Suffolk County Sobriety Checkpoint Planned Saturday
Massachusetts State Police will be operating a sobriety checkpoint this week at an undisclosed location in Suffolk County. The checkpoint will operate sometime between Saturday, June 22 and Sunday, June 23. “The purpose is to further educate the motoring public and strengthen the public’s awareness to the need of detecting and removing those motorists who operate under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs from our roadways,” Colonel Timothy P. Alben, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, said in a press release. Alben noted that, “The selection of vehicles will not be arbitrary, safety will be assured, and any inconveniences to motorists will be minimized with advance notice to reduce fear and anxiety.” For more information, visit the State Police website, www.mass.gov/msp. SOUTH END PATCH: Facebook | Twitter | E-mail Updates South End Patch
Memorial, Funeral Planned For Cellucci
Former Gov. Paul Cellucci, who passed away Saturday after a long battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease, will be honored at the State House with a memorial service Thursday. A funeral Mass for Cellucci will be held Friday in his hometown of Hudson as well, according to a statement from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Shortly after noon on Thursday, Cellucci’s motorcade will be arriving at the State House with a formal procession up the State House front steps. An invitation-only memorial service for Cellucci will begin at 12:30 p.m. According to the Boston Globe, the service will be live-streamed. Thereafter, a public viewing for Cellucci will be held in the Hall of Flags Rotunda at the State House from 2:30 to 7 p.m., according to UMass Medical School. On Friday, the public is invited to attend Cellucci’s funeral Mass at St. Michael’s Parish, 21 Manning St. in Hudson at 11 a.m. Cellucci was governor of the Bay State from 1997 to 2001 and then served as U.S. ambassador to Canada for President George W. Bush’s administration. He was previously lieutenant governor under William Weld. SOUTH END PATCH: Facebook | Twitter | E-mail Updates South End Patch
Suffolk County Sobriety Checkpoint Planned Friday
Massachusetts State Police will be operating a sobriety checkpoint this week at an undisclosed location in Suffolk County. The checkpoint will operate sometime between Friday, June 7 and Saturday, June 8. “The purpose is to further educate the motoring public and strengthen the public’s awareness to the need of detecting and removing those motorists who operate under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs from our roadways,” Colonel Timothy P. Alben, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, said in a press release. Alben noted that, “The selection of vehicles will not be arbitrary, safety will be assured, and any inconveniences to motorists will be minimized with advance notice to reduce fear and anxiety.” For more information, visit the State Police website, www.mass.gov/msp. SOUTH END PATCH: Facebook | Twitter | E-mail Updates South End Patch
New Hubway Stations Planned for the South End
Boston’s bike-sharing service Hubway announced this week that more than 75 percent of its bicycle stations are open and operational. In the South End, three stations from previous years will be back, including the Tremont Street station in front of the South End Library, one at Tremont and Berkeley Streets, and Columbus Avenue at Mass. Ave. Three new stations are planned for the South End, including Washington Street at Rutland Street, Boston Medical Center and Washington Street at Waltham Street. “After a very snowy winter we are thrilled to announce that Hubway is open for business,” the company said in an announcement. “Our team will continue to add stations and expect to be fully deployed by mid-April.” The current Hubway footprint is 112 stations and 1100 bicycles with several updates to the 2012 configuration: Boston: Additional docking points installed at 10 of the most highly utilized stations, including Congress/Sleeper, Post Office Square, Beacon/Mass Ave, and Charles Circle Summer/Arch station has moved one block to the corner of Franklin/Arch and has added 12 docking points to accommodate demand TD Garden/Legends Way station has moved to the sidewalk along Causeway St at Portal Park and added 7 docking points New station at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital’s Navy Yard facility Brookline: Washington Square will get a station in metered parking spots along the median of Beacon St (to be installed after the Boston Marathon) New station in on-street parking spots along Harvard Ave in the Kennedy Crossing area of Brookline, providing a critical link between Coolidge Corner and Allston Cambridge: New station at the Radcliffe Quad, at Garden St/Shepard St Planned station for the Porter Square T plaza Somerville: New station at Highland Ave/Somerville Hospital New station at Teele Square/Elm St New station adjacent to Tufts at Packard Ave/Powderhouse Blvd Ball Square station moving down the block to Bristol Rd at the intersection of Broadway SOUTH END PATCH: Facebook | Twitter | E-mail Updates South End Patch
Protests Planned Against MBTA Bag Checks
A pro-4th Amendment coalition with roots in the Occupy movement will stage a protest of random bag inspections at T platforms around the city this weekend, including Kenmore and Ruggles stations. Defend the 4th, a self-proclaimed “group of individuals from a broad array of political/social leanings and organizations,” plans to demonstrate across Boston Feb. 2, according to an email to Patch from coalition spokesman Garret Kirkland. “Any instances of ‘random’ searches being conducted on a citizen or visitor to the Commonwealth warrants protest on 4th Amendment grounds,” Kirkland wrote. “We believe that it is a gross violation of our rights and of the principles of our nation, that any person should have to prove that they are not doing anything wrong.” Defend the 4th plans to march from noon to 3 p.m. Feb. 2, along several branches of the T, according to a flyer. Groups will begin at Harvard Square, South Station, Lechmere, Kenmore and Ruggles T stops. The MBTA randomly inspects passenger’s bags, but does not search, according to Kelly Smith, deputy press secretary for the MBTA. “These random, non-intrusive inspections take place every week at various stations,” Smith wrote in an email to Patch. In 2006, then Gov. Mitt Romney directed the MBTA to perform random bag inspections for explosive materials, resurrecting the practice which started at the Boston Democratic National Convention in 2004. “Passengers are selected on a random basis through the use of a computer-generated sequence of numbers, according to the MBTA,” according to an informational post on the inspections on the MBTA’s website. “These inspections involve the brushing, with a swab, of the exterior of a carry-on. This swab is then placed in explosive trace detection equipment.” In August 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York upheld a decision that bag inspections on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority do not violate an individual’s Constitutional rights, according to an MBTA press release from October 2006. Following the London subway bombings in July of 2005, New York had instituted a policy that was based on the MBTA’s random bag inspection program used during the DNC. Two court cases- American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee v. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, 2004 and MacWade v. Kelly, 2006 – upheld the inspections, according to the MBTA. “It’s not searches, it’s swabs,” Smith said. “They don’t even go inside your bag.” Smith added passengers can decline the swabs, but they then forfeit their right to ride on the MBTA. Still, Kirkland asserts Defend the 4th feels all such inspections along the MBTA, and the MBTA’s coordination with TSA, which performs the inspections, are at least inappropriate and […]