South Boston

Boston Police report catching three men trying to steal our precious copper Saturday afternoon.

Police say a security guard at 15 Channel Center alerted them to the alleged copper copping:

Stand on the Summer Street Bridge and look toward South Boston, and Fort Point Channel looks like a long rectangle, ending in a wall just past the Gillette plant.

In fact, the channel continues for a few more blocks, as a narrower drainage channel, ending at the Boston Water and Sewage Commission Wet Weather Sewage Discharge Outfall Number 70.

You can stroll the Harbor Walk to what looks like the end of Fort Point Channel and admire the re-painted remains of a giant train bridge that crossed there before the Ted Williams Tunnel remade that area (and from which you can still watch the trains arriving at and departing from South Station):

Just skip to 1:40, unless you want to see a tourist entering and leaving Cheers.

Via DotRat, who declares the firefighter his new hero.

The Globe and Phoenix report.

Eight arrests, 244 citations for drinking in public.

Greg Cook photographed the St. Patrick's Day and Peace parades in South Boston.

Paul Keleher also took photos.

AmberPaw photographed the peace parade.

Channel 5 reports a man fell off a roof on G Street around 3:30 p.m.

The Metro reports on the incident, which happened at the scene of two collisions in the past three months caused by motorists running the lights.

Needless to say, use headphones if at work:

Joseph Downey, 46, pleaded guilty today to plunging a knife into James Murphy in 1997 in revenge for a beating Murphy administered to him the week before, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

The Passionate Foodie displays some repertorial herring-do as he roams the floor at the annual International Boston Seafood Show.

For the second time in three months, a driver ran a red light at D Street in South Boston and plowed into a Silver Line bus about to descend to World Trad Center, the MBTA reports. The driver, Adam Galarza of New Bedford, was cited for failing to stop at a red light and an expired inspection sticker after the 1:40 p.m. collision, the T says, adding nobody on the bus was injured.

Compare to December's crash at the same location.

Boston Police report an off-duty officer with no shoes on chased and helped capture two teens - one 15 - for an armed stick-up Friday night on Bolton Street.

Boston Police report a woman was grabbed from behind and attacked as she was getting into her car on W. 2 Street between E and D around 6:15 this morning.

As she was struggling with him, a passerby managed to scare him off, police say. The assailant is described as Hispanic, 25-35, 5'8"-5'11" and 220 lbs., with a thin goatee and a medium complexion. He was wearing a gray hoodie, dark jeans and construction boots. He may now also have scratches on his face and a possible leg injury.

Police say they've stepped up patrols in the area.

Boston and State Police swarmed the South Boston beaches this afternoon - both on shore and in the water - looking for a man reported to be possibly struggling as he swam about 400 yards offshore.

The search was called off when nobody was found. Even in February, members of the L Street Bathhouse (you know, the people who run into the bay every New Year's Day) will don wet suits and go for swims. It is not known, however, if the spotted man was from L Street.

read more at bluemassgroup

By Double Vision.

Via A Dot Rat's Guide to the World.

Boston Police report BPD officers and federal marshals today arrested Eddie Osborne for a shooting at the Rotary Convenience Store on Jan. 11.

Osborne was arrested on Humboldt Street, police said:

After a brief standoff with authorities, Osborne ultimately surrendered without further incident.

Innocent, etc.

Boston Police report arresting a South Boston man on charges he grabbed the neck of a woman who owes him money and threatened to slit her throat.

Police say Paul Knight, 59, spotted his borrower walking along Old Colony Avenue near O'Callaghan Way around 4:15 p.m. on Monday, then went ver and demanded repayment of the unspecified amount:

According to the victim, the suspect angrily grabbed her around the neck and stated, "I'm going to slit your throat."

Police did not find a knife, but because the woman was put in fear of her life, they charged Knight with armed assault with intent to rob.

Innocent, etc.

UPDATE: See the comments for why this is all really the DPW's fault, well, except for the part about doing a half-assed job at leveling off the asphalt to begin with.

Of course, you have to doff your hat to the dedicated men and women of the Boston Water and Sewer Commission, who tirelessly toil in the muck and mire 24 hours a day to keep our water and sewage flowing. But why can't they ever put sidewalks back the way they found them? We had a misshapen lump of asphalt instead of a concrete square in front of our house for several years - and when it was finally replaced, it was thanks to the DPW, which was overhauling all the sidewalks on the street.

The photo above comes from W. 5th Street in South Boston, where a resident complains and pleads:

The city dug up this fire hydrant a few months ago and did a terrible job repatching the surrounding sidewalk. I've seen too many women with strollers resort to walking in the road to avoid the hole. Please patch so surface is at least level

Over on Mansfield Street in Allston, another resident posts another photo of a lumpy blob of asphalt where a piece of concrete should be.

The Herald has completed its move to the South Boston waterfront.

Karin posts an ode to her early commute today.

Matthew Berkowitz of South Boston is scheduled for arraignment today in South Boston District Court on a charge of trafficking in a Class B substance, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports:

Boston Police posed as delivery agents after receiving information that the package contained a large amount of raw opium poppy and had been sent from overseas.

The Herald reports the package contained some four pounds of the stuff and that Berkowitz is son of local seafood magnate Roger Berkowitz.

Innocent, etc.

Fort Point Blog provides the proof.

A federal appeals court today ordered the government to pay nearly $3 million to the families of three people murdered by Whitey Bulger when he was under FBI protection.

In two rulings issued today, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston said enough was enough, Bulger and pal Stephen Flemmi were able to kill people because they knew the government wouldn't touch him and that the government should pay for its role in the murders of Louis Litif, Debra Davis and Deborah Hussey.