It is an age-old dispute over what it means to be a good neighbor
I wouldn't know; I live in Massachusetts.
Related: Wheeling Around Boston
Just as bad, isn't it?
Auto mogul Boch embroiled in feud with neighbors
Yeah, we are used to that kind of thing up here.
Brookline neighbors still have concerns about planned Mormon chapel
Ever notice synagogues or temples are never a problem?
Want to go get a bite to eat?
"Case of alleged extortion, with an upscale twist; Developer’s enforcers sought expensive watches, FBI says" by Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff | February 9, 2010
It’s not your typical extortion case: A Boston real estate developer was charged yesterday with dispatching several enforcers to threaten a local realtor and his family over a $90,000 business debt....
The alleged shakedown occurred at the Bristol Lounge at The Four Seasons Hotel in Boston on Feb. 1, just feet from oblivious diners, but apparently under the watchful eyes of Boston police and FBI agents who launched an investigation after the victim earlier reported the threats.
David Gefke, 48, who is president and founder of First Capital Mortgage Group in Boston and East Springfield LLC, was arrested late Friday and brought into US District Court in shackles yesterday to face an extortion charge. Appearing with him was Michael B. Lee, 29, an Irish national living in Dorchester who is charged with extortion for allegedly trying to collect the debt for Gefke....
During conversations that were secretly recorded by the FBI, the victim later asked Gefke, “Why did you send leg breakers to see me?’’
--more--"
Related: Hub realtor sought police, FBI help when family threatened
No lover's quarrel there."Woman convicted in fire deaths of 2 girls; May get life term, chance of parole" by Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff | February 17, 2010
Prosecutors had argued that Nicole Chuminski, of South Boston, started the deadly fire by throwing a fire bomb at the home after an argument the night before with Anna Reisopolous, her lover and the girls’ mother....
I'm already not liking where this is going.
The findings of neglect in the girls’ life led to sweeping changes at the state Department of Children and Families, which acknowledged it failed to rescue the two girls from their hardships.
FLASHBACK:
"State's errors detailed in deaths of two sisters" by Donovan Slack, Globe Staff | December 19, 2008
The state agency responsible for children failed at the most fundamental levels to save the lives of two South Boston sisters who survived years of neglect in a home torn by drug addiction, violence, and emotional dysfunction only to die in one another's arms in an arson fire in April, an investigation by the state's new advocate for children found.
Oh, the FEAR, TERROR, and HORROR those BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN MUST HAVE FELT!!!!!
See: They Died in Each Others Arms
Social workers from the Department of Children and Families who visited repeatedly documented neglect of the children, but failed to stop it, the investigation concluded. Caseworkers failed to perform even rudimentary checks with police or other agencies whose information would have clearly signaled trouble. The department's internal records were so poor, the probe found, that officials failed even to "connect the dots" of the information they themselves had collected. Those failures allowed the plight of 14-year-old Acia Johnson and 3-year-old Sophia to go unnoticed, the investigation found.
"By leading lives involved with drugs, crime, and violence, the parents exposed their children to the violence of other people with similar behaviors," Gail Garinger, the child advocate and a former juvenile court judge, concluded in a summary of her report, released yesterday after a six-month investigation. "However, DCF also missed opportunities to recognize the dangers to Acia and Sophia, and to intervene."
The girls died when a fire, which officials say was set in a jealous rage by their mother's lover, swept through the West Sixth Street row house where they lived. The children lived there with their mother, Anna Reisopoulos, even though state social workers had determined five years earlier that she and the girls' father, Raymond Johnson Sr., were unfit parents and gave custody to a grandmother.
Execute him. These are the kind of people we don't need around.
Social workers failed to sufficiently document incidences of neglect by the parents dating back to 1995, the investigation found, and the agency did not interview other people involved in the children's lives who could have shed light on the dangers they faced.
"This was really a systemic failure in this case," Garinger said in an interview yesterday....
***************
Social workers never realized the children were living at the South Boston house even though the workers repeatedly visited them there, and even though their mother reported they were living there when she applied for food stamps, cash assistance, and housing subsidies. The home was also listed at Acia Johnson's school as her primary residence.
The department would eventually document cocaine use, violent domestic fights, and bizarre incidents, including one in which Acia's father left the girl on the side of the road and led police on a car chase after a traffic stop.
In all, social workers investigated roughly a dozen complaints of abuse and neglect in as many years, including two in the months before the fire. Last February, Sophia Johnson was found wandering outside, alone, on a cold winter day.
Excuse me? A BABY was WANDERING AROUND OUTSIDE on a COLD WINTER DAY?!!!! Excuse me?
On March 14, just three weeks before the fire, Reisopoulos chased her son Raymond into the backyard with a hammer. Social workers, notified by police, were called to the scene but took no immediate action....
What, would he have had to bash the kids skull in to get a reaction?
You guys just picking up a check, aren't you?
Yup, that is your STATE GOVERNMENT PROTECTING KIDS!!!
At least they saw justice done, huh?
Chuminski, who was also convicted of two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for injuring the girls’ mother and brother in the fire, is expected to be sentenced tomorrow to at least life in prison with the eligibility for parole in 15 years.
Screw that!
It was not clear yesterday if Reisopoulos would attend the sentencing hearing. She is being held in a county jail on unrelated charges....
Gee, I wonder what those could be, an why the Glob is shielding her.
Assistant district attorneys David Fredette and Julie Higgins argued during the trial that Chuminski started the fire at about 3 the morning of April 6, 2008, in a fit of rage after fighting with Reisopolous at a wedding reception in Weymouth.
Reisopolous, now 35, stole the wallet of Chuminski’s cousin and was thrown out of the reception. At the time, Chuminski tried to defend Reisopolous from her relatives.
But prosecutors argued that Chuminski returned to the Reisopolous home on West Sixth Street early the next morning still in a rage and shouted at her to open the door, calling her a whore and accusing her of sleeping with someone else.
Yeah, everyone loves those kinds of things happening in their neighborhood. About two more seconds and I'm on the blower to the cops.
Reisopolous and her son, Raymond Jr., Acia’s twin, said that they heard Chuminski yelling from the street. Soon after, the fire started. Reisopolous said she saw a “burst of orange flames.’’
Still in a drunken state from the wedding reception, she called to the third floor to have Acia bring down Sophia. She ran downstairs to wake up Raymond.
But Acia could not make it down through the thick, black smoke. She and Sophia were found dead in the closet of their bedroom....
A Globe report months later highlighted not only the tragedy of the girls’ deaths, but also the neglect that affected them. Their mother was a drug addict, their father was in and out of jail, and the children were surrounded by their mother’s violent relationship and were left to care for themselves....
Yeah, and the STATE KNEW ALL ABOUT IT and were SUBSIDIZING IT!
Related:
"Social workers never realized the children were living at the South Boston house even though the workers repeatedly visited them there, and even though their mother reported they were living there when she applied for food stamps, cash assistance, and housing subsidies"
Yeah, Globe left that out, too.
Twice:
"Two life terms for two lives lost in ’08 fire; Chuminski sentenced in deaths of girls, 3 and 14" by Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff | February 19, 2010
The woman who set the roaring blaze that killed two young sisters as they huddled together in their South Boston home two years ago was sentenced yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court to two consecutive life terms in prison, the last chapter in a horrific fire and murder trial.
Nicole Chuminski, 27, will have to complete the mandatory 15-year sentence for each of two convictions of second-degree murder, meaning she will serve at least 30 years in prison before she is eligible for parole. She would begin serving the sentence on the second conviction if and when she is granted parole on the first.
Prosecutors and the girls’ family said justice was served for the killing of 14-year-old Acia Johnson and 3-year-old Sophia, victims of a woman who took her rage out on the girls’ mother, Anna Reisopoulos, her lover of a few months, by setting fire to their home....
Reisopoulos, 35, asked for forgiveness for neglecting her children, and for exposing them to her violent relationship with Chuminski.
“I ask that I please be given this opportunity to express my deepest apologies to my kids so I can close this chapter and move on with the brightest memories that I instill in my heart,’’ she said....
I don't know what is worse, that "apology" or this:
The fire.... also showed Acia’s enduring love for her sister, as she cradled the little girl in their dying moments. Their charred bodies were found still holding each other.
“It’s a haunting vision, but it’s also a beautiful vision, the way Acia was holding her,’’ Assistant District Attorney David Fredette said....
I'm sorry, readers, but our public servants are sick!!!
There is NOTHING BEAUTIFUL about that TRAGIC SCENE, I'm sorry!!!
Nothing beautiful about KIDS BURNING UP in a CLOSET because of drunk lesbian lout throwing firebombs!!!!
A different case out here, readers:
"Fund to aid Northampton fire victims tops $80,000
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. --A charitable fund established to help people who lost property in a string of arsons in Northampton late last year has raised about $83,000.
Also see: Hothampton
Organizers say although the Northampton Neighbor's Relief Fund remains open, there are no more major fundraising events planned. They say $60,000 will go to people who lost property in the string of 15 arson fires in the early morning hours of Dec. 27, and the remainder will go to the Red Cross. Two people died in a house fire, and officials estimate property damage at $1.5 million. A local man is facing murder charges in connection with the fatal fire. John Ebbets, chief executive of United Way of Hampshire County, which is administering the fund, tells The Daily Hampshire Gazette that the response was "amazing."
Yeah, that's us country folk out here!!
Time to say goodbye, readers -- until later tonight.
There are some children I am going to see.
Update: Children’s play restrictions spur suit
Yeah, somehow that's where things always end up in Massachusetts.
