The Boston Globe - 02.08.2019

Metro

THE BOSTON GLOBE FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2019 | BOSTONGLOBE.COM/METRO

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LEUNG: With an old

Asian trope, Herald

walks into a big mess

CHESTO:P&G says Gillette has lost $8b in value

Throwback cheese shop adapting to modern tastes

Healey focuses on electricity supplier overcharges

It was some 20 years ago.
Night had fallen, and the
air was hot and soupy.
Walter Fahey, perhaps
the greatest living Boston
police officer at the time,
was standing at the counter
of Doughboy Donuts in Ed-
ward Everett Square, wait-
ing for a consignment of day-old doughnuts
that the owner, Paul Barry, would give to
Walter, and which Walter would then bring
to the shelter at the Shattuck Hospital, so
the homeless guys could put something in
their empty stomachs.
I don’t remember in what context, but
thesubjectofBarbaraRidloncameup.
Walter Fahey turned slowly and deliber-
ately, as a gunfighter in an old Wild West
saloon might when challenged, and he said
this: “Barbara Ridlon is all cop.”
It was the highest praise that Walter Fa-
hey carried in his utility belt. Walter Fahey,
a Dorchester native, was the quintessential
Boston cop. But he was the first to admit
that when he came on the job, he was prej-
udiced. He was skeptical of minority cops
and female cops.
But a funny thing happened: Walter
started watching how black and brown and
yellow and female cops carried themselves
and he started judging people as individu-
als, not as members of a particular group.
He softened, like Scrooge on Christmas
morning, after the last ghost had departed.
He loved Willie Gross, the city’s current
and first African-American police commis-
sioner, on more than one occasion telling
me that Gross was “all cop.” He loved Jim-
my Tran, the city’s first Vietnamese officer.
And he loved Barbara Ridlon, one of the
first 11 women to join the Boston Police
Department, and one of the first three to be
promoted to sergeant. On the drive up Co-
lumbia Road, from Doughboys to the Shat-
tuck, Walter Fahey told me a story about
Barbara Ridlon.
It was a Sunday afternoon, Father’s Day,
and Barbara Ridlon, by this time a veteran
with 20-plus years on the job, had just fin-
ished a shift and was driving home through
Dorchester to Quincy when she saw some
guy beating his wife in the parking lot of
the old Fayva shoe store on Gallivan Boule-
vard near Neponset Circle.
A crowd had gathered around, watching
the beating, like a modern-day version of
the bloodlust spectators at the Coliseum in
Rome.
Barbara Ridlon swung her car into the
parking lot, leaped out, and raced headlong
toward the man who was pounding his wife
for having the temerity to defy him and buy
a pair of shoes. Ridlon wasn’t in uniform.
She didn’t have her radio to call for backup.
But she carried the most fearsome thing in
the world: the righteous indignation of a
woman seeing some guy who thought it
was perfectly acceptable to beat his wife in
broad daylight surrounded by people who
thought it was perfectly acceptable to stand
there and do nothing.
Barbara Ridlon did something. She tore
into that guy, pushed her badge in his face,
and pushed him away from his pummeled
wife.
“All cop,” Walter Fahey said, nodding in
admiration. “All cop.”
Barbara Ridlon never sought adulation
and awards, but for her selfless act of hero-
ism outside that shoe store in Dorchester,
she received the department’s Medal of
Honor.
She grew up in New Hampshire, an ad-
opted child who liked horses and playing
the piano. After she graduated from the
University of New Hampshire, she moved
to Boston and got a job working security
with the Pinkertons, eventually rising to be-
come the head of security at the Jordan
Marsh department store in Downtown
Crossing.
She was at Boston Municipal Court,
swearing out a complaint against a shop-
lifter, when she met a Boston police detec-
tive named John Ridlon Sr.
John Ridlon was a legend. He had an en-
cyclopedic mind, and knew by name and
face every bank robber in Charlestown, and
there were a lot of them.
When prospective couples met back
then, the guy might ask the woman out to a
movie, or maybe dinner.
John Ridlon asked the woman who
would become his wife if she’d like to look

CULLEN,PageB

Remembering

a cop’s cop

Kevin Cullen

Business

PAGESB6-
Forbreakingnews,goto
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business

If you live in some

parts of the state’s

interior, you have

been sweltering

even more.

Norwood has had a

whopping20 DAYS

AT 90 DEGREESor

higher this year, 19

of them in July.

94

degrees

The number the

thermometer at

Logan Airport hit

Wednesday at

1:47 p.m. making

that day the 12th

this year when

temperatures

reached 90 or

higher, all of them

in July.

We have just

experienced a

year’s worth

of 90-degree

weather in

31

days.

All of this heat

putsJULY IN

BOSTON ON

THE BOOKSas

the warmest

month since

the inception of

meteorological

records in

1872.

Feel the burn....

July wasarecord-setting month, featuring 12 days with

temperatures breaking 90, including two heat waves.

DATA FROM METEOROLOGIST DAVID EPSTEIN AND

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

By Kellen Browning

GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

Itzamarie Torres

hugged her 4-year-old son

Ayden tightly and kissed

him goodbye, then

watched as he rushed off to

play with the other chil-

dren in a Roxbury class-

room.

Torres, 23, later headed

to work at a community

development organization

in Jamaica Plain. In the

evening, she would pick up

Ayden and his 2-year-old

brother Adrian, then take

her rambunctious children

back to her Dorchester

apartment for dinner.

“My days with them, I

say, are never-ending,” Tor-

res said. “They have so

much energy.”

But she welcomes the

routine. A few years ago,

she was homeless, living in

an East Boston shelter and

unsure what was coming

next.

At the shelter, Torres

was put in touch with Ho-

rizons for Homeless Chil-

dren, a statewide nonprofit

that provides spaces for

homeless kids to play and

learn. The nonprofit is a

lifeline for struggling par-

ents like Torres, helping

them set goals and find

jobs so they can get back

on their feet.

“Knowing that there’s

somewhere I know [my

kids are] safe, and they

have food, and I don’t have

to worry about them, it’s

perfect,” Torres said. “So I

can go throughout my day

and do what I have to do in

order to better ourselves.”

Born in Puerto Rico,

Torres grew up in Fall Riv-

er and moved to Hyde Park

when she was 10. She

dropped out of high school

during her sophomore

year, and had her first child

a couple of years later.

When she got pregnant

again, though, her mother

wasn’t thrilled.

“We got [into] a little bit

of an argument,” Torres

said. “That’s when I had to

go on my way with my

son.”

Couch-surfing was

CHILDCARE,PageB

By Milton J. Valencia

GLOBE STAFF

In early 2014, the city’s head of

tourism was so concerned that he let

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh un-

knowingly appear on the set of the

non-unionized reality show “Top

Chef” that he considered pulling its

filming permits, a former City Hall

official testified Thursday at the Bos-

ton Calling extortion trial.

“I [messed] up,” said Ken Bris-

sette, who was new to the job when

Walsh appeared at the “Top Chef”

filming at the Museum of Science in

May, Joe Rull, the city’s former chief

of operations, testified. Brissette,

who helped coordinate the filming,

was unaware that Teamsters had

been protesting the non-union pro-

duction.

Rull said that Brissette seemed

ashamed and told him he was “going

to try and fix it,” by pulling the

show’s footage or withholding its

permits. Rull was testifying under an

immunity agreement that protected

him from prosecution.

“You can’t do that, it’s not legal,”

Rull said he told Brissette.

“Good luck with that,” Rull

quipped.

Rull’s testimony showed that the

fledgling Walsh administration was

keenly interested in preserving the

mayor’s reputation as a staunch

union supporter, only months after

Walsh had been elected mayor with

widespread support from labor

groups. In 2015, a review found that

city officials had embarked on a con-

certed effort to preserve the adminis-

tration’s relationship with the labor

union, and that Walsh had not want-

ed “Top Chef” to air footage of him.

But federal prosecutors hoped

Rull’s testimony Thursday would

show jurors that Brissette knew he

couldn’t withhold city permits for

private events when he allegedly

pressured organizers of the popular

Boston Calling music festival into

hiring union stagehands on the eve

of the September 2014 concert on

City Hall Plaza.

BOSTONCALLING,PageB

By Travis Andersen

and Danny McDonald

GLOBE STAFF

An officer at the Suffolk

County House of Correction at

South Bay was struck with a

metal pipe during a suspected

robbery attempt near the Bos-

ton facility as he was heading

to work Thursday morning, au-

thorities said.

In a statement, Suffolk

Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins

said the officer, who wasn’t

named, had not yet changed

into his uniform at the time of

the assault.

“While in his car on Atkin-

son Street, a person reached

through the open window and

struck the officer.... Once out-

side of the vehicle, it is report-

ed that he was surrounded by

multiple people who began to

strike and attack him,” the

statement said.

Boston police Sergeant De-

tective John Boyle, a depart-

ment spokesman, said officers

responded to the area of 112

Southampton St. near Atkin-

ATTACK,PageB

A lifeline for kids

Horizons program offers safety for the homeless

PHOTOS BY JESSICA RINALDI/GLOBE STAFF

Ayden, 4, on the Horizons for Homeless Children playground, and getting a hug from his mom.

‘Knowing that

there’s somewhere I

know [my kids are]

safe, and they have

food, and I don’t

have to worry about

them, it’s perfect.’

ITZAMARIE TORRES

Testimony

details

‘Top Chef ’

filming

Walsh aides fretted

over preserving his

union reputation

Officerfor

Suffolkjail

attackedon

waytowork

By Amanda Milkovits

GLOBE STAFF

BRISTOL, R.I. — A prominent local of-

ficial accused of soliciting one boy and sex-

ually abusing two others decades ago has

lost his longtime job at a Catholic church,

while the diocese has acknowledged that

it had received complaints in the past

about his conduct.

After a Globe story detailed the accusa-

tions against Bristol resident David E. Bar-

boza, the Diocese of Providence said Bar-

boza gave his “immediate resignation”

Wednesday from St. Mary’s Church, where

he was director of the cemetery and had

worked as an administrative assistant.

The diocese also disclosed it had re-

ceived complaints about Barboza while he

worked at St. Mary’s, although the accusa-

tions involved conduct that allegedly hap-

pened decades before his employment.

“The diocesan Office of Compliance in-

vestigated the claims, interviewed wit-

nesses, and communicated with law en-

forcement. Mr. Barboza denied all allega-

tions,” the diocese said in a statement.

“The investigation results were presented

to the pastor who maintains the day-to-

BRISTOL,PageB

R.I.manloses

jobafterclaim

ofsexabuse

Church acknowledges

complaints in the past