B4 Metro The Boston Globe FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2018

CAPITAL SOURCE Official for race dialogues leaves post

The city official charged with leading Boston’s much- hyped race dialogues has left her job, officials in Mayor Mar- tin J. Walsh’s administration said Thursday. Atyia Martin, the city’s chief resilience officer, departed Jan. 5 to “pursue new opportuni- ties,’’ the officials said. The administration is seek- ing a replacement. “Mayor Walsh greatly appre- ciates the important work of Dr. Atyia Martin during her tenure as chief resilience officer that led to the creation of Bos- ton’s first resilience strategy, citywide conversations on how to build a more equitable Bos- ton, and positive steps forward towards achieving racial equity in Boston,’’ a spokeswoman for the mayor said in a statement. The mayor wished Martin “the best in her future endeav- ors,” the statement said. News of her departure sur- faced when Walsh policy chief Joyce Linehan announced on Jan. 12 and Jan. 16 via Twitter WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES that the city is seeking a chief REMEMBERING KING — Saoudatou Dia (left) and her daughter Aminah visited the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., on resilience officer focused on so- Monday, Martin Luther King Day. King would have been 89 years old this year. cial justice and racial equity. In one of her last public ap- GOP may have new ing to use his financial resourc- in 2014. Kingston can’t name from Melrose.) pearances, Martin helped lead hurdle in bid to es — amassed in his venture He switched back to the his congresswoman Asked about his gaffe, Walsh’s second race dialogue unseat Warren capital career — to mount a re- GOP rolls in April, according to Republican US Senate can- Kingston’s campaign, to its last month at Northeastern Gabriel Gomez, the former spectable campaign. In 2013, the town clerk in Cohasset, didate John Kingston,whois credit, owned up to it. But they University. Navy SEAL and onetime GOP as a political neophyte with vir- where he lives. Months later, he pouring millions of his own also tried to paint him as a But this month, acquain- US Senate nominee, might be tually no name recognition, began considering running for dollars into his campaign, got “true political outsider” who, tances of Martin said they re- on the verge of creating more Gomez leaped over a field of the US Senate as a Republican. popped a question this week his spokesman claims, is like ceived an e-mail from her stat- problems for state Republicans several well-known Republi- But now his party registra- that should be even easier than other folk who ing that she was moving on who are trying to unseat Demo- cans to win the nomination in tion is unclear. In a political asking about the price of a have no idea who is their US from City Hall, stunning some crat Elizabeth Warren. the special election to fill the program that aired last week- quart of milk. And he flubbed representative. in the black community. Com- Gomez, who has weaved in seat John Kerry vacated to be- end, Gomez told WCVB that he it. “You got him,’’ said Kings- munity leaders pointed said and out of the Republican voter come US secretary of state. has again changed his registra- Kingston, a Winchester res- ton’s spokesman, Jon Conradi. that they felt Martin, who is Af- registration lists over the last Gomez, who from the begin- tion, leaving the Republican ident and political neophyte “John knows the starting rican-American, could not ef- few years, is sending out sig- ning had a strained relation- Party to once again become an who has spent the last year go- lineups for the Red Sox and the fectively do her job because she nals he is considering running ship with state GOP leaders, independent. ing deep in the Massachusetts Celtics, but like most people in did not have a staff or adequate against Warren as an indepen- could not hold up that momen- But the Cohasset town political world in an effort to Massachusetts, can’t for the life funding. dent — a move that, by siphon- tum in the final election against clerk’s office says it has no re- challenge Senator Elizabeth of him always name every Her position was part of a ing off anti-Warren votes, Democratic nominee Edward cord of his changing his regis- Warren, couldn’t name the US member of our congressional two-year grant from 100 Resil- would probably drag down the Markey. But Gomez pumped tration since the most recent House member who repre- delegation.” ient Cities — an effort pio- GOP nominee in the general more than $900,000 of his own switch in April. If he had sents the district in which he He also tried to turn the ta- neered by the Rockefeller Foun- election. money into the campaign. moved to another town and lives. bles against one of the leading dation. The grant expired in That news couldn’t be more What’s more, his flirting registered there, the Cohasset In an interview with The state Democrats. August and her post was added pleasing to Warren and her po- with an independent candidacy town clerk’s office would have Sun Chronicle in Attleboro, “But, to be fair, he does to the city budget, along with litical team. is yet another pivot in his brief been immediately notified to Kingston, who is campaigning know it includes a Kennedy another position in the office of Gomez would be the second political history. He contribut- remove his name from the vot- to join the state’s congressio- and a guy who rents a PO Box resiliency that is currently deep-pocketed former Republi- ed to Barack Obama in 2008, ing list, state and local election nal delegation as one of its ma- in Malden,” Conradi said, refer- filled, officials said. can in the general election — then participated in a conspira- officials said. jor players, said he thought it ring to GOP’s talking points Martin, who owns her own already an uphill battle for the cy film that attacked the then- Gomez did not respond to a was a Democrat from Cam- that Senator Edward Markey consulting business, will be se- GOP. Shiva Ayyadurai,a president for taking too much message left on his phone. bridge. resides more in a home he nior fellow at Northeastern wealthy high-tech entrepreneur credit for killing Osama bin But if he runs for Senate as But then, according to the owns in a Washington, D.C., University’s Global Resilience ready to spend his personal Laden and not giving enough an independent, he has to un- story, he went to the Internet suburb than in his house in his Institute, which addresses di- funds, dropped out of the Re- to the troops. enroll as a Republican and re- and discovered who represents native Malden. saster challenges, according to publican Senate primary sever- He ran as a Republican in register as an independent by his hometown: US Representa- At least Markey knows who a person with knowledge of her al months ago to run as an in- 2013, but then he left the party March 6 to qualify for the ballot tive Katherine Clark, who has represents him in Congress: new position. dependent in the fall election. and registered as a member of in November. been in Congress since 2013. Katherine Clark. MEGHAN E. IRONS Gomez has shown he’s will- the FRANK PHILLIPS (She is indeed, a Democrat, but FRANK PHILLIPS Ex-Navy pilot wants us to take UFOs seriously PILOT When the two fighters got to When the two jets got there, “Oh, yeah,” Fravor said. “It Continued from Page B1 the assigned location, they the object had disappeared. reacted to us.” ed reports of UFOs. The De- spotted a disturbance under Why it decided to go there of all Fravor has no idea what the fense Department says it closed the water, Fravor said. To him, places is a mystery, Fravor said. object was or what it was do- down the Advanced Aerospace it looked like something the Fravor had plenty of experi- ing. He got plenty of ribbing Threat Identification Program size of a Boeing 737 airplane ence encountering other air- back aboard the carrier. But he in 2012 after five years, but the was underneath, causing waves craft in the sky, but this one said he was surprised at the program’s backers say it re- to break over it. was different, he said. It was lack of curiosity the Defense mains in existence, investigat- “Then we see this bright bright white, cylindrical, with Department showed about the ing UFO reports from service white object” above the distur- rounded ends. It had no wings, encounter, which happened in members while carrying out bance, moving erratically, back no windows, no exhaust an area well-known as a Navy other duties. and forth, left and right, plume. training ground. The story of Fravor’s close bouncing around like a Ping- And then there was that Over the years, it became encounter accompanied the ex- Pong ball, he said. speed. “It was impressive. It just a funny story that he pose, illustrating the kinds of Fravor’s jet and the other jet was fast. It was maneuverable, would tell friends — until he UFO stories that are hard to ex- were circling the spot. The oth- and I’d really like to fly it,” Fra- was contacted several months PHOTO BY RENEE PORTANOVA plain away. er jet was high, Fravor’s jet low- vor said he told the executive ago by former head of the Pen- The eagle was near the upper part of the Esplanade. “I know what I saw,” said er. Trying to get a closer look at officer on the Nimitz after- tagon program Luis Elizondo, Fravor. the Tic Tac, he began an easy, wards. who asked him to tell his story The incident occurred on circular descent toward it. He came within nearly a to the Times. Bald eagle spotted near Nov. 14, 2004, about 140 miles The object “starts mirroring half-mile of it, he estimated. He “I think the story needs to southwest of San Diego, Fravor me,” beginning its own circular and his back-seater as well as be told. We need to stop mak- Charles River in Boston said. The commander of a ascent from the ocean, he said. the men in the other plane saw ing jokes and start paying at- squadron of more than 300 ser- “It’s at about the 2 o’clock it with their own eyes for 3 to 5 tention to it,” Fravor said. By Elise Takahama the Charles River Esplanade. vice members aboard the carri- and it’s coming up, and I’m at minutes, he said. “This is not a US problem. GLOBE CORRESPONDENT It’s not the first time a bald er USS Nimitz, he was flying a about the 8 o’clock position “What’s unique about [our This is a global issue,” he said. A bald eagle has been sight- eagle has been sighted along brand-new plane with a weap- coming down,” he said, using encounter] is we physically in- “Why aren’t we investigating ed again on the Charles River the Charles in recent years. ons systems officer in the back the cap of a pen to illustrate the teracted and chased it,” he said. these things? . . . If it’s like ‘E.T.’, in Boston. Other sightings include one in seat. Another fighter from his maneuvers during an interview “We literally engaged it.” then it’s all good. If it’s like The eagle was spotted fly- 2016 and one in 2010. squadron, with pilot and weap- at a suburban restaurant. Later, back at the carrier, he ‘War of the Worlds’ or ‘Inde- ing near the Esplanade on Jan. “I hope many more visitors ons system officer aboard, was At that point, he said, he de- told his back-seater, “Dude, I pendence Day,’ then not so 12, the Esplanade Association to the Esplanade in the com- flying with him. cided to cut across and head di- don’t know about you, but I’m much.” said in a statement. ing weeks will have the privi- It was a perfect Southern rectly toward the mysterious pretty weirded out.” He said his recent appear- An association staff mem- lege to see this majestic day. The sea was object. He turned, dove, then More fighters were ances in the news have inspired ber saw the eagle and took its bird,”said Michael Nichols, ex- calm, without whitecaps. No pulled up his plane’s nose — launched and, while they didn’t some jests from friends, but so picture. ecutive director at the Espla- clouds marred the sky. and it zoomed away. see it with the naked eye, one far the overall reaction has “I was so excited that I im- nade Association. A radio operator from the Fravor then looked for the crew saw it on radar and video been positive. mediately stopped our work Bald eagles suffered a cata- cruiser USS Princeton directed underwater object, and saw screens, he said. A copy of the Fravor, who is married and vehicle to get out and take a strophic decline in the 1950s them to an area where the that it, too, had disappeared. video has been released by the has two grown children, said photo,” Renee Portanova, hor- and 1960s due to the use of Princeton had been tracking The fighters conferred with Defense Department. his neighbors in New Hamp- ticulture manager at the asso- the pesticide DDT. mysterious objects for two the Princeton and were told to In addition to the Princeton shire haven’t said much about ciation, said in the statement. weeks. The objects had been head to a rendezvous point 60 tracking the objects, Fravor it. The eagle perched on a tree Steve Annear of the Globe staff dropping straight down from miles away. They headed to- said, the Nimitz and an E-2 One, though, stopped by near the upper part of the Es- contributed to this report. above 80,000 feet and stopping ward it when the Princeton surveillance plane in the area with a present: a box of Tic planade, close to Silber Way Elise Takahama can be at 20,000 feet. “They’d hang told them that radar had could also see the objects on Tacs. and Boston University’s cam- reached at elise.takahama out for hours, and then when picked up the object again — their radars. pus, said a spokeswoman for @globe.com. Follow her on they were done, they would go already at the rendezvous Was there an intelligence Material from Globe wire the nonprofit, which sustains Twitter @elisetakahama. straight back up,” Fravor said. point. controlling the object? services was used in this report.