Willie
Torres and Andreas Acheveria get along - sharing a commonality of
alcohol, telling jokes, hanging out and passing out.
Earlier this summer, Andreas, one of
our local Dudley Street alcoholics, disappeared. You can tell
he’s gone when the sidewalk between Monadnock and Virginia Streets
begins to fill with trash and litter.
When Andreas is at his best, despite his inebriated
condition, he "works" for a living. The local businesses pay him
(a little) to keep the sidewalk clean. He does an excellent
job. Notice in the photo, Andreas is holding his prized possession of the moment - a nip.
In July, his friends found him out cold and an ambulance
took him away. Surprisingly, he was back the next day,
smiling as usual and making funny jokes. It happened again. Out
cold. Ambulance took him away.
Then (the story goes), Andreas took a brick to another Camilo Liquors
frequent visitor, a female with one arm. The police took him
away, and he hasn’t been back since.
Monadnock St - Where they
Hang Out
The context of this story is not just alcoholism and the fact that
Camilo Liquors draws a particular crowd to the block between Monadnock
and Virginia Streets. Around the corner on Monadnock Street,
behind the businesses and at the back of #6 Monadnock Street is a strip
of land belonging to the Dudley Street business building.
The owners at #6 Monadnock Street have expressed frustration over how
the alcoholics, vagrants and street people congregate at the very back
of the nail salon, often sitting on top of the retaining wall, well
onto their adjoining residential property. "Up to no good," they
are alcoholics, drug users / dealers and more. One of the people
in the group photograph, the one with the red hat, is "T" who was
murdered on May 31, 2011.
Until
the police routed them out, Jeannette was one of the five
homesteading at St. Kevin’s in the winter
of 2011. Recently, she was found sleeping at the back of the nail
salon on top of the retaining wall, curled up in a fetal
position.
Several days later, she was walking around with a severely bruised
face, saying she had been hit by a car. A known drug
addict, she is also HIV positive (her words).
At the August 2012 SNI meeting, one resident brought up the problems of
vagrancy and loitering in that spot on Monadnock St. "Not a lot we can do," the
police said. They can arrest for public drinking. They can
ask loiterers to move but it’s just a matter of time before they come
back again.
The business building owner was also discussed at
the SNI meeting. He is an absentee landlord – lives in
Florida. Unless he is in clear violation of the law, Inspectional
Services does not have reason to cite him. Even if the community
would like him to put up a fence to deter loitering, they can't make
him do that.
Willie Torres, Inveterate
Fixture on Monadnock Street
On September 8, Andreas wasn’t around to take care of his friend,
Willie, and watch him pass as the final bell tolled. Around 6pm, we
got the news that Willie had died on the street where he lived - of a
heart attack, at least that's what the street people surmise.
Willie Torres, another street alcoholic and a cut
up, loves to make jokes. They slip out of him as smooth "as
butter." Makes you laugh but he has a mean side as well.
You can see him change as the state of inebriation escalates. You
can see him change when you turn your back. He was a snitch.
Sometimes we
would all run into each other on Columbia Rd - me and the dogs and the two
of them making their way to their favorite hangout spots on Monadnock
and Dudley Streets (close to the liquor store).
They protected each other. When Andreas was out cold on the
sidewalk, Willie yelled: "Leave him alone."
On
Saturday afternoon, September 8, 2012 Andreas wasn’t around to take
care of his friend, Willie. He wasn't there to watch Wille pass
from this world into the ambulance and maybe into the next world as a final bell tolled.
Around 6pm, one of the youthful residents came down the street giving
out the news.
"Willie died," he said, "of a heart attack." Willie? Permanent fixture on Monadnock Street? Gone?
Back
on Dudley Street where surely the action had taken place, a
"neighborhood watcher" reported that the EMT’s had put a mask over
Willie’s face.
"They were performing CPR and the mask," he said, "didn’t have no
fog. Stayed clear. That means he was dead." Willie died in
the company of his friends - all but Andreas. He died where he
lived - on the street.
Willie - Among the Missing
Boston Emergency Services has confirmed that they received a call at
4:45 for 734 Dudley Street. "No," he said, "no fog in the mask
does not necessarily mean the guy is dead." People make up all
kinds of stories, he said. They delivered the guy we know as
"Willie Torres" to Boston Medical Center. Boston Medical Center,
both Admitting and Emergency, do not have records for anyone named
Willie Torres.
So Willie has vanished into the night, maybe to reappear after his
wounds have healed, maybe not. "Call the Medical Examiner's
office." They don't give out any information either.
One by one, the bullets leave the pistol and gun you down, whether you
pull the trigger or someone else does. That’s how life is on the
streets here in this part of Uphams Corner.
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Posted: September 9, 2012
Nancy J Conrad
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