BSO: Popeye

Rainy first day of classes at UMass.

Last week I checked out the new Popeye's in Hadley between the malls.

You might think a joint with that name would in some way promote a certain cartoon character.

However, I didn't even see spinach on the menu. They do however do much to promote their Louisiana roots.

Of course the crucial question is- Are they better than Kentucky Fried Chicken?

Ironically, the site of the new Popeye's was formerly a KFC. I would describe them as very similar, so if you like KFC you will probably like Popeye's.

Springfield's most ridiculous monument.

One of the most damning documents regarding Boland is to be found among the archives of The Diary of J. Wesley Miller, in this 2003 letter from activist Eamon O'Sullivan to the late local Democrat Party boss Judge Daniel M. Keyes:

Dear Dan,

Regarding your comments in the paper about Congressman Boland, the famous writer H.L. Mencken once said, "History is an agreed upon pack of lies." Quite frankly I always thought Edward P. Boland lacked the testicular fortitude to be a leader. As a matter of fact it wasn't until near the end of his time in congress that he was involved in the so-called "Boland Amendment" which was poorly written and described at the time as "a piece of Swiss Cheese."

I remember reading the Boston Globe back in 1972 when they were writing about the various congressmen from Massachusetts. When it came to Congressman Boland the Globe Spotlight column had this to say: "We don't know anything good or bad about Edward P. Boland from the Second Congressional District. After twenty years of service to date he is a cipher and a nonentity in the U.S. Congress." As a matter of fact Boland's record was rather dull with him never taking a stand for or against any significant issue of his time.

I often told my late great mother that I couldn't understand why the Irish, although trapped and scarred by the limited Hungry Hill mentality, always voted for a man like Boland with no real stature as a leader or statesman. Whenever I encountered Boland he was always too much in a rush to talk and his public statements were rare and in most cases glittering generalities.

Boland's most significant failure was causing the closing of the Springfield Armory. I have handwritten letters from the late U.S. Speaker of the House John McCormack, a good friend of then President Lyndon Baines Johnson, telling how Boland's disastrous decision to back Edward M. Kennedy for U.S. Senate over Speaker McCormack's nephew Edward McCormack killed any chance that either Speaker McCormack or President Johnson would use their power to save the Armory. It was Mass Ways and Means Chairman Tony Scibelli and Edmond P. Garvey who partially salvaged the Armory by turning it into Springfield Technical Community College for which they received little help from Boland.

Judge Keyes, I recognize your life long friendship with Boland, but he was not highly respected in the U.S. Congress as you suggest, and it was well known locally that if you wanted something done in Washington you should contact our other Congressman Silvio O. Conte. We don't need anymore streets, statues or schools built or named after Boland. I find it interesting that his parents enrolled him at the public elementary Armory Street School instead of Our Lady of Hope. He may not have been academically inclined, but I concede he was still clever enough to fool the Irish.

Eddie

The closing of the Springfield Armory was the single most disastrous event in Springfield's long decline, and that the person most responsible for that tragedy has a statue in the heart of downtown is a travesty.

Wise words in Hamp.