was denied the permit because of a 1983 assault charge and a 5-year-old restraining order, both of which were later dropped, Crowley said.
"I made my decision - and it was upheld by the State Police," Crowley said. "There is no blanket policy against opening a gun shop in the city of Quincy, but anyone who wants to needs to have an unblemished record."
Hidalgo, however, thinks the chief is abusing his authority and says he plans to go to court to prove it, claiming Crowley has a desire for "power and control."
Hidalgo, who has run the shop for nearly a decade, earned approval from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to be a gun dealer and he has a Quincy-issued license to carry a handgun.
"This is somebody telling me I can't run a business when the federal government even says I can," said Hidalgo, a long-time Quincy resident. "The only reason for the denial is his own agenda. If you allow people to abuse the system like this, they're going to do it until somebody stops them."
"Do you know why the dog licks his balls?"
"Because he can!"
bob, i can respect and answer you questions. he got the gun from a kid who had stolen it a couple months back, the cops have already arrested him. the got the gun because the week before a fight had broken out at his house with a few kids who are known to be dangerous and he was scared that they were going to come after him. when he had shot himself he had taken the clip out and didnt realize that there was still a bullet in the chamber and he had pointed it to his head(which i will addmit, wasnt smart) jokingly with a friend. ni a lot of guns the trigger wont pull back if the clip isnt in it, a glock .40 isnt one of those guns. and the next thing you know, i lost one of my dearest friends. and i dont mean to flip out but you guys got to chill. if you havent suffered a lost like this then you have no place add your two cents. keep it to yourselves
Ryan Depalma 08.12.05 - 2:18 am #
DEDHAM -- Justin Stivaletta, the 20-year-old man who died in an apparent accidental shooting, got the stolen Glock that killed him for protection, after getting into a fight less than a week before he died, according to police.
Dedham Police Detective Robert Walsh said yesterday that police may be filing charges against the person or people who helped Stivaletta get the gun.
Police need the public's help making a connection between Stivaletta and the theft of the gun during a burglary in March in West Roxbury.
Democratic hopefuls for 2008 are sensing how vulnerable President Bush is on border control.
Marine of the Year Daniel Cotnoir remains a hero in the eyes of some Lawrence residents, despite being charged with attempted murder for shooting into a crowd early Saturday.
"Somebody had to step up to the plate," said Bruce Reynolds, owner of the Longhorn Gas Station on Broadway Avenue, who, like other residents is exasperated by late-night carousing and violence in Lawrence.
Cotnoir, whose lives next to the station, is accused of firing out of his second-floor window about 2:30 a.m. into a large crowd of raucous youths in front of Reynolds' station. The bullet hit a concrete island and shattered, sending shrapnel into the neck and leg of a 15-year-old girl and the leg of a 20-year-old man. Witnesses say someone in the crowd had thrown something at Cotnoir's house, and then threw a bottle through his window.
"Lee" is a family man with a good job. He lives on the South Shore - and he's allowed to carry a gun. His firearm's for target practice, but he's legally licensed to carry it concealed - for self defense.
"I want the guarantee I can protect myself and my family," this gunowner says. "If I choose to carry, that's up to me."
In fact, our investigation found more than 194,000 people in Massachusetts - that's one in 25 Bay State adults--has the Class A license that could allow them to carry a concealed firearm. That's equal to one person on each city bus--or 10 moviegoers at a sold out show.
Chief Paul Frazier, President of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, says that he's "sure most residents don't know who has them and who doesn't have them."
But 7-NEWS obtained town-by-town numbers - and found the percent of adults with those Class A licenses depends on where you live. In Boston and Cambridge - the numbers are fewer than one percent. In Wareham and Millville -- around 9 percent. Rowe and Savoy more than 26 percent. And in Oakham, more than 44 per cent are licensed to carry firearms.
Oakham Police Chief Donald Haapakoski says, "I think people are exercising their right to carry firearms."
Police say Walter Bishop was licensed - and used his weapon to kill a man in a road rage dispute. Law enforcement confirms William Green was licensed to carry too--he's charged in another road rage shooting.
Officials say that even Massachusetts' extra-tough gun law - which requires criminal background checks and a gun safety course - can't predict the unpredictable.
Chief Frazier says, "Probably 99 per cent of people properly licensed to carry firearms do not commit crimes. So it's a very rare instance."
State law does give local police chiefs the power to refuse "unsuitable" applicants - those with a history of domestic violence, or substance abuse.
Brookline Police Captain John O'Leary says, "We have to have the community's safety in mind, as well as the applicants safety."
BOSTON - A bill aimed at cracking down on repeat drunken drivers is generating an unusual level of political jealousy and spite on Beacon Hill.
Filed in May by Gov. Mitt Romney, the bill is named for 13-year-old Melanie Powell of Marshfield, who killed by a drunken driver two summers ago.
Rather than sorrow for the victims or rage toward repeat drunken drivers, the center of attention at the State House has been the political battle being fought along increasingly partisan lines.
[snip]
Pettiness is another emotion the relatives of victims say they've encountered during their time on Beacon Hill.
Earlier this week, the chairman of the Senate committee considering Melanie's Bill refused to meet with Melanie's parents, Tod and Nancy Powell, when they spent the day at the State House lobbying for the bill.
"I won't be a part of anyone's circus," said Sen. Robert Creedon, D-Brockton, the committee chairman.
Creedon said he initially refused the meeting with the Powells in his State House office because the invitation came through Romney's office. The Powells called him directly after being rebuffed and are now scheduled to meet with him at the cafe they own in Plymouth.
Melanie's grandfather, Ron Bersani of Marshfield, said he's appalled by what motivates some legislators. He said some lawmakers have openly told him that they can't support Melanie's Bill because "it's Romney's."
"We have no idea what the purpose for them being there was," said Detective Lieutenant Patrick P. Glynn, commander of the Special Investigations Unit.
When a naked man is chasing a woman through an alley with a butcher's knife and a hard-on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross!
Mansfield Street residents said Reliable Paving Company blocked the street for two days earlier this month as contractors went door-to-door asking residents whether they needed their lawns paved.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - An escaped convict and his wife who shot a guard to death outside a Tennessee courtroom were apprehended at a motel in Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday.
MY 83-YEAR-OLD mother has been put on oxygen, and received a wheelchair through Medicare. I learned that Medicare is being charged $275 per month for rental of the oxygen concentrator. There is also a rental fee for the wheelchair of $100 per month. I found I could buy the oxygen concentrator on the Web for under $1,000, and the wheelchair for less than $200.
I called Medicare, and then Healthnow (billing agent) to see why these items could not just be purchased. I was told that Congress is where I needed to take my argument because they need to follow "congressional mandates" for the process. In addition, I was told that after 10 months, my mother would receive a notice either to continue renting the wheelchair, or to purchase it (via Medicare). If she decided to purchase it, Medicare would pay the supplier three more months, and the wheelchair would be hers.
Medicare, which is paid for by you, me, and other taxpayers, will end up paying $1,300 for a wheelchair that can be purchased for $200. That is, of course, if my mother does not elect to continue renting it until she departs this world.
There is a major problem with the system. Why is this idiotic process allowed to happen? Why can't Medicare just purchase all equipment for citizens, with a buyback from the distributors when it is no longer needed?
ROBERT FOLEY
Georgetown
I'm finding it hard to disagree with anything you wrote. As for "the skirt", men have conquered nations for less. Yowza! That was more like a belt with the streamers from my kids' tricycle hanging off of it. I didn't Tivo it, but I thought I clearly saw ass check hanging out.
Clear winner of the week was Marty.
Jordis, who'd been on a tear as of late, had a chance to extend her "lead" in this thing, but yeah she blew it with that version of Layla.
Rule #17 (for Jordis and Jessica): If a song was written and recorded by someone balls-deep in a heroin addiction, it should be sung as such.
As for Brandon - just go away, man. You're really not that good.
I though Ty's "No Woman, No Cry" was just OK. The band will probably give him the "reward" encore performance.
Marty - The Killers, "Mr. Brightside": Yaknow, Martys voice just sucks, but it wasn't that bad for this song. The balls he threw into that were jsut great. I'd love to see this guy do something a little quirky.. maybe some madness, or blur, or somthing 90's angst rockish. I liked it, but I think he's gonna be on the block this week for sure.
A fan reacts after falling from the upper deck onto onto the netting behind home plate during the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium Tuesday Aug. 9, 2005 in New York.
Harper told three friends he was sitting with that he was going to test whether the net would hold his weight -- and then he jumped, police said.
Jay's old pump-action .22 is an absolute [expletive deleted] joy to shoot.
Shooting a full-auto AK-47 is fun.
The 5.56mm NATO might be a poodle-shooter, but with a 100-round Beta-Mag, that's 100 dead poodles.
Ted Kennedy can still kiss my ass.
Opinion and commentary, garnished with a sprig of cynicism, served with a heaping side order of sarcasm, and washed down with a tall glass of common sense, by a gun-toting political refugee from the People's Progressive Republic of Massachusetts, currently residing in New Hampshire and doing what he can to keep the Granite State beautiful and free.
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