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When Charles Yancey has something to say, he's not going to let anybody stop him from saying it

An unusual sight at Boston Licensing Board hearings this morning: City Councilor Charles Yancey in a front-row seat.

Unlike on Wednesdays, when city officials routinely attend licensing-board hearings to support applicants for licenses to open restaurants and bars, the only people who normally attend Tuesday hearings - on alleged violations of those licenses - are police officers, lawyers, owners and witnesses. The violation hearings are run like criminal hearings - witnesses are required to swear an oath to tell the truth and the proceedings are recorded.

Yancey was there to show support for the Unity Sports and Cultural Center on Dunbar Avenue in his Dorchester district, which had to explain a police citation for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on the premises - police said one center attendee smacked another with a bottle in a heated argument on June 15.

When board Chairwoman Nicole Murati Ferrer called on Yancey to testify, she first asked if he had any firsthand knowledge of the incident. When Yancey admitted he did not, Ferrer told him sorry, but the board didn't need to hear from him then.

Yancey, however, was not deterred, launching into a defense of the Jamaican-American center as "a great asset to the city," one he was proud to serve as a character reference for. As did other witnesses, he did first take an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Center officials, all clad in maroon jackets, discounted the attack story. They acknowledged the two men - both regulars - had gotten into a tiff that day, but said that all that happened was that they shoved each other - once. Both have been back since to watch cricket together and are both participants in the same cricket league, they said.

The board decides Thursday what action, if any, to take.

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Comments

Funny I never see him talking when people are being murdered in his district.

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Or is Yancey....

Never mind, that joke has run its course.

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I'm liking Nicole Murati Ferrer more and more every week.

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