Local Grocers Asked to ID for Eggs
Oct 8, 2008 9:41 PM. All work by boston, community, crime, journalism
BOSTON—Police are cracking down on vandalism in West Roxbury after multiple business owners reported that their property had been egged last week Monday, according to a statement released yesterday by the Boston Police Department.
Police and local business owners are convinced that the egging was a common Halloween prank executed by unruly adolencents. Regardless, store managers like Tom Moynihan were stunned to see it happen so early in the month.
"Basically just around the Halloween there, that Friday" is when the eggings start, said Moynihan. "I usually just pull [the eggs] back and not sell 'em to the kids."
Moynihan is one of the managers at the Roche Bros. supermarket in Roxbury, located about one-fifth of a mile away from the District E-5 Police Station in West Roxbury. Moynihan said that he traditionally cards kids just few days before Halloween, but he has not yet been asked to do so by BPD officers. The statement released yesterday said that grocers in the area had been notified of last Monday's act of vandalism and urged not to sell eggs to minors, but today was the first that Moynihan had heard of either.
Store manager Ahed Rajeh of White Hen Pantry was asked to stop selling eggs to minors by police officers who visited the shop. The store is located immediately next to the the police station in Roxbury.
Although he said that he will comply with the BPD's requests, Rajeh said he fears more restrictions may come soon. Rajeh mentioned that police officers appeared eager to hold him accountable for vandalism if he did not agree to the requests of the officers.
"The accusation they throw at us is not true" said Ahed Rajeh about a comment a police officer made to him that grocers were knowingly selling eggs to kids who could shell out the cash.
The BPD has pledged to arrest and charge anyone caught throwing eggs. Violators who throw eggs at other people will be charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon -- a crime with a maximum penalty of two and a half years in jail or up to $1,000 in fines.
