February 2, 2007
Boston Blotter: The Berdvosky and Stevens Comedy Hour!
Do the networks need any material for a midseason replacement? Peter Berdvosky and Sean Stevens, who were arrested for hanging the displays of the "Mooninites" that scared the city and pissed off the mayor, might be the right guys for the job.
The city finds these two rather amusing. Bostonist overheard some T passengers laughing about the shaggy appearance of the two guys arrested for the ATHF attack. One guy said, "I'm not scared any more. Did you take a look at those guys?"
Their loopy '70s hair routine press conference was pretty funny. The media's indignant reaction to it was cute, too. It would have been even funnier if a reporter started yanking at Berdvosky's dreads in sheer frustration.
But just because these two guys were joking it up about '70s hair and Berdvosky's dreadlock maintenance doesn't mean Turner Broadcasting and guerrilla-marketing bozos Interference Inc. should let them take the fall. (After a long stretch of a blank home page, Interference finally has an apology posted - too little, too late.)
The city really should let Berdvosky and Stevens go. The more Berdvosky tosses his dreads into the camera, the dumber the city is going to look if they toss him in the cooler. That's probably his legal strategy, anyway.
Maybe the city should go after the ones who greenlighted this campaign. Or maybe law enforcement should work harder at the getting the people who planted the fake pipe bombs at Tufts-New England Medical Center and on the Longfellow Bridge. Just an idea.
Screengrab of Peter Berdvosky, face of a generation - sort of - from WCVB's website, which immediately put him on prominent display. He's a born cause celebre.
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I went to school with Peter, and he really is a sweet guy, an innocent, very helpful and unpretentious. I hope he comes out ok. He just needs to realize that the last thing the police are going to do is admit looking stupid. They would rather crush him than do that and that's what will happen if he doesn't tone it down.
You could write eleven pages about why this happened and what it says about our society but it really has nothing to do with these guys.
I would actually like someone to come forward definitively from the Police Dept. to show us the alleged "pipe bomb" devices that they claim complicated their response to this farce. Sadly the Boston Police department does _not_ have a great track record when it comes to initial responses to their mistakes (remember their dismal response when officers accidentally killed one person and injured others seriously with "non-lethal" pepper guns after one of the 2004 Sox post season victories???).
What if the pipe bomb story is just another CYA moment?
I don't think that these guys really did anything wrong but it seems like the media reporters are expecting them to treat this situation like they want to. Obviously they want to make it as serious as possible so they can get there ratings but all they are really doing is showing how inept they are at finding the truth. That truth happens to be the fact that these "devices" don't come close to looking like explosives. That is the bottom line. It is only the fault of the Boston Police Department for completely overreacting when tasked to investigate. I think it is time for some serious questions to the ability of law enforcement to recognize real threats. Mind you, the ads had been up in 10 seperate cities for weeks and when Boston PD finally acted on them they blew them completely out of purportion. I expect these things can be intimidating to people without the critical thinking skills but if your supposed to be Boston's finest , you might want to remember that. And one more thing, someone in the bomb squad had to physically move these devices so they could blow them up, didn't they realize that they were nothing but batteries and led lights. I work at a RadioShack and it would take me about 2.5 seconds to notice such a thing.
them guys didn't do anything wrong. i think its really dumb that police said "the people who planted the fake pipe bombs" clearly it was a light bright and how did it look like a pipe bomb?...bringing the police into it i understand but the bomb squad...they took it too far. its sad
OK, dude, no more condescending remarks about the police, please, or assertions that they lack your supposed "critical thinking skills." Please. The right response to the cops is all the more applicable to two poor fools who have been arrested: where are their bosses? I hope these two hippies get released from prison, and the higher-ups who approved this plan spend some time in the tank. It sounds like the two guys are protecting their bosses, and that's sad to see. I can't blame the police for overreacting when the nation at large has been far more paranoid. I invite you to experience everyday life in Manhattan to see what overpolicing really looks like. We have it pretty good in Boston.
For those who do not think they "Looked" like bombs are just ignorant as to what a bomb could look like. Research it a little bit more and you would realize that a bomb can be just about anything. I see that device and in a matter of minutes I could rig it to explode in several different ways. Give the police some credit, they reacted to it as an unknown device, with things being the way they are in the world, better safe than sorry, and to risk a life prior to knowing how the device was set up is stupid. After they rendered the device saef and investigated it they were able to deal with the other ones a bit easier I'm sure, but I wuold also be safe in betting that they did not walk up to any one of the devices and kick it without a good investigation as to if that particular one could be a explosive. The media did as usual and blew this out of porportion and you are just feeding it due to ignorance.
Flame on if you wish.
R.J.