Students in Brookline clash with residents
Brookline police officers squared off against Boston University students in September and October, claiming they repeatedly created disturbances for the town’s permanent residents, but students said that officers were often overly aggressive and created problems where they did not exist.
Brookline Police Capt. John O’Leary said the police arrested 18 people — many of whom were Boston University students – on 23 charges including disorderly conduct and public intoxication in September and October.
“We tried the educational route,” O’Leary told The Daily Free Press in October. “Letting students know there are problems – BU has as well, but the enforcement aspect has to be done strongly, and that’s what we’re trying to bring out.”
Later in the month, after O’Leary told the Free Press student behavior had improved in the town, he said the police had removed extra patrols that were set up specifically to crack down on student disruption. Though he denied the patrols were removed because of the publicity the policy received, students said police made the move so they could maintain their image.
“They added their patrols because they made assumptions about student life, and they removed it because of the bad publicity,” said School of Management sophomore Kate Wyman. “If their removal of the patrols was sincere, then their involvement with student residents would be more than just posting signs on our doors about what could get us into trouble. To make us believe that they are sincere with their actions, they might think about giving a nice wave to us on the street instead of shining a bright light at us.”
After closed-door meetings between the BU Student Union and Brookline PD, both say conditions are resolved, but Wyman said struggles are far from over.
“I want to be able to walk out of my apartment and believe that when I see a cop car, the police inside are looking at me as someone who needs to be protected, not someone who they need to reprimand,” Wyman said.
Star Simpson asks Boston to “Socket to me”
Massachusetts Institute of Technology sophomore Star Simpson had Logan Airport at a standstill Sept. 21 when she walked into a terminal with what looked to be a bomb attached to her chest, Play-Doh in her hands and a sweatshirt that read “Socket to me.”
Once she exited the terminal, police surrounded her with machine guns. They soon determined Simpson’s device — a circuit board with flashing LED lights – was nothing more than a hoax.
Simpson, who claimed the device was a work of art that was supposed to help her stand out at a career day event, was charged with one count of possession of a hoax device. Simpson asked the charges to be dropped in early November at a pretrial meeting because she said the charge – defined as knowingly or unknowingly possessing, transporting, using or placing a hoax device or substance with the intent to cause others anxiety, unrest, fear or personal discomfort — was vague.
Mass. places bets on in-state casinos
Gov. Deval Patrick confirmed his plans for three Massachusetts casinos Sept. 17 after a year of speculation surrounding the initiative. Tens of thousands of permanent jobs would be created by the casinos, Patrick said, adding construction is expected to last until 2012 and will bring Massachusetts $400 million each year if his plan is passed.
Before the casinos are built, Patrick said organizations and companies will have to bid on them, a process which he said could take several years on its own.
Opponents said they feared the risks, especially with Connecticut as a precedent, in which experts say they saw gambling addiction rates skyrocket in the 1990s with the construction of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.
Tyrannical turkeys take over town
An unexpected neighbor took Brookline by storm in October. Wild turkeys native to the southern part of the town were forced out of the area because of construction and many aggressively flocked to a busied Coolidge Corner.
“Sometimes they were actually going toward the little kids, or coming at people to protect themselves,” Brookline Police Capt. John O’Leary told the Free Press in October.
O’Leary suggested if people felt threatened, they should spray water or wave brooms at the turkeys if they approached in a hostile manner.
“[Someone] told me once that a wild turkey attacked their car, like a bear,” said BU graduate Leana Ovadia. “[Turkeys are] getting into my nightmares, and I want [them] out of my life.”
Biolab protests continue in spite of report
A National Institutes of Health report released in August aimed to put controversy surrounding The Boston University Level-4 Biosafety’s construction to rest, saying it was just as safe in its future home of Roxbury as it would be in a suburban area.
The report also said pathogens inside the biolab were not as dangerous or as transmittable as the opposition claimed.
The facts were skewed, though, according to Sheldon Krimsky, interim president of the Council for Responsible Genetics, who said the study intentionally studied diseases that were less lethal and less likely to spread than more dangerous ones.
“The question is whether this report is relevant,” he said. “Anyone who deals with infectious diseases knows population density is one of the first things you think about. . . [NIH] created some scenarios with organisms that don’t have high transmitivity,” Krimsky told the Free Press in September.
Later that month, concerned citizens met at Faneuil Hall to air their grievances.
“For someone who says he’s concerned about issues of justice, I think this is a clear issue of justice that [Mayor Thomas Menino] should be paying sharp attention to,” said Kate Cloud, of Somerville. “No amount of money will change the fact that this lab is a danger to everyone in Boston.”
In November, a group of protesters dressed as zombies with fake blood and tattered clothing traveled to the biolab’s construction site on Albany and Deadham streets toward City Hall and were met by police.
BU received a $128 million dollar grant in 2003 from the NIH to build the biolab, and the project has drawn controversy from Roxbury locals who say they have never had a fair chance to voice their opposition.
Sox win Series, fans say ‘woo’
As Jonathan Papelbon’s last pitch crossed home plate in Colorado, capturing the second World Series win in four years for the Red Sox, Boston fans trickled out into Kenmore square in a less-than-typical-Fenway Faithful manner.
Though 37 people were arrested by a blockade of armed police with Plexiglas shields, fans who saw the Sox take the title in 2004 were unimpressed in spite of beer tosses, breast flashes and MIT sophomores Glenn Geesman and Willard Johnson – famed men dressed in nothing but life-sized Solo cups.
“We were just at Uno’s — the bars are half as full,” Eddy Dunbar of Manchester, N.H., who celebrated from the same location when the Sox won in 2004, said during the celebration. “There are definitely less people this time around. The excitement isn’t the same as it was in ‘ 04.”
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