January 18, 2024 • 37 mins
In this hour, Peter H. Smyth, President of the 100 Club of MA, joined us to discuss supporting the families of our fallen heroes.
We then had Better Business Bureau's Paula Fleming on avoiding common scams.
Chris White, CEO of Road to Responsibility, an organization that makes lives better for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities checked in with Dan.
And finally, author Stephen Zubricki and his book “My North End Journey” on growing up in the North End.
We then had Better Business Bureau's Paula Fleming on avoiding common scams.
Chris White, CEO of Road to Responsibility, an organization that makes lives better for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities checked in with Dan.
And finally, author Stephen Zubricki and his book “My North End Journey” on growing up in the North End.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
It's NIC's Eyes with Dan Ray.I'm going Ezy Boston's News Radio. Thank
you very much, Nicole, lovelyto be back. Have some stories to
tell, but we'll save those forlater on tonight or later on during the
week. It was interesting, thatis an understatement. This is Dan Ray
Live and in person. Want tothank first of all Jordan Rich and Morgan
(00:24):
White who sat in for me lastThursday, Friday, Monday, and last
night Tuesday. Without them, Iwouldn't be able to go anywhere, So
I just want to say thanks.And at nine o'clock tonight, I want
to talk about Jordan's final show onnight Side, final night filling in.
I think all of you know why, but we will talk about that at
nine o'clock tonight. That is myabsolute hope and expectation. We'll talk a
(00:48):
little bit later on tonight about howthat you can kill someone here in Massachusetts
if you're eighteen, nineteen or twentyand still have a chance for parole even
though you're convicted for murder one andthen we'll talk about the Republican primary.
It looks as if maybe maybe DonaldTrump is the inevitable nominee. We will
see, we'll talk about that.But first off, in the nightside news
(01:11):
update, I want to talk witha friend of many years, a former
broadcasting executive, not going to saywhat a network service he was with.
He and I never had a chanceto work together, but I have admired
his style. A great friend anda great guy, Peter Smyth, who
is now who is now the presidentof the one hundred Club of Massachusetts.
(01:36):
And I am so delighted to havePeter with us tonight to explain to everyone
what the one hundred Club of Massachusettsdoes. Peter, this is a very
important interview as far as I'm concerned, because this club goes back aways,
it goes back a long way.And first of all, Dan, let
me thank you and your audience forallowing us to be here tonight to talk
(01:57):
about the one hundred Club. AndI also to give a tip of the
cap to Jordan Rich. He isone class guy and I only wish him.
I only wish him god speed andthe best of health to him.
But the one hundred Club, whichI'm here to talk to you about,
which you are so generous to giveus this time, goes back to nineteen
(02:17):
fifty nine and it's an organization thattakes care of the widows of fallen firefighters
and police officers in Massachusetts, andthe organization since nineteen twenty nine has given
since nineteen fifty nine has given awayover twenty million dollars. And what we
(02:37):
do is we meet people at theworst time of their lives. You know,
they've just lost the loved one.The paycheck stops, the insurance stops,
everything stops. Their world has justbeen torn asunder. And the one
hundred Club is there to meet themat that worst hour. And what it
does is it gives them some fundsto bridge that gap between the time of
(03:00):
the of the terror until the timethat the city and the state benefits kick
in and it stays with the family. It's really a community of people that
have been through an incredible tragedy andthe one hundred Club has been there with
them all the way through this andmake sure that widows like Amy, Rice
(03:21):
or are taken care of and thattheir children are looked after and that and
that we get together and we visitand we have you know, different holiday
festivals, and we have the Popsand the Red Sox and all these other
things. But the whole idea ofthe one hundred Club is founded on the
premise that those who serve us shouldbe taken care of. And if you
(03:42):
think about it, I read aninteresting statistic recently that the American the American
public is two paychecks away from homelessness. So if you're working the night squad
tonight and for some god awful reasonyou lose your life tonight, or you
die from occupational cancer, or youdie from a heart attack or suicide,
(04:04):
or many of these different things,the one hundred Club is right there to
help you at that moment of need, to give you that bridge of the
fifteen thousand dollars and five thousand dollarsper child. And it's my great pleasure
to be able to lead this organization, having had an extensive career in broadcasting
(04:24):
and will lead that aside. Butit was time to give back, and
I couldn't think of a better organization. It was. One of the founding
members was Norman Knight, whom youknow, a great philanthropist in Boston,
and he got me onto the boardwhen I was previously doing my other thing.
And I'm just honored to be theretoday. So I'm I'm sorry.
(04:48):
I see some very familiar names onthe board, people who I have known
over the year. You know,former general with the National Guard in Boston,
police bar with Joe Carr, hergreat guy, Joe Finn, former
commission in the Boston Fire Department,our mutual friend Kevin Falin. Yes,
(05:11):
there's no bounds. No, it'snot quite a group. It's quite a
group of people that have This isyour sixty fifth year. I'm doing the
math here, So how many manyhow many between police officers, firefighters,
e mts other public servants have youhave you helped over the years. I
(05:31):
believe it's got to be in thein the dozens, if not hundreds.
Oh, it's probably in the hundreds. It's probably more than that. It's
probably in the hundreds, because youknow, you look at some of the
great tragedies that happened throughout the state. I mean you look at the fire
and Worcester and all the other differences, the Von Dome fire. Nine in
at the Von Dome vn Dome.I mean, just right, there's fourteen.
(05:56):
And when you start to add theseup, it adds up pretty quickly.
And now what we did is we'veincorporated occupational cancer and we've also included
suicides, which in the police it'svery high. So when you start to
include these deaths because they're still online, they're still on the job, and
I still need to be These familiesstill need to be taken care of,
(06:17):
and a lot of these men andwomen have you leave young kids and these
childen. My greatest hope is tobuild a scholarship as an organization that we
can leave it survives its architects,that it survives. Norman's dreams are dreams,
everybody's dreams, and it helps thesepeople, you know, these kids
to have a shot. Because ifmy recollection is clear, and I'm not
(06:41):
sure it is, I believe thatthe one hundred club found it. As
you said, way back in nineteenfifty nine, that membership was one hundred
dollars, and I believe that wassort of the grubstake that started this.
That's how it all started. Yeah, that's exactly right, by the way,
that's from my memory. That's notfrom doing research. I do know
from doing a little research that folkscan become members for a donation, which
(07:05):
I assume is going to be taxexempt two and fifty dollars correct, and
we would be yeah, for anybusiness person, for any person who has
anyone, but particularly business people.Who's who's whose businesses and homes and all
of that are protected by firefighters andby police officers. All of us.
(07:28):
It is. It is a greatorganization to be associated with. And how
can folks who are listening tonight andmight like to join and be involved,
however much they want to be orhowever little they want to be, how
can they get in touch with withthe one hundred Club and and create a
relationship. Well, it's very easy. You can go to our website,
(07:51):
which is one hundred club dot org. That's easy and keep it simple,
right man. That's if you cango to one hundred Club dot org.
Go on the website. You canregister to as a single person, you
can register as a as a family, as a business. And what you're
(08:13):
really doing is supporting those who takecare of us. And I think at
this critical juncture it is such animportant, important program for people to participate.
And if I can add one thing, and I appreciate your indulgence,
We're also going to participate with theBruins on the twenty eighth of January Sunday,
(08:33):
the twenty eighth of a tournament calledDefit, which is sponsored by National
Grid, and it's a great opportunitywith the firefighters and the police form teams
and they raise proceeds. They goto the Bruins Foundation and then the Bruins
in return distribute those funds to certaincharities, and we happen to be one
(08:56):
of their core charities. So anybodywho would like to get into the garden
and run those stairs former team goto the Bruins website and you can also
participate with the hundred Club that way, but the primary way through our website.
Yeah. I mean, it's justsuch a great organization. And as
(09:18):
I say, it's so ironic thattoday one of the newscasts that we were
watching that I was looking at wasthe second murder trial for the individual who
allegedly shot the police officer Officer Chestnutin Weymouth and also correct the woman who
was simply having a tea that morning. Again, this is this happens to
(09:43):
too many families. I come froma police family, so I feel it
retired. It's a state police lieutenantand my sister in law retired as a
state trooper, so you're doing guard'swork work. Peter Smyth, and I
hope some of my listeners tonight mightdecide to affiliate with you and say hi
(10:03):
to my pell Frency and Francie Wayeand who I work many years ago.
You've got a good one. Yougot a great one there. Let me
tell you, Okay, she's thebest. She's the best. She's the
best. Peter, look forward tosee you and thank you so much for
your sign this season. My pleasure, Peter, the great Peter Smith.
Peter, thank you very much.The one hundred Club Dot thank you,
(10:24):
Dan, You're welcome, Peter.Peter's been in such a great person in
our community, both professionally and againhere leading an organization, the one hundred
Club of Boston. Again. Lookit up, folks, it is.
It's well worth the look what justthe number one hundred Club dot org.
When we get back here on Nightside, we will be talking about scams and
(10:48):
a new scam that's going around thatsome of you may have fallen for others
of you. We want to makeyou all aware of it so you don't
fall for it. We'll be talkingwith Paula Fleming of BBB. Come on
right back night Side with Dan Rayon WBS Boston's news radio. All right,
(11:11):
I am delighted to welcome back forthe Boston Better Business Bureau Paula Fleming
and Paula. Tonight, we wantto talk about a scam that is headed
at folks who, as I say, are on the wrong age of fifties.
Some of our older population are beingtaken advantage of this scam. Can
you explain it, because I'm suresome of our listeners maybe have been have
(11:31):
fallen for this, and others Iwant them to understand, don't do it.
Go right ahead, Paula, Ohgosh, thank you for having me,
and happy New Year. There areunfortunately several scams that are targeting older
adults. Scams targeting older adults areon the rise and continue to be on
(11:52):
the rise, unfortunately, and I'dlove the opportunity to talk about a few
of them. A lot of themwere evolve around fraudsters and con artists tending
to go after older adults because theybelieve this population has plenty of money in
the bank and what they're doing istrying to gain financial and personal access.
(12:13):
It's tax time and unfortunately, peopleare presenting themselves as government officials and there's
a government impersonation scam, so governmentimpostors are demanding specific forms of payment,
such as a prepaid debit card,cash or a wire transfer. So that's
(12:35):
one of the top No one fromthe government is ever going to call you,
and certainly no one from the IRSis ever going to call you and
say, I'm from the government.You need to send me some money.
Just hang up on that person.I agree with you wholeheartedly. However,
when you do receive that call,and I've witnessed it with my own parents,
you know, they instill fear.They sound legitimate, and you're worried
(12:58):
you're dealing with an act, actualgovernment official, and they want to make
sure that they have no significant consequences. So they pay up, and they
listen and they do what they're told. So we again, yes, great
advice. The other thing which Ido with some of those calls is I'll
say, oh, g, thankyou very much for calling. I just
have to I'll be right back.Can you hold on for one minute,
(13:20):
I put the phone down and Igo to the store, take a walk
around the block, and by thetime you come back, they've always hung
up. Go right ahead, Paula, Yes, Yeah, Unfortunately, not
everyone does that and people age sixteenolder lost more than seven hundred and twenty
four million dollars to government impersonation scams. Tell us about the one where where
you get a call and it's like, can you do me a favor?
(13:43):
I'm having a tough time buying aproduct for someone and I can't get it
where I am and can That's that'sa very common scam, right, well,
yeah, there's oftentimes you receive acall, receive an email it looks
like gets from a friend. Howare things with you? Are you busy?
I need a quick favor and youwant to again, exercise caution,
(14:09):
you want to there's obviously AI technologyit could really duplicate what your friend sounds
like. So reach out to yourfriend directly, hang up the phone,
call them directly. If you getan unusual request, a call or a
text from your friend, you wantto to confirm their story. You want
to make sure that you're dealing directlywith them. You know, all of
(14:31):
these things people say, are scamsreally happening? We're also well educated and
we're smarter than those con artists.It's unfortunate, but they are. You
know, we have the top fivescams that we want people to avoid in
twenty twenty four, and those involvephishing, not the type where you you
know, catch a bass, butthe phi s HI phishing scam where people
(14:54):
you know send emails, text orcalls masquerading as legitimate businesses or authorities as
we mentioned governments, but it happenswith banks and different agencies to steal your
personal information. And what I meanby that is it could be your social
Security number, it could be yourdata, birth your you know, uh
doctor, your doctor's information. Theyjust try to get as much personal information
(15:18):
as possible and never is there somewherethat folks, and I know we can
will do this again, I promise, but we can hit some of them
more specifically. But is there awebsite? I'm sure that people can go
and take some time later tonight ortomorrow and look at some of these scams
so that they will be on theirradar screen when they get that call.
(15:39):
Absolutely. The Better Business Feer hasthe BBB Scam Tracker, which is a
free tool anyone can use to reportsuspected scams, or you can also if
you want to hear read what scamsare transpiring in your local community, you
can also do that as well,and it's BBB dot org Board Slash Scam
(16:00):
Tracker. Again, it's BBB dotO r G Forward Slash Scam Tracker.
It's a great resource. You cango to your computer or your phone right
now and check out what scams.You can look it up by pet scam,
pyramids, schemes, and you canalso just see what's happening in your
local community as well as digging deeperto research. We've done studies and tip
(16:22):
to prevent yourself from being scammed.So again it's BBB for Bust and Better
Business Bureau BBB dot org. Ohyes, I allerga slash and I don't
think there's any dis between back witha forward slash. It's just slash uh
(16:42):
Scam tracker. Sounds great, Paula. Hopefully we've we've we've helped people save
some people some money tonight, andwe'll do this again more often. Okay,
we'll keep it. You try tokeep ahead of the scamsters because you
guys are doing some great work thereand have great information available, that's for
sure. Thanks Paula. We'll talkso I appreciate it. Thank you.
(17:03):
Bybye, more than welcome. Wecome back on to talk with Chris White.
He's the CEO of a group calledRoad to Responsibility. We'll talk to
him about helping folks who maybe justneed a little help along the way.
And they're doing great work. They'redoing God's workers for us. I'm concerned.
We'll be back on Night's Side rightafter the news at the bottom of
the hour. You're on Night Sidewith Dan Ray on Youbzy, Boston's news
(17:27):
Radio. We're delighted to welcome toNight's Side Chris White. He's the CEO
of an organization called Road to Responsibility, making lives better for individuals with intellectual
and developmental disabilities. Chris White,Welcome to Nightside. Tell us about Road
to Responsibility's been around for a whileor is this a really new group?
(17:51):
No, Hi, Dan, thanksfor having me tonight and welcome. We've
actually been around since nineteen eighty eight. Okay, close to thirty five to
forty years. Go right ahead.Yeah, we're getting there. And we
started off with the simple mission,as you alluded, to, making lives
better for adults with intellectual and developmentaldisabilities. We've since expanded that a little
(18:15):
bit to include people on the autismspectrum and folks with a quiet brain injuries
and we and we make their livesbetter through a variety of services we provide,
such as a full array of residentialservice options, employment options, and
(18:36):
therapeutic day supports that we provide.Let let me get a little concrete here
are you. Are you located inone location or do you have several several
locations? Scatistically? What the whereyou located? We operate sixty four programs
in fifty eight locations from Boston underthe Cape Cod Canal and over into this
(18:59):
Natalborough area. So it's okay,So it's basically south shore Boston, south
Shore and the Cape. And howbig an organization? How many people?
How many staff people do you haveworking at these sixty four right now?
We have six hundred and seventy oneemployees as of this morning. Unfortunately that's
(19:22):
a moving number. Sure, sothat's a big organization. And how many
I'm going to use the word clientsmaybe there's a better term, but how
many clients over the course of thelast year or over the course of the
entire existence of the organization? Haveyou, in some former fashion helped support
(19:44):
about thirteen hundred individuals a year?And so over the last thirty five years.
We you know, we've supported youknow, probably ten thousand. Well
I'll bet you more than that ifI'm doing the math there and much well
forty fifty thousand. Well, thedifference is we have these are lifespan services,
(20:06):
so when people come to us,they're with us. So we've got
you know, our youngest member istwenty one and our oldest at this point
is about ninety three. So ifa family, and I assume in most
cases here if I'm wrong, correctme and what I do these interviews,
And to be honest with you,if I basically create a premise which is
(20:30):
on the wrong, which is incorrect, please feel free to correct. Okay,
I assume I'm assuming that when folkslearn about your organization, if they
feel they have a family member whocan benefit from road to responsibility, the
family reaches out is that the normalcourse where people come to your door.
(20:52):
That's often how it starts. Althoughthe way the way the human service system
operates is all of our referrals haveto come officially through the Department of Developmental
Services. And so what should afamily do who maybe has either an older
(21:15):
adult in the family or a youngeradult who may need a little bit of
help here. How do they getto you. They get to us by
first being found eligible for services throughthe Department of Developmental Services. But that
can be a fairly daunting task forfolks. So I tell people, you
(21:38):
know what, just call me andI will and I'll walk it. I'll
walk it through the maze and tellyou how to get through eligibility and then
it's it's up to the state torefer. And what a family can say
is, you know, I've heardgood things about road to responsibility. If
it's possible, I'd like my sonor daughter to go there, my family
(22:02):
member to go there. But theyhave to understand that that's not a guarantee
that they'll be able to come.It depends on openings, the type of
service being requested, that sort ofthing. But you would hope that some
bureaucrat in the state would try todo whatever they could do to help ease
(22:26):
whatever the family's going through and maybegeographically make it a little better, a
little easier for them, you knowwhat I'm saying. I mean, it's
just absolutely that's what you know.And the fact that you have you said,
I think sixty four locations south ofBoston, in Boston South Shore and
you know, down to the Cape. I assume that there's some pretty convenient
(22:51):
locations. I just I just getfrustrated when I realized that our tax dollars
are there to help people, andyou want to make sure that we get
the best help and the most effectivehelp, most efficient help that they possibly
can it can obtain. So youhave some residential services, as I understand
(23:12):
it as well as Yah, youhave quite a few. They run the
gamut from what we call co opapartments where people living pretty independently, but
we provide peak hour staffing to helpwith things like medications, maybe meals,
or just getting people out into theworld. There's a lot of the towns
(23:37):
that we operate in don't have publictransportation, so that's you know, getting
folks of shopping and you know,enjoying life is part of the deal with
that to twenty four hour group homesettings that range from fairly basic and complicated
(23:59):
social homes to very specialized homes withfolks with you know, significant medical issues,
significant emotional behavioral concerns, or severeautism requiring special special treatment. And
we have a wonderful integrated clinical approachthat we take that has proven itself to
(24:22):
be really effective over the years inbeing able to support a wide array of
people. Put the phrase integrated clinicalresponse, okay, which what happens is
everybody who's in any profession relies onjargon. Okay, So why don't you
(24:42):
put that in the language that peoplecan understand. Go ahead, Chris,
I don't mean to put you onthe spot the Glenn. No, no,
no, I actually trying to helpyou. Go ahead. Yeah,
I know you are helping, Thankyou. So what we do is we
have a great team of clinicians thatincludes biatrists, psychologists, applied behavior analysts,
(25:03):
social workers that work with our individuals, the individuals we support as well
as the staff and in helping thestaff understand the best ways of supporting the
people in our programs and you know, and helping our members either learn new
(25:26):
skills so that they can deal moreadaptively with life and stress or to find
other solutions for whatever issues they're dealingwith. Question last question for getting a
little tight on time, No problem. But last question okay, right now,
is you said you mentioned that Ithink some of one of your clients
(25:48):
is ninety seven years old, Sowe assume that you take everybody on the
on the senior end of the system, how young, how young your youngest
clients. Typically folks who enter servicewith us are twenty two years of old
or older, but we've had somepeople join us as young as eighteen.
(26:11):
Okay, so this really is theproblem that a lot of families have with
what they call turning twenty two.Absolutely, that's exactly a huge, huge
problem. I covered that as atelevision reporter for many, many times over
the years, and it's so greatto talk to an organization that is really
(26:32):
doing, as I said, God'swork here. Road to Responsibility The CEO
of the group, Chris White.Chris, I'm so happy that can you
give an easy website where people canget in touch with you if they have
some questions that I didn't cover tonight, which I'm sure they probably have.
Absolutely, Dan, our website iswww dot road to Responsibility dot org.
(26:59):
Right, going to tell you alittle tip here. You don't even have
to say the www anymore. Justwrote responsibility all one word, easy to
remember, road to responsibility dot org. You put it in in your computer
and it'll bring you to the rightplace. Chris White, thank you very
much again, you're doing it doingGod's work. Thank you, my friend.
(27:21):
Thank you a great night. Weget back when we talk about a
very personal story a gentleman who iseighty one years young, who has written
a book called North End Journey.I think this is a story that any
one of us can identify. Withall of us go on and journey through
life, some of us end upon the far flung corners of the earth.
(27:45):
Steve ZUBRICKI has written a book,put together a book with obviously words
and pictures entitled North End Journey.So that gives you a hint as to
what it's about. Back on nightSide w BZ, Boston's news radio right
after this, it's nice with onBoston's News Radio. All Right, all
(28:07):
of us have at some point probablythought, you know, I think I
can write a book. I couldwrite a book about my life. Well,
one man has uh. And youdon't have to be a famous person,
you don't have to be a SuperBowl champion of a World Series winner.
Uh. So let me introduce you. Uh. And I think the
(28:30):
process of this is is as fascinatingas anything. Let me introduce you to
Steve ZUBRICKI. Steve, you've writtena book, North End Journey, tell
us about the idea, how difficultit was to actually put pen to paper
and give us a little bit ofan idea, and then then we'll run
over we'll talk about some of thehighlights. Sure, basically it's forty five
(28:59):
Stillman was the address in Boston whereI grew up. All right, that's
where this is where the book starts. I'm guessing that's where the book starts.
And it was just my maternal grandparentswere in nineteen twenty eight for four
(29:22):
thousand dollars. Okay, that wasa good bye, and that was a
goodbye, and it had a lotof Basically, it's the story of the
house was taken by Eminent Domain toput up the Central Ottery in nineteen fifty
(29:42):
two. So a lot of peoplein the old West End were very concerned
with what was done to that community. Everybody knows the South End, everybody
knows the North End of which youwrite, and they know East Boston,
but the West End disappeared. That'sreally got it. That's that's right.
(30:03):
Most of the building buildings taken downin the North End were residential. You
mean the buildings, Steve, Youconfused commercial hold on Steve. Let me
pull the reins back here for yousaid most of the buildings taken down to
the North End. Buildings haven't beentaken down of the North End where we're
(30:26):
talking about. You grew up inthe west End on Stillven Street, right,
No, I grew up in thenorth End. Oh, okay,
good enough, Okay, I mixedup. That's my mistake. So so
you lost So the North End losta lot of buildings for the Central Artery
at about the same time, theWest End was losing buildings too, by
the way, but go ahead,I'm sorry, I've confused you. That's
(30:47):
my mistake. Go ahead, right, But most of the West End,
a lot of them were residential.My house and one other house were probably
the only two residential homes taken downby the Central Lottery. Okay, okay,
(31:07):
that's that's the start of the story. Take We got about four minutes
left here, so let's let's let'stalk about I guess you got about two
hundred pictures in the book and allof that. So I've got two hundred
picture pictures in the book, andsome of the stories are let me go
into the not n specifically, Ihave the whole story of the Central Lottery
(31:30):
and how it was built, andhow my house was taken down and what
have you. Also see we gotabout no minutes here, so you got
the not nd pack. Uh not, then we can not then kids at
(31:59):
still the street playground where the harmonicatswould I don't know if you've ever heard
of them. They played the harmonicasyou know, I just could have figured
that out, Steve, to behonest with you, but go ahead,
So they're being part of the bookyet ahead, right, And then they
(32:20):
roasted peanuts in the house next doorand the fellow. The fellow told them
in front of the North Station.You can remember the pick fender in front
of the North Station. And wewe built scooters from apple prates and we
(32:43):
go around the neighborhood. So letme ask you this, Steve. Okay,
who's buying your books people from theNorth End? Or are there people
who are interested in the history ofthe North End, which I assume your
book gets into the history of theNorth End, and that's that's why people
should buy the book. Right,that's correct, there are people. It's
(33:07):
really the history of the Nods End. Well, it's a great community.
Uh, it's a community that formany years, as you and I both
know, was overwhelmingly, if nottotally, Italian American. And it's changed
over the years, and they're nowyou now have the Seaport District which is
(33:28):
abutting the North End and all ofthat. How tough has it been to
watch the North End change over theyear, Steve? Well, basically,
if you can't do what you usedto do in the North End, I
mean I used to swim as akid. I swim at the frog pond
at Boston Common. I went toSaint Mary's School and the school is gone,
(33:55):
my church is gone, and myhouse is gone. And that's basically
part of the story. And Iwas an altar boy when the when we
served masks and in Latin, youknow, and we'd answered the priests in
Latin, and that's all gone.What was the church? What? What
(34:15):
church was it that you attended downthere in the North End St Mary's.
How many churches did you have inthe North End back in those days,
Steve? How many churches were thereCatholic churches? Eight eight? There were
a few, yeah, yeah.And were the restaurants as good back then
as they are today? Yes?Yeah, you don't need the coaching in
(34:39):
the background. I know who's coachingin the background, Steve, but it's
not helping you. Uh. Myfavorite restaurant in the North End, I
got to tell you for many manyyears was Tetchies. Right. I went
to school, uh with Sal Tachy, a great guy. Let me tell
you that's the Joe Tetchy. Really. Yes, I'm aware of that.
(35:01):
I am absolutely aware of that.It's a great family. Unfortunately, that
restaurant has moved on. The NorthEnd used to well, still has great
restaurants, but the restaurants now,in my opinion, are a little more
high end than it used to be. I mean, you could go to
Techs restaurant and you you would getfood beyond what you could possibly eat.
(35:22):
It was perfectly prepared, it wasmeticulous. Uh and it was it was
just delicious. And you could Youcould park in the North End. Believe
it or not. They had littleside parking lots. Oh yeah, you
could park. Give a guy twentybucks and you park in front of his
house or driveway. That seems tohave all gone at this point, and
(35:43):
a lot of the charm of theNorth End I think has gone. But
your book is going to bring itback and people can get your book.
What's the easiest way for them toget a copy of your book? Do
you got a website, Steve,It's yes, it's z as in ze
for a Z Publishing dot mystick,m y s t I c heyphenview dot
(36:07):
com. Give it, Give thatto me again, nice and slowly.
Okay, Z public Publishing dot mystickm y s mystic in view dot com.
All right, well, I wishyou the best of luck with that,
and hopefully a lot of not onlysome of the old north Enders but
(36:29):
some of the new north Enders willappreciate the history and the pictures of the
book. Right, Thanks Steve,thank you, Thanks very much, appreciate
your time tonight and look forward tomeeting you someday in the North End.
Okay, thanks Steve, have agreat night. Good night. Uh.
You know, I think someone wastrying to coach Steve in the background,
(36:50):
and that's not that's not effective becauseit's more distracting what people don't understand us.
As a ten second lag if you'reever calling the show, you don't
don't need someone in the background tryingto tell you what to say or anything
like that. So just bear thatin mind. Now when we come back
right after the nine o'clock news,I want to talk about a dear friend,
(37:10):
Jordan Rich, who on Friday nightended his time with us at nightside.
As they think all of you know, Jordan has been diagnosed with Parkinson's,
which is a tough diagnosis, butJordan is fighting it, and he's
given it a great battle, andhe's going to cut back a little bit
(37:30):
of his broadcasting duties. But forthose of you who missed Jordan on Friday
night, I want to talk aboutmy friend, my colleague for many many
years, someone who I learned alot from, both as a person and
as a broadcaster, right after thenine o'clock news that comes at you here
on night side, on night side, right after the nine o'clock news here
(37:51):
in Boston's news radio WVZ ten thirtyam. Back after this
It's NIC's Eyes with Dan Ray.I'm going Ezy Boston's News Radio. Thank
you very much, Nicole, lovelyto be back. Have some stories to
tell, but we'll save those forlater on tonight or later on during the
week. It was interesting, thatis an understatement. This is Dan Ray
Live and in person. Want tothank first of all Jordan Rich and Morgan
(00:24):
White who sat in for me lastThursday, Friday, Monday, and last
night Tuesday. Without them, Iwouldn't be able to go anywhere, So
I just want to say thanks.And at nine o'clock tonight, I want
to talk about Jordan's final show onnight Side, final night filling in.
I think all of you know why, but we will talk about that at
nine o'clock tonight. That is myabsolute hope and expectation. We'll talk a
(00:48):
little bit later on tonight about howthat you can kill someone here in Massachusetts
if you're eighteen, nineteen or twentyand still have a chance for parole even
though you're convicted for murder one andthen we'll talk about the Republican primary.
It looks as if maybe maybe DonaldTrump is the inevitable nominee. We will
see, we'll talk about that.But first off, in the nightside news
(01:11):
update, I want to talk witha friend of many years, a former
broadcasting executive, not going to saywhat a network service he was with.
He and I never had a chanceto work together, but I have admired
his style. A great friend anda great guy, Peter Smyth, who
is now who is now the presidentof the one hundred Club of Massachusetts.
(01:36):
And I am so delighted to havePeter with us tonight to explain to everyone
what the one hundred Club of Massachusettsdoes. Peter, this is a very
important interview as far as I'm concerned, because this club goes back aways,
it goes back a long way.And first of all, Dan, let
me thank you and your audience forallowing us to be here tonight to talk
(01:57):
about the one hundred Club. AndI also to give a tip of the
cap to Jordan Rich. He isone class guy and I only wish him.
I only wish him god speed andthe best of health to him.
But the one hundred Club, whichI'm here to talk to you about,
which you are so generous to giveus this time, goes back to nineteen
(02:17):
fifty nine and it's an organization thattakes care of the widows of fallen firefighters
and police officers in Massachusetts, andthe organization since nineteen twenty nine has given
since nineteen fifty nine has given awayover twenty million dollars. And what we
(02:37):
do is we meet people at theworst time of their lives. You know,
they've just lost the loved one.The paycheck stops, the insurance stops,
everything stops. Their world has justbeen torn asunder. And the one
hundred Club is there to meet themat that worst hour. And what it
does is it gives them some fundsto bridge that gap between the time of
(03:00):
the of the terror until the timethat the city and the state benefits kick
in and it stays with the family. It's really a community of people that
have been through an incredible tragedy andthe one hundred Club has been there with
them all the way through this andmake sure that widows like Amy, Rice
(03:21):
or are taken care of and thattheir children are looked after and that and
that we get together and we visitand we have you know, different holiday
festivals, and we have the Popsand the Red Sox and all these other
things. But the whole idea ofthe one hundred Club is founded on the
premise that those who serve us shouldbe taken care of. And if you
(03:42):
think about it, I read aninteresting statistic recently that the American the American
public is two paychecks away from homelessness. So if you're working the night squad
tonight and for some god awful reasonyou lose your life tonight, or you
die from occupational cancer, or youdie from a heart attack or suicide,
(04:04):
or many of these different things,the one hundred Club is right there to
help you at that moment of need, to give you that bridge of the
fifteen thousand dollars and five thousand dollarsper child. And it's my great pleasure
to be able to lead this organization, having had an extensive career in broadcasting
(04:24):
and will lead that aside. Butit was time to give back, and
I couldn't think of a better organization. It was. One of the founding
members was Norman Knight, whom youknow, a great philanthropist in Boston,
and he got me onto the boardwhen I was previously doing my other thing.
And I'm just honored to be theretoday. So I'm I'm sorry.
(04:48):
I see some very familiar names onthe board, people who I have known
over the year. You know,former general with the National Guard in Boston,
police bar with Joe Carr, hergreat guy, Joe Finn, former
commission in the Boston Fire Department,our mutual friend Kevin Falin. Yes,
(05:11):
there's no bounds. No, it'snot quite a group. It's quite a
group of people that have This isyour sixty fifth year. I'm doing the
math here, So how many manyhow many between police officers, firefighters,
e mts other public servants have youhave you helped over the years. I
(05:31):
believe it's got to be in thein the dozens, if not hundreds.
Oh, it's probably in the hundreds. It's probably more than that. It's
probably in the hundreds, because youknow, you look at some of the
great tragedies that happened throughout the state. I mean you look at the fire
and Worcester and all the other differences, the Von Dome fire. Nine in
at the Von Dome vn Dome.I mean, just right, there's fourteen.
(05:56):
And when you start to add theseup, it adds up pretty quickly.
And now what we did is we'veincorporated occupational cancer and we've also included
suicides, which in the police it'svery high. So when you start to
include these deaths because they're still online, they're still on the job, and
I still need to be These familiesstill need to be taken care of,
(06:17):
and a lot of these men andwomen have you leave young kids and these
childen. My greatest hope is tobuild a scholarship as an organization that we
can leave it survives its architects,that it survives. Norman's dreams are dreams,
everybody's dreams, and it helps thesepeople, you know, these kids
to have a shot. Because ifmy recollection is clear, and I'm not
(06:41):
sure it is, I believe thatthe one hundred club found it. As
you said, way back in nineteenfifty nine, that membership was one hundred
dollars, and I believe that wassort of the grubstake that started this.
That's how it all started. Yeah, that's exactly right, by the way,
that's from my memory. That's notfrom doing research. I do know
from doing a little research that folkscan become members for a donation, which
(07:05):
I assume is going to be taxexempt two and fifty dollars correct, and
we would be yeah, for anybusiness person, for any person who has
anyone, but particularly business people.Who's who's whose businesses and homes and all
of that are protected by firefighters andby police officers. All of us.
(07:28):
It is. It is a greatorganization to be associated with. And how
can folks who are listening tonight andmight like to join and be involved,
however much they want to be orhowever little they want to be, how
can they get in touch with withthe one hundred Club and and create a
relationship. Well, it's very easy. You can go to our website,
(07:51):
which is one hundred club dot org. That's easy and keep it simple,
right man. That's if you cango to one hundred Club dot org.
Go on the website. You canregister to as a single person, you
can register as a as a family, as a business. And what you're
(08:13):
really doing is supporting those who takecare of us. And I think at
this critical juncture it is such animportant, important program for people to participate.
And if I can add one thing, and I appreciate your indulgence,
We're also going to participate with theBruins on the twenty eighth of January Sunday,
(08:33):
the twenty eighth of a tournament calledDefit, which is sponsored by National
Grid, and it's a great opportunitywith the firefighters and the police form teams
and they raise proceeds. They goto the Bruins Foundation and then the Bruins
in return distribute those funds to certaincharities, and we happen to be one
(08:56):
of their core charities. So anybodywho would like to get into the garden
and run those stairs former team goto the Bruins website and you can also
participate with the hundred Club that way, but the primary way through our website.
Yeah. I mean, it's justsuch a great organization. And as
(09:18):
I say, it's so ironic thattoday one of the newscasts that we were
watching that I was looking at wasthe second murder trial for the individual who
allegedly shot the police officer Officer Chestnutin Weymouth and also correct the woman who
was simply having a tea that morning. Again, this is this happens to
(09:43):
too many families. I come froma police family, so I feel it
retired. It's a state police lieutenantand my sister in law retired as a
state trooper, so you're doing guard'swork work. Peter Smyth, and I
hope some of my listeners tonight mightdecide to affiliate with you and say hi
(10:03):
to my pell Frency and Francie Wayeand who I work many years ago.
You've got a good one. Yougot a great one there. Let me
tell you, Okay, she's thebest. She's the best. She's the
best. Peter, look forward tosee you and thank you so much for
your sign this season. My pleasure, Peter, the great Peter Smith.
Peter, thank you very much.The one hundred Club Dot thank you,
(10:24):
Dan, You're welcome, Peter.Peter's been in such a great person in
our community, both professionally and againhere leading an organization, the one hundred
Club of Boston. Again. Lookit up, folks, it is.
It's well worth the look what justthe number one hundred Club dot org.
When we get back here on Nightside, we will be talking about scams and
(10:48):
a new scam that's going around thatsome of you may have fallen for others
of you. We want to makeyou all aware of it so you don't
fall for it. We'll be talkingwith Paula Fleming of BBB. Come on
right back night Side with Dan Rayon WBS Boston's news radio. All right,
(11:11):
I am delighted to welcome back forthe Boston Better Business Bureau Paula Fleming
and Paula. Tonight, we wantto talk about a scam that is headed
at folks who, as I say, are on the wrong age of fifties.
Some of our older population are beingtaken advantage of this scam. Can
you explain it, because I'm suresome of our listeners maybe have been have
(11:31):
fallen for this, and others Iwant them to understand, don't do it.
Go right ahead, Paula, Ohgosh, thank you for having me,
and happy New Year. There areunfortunately several scams that are targeting older
adults. Scams targeting older adults areon the rise and continue to be on
(11:52):
the rise, unfortunately, and I'dlove the opportunity to talk about a few
of them. A lot of themwere evolve around fraudsters and con artists tending
to go after older adults because theybelieve this population has plenty of money in
the bank and what they're doing istrying to gain financial and personal access.
(12:13):
It's tax time and unfortunately, peopleare presenting themselves as government officials and there's
a government impersonation scam, so governmentimpostors are demanding specific forms of payment,
such as a prepaid debit card,cash or a wire transfer. So that's
(12:35):
one of the top No one fromthe government is ever going to call you,
and certainly no one from the IRSis ever going to call you and
say, I'm from the government.You need to send me some money.
Just hang up on that person.I agree with you wholeheartedly. However,
when you do receive that call,and I've witnessed it with my own parents,
you know, they instill fear.They sound legitimate, and you're worried
(12:58):
you're dealing with an act, actualgovernment official, and they want to make
sure that they have no significant consequences. So they pay up, and they
listen and they do what they're told. So we again, yes, great
advice. The other thing which Ido with some of those calls is I'll
say, oh, g, thankyou very much for calling. I just
have to I'll be right back.Can you hold on for one minute,
(13:20):
I put the phone down and Igo to the store, take a walk
around the block, and by thetime you come back, they've always hung
up. Go right ahead, Paula, Yes, Yeah, Unfortunately, not
everyone does that and people age sixteenolder lost more than seven hundred and twenty
four million dollars to government impersonation scams. Tell us about the one where where
you get a call and it's like, can you do me a favor?
(13:43):
I'm having a tough time buying aproduct for someone and I can't get it
where I am and can That's that'sa very common scam, right, well,
yeah, there's oftentimes you receive acall, receive an email it looks
like gets from a friend. Howare things with you? Are you busy?
I need a quick favor and youwant to again, exercise caution,
(14:09):
you want to there's obviously AI technologyit could really duplicate what your friend sounds
like. So reach out to yourfriend directly, hang up the phone,
call them directly. If you getan unusual request, a call or a
text from your friend, you wantto to confirm their story. You want
to make sure that you're dealing directlywith them. You know, all of
(14:31):
these things people say, are scamsreally happening? We're also well educated and
we're smarter than those con artists.It's unfortunate, but they are. You
know, we have the top fivescams that we want people to avoid in
twenty twenty four, and those involvephishing, not the type where you you
know, catch a bass, butthe phi s HI phishing scam where people
(14:54):
you know send emails, text orcalls masquerading as legitimate businesses or authorities as
we mentioned governments, but it happenswith banks and different agencies to steal your
personal information. And what I meanby that is it could be your social
Security number, it could be yourdata, birth your you know, uh
doctor, your doctor's information. Theyjust try to get as much personal information
(15:18):
as possible and never is there somewherethat folks, and I know we can
will do this again, I promise, but we can hit some of them
more specifically. But is there awebsite? I'm sure that people can go
and take some time later tonight ortomorrow and look at some of these scams
so that they will be on theirradar screen when they get that call.
(15:39):
Absolutely. The Better Business Feer hasthe BBB Scam Tracker, which is a
free tool anyone can use to reportsuspected scams, or you can also if
you want to hear read what scamsare transpiring in your local community, you
can also do that as well,and it's BBB dot org Board Slash Scam
(16:00):
Tracker. Again, it's BBB dotO r G Forward Slash Scam Tracker.
It's a great resource. You cango to your computer or your phone right
now and check out what scams.You can look it up by pet scam,
pyramids, schemes, and you canalso just see what's happening in your
local community as well as digging deeperto research. We've done studies and tip
(16:22):
to prevent yourself from being scammed.So again it's BBB for Bust and Better
Business Bureau BBB dot org. Ohyes, I allerga slash and I don't
think there's any dis between back witha forward slash. It's just slash uh
(16:42):
Scam tracker. Sounds great, Paula. Hopefully we've we've we've helped people save
some people some money tonight, andwe'll do this again more often. Okay,
we'll keep it. You try tokeep ahead of the scamsters because you
guys are doing some great work thereand have great information available, that's for
sure. Thanks Paula. We'll talkso I appreciate it. Thank you.
(17:03):
Bybye, more than welcome. Wecome back on to talk with Chris White.
He's the CEO of a group calledRoad to Responsibility. We'll talk to
him about helping folks who maybe justneed a little help along the way.
And they're doing great work. They'redoing God's workers for us. I'm concerned.
We'll be back on Night's Side rightafter the news at the bottom of
the hour. You're on Night Sidewith Dan Ray on Youbzy, Boston's news
(17:27):
Radio. We're delighted to welcome toNight's Side Chris White. He's the CEO
of an organization called Road to Responsibility, making lives better for individuals with intellectual
and developmental disabilities. Chris White,Welcome to Nightside. Tell us about Road
to Responsibility's been around for a whileor is this a really new group?
(17:51):
No, Hi, Dan, thanksfor having me tonight and welcome. We've
actually been around since nineteen eighty eight. Okay, close to thirty five to
forty years. Go right ahead.Yeah, we're getting there. And we
started off with the simple mission,as you alluded, to, making lives
better for adults with intellectual and developmentaldisabilities. We've since expanded that a little
(18:15):
bit to include people on the autismspectrum and folks with a quiet brain injuries
and we and we make their livesbetter through a variety of services we provide,
such as a full array of residentialservice options, employment options, and
(18:36):
therapeutic day supports that we provide.Let let me get a little concrete here
are you. Are you located inone location or do you have several several
locations? Scatistically? What the whereyou located? We operate sixty four programs
in fifty eight locations from Boston underthe Cape Cod Canal and over into this
(18:59):
Natalborough area. So it's okay,So it's basically south shore Boston, south
Shore and the Cape. And howbig an organization? How many people?
How many staff people do you haveworking at these sixty four right now?
We have six hundred and seventy oneemployees as of this morning. Unfortunately that's
(19:22):
a moving number. Sure, sothat's a big organization. And how many
I'm going to use the word clientsmaybe there's a better term, but how
many clients over the course of thelast year or over the course of the
entire existence of the organization? Haveyou, in some former fashion helped support
(19:44):
about thirteen hundred individuals a year?And so over the last thirty five years.
We you know, we've supported youknow, probably ten thousand. Well
I'll bet you more than that ifI'm doing the math there and much well
forty fifty thousand. Well, thedifference is we have these are lifespan services,
(20:06):
so when people come to us,they're with us. So we've got
you know, our youngest member istwenty one and our oldest at this point
is about ninety three. So ifa family, and I assume in most
cases here if I'm wrong, correctme and what I do these interviews,
And to be honest with you,if I basically create a premise which is
(20:30):
on the wrong, which is incorrect, please feel free to correct. Okay,
I assume I'm assuming that when folkslearn about your organization, if they
feel they have a family member whocan benefit from road to responsibility, the
family reaches out is that the normalcourse where people come to your door.
(20:52):
That's often how it starts. Althoughthe way the way the human service system
operates is all of our referrals haveto come officially through the Department of Developmental
Services. And so what should afamily do who maybe has either an older
(21:15):
adult in the family or a youngeradult who may need a little bit of
help here. How do they getto you. They get to us by
first being found eligible for services throughthe Department of Developmental Services. But that
can be a fairly daunting task forfolks. So I tell people, you
(21:38):
know what, just call me andI will and I'll walk it. I'll
walk it through the maze and tellyou how to get through eligibility and then
it's it's up to the state torefer. And what a family can say
is, you know, I've heardgood things about road to responsibility. If
it's possible, I'd like my sonor daughter to go there, my family
(22:02):
member to go there. But theyhave to understand that that's not a guarantee
that they'll be able to come.It depends on openings, the type of
service being requested, that sort ofthing. But you would hope that some
bureaucrat in the state would try todo whatever they could do to help ease
(22:26):
whatever the family's going through and maybegeographically make it a little better, a
little easier for them, you knowwhat I'm saying. I mean, it's
just absolutely that's what you know.And the fact that you have you said,
I think sixty four locations south ofBoston, in Boston South Shore and
you know, down to the Cape. I assume that there's some pretty convenient
(22:51):
locations. I just I just getfrustrated when I realized that our tax dollars
are there to help people, andyou want to make sure that we get
the best help and the most effectivehelp, most efficient help that they possibly
can it can obtain. So youhave some residential services, as I understand
(23:12):
it as well as Yah, youhave quite a few. They run the
gamut from what we call co opapartments where people living pretty independently, but
we provide peak hour staffing to helpwith things like medications, maybe meals,
or just getting people out into theworld. There's a lot of the towns
(23:37):
that we operate in don't have publictransportation, so that's you know, getting
folks of shopping and you know,enjoying life is part of the deal with
that to twenty four hour group homesettings that range from fairly basic and complicated
(23:59):
social homes to very specialized homes withfolks with you know, significant medical issues,
significant emotional behavioral concerns, or severeautism requiring special special treatment. And
we have a wonderful integrated clinical approachthat we take that has proven itself to
(24:22):
be really effective over the years inbeing able to support a wide array of
people. Put the phrase integrated clinicalresponse, okay, which what happens is
everybody who's in any profession relies onjargon. Okay, So why don't you
(24:42):
put that in the language that peoplecan understand. Go ahead, Chris,
I don't mean to put you onthe spot the Glenn. No, no,
no, I actually trying to helpyou. Go ahead. Yeah,
I know you are helping, Thankyou. So what we do is we
have a great team of clinicians thatincludes biatrists, psychologists, applied behavior analysts,
(25:03):
social workers that work with our individuals, the individuals we support as well
as the staff and in helping thestaff understand the best ways of supporting the
people in our programs and you know, and helping our members either learn new
(25:26):
skills so that they can deal moreadaptively with life and stress or to find
other solutions for whatever issues they're dealingwith. Question last question for getting a
little tight on time, No problem. But last question okay, right now,
is you said you mentioned that Ithink some of one of your clients
(25:48):
is ninety seven years old, Sowe assume that you take everybody on the
on the senior end of the system, how young, how young your youngest
clients. Typically folks who enter servicewith us are twenty two years of old
or older, but we've had somepeople join us as young as eighteen.
(26:11):
Okay, so this really is theproblem that a lot of families have with
what they call turning twenty two.Absolutely, that's exactly a huge, huge
problem. I covered that as atelevision reporter for many, many times over
the years, and it's so greatto talk to an organization that is really
(26:32):
doing, as I said, God'swork here. Road to Responsibility The CEO
of the group, Chris White.Chris, I'm so happy that can you
give an easy website where people canget in touch with you if they have
some questions that I didn't cover tonight, which I'm sure they probably have.
Absolutely, Dan, our website iswww dot road to Responsibility dot org.
(26:59):
Right, going to tell you alittle tip here. You don't even have
to say the www anymore. Justwrote responsibility all one word, easy to
remember, road to responsibility dot org. You put it in in your computer
and it'll bring you to the rightplace. Chris White, thank you very
much again, you're doing it doingGod's work. Thank you, my friend.
(27:21):
Thank you a great night. Weget back when we talk about a
very personal story a gentleman who iseighty one years young, who has written
a book called North End Journey.I think this is a story that any
one of us can identify. Withall of us go on and journey through
life, some of us end upon the far flung corners of the earth.
(27:45):
Steve ZUBRICKI has written a book,put together a book with obviously words
and pictures entitled North End Journey.So that gives you a hint as to
what it's about. Back on nightSide w BZ, Boston's news radio right
after this, it's nice with onBoston's News Radio. All Right, all
(28:07):
of us have at some point probablythought, you know, I think I
can write a book. I couldwrite a book about my life. Well,
one man has uh. And youdon't have to be a famous person,
you don't have to be a SuperBowl champion of a World Series winner.
Uh. So let me introduce you. Uh. And I think the
(28:30):
process of this is is as fascinatingas anything. Let me introduce you to
Steve ZUBRICKI. Steve, you've writtena book, North End Journey, tell
us about the idea, how difficultit was to actually put pen to paper
and give us a little bit ofan idea, and then then we'll run
over we'll talk about some of thehighlights. Sure, basically it's forty five
(28:59):
Stillman was the address in Boston whereI grew up. All right, that's
where this is where the book starts. I'm guessing that's where the book starts.
And it was just my maternal grandparentswere in nineteen twenty eight for four
(29:22):
thousand dollars. Okay, that wasa good bye, and that was a
goodbye, and it had a lotof Basically, it's the story of the
house was taken by Eminent Domain toput up the Central Ottery in nineteen fifty
(29:42):
two. So a lot of peoplein the old West End were very concerned
with what was done to that community. Everybody knows the South End, everybody
knows the North End of which youwrite, and they know East Boston,
but the West End disappeared. That'sreally got it. That's that's right.
(30:03):
Most of the building buildings taken downin the North End were residential. You
mean the buildings, Steve, Youconfused commercial hold on Steve. Let me
pull the reins back here for yousaid most of the buildings taken down to
the North End. Buildings haven't beentaken down of the North End where we're
(30:26):
talking about. You grew up inthe west End on Stillven Street, right,
No, I grew up in thenorth End. Oh, okay,
good enough, Okay, I mixedup. That's my mistake. So so
you lost So the North End losta lot of buildings for the Central Artery
at about the same time, theWest End was losing buildings too, by
the way, but go ahead,I'm sorry, I've confused you. That's
(30:47):
my mistake. Go ahead, right, But most of the West End,
a lot of them were residential.My house and one other house were probably
the only two residential homes taken downby the Central Lottery. Okay, okay,
(31:07):
that's that's the start of the story. Take We got about four minutes
left here, so let's let's let'stalk about I guess you got about two
hundred pictures in the book and allof that. So I've got two hundred
picture pictures in the book, andsome of the stories are let me go
into the not n specifically, Ihave the whole story of the Central Lottery
(31:30):
and how it was built, andhow my house was taken down and what
have you. Also see we gotabout no minutes here, so you got
the not nd pack. Uh not, then we can not then kids at
(31:59):
still the street playground where the harmonicatswould I don't know if you've ever heard
of them. They played the harmonicasyou know, I just could have figured
that out, Steve, to behonest with you, but go ahead,
So they're being part of the bookyet ahead, right, And then they
(32:20):
roasted peanuts in the house next doorand the fellow. The fellow told them
in front of the North Station.You can remember the pick fender in front
of the North Station. And wewe built scooters from apple prates and we
(32:43):
go around the neighborhood. So letme ask you this, Steve. Okay,
who's buying your books people from theNorth End? Or are there people
who are interested in the history ofthe North End, which I assume your
book gets into the history of theNorth End, and that's that's why people
should buy the book. Right,that's correct, there are people. It's
(33:07):
really the history of the Nods End. Well, it's a great community.
Uh, it's a community that formany years, as you and I both
know, was overwhelmingly, if nottotally, Italian American. And it's changed
over the years, and they're nowyou now have the Seaport District which is
(33:28):
abutting the North End and all ofthat. How tough has it been to
watch the North End change over theyear, Steve? Well, basically,
if you can't do what you usedto do in the North End, I
mean I used to swim as akid. I swim at the frog pond
at Boston Common. I went toSaint Mary's School and the school is gone,
(33:55):
my church is gone, and myhouse is gone. And that's basically
part of the story. And Iwas an altar boy when the when we
served masks and in Latin, youknow, and we'd answered the priests in
Latin, and that's all gone.What was the church? What? What
(34:15):
church was it that you attended downthere in the North End St Mary's.
How many churches did you have inthe North End back in those days,
Steve? How many churches were thereCatholic churches? Eight eight? There were
a few, yeah, yeah.And were the restaurants as good back then
as they are today? Yes?Yeah, you don't need the coaching in
(34:39):
the background. I know who's coachingin the background, Steve, but it's
not helping you. Uh. Myfavorite restaurant in the North End, I
got to tell you for many manyyears was Tetchies. Right. I went
to school, uh with Sal Tachy, a great guy. Let me tell
you that's the Joe Tetchy. Really. Yes, I'm aware of that.
(35:01):
I am absolutely aware of that.It's a great family. Unfortunately, that
restaurant has moved on. The NorthEnd used to well, still has great
restaurants, but the restaurants now,in my opinion, are a little more
high end than it used to be. I mean, you could go to
Techs restaurant and you you would getfood beyond what you could possibly eat.
(35:22):
It was perfectly prepared, it wasmeticulous. Uh and it was it was
just delicious. And you could Youcould park in the North End. Believe
it or not. They had littleside parking lots. Oh yeah, you
could park. Give a guy twentybucks and you park in front of his
house or driveway. That seems tohave all gone at this point, and
(35:43):
a lot of the charm of theNorth End I think has gone. But
your book is going to bring itback and people can get your book.
What's the easiest way for them toget a copy of your book? Do
you got a website, Steve,It's yes, it's z as in ze
for a Z Publishing dot mystick,m y s t I c heyphenview dot
(36:07):
com. Give it, Give thatto me again, nice and slowly.
Okay, Z public Publishing dot mystickm y s mystic in view dot com.
All right, well, I wishyou the best of luck with that,
and hopefully a lot of not onlysome of the old north Enders but
(36:29):
some of the new north Enders willappreciate the history and the pictures of the
book. Right, Thanks Steve,thank you, Thanks very much, appreciate
your time tonight and look forward tomeeting you someday in the North End.
Okay, thanks Steve, have agreat night. Good night. Uh.
You know, I think someone wastrying to coach Steve in the background,
(36:50):
and that's not that's not effective becauseit's more distracting what people don't understand us.
As a ten second lag if you'reever calling the show, you don't
don't need someone in the background tryingto tell you what to say or anything
like that. So just bear thatin mind. Now when we come back
right after the nine o'clock news,I want to talk about a dear friend,
(37:10):
Jordan Rich, who on Friday nightended his time with us at nightside.
As they think all of you know, Jordan has been diagnosed with Parkinson's,
which is a tough diagnosis, butJordan is fighting it, and he's
given it a great battle, andhe's going to cut back a little bit
(37:30):
of his broadcasting duties. But forthose of you who missed Jordan on Friday
night, I want to talk aboutmy friend, my colleague for many many
years, someone who I learned alot from, both as a person and
as a broadcaster, right after thenine o'clock news that comes at you here
on night side, on night side, right after the nine o'clock news here
(37:51):
in Boston's news radio WVZ ten thirtyam. Back after this
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