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Posted by G lib on 2007-06-06 22:39:14 +0000

L; AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG GHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Ed.: line breaks

Posted by ConorClockwise on 2007-06-06 22:41:30 +0000

Press charges. Hope he goes to jail.

Posted by mr. mister on 2007-06-07 07:52:50 +0000

what a freak!

Posted by tommy on 2007-06-07 08:14:13 +0000

Wow.

Posted by pamsterdam on 2007-06-07 09:41:47 +0000

Hubby and I were absolutely horrified that this happened. He posited that maybe the guy is very old and suffering from dementia ("I said tomatoes, durn it!"), and insanity is pretty much the only forgivable excuse on this one. I mean... who tears up their neighbors' flowerbed?

Posted by tgl on 2007-06-07 10:13:03 +0000

It's basically vandalism of your home. Sorry for your loss. Unlike CC, I'd think this person needs help, not jail time.

Posted by Miriam on 2007-06-07 10:18:04 +0000

That's HORRIBLE!!!! He needs to pay you for the cost of your garden for sure. What a jerk. I'm so, so sorry. Can only imagine how awful that feels. Big hugs from afar.

Posted by MF DU on 2007-06-07 10:22:48 +0000

STALK THE BASTARD AND POUR SULFUR OVER HIS NEXT GARDEN PLOT

Posted by Miriam on 2007-06-07 10:30:29 +0000

Revenge is not the answer.

Posted by pchippy on 2007-06-07 10:31:07 +0000

Agreed. What is the answer, though?

Posted by Miriam on 2007-06-07 10:32:03 +0000

Reparations. And a new garden plot where there aren't psychos. Or a roof garden.

Posted by MF DU on 2007-06-07 10:41:06 +0000

If there isnt a fun Tarantino-esque revenge style plot afoot, all I can think of is letting go of the incident and starting over.

Posted by G lib on 2007-06-07 10:59:58 +0000

It's officially our plot-- he gave it up two years ago, and we have paid our $20 a year dues for it on time every year (breaking the bank, of course). He can't have it back, tomatoes or no. The issues are: a. Is he going to come back and mow down the plants that we spent a couple hours salvaging from the pile he left last night and this morning? b. Are any of the plants that we salvaged going to survive? (we found some of them intact) c. Can we get him to pay us back for the plants that were damaged d. Can we get him to not come back by getting the police involved. e. Can I get an article in the Eastie Times about it that will sufficiently humiliate him to make up for it? The garden manager is going to have him officially banned from the garden, and not allowed to have a plot anywhere else. There are many things that suck about this situation, but mostly I'm just VERY ANGRY because Chippy loved those plants (especially his Grammy's primroses) nearly as much as he loves Lila (our cat).

Posted by virtue on 2007-06-07 12:13:31 +0000

I vote for e, at the very least. And if you need a hand with replanting, give a shout out.

Posted by cdubrocker on 2007-06-07 12:20:28 +0000

Oh, yes, definitely e. And another helping hand here.

Posted by pchippy on 2007-06-07 12:31:44 +0000

In the interest of accuracy: As we were walking home from the garden last night, I said to G lib, "It's not nearly as bad as if Lila were to die. It's much, much worse than for my car to be stolen, though."

Posted by Miriam on 2007-06-07 12:37:29 +0000

All good questions. I still think you should have a supplemental garden on your roof. There's a whole green roof movement.

Posted by cdubrocker on 2007-06-07 12:44:53 +0000

Also with e, the Herald might go for a story like this.

Posted by pchippy on 2007-06-07 12:47:30 +0000

Things we had planted in our garden: Roses, primroses, foxgloves, chrysanthemums, geraniums, rose campions, columbines, pulmonaria, phlox, cannas, gladioluses, Dutch irises, bearded irises, poppies, delphiniums, snapdragons, zinnias, asters, bachelor's buttons, tiger lilies, hybrid lilies, bleeding hearts, daylilies, grape hyacinths, daffodils, crocuses, tulips, decorative alliums, garlic, onions, chives, garlic chives, daisies, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, sage, oregano, creeping thyme, lavender, dill, cilantro, lettuce, spinach, peas, tomatoes, peppers. I may be forgetting a few.

Posted by Epoisses on 2007-06-07 13:03:14 +0000

Damn.

Posted by MF DU on 2007-06-07 13:52:13 +0000

you sure you dont want to just cut this guy in the FACE?

Posted by Miriam on 2007-06-07 15:06:43 +0000

That's a LOT of garden in a small plot. Again, I'm really sorry. I hope you were able to salvage the bulbs at the very least.

Posted by Propagandatour on 2007-06-08 15:37:45 +0000

I like the Eastie Times idea. You'll have a picture and everything. People will really want to read about this. I'll help too. You should have a replanting party.

Posted by G lib on 2007-06-26 17:09:50 +0000

Update: We were contacted by an Eastie detective, and will have a meeting with the guy, the clerk of the court, and the garden manager on July 2. A kind of community mitigation thingie. The organization that owns the garden also sent him a letter saying that he was banned from the garden and will be arrested if he tries to come in again. JBCardinale was right in thinking that it's not a good idea to antagonize him-- what would be the use? And the risk would probably would be even worse. (The last thing we want is him to light Lila [our cat] on fire and throw her into our apartment window!)* Our hope is that he shows up for this hearing and we all agree that won't come back, and that he gives us a little bit of scratch. *From the article: "Notoriously brutal MS-13 gang" might be a little bit of an overstatement.

Posted by jbcardinale on 2007-06-26 17:47:32 +0000

http://www.bpdnews.com/2007/06/cat_burning_suspect_in_custody.html They caught the person who did it. I don't think there are a lot of Luigis in MS-13. Often media speculation is completely wrong.

Posted by G lib on 2007-06-27 07:33:50 +0000

JB and CDubs: The "Mr. Boston" editorial about the cat crime in today's Eastie times is totally worth reading. I'll bring my copy to the picnic tonight.

Posted by G lib on 2007-07-02 18:09:10 +0000

I know you're all waiting on baited breath for an update, so here goes. We had our meeting with the guy and the East Boston clerk of the court this morning. Apparently the guy is a big man around Eastie, and the whole time we were waiting for our hearing to begin, all sorts of cops kept coming by and giving him a bro hug. We went into the meeting and said our piece. He started with a litany of "You (the garden manager) never wanted me in the garden! You tried to get rid of me since you started managing the garden!" and something like "The by-laws of the garden state that to kick someone out, you have to have a meeting with the main organization, and you violated the by-laws!" My thought is that he was either playing the race or the townie card, I'm not sure which one it was. The clerk of the court reminded him that he hadn't contacted the garden manager for two years, and he could have called him to explain the situation. He said that his wife had been sick for about a year, and had recently just gotten out of the hospital. When she got out, she told him that she wanted to re-plant their garden, and would he just prepare it for them? So he toddled off to the garden and pulled out all of the 'weeds' that were there, so that he could plant his tomatoes. I encourage you to look at the photo at the top of this page at this time. Granted, most of the tulips had passed, but we had flowering poppies, bearded irises, and an obviously very well tended garden. In the end, he wrote us a check for three hundred smackaroos (a compromise, down from chippy's low estimate of $400ish), and said that he wouldn't come back, which was exactly what we wanted. I could post for another page or two about how I'm feeling about the whole thing, but the main point is that I'm still angry, but at least it's f*cking over. (unless his check bounces, knock on wood!)

Posted by Miriam on 2007-07-03 08:21:46 +0000

Congrats on it being over. I hope the bad feelings go away quickly with your newly planted/revived flora.

Posted by MF DU on 2007-07-03 10:45:33 +0000

ditto. People suck sometimes.

Posted by pchippy on 2007-07-03 10:47:26 +0000

Thanks, Miriam. A few of the mangled lilies that we replanted have recovered enough to flower, and they're very pretty. Actually, seeing anything at all come out of the devastation makes me feel good. And we've been given or offered plants by a lot of compassionate friends and fellow gardeners: pepper seedlings from Laurie, collard greens from Dominic, a hollyhock from Austin, and open-ended offers of plants from Webb and from the eccentric guy with the plot in the corner. It's hard to stay bitter.

Posted by MF DU on 2007-07-03 10:58:21 +0000

eccentric guy with the plot in the corner /egwtpitc sounds like a good name for a band!

Posted by Miriam on 2007-07-03 14:52:22 +0000

Sounds like the community has come together to renew your garden! Wordplay intended.