Is Anybody there? Does Anybody care? Does Anybody see what I see?

Yes, this is also about Lizzie Borden. But more about that later.

There is a crime being committed in Fall River. The Southcoast Hospital Group, owners of three hospitals including Charlton Memorial, has been quietly buying up properties and tearing them down to pave the space for parking.

Charlton Memorial Hospital is located at the east end of French Street. Three doors down from Maplecroft, Lizzie Borden’s house on the hill.

One brave man has spoken up about this. You can read his letter to the editor here.

What does this have to do with Lizzie Borden? Well, one of the structures slated for destruction is an 1800’s building once owned by Alice Russell, the woman responsible for Lizzie Borden’s indictment. If it wasn’t for Alice, Lizzie’s friend at the time, and her testimony before the Grand Jury about witnessing Lizzie burn a dress a few days after the murders, it is doubtful whether Lizzie would have even been indicted. So we all have Alice Russell to thank for the trial of that century.

Her house has been purchased and will soon be a flat tar parking space.

It is absolutely true that Fall River cares NOTHING about its own history. By that I mean the powers that be. There is no one to speak for this neighborhood. No one to cry foul. Even residents seem to feel that the hospital should be allowed to do whatever it wants. Heck, even the Fall River Herald News said as much in a recent editorial. THE PAPER thinks the hospital’s needs trumps history or the neighborhood!

humbs down to those criticizing the purchase of 18 Hillside St. by Charlton Memorial Hospital, which plans to combine the land with other area property purchases to use for parking or an expansion of hospital services. The purchase is drawing some controversy because the house at one time was rented to Alice Russell, a friend of Lizzie Borden who testified she saw Lizzie burning a dress in the kitchen stove three days after the 1892 double murders of Andrew and Abby Borden. Lizzie was tried and acquitted of the crimes.

“I am saddened by how Fall River takes care of its history,” said Stefani Koorey, author of “The Hatchet,” a quarterly publication about the murders. “I am sickened that another piece of the story that is Fall River will soon face the wrecking ball.”

First of all, a brutal double murder hardly represents Fall River’s identity, and any suggestion that it does is rather insulting to the city’s 92,000 residents, most of whom will never have any connection to a capital crime. The murders were simply one moment in the city’s history, albeit a famous moment.

Secondly, 18 Hillside St. played no part whatsoever in the historic events. Russell, who was not even a central character in the grisly drama, moved into the house in 1909, 17 years after the murders, long after her friendship with Lizzie Borden had ended.

Any connection to the Borden story is pure fabrication. Charlton shouldn’t think twice before swinging the wrecking ball.

THEY MISSED THE POINT. It isn’t about Lizzie Borden, although for sure Fall River cares little about that, it is about a neighborhood being destroyed. It is about houses facing the wrecking ball so that a hospital can build sideways instead of up. I am sad that Fall River cares nothing about these old homes or the neighborhood that they represent. The Alice Russell story is what gets the story in the paper. It is what gets people’s attention. It isn’t about Alice Russell or Lizzie Borden. I thought that was obvious.

And this followed a piece in which I was quoted.

And who cares? Well, Michael Brimbau cares. I care.

Hey, Lefty, do you care? Hey, HMSImpossible, do you care? Hey, Fall River Community, do you care? Hey, Fall River-tastic, do you care? Hey, Keri Rodrigues, do you care? Hey, other Fall River bloggers, do you care?

Calling all activists! Speak up. If not now, when? If not here, where? If not this, what?