Allston Brighton A PAID CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED WEEKLY 25 CENTS A COPY SINCE 1884 a ALtfffRN-BNGHTON RJII ZfN JTEM IHUM BAJ, JANUARY !i: 1911 Flynn takes oath, pre>mises access Local man 'The name charged in is still Ray,' Surrey fire Illayor says Accused of torching By Dominic Slowey house where he lived They met briefly. History and the future - Kevin White, depos· By Richard Lorant ed Mayor, and Raymond Flynn, his successor. A merging of hands and The man charged with starting a Brighton a pat on the shoulder sealed the fire which injured four people Christmas change of power as more than night remains in jail, after a judge set his bail 4,000 inaugural guests cheered. at $50,000 surety or $5000 cash Tuesday. White's crimson face provided Boston arson squud investigators said that the only clue to his emotions as his Kent Siegfriedt, 31, set fire to the 12 Surrey 16-year incumbency drew to a St. boarding hou11e in which he lived. close. The man who came into of· Siegfriedt was one of two residents and two fice in 1968 with many of the same firefighters injured in the blaze. ideas Flynn espoused in his in· At his bail hearing Tuesday afternoon, augural address looked out of place Siegfriedt told Brighton District Court during the celebration around Justice Albert Burns Lhat police had Flynn - perhaps because he had mistreated him. "1 haven't been able to make been chastized for deserting those a phone call; neither have I been informed of ideals over the previous two terms. my rights," the defendant said. On this day, South Boston's first Acting District Attorney John Dawley, native mayor ~eemed almost an however, said that the arrest report told anti-White. He pledged in his in­ another story. "For the record," Dawley augural address to restore lost said, "the defendant refused to cooperate faith in government, return to with any booking procedure." neighborhood-based services, and Dawley asked Burns for the $50,000 bond, listen to only one special consti· citing the crime's gravity and Siegfriedt's tuency: the people. City govern· previous record. He said that the building had been "largely inhabited by elderly peo· ment could begin its move from An exhuberent Raymond Flynn accepts congratulations from well-wishers after his inauguration at the Wang Center. one centered on a "world-class" pie" and that Siegfriedt had "been in (courtl continued on page 9 JOAN SEIDEL PHOTO continued on page 6 • Councilor McLaughlin moves Ill New district rep ~~~~~~~!11:~-t """p: ~ "g.-Off.ioo By Richard Lorant District 9 City Councilor Brian McLaughlin took his first official actions this week, signing himself and three staffpersons onto the payroll, and moving into his city hall offices. The three staffers are: Thomas Crowley, the 23-year·old Boston College graduate who ran McLaughlin's campaign; Elaine Babcock, his campaign treasurer and the assistant director of a ci· ty housing fund; and Carol Wolfe, Good Samaritans' director John Buckley with Bishop Tlwmas a long·time activist in Boston's public schools and project direc· tor for the Massachusetts Ad­ vocacy Center. Good Samaritans help McLaughlin described his aides' strengths as "diversity and dedication. Most of them have had the public interest in their living cope with death background for a long time." Both Crowley and Babcock will By Jim McManus their families. Many Good Samaritan clients work full-time, the former chiefly have cancer, and most have less than six on constituents' services and the Brighton's Anne MacDonald spent her free months to live, according to Buckley. latter on legislative issues. Wolfe time last summer visiting the family of a MacDonald still phones the wife and will work approximately half-time man who died of cancer. He didn't want her 12-year-old daughter of her first patient. She doing research on specific issues, around, she says, but his wife and children trained at Good Samaritan with the first McLaughlin said. Babcock will needed support from an outsider - someone class of volunteers, who visit and talk about start after she leaves her post at to talk to about the pain surrounding his death and grief with patients and their the George Robert White Fund at death. families. the end of January. MacDonald is a volunteer with Good "Someone said to me: 'It's terrible, all your Babcock, 28, grew up in Samaritan Hospice on Allston Street. Within patients die," Buckley says with a warm Allston, graduating from Girls the last ten years, rising hospital costs and smile. After dealing with about 40 terminal­ Latin School and then Simmons greater reliance on home health care have ly ill patients and their families this year, College. where she majored in -created a boom in the hospice movement. death is no stranger to Buckley. Government and Economics. As And as hospice care becomes increasingly at~ Despite the grim nature of their work, assistant director of the White tractive to many families with a dying Buckley and the Good Samaritan staff re­ Fund, which provides money for relative, its health and counseling services main remarkably cheerful. Some volunteers renovation and construction jobs have helped many accept the often lonely ex· have lost close relatives or friends, and the District 9 City Councilor Brian McLaughlin breaks in his new seat in the ordinarily overlooked by the city, council chamber during Monday's first session. perience of death with dignity. medical team of E. Joanne Angelo, Helen she worked in city hall for the Good Samaritan recently received a Marino Connolly, Robert E. Flynn and Leslie ·past four years. According to ed with the Community District battle for the council presidency: _,. $60,000 anonymous gift and a $25,000 dona­ Martin provide round-the-dock emergency McLaughlin, Babcock worked Advisory Council (CDAC) m " I don't think most (future ses­ .. tion from the Riley Foundation, according to care. "practically'· as an assistant to District 1, which includes Allston­ sions) will be like that. I think Executive Director John J . Buckley. Those "Grieving and dying are natural prO' City Auditor Newell Cook last Brighton and Mission Hill things will be much simpler, less gifts reflect a change in the way society cesses," Buckley says. "Hospice work is ap· year: schools from 1975-82. She also personal,'' he said. ''It was like a "iews death. Buckley contends that the preciated so much, it makes up for the belongs to the Allston-Brighton campaign again:" .. formerly private anguish associated with sadness you feel when someone dies." Crowley grew up in Brighton's Community Development Cor­ Asked how he felt to sit in the . protracted illnesses now is somewhat The fledgling hospice movement hasn't at· Oak Square neighborhood, where poration, the Allston-Brighton council chamber after occupying . alleviated by hospice workers: tracted much government support, although he still lives. He attended Our Housing Alliance, Citizens for the gallery for so many years, Located in a large brick house near St. some Medicare Hospice payments were ap­ Lady of the Presentation Gram· Participation in Political Action McLaughlin said: "That was John of God Hospital, Good Samaritan in· proved in November: But Buckley contends mar School, Boston College High (CPPAX) and t he Allston· when it really hit me; that's when eludes a medical director, a nursing coor· there is so little government money for School and Boston College, from Brighton Women's Issues I felt the cloak of the councilship dinator, a psychiatrist, clergy members. and hospice care. "it's been useless:" which he was graduated in May, Committee. on my shoulders... As long as you more than 20 volunteers. St. John's, SL. Buckley adds that as budgets contract and 1983: He majored in marketing. Mayor Raymond Flynn swore don't get caught up in it, it's quite Crowley holds the post of vice­ Elizabeth's Hospital, and the Archdiocese of hospital cost.s escalate, hospices may offer in McLaughlin and 12 other city an e~o booster." Boston initially funded Good Samaritan. more and more families and terminally ill pa· president in the Brighton·Allston councilors Monday morning. But being one of 13 councilors . which "adopted" its first patients in May. tients an alternative to conventional care. Improvement Association and The met briefly to re-elect Presi· can only boost one's ego so much. .... A jovial man. reminiscent of a Dickens' Some insurance plans cover hos pice has been active in that organiza· dent Joseph Tierney that after­ At Monday night's inaugural . character, Buckley considers the hospice pro­ payments. and Good Samaritan accepts tion for four years. noon. Tuesday, McLaughlin put ball, for instance, McLaughlin grams indispensable. "People would prefer memorial donations. Wolfe expects to receive her in a full day at city hall. The waited with the masses to get in· - to be home with their loved ones," says the Commited to easing the pain and suffering Ph.D. in anthropology from Council will meet for its first to the Park Plaza·s overcrowded former Middlesex County heriff. "For the of the dying and their families, the Good Boston University this spring. regular session on J anuary 11. main ballroom. Also in the crowd family, it enables them to go on a little easier. Samaritans visit homes. administer medical She received a Masters degree The first councilor to represent were Councilors Joseph Tierney ,...,,_ - ··---- --....1- L-~ : 1 ,... "-~ L ••_._""'""' o-. "°"'° anti nr1wide comfort during a mystify· from B.U: in 1978 and did her Allston-Brighton in more than 30 and ThnmR<:i M Pn inn " T t.nlil 2 ALLSTON-BRIGHTON CITIZEN ITEM THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 1984 ' • .· ..