The debacle in Boston

When the Red Sox completed the most amazing comeback in baseball history, riots ensued. Over the past few years, this has become the norm. Win or lose, rowdy and oft inebriated fans decide that they have the right to attack police, start fires, vandalize private property, and incite riots. Tragically, a young woman bystander in the crowd was accidentally killed by an errant shot by a police officer attemtping to subdue the melee.

Now, the mayor of Boston thinks he has come up with a solution. He may, for the first time in Boston history, ban the sale of alcohol around Fenway Park on game day. (Why not just cancel the game? That would absolutely ensure there are no post-game riots.) Not only is this a terrible abuse of power, and another usurpation of individual freedom, the solution is merely putting a band-aid over a huge problem, in an attempt to hide the real underlying issue.

• "Since people won't accept responsibility, I, as mayor, will take it into my own hands," Menino said.

The real problem is that those who start riots are not punished severely enough. In this case, I think that anyone found guilty of inciting the riot, or contributing to it, should be tried for manslaughter of Victoria Snelgrove. After all, had the riot not occurred, the police would not have been firing projectiles into the crowds. Sadly, the Boston PD department has hung its own officers out to dry, by accepting 'full responsibility' for the death, in a statement by Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole.