Wet week

The rain appears to be coming to an end, but the Herald just posted a report that said parts of Routes 1A and 145 in East Boston are closed because of flooded roadways, with one woman trapped inside her car.

Update: Check out this photo of a flooded East Boston Greenway...or should I say, the Bremen River (via Universal Hub).

Update has corrected reference to the Greenway rather than Bremen Street Park.

Suspicious vehicle prompts evacuations

The sirens you're hearing in East Boston this morning are vehicles racing toward the edge of Logan Airport, as an abandoned vehicle with a suspicious device inside was spotted on or just outside a rent-a-car company. Some reports say that some residents have been evacuated. There's a live video feed here on Fox News.

Update: No explosive devices were found in the abandoned vehicle. Residents have been allowed to return to their homes.

Update II (Aug. 17): Car belonged to college student.

Boil order lifted

The state has lifted the boil-water order that has been in place for Greater Boston since Saturday and issued these guidelines for flushing home systems:

From the Office of the Governor

Residents are advised to "flush" their water following the lifting of the boil order in order to clear plumbing of potentially contaminated water. Flushing your household and building water lines includes interior and exterior faucets; showers; water and ice dispensers; water treatment units, etc.

* Cold Water Faucets: Run tap water until the water feels cold, 1 minute or more, before drinking, tooth brushing, or using for food preparation.

* Hot Water Faucets: To clear hot water pipes and water heater of untreated water, turn on all hot water faucets and flush for a minimum of 15 minutes for a typical household 40-gallon hot water tank and 30 minutes for an 80-gallon hot water tank or larger. Never use water from the "hot" faucet for drinking, cooking, or other internal-consumption purposes. After this flushing, hot water is then safe to use for washing hands, and for hand-washing of dishes, pots and pans, etc.

* Refrigerators: Water dispensers from refrigerators should be flushed by at least one quart of water.

* Dishwashers: After flushing hot water pipes and water heater, run dishwasher empty one time.

* Humidifiers: Discard any water used in humidifiers, Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP), oral, medical or health care devices, and rinse the device with clean water.

* Food and baby formula: Be sure you have discarded any baby formula or other foods prepared with water on the days of the boil order. (If unsure of the dates contact your water Department.)

* Ice cubes: Automatic ice dispensers should be emptied of ice made during the boil order. Then, discard ice made over an additional 24 hour period to assure complete purging of the water supply line.

Due to the flushing of the lines by residents and the flushing of the hydrants, some customers may experience a lack of water pressure and/or discolored water. However, this is an expected result and does not pose a health risk. Contact your local Water Department if you have any questions.

Additional information for food establishments can be found at www.mwra.com.

Boil-water order issued for region

A "catastrophic leak" in a pipe that brings water to Boston and surrounding communities has sprung a leak and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority has cautioned people not to drink tap water until further notice and to refrain from unnecessary use (washing cars, watering lawns) to make solving the problem easier.

A pipe in Weston is apparently dumping eight million gallon of water an hour into the Charles River, and people in that town and east of it are under the advisory. Crews and engineers are on the scene.

Updated to reflect new information (5-1-10, 9:05 p.m.)

Flying the unfriendly skies

Though I am a strong advocate of personal privacy rights, I don't have a problem with technologies being discussed for airport security in the wake of the failed terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound jet on Christmas Day. I don't think anyone has an absolute right to fly, and it seems to me that with the level of threat that especially faces airplanes, the greater good of security for all outweighs the inconvenience of a small invasion of one's privacy.

The technology that is now the focus of ideas to tighten airport security are backscatter X-ray machines, which show analysts an image of the body beneath clothes. Theoretically, explosives and other weapons are much easier to see using these machines. That's not to say that equipping all US airports with such machines would prevent harm from people flying in elsewhere, as was the case with the most recent attack.

The real question, as with many issues that nation faces, is whether elected officials have the political will and the citizenry has the attention span to completely review the process and to do what actually makes sense. A Canadian newspaper published an interesting story today that discusses the steps that Israel takes to ensure security in its airports and on its planes. Think about it: Israel is the #1 target for Muslim extremist terrorists, yet there hasn't been an airport attack there in many years. Read the story and ask yourself why the US doesn't adopt a system like Israel's, which is clearly effective.

Remembering slain officer

Richard Halloran, a Boston Police sergeant who was shot and killed in the line of duty at the corner of Bremen Street and Neptune Road 34 years ago today, was honored this morning. With the mayor and others on hand and bagpipes playing, a bronze and granite memorial was unveiled.

Image from Boston.com

Police reports

The Boston Police are reporting (via Twitter) that someone was shot this evening in Maverick Square. Also, it says that there was a fire this morning at 117 Maverick Street.

Links to police web sites:

Boston Police Twitter site

BPD news

Police Station 7 web site

Tightening school security

The Boston Herald reports that metal detectors are being installed in five more of the city's schools, including East Boston High School. That will leave all but four of Boston's 39 high schools with the weapons-detection systems.

A pair of local deaths

An East Boston man died last night after being "pulled from the waters off of Winthrop Beach," according to the Boston Herald. The 39-year-old, who has yet to be identified, apparently drowned. Emergency personnel responded after "residents walking the shore heard 'screams for help,'" the story says. Jake Wark, press secretary for the Suffolk County DA's office, said, "The drowning is not being treated as a homicide investigation."

Also, a body was found in or near Piers Park on Sept. 18, according to Universal Hub on a tip from a tweet by photographer Rick Nohl. I apparently missed the original reports, but stumbled across the story yesterday.It appears that whatever happened was an accident, according to a comment on Universal Hub left by Wark:

Passersby discovered the body last night. The man, apparently homeless, was tangled up in a bicycle as if he had fallen while riding. There were no obvious signs of foul play, but an autopsy will be conducted today to determine cause and manner of death.

A surge?

It appears that crime in East Boston has surged in the past few months. I've come across an increasing number of reports of robberies and assaults in the neighborhood, usually after dark. Browsing through the Universal Hub blog there were these back-to-back posts yesterday: "Thugs driving around East Boston, looking for people to mug" and "Little kid watches parents held up at gunpoint in East Boston." Both incidents were reported here at the District A-7 web site.

Now, to be fair, such an assessment -- that crime has surged -- can be skewed by several things, including that more information is available on the Internet more quickly today than ever before, therefore, I am able to read the police report more easily than in the past. In the grand scheme of things, urban crime across the country is down in the past 20 years AND East Boston has always been one of the city's safer neighborhoods.

Still, it's something to be aware of. I've never before felt like there was any part of Eastie that I could not walk through at any time of day (keeping in mind, of course, that I am a stocky male, though -- despite the mean look of the shaved head and goatee -- not a tough guy by any stretch), but now I think I'd probably be a bit leery about walking around Eagle Hill, where most of the crimes seem to be clustered, late at night.

Respecting the rights of others

To live amongst other people and maintain order there generally needs to be some limits on personal liberty. I think that most of us would agree with the notion that everyone cannot do absolutely anything they please at any moment. One famous limit on speech is the oft-quoted concept that "you cannot yell 'fire' in a crowded theater."

I was in a fairly crowded theater yesterday to see a movie. I walked in a few minutes before the film started and, with the center rows pretty full, I took the first seat on a middle row in a side section. As the previews were running, three young guys -- frat-boy types -- squeezed by me to take the open seats to my left. They munched loudly on popcorn at the start of the movie, but they weren't intentionally trying to create noise and they do have a right to eat popcorn -- whether the theater is crowded or not.

What they did do that was infuriating was fiddle with their cell phones throughout the entire film. Texting, checking for messages, checking the time and, at one point, the guy next to me took a phone call during the film. The same guy dropped his phone toward the end of the movie and fished around on the floor for five minutes. These were guys in their 20s acting like teenage girls.

Even without the movement and talking, the blue light of cell phones is pretty damn annoying in a theater. It is distracting to the eye. I turned to give a dirty look every time I saw the glow, but in the darkness of a cinema I doubt the trio noticed. Even if they did, however, is it likely that they cared? The signs in the lobby of the Somerville Theater clearly specify that cell phone use -- even just texting -- is grounds for ejection, but no one was walking around checking, and I wouldn't expect them to be. If I went out to inform the staff, they would have probably come in to warn the guys, but then I'd have to sit somewhere else because they'd be angry. If I said something to them they would have scoffed at me.

I've had a similar experience here on Bennington Street. A number of times this summer, at various hours of the night, a vehicle will pull up to a house almost directly across from mine and the driver will beep the horn. This has happened as late as 3 a.m., and I've noticed it a half-dozen or so times. (It may have happened many times before, say, 10 p.m., but I wouldn't have taken much notice because I am not some cranky person who wants to stifle the lives of others. I have only taken notice when the incident occurs at an unreasonable time.)

The horn blasts aren't even tepid toots. There's usually more than one long blast. It is unfathomable that this individual thinks that he or she has the right to disturb, even wake up, the roughly 200 or 300 people that are within earshot because whoever is supposed to be picked up not outside or because the driver is too lazy to get out of the vehicle and ring the doorbell. I've been close to going out there a couple times, but I'm not looking for a late-night confrontation with a stranger. (It is always the same house. I have the address, and I am taking note of who comes out and of the vehicles.)

What's the problem here? Why don't the theater guys or the drivers have some respect for the people around them? There is a temptation when things like this happen to believe that our society, or civilization in general, is going downhill -- the "hell in a handbasket" argument. I am leery of jumping on that as a first option (though in the end in may be true). A thousand years ago the Vikings (and other marauding invaders) weren't very civil; less than 200 years ago one race was still enslaving another in a "free" society; 60 years ago most Americans agreed with interning the Japanese in wartime; in places all over the world ethnic and religious differences lead to horrific bloodletting -- today as in every previous society.

These are big, violent examples, I know, but maybe in general things aren't getting worse, but in the overall scheme of the modern Western world, things are actually getting better -- which makes even small transgressions appear more noticeable. Maybe that's it. I'm not sure. All I can do is try my best to be as civil to those around me as possible and hope that everyone else thinks in the same terms.

Early morning accident

I was awakened just before 7 a.m. by the screech, bang and smash of a car accident a half-block away at the intersection of Bennington and Byron streets. I called 9-1-1 and then went outside to find a black SUV wrapped around a pole. Witnesses said that the driver, face full of blood, staggered away from the vehicle before police arrived.

This is the second worse accident here since I moved to this apartment. Tops by a wide margin was the smaller SUV (a RAV4, maybe?) that rolled the length of the block, wiping out light poles and denting cars, back in the fall of 2006. It was the middle of the night, and people up and down the street walked outside into what looked like a war zone, with chunks of concrete scattered all over and smoke in the air.

Rules of the road

The state is still trying to figure out what to do about elderly drivers, as every few days we see another story in the news where a 70- or 80-year-old runs down a pedestrian or drives through a building. Yet -- as many of those who leave comments on these stories at Boston.com point out -- teenagers are actually more dangerous behind the wheel than older folks.

Many of the comments on these message boards take issue with Boston.com, which is the Internet portal of The Boston Globe, highlighting these stories as they do, or at least linking them with other cases involving older drivers, because they feel the reporting is skewed against the elderly. I disagree. This has been a story that has attracted a significant amount of interest and people are talking about it. Therefore, the Globe needs to do what it's doing.

On the other hand, Massachusetts should act to make texting while driving illegal and subject to significant penalties. Such laws exist in 36 other states. While this isn't strictly aimed at teenagers, it will affect that age group much more than others. A study I just read about -- which covered 18 months and three million miles -- found that motor vehicle operators are 23 times more likely to get in a collision or near-collision while they are sending or reading text messages behind the wheel.

In an interesting side note to that issue, The New York Times recently used a photo, I have posted it above, to illustrate a story on teens texting while driving. While the image looks staged, the paper gave the back story in a blog entry today: a Times photographer was doing a story on teen dating and tagged along with a few boys heading to the mall. The passenger reached over to take the wheel as the driver sent a text message to girls that they were meeting. The photographer captured the image.

One other issue in this area: cell phones. While almost certainly not as dangerous as texting, talking on the phone while driving does present a raised level of risk. I am all for requiring drivers to use their cell phones in hands-free mode only. I have an inexpensive earphone that allows me to answer calls while driving and it leaves me much more nimble than when one of my hands is occupied by my phone. Also, I think if people are forced to use a hands-free set-up they won't be looking for a ringing phone while driving 70 miles an hour.

Quabbin threatened

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

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.

Should we be alarmed?

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.

Eastie fire truck has equipment failure

An East Boston fire truck pulled over yesterday because its lug nuts were loose, a scary thought in the wake of the engine that crashed into a building in early January and killed one firefighter. The Boston Fire Department does have a squad of firefighter-mechanics, but the city wants to bring in civilian mechanics to oversee the health of fire trucks and equipment.

As has been the case for a couple of years, the city and the firefighters' union are at odds with one another and neither shows any willingness to compromise.

Missing child found

The 11-year-old East Boston girl who went missing Tuesday night has been found and the police suspect no foul play.

Alert fever?

We've had two Amber Alerts in Massachusetts in the past few days, each in tandem with New York State, where the non-custodial dad went in one case and appeared to in another.

This morning we have a case that seems like it could have been the third in four days, when an estranged father grabbed his two-year-old daughter in Chicopee and headed for the Mass. Pike. However, would you believe there is squabbling among the two states' Amber systems?

Authorities asked police in New York to issue an Amber Alert for the toddler after learning that her father was headed for that state. Chicopee police said the girl is in danger because she requires medication.

Authorities in New York said the case did not meet their requirements for issuing an Amber Alert, particularly because an alert was not issued in Massachusetts.

State Police said an alert was not issued here because authorities acquired information showing that the father was headed out of state.

Beyond the double-take that this story produces is the article that was in the Sunday Globe on July 27, entitled: "Abducted!: The Amber Alert system is more effective as theater than as a way to protect children."

The piece, by Globe staffer Drake Bennett, looks at a study by the University of Nevada that concludes that Amber Alerts give people a false sense of being an effective tool, where in reality it almost never helps save children.

After looking at hundreds of cases in recent years the study confirmed that all but a handful of these are non-custodial parents and most of those were solved within a week even before the Amber system was created. In the nightmare case of a stranger kidnapping a child with intent to do harm, the alerts are almost never effective because the crime usually occurs within the first three hours.

Of course, any time we can do something that will save a child's life we should. However, our society has created this climate of fear because it's good for law-and-order politicians and because it's good for TV news profits. America's Most Wanted, Amber Alerts, tabloid newspapers, the Lifetime Network and local news stations feed into the mentality that the stranger down the street is coming for your kid.

In reality, of the hundreds of thousands of kids reported missing each year (according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, with the vast majority being teen runaways), fewer than 100 (according to FBI numbers) are abducted by strangers, a total that has been falling in recent years, despite public fears. And one wonders how many of those are teenagers who went to meet someone they connected with online, rather than someone grabbing a child in a bedroom or forcing him into a van.

The same atmosphere of fear is what causes an elderly woman I know to dangerously store gasoline for her lawn mower in the cellar of her home. When told of the escaping fumes and the danger of explosion, she said that if it was stored in the back yard a stranger might come along and burn her house down. She was willing to accept the real danger for fear of the one created in her mind by crime shows.

The story goes on to say that other policies -- like "three strikes" sentencing and sex-offender registries -- are political in nature, create false calm, are costly and do little. I am not advocating eliminating the latter (while the former is clearly outrageous) or of discontinuing Amber Alerts. The study's author, Tim Griffin, says that his research is preliminary, and what I am saying is that we should continue to study, discuss and think about such public policies now and in the future.

What annoys me to no end is the idea that we cannot question, study and discuss this or any program or policy, as though it's become some type of sacred cow. The Globe immediately received a letter from Texas in response to the story that said, "It's beyond comprehension that someone who is looking at statistics and a spread sheet can conclude that there is no value in Amber Alerts..." How else would we determine that?

Not getting involved

In March of 1964 a public stir was caused when Kitty Genovese, a 28-year-old woman living in Queens, NY, was stabbed and raped while a number of people -- at the time 38 was the number cited, but that is disputed today -- heard or saw part of the crime and did nothing. Famously, one neighbor said, "I didn't want to get involved."

A week ago, pedestrians and motorists on a busy Hartford, Conn. street looked on but did not rush to the aid of a 78-year-old man who was hit by a car and lay bleeding in the road. While police say that four people quickly dialed 9-1-1, video from a surveillance camera -- which seems to show a reluctance to offer help -- is drawing outrage from the public.