City ready to trash poor garbage practices
In an effort to combat the numbers of large rats roaming the streets of Somerville, the Board of Aldermen unanimously passed more stringent trash laws for the city.
The new law says that homeowners must purchase trash barrels and keep them closed six days a week, opening them only on trash days. The barrels will be available at various Somerville hardware stores.
Somerville residents must also clean all litter from their sidewalks.
Violation of either of these laws carries a $50 fine.
The law will go into effect in 90 days, followed by a 30 day grace period in which citizens can buy the barrels and get accustomed to keeping things cleaner.
Maryann Heuston, President of the Somerville board of Aldermen, was at the forefront of the project and said the ordinances are a big step forward for keeping the city clean and rat-free.
"I really feel that I accomplished something big," she told the Somerville Journal.
Salem Street crimes prompt formation of watch group
Led by City Counselor Michael Marks, Medford residents have organized to address a perceived increase in crime on Salem Street.
At a Sept. 26, City Council meeting, Medford residents' complaints ranged from illicit activities such as raucous parties and blatant drug use to the safety issues posed by two stabbings and a kidnapping attempt.
Marks emphasized that while increased police patrolling would help reduce crime, forming a neighborhood watch group would enable residents to actively work to keep the streets safe.
"When you tell people to go ahead and set up a group like this, most people don't know how to run with the ball," Marks told the Medford Transcript. "We don't want citizens to be vigilantes, patrolling the neighborhoods."
Marks said that the police presence on Salem Street is simply not sufficient to deter criminals, largely due to cutbacks in the police department. Concerned citizens, Marks said, can make up for it by being "the ears and the eyes for the police."
Arsonists try to slither out of pet shop fire charges
Twenty-one-year-old Somerville resident Dennis Nickerson was accused of being an accomplice in the burning of Boston Tropical Fish and Reptile, an exotic pet shop in Cambridge, according to the Boston Herald.
Police have accused Thanh Thrin, a Charlestown resident and the owner of the store, of being the ringleader in what they have declared to be arson. Thrin enlisted the help of Nickerson and 17-year-old Zachary Azzam.
All three pleaded not guilty and have been charged with willful burning of a building, malicious killing of animals, cruelty to animals, larceny over $250, and larceny from a building. Azzam and Nickerson are being held on $1,000 bail each, and Thrin is being held without bail.
Cambridge police arrested the arsonists on Friday afternoon after a series of fires tore through the pet shop on Sept. 27, and killed several pets. The phrase "No more exploitation of animals" was scrawled outside the front door in black paint, which the police have called a ploy by Thrin to make the fire look like the work of animal rights activists.
- Compiled by Jeremy White from the Somerville Journal, Boston Herald and Medford Transcript
