Wheelchair van driver is shot in shoulder

April 10, 2007

A man in his early 20s who drives a Fallon wheelchair van was shot once in the right shoulder yesterday shortly before 5 p.m. near the Roxbury-Jamaica Plain line, police said. Police were looking for the location of the crime scene last night. Police Superintendent John Gallagher said it was unclear where in the neighborhood the man was shot, though he said the van stopped at Chestnut Avenue and Centre Street in Jamaica Plain. A Fallon supervisor at the scene said that the victim was between calls when he was shot. He said no Fallon clients were endangered. Gallagher said the victim was taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening. Witnesses said the man began honking the van's horn after he was shot, to summon help.

Governor Deval Patrick sent documents to the federal government today in support of his request for an economic disaster declaration that would make fishermen eligible for financial assistance. In a letter to Carlos M. Gutierrez, the secretary of commerce, Patrick said that recent changes in federal fishing regulations have caused $22 million in losses for the state's groundfishing fleet and related industries. In November, a new set of rules called Framework 42 limited fishermen in parts of the Gulf of Maine and sections of the ocean south of New England to 24 days at sea per year, down from the previous limit of 50 days. At the end of March, Patrick visited fishermen in Gloucester, where he toured the refrigerated auction house. At the time, the governor described the disaster declaration as a patch that would provide some financial relief for fishermen.

Three sisters and one of their boyfriends were sentenced to federal prison yesterday for running a lucrative ring that sold knockoff handbags of designers like Gucci, Kate Spade, and Louis Vuitton at "purse parties" hosted by suburban women and at a weekly flea market. US District Judge William G. Young sentenced Katherine Luong, 28, of Chelsea to three years in prison; Minh Vu, 26, of Chelsea and Kim Luong, 34, of Quincy to 2 1/2 years each; and Camphung Luong, 25, of Chelsea to two years. As part of a plea agreement, they agreed to pay $41,000 in restitution to the handbag companies, according to US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan's office. In a January 2005 raid touted as one of the largest counterfeit seizures in New England, State Police seized more than 46,000 bags and wallets, worth more than $1 million on the street, from Revere storage lockers that had been rented by the Luongs.

The Georgetown-Rowley State Forest will be off limits to off-highway vehicles this riding season, following the completion of an analysis by the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The state park is the only one of nine evaluated that will bar off-highway vehicles when the season opens May 1. Department officials concluded that continued off-highway vehicle use would harm the park's extensive wetlands and threaten the habitat of an animal that is protected under the state Endangered Species Act; they did not identify the animal.

REVERE

A 30-year-old construction worker from Somerville died yesterday after he was struck by a construction vehicle driven by a fellow worker at a building site in Revere, police said. The fatally injured worker's identity was withheld pending notification of kin. He was hit by a forklift or a utility vehicle after he appeared suddenly from behind a hanging tarpaulin around 8:15 a.m. at the Overlook Ridge apartment complex in northern Revere, said a police spokesman, Captain Dennis Collyer. "The operator of the vehicle did not see him and ran him over," Collyer said. The victim, an employee of MJM Masonry Inc. of Arlington, was taken by ambulance to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Collyer said. No charges were filed. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating to see whether safety standards were violated, said spokesman Ted Fitzgerald.

MONTPELIER

US Representative Peter Welch is headed to Iraq and Afghanistan as part of a special congressional delegation. Welch, a Democrat, said he was going to support Vermont troops serving there and to listen to their concerns. Welch has been a critic of the war in Iraq and backs legislation to set a deadline for the withdrawal of US troops from the country. "I'll talk to the troops about anything that they want to talk about, but I won't be asking soldiers what they think of the war," Welch said. He is due back in the United States next week. (AP)