Here’s a story that has everything: danger, heroism, high fashion, and a good dose of literary irony.
On the very same day that D-1A Captain Bernard O’Rourke spoke to Hill Business owners about the threat of shoplifters, one thief came looking for a five-finger discount at Second Time Around on Charles Street.
The shoplifter, however, did not anticipate the tenacity of store manager Mandy Chae Zobel who, just having heard O’Rourke’s lecture, was ready to defend her inventory.
When Zobel noticed the shoplifter trying to make off with a green polo, she took off in persuit. As she did, she asked Casandra McIntyre, the owner of Rugg Road Paper, to call the police.
“I don’t want to be seen as an easy target,” said Zobel, explaining her decision to pursue. “I don’t care if it’s a $12 item or a $1000.”
“At first I was a little bit shocked and stunned,” said McIntyre, who quickly called 911 as she watched Zobel grab and attempt to restrain the shoplifter.
The thief fought desperately to get away, kicking and punching at Zobel as she tried to wrest free. “She got roughed up pretty badly,” said McIntyre.
Eventually, another Beacon Hill business owner, Paul Niski from Good, arrived on the scene to help restrain the shoplifter, putting her in what McIntyre described as a “full nelson.”
“Paul was absolutely wonderful,” said Zobel. “And Casandra was great. Thank goodness that they were both there.”
In all, it took about 10 to 15 minutes for the police to arrive, said Zobel, who was disappointed in the police response time. In the meantime, the shoplifter continued to struggle, and appealed to passersby for aid, claiming the restraining was unwarranted.
The jig was up, however, when police finally arrived and found the green polo concealed in the woman’s clothing. The police found she had multiple warrants outstanding.
Zobel said that she is going forward with pressing charges, despite the fact that she feels the responding police did not treat the incident with the seriousness it warranted. “They were sort of rolling their eyes that I would chase this woman over a $28 polo.” Zobel said she has dealt with such incidents before, however, and is prepared to proceed. A trip to the doctor after the confrontation revealed no broken bones, though she still carries some nasty bruises, she said.
The incident is a reminder to business owners and residents alike that Beacon Hill stores and residences are tempting targets for would be thieves. As for Zobel—who thankfully was scheduled for a Florida vacation the day after the incident--McIntyre said she admired greatly what she saw.
“She was incredibly heroic,” said McIntyre. “It’s not the kind of thing I would have done.”

A fire at One Beacon Street forced the evacuation of more than 1,400 people and sent two people to the hospital last Wednesday afternoon. According to reports, the fire occurred on the 12th floor of the 37-story office tower. The two people injured during the blaze, one of whom suffered severe burns, work for the building's management company, CB Richard Ellis.

Community Change founder Horace Seldon is quite frank when asked how effective his organization - which is celebrating 40 years this week - has been in combating institutional racism.
"Not very," he said with a smirk.
One must wonder, then, why even continue the fight?
"The reason we continue is because it's right - period," he said, this time with a more serious look - a look that revealed the struggles of fighting for decades against a seemingly impossible and ingrained problem.
However, his words should not be read as a downtrodden statement or a critique of the Beacon Street organization; rather it's a statement about how large the problem of racism is in America.
Community Change may not yet have rewritten the rules of the nation, but they certainly have made a lasting impact on the local scene for the last 40 years, and this coming Tuesday, April 15, they will be celebrating their efforts and also celebrating Seldon's 85th birthday.
The event will take place from 6-8 p.m. at the Cyclorama (Boston Center for the Arts) at 539 Tremont St. in the South End.
Community Change has been located in the 14 Beacon St. building on Beacon Hill since the early 1970s.
The Beginnings
Seldon said that Community Change came about in large part as a response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968.
At the time, Seldon was an ordained minister with the United Churches of Christ, and he was serving as the organization's statewide youth director. While serving in that position, Seldon said he began to understand how white institutions carried what seemed like an invisible veil of racism - a stacked deck if you will - against black people. It was brought even more to his attention by some young black teens that he encountered as the church's youth director.
All of those things snowballed and when King was killed, Seldon took action.
That action led to a complete 180-degree mental turn that changed Seldon's life and that of many thousands of people - one by one - in the Greater Boston area.
"By subsequent epiphany about 11 days after [King's] assassination, suddenly, I knew what I must do and that was work against white racism," he said.
That epiphany led to the founding of the organization, which initially focused on taking the message of anti-racism to the suburbs. From an office in Reading, organizers began to educate groups on the idea of the "white problem," a new term that had been defined by a groundbreaking 1968 Congressional report from the Kerner Commission. It worked on the idea that it wasn't blacks who had the problem, but that white institutions and - by default - white people who perpetuated racial problems.
Seldon said they have worked tirelessly on that idea, reaching many but missing many more.
"Clearly it was true then and, unfortunately, it's still true now that most white people have no idea of the way in which institutions enculturated racism functionally in our society and I think most white people will charge that there is racism based only on intent. My conviction is intent is quite irrelevant...Just by virtue of the way society has been engineered for centuries white people function in ways that by and large perpetuate racism...Many people just have no idea about this."
Current Community Change Director Paul Marcus echoed those statements - saying that one documented example is that a white male with a high school diploma is more likely to be approved for a mortgage that a black male with a college degree.
"Whites at all levels [of the social order] benefit from living in this society," he said. "That's what we've been trying to convey, and we've been doing that work 40 years now. This celebration is a chance to get together and honor that work, while at the same time celebrating Horace's 85th birthday."
Making Gains
Seldon said there are two very important things the organization has done over the years.
First, he listed the group's photo collection as one major accomplishment. Community Change commissioned the project many years ago, using local photographers to document the daily lives and struggles faced by blacks in America.
Second, he said that a class taught for the last 26 years at Boston College on the History and Development of Racism has probably made the greatest impact. More than 2,000 students at BC have heard Seldon, and now Marcus, discuss how racism has permeated our society since before the birth of the United States, and even how it is built into documents as sacred as the U.S. Constitution.
Those two projects, nevertheless, are not the kinds of things that can be measured with numbers. Their effects cannot be statistically tracked and presented in a nice and tidy chart. In fact, they are the kinds of changes that take place individually and usually have a lasting effect.
He said that there had been one former student who recently wrote back saying how the course still impacts her.
"She expressed how the course completely changed her view of the problem and how it still affects the way she functions in her work today," he said. "There are lots of examples of that. I think a good many of those stories will come out in detail at the celebration. That's the source of hope with all this. You have to hope that the disease has been treated in each individual and that eventually it will be eradicated."
14 Beacon Street
Community Change holds its office these days on the 6th floor of the 14 Beacon Street building - and they note that there is no other organization in Massachusetts with a similar mission.
Marcus leads a staff of three and a whole host of volunteers and interns.
For Beacon Hillers, the most attractive benefit is the tremendous library, officially titled the Yvonne Pappenheim Library on Racism. A $5 bill will gain anyone lifetime access and borrowing privileges to the catalog of books and DVDs.
"It's quite a unique library because there are many books that are out of print and have been for a long time," said Marcus.
Beyond that, the organization has its roots in activism and is engaged in many projects, including CORI Reform, closing the educational opportunity gap, working with black firefighters in Boston and studying racism in health care.
That's just a short list, and additionally, they also do trainings and consultations on how to restructure organizations in an anti-racist way.
Marcus added that they are completely open to the public and already have a good amount of contact with curious Beacon Hillers.
"If some of these things bring up questions or feelings, I invite anyone to come up and do a workshop with us," he said.
The April 15th celebration of 40 years will include food, an awards ceremony and a unique silent auction that will raffle off chances at attending a lunch or Red Sox game with individuals such as Harvard's Charles Ogletree. For tickets or more information on Community Change, please call (617) 523-0555 or e-mail pmarcus@communitychangeinc.org.

Beacon Hill resident, Julie Girschek and Fritz her Doberman take a break on their walk to the Back Bay Veterinary Clinic. Fritz is a big fan of sitting on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall benches and of delaying Vet visits for as long as possible.

CAPTION: The Esplanade Association board of directors, from left: Hans Vaule, treasurer; Jeryl Oristaglio, vice president; Sarah Reinstein; Roseanne Colot; Fritz Casselman; Ellen Rooney, clerk; Deb Rosenbloom; Steve Wolf; Jim Duane, vice president; Dr. Karin Dumbaugh; and Herb Nolan. Not pictured:Sandy Steele, president(was in attendance); Robert Duboff; Rich Lucas; Margaret Pokorny(was in attendance); David Solomon; and Jim Whitters.

The Esplanade is a mecca not exclusively for Beacon Hill or Back Bay residents who are outnumbered almost 3 to 1 in the use of the parkland by Greater Boston residents and tourists according to a survey that was conducted last year , members of The Esplande Association (TEA) were told at their annual meeting last Thursday night.
So what else is new?
Other points in the survey indicated that users of the Esplanade expressed high satisfaction about access to the park but that these same people were dissatisfied about availability of restrooms and drinking fountains.
Of course, despite its reputation as a tourist destination, Boston has never been known for these type facilities being made available in larger numbers to tourists, let alone for residents who use the park system.
Another concern expressed by users of the Esplanade is the inconvenience and danger of having to share walking paths with cyclists, geese droppings, the traffic on Storrow Drive, and the ongoing maintenance and desire for more functional amenities.
Rick Sullivan, Commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) also addressed the association and told how his team looks forward to improving the Esplanade and working with TEA.
Again, we’ve heard these promises before.
Sandy Steele, president of the TEA, said, “We are quite busy and have a very firm direction.”
A number of projects completed during the past few years have contri=buted greatly to the quality of life for users of the Esplanade, this includes the new wooden docks by the Union Boat Club as well as raising a $1,000,000 endowment for the maintenance of Ebersole Field.
In addition, the TEA is being vigilant to make sure that the DCR does not use any of the park for motor traffic during reconstruction of the Storrow Drive Tunnel, providing more seasonal activities like model sailing club, continued tree care for the more than 1,900 trees in the park, landscape restoration and park amenities like water fountains and solar trash compactors.
Board members Ellen Rooney and Roseanne Colot will be leaving the Board and Fritz Casselman, Herb Nolan, David Solomon, Sandy Steele and James Whitters were re-elected.
The Marathon Team was also introduced during the meeting.

In the spirit of Congressman Joseph Moakley’s tradition of Public Service, the Public Management, Healthcare Administration, and Center for Public Management at Suffolk University presented a Conversation with Congresswoman Niki Tsongas on Friday, April 4. Joining Tsongas at this special event were Suffolk Associate Professor of Public Management Richard Beinecke, Suffolk Business School Dean William J. O’Neill Jr., and Suffolk Vice President for External Affairs John Nucci.

Many readers sent in photos and called to let us know that two wild turkeys were traveling the streets of Beacon Hill last week. By neighbors’ accounts, they wandered up Pinckney, took a stroll on South Russell, meandered down Myrtle and found their way to Hancock Street, where, one reader speculated, they hoped to join the other turkeys working at the State House. This photo shows one of the birds on Hancock Street on Monday.