The Quabbin Reservoir is the largest inland body of water in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and primarily supplies Boston with drinking water. The Quabbin Reservoir's Winsor Dam is home to State Police Station C-7, Belchertown; since 2001 additional security measures have been in place to protect Boston's water supply. Exactly one month ago today the Boston Marathon bombings occurred, reminding everyone all over again how horrid humans can be to one another. It is entirely understandable then, when Massachusetts State Police were interested when they spotted a pair of illegally parked cars in the middle of the night at one of the park entrances, indicating the presence of trespassers.
It is turkey hunting season right now so it is always possible that the trespassers were rogue hunters getting themselves into position for some dawn shooting; it would have been pretty chilly still out there at night but rogue hunters can be pretty determined types as I think I've mentioned elsewhere, and are not likely to let a sign and a silly old fence keep them from their goal. The roads and byways and paths of the Quabbin's 81,000 acres of watershed and eighteen-mile long reservoir also serve as something of a giant, sinuous lover's lane, so the Staties could have easily been walking into a mid-spring night's mating ritual. One never knows.
There are no streetlights out where the Quabbin is; I've driven past it after sundown on both Highway 9 and Highway 122. It is pure inky darkness broken only by the rare nighttime headlights of other drivers. On the night in question, moonset was at some time around 12:20 AM, shortly before the officers encountered the parked cars.
At 12:30 AM when the troopers first saw the trespassers, five men and two women, the trespassers were walking from the reservoir toward the officers and the parked cars. They were not armed, nor were they hunting; they in fact identified themselves as chemical engineers curious about the reservoir. Chemical engineers curious about the reservoir, from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. Now you know I'm all against racial profiling and whatnot. But I confess to being entirely flummoxed as to why any group of chemical engineers curious about the reservoir would need to visit it after midnight, for any reason. Apparently I am not alone:
It is turkey hunting season right now so it is always possible that the trespassers were rogue hunters getting themselves into position for some dawn shooting; it would have been pretty chilly still out there at night but rogue hunters can be pretty determined types as I think I've mentioned elsewhere, and are not likely to let a sign and a silly old fence keep them from their goal. The roads and byways and paths of the Quabbin's 81,000 acres of watershed and eighteen-mile long reservoir also serve as something of a giant, sinuous lover's lane, so the Staties could have easily been walking into a mid-spring night's mating ritual. One never knows.
There are no streetlights out where the Quabbin is; I've driven past it after sundown on both Highway 9 and Highway 122. It is pure inky darkness broken only by the rare nighttime headlights of other drivers. On the night in question, moonset was at some time around 12:20 AM, shortly before the officers encountered the parked cars.
At 12:30 AM when the troopers first saw the trespassers, five men and two women, the trespassers were walking from the reservoir toward the officers and the parked cars. They were not armed, nor were they hunting; they in fact identified themselves as chemical engineers curious about the reservoir. Chemical engineers curious about the reservoir, from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. Now you know I'm all against racial profiling and whatnot. But I confess to being entirely flummoxed as to why any group of chemical engineers curious about the reservoir would need to visit it after midnight, for any reason. Apparently I am not alone:
"“Further investigation is being undertaken because of the late hour when they were observed, their curious explanation for why they wanted to see the reservoir, and the fact that they were in an area marked no trespassing,” [a State Police spokesperson] said." - From The Boston HeraldYou can't make this shit up.
