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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
 Posted - 04/20/2008 : 3:54:26 PM
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Payback not on the menu for Everett delivery man
By O’Ryan Johnson
Friday, April 18, 2008 - Boston Herald
A food-delivery driver looking to get even with the alleged crook who robbed him took the law into his own hands and got his money back, police said - and also got a bed in the slammer.
Police said delivery-driver Welliston Froes, 23, of Everett, was near Washington and Northampton streets Wednesday about 8:30 p.m. when he spotted the alleged thief he said had stolen $200 from him during a delivery. The driver confronted the suspected robber and pretended he had a gun, police said, while ordering the man to return his money. The alleged robber, now victim, bought the gun act and passed the delivery driver $160.
Though he was short-changed, police said, Froes returned to his restaurant. But the man he had allegedly robbed in retaliation followed him there and called police.
When cops arrived and sorted out the story, Froes was arrested. He admitted to pulling off the robbery, but claimed the victim’s robbery of him as a defense, police said. Froes was charged with armed robbery.
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 07/23/2008 : 2:23:50 PM
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The Boston Herald
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Pols wrap pork with kid labels
More than $1M of budget misleading
By Hillary Chabot
Lawmakers have disguised more than $1 million in pork-filled pet projects in the state budget under repetitive or often misleading feel-good labels, a Herald review has found.
One earmark targeted for child safety is actually being used by Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria Jr. to buy a new pothole-patching machine.
“We have a lot of potholes around the schools, and residents walk their kids to school all the time. We don’t want to see them get hurt,” DeMaria said. When pressed, he admitted the machine isn’t reserved for schools alone. “What do you want me to say? ‘It’s not going to be used anywhere else?’ It’s going to help every resident and, more importantly, it’s going to help children.”
While the $50,000 earmark barely registers in a $28.2 billion budget, outraged taxpayer advocates scolded lawmakers for hiding their lard behind noble causes such as child protection.
“This is just the kind of thing that undercuts the public trust,” said Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation president Michael Widmer. “The fact that money is being spent under the guise of child safety is outrageous.”
Another $200,000 child safety grant will fund police, fire and ambulance services in Hull when they respond to emergency calls on Nantasket Beach.
“I’m sure it’s only for children’s emergencies. If the grandparents have an emergency they’re out of luck,” scoffed Barbara Anderson, head of Citizens for Limited Taxation. “You can have any program you want and so long as it’s for the children, it’s fine.”
Some of the child-safety grants are more legitimate. In Revere, the money is used to hire security personnel in high schools and pay for two-way radios and vehicles for the school security staff. The money will go toward lighting for intersections outside of an early childhood center in Melrose.
Community officials receive the cash in quarterly installments, and they must fill out paperwork explaining what they’re using the money for. Once Gov. Deval Patrick signs off on the earmark, however, the money belongs to the community, said Jim Eisenburg, spokesman for top budget writer Rep. Robert A. DeLeo (D-Winthrop).
The budget is also riddled with double earmarks costing more than $1.2 million.
The University of Amherst’s Cranberry Station at Wareham received $25,000 in maintenance, and later got another $500,000. A program called YouthGROW received two separate $50,000 earmarks, and the Old Provincial State House got one earmark worth $150,000 and another for a whopping $500,000.
Eisenberg said double earmarks are an annual hazard of the budget process.
“Although every effort is made to eliminate clerical errors, it is possible that some may be present in this or past budgets. As these issues are brought to our attention, they are addressed,” Eisenberg said.
Patrick, who has been hashing through the budget all week, is set to release his budget veto recommendations tomorrow. |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 07/23/2008 : 10:33:00 PM
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Tetris,
That is a very interesting article. It is almost obscene the way our tax dollars are manipulated. |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 07/23/2008 : 11:04:25 PM
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I was searching for something else and just happened across a stub of the article; I didn't want to post the stub because it cut off in the middle of the mayor's quote. However, Herald articles get archived to their pay site after seven days so it took some tracking down to get the article for free.
The piece of equipment is probably something that the city needed in the worst way but I thought that the mayor's justification for using money allocated for child safety in this fashion was a real stretch. Unfortunately, it does nothing but make you wonder. |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 07/23/2008 : 11:22:42 PM
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The more I think about it, these kind of actions are truly unethical and immoral. That money was earmarked for children's safety. There are so many children that are in harms way and being abused, that money could have been used to really help children. I don't understand why nothing in this city seems to be straight forward and honest anymore. I think it is worth reposting the section of that article about Everett.
Lawmakers have disguised more than $1 million in pork-filled pet projects in the state budget under repetitive or often misleading feel-good labels, a Herald review has found.
One earmark targeted for child safety is actually being used by Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria Jr. to buy a new pothole-patching machine.
“We have a lot of potholes around the schools, and residents walk their kids to school all the time. We don’t want to see them get hurt,” DeMaria said. When pressed, he admitted the machine isn’t reserved for schools alone. “What do you want me to say? ‘It’s not going to be used anywhere else?’ It’s going to help every resident and, more importantly, it’s going to help children.” |
Edited by - massdee on 07/23/2008 11:32:58 PM |
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Cam
Member
82 Posts |
Posted - 07/24/2008 : 3:15:54 PM
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| I think this is disgusting. If my tax dollars should be going to helping the kids then that is where it should be going. It shouldn't be buying pot hole machines. What a lame explanation from the mayor. |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 08/15/2008 : 9:08:45 PM
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John Buonomo used good cents in Somerville switch
By Howie Carr
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
It’s all about the pension now, isn’t it, John Buonomo, reprobate register of probate in Middlesex County?
The state police have him on videotape pulling a Finneran, as they say at the State House - committing a felony out in the open, beyond brazen to the point of insanity, as if he’s, well, as if he’s Tommy Taxes or somebody.
John Buonomo has become the poster boy for a yes vote in November on Question 1, which would abolish the state income tax. If Carla Howell has any money for TV, all she has to do is run 30-second spots of the surveillance video of Buonomo robbing the copying machines.
Voiceover: “This is your state government at work. What this elected official is doing to these copying machines, his brother pols are doing to you every day of the year. Picking your pocket. Robbing you blind. Register Buonomo wants you to vote no on Question 1 so he can collect a pension after he gets out of prison.”
Let’s look at the numbers. Buonomo is 56 years old, was making just over $110,000 a year and has basically been a hack’s hack his entire life, going from the city of Somerville to Middlesex County to the state court system. With that kind of pedigree, you can bet he knew what his kiss in the mail was, down to the last penny.
He was looking at 80 percent, which comes to $88,000 a year. Not too shabby for a crooked hack who never broke a sweat in the last 30-plus years, except when he was creeping up on a Xerox machine in the Registry of Deeds office.
I figured his pension was gone, until I discovered that perhaps the reprobate register had a premonition that some day he would get caught. Because back in 1999, he had his pension transferred from the state to the Somerville Retirement Board.
This is significant, because the State Retirement Board usually does the right thing when it comes to separating felons from their ill-gotten gains, whereas the city of Somerville well, remember what Billy Bulger used to say at the St. Patrick’s Day breakfast about the All-American City:
“Why don’t they just build a fence around it and give everybody inside three to five?”
You must understand, what happens in Somerville, stays in Somerville - fence or no fence. A call to the Somerville Retirement Board was not returned yesterday, not that I expected it would be.
As far as the criminal charges go, Buonomo appears doomed. He has a decent lawyer, Michael Natola, who by a strange coincidence is married to a woman, Toni, who makes $53,430 a year as the assistant to the first justice of the Middlesex Probate Court, which is apparently not a conflict, because Natola says he checked with the Office of the Bar Counsel. Also apparently not a conflict is that Natola gave $500 this year to Buonomo.
Natola is the right lawyer for this case, having once represented serial killer Stevie Flemmi, who was to little girls what Buonomo was to state-owned copying machines - a menace.
Despite having suffered the great hack tragedy of being placed on “unpaid leave,” Buonomo isn’t exactly broke. His campaign account is flush, with just under $135,000, compliments of his friends from the Forgotten but Not Gone brigade. Talk about a blast from the past - Buonomo collected from Frank Bellotti, and a Bretta from Medford, a McGonagle from Everett and a Brennan from Malden. Also from Medford, I see a Marotta, a McGlynn and a Donato. Ex-Middlesex County commissioner Mike McLaughlin ponied up $100, as did Rep. Spuds Binienda. and at least two funeral home owners, from Medford and Everett.
In the public sector, you can always tell how extraneous someone is by the number of diminutives in their job title. Buonomo has - had - three “administrative deputy assistant registers.” Their names: DeChristofaro, Colameta and Twomey. They all make $92,430 a year. Would it shock you to learn that people with different first names but those exact same last names of DeChristofaro, Colameta and Twomey all did the right thing for good old John Buonomo?
One hand washes the other. You scratch my back.
I look at Buonomo’s campaign filings and I wonder: Will he continue to pay one Carol Ragucci of Everett about $500 a week for “consultant services?” Will he ask for a refund of the $7,500 he just paid to something called Alston Street Realty Trust in Somerville for “storage” and “office space rental,” even though he was running unopposed?
It looks bad, but one thing you know John Buonomo is saying to himself this morning. Thank God for the Somerville Retirement Board. |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2009 : 08:05:51 AM
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Everett politician faces grope rap
Allegedly assaulted stylist
By Laurel J. Sweet
Friday, March 13, 2009
An Everett alderman has been charged with indecent assault and battery based on a hairdresser’s claims he grabbed her breasts and rubbed against her after allegedly hassling the woman for opening on a Sunday, the Herald has learned.
Jason Marcus, 60, who has represented Ward 2 for nearly 10 years, was never arrested but is scheduled to be arraigned April 14 at Malden District Court.
The alleged sexual assault took place Nov. 30 and was witnessed by two people, according to the Everett Police Department’s criminal complaint on file at the court.
The 33-year-old alleged victim told investigators Marcus came into her shop for a haircut, even though he’d already had one five days earlier.
While another stylist was giving him a $5 trim, Marcus asked to speak privately to the alleged victim in a back room. Once there, he asked to see her “permit,” then “grabbed (her) breasts with both hands,” the complaint states.
“Then Jason grabbed her by the arms and pulled her in close. At that point, (she) felt him rub himself on her,” while telling her he would not report her to authorities, the complaint continues.
The alleged assault was witnessed by a salon employee and a client, who heard the alleged victim yell at Marcus to “get out,” the complaint states.
Marcus never responded to requests for comment.
The alleged victim told police Marcus had been a client for 2 years and had “hugged and kissed her” in the past in a seemingly platonic manner, but she had become so uncomfortable by his displays of affection that she began trying to avoid him.
Police noted in their reports the alleged victim’s business license is “in good standing.”
Massachusetts law allows beauty salons to open on Sundays without fear of penalties, but the complaint alleges Marcus threatened the woman she “could be closed down and she could face a huge fine.” |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2009 : 08:45:41 AM
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This story has been going around Everett for a while now. It has never been reported in our local papers. Why do we have to read the Boston papers to learn what is going on in Everett? The alleged accused is an elected official. I would think the Everett papers would inform the public to this alleged abuse of power.
"Deb" |
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kimmy
Member
32 Posts |
Posted - 03/13/2009 : 5:50:54 PM
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| He should quit. |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2009 : 11:26:53 AM
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Everett politician accused of groping stylist
By Laurel J. Sweet
Thursday, May 7, 2009
An Everett alderman was released on personal recognizance yesterday after pleading not guilty to indecent assault and battery of a hairdresser who claims he manhandled her breasts.
Jason Marcus, 60, who was ordered to stay away from the hairdresser, returns to Malden District Court on June 30 for a pretrial conference.
His attorney Peter Bellotti told the Herald the “brief” Nov. 30 “encounter” for which Marcus is accused of acting inappropriately “was a sincere misunderstanding between Mr. Marcus and the owner of the salon” in Everett.
Bellotti said Marcus was out buying newspapers the Sunday after Thanksgiving when he noticed his 33-year-old stylist was open for business.
The salon, Bellotti said, “was typically not open on Sundays. (Marcus) saw a number of people there. He was just coming out of a convenience store, so he walked over and went in. He saw the owner, who he knows, and who has cut his hair in the past.”
After getting a trim, Marcus signaled to the owner he wanted to speak to her alone over whether she had a permit to be open Sunday, according to Bellotti.
“He did gesture her to kind of move away from the customers because he was expressing concern and it was private,” Bellotti said.
State law allows beauty salons to open on Sundays.
The alleged victim told police Marcus grabbed her breasts with both hands. The contact was allegedly witnessed by a salon employee and a customer. |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
Posted - 09/24/2009 : 2:58:31 PM
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Sex-harass suit brewing at Saugus Starbucks
Ex-Starbucks worker an alleged assault victim
By Donna Goodison | Thursday, September 24, 2009 | You must be logged in to see this link. | Business & Markets
A former Starbucks barista and alleged sexual assault victim is suing the Seattle chain, claiming she was exposed to repeated sexual harassment at a Saugus coffee shop and that her supervisor invaded her privacy by telling co-workers about the assault.
The 29-year-old Everett woman alleges young male co-workers put bananas between their crotches to resemble male genitalia; placed them in cracks of store walls, napkin dispensers and bathrooms as phallic symbols; and inscribed one with an offensive, suggestive remark directed toward her.
The behavior allegedly began when Starbucks started serving fruit smoothies in summer 2008. The woman says managers took no action, and the situation worsened the more she complained, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston last week.
“The (male employees) just didn’t cross the line by a little bit - they seemed to jump over the line with both feet,” said John Davis, the woman’s attorney. “There was some pretty hard-core, highly offensive harassment.”
The woman worked at Starbucks from July 2006 to last November, when she quit because she couldn’t tolerate the hostile work environment, according to Davis. The Herald is withholding her name because she is an alleged victim of a sexual assault in spring 2008.
In a statement, Starbucks said its workplace policies strictly prohibit discrimination or harassment.
It’s unclear whether the male co-workers’ alleged sexual harassment was related to the fact that the woman’s supervisor reportedly told other employees about her sexual assault, Davis said.
The woman had called the female supervisor for a ride to the hospital following the attack, and the supervisor agreed to keep the assault confidential, the lawsuit states. But numerous co-workers subsequently approached the woman to wish her a full recovery and offer emotional support.
In addition, when the woman met with an upper-level Starbucks manager last November to address the alleged sexual harassment, he instead focused on her assault five months earlier, alerting her to company programs that could help her, the lawsuit contends.
Companies have a role to play in setting standards and expectations for issues of confidentiality and sexual harassment, and there’s no place in the workplace for “boys-will-be-boys juvenile behavior,” said Toni Troop, spokeswoman for Jane Doe Inc., a Massachusetts advocacy coalition against sexual assault and domestic violence.
You must be logged in to see this link. |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 11/16/2009 : 1:35:01 PM
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Sen. Galluccio driven home by cops before hit-and-run
By Associated Press | Monday, November 16, 2009 | You must be logged in to see this link. | Local Politics
Cambridge police gave state Sen. Anthony Galluccio a ride home because they were worried he was too drunk to drive about 13 hours before Galluccio was involved in a hit-and-run accident last month.
Police responded to a call of an intoxicated man at a Concord Ave. gas station at about 4:39 a.m. on Oct. 4, according to a police report.
Police said the man, identified as Galluccio, was being detained by the gas station attendant, who felt he was too drunk.
When they arrived, police said they spotted two men standing a by car, one of whom they recognized as Galluccio.
The second man told police he was trying to drive Galluccio home but couldn’t find his house. The man gave police a set of keys he said belonged to Galluccio’s car, which was parked at a nearby cafe.
Police said they determined that Galluccio’s car was not at the gas station and he hadn’t been driving the second car, so they decided to drive him home themselves, according to the police report, which was filed on Oct. 29.
The restaurant where Galluccio’s car was parked, identified in the report as the Basha Cafe, closes at 1 a.m., according to the cafe’s Web site.
Galluccio, D-Cambridge, issued a brief written statement today.
"This is an ongoing legal process," he said. "Out of respect to all parties involved, I cannot comment until the process is completed."
About 13 hours later on the same day, a Sunday, a sport utility vehicle driven by Galluccio rear-ended a minivan in Cambridge.
The driver of the minivan, one of four occupants, was taken to the hospital complaining of neck and back pain, according to the accident report.
Witnesses said the SUV fled the scene through a Harvard University driveway. Police were unable to locate it. Witnesses gave them the license plate number and an officer tracked it to Galluccio’s home.
At the time, Galluccio said he "panicked" because of his driving history, which includes two drunken driving convictions and another case in which similar charges were weighed after he was involved in a multiple-car accident.
Galluccio said in a statement that he regretted making "a serious error in judgment" when he left the scene.
"When the accident occurred, because of my driving history, I panicked and left the scene. Although I had no reason to believe that there was any injury involved, there is no excuse for leaving the scene of an accident and I deeply regret doing so," he said after the accident was made public.
Police cited him with leaving the scene of an accident causing injury, and leaving the scene of an accident causing property damage.
Galluccio has refused to say whether he had been drinking before the crash.
Galluccio was convicted of driving under the influence in 1984, when he was 17, and again in 1997. Former Gov. William F. Weld, a Republican, pardoned him for the first offense.
Galluccio again faced accusations of drunken driving in 2006, amid an aborted campaign for former Sen. Jarrett Barrios’ seat. People who had been in three vehicles allegedly struck by him during a December 2005 chain-reaction crash in Boston’s financial district said he was drunk at the time.
A Boston Municipal Court clerk magistrate later convened a hearing where he determined there was evidence Galluccio had been drinking but insufficient evidence to charge him with drunken driving.
Galluccio, 42, is a former Cambridge city councilor and mayor. He won a four-way special election in 2007 to replace Barrios after he resigned.
Senate President Therese Murray said after the accident that "nobody should leave the scene of an accident, especially an elected official."
Murray said she would wait until police complete their investigation before deciding whether the Senate should sanction Galluccio.
During the past year, Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, D-Boston, has resigned after being charged with accepting bribes, while Sen. James Marzilli, D-Arlington, has resigned after being charged with making sexual remarks to women on a Lowell street. |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
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charm
Senior Member
264 Posts |
Posted - 11/18/2009 : 08:49:03 AM
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Officers who drove Galluccio home not under investigation
By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff | November 18, 2009
Cambridge police will not investigate the actions of the two officers who gave state Senator Anthony D. Galluccio a ride home early on Oct. 4, about 13 hours before Galluccio rear-ended a minivan before speeding from the scene, the department said yesterday. Galluccio, police were told at the time, was “too intoxicated’’ to drive.
Police Superintendent Steven Williams said the officers will also not face internal discipline for not reporting the incident because there is no written policy requiring individual officers to write reports when they transport citizens in noncriminal incidents.
“In this case, the officers did not violate any department policy,’’ the police said in a statement. “Mr. Galluccio’s vehicle was not at the scene, and officers did not observe him attempting to drive any vehicle.’’
Williams said yesterday that the department has already performed 500 “conveyances’’ so far this year, including for medical issues. But he did not immediately have a breakdown of the number of cases involving intoxicated citizens.
Although officers did not initially write a report on the Oct. 4 ride they provided, they were ordered to do so on Oct. 29 as the department documented its investigation.
The officers involved were identified in the report as Stephen Kervick and Michael Cherubino.
Through a spokesman, the Cambridge senator yesterday declined comment and referred to a statement issued Monday. “This is an ongoing legal process,’’ Galluccio said in the statement. “Out of respect to all parties involved, I cannot comment until the process is completed.’’
While police will not mount an internal investigation, Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz’s office is independently conducting a criminal investigation into Galluccio’s behavior that morning.
“That matter is currently under investigation and therefore we will decline to make any comment,’’ Assistant Plymouth District Attorney Bridget Norton Middleton said on Cruz’s behalf.
Cruz’s office is handling the case to avoid conflict of interest issues for Middlesex prosecutors.
Also yesterday, Williams explained how it took the department 24 days after police cited Galluccio on a charge of fleeing the scene to learn that he had contact with police earlier on the same day as the crash.
Williams said the interaction was discovered on Oct. 29 as the department was pulling together evidence underpinning the case for Cruz’s office.
He said department superiors then ordered the officers to write a report about the Oct. 4 event.
Galluccio was found in the parking lot of a Sunoco gas station in the Fresh Pond area located around the corner from the Café Basha on New street where police were told Galluccio had parked his car.
“We just wanted to get it documented and provide it to the DA, so they could do with it what they wish,’’ Williams said when asked why it had no evidentiary value but was still provided to Cruz’s office.
Williams said that the early morning Oct. 4 interaction did not have any bearing on the investigation. Galluccio, 42, has pleaded not guilty to charges of leaving the scene after causing property damage and to leaving the scene after causing personal injury.
“It would not have had any [impact] regarding the criminal case,’’ Williams said. “It would not have had a direct link to it . . .(because) of the lapse of 13 hours.’’
Police gave Galluccio a ride home around 4:30 a.m. on Oct. 4. At 5:30 p.m. that day, he rear-ended the minivan carrying a Cambridge family, police say, and fled the scene.
Galluccio’s actions on the evening of Oct. 4 were publicly known shortly after the incident. But only on Monday, Nov. 16. did the department release the report detailing how police gave the senator a ride home on the morning of Oct. 4, after being asked about it by the Globe and, apparently, other media.
Police also said yesterday that some information in the police report is incorrect. The report stated police went to the gas station on Concord Avenue to investigate a man being detained by a gas station employee “because they felt he was too intoxicated to drive away.’’ Police now say the caller was a friend of Galluccio’s who had already tried to drive him home. Frustrated that Galluccio was unable to tell him where he lived, the friend called 911.
John Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
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just wondering
Senior Member
387 Posts |
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Boston Herald
