Councilor wants to curb weighty deliveries

March 20, 2008

To curtail recycling expenses and reduce litter, Councilor Salvatore LaMattina has proposed banning unsolicited commercial deliveries weighing more than a pound. "The taxpayers end up paying for this stuff to be carted off and recycled," LaMattina said, citing phone books left at homes. "It's a waste of paper. It's a waste of money." Under his proposed ordinance, companies that deliver an unrequested item weighing more than a pound would be fined $300 per violation. Both the Verizon and Yellow Book directories weighed more than 4 pounds this year. Residents who wish to continue receiving phone books could request them from the publishers. Stephanie Hobbs, a spokeswoman for the Yellow Pages Association, said that phone companies are required by law to distribute residential phone books free of charge and that many companies, including Verizon, bind them with the yellow pages. A Yellow Book spokesman did not immediately return phone calls yesterday.

A 22-year-old man was fatally shot early yesterday on a Dorchester street, police said. The victim, whose name was not released, was found just after midnight on Upham Avenue outside Cataloni's Bar. Police said he was shot several times and died later at Boston Medical Center.

Police did not report any arrests. The man was the 14th homicide this year, which is more than the 12 homicides during the same period in 2007, said police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll. A 16-year-old male was also wounded later in the day in a shooting on Torrey Street in Dorchester.

An unusually wet February brought ground-water levels back above normal across the state, and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency announced yesterday that it had lifted a drought advisory issued in October for all parts of the state except Cape Cod and the Berkshires. Above-normal precipitation in the first three months of the year - notably February, when precipitation levels were 270 percent above normal - raised ground-water levels. State officials reminded homeowners to continue conserving water.

The former acting manager of the Dorchester Center Post Office was sentenced yesterday to 15 months in federal prison for falsely denying that he sexually assaulted a postal employee in September 2000 and for insisting he never had sexual relations with her. John R. Kelley, 46, of Saugus, pleaded guilty before US District Judge Reginald C. Lindsay to a scheme to falsify information and two counts of perjury, prosecutors said.

Someone hacked into the Lasell College computer network, gaining access to data containing personal information, including names and Social Security numbers of current and former students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Although there has been no confirmed misuse of the data, college officials said they had sent e-mail to the 20,000 people whose names were in the databases. College officials said they continue to investigate the suspicious activity, discovered Feb. 6.

Two correction officers at the maximum security state prison in Walpole were hospitalized with serious injuries after being assaulted by a

group of inmates at about 2:30 p.m. yesterday. As a result, MCI-Cedar Junction was locked down, with inmates confined to their cells and

no visitors other than lawyers and medical visits, said Diane Wiffin,

a spokeswoman for the state Department of Correction. The lockdown was expected to continue until at least this morning while an investigation continued.

The Coast Guard ordered a Maine-based fishing boat back to port because it was missing important lifesaving equipment. The crew of the Coast Guard cutter Moray from Jonesport boarded the 43-foot Canadian Exchange about four miles off Prospect Harbor and ordered it back to port Tuesday night because there was no life raft. The scalloper's home port is Prospect Harbor. Life rafts are required for all commercial fishing boats that are greater than 36 feet and operating within 12 nautical miles of shore. (AP)