PAX Centurion - November / December 2013

Page 30 • PAX CENTURION • November/December 2013 617-989-BPPA (2772) 281 Neponset Ave. Dorchester 617-265-2665 Full Day Pre-School – $37.00 Secure Play Area 4,000 sq. ft. 3 Classrooms 2 yrs. 8 mo to 6 yrs. Massachusetts Early Education License #291031 • Daughter of BPPA Retiree Neponset Preschool www.NeponsetPreschool.com THE BOSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT PEER SUPPORT UNIT We are a peer-driven support program for police officers and their families. Our program is completely confidential and is available to ALL police officers and their families. Group or individual help with handling family and life issues, alcohol, drugs, anger and domestic issues. Referral for specialist as needed. 251 River Street, Mattapan, MA 02126 Office: 617-598-7888 (M-F 9 am-5 pm) Off-Hours, On-Call Peer Counselor: 617-343-4680 Sometimes even WE need a little help from our friends! M aria, Farah and Scot…Maria, Farah and Scot…Maria, Farah and Scot…Oh My!! Maria Cramer, Farah Stock- man and Scot Lehigh must be beside themselves. After all the hard work they did to undermine a legally binding process failed. Their collective efforts to bully and manipulate the City Council failed. They, and their public safety-hating associates will have to find a new windmill to tilt at. All those guys hanging around in their mom’s base- ments just waiting to fire off their opinion in the comments section of each and every article need a champion. On the topic of cellar dwellers let me say this to all of them.. I’m sorry. I’m sorry you were too hung over between the ages of 18 and 36 to get out of bed on a Saturday morning and take a standardized exam. I’m sorry you chose to drive like a jerk from the day you got your license and they said your driving record precluded you. I’m sorry you thought it was OK to be the third guy in during a bar fight your first night drinking and you have to live with the consequences of what you did. I’m sorry. I could have been that guy. I really could have but I wasn’t. I was able to get the “dream job” of working nights and week- ends, holidays and birthdays. Please do not hate me. Please do not call me rotten names and insult my colleagues from behind your keyboard. Many of my friends considered doing this job but for one reason or another they did not. They’ve moved on to careers they are proud of and they are not bitter, angry men and women. Please learn from them. Let the hate go. Or at least don’t be a hypocrite and wave to me and smile when you walk by my “lucrative” paid detail. I hear you when you think you are far enough away and mumble those nasty tidings of “police corruption” under your breathe. FYI… I’ve heard it before and I don’t care. It’s just that I’m embarrassed for you. Anyhow back to the Fourth Estate. I picture them sitting around the playground in the back of Morrissey Blvd. kicking sand and slowly swinging back and forth on the new set Mr. Henry got them with their collective heads down. Then someone gets a great idea.. One of them will attack the detail system. Another the four hour minimum in court even though we only spend minutes in a courthouse (happens all the time). Then they can attack the residency. How un-American we are for making our own choice about where we live. The list could be end- less of things to attack us about. Maybe if things go right they can get enough press out of it until our brothers and sisters from the Fire settle their past due contract. If they are real lucky, Boston EMS will get a wage that is comparable to the brilliant and courageous work they do and then they can try to tear them apart. (As a side note anyone reading this should educate themselves on what the Public Health Commission and City has done and is doing to our BPPA brothers and sisters in EMS through their “negotiations.” It is outright disrespectful.) With all of that being said, all my whining and crying, let me say thank you. Thank you to the Boston City Council. To Councilors Murphy, Arroyo, Pressley, LaMattina, Linehan, Baker, Yancey, Consalvo, O’Malley, Jackson, Ross and Ciommo for your thought- ful and complete investigation regarding theAward. Thank you to Tommy, Ronnie, Mike and Larry as well as Joe Sandulli, Susan Horowitz and the rest of the law team for working so hard. ThankYou to each member of the BPPA. Thank you for doing what you do every day in spite of the critics. It would be easy to toss in the gun belt and give up this job (that still makes you underpaid and overworked). It would be easy to pick up a notepad and become a journalist. No one threatens to fire them when they make a mistake. So thank you for do- ing what you do. A rant By Chris Broderick, D4