I disagree with the gentleman from San Jose (“Did entire city of Boston have to shut down?” Letters, April 25), who wrote that “a city of heroes became a city of sheep” when citizens complied with the request to stay indoors during the manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspect.
This was not a “dry run” of government control, as the writer suggested.
Instead, it was a real-time demonstration of how people and the government can work together for a common goal, in this instance capturing a suspect while not accidentally hurting innocent people on the street.
Early Friday morning, April 19, when the request was issued, one could not rule out the possibility that a suspect or suspects had dispersed more widely throughout the metropolitan area. By Friday night, when the people of Watertown cheered law-enforcement personnel, the common objective had been achieved.
The citizens of Boston are feisty and independent, and as that Friday showed, mature and cooperative.
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