Councilor floats plan for JFK carrier

BOSTON

One member of the City Council thinks the USS John F. Kennedy should return to Boston and stay for good. "We all know the tremendous link between President Kennedy and the city of Boston," said Councilor Stephen J. Murphy, who filed an order this week to look into buying the carrier from the Navy and bringing it back to the city. "I would like to see it used as a museum and an enhanced tourist attraction." Murphy said it could cost about $25 million, which would be raised from businesses and other donors. The city could turn the 1,052-foot-long aircraft carrier into a revenue-generating museum in Boston Harbor or at the John F. Kennedy Library, Murphy said. The ship left Boston last week to be decommissioned in Mayport, Fla., before heading to a Philadelphia shipyard where it will join other mothballed ships. The council hopes to coordinate the effort with US Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

A Navy destroyer will pull into Boston Harbor this weekend for St. Patrick's Day, bringing more than 300 sailors to the city and giving the public an opportunity to tour the ship that fired the first Tomahawk cruise missile of the Iraqi war in 2003. The USS Donald Cook is 505 feet long and weighs more than 8,000 tons. It was commissioned in December 1998 in honor of a decorated Marine Corps colonel who died in Vietnam. Donald G. Cook, 33, was a Brooklyn, N.Y., native who was awarded the Medal of Honor after his death for what the Navy described as extraordinary courage while a prisoner of war. The ship will be visible from Castle Island at about 3:30 p.m. today as it docks at the Black Falcon Cruise Ship Terminal. The ship will be open for free public tours from 1 to 4 p.m. tomorrow through Monday. It is not handicapped accessible, and visitors must be at least 6 years old.

Citing the increasing viciousness of school bullies and the measurable psychological and physical harm inflicted on their victims, legislators yesterday promoted a measure that would codify the definition of bullying with the goal of empowering teachers to protect vulnerable students. Speaking at a panel discussion organized by the bill's sponsors, Laura Englander, a psychology professor from Bridgewater State College, said there is no doubt that bullying leads to increased homicide and suicide among students, as well as crippling lawsuits for cash-strapped school districts. Sponsors of the bill hope that defining bullying in state law will help school officials recognize bullying and reduce its incidence. (AP)

MASSACHUSETTS

The Massachusetts Council of Churches, an umbrella organization of Protestant and Orthodox denominations in the state, has named a United Methodist minister from New Jersey as its next executive director. The Rev. Jack Johnson, pastor of the First United Methodist Church of New Jersey and St. Paul United Methodist Church in Trenton, will assume the leadership of the organization June 18, replacing the Rev. Diane C. Kessler, who is retiring after 32 years with the council.

ERVING

A woman was killed, and a man was seriously injured yesterday when a sport utility vehicle collided with a dump truck on Route 2 east of Interstate 91 near the French King Bridge about 2:40 p.m., police said. Shane M. Jackson, 35, of Bernardston, was driving a dump truck east on Route 2 when Elaine S. Bossert's 2001 Subaru Forester crossed into oncoming traffic and hit the rear wheels of the fully-loaded truck, State Police said. Jackson's truck veered off the right shoulder, continued up an embankment, and rolled onto its side into the westbound lane. Jackson was taken to Franklin Medical Center for evaluation and treatment. Bossert, 77, of Wilmington, Vt., died at the scene.

PROVIDENCE

A Christian Science Monitor editor who worked to secure the release of journalist Jill Carroll in Iraq and later edited a first-person account about her experiences in captivity was named the first winner of the "Mimi" journalism award. David Clark Scott, an international news editor with the Boston-based Monitor, was praised for deftly guiding foreign correspondents since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The "Mimi" award, named after Providence Journal editor Mary Dolbier Burkhardt, honors outstanding work by a journalism editor. Burkhardt, known by family and co-workers as "Mimi," died in 2004. (AP)