It's Nightside with Dan Ray. I'm WBZ Constance Radio.
Welcome back everybody. We have a couple of three hours left tonight. Last two hours of the show there'll be no phone calls because we'll be interviewing twenty twenty great charities, big and small, some you've heard of, some you haven't, but all of which would be deserving of your support. The twelfth annual Nightside Charity Combine. Now I want to change to a totally different topic and one that I will admit. I know the individual who were about to interview.
I know how hard he and his family work, and I know what he and his family have endured in the last couple of years. Speaking of my friend Gary Park, whose family owns Gary's Liquors in West Roxbury. Gary Park, welcome to Nightside.
Thank you very much.
Gary.
How many hours a week do you your dad and your mom, your brother, family members work?
Would you say, in.
Total sixty five seventy hours this time of year, it's eighty plus hours a week A piece, quite a bit a piece, my piece. My parents are both in their eighties and they've got to be here at least fifty hours a week minimum.
I mean, so you give them a break. They only have to work, they only have to work fifty.
Yeah, I believed telling them, you know, I'll let me retire and you can stay here.
So but.
So you have been hit by I would say, a string of blatant robberies and robbery attempts over the last few years. But the last couple of years. Is that correct?
Yep, it's shoplifting. It's out of control. It's getting worse, and I just don't know what to do anymore. It's just out of control.
Okay, now you're in this. There's a mall over in West Roxbury on VFW Parkway. There's a CBS next to you, there's a Producies, there's a nice it's it's it's really the backbone of a community, a place that people can go uh and uh and and shop conveniently. But now you have some folks who decided why not go win in shoplift conveniently, so the most es go ahead.
No, no, I'm sorry, sorry, I'm just basically it started in the last few years since the pandemic, and it's just spiraling out of control. You know, You've got all throughout Boston that shoplifting is taking place. And you know, you see these on TV and you see clips on your social media that this takes place in San Francisco and they're just walking in and out of stores. It's happening here, and for some reason, it's not being reported.
When we want.
Call the police, I mean almost unless it's a large amount of stuff, they don't even bother to come down because no one will be prosecuted. And it's just, you know, heartbreaking what's going on.
Yeah, well, what is going on is that the political leaders I do not think are as either aware of what's going on or as sympathetic to the circumstances you find yourself in. And that's my comment. You don't have to disagree.
I'd like to believe that, but I mean this. I mean you see CBS's and Walgreens closing all over the place. They're doing this because these places are losing money. This isn't just somebody coming in stealing a pack of gum or a lipstick or a bottle. These are multiple times a day, multiple times a week, big purchases. And then you know people say, oh, they have insurance, Well, you know,
you don't have that kind of insurance. And then you have a thousand dollars deductible unless they steal a cat strof amount of things that's never going to even take place. And even if you do, you have the deductive but you barely get anything back and then your premiums either.
Go up or you get canceled.
So you know, small businesses like mine, our backs are to the wall and we need help, We need relief, We need someone to listen, someone to do something. This has to stop and it has to change.
Well, that's we're going to try to do tonight, because what I want to do is I want to tell the story you sent me some information earlier this week and what you went through two weeks, two nights ago, Right about nine o'clock on Wednesday night, you were in the middle of a situation that to me is incredible. You're sitting at the front of the store and in walks a gentleman who takes particular interest in whether or
not you're paying attention to him. What do you notice about that person's demeanor that causes you to say, hmm, I wonder what's going on?
Well, shoplifters are like almost like poker players. Everybody has like a tell or a thing that they do now. Normally, you anybody else walks into a store. You know, you walk in, you're looking for your shopping list, you're getting a carriage, or you're thinking about where you're going. Shoplifters come in and they lock eyes right on you, and as they're walking in, they're staring at you as they're walking to see if you're watching them. It's like a
dead giveaway. And almost every single time that's the number one thing that you look for. They just keep walking. You know, it's not like they say hey and keep going. They're watching you to see if you're watching them.
So in this particular, in this particular instance, your instincts were this guy might be up.
You have to know good.
So you have cameras in the store like anybody else would understand the security cameras. And I want you to tell the story, but apparently i'll get to the to
the point. You told me that this guy had a couple of tote bags with him, you know, the bags that you could just carry by a handle, and you had reason to believe that he had put several bottles of you know, pretty good you know, expensive brillands uh in the in the bags and he saw saw just up to the counter and puts what one bottle up there to pay, which which you knew was yeah, not reality. Let's put it like that. Don't describe what happened.
So, you know, he comes in with the two two very large black carry tote bags, which you know Boston you dig about using reusable bags and all this other stuff, so it's not totally uncommon, but you know, it's one of those things that where so many people are doing it, you just have to you know, sometimes you have one or two bags, you forget to bring one up. It's
just something that we have to be careful of. But these were really large bags, and we have shopping carts for large purchases, and you know, rather than carry some heavy bottles and cases beer and I need put it in a carriage. But he goes down the aisles and I see him on camera grabbing a few things, putting him in there, and again not totally I'm not jumping
right to the gun saying he's stealing. I'm just watching so just to see what's going on, I walk down on one of the aisles and he brazenly walks right up and he's right in front of the Tequila. And he goes, which are the better of these two brands? And I said, well, you know, they're both very famous blah blah blah. And he goes, you know what, I'm going to take one of each, grabs one of each right in front of my face, walks back to the
other direction down the aisle. I start to head up front, and I said to the cashier, you know, guy's got two bottles at Tequila. He's also got two bags that have a lot of stuff. I heard them even clanking is just make sure that everything comes out of the bag boom. I'm standing off to the side. He comes up one bottle at Tequila in his hand, puts it down, and he says to the cashire, you know, I better go outside and ask my friend if this is the right one. And he goes to walk out, and I said, hey,
where's the other bottle at Tequila? And what's all the clanking in the bag? Oh, I don't have anything, blah blah blah blah. Gives me a little nudge, walks right by and goes right out the door. And you know, at this point, I know people are saying, you know, well, it's Evs. You're crazy. You've got to be careful you're going to do this. This happens so often and it is so frustrating. I'm not a publicly traded company again, so this is coming right out of my pocket, out
of my family's pocket. It just it happens. It hurts, it infuriates you.
And you know i'd say to people.
I know you say that, but it's like if somebody walked into your house and grabbed all your wife's jewelry and said, excuse me, get out of my way. I'm going to walk right out the front door. Nothing will happen to me, and you're not going to do anything.
It just gets you.
So what did I do?
I went outside, ran after him and tried to reason with him, tried to grab the bag. He drops his cell phone out there, so I pick up the cell phone. Now I think I have a bargaining chip. And I said to Amazing, Yeah, you know I know how. You know the police might probably do nothing. I just want my bottles. Put him down on the ground, I give you the phone.
You go way, that'll be it.
No, you're not looking at press. You're not looking at press charges right, I know it's going.
To be a waste of time. So, you know, I said, just give me the thing. He goes, no, I don't have anything. So he takes one bottle out and puts it down. I said, come on, look at the bag. So he takes the next bottle out. He says, I'm not giving you anything. Get away from me. I said, listen, just give me the thing. He throws a bottle, hits me in the arm, smashes on the ground.
Boom.
Happens to be like one hundred and eighty dollars bottle that he grabbed off the counter on his way out the door. Now, I'm like, this is just unreal.
So now, and you're also now the victim technically, believe me, you're the victim of assault and battery.
Assault and battery, right, And you know, you know, I'm the voice in my head says, you know, all right, what are you doing? This could be nuts, but you just get so upset. And I'm following him, and I'm saying, give me the thing back, give me the thing back. And I don't remember. Wednesday night, it was pouring rain. I am soaked. I go to reach up and grab one of the two bads off of him, and my wedding ring slides off my finger. I hear it hit the ground. I did grab the bag, but now my
ring fell off. He's still running away with the other bag. I stopped because at this point I was sick, because I figured I lost my wedding rink. I looked, I looked, I can't. I come back in a flashlight.
I came back.
Long story short, after twenty minutes. It's in the middle of the street, pouring rain. I find it, thank goodness, but I come back to the store. I open up the bag filled with bottles. Inside the bag is a copy photocopy of his nass ID driver's license, an ID card, his Social Security card. There's a photo copy of his last Boston police mug shot in booking with the crime everything on it, and another photo copy of his what he got back his personal property when he was released
recently from the Suffolk County jail. These papers inside the bag that he was putting the stolen goods, and I just said, you make this stuff up.
Well, this guy's this guy's live. And there's also you told me some drug pair familiar in the bag.
There was drug pair of the One of my guys said that looked like crack pipes or something. I don't even you know. And there was little baggies in there with stuff, and you know, I think that's the other thing. People think, Oh, it's just taking a few things from a store, it's not a big deal. They're taking these things and they're obviously trading them for drugs or weapons or god knows what else.
And it's so this guy.
Probably is, this guy's probably homeless. He's carrying his identifications in the bag.
Now you have him.
You also still have his cell phone. I got to break here for a commercial. Okay, but when we come back, I when it finished the story, you did call the police. You're soaking we and I want to get to that in a moment. And then I want to hear from listeners and what does this say? Many people are going to sit there and I get and say, well, this doesn't affect me. I don't own a store, I don't live in West Roxbury. Whatever, Well, it does affect you.
It affects everybody because it impacts the all day of life in the neighborhood. The fact that the police are not responding appropriately, that you had to wait two days for a detective to even show up. And maybe because I made a call on that one later today, I might have prompted that appearance of this late this evening.
We'll get to all of this, I promise.
My guess is Gary Parks, the owner of Parks of Gary's Liquor in West Roxbury, the great liquor store by the way, that treats its customers extremely well, has a great staff, a lot of family members, but also employs a lot of people from the community, from the neighborhood. And as long as authorities are not protecting small businesses, that is one of the first signs, one of the first harbingers that that community is going to pay a very costly price, that a lot of the businesses will close,
they'll go away, the quality of life will diminish. It is a downward spiral. And Gary had the guts on Tuesday to defend his property, defend his store at great risk to himself because frankly, the police are not providing the protection that his businesses need. And I will say this very clearly. I have requested several times in the last year an interview with the Police Commissioner to raise some of these issues, and I've been told repeatedly by
his staff that he was unavailable. We will get to all of this if you would like to chime in on this six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty six one seven, nine three one ten thirty.
My name is Dan Ray.
We're coming right back on Nightside with Gary Park of Gary's Liquors in West Roxbury. This is an incredible story. You talk about blatant, blatant robbery, assault and battery. That's the price you have to pay if you want to run a business in West Roxbury. There's a lot of people who are going to be willing to pay that price. We'll be back on Nightside right after this.
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World Excite Studios on WBZ News Radio.
But guess Gary Park, owner of Gary's Lakers in West Roxbury. So the purp has escaped. You have a police officer who shows up, you're soaking wet. He takes a report. You contacted me yesterday, we talked today.
I reached out to a police.
Representative who I know who was upset to hear this, and shortly after that conversation the detective showed up. Uh, you have handed this detective this cortocopia of evidence. I mean, the guy's picture, his identifications, his cell.
Phone, you talking about it, video.
And everything.
Where do you think this is going to end up?
Is this something you have any confidence either that the district attorney or the police are going to follow this thoroughly.
I honestly don't know.
I mean, and that's the thing, because you know, I don't know. I don't know where it's coming from. I don't want to blame the police, because you know, when the policemen come down, when you call them, they you know, they look at you like, hey, if I bring this person back, the sergeant's going to say, they're not going to prosecute this guy. Let them go, get him out of here. Don't waste your time with this stuff. So is it high up in the police? Is it the
DA's office, is it the mayor's office? You know, I try to I did a post for a little while on social media and I took it down because there was some political comments this. I'm not trying to make this a political thing. This is a public safety issue. This is a quality of life issue. It's just becoming, you know, too easy for this to happen, and people just just don't care. And there's a huge cost associated with this, and it's you know, people just say something has to be done.
You know.
I even just said that to the detective when he came down.
I said, you know, I understand shop listening is not a violent crime, but I said, so is speeding. But I said, if you stop enforcing speeding and people are running over children in the street, some killing them, I said, well, where does it begin? Where does it end?
You know?
Well, this guy, this guy engaged in the assault, said Gary, this guy engaged an assaulted body.
He fires a bottle at you. That happened to him. You told me your shoulder and your arm, right, what happened? What happens if it hits you in the head, it could have.
And again I believed me, and I said, my god, I have a wife and kids. But you know, the adrenaline's pumping, and you're like that movie. You're mad as Helen. You can't take it anymore. And it's just you're just so set up, and you know, I just.
It's it's right.
I have I have a bunch of calls, Gary, and I want to hear from people here. I want to start it off with Larry called around. Who's the president of the bust and Police Patrolman's Association. I spoke with him today about it, and I don't know if he did anything, but it was sort of curious that after I spoke with Larry and detective showed up, Larry called around. Welcome to night Side. I'm told by my guest, Gary,
Gary Parks. I hope, Gary Park, I hope you heard the entire half that he detected did show up late today, but Gary is very concerned. And you've heard the story that this guy who should be charged with the salted battery as well as robbery, may be grand theft because it was over well over twelve hundred dollars worth of liquor that this guy decided to steal, and all the evidences in the bag. Have you heard everything that Gary has said here?
I hope you have, Larry, I have.
I've actually been listening most of the night, Dan, So thanks for taking my call.
Gary.
My apologies this is happening to you again, and I say again, I hope it's okay to share. This isn't the first time you and I have had a conversation. I know you had the kids and the bikes that come in last summer. They ransacked your place. They grabbed everything off the shelves. I know it doesn't do me any good to give you my apologies on the behalf of the men and women answering the calls out there that I represent. But it's a tragedy, is what it is.
And as you know, I thought we were short four hundred police officers over the last three four years, as I've been on this radio show many times, only to find out from the department's own testimony that this show way over five hundred police officers, and that includes the class that just graduated a month ago, which has a trickle up effect. I'll say in this case, I did speak to a detective after I talked to Dan. I'm well aware that there's been a draft report written and
they reached out to you. I'm glad that you're getting some FaceTime and hopefully you'll get some satisfaction. But the big issue remains the same on our side. Not only do we not have truth and sentencing in the court, not only are there not ramifications for these types of crimes, we just don't have the help to help the citizens
that own the stores. I mean I've been assigned to West Roxbury for the better half of two decades, and at one point in time I used to do the Christmas walk and beat down onto your shopping plaster, and we don't have Christmas walking beats anymore. So I gently challenged the department that you know, we do claim to follow the community policing model, we just don't have the bodies for it. Community troupe. Community policing means police officers walking in and out in and out of the stores
down there during the shopping season. So people that are providing for citizens in Boston, like yourself, people that own stores, don't have to deal with this type of harassment and theft because the mere presence of a police officer keeps that away. So I found myself wanting to call in, especially after I talked to Dan, and I hoped I won't name the detective although I did speak to him. Hopefully he's going to be able to give you.
Some satisfaction, Larry.
As you probably know, I have reached out to the BPD to get commission at Cocks to come on this program for most of all of this year on several occasions, and I've been told he's got community meetings, he's busy or whatever. It's pretty clear to me that he has no interest in coming on this radio show, radio station and talking to his When I say constituents, he's not voted into office, but into the people who he represents
as the police commissioner. And when you see him, I know that you have a good personal relationship with him.
Let him know. I'm doing this with great reluctance.
Because you know, I have police officials in my family, and I hate to call into disrepute the work of anyone within the police community. But after five or six entreaties that I've made this year alone and never challenged, once I heard this happen, I said, that's the last straw. I can no longer not be honest with my audience and also be honest with myself and not give Gary
an opportunity. I've given Gary opportunities before to talk, and he's been very reluctant, but he was so upset today I felt this story.
Has to be told.
Yeah, I won't take up the call as times too much more. But Tom Gary, you really should organize the people that are on your Blockdad. You should reach out to your elected official. I know they're concerned about it. I deal with them on other topics, whether it be at City Hall and at the State House. But squeaky Wheel gets the grease and I'm sure you know that in business. So if i'll be I'll be speaking. Yeah, if I can be of assistance to you personally, please
let me know. I'll be speaking to Captain Mike Haggerty up at the station over the weekend. He's the new captain up there.
You probably know him.
He's a neighborhood guy. But but it's a shame and a lot of it starts with prosecution and having enough bodies on the street to maybe persuade these people not to be in the neighborhood. You know, I love to quote the theory of broken records, excuse me, broken windows. It's one of the policing police readings when Bill Bratton was the commissioner here and I was a young officer. But it's a it's a pretty simple theory. You know.
You know, you rebuild enable heard you fix the windows that are broken, because if you don't, eventually you have more severe damage. You have minor low level crime which turns into higher crime.
And we all know this.
We all know this to be fact. So if you want to stop this type of behavior, hire more cops, put them in uniform, follow the community policing strategy, put them on their walk and beat so they're coming in and out of your store and hopefully persuading this type of element to go elsewhere. So I thank you for the time, gentlemen. But Gary, I'm so sorry that you're dealing with us.
Thank you, Larry.
I appreciate it very much. Thank thank you for joining us. Thank you so much. Have a great met welcome, have a good night, very Christmas.
All right, Gary, stay right there, we get full lines. I want to listen to people. I've call it from West Roxbury, Worcester, Millis, Beverly, Wealthleet.
We'll get them all in.
My guest is Gary Park, a victim of assault and battery and a major theft last Wednesday night, two nights ago. Simple as that it's not something that anyone should be subjected to, particularly a business person who's trying to basically provide for his family, for his employees, and for his community. We'll be back on nightside right after this news break, and you're on.
The night's side with Boston's News radio.
My guess is Gary Park, the owner of Gary's Liquors in West Roxbury. I'm the victim of shoplifting, actually the victim of assault and battery and then grand theft. Uh and with at this point, and this is not the first times, as Larry called her own mentioned Gary, I just want to give my listeners a chance to ask you questions or or or just commiserate, because I think that people need to be heard on this.
Let's go next to Mike and Beverly. Mike, I'm going to ask everybody to be kind of quick tonight.
Go ahead, Mike, Hey Dah, I am all.
Right for this guy. Go over to the situation. But I have to do with soft on crime policies. Had to make it by analytical thing.
But it's so true.
That's what they do.
And I'm sorry. You know, these smart healing and all the administration wanted to keep these illegals. Yeah, they have to fund their money somehow, and that's what they do.
I'm sorry.
If that's your point of view, that's fine. I'm not going to challenge you on that. All I'm gonna say is I want to bring it down to the street. Level here, because someone who's providing a service to the community, whether it's a drug store, a pharmacy, a grocery store, or or a liquor store or shoe store or a barbershop, should not be subjected to criminal elements in order for them to conduct business.
That's all, Mike.
And at that level, if those people cannot be protected, who is going to be protected in our society?
Yeah, but that's that's what they do. The datistic attorneys and the judges don't want to contest them because they let them out all the silver things. And that's how and that's how they work.
All right, fair enough, Ike, appreciate you, Cal, Thank you very much, Thanks Michel. All right again, I.
Prefer people talk with Gary uh and if you want to ask any questions, that's fine. Alex and Millis Alex next on Night Side with my guest Gary Park.
Go right ahead, Alex, Hey Dan, Hey, mister Parks. I enjoy coming to your store about I live in Millis because you have a good selection of you know, my late dad, you still love the the uh you know uh wines from Greece and the other liquor. I wanted to ask you were there were there any customers, uh, you know that we were there that could have witnessed this happening. Maybe you mentioned it, but I tune in late.
No, I mean there were customers. Yeah, this was up at the front of the store, but I mean we have sixty cameras throughout the store, so I I in nausey. I got to watch the sky fill up his bag. But you know, it's just it's just an awful, awful feeling to watch this happen all the time.
So yeah, and if he was prosecuted, you know, it's like you have to waste your time. You know, they give him a slap on the wrist. Am I correct?
Well, I think that's the problem, you know there, unless it's over twelve hundred dollars, you know, they don't really even prosecute, and you know, you call the police, and you know, it takes hours to come down because again it's not a it's not a blazing emergency, but it's come to the point where there are you know, really no consequences for this. So it's becoming a rampant, rampant thing in all businesses. People are just walking in, you know,
and CBS and Walgreens, they're auto. The employees aren't even allowed to do what I did. They just walk right out the front door. And it is just it's got to stop.
There has to because I'm wondering if if your store was in the suburbs like say Wellesley or Western or you know, it doesn't matter, you know, any suburb, you know, the police would react a lot quicker. I'm not trying to, you know, say that the Boston police don't do their job, but I.
Think, yeah, yeah, no, no, you know, and we're I'm in you know, West Roxfory Chestnut Hill, it's called I mean, this is one of the nice the city, and you know, there's a great neighborhood, great everything. But you know, and this isn't you know, guns or anything. This is just shop lifting that's out of control. And you know, the police they do come down. I get the total sense that they're frustrated, you know, because they'd love to do something.
But it's almost you know, you know, it's like you're not going to arrest somebody for jaywalking. It's nothing's going to happen. And I think that's the problem. Now, there's just no real consequence for this, and I don't even give you a slap on the rest of they just say go.
They're ultimately ut consequences though, Gary, I know of a family who was running a small grocery store in Dorchester and this goes back twenty years or so. And then the reason you know the family was my son went to school with the owner son and he was the victim of an armed robbery and was shot to death in Dorchester in the middle of the morning. And so what happens is that you know, they know they can get away with this, and that twelve hundred dollars, I mean,
that's a huge amount of money. You couldn't steal twelve hundred dollars from most small grocery stores.
You couldn't. You couldn't possibly carry out.
You could basically pick the most expensive products and you'd have all you could do to carry out as much as you could. So that basically gives people absolute carte blanche going to any grocery store that you want and pick out meats, you know, whatever you can grab and just head for the door if no one's now. And of course in pharmacies you have the other complication is people are gonna pull drugs.
Maybe this this is out of control.
San Francisco has finally, finally decided to tighten things up. They turned out their mayor, they recalled their district attorney, and there are some reformers there who are basically trying to bring San Francisco back. Boston is not as bad as San Francisco, but it's getting there.
Uh.
If people don't want to it will be there sooner than we expect. If they do, don't, don't move quickly, Alex. Thanks, I got to move because they got a bunch of mother callers. Thanks Alex, talk to you soon. Six one, seven, two, five four ten thirty one line there six one seven, nine three one thirty one line there, ed Joe and John.
Getting you in.
Trust me on that. Anyone else who wants to give it a shot, you'd have the numbers. No calls after ten o'clock. We're going to be doing our twelfth annual night Side Charity combine right after the ten o'clock news Back on night Side for final calls of the year, coming up right right here on WBZ Nightside.
Now back to Dan Way live from the Window World night Side Studios. I'm WBZ News Radio.
Okay, gonna try to get everyone in which means everyone has to tighten. Let's go to Eden, Worcester, ed next on Nightside.
Welcome, Hi Dan.
I think you really nailed it there in your last comment when you brought up San Francisco. The problem here is who is not doing their job. You know, Gary's doing his job, You're doing your job. The people who aren't doing their jobs are the governor, the mayor, the attorney general, and the district attorney. And you've got to replace them. There's just no other And you know, I was listening to you in the eight o'clock hour and I'm really struck how that story and this story are
really the same story. It's a group of unaccountable politicians who think they should rule over us, who think we're just their peons, and we're just their serfs, and they're there to issue orders and we're there to obey. And until you replace them, nothing is going to improve. And I think the only other thing that Gary can do is move his business out of Boston.
I can't I have a liquor license for the city of Boys and I am you know not only do I I love it here. My family's been here for eighty coming up to eighty three years and the same place.
No again, I mean has fundamentally changed. And I don't think they would. I don't think you'd be treated this way, you know, a generation or two generations ago. I think they would take their complaints seriously. These people know this is happening to you. It isn't that they don't know. It's that they don't care as unusu as that is. Or you understand and accept that.
Ed, you have.
Identified the problem spectacularly, but the solution, UH does not work for this gentleman who want to know very well. Okay, and again there is the issue of the licenses for Boston.
Uh.
And and also he is a man of principal ED. And it's one thing to say, well, I'm just going to run away. If everybody runs away, Boston becomes San Francisco.
I love Boston, you know.
I don't think it's I don't think it's worth losing your life over, or having an employee or a customer lose their life over. And I think we are on that trajectory here.
Okay.
I hope by doing this show tonight, we can change that trajectory.
And I got to run.
I got three behind you. I'm Merry Christmas, my friend.
Thank you, have a great night.
Let me go to John and Wellesley. John, you're next on nights. I can run ahead, John, you're there. Okay, John, we're getting tied on time. Here, go right ahead.
Yeah.
But the fish rucks from the head, as we know, at the lower level, the mayor, the U, the d A failing to prosecute crimes, judges that that that rack up very ridiculously low bail. Higher up, you've got the governor and the legislature who grandstand by passing legislation that makes it except mentionally more difficult for citizens to protect themselves, but who do nothing to address the issues from which
they need protection. The first duty of government is to protect its citizens of this, But ultimately it's the voters who have failed, because we the voters, keep putting, and I'm not speaking for myself personally, keep putting the same people back in office who do the same things and enact the same policies and refuse to change them.
Well, John, I think you have nailed it. Let's let's keep growing here tonight. And I appreciate you called, and I just want to hear I want.
To hear your to your your to your guest. I hope all things change for him.
We do too, That's why we're doing this today. Thanks John, talk to you soon. Let's keep rolling here. We're going to get everybody, and I promise we got five minutes. That means okay, Joe and West Roxbury. Joe, first call from West Roxbory, go right ahead, Joe.
Taking my call. I wanted to give a shout out the guy real quick. My brother is actually a cash inside of Gary's. I'm actually outside waiting for them now, you know, I gotta say now his family. Yeah, they've been here since the nineteen forties in this store. You know, I don't think for any reason they should ever have to move.
You know.
It's just like, you know, I voted for an s ib George, which I think would have been a great pick for this city, but the rest of the city apparently wanted Michelle Wu in there. And I think this has everything to do with politics, especially with policies like not handcuffing juveniles and things of that nature. You know, there was an incident, as you mentioned before, with the mopeeds.
And the scooters.
They were all out, they grabbed a bunch of stuff. They left out of here, and the police advised Gary and said, they, you know, we can't even handcuff them because Michelle Wu doesn't want us to handcuff juveniles unless they're violent. And I think that's appalling it.
You know, I guess what your definition of violent is If going into someone's store and ripping things off the shelf and then fighting with owners when they try to recover their property. I consider that to be violent, but maybe others have a different definition.
Joe, Well, I mean it's I used. I was a Democrat for almost thirty years. I'm forty years old. I literally just switched the Conservative the day that Trump was shot at two hours before that even happened, I was switching that party on the city of Boston, dot go and uh, you know throughout later, Sean and well, don't you know it just reiterated my decision. He had told me a year ago I would be a Republican. I would never believe. Well, but that's where we're at now. And yeah, a lot.
Well guess what I think I think the country's moving in that direction. I hope that Boston wakes up. Simple is that Joe, I.
Got two more.
I got to get in well.
I appreciate your time and shout out to Gary. He's a great guy and he's a big run equationment this year, so I hope something happened bet him.
Thanks Joe, Welcome Maryay Christmas.
Let me get two more in here real quickly, Frank and Clinton. We're going to end with Susan and West Roxby in a second.
Go ahead, Frank, how you man?
Hi Gary, Sorry that happened to you, But I just got two quick questions. Why can't you hire a bouncer out of your own park? It was the money for the saft of everything. And I have big signs we we do have the right to inspect all bags, police have all bags open or hide a cop for a cop to be there.
But you know I have the signs up, I have the cameras up, and I could have ten bouncers here. But you know they won't do anything. And you know you see them on TV. They walk out of these stores, they grab the stuff and if it's under a certain amount of money, there's nothing going to happen. They know there's no consequences. But you know, this is a really nice store. This isn't like you know, the wild West. But it's shoplifting that's become crazy.
And it's you know I retail and it's running rampant.
Well, and how many bounces do you how many bounces strength do you have in your store?
None?
Because it's a right big big store.
Yeah, well it's a big big store.
And then on a smaller store, whatever the additional cost of a bouncer or details they're going to be carried on, that's going to be carried on to customers, the same customers who are paying taxes that should be funding a police department adequately. Frank, I appreciate you, Carl. Gary will take your suggestion into consideration. I got to get one more called in from West Rogins. Welcome, Thanks Frank, good night.
Let me go to Susan in West Roxby. Susan's going to wrap it up here with Gary Park of Gary's Lakers.
Go ahead, Susan, Okay, Hi, real quickly.
Gary's so sorry to hear this happened again. I know that area very well. My family's been in West Rocks for since nineteen fifty one, and again I've seen some bad element in that area. I have seen the change, even aside from your store. If you go into the CVS. Everything's locked up.
You can't.
You know, you have to ring the buzzer.
I saw that.
Yes, yeah, it's disgusting.
And you know I was in I was in a target early a couple of weeks ago.
They had men's socks locked up in order to buy a pair of men's socks.
You had.
It's insane. Everything, the odorant, laundry deterged. And you know that's n clock village. This it's a very beautiful, you know, part of the city, like you said, Chestnut Hill westa Obrey. Of course you shouldn't have to sell your story. You stay there. Hopefully get the protection, get these bombs out of here and off the street, because it's infuriating, it really is.
Also, you may have to get involved politically, Susan, because uh oh, I feel like this stuff, well call the action. There's a there's a lot of people who feel that have been given license to do exactly what was done to Gary, Susan. I got to wrap it up with Gary Merry, Christmas will talk.
Soon, okay, right, thank you, and I'm very happy, Hanikah, thank.
You, thank you.
That was going to be my next uh wish to you. Gary I know for you, to you and your family. We'll keep on top of this, and I hope that someone in the city is going to be sworn enough. My pleasure, my absolute pleasure. I have this microphone, and if I don't use this microphone to help people, then I shouldn't have the microphone.
It's I think they're out there listening, you know, not just me. All these businesses we need help. We really really need help. I mean desperately.
I am there for you, and I'm there for other people who are trying to do the right thing in their community. So Gary, we'll talk soon. Please say how do you folks? Boy you're okay?
Thank you, Merry Christmas, thank you.
Thanks.
When we come back right after the ten o'clock news, we wrap up a year, another year of night Side with my two favorite hours of the year, the night Side the twelfth annual Nightside Charity combine, Sit back, boy, yourself a glass of wine. I think you can very much enjoy what you hear in the next two hours.