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InCity Feature, InCity Letters, InCity Voices

My car “disappeared” at Pat’s Towing Service, Shrewsbury Street! I want it back!

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By David Phillips

I have a signed order from the Worcester Superior Court for the return of car and contents towed by Pat’s [Towing and Service Station]. They have told me that the car is not there, but in practically the same breath, asked if I had come to pay the bill. I had a witness with me, who can verify what I’m saying.

Why is the car not there? Where is it? Where is my stuff that was inside the car?

“Not my problem,” I was told.

Really?

… The Worcester Police Department, who told Pat’s to tow it in the first place, have NOT been helpful AT ALL in getting this matter resolved, and in fact, have not returned the Certificate of Title (which they took from me at the traffic stop).

WHAT COUNTRY AM I LIVING IN ?!

There’s a little more to the story. The police wouldn’t let me arrange for a private tow. When my attorney cross-examined the cop who did the initial traffic stop (on the witness stand, and under oath), he testified that he never gave me the opportunity for a “private tow.” THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE WANTED HIM TO SAY !).

The judge asked him to repeat what has had just said (maybe she couldn’t believe her ears).
AND HE SAID IT AGAIN!

Anyway, they wouldn’t let me go with the tow truck driver to arrange for a private tow from Pat’s to another location, and would not even let me get my gloves out of the car (on an unusually cold night).

I was left to walk off the entrance ramp of I-290, with numb hands, to a gas station in Kelley Square, where I waited for a ride, and a Worcester Police Department cruiser kept circling the gas station until my ride arrived. He witnessed this too, because they kept circling after he arrived to pick me up.

I used to work for a towing company that had police contracts (state, local and turnpike), and I was shocked and dismayed at what had taken place. We would never have left somebody standing on the side of the highway, especially on such a cold night, and drive off with their car (and then “inventory” it to the point where it looks like it went through a tornado).

Several times, when telephone inquiries were made, Pat’s said the car was on “police hold” – which turned out not to be true. My attorney was granted permission by the court to go to Pat’s and recover some documents that were needed in the Hampden Superior Court on an unrelated matter (a foreclosure case), and he was told at that time that the car was still on “police hold” (which it was not), and that Pat’s had a “lien” on the car and everything that was in it.

Now, I know about “Garageeeper’s Liens” and all that kind of stuff, I used to process the paperwork for an automotive concern, and I have also done repossessions, and am quite familiar with that process as well. If Pat’s had a Garagekeeper’s Lien (which I doubt, because there’s a statutory procedure you have to go through to establish it, and I don’t think any of that was done), it applies to the car ONLY, and not to any personal property inside it. Any competent towing company would know that.

Anyway … I challenged the validity of the traffic stop, and had the case thrown out in August. That’s when I petitoned the court again (getting the foreclosure papaerwork back was the first time), and eventually received the signed court order for the return of the car and its contents. And then, I found out the car is not at Pat’s. That was on a weekend, and just the “new guys” were there, so I had to come back during the week. I went back a second time (on a Tuesday – with a witness), and that’s when I got the “It’s not here” and “It’s not my problem” story.

I got a call one morning right after that, from a friend who was driving on I-290, and said he saw somebody driving the car on I-290, and it took the exit near Pat’s. I reported this to the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department, and faxed them a copy of the court order. I also called the law department in City Hall and told the about this. I don’t think there’s any point in calling the Worcester P.D, because (1) they are co-conspirators with Pat’s in the (armed) car-jacking in the first place, and (2) the court order has to be enforced by the Sheriff’s Department, not the police.

I want somebody from the Sheriff’s Department with me when I go back the third time. …

And, as far as the Certificate of Title goes, I mentioned it to one of the supervisors at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and he said I should go show the court order to the Chief of Police, and demand the Certificate of Title back. Nobody will let me talk to the Chief about this. They also have not returned personal property (including a small bone-handle folding pocket knife – which was a gift from my uncle a short time before he died in a nursing home) which they “confiscated” during the “Pat down” (for their own safety, you understand).

Green Island Grrrl, InCity Letters, InCity Voices, Rosalie's Blog, Uncategorized

AAA and the MA State Police have dumped Pat’s Towing Service …

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Now it’s up to the City of Worcester to step up to the plate and do the right thing! (Just pretend you’re a business, City Manager Mike O’Brien, and the citizens of Worcester are your customers!)

Here are a few blasts from the “Pat’s”! – R. Tirella

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From a few years ago …

Give Pat’s the heave ho!

By Rosalie Tirella

Word’s gotten out that Mayor Joe O’Brien is hoping to convince city officials to give the assholes at Pat’s Towing the heave ho when it comes to renewing the city’s towing/impounding contract with Pat’s Towing company of Shrewsbury Street, Worcester. (their contract is winding down) For year’s Pat’s Towing has had a lock on the City of Worcester’s towing – earning hundreds of thousands of dollars, probably millions of dollars, while giving Worcesterties the finger – up the ass, twice.

Mayor O’Brien, like all the other city councilors, wants to give another towing company – one run by HUMAN BEINGS – a chance at the lucrative deal. A chance to pick up Wormtown’s illegally parked cars during snowstorms, etc, summer concerts, etc, or on city streets where there is no/limited parking (or other parking violations).

Anyone who has lived in Worcester for longer than, oh, five minutes, quickly learns what bastards the cretins at Pat’s can be. They have turned a city job into a bold, get-outa-my-way-or-I’ll mow-you-down-AND-I’ll-charge-you-hundreds of dollars to get your car back into a weird kind of civic blood-letting. They have had Worcester in a nasty head-lock for years – for way too long.

Two examples:

Last winter, my old dog, my Nova Scotia Retriever, Bailey, was dying of cancer. Nasal cancer so that despite being on chemo and anti-pain and anti-inflamatory pills (we had the tumor biopsied – it was malignant), my Bailey Boy had a bump on his once elegant long nose (the ever growing tumor) and snot and blood dripping from his left nostril, due to the tumor – which I lovingly wiped away with Kleenix. I loved my Bailey so much and he loved life so much (still running after squirrels – caught a skunk!; barking at skateboarders with abandon) that we hung on to Baily as long as we could – as long as HE wanted to hang on to us. Well, one day I had some business in the Denholm Building. I parked in the adjacent lot for five minutes – with my Baily in the back seat. I come out and POOF! The car was gone!

“Pat’s! Fuckin’ Pat’s” I screamed in the middled of the lot. (I just knew) “They took my dog! They towed my dog who is dying of cancer!!! (They would have towed a car with an infant in it!)

Crazed with tears and fears, I called my guy – and told him everything through choked sobs. He was on a job in the Fitchburg area. It took him about an hour to come down to Denholms.

“Bailey!” I screamed to him when he drove up to Denholms. “My Bailey Boy! He’s going to die! He’s going to die!”

It was as cold out that day as it is today – bitter cold.

I jumped into the truck and we drove to Pat’s. Up Shrewsbury Street we sped – and there in the Pat’s lot was my car with poor old Bailey inside, the snot dripping down his nose. He was sitting up straight and tall in the back seat – waiting for his mommy like a brave little man. Serious looking – as if in the “stay” position. He looked “pale,” if that makes sense. My old dog looked cold.

“A hundred dollars,” the attendant/fiend at Pat’s said. ($100 for 2 hours)

“The dog has cancer. He’s 12 years old. You had to tow?” I cried at him, giving him the $100 bill.

He told me my dog was OK. He didn’t remove my dog and keep him in the warm service center. Nope. Bailey was with the vehicles. But he was OK. This “vet” knew.

Shortly after the Pat’s Towing ordeal my Bailey died. He was dying before Pat’s got their hooks into my car, but the bumpy ride, the two-hour wait in 20-degree weather did my dear old Bailey no good.

Story #2

A friend of mine told me an old man – in his 80s – had his car towed by Pat’s Towing. He went over to Pat’s Shrewbury Street holding-pen and asked for his car back. He didn’t have the bucks needed to get his jalopy out. Well, the lovely “boys” at Pat’s taunted him. They teased and teased the old man, and the old man rushed at them, rushed at their fence, a feisty guy, trying to beat the crap out of these young thugs. And guess what? The octogenarian almost gave himself a heart attack trying to mix it up with Pat’s Towing “boys.” He finally called my friend who went down to Pat’s Towing and paid the money. Blood money. The old man got his car out but he had lost his dignity.

And this is the towing company that the City of Worcester wants to rehire? This is the towing company city leaders want to represent Worcester? The people of Pat’s are pond scum – speeding down resdential streets at 50 miles an hour, blasting through urban centers as they race, absolutely RACE to make their next killing, their next Tow Job, while the city of Worcester gives it a Blow Job!

Mayor O’Brien is right! We’ve had enought of the sadism! We want a towing company -not a gang of thugs!

So let’s get rid of these demons – a huge tow truck going 50 miles an hour down neighbrohood streets to pick up a car with a dying dog in it is not what we need. Lots of other blue-collar guys in other blue collar businesses know and HATE Pat’s Towing. They won’t do business with these wolverines because they are so rotten. These blue collar guys and their businesses use other towing companies – a lot of them like Boulevard Towing.

Nice guys, is what they say when they talk about Boulevard Towing.

So why not, City manager Mike O’Brien? Why not follow the lead of Mayor Joe O’Brien and ditch Pat’s Towing – NOT RENEW THEIR CONTRACT? Try Boulevard Towing. Hell, try anybody BUT Pat’s.

The citizens of Worcester – and guests to our community – deserve to be treated with a bit more respect. That is tow, if necessary, but use your heart, have some common sense and SLOW DOWN and stop ripping folks/the city off!

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Another Pat’s Towing Service Horror Story

By Terry Bradley

First: I love InCity Times. The price is right and it is 100% better than the local newspaper that some people pay outrageously for. It’s not sugar coated and you tell it like it is. You cover local news that is pertinent to our city and its residents. You are not afraid or intimidated.

I really enjoyed your piece on Pat’s Towing. And I am very dismayed that they got the towing contract from the city again. You are 110% correct when you say, “get-outa-my-way-or-I’ll-mow-you-down”; “cretins”; “blood money”; “pond scum”; and “demons”.They have no hearts and they do speed through the narrow city streets with their enormous beast trucks. I work downtown and see them daily circling like vultures looking for victims. I’ve come close to being hit by a truck barreling down the street.

My story is about the night I went to see “A Christmas Carol” on the 18th of December at the Hanover. (When we arrived we actually saw Pat’s tow trucks circling the block looking for victims.) After having an enjoyable evening, I came out to find my car gone. Like you, right away I screamed “PAT’S”.

The irony is, I was legally parked in the parking lot for which I pay monthly, with the tag hanging from the rearview mirror. I walked back to the Hanover to speak with the security person on duty. He directed me to the police officers outside directing traffic and crossing pedestrians. They were not surprised at my story and told me what the police think of Pat’s Towing and they told me there was nothing they could do because the city continues to give Pat’s the contract. When I got to Pat’s the dispatcher was very rude. He said there was nothing he could do. He had to contact the driver who made the tow. Why, I can’t understand. He contacted him by two-way radio. Then I had to wait twenty to thirty minutes for the driver to get back to the station. That I don’t understand at all.

So I explained to him how I had a legal tag attached to my mirror and my vehicle should never have been towed. Then he played twenty questions: What does the tag look like? Where did I get the tag? Was I a resident of the Mayo buildings? How long have I been parking in that lot? Who do I pay my fee to? How do I make my monthly payments?He finally unlocked the gate and went to my car, as I followed him. The first thing I did was to take a picture of my tag, hanging on my rearview mirror, sitting in Pat’s lot. He told me he was a night driver and did not recognize that particular tag.

Long story short, after about an hour of inconvenience I was able to drive my vehicle out of there and my friend was late for work. As I was leaving, another couple were walking in, in tears. I told them “Good Luck”, as they were dealing with idiots. And nobody ever apologized for the inconvenience or error on their part.

My problem is, what does this say about our city? That company is representing our city. Is this the way we want it to represent our city to out of town visitors? And with the Hanover, there are many out of town people coming in. Do we want them to have the impression our city has a bunch of idiots? A scenario – a couple comes a long distance to an event. They spend money for the event, maybe a dinner and drinks at a local restaurant, maybe an overnight stay at a local hotel if they’ve traveled far enough.

They come out later, in the dark at night, to find no vehicle in an unfamiliar city. After finding out where the vehicle is, they have to call a cab to get to Shrewsbury St. When they get to Shrewsbury St. they find out they have to find an ATM because Pat’s does not accept checks or credit cards. Strictly CASH! I wonder how much cash has been put into their pockets and illegally not reported as income in the past several years. I was told their fee is $175., although I did not end up paying a fee, so I don’t know for sure. Add to that the hour or more they have been inconvenienced.

Who would want to come back to a city like this? If Mayor [O’Brien and the Worcester City Council] had any sense at all they would pay a person, or two, for the night to let people park there and collect a fee to park That makes a lot more sense to me.I’d also just like to extend my condolences on the loss of Bailey. That entire experience must have been heartwrenching. There was no reason to leave that dog outside in the vehicle.

Green Island Grrrl, InCity Feature, InCity Voices, Rosalie's Blog, Uncategorized

The REAL Tom Foley!

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By Rosalie Tirella

Political pundits like to call election cycles: the “silly season.” On all the news shows you hear commentators spinning goofy slip ups, etc, by calling them “silly season” antics.

But, hey, this is 2010 and the Tea Baggers are in overdrive. One of them lurks in Central Mass – Marty Lamb – and the other pol, sheriff candidate Lew Evangelidis, while not being a Tea Bagger is, according to one guy I talked with, a “a dick.”

These dicks – I mean guys – are at the podiums on the stages and bullshitting the voters. They are misleading people so they vote for them – the people/programs that will wreak havoc on Worcester County.

So lets lump Lew Evangelidis and Marty Lamb in with the Carl Palidinos, the Sarah Palins and the other lying, dangerous nitwits and call this mid-term election cycle the “slimey season.”

Yesterday I got call from a very nice lady who told me SHE would buy me a cup of coffee (see my blog posting on Lew E. below: “Creeped out by Lew Evangelidis) and then went on to tell me Lew Evangelidis was “tough to take.”

I know, my friend. I spent some time with the guy and came away thinking: this guy will say anything to get elected.

Of course, Lew will use the sheriff’s job as a stepping-stone to state-wide office!

And of course, he will take the sheriff’s pension, if elected. (Don’t believe Lew when he promised at a recent debate that he woud not take the state pension for the sheriff’s job).

And of course Lew’s encouraging the spreading of slime on sheriff candidate Tom Foley: pension double dipper, etc.

And of course Lew has promised Dismas House he will give them all the programs they want (even though in the State House, Lew voted AGAINST all such rehab programs, Republican that he is) IF Dave McMahon, executive director of Dismas House, throws the prisoner rehab vote behind Lew. And of course, the hyperkinetic Lew met with Deb Carey of Mass Audubon and promised her the world if the environmentalists worked for his election.

And of course, he tried to bribe InCity Times. (He told me all this during a meeting over coffee, during which he acted tres stressed out, checked out a babe, tried to bribe me and in general just seemed like one hell of a prick.)

So … I decided to check out sheriff candidate Tom Foley – Lew’s main opponent – for myself. I can tell you, gentle readers, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed. Foley IS the best guy for the job. He is a modest man – very old school – like my favorite uncles. These old school guys don’t toot their horns, have an incredible work ethic and are tough as cow hide. They live by a code of honor – a code of honor that Lew E. can only dream of having.

I met Foley one afternoon at Panera Bread – to talk, listen and learn. I was a wee bit late, but Tom didn’t seem pissed. He was sitting at a table going over notes that were neatly arranged in a nice leather binder. He seemed serious and respectful, got up to shake my hand (nice shake) and offered to buy me a cup of coffee – telling me he would have offered to treat, even if he hadn’t read my Lew Evangelidis story. Foley listened. He talked – almost softly, but more on that later. He told me stories of his past (quite an illustrious career) working for the State Police, cracking open cases with the FBI, starting out as a prison guard in Walpole.

I came away from our meeting thinking: Wow! Tom Foley is an upstanding, decent, compassionate, HONEST guy who has a ton of experience in public safety, law enforcement.

Not a politician.

And do you know how Tom Foley got his heart condition that Evangelidis is carping about – intimating that Foley used it as an excuse to get a pension/leave the State Police.

Tom Foely got hurt because he was working his ass off. He was – for 4 weeks! – in the middle of an urban piss-hole bugging and putting cameras everywhere so he and his people could catch some drug dealers. It was in the basement of a drug dealer meeting place – in some shit hole building in Springfield – a toxic place that had flooded after a rain storm, a place where Rout 91 ran by, a place where the sewerage pipes had burst open and now drained, the condemned building was filled with mold and poisonous fumes.

Tom Foley inhaled that poison for four weeks. Tom Foley, being old school, did not wear a respirator (”I was so focused on the job,” he said) or any protective gear. So for four weeks he exposed himself to toxins while doing his job – wiring and and bugging a place. Sewerage was all over the place, too. So it was then that Tom Foley, working like mad to capture a bunch of drug lord-pukes, got sick. It was a few weeks after the job when his ankles started swelling, his lungs filled wtih puss. And then WHAM!

Tom Foley became gravely ill and had to be hospitalized. His lungs, his heart, his throat were infected. He was given a ton of antibiotics until the bacteria and filth and mold inside his body was killed. He lost some of his voice due to the poison he inhaled.

It happened in 2004 and since then Tom Foley talks in a low voice – he can’t talk very loudly at all.

His bosses said he c ould no longer do the kind of work he was used to doing. They told him he has to resign.

Foley will not share this informatin during debates or public forums! Lew, on the other hand, would have milked it till the cows came over the rainbow. Foley is old school – and doesn’t want to show vulnerablity. Or the fact that he really behaved quite heroically. Took his pain stoically.

Voters need to know that this is not a fake ailment Foley concocted to get out of work and collect a nice pension. This was all caused by a guy giving it his all. Like Foley said, the injury probably shaved a few years off his life.

I believe Foley when he told me the incident in no way killed his desire to serve the public in a public safety job. That his dream was to serve the public in law enforcement. That working in the prison system, with the FBI, heading Mass State Troopers was a dream come true for Foley, whose dad was a tough Worcester fire fighter.

“I’m not ready to retire,” Foley told me.

I believe him.

And why should he? This guy loves excitment. When he talks of his past career, going after Whitey Bulger and Flemmi, the mafia, how guys “took a hit” and how when he worked as a prison guard at Walpole he “walked the block” I felt like I was in the middle of a Matt Damon movie!

After Whitley Bulger and the mafia, Foley can certainly handle being Worcester County Sheriff.

He is strong enough – mentally and physically. And 1,000 times tougher than his opponents.

It is a shame the public does not know the REAL Tom Foley. Because then they would repudiate a nothing-burger like Lewis Evangelidis and Foley’s other opponent (the other guy whose name escapes me – not important – he’s not really in the running).

Then the voters would quickly figure out what I learned over coffee with Foley at Panera Bread: Foley is not a career politician – he won’t go anywhere once he becomes sheriff. He will do the sheriff’s job for $30,000 less a year than the salary posted and that he will not take health benefits or a pension for the sheriff’s job. (retirement pension = 70% of a worker’s salary at retirement. For life.).

I DO NOT believe Lewis Evangelidis when he says the same thing. He is just saying what voters want to hear so he can get elected.

Don’t get fooled! Vote for Tom Foley for sheriff!