Hyde Park
Draft Harmony Wu - Facebook effort to convince Harmony Wu of Needham, who was an Obama organizer, to run against Lynch. Her supporters are heading into the lion's den today - they're planning to collect signatures between 12:30 and 4 p.m. at the Broadway T stop.
Lynch is also opposed by Phil Dunkelbarger, running this time as an independent (ran against Lynch as a Democrat in 2006) and Republican Keith Lepor.
Thanks to Anonymous for pointing her out.
District E-18 reports the fake water workers who'd been knocking on doors in Roslindale have moved south, getting themselves invited into homes by claiming to be water workers who need to inspect pipes:
While the resident leads one of the team to the basement, the others in the team will go throughout the residence and ransack bedroom areas of valuables. They even sometimes cut the telephone line so the resident cannot access 911 Emergency.
Police advice: Don't let anybody into your house unless you initiated a service call.
The Boston Licensing Board yesterday gave Townsend's on Fairmount Avenue permission to add hard liquor and mixed drinks to its existing beer and wine menu. Read more
Produce, and lots of it, at new market
Some people celebrated the holiday today by going to the movies or just lounging around the house. We checked out the new PriceRite supermarket on River Street on the Hyde Park/Mattapan line (where the paperboard factory used to be). Read more
Price Rite, on River Street at the Hyde Park/Mattapan line, opens the 14th.
Boston Police report seizing heroin, cocaine and shotguns at two locations yesterday. Read more
Mike Ball appreciated the instant and brief artwork this morning created by his paper guy tossing his morning papers onto a snowy sidewalk.
Boston Police report a woman waiting for a train at the Hyde Park commuter-rail stop in Cleary Square yesterday afternoon was mugged at knifepoint by a man who got annoyed when she had no money so he grabbed her and punched her in the face. Read more
Bob LeLievre breaks down Coakley's large win in Boston by neighborhood, along with comparisons to 2006 numbers for Deval Patrick. Some interesting numbers: She lost South Boston, barely took West Roxbury, Charlestown and Tom Menino's redoubt of Readville, but got 96% of the vote in Mattapan and 92% in Roxbury.
Was just about to go outside to do some shoveling (yeah, I'm a slug; also was finishing up a non-Boston project), when this loud rumbling started coming from the north. And then these two large Army (?) copters zoomed past, headed south, parallel to Hyde Park Avenue. It's the route news copters take on their way back from the latest accident on the Deck or wherever, but they don't usually fly so frickin' close to the ground (that bar at the bottom is one of the utility lines along the street).
A disagreement over how fast a clerk at a Hyde Park liquor store was serving a customer ended with a store employee chasing the customer down the street and beating him with a metal pipe, according to testimony at a Boston Licensing Board hearing today. Read more
At least three students at Hyde Park Education Complex are under arrest following a fight inside the school cafeteria, Channel 4 reports.
No injuries, but the fight was big enough to bring newscopters a-flyin' - I was busy typing away here in the mountain fastness when I started hearing a helicopter circling overhead - we're basically on the other side of a hill from the high school.
Mike Ball needs to contact the Acme Co. about one of its customers.
Hyde Park suspectsBoston Police report that Diaga, 1276 Hyde Park Ave. in Cleary Square, was held up around 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 31 by three men.
One of the suspects then asked the clerk about a clothing item in the store and when the victim went to get the article of clothing, one of the suspects pointed a gun at the victim and instructed the victim to open the cash register. The victim opened the cash register and was then instructed to lie on the ground. The suspects took an undetermined amount of money from the cash register and fled the store before the victim could dial 911.
Anybody with information can contact E-18 detectives at 617-343-5607 or the anonymous tip line at 800-494-TIPS.
Boston Police tweet somebody was held up at gunpoint around noon today in front of 106 Faraday St. in Hyde Park. No injuries.
Wicked Local Walpole reports on "Turtle," a badly injured pit bull found abandoned and near death along Turtle Pond Parkway in Stony Brook Reservation:
"She was in pretty bad shape," said Lt. Alan Borgal of the Animal Rescue League, explaining dog fighters often discard animals that are excessively injured.
The Globe reports on the 4:30 p.m. accident, but says no details on the crash or the condition of the two officers.
You'd think that having reached the age of 40 in a state like Massachusetts, you'd have figured out how party primaries work. Hyde Park poll worker Mike Ball reports that isn't the case:
... Inspector: You are unenrolled. Which ballot would you like, Democratic, Republican or Libertarian?
Voter: I'm an independent.
Inspector: Yes and you have the choice of any of the three ballots. Would you like, Democratic, Republican or Libertarian?
Voter: (angrily) I don’t have to tell you who I’m voting for!
Inspector: That's true, but you do have to decide for today's primary which party ballot you want.
Voter: (raising voice) No, I'm an independent! ...
Boston Police report arresting a West Roxbury teen on charges he tried using a fake ID to buy some booze at a Readville liquor store last night - after he allegedly stumbled over the name, fled the store, then came back and threatened a clerk who refused to give back the wallet he'd left behind, the one that had his real license in it. Read more
If you're a Boston resident in one of the high-risk groups, you can get a free shot this weekend at clinics run by the Boston Public Health Commission.
One clinic will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5, at Hyde Park High School, 665 Metropolitan Ave., in Hyde Park. The other is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6, at the Ohrenberger School, 175 West Boundary Rd., in West Roxbury.
Thanksgiving at Hyde Park Avenue and West Street, Hyde Park.
Sure, there's already a Santa putting people on his knee at the South Shore Plaza, but some people still remember Thanksgiving comes first: Read more
Cory O'Hayer captured the visage of dead pitchman Billy Mays haunting commuters at the freight yard they call the Readville commuter-rail station.
Boston's only polite intersection? Maybe that's what happens when you put an intersection in the middle of a forest. Mike Ball hails the intersection of Enneking, Turtle Pond and Dedham parkways deep in the woods of Stony Brook Reservation, where drivers not only obey the four-way stop but are actually courteous to one another:
... Could it be something in the oxygen from all the foliage? Might some nearby unknown native American burial ground be affecting Bostonians as they arrive at the intersection? Would the bucolic nature of the park all around calm the savages?
The cause is far less important than the mere existence of the magic intersection. ...
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