8 fighter jets added to growing security

Eight F-16s will patrol the skies over Boston during the Democratic National Convention, military officials said yesterday, as police and military personnel took positions in unprecedented security precautions in the city.

Boston residents can expect to hear and see military aircraft overhead starting today, as part of what the North American Aerospace Defense Command described as "a series of exercise training flights."

F-16 fighter jets will probably continue patrolling Monday and throughout next week's four-day convention, state officials said. The flights will operate 24 hours a day and are under the direction of the US Secret Service, one of the state officials said.

A senior officer from the US Northern Command, based in Colorado, is stationed at an undisclosed location near the city, where he will command an unknown number of National Guard and active-duty military personnel, military officials said.

The troops will support Joint Task Force DNC, a multiagency operation that is being directed by the Secret Service. Military officials said two Colorado-based operations were at the ready.

"We have fully engaged both NORAD and US Northern Command," said Air Force Major Eric Butterbaugh, a spokesman for NORAD in Colorado Springs, which is responsible for defending the airspace over the United States and Canada.

Around Boston yesterday, the security effort began to fall into place. Police gathered near the FleetCenter to get assignments and pick up riot gear. Nervous city officials responded to what turned out to be a cherry bomb explosion in the North End. And the FBI offered new details on a threat aimed at television trucks.

Expanding on a warning first issued Thursday, the FBI said yesterday that it had received unconfirmed information that a radical domestic group was planning to disrupt the convention by attacking media vehicles with "explosive or incendiary devices."

A law enforcement official said the reports concerned a group that planned to toss Molotov cocktails at news media trucks positioned outside the FleetCenter and other sites where delegates and politicians will gather. Law enforcement officials did not elaborate on the identity of the group.

In response, officials at Boston television stations held a conference call yesterday to coordinate strategy. Ed Goldman, general manager at CBS4-TV (Channel 4), said the stations agreed to share costs for around-the-clock security personnel to guard vehicles at locations such as Faneuil Hall and Boston Common. "We've all agreed to provide 24/7 coverage," he said.

WCVB-TV (Channel 5) news director Coleen Marren sent an internal memo to her staff explaining that although local stations "are all competitive about news coverage, we are all sharing our concern for safety and security."

A number of local stations indicated that they had geared up for convention-related security concerns even before the FBI warning. Ro Dooley-Webster, spokeswoman for WHDH-TV (Channel 7), said that the station's "news crews at potentially volatile locations have full protective gear, which includes gas masks, bulletproof vests, helmets, and goggles."

WFXT-TV (Channel 25) spokeswoman Maggie Hennessey-Nees also confirmed that crews at that station had been issued a protective hood and mask system to guard against chemical attacks, biological weapons, and fire.

Charles Kravetz, vice president for news for New England Cable News, said the threat was not a surprise, adding that media vehicles were damaged by protesters during the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.

Kravetz said that some stations with network logos on their vehicles were planning to cover the designs because they feared the logos might make them a target for anarchist groups that want to attack large institutions.

To some Bostonians and visitors, the extra security seemed excessive.

"Most of it is overreaction," said Bill Prokipchak of Boston. "I guess they think they can't overdo it too much, because nobody wants to be caught with their pants down. It does create a hassle, though."

Natasha Lewais, on leave from an Air Force base in Florida, said she is not worrying about potential danger.

"I don't walk around thinking bombs are going to blow up in garbage cans," she said. "But it does make you wonder if the FBI knows a lot more than we do, with all they're doing. If we're going to be attacked, it will happen regardless of whether planes are flying overhead."

However, in a city inundated with security notices, a small explosion yesterday morning in a historic North End cemetery rattled dishes, furniture, and nerves.

"I was making coffee, and the pot fell out of my hand when I heard the explosion," said Theresa Dalelio, 92, who lives near the Copp's Hill Burying Ground.

Police said they believe that a cherry bomb had been ignited in a soda bottle at about 8 a.m. No injuries were reported, but the explosion damaged windows and brickwork at the Michelangelo School, which shares a wall with the cemetery.

The building also serves as housing for the elderly and the North End Visitors Center.

"I was concerned it might have something to do with the convention," said Joseph Bruno, who lives near the cemetery.

The growing visibility of security measures extended to the Esplanade, where three tents with Army insignia and camouflage netting had been erected behind a 6-foot-high fence. Several Massachusetts State Police mobile command trailers, an Incident Management Vehicle, and several smaller vehicles were set up inside the gated, makeshift facility. A Massachusetts state trooper guarded the site in a tinted, black Crown Victoria.

Meanwhile, the US Court of Appeals declined late yesterday to issue an emergency order requiring the city to open up or move a fenced "free-speech zone" near the FleetCenter. However, the appeals court agreed to consider written arguments and records submitted by 10 a.m. Monday concerning the designated protest area.

Lawyers for activists filed an 11th-hour appeal of a ruling Thursday by US District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock, which upheld the protest area that is wedged under abandoned Green Line elevated tracks. The activists said the zone is a "shocking infringement" on the First Amendment right to free speech.

Mary Jo Harris, legal counsel to the Boston police, said she expected the court would issue a final ruling Monday. "I'm certainly pleased that they're not going to make us change things right now," she said.

Mark Jurkowitz, Shelley Murphy, Jonathan Saltzman , and Stephen Kurkjian of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents Elise Castelli and Tyrone Richardson contributed to this report.