Something Stinks In Niagara County

Transcription

THE TRUTH IS ALWAYS FAIR
Something Stinks In Niagara County
FREE
APR 08 - APR 16, 2014
VOL. 15, NO. 14
FREE
Page 2
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NIAGARA FALLS REPORTER APR 08 - APR 16, 2014
Bold Initiative to Pay People to Live
Here Attracts Just Seven Lost Souls
Mike Hudson
When Community Development
Director Seth Piccirillo announced
his plan to actually pay people
$3,500 a year for two years if they
moved to Niagara Falls, a media
firestorm ensued.
Aside from accolades from the
three local television stations, the
Buffalo News and the Niagara
Gazette, the idea was hailed as a bold
initiative by media outlets from coast
to coast.
The Associated Press, CBS,
Forbes, the Huffington Post, Good
Morning America, ABC, the San
Francisco Chronicle, Fox News and
literally hundreds more news outlets
got wind of how our “rapidly dwindling city” planned to pay college
graduates to come and live here.
“After the city's old strategy of
industry over tourism flopped amid
the decline of Rust Belt manufacturing and the disastrous Love Canal, a
new economic plan appears to have
emerged,” the Associated Press story
explained. “Try anything.”
And while newspaper and television pundits told their audiences of
the city’s sad decline, they called the
Piccirillo plan “bold,” “daring,”
“broad” and “dramatic.” The most
ridiculous was an ABC news story
comparing Piccirillo to Nik Wallenda:
“In Niagara Falls, N.Y., a man
This photo of Piccirillo was published in the Telegraph in England along
with the story entitled 'Decline and falls: an American city in crisis’ in
December 2012. "Whether Mr. Piccirillo’s plan works remains to be
seen. The figures showing rapid decline would suggest not," the Telegraph wrote then.
shortly will attempt a daring feat…”
the correspondent reported breathlessly.
Mayor Paul Dyster took the opportunity to tell the world that, in Niagara Falls, “One in five people live
in poverty and the population of
50,193 is less than half what it was in
the 1960s.”
But despite the Piccirillo plan –
and similar schemes to prop up population numbers by importing literally hundreds dangerous sex
offenders
and other violent
NIAGARA FALLS REPORTER
“The Truth is Always Fair”
PUBLISHER & EDITOR IN CHIEF
Frank Parlato
MANAGING EDITOR
Dr. Chitra Selvaraj
SENIOR EDITOR
Tony Farina
PHONE: (716) 284-5595
P.O. Box 3083, Niagara Falls, N.Y. 14304
Phone: E-mail: info@niagarafallsreporter.com
Website: www.niagarafallsreporter.com
All contents copyright © 2014 Niagara Falls Reporter Inc.
parolees – have not succeeded in reversing the exodus that began more
than a half century ago.
A recently released projection by
the U.S. Census Bureau shows that
the current population of Niagara
Falls is but 49,722 souls, down from
the 50,193 who lived here two years
ago. The next official census count,
which will take place in 2020, could
have dire consequences for the city
should the population slip below
50,000.
At stake are millions of dollars in
state and federal funds that would be
lost should Niagara Falls lose its’
designation as a city, and that’s why
the Piccirillo plan was considered so
crucial.
Since the initial buzz of publicity,
little has been heard of the plan. And
there turns out to be a good reason for
that. Over the past 19 months, just
seven individuals have moved to Niagara Falls despite the promise of the
$7,000 stipend.
“The program is going well, but
obviously it’s not a silver bullet,”
Piccirillo told the Niagara Falls Reporter in an exclusive interview. “We
see it as a part of an overall marketing strategy for the city, just another
piece of the puzzle.”
Stressing that he receives no additional compensation for administering his brainchild, Piccirillo said
that he hopes five additional suckers,
um, new residents may be recruited
in the spring, when college graduates
began looking for real world opportunities.
The $3,500 annual stipend is reimbursable, Piccirillo said, which
means it is not paid out monthly but
at the end of the year of residency.
Still, at nearly $300 a month, the
stipend would pretty much cover the
rent throughout much of the distressed and impoverished city.
The city keeps no master list of
approved landlords, he added, but
makes prospective residents aware of
rental opportunities that exist in various neighborhoods.
Most of the seven current participants in the program live on Park
Place or Third Street, where city subsidized landlords like Craig Avery,
John Giusiana and Paul Stephen are
able to partially fill the buildings they
bought and/or rehabbed with city
money with tenants whose rents are
also subsidized by the city, Piccirillo
said.
It apparently hasn’t occurred to
Dyster, Piccirillo or anyone else in
charge of running the city that, rather
than paying people to move into vacant buildings that other people were
paid to buy and fix up, public funding
might better be spent on simply making the city a more attractive place in
which to live.
Certainly, places such as Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, New York,
North Carolina or even Portland,
Oregon, aren’t paying people to
move there. In fact, all over the country, people are scrimping and saving
to have enough to move to those
places and away from cultural and
economic backwaters such as Niagara Falls.
And, unlike the heads of our fair
city, community leaders in those
places would never consider propping up population figures through
the importation of undesirables
whose presence serves only to drive
decent, hardworking families away.
“Try anything,” the Associated
Press story said. Indeed.
Paying recent college graduates
to come to a place where few opportunities exist for college graduates
and opening the door to every degenerate sex criminal, armed robber or
paroled killer in order to pathetically
maintain city status amounts to trying
anything in the most desperate sense
of the phrase.
3
New Scandal Hits Lewiston; Worker's Use of Diesel Fuel
Questioned, His Job Terminated
Frank Parlato
There is a new scandal at the
Town of Lewiston.
First there were two Lewiston police officers who stole gasoline from
town gas pumps behind the Highway
Department garage on Swann St.
Then there was former Town of
Lewiston Supervisor Steve Reiter
who took town gasoline for his truck,
his car, his wife's car, his mother's
car, and his lawn mowers.
Now, the Niagara Falls Reporter
has learned, Glen Caverly, the town's
storm water manager, has been dismissed.
Last Thursday (April 3) night a
special executive session of the town
board took place at town hall: the
topic: How to handle the fact that
thousands of gallons of diesel fuel is
unaccounted for at Joe Davis Park.
The board decided, in executive
session, that, rather than accuse
Caverly of stealing, they would eliminate his $43,600 position. Outside of
executive session, there was no discussion about fuel.
Councilman William Conrad
made a motion to eliminate Caverly's
position. It was approved.
When the Reporter asked Councilman Ron Winkley why Caverly's
position was eliminated, Winkley
said, "It's a personnel matter," adding
the town is investigating having
someone from the building department handle the part-time duties associated with the storm water
manager position.
"It will save money," Winkley
said.
Supervisor Dennis Brochey also
declined to comment on Caverly but
suggested that the termination would
save the town, with benefits, as much
as $50,000 per year.
While officials are tight lipped, it
is clear Caverly's termination related
to concerns about whether Caverly
had taken diesel from the town for
his personal use.
Caverly, 56, who came to Lewiston from Brighton, Mich., was hired
as storm water manager, a position
required by the state. He was recommended by Reiter and the town board
approved his hire by a 4-0 vote on
Feb. 28, 2011. The storm water management position is, however, a parttime job, and why he was hired for a
full-time position is not clear.
Soon after he was hired,
Caverly's job morphed into a fulltime handyman position at the various town parks. He worked at Joe
Davis Park, hopping on lawnmowers,
cutting lawns, filling in abandoned
swimming pools, and taking out invasive species for the Audubon Society, installing barricades at Art Park
on concert nights, leveling the infield
at Washuta Park, grading the ice rink
at Academy Park, and building landscape beds at Pletcher Park.
Trouble began about two months
ago when it became apparent that
diesel fuel was being used at Joseph
Davis Park in winter. There are two,
1000-gallon fuel tanks behind the
maintenance building, one for gasoline and the other for diesel. Two
years ago, the town purchased two
large diesel tractors and a John Deere
diesel lawnmower for Joe Davis
Park. Lawns are cut from May until
October.
As readers of the Reporter know,
the New York State Comptroller's office has reassigned Amy Doores to
investigate the possible misuse of
fuel at the town.
Sources say she was curious to
know why diesel fuel was being purchased from NOCO Energy Corp. in
the winter for Joe Davis Park.
Was it for the snow plows? No.
All trucks that operate snowplows in
town - and at Joe Davis - are powered
by gasoline. Yet from October to late
January hundreds of gallons of diesel
was used.
Suspicion fell on Reiter. But Reiter's term ended Dec 31, 2013, and
diesel was being used after he left office. While anyone can sneak behind
the maintenance building at Joe
Davis, the fuel pumps were locked.
Only one town employee had a key:
Caverly.
He was asked to come to town
hall to explain to town officials and
the comptroller's office how there
could be diesel fuel usage in winter.
"I told them what was going on,"
Caverly told the Reporter. "I explained that Steve Reiter had an
arrangement with me to use the fuel
for my personal vehicle.
"The state was also questioning
us about diesel fuel used in the winter
months," Caverly continued. "Well
my answer is, duh, we were running
a generator (for the ice rink at Academy Park) and that ran on diesel. We
had to have diesel fuel. It ran consistently for 60 plus days."
Caverly said he did not keep a
record of generator fuel usage but
said the ice rink generator could use
as much as 400 gallons a day and he
delivered some during the wintertime.
Caverly said he used about 25-30
gallons per week for about two years
for his truck for town business.
His answers did not apparently
satisfy officials.
Within days, a New York State
Police investigation commenced to
determine whether Caverly had permission, or if he had stolen thousands
of gallons of diesel.
Caverly, interviewed by police,
said it was common knowledge he
was permitted to use town fuel.
"I have an F-350 Ford truck, and
they all knew I used it for town
work," he said.
Here is what the Reporter has
4
Caverly: ‘I had Reiter’s permission’
learned.
Any case (if any) against Caverly
is circumstantial.
About once a month, Caverly
would contact NOCO and order between 300-500 gallons of diesel. He
was the only one who had a key to
the fuel tanks at Joe Davis. His personal vehicle is powered by diesel
fuel. Caverly has an auxiliary tank
with a nozzle in the bed of his truck.
At least two witnesses gave depositions to the New York State Police
that they saw Caverly pump diesel
into his truck and auxiliary tank.
But Caverly denied taking fuel
for personal use.
Caverly told the Reporter, when
he first came to work, he asked for a
town vehicle but Reiter told him to
use his own vehicle.
"After I talked to Steve, he had a
meeting with the board," Caverly
said.
However, if the town board approved Caverly's use of town fuel,
there is nothing in any board minutes
to prove it.
"I don't know if the board has
amnesia or Alzheimer's," Caverly
said. "I think they're getting in trouble from the state comptroller's office
and they threw me under the bus and
opened the state police investigation
on me."
Caverly produced a letter signed
by Reiter, dated Dec. 31, 2012, on
Town of Lewiston letterhead, ad-
dressed to Caverly, that reads, "as
part of your employment agreement
with the town of Lewiston, you will
use your own personal vehicle … in
the conduct of town business."
The letter does not mention
Caverly should access town fuel.
Standard practice for municipal employees is, when they are directed to
use their own vehicle in the course of
town work, they pay for their own
fuel, then get reimbursed at a rate of
56 cents per mile.
According to Caverly, he initially
procured fuel for his personal truck
at the Highway Garage on Swann St.
When Highway Supt. Doug
Janese refused to let him continue to
get fuel at the highway garage,
Caverly said he then ordered fuel
from NOCO, had it delivered to Joe
Davis, and the bill was sent to the
town, where the council approved
monthly payments each month for
two years.
Caverly installed a lock on the
tanks for which he alone had the key
and, for two years, fuel usage at Joe
Davis was under his control. About
$25,000 in diesel fuel was used.
When contacted by the Reporter,
and asked if it was true that he had
stopped Caverly from using the town
pumps at the highway garage, Janese
said, "I was never aware of any type
of arrangement that was made to provide fuel to Mr. Caverly for use in his
personal vehicle. So while I don't
specifically remember refusing to let
him take diesel fuel, that may well be
the case.
"I would not have allowed any
employee or any elected official to
pump town fuel into his/or personal
vehicle without the express approval
of the town board, by resolution at an
open meeting."
The Reporter then contacted former supervisor Reiter to ask if he
gave Caverly permission to get fuel
at Joe Davis. Reiter said, "I did not
personally make arrangements for
Caverly to use diesel fuel at Joe
Davis. The highway superintendent
would not allow Glen to have any
fuel to fuel the truck. It was Mike
Johnson (budget officer) who told
him to put fuel in at Joe Davis."
The Reporter contacted Johnson
to see if he had given Caverly authority.
"Steve definitely gave Glen authority to use his own truck," Johnson
said. "He had been using his town
truck for town business. But I didn't
authorize anybody to do anything. I
don't have the authority."
Maybe nobody gave anyone authority, and everyone thought someone else had given authority.
"Was I authorized to use it, or did
I steal it?" Caverly said. "They all
had knowledge of it for the last two
years. They can't say they thought I
stole it. They’ve admitted to knowing
it for two years, and nobody wants to
step up to the plate and say 'I'm the
one who authorized it.' But Steve's
specific words were, 'I took it to the
board.' He said that two years ago."
The Reporter asked Reiter to explain.
"Yes, Glen and I talked about fuel
issues," Reiter said. "Mike Johnson
Bulldozer was also rented to town
told me about Caverly's fuel usage.
Nobody strongly objected to it. I did
not stop it, and neither did the town
board. So I guess, by not saying 'no,'
I authorized it. I think his usage was
in the line of duty. But I figured they
were keeping track."
They weren't.
What Caverly used for his vehicle is intertwined with fuel used for
town equipment. Up to a dozen parks
workers took fuel for lawn mowers
and other equipment. There was no
system in place to record what
Caverly used for his personal vehicle.
"I would have set up a log to protect Glen," Johnson said. "All he did
was his job. You can’t expect him to
use his truck and not be reimbursed.
But Glen did not write it down, putting him at risk.
"At the highway garage, we have
a monitoring system. You put the
code key in and it tells the town how
much you use. At Joe Davis, there is
no device. You have to write it all
down."
Caverly said his method of using
town fuel represented a "sizeable
savings" for the town. He said that if
he had charged the town for reimbursements at 56 cents per mile, he
would have gotten more than the
value of diesel he took from the
town.
Caverly said he thinks he drove
around 30,000 miles for the town
over two years. At 56 cents per mile,
he could have charged the town
$16,800.
Caverly said his 2008 F-350
diesel pick up gets 12.5 mpg. If he
drove 30,000 miles, he would have
used 2,400 gallons of diesel. If so,
Caverly would have paid $8,928 for
fuel at $3.75 per gallon at private
pumps. But he would have
collected
$16,800
in
mileage, so he would have
been around $7,000 ahead
if he charged mileage.
According to Caverly,
since the town does not pay
tax on diesel, the town did
even better.
Diesel costs the town
$3.10 per gallon, according
to town Supervisor Dennis
Brochey. If Caverly used
2400 gallons, it cost the town $7,440
for fuel and the town saved $9,400 by
Caverly not billing for mileage.
Not unlike the lack of control
over fuel usage, there was another
area of conflict.
Caverly supplemented his income by as much as $5,000 per year
by renting his personal diesel-burning bulldozer to the town for $250
per day. No one at the town monitored Caverly's usage of the bulldozer, if it was necessary work, or if
the number of days Caverly rented
the town his bulldozer (while he operated it) coincided with the normal
5
number of days such work would
take to accomplish.
It was like a barber deciding if
you need a haircut.
What makes it more problematic
is that the town possesses two bulldozers similar to the one Caverly
owns and, for most jobs, these would
have been available to the town at no
cost, according to Highway Supt.
Janese.
None of this is to suggest Caverly
took advantage of this improperly. It
is only to suggest that the lack of controls is stunning.
Sources have told the Reporter
that the State Police have found no
evidence of stealing, and do not plan
to charge Caverly. His termination
would seem to conclude the matter as
far as town and state officials are
concerned.
Last week Brochey changed the
locks at Joe Davis Park and he said
he and the town board will be monitoring fuel usage far more closely
going forward.
Stay tuned.
6
Quasar Trying to Feed Us a Load of Equate
Frank Parlato
'Equate,' the brown, blackish,
mulch-like product - with a piquant
taste and curious smell - is made up
of about 60 percent human excrement, mixed with other un-dissolved
solids that once went happily down
the drain after leaving someone's toilet.
Brought to you by Quasar, a
Cleveland, Ohio-based company, and
adored by the New York State DEC,
Equate is what happens to toilet
waste after it goes through a process
called anaerobic digestion.
Equate, of course, does not go directly from your toilet to your neighbor's farm. The stuff in toilets goes
first to municipal treatment plants
where it is put it through a clarifier to
dissolve solid particles and screened.
It is then put through further treatments before it is separated from the
water -- the latter is treated with
chemicals and discharged into lakes
or streams.
What is leftover, the solids, is
called sludge. This sludge, a watery
cake which normally goes to landfills, is what Equate is made from.
Quasar takes the sludge, cooks
out the gas to make electricity and
sells what is left, the “Equate,” to
farmers as cheap fertilizer. While
farmers who use Equate cannot grow
food fit for human consumption for
years, they can grow crops for
ethanol or animal consumption.
DEC officials are delighted with
Equate, as they are with anything that
can be conceived as “compost,”
something that will degrade naturally
instead of being placed in a landfill.
Equate is profitable, too. Before
it is delivered to a farm upwind from
you, Equate is taken by Quasar from
sewer plants, where they first extract
bio gas and sell it to make electricity.
Quasar then sells Equate to farmers.
The problem Quasar is facing,
and why you are hearing so much
about them, is they can get so much
Equate they cannot possibly store it
or spread it all.
Quasar’s storage facilities in
West Seneca and Wheatfield are already overloaded with Equate, and
they had to stop taking it from the
Town of Amherst since they have no
more room.
Unfortunately, when the folks in
Wheatfield and West Seneca approved Quasar storage facilities, few
understood that Equate was just a
fancy name for treated human waste.
(Above) Anyone care for a swim? (Below) How about a heaping helping
of Equate?
They bought into the notion that they
were being asked to store fertilizer to
be sold to happy farmers at discount
prices.
Otherwise, who would have been
stupid enough to approve this shit
Equate.
Quasar officials were not forth-
coming in making clear to the towns
that what they were really building
was a lagoon for storing millions of
gallons of human waste. You have
heard of the blue lagoon. Quasar
wants to build a land of lakes, of
brown lagoons.
When the truth finally came out,
there was a big stink.
Now Quasar is trying to get approval to build enclosed storage
tanks to hold their highly-profitable
Equate until they can sell some of
their shit Equate to a farmer near you.
Naturally, people are afraid.
Quasar folks call this “ridiculous.”
They say those who oppose it are
just talking shit Equate.
In Lewiston, a solid waste law
was enacted 22 years ago making
Equate illegal. The law specifies
there is only one route where solid
waste can be delivered - down 104 to
Model City to Swann to the Modern
Disposal landfill.
The reason Quasar does not want
to take Equate to Modern, however,
is that, instead of selling their product
to farmers for money, Quasar would
have to pay to dump their shit Equate
thus inverting their business model.
Equate is illegal in Lewiston, but
not in Wheatfield, Porter, Ransomville, Cambria, Wilson and other
areas of Niagara County.
In Lewiston, the supervisor and
council are authorized to direct code
enforcement to enforce the law with
the aid of police. Of course, the town
could negotiate a permit with Quasar
charging them extra money and issue
a waiver.
In the meantime, the shit, or
rather, the Equate is being offered to
your town for storage, then to your
town's farmers in the spring and fall.
Will it smell? Quasar says it
doesn't. Buy a bag of it and find out
for yourself.
It might also be dangerous. While
tests are made to ensure against certain poisons, one should be worried
about what they didn't test for, like
heavy metals, pesticides, hormones
and drugs.
DEC permits are fast-tracked for
Equate. The DEC has not conducted
any real research on it. Scientists
don't know what it will do in the long
run.
One should also be concerned
about storage tank ruptures. If this
shit Equate ever leaks out, it will do
more than smell.
In conclusion, at the Niagara
Falls Reporter we feel that, rather
than feed it to the citizens of Niagara
County Quasar should send Equate to
Albany and spread it around the capital.
There's so much Equate going on
there already, a heavy, thick application of it will hardly be noticed.
7
Maziarz Opposition Raises Bar for Quasar;
Company Wants to Spread Sewage Extract on Farm Fields
Craig Tretiak
If Quasar Energy Group thought
it would have an easy time spreading
sludge made of human sewage on Niagara County’s farm fields, their attitude likely changed last week when
a powerful state official weighed in
against them.
State Sen. George D. Maziarz (RNewfane), the third-most-powerful
man in the State Senate, put himself
squarely against Quasar and the Department of Environmental Conservation-backed efforts to spread
“Equate,” a sludge created from
human waste, on farm fields throughout western and central Niagara
County.
“This is a bad plan all around,”
Maziarz told the Reporter after meeting with Wheatfield town officials.
“Even with Quasar now promising to
store—and let’s underline that word,
‘store’—their sludge in a 5-million
gallon tank instead of open-air ponds,
it doesn’t change the fact that Quasar
wants to spread that sludge on farm
fields in four of the fastest-growing
towns in Western New York.”
Maziarz has been closely following the Quasar story since late last
summer, when former Lewiston
Councilman Ernest C. Palmer (RLewiston) and Councilman Michael
Marra (R-Lewiston), began sounding
the alarm. An invitation by Wheatfield officials to meet with town residents last week officially brought
Maziarz into the fight.
Making clear to the Reporter his
position on Quasar’s plans, Maziarz
said “I am opposed.”
Under currently-approved DEC
models, Quasar would be allowed to
spread their sludge on 10 approved
farm fields in Lewiston, Wheatfield,
Pendleton, Cambria and Wilson.
Adding to local officials’ frustration,
Quasar is already seeking permission
to spread its footprint to additional
sites in Niagara, Erie, and Wyoming
counties.
Speaking to the Reporter,
Maziarz pointed to DEC documents
he said should concern residents of
every town with active farmland in
the county.
A December 2013 “fact sheet”
prepared by the DEC makes assurances that “New York has been regulating these practices for more than
30 years” sounds hollow.
George Maziarz
On applying “ Equate” to farm
fields:
“Land application is prohibited in
areas where groundwater is within 24
inches of the ground surface at the
time of application … [or] where
bedrock lies less than 24 inches
below the ground surface. Land application is prohibited on water saturated ground or during heavy
rainfall.”
On controlling odor: “Some practices for controlling odors at the site
of a storage facility include allowing
a crust to form on top of the liquid in
the storage tank that will naturally
capture and contain odors.”
On monitoring soil for toxin levels: “[A]nnual soil sampling is required. The soil will be analyzed for
the following parameters: pH, arsenic, cadmium, chromium (total),
copper, lead, mercury, molybdenum,
nickel, selenium, and zinc.”
Maziarz said the questions raised
by the DEC documents were enough
to raise his ire.
“Here you have communities that
are growing with new residents, new
homes, new subdivisions, and a
handful of farms are slated to receive
fertilizer made of human waste,”
Maziarz said. “There may be a place
for these products, but it’s not in
Western Niagara County.”
Marra agreed.
“We have been vocal in opposing
this, and opposed the open-air lagoons last year,” Marra said. “The
DEC and Quasar backed off that
plan, and instead decided to install a
5-million gallon tank. That does
nothing to address the concerns of
families in Lewiston and elsewhere.”
At least one county lawmaker
agreed.
Legislator Tony Nemi
(RPendleton), a strong Maziarz ally,
said he had been in contact with
members of the Town Board’s Republican majority about the issue,
and that town attorney Claude Joerg
was already drafting a local law to
block the use of Equate on Pendleton
farms.
“Pendleton’s population has
grown by a third since 1980, and
while agriculture remains a key part
of who the town is, who we are, agricultural practices need to be in-line
with what a growing community of
homeowners expects as well,” Nemi
explained.
“Spreading human
sewage on farm fields isn’t really a
workable plan.”
Pendleton Councilman David
Fischer, who, like Nemi, has strong
doubts about Quasar’s plans, was
blunt: “We want our farmers in
Pendleton to succeed, we support
them, but this plan just isn’t good for
families and homeowners,” Fischer
said.
Fischer also said he has been
meeting with members of Pendleton’s planning board to erect barriers
to spreading Equate in the town.
Lewiston’s Marra and Wheatfield officials said similar plans were underway in those communities.
Maziarz said the fight was far
from over.
“My office will be engaged in
this process as well, and I am letting
the DEC know our thoughts in the
matter,” Maziarz said.
8
Quasar Pitch for Sludge Lagoons
Falls Short in Wheatfield Session
Tony Farina
Quasar, the Cleveland-based energy group that recycles energy for
profit from everything that goes
down the drain (human waste, sewer
sludge, and other residuals), did its
best to sell its biological waste lagoons Monday (April 7) night to
about 120 people at the Wheatfield
Community Center, but reports from
that meeting suggest they received a
very cool reception.
“They seemed to avoid using
words like sewage, and seemed to
talk around the questions that were
being asked about health and safety
concerns,” said one person who attended the meeting but did not wish
to be identified. “I don’t think they
convinced anyone that taking their
storage tanks in Wheatfield is a good
idea. The crowd was mostly unreceptive.”
It was a similar reaction on Saturday morning (April 4) at the
Shawnee Fire Hall on Lockport Rd.
when some 200 opponents of Quasar
spreading sewage sludge on farmlands got together to compare notes
and vent their displeasure at the
process and at the state DEC for issuing permits to Sustainable Bioelec-
tric LLC in Wheatfield to apply material emanating from anaerobic digestion facilities at multiple sites
owned by Milleville Brothers Farm
in Niagara County.
State Sen. George Maziarz (RNewfane), attended Saturday’s session and said his goal is to stop the
process in its tracks.
“I was extremely upset that these
permits were issued,” said Maziarz.
“My first goal is to get the DEC to do
a moratorium. Wilson has voted on
a moratorium already. A full moratorium for all of Western New York
is my plan.”
Assemblyman John Ceretto (RLewiston), vowed to do all he can to
roll back the Quasar sludge lagoons
in the interest of future generations.
“Public safety and health are my
top number one priority as an elected
official,” Ceretto told the Saturday
morning crowd strongly opposed to
the Quasar plan. “We will fight to
keep them [Quasar] out of here to insure our soil and waterways are safe
for our children.”
Despite Quasar’s insistence again
at Monday night’s session that their
sludge lagoons are no public safety
threat, opposition continues to build.
Lewiston Supervisor Dennis Brochey
said he plans to stop the Quasar incursion.
“I have been in contact with an
environmental attorney and, if need
be, I am going to ask the Town Board
to allow me to bring him aboard and
put him in charge of fighting this,”
Brochey said in a statement.
“There are four properties in the
Town of Lewiston that have DEC
permits allowing them to put ‘equate’
there. But in our code book, it is not
allowed in the town. I said to Quasar,
‘you picked the wrong county. We
don’t trust anybody when it comes to
environmental issues. We have Love
Canal! We have enough stuff on our
land; I don’t want to find out 20 – 30
years from now that Equate is not
safe and then it is too late. The truth
of the matter is, it needs more research.”
Brochey said the people of
Lewiston don’t want Quasar, and
they don’t want Equate, and “we’re
going to fight this.”
Equate is what Quasar calls the
fertilizer it produces in its Wheatfield
and “West Seneca facilities, and is
described as a natural NPK supplement designed for agriculture land
application. Quasar calls it an
ecofriendly alternative to traditional
fertilizer options such as land application of manure or chemical fertilizers. According to the company’s
website, equate is a product of anaerobic digestion, a natural process
where microorganisms break down
organic material in the absence of
oxygen. The process creates two
products: energy and equate. The
gases resulting from anaerobic digestion are used to create domestic renewable energy (sold for profit),
while equate, while containing valuable nutrients and organic matter, is
applied to farm fields for agronomic
benefit.
William Kraft, of Lewiston, had
this to say at Saturday’s meeting
about the whole process of using
sewer sludge and all that goes down
the drain, including human waste:
“People move into rural areas expecting a clean, peaceful environment and to enjoy their properties.
They are being compromised by
Quasar and DEC allowing equate to
be installed. We moved to the country to raise our families, enjoy our
land, and be left alone, away from
big business. This fight now about
restricting (fertilizer options) the
farmers, it is about contaminating the
soil.”
The people of Niagara asked the
brown dung-like creature what it's
name was and he said he called himself
"Equate."
At this they all laughed and said,
"around here we don't call such as you
'Equate,' we call you 'sh--.'"
The cake turned deep brown from
embarrassment and asked his company, Quasar, to take him back to New
York City.
But they didn’t want him either.
Two Fables To Illustrate How Nice It Will be to
Spread Equate All Over Niagara County
Frank Parlato
One of the desired locations for
Quasar's Equate is next to a Pendleton
apple farm, which reminds me of an
Aesop fable:
An apple orchard was beside a
Quasar plant, and the heavy rains came
and washed both the apples and the
human turds (waiting to be made into
Equate) into the creek. As the apples
and turds were going downstream together, the turds were heard to exclaim,
“my, how we apples can swim.”
The apples then said, "Gheez, next
thing you know Quasar will be telling
people Equate is made from us apples."
----
Once there was a brown object
who came from New York City to live
in Niagara County. Several local resi-
dents passed by and smelled the
brown, moist, handsome object, as he
was relaxing at his new home, a farm
field downwind from their subdivision.
Of course, the people held their
noses.
The brown, smelly object was offended, and spoke to the people of Niagara County. “You hypocrites. You
turn away in disgust, but it is I who
should turn away from you. For, once
I was admired, living in New York
City. I was a cake — gorgeous to look
at and wonderful to taste. Then I came
in contact with people and they devoured me — sated themselves, sharing me with their fancy Manhattan
friends and, then, as the result of coming in contact with humans — after
they digested what they could of me —
they flushed me down their toilets.
Alas, once I was a beautiful cake. Now,
after coming in contact with you humans, look at what I've become!”
10
Buffalo Billionaire Banishes Tesla,
Expands State Park Monopoly
James Hufnagel
Why is State Parks planning to
move the Nikola Tesla statue just a
couple of hundred yards, from the
Prospect Point pavilion to near the
brink of the American Falls, anyway?
Not a single line in the 92-page
Niagara Falls State Park Landscape
Improvements plan, which was released two years ago, calls for relocating the statue, even though it goes
into excruciating detail on where
every new park bench, streetlamp,
sign, fence, curb, stair, pavement
stone, bicycle rack and even trash receptacles should go, what they
should be made of and how they
should look.
Did State Parks Western Region
director Mark Thomas wake up one
morning, rise from bed, let the dog
out, get the coffee started, and as he's
standing there shaving in the mirror,
belatedly come to the sudden realization that the Tesla statue needs a new
home a stone's throw from where it
sits now?
You couldn't be blamed for wondering if that's how it went down,
given that not a single square foot of
the park goes unaccounted for in the
Landscape Improvements plan,
which sets forth the blueprint for optimizing tourist throughput in its paid
parking lots, Cave of the Winds and
Maid of the Mist attractions, souvenir
and gift shops, food stands and
restaurants of the former nature preserve.
The Tesla statue, presently situated between the main parking lot on
Goat Island and the Cave of the
Winds entrance, virtually surrounded
by snack bars, a photo booth and
other amenities, is arguably the centerpiece of the most heavily trafficked area of the park, exposing the
maximum number of tourists to the
Tesla legacy.
Therefore another, more likely,
explanation is that the multinational,
Buffalo-based food service conglomerate Delaware North Companies,
Inc., which owns the exclusive right
to peddle snacks, pop, booze, ice
cream and fast food in the Niagara
Falls State Park, wishes to expand its
operations at Prospect Point and the
Tesla statue is taking up valuable real
estate. It's in the way. Because as we
know, while statues uplift a citizenry
and can be a source of civic pride and
a dignified symbol of our proud in-
Jeremy M. Jacobs, Chairman and
CEO of Delaware North.
dustrial past and heritage, they are
relatively poor contributors to the
corporate bottom line.
According to "Open Book New
York" a service of the Office of the
State Comptroller, Delaware North
entered into a $10.2 million agreement with State Parks, commencing
on July 1, 2002, to operate food, beverage and gift shop concessions in
the Niagara Falls State Park, with a
contract end date of Dec. 31, 2121.
Considering that Delaware North
feeds the eight million tourists who
visit Niagara Falls State Park every
year, we anticipate that the beleaguered restaurants of downtown Niagara Falls are going to have one hell
of a New Year's Eve party when the
end of 2121 rolls around. That is, unless Andrew Cuomo is still governor
in 2121 and he arbitrarily and unilaterally extends the Delaware North
contract for another 30 years, like he
did with that of Maid of the Mist.
If you want to know why restaurants routinely fail here in the city,
look no further than www.niagarafallsstatepark.com, the park's official web site, maintained and
copyrighted by Delaware North. It
features subsections such as "In-Park
Dining" (listing Prospect Point Cafe',
Prospect Point grill, Prospect Point
Coffee and Ice Cream Shop and Cave
of the Winds Snack Bar), "Banquets
and Groups" (which pitches for both
wedding receptions and corporate
meetings) and an online menu for
Top-of-The-Falls restaurant.
Elsewhere on the site, which is
maintained by Delaware North in fulfillment of its "public-private partnership" with the state, is a paean to
Jeremy Jacobs, Chairman and CEO
of Delaware North. Jacobs, whose
fortune Forbes magazine pegs at $2.8
billion, is the man primarily responsible for the proliferation of food
stands and other tacky commercial
Delaware North concessions at Prospect Point in the Niagara Falls State
Park soon to be serving eight million tourists.
exploitation of the park and its attendant rape of the local economy.
The Niagara Falls State Park web
site spares nothing in its lavish praise
for him: "Jeremy M. Jacobs has
guided Delaware North for four
decades as chairman and CEO, taking the entrepreneurial company
started by his father and uncles to
heights they could never have imagined. Thanks to his leadership,
Delaware North is one of the most
successful and enduring privately
held companies in the world. Jeremy
Jacobs lends his business acumen
and vast industry experience to a
number of other organizations, including the Boston Bruins, which he
owns; and the National Hockey
League, whose board of governors he
chairs."
It's well-known among park insiders that Delaware North desires to
expand its footprint at Prospect Point.
Tesla's statue is to be moved. We
hope it ends up in the city, where it
can serve to jumpstart our nascent
heritage tourism efforts. Laudably,
the Niagara Falls City Council has
spoken on the matter. We hope other
politicians like Niagara Falls Mayor
Dyster and New York State Senator
George Maziarz speak up for us too,
and soon.
Speaking of politicians, besides
the titular state senators from Buffalo
Delaware North food shanty near Top-of-the-Falls features graphic of
falls - view while you chew.
who, by a quirk of fate, used to represent Niagara Falls as part of their
district ten years ago, it's worth noting that our Albany representative at
the time of the 2002 contract that ensured that millions of dollars worth
of food service and souvenir sales annually would take place in the state's
11
Ice Cream booth in front of Delaware North Gift Shop mere yards from
brink of American Falls. Park designer Frederick Law Olmsted directed
that such commerce take place in the city.
park and benefit Delaware North instead of the city, was Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte.
DelMonte was recently appointed Chair of USA Niagara, in
charge of economic development for
the city.
State Parks plan to move the Tesla statue close to the brink of the falls
will make the statue a part of the "new view" of the waterfalls.
The proposed new location for the Tesla statue will further de-Olmsted
the park.
One illustration from the Landscape Improvements plan suggests the
placement of new restrooms on either side of the distinctive statue. Tesla
seated on the throne, as it were.
12
Security at Niagara County Buildings
Craig Tretiak
Outside the Niagara County Legislature clerk’s office is a plaque emblazoned with the words, “Freedom
Shrine.” It’s surrounded by other
plaques, with copies of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and other
founding documents.
It is also mere inches from a
heavy, locked security door, a video
camera, and a machine that reads “ID
cards.”
In March, 2013, the Buffalo
News ran an article about how
County Manager Jeffrey M. Glatz
spent a $200,000 federal homeland
security grant to bolster security at
county buildings.
Today, thanks to Glatz’s efforts,
virtually every door to every county
building is “protected” by magnetic
swipe cards, electronic locks, video
cameras, and/or armed sentinels.
The electronic swipe cards are
nothing new. For one year, the outside entrances to county buildings
were only accessible with a county
ID. What is new, however, is a directive from Glatz whereupon ID cards
are required in order to exit the buildings.
According to Glatz’s directive,
“Upon leaving the Court House via”
what he calls “Employee Only
Doors,” each employee’s “ID Badge
must be swiped through the card
reader. If [an employee’s] card is not
swiped, an alarm will be generated
and the Court Security personnel will
be required to investigate the alarm.”
One former Niagara County
Courthouse door, long used by employees, has even been converted to
serve as an “Emergency Exit Only.”
County government’s heavy hand
is on display throughout its campus
of buildings in downtown Lockport.
Once one enters the courthouse, he or
she finds heavy doors blocking the
access to hallways throughout, including the office of Legislature
Clerk Mary Jo Tamburlin, as well as
the one used frequently by Legislature Chairman Bill Ross, R-Wheatfield.
Outside the clerk’s office, despite
the patriotic reminders of America’s
unique experience as a beacon of
freedom the world (which include
replicas of the World War II surrender instruments signed by Japan and
Germany), one is greeted by a narrow
glass window that allows documents
and IDs to be exchanged, overseen
by a TV camera and a magnetic card
reader.
According to the president of the
county’s blue-collar union, Bill Rutland, that door cost taxpayers $5,000.
Across the street, in the Philo J.
Brooks County Office Building,
where Glatz maintains his own office, the few doors that allow access
from the outside are all similarly
locked down.
Inside, the process is repeated,
with a second set of card swipe machines preventing access to most of
the offices inside, including the sec-
Worthy of Fort. Knox, the Pentagon
Jeff Glatz to the county: "Be afraid. Be very afraid."
ond-floor hallway that houses Glatz’s
office, as well as the county treasurer’s office.
Similar security measures greeted
this reporter last Friday when I tried
to gain access to the County’s Office
for the Aging and Social Security
complex. So well-guarded was the
Aging Office, in fact, that an aged
county employee at a desk even
stood watch over the door, and asked
what business I had with the office.
Next door, at the Board of Elections, access was easier, and downstairs, the Department of Motor
Vehicles was actually quite welcoming.
But not so at the county courthouse, where we were unable to access the Public Information Office
(despite its name) or the legislature’s
meeting room. The second floor,
home to the grand courtroom often
used by County Judge Matt Murphy,
was even harder to enter without submitting to screening.
Glatz’s office, once open and easily accessible under former County
Manager Greg Lewis, who always
prided himself in an “open-door”
policy, it now is surrounded by a series of walls and doors that funnel
every visitor first through his secre-
tary’s outer office.
Former County Manager Lewis
has taken a different approach in his
new job as city manager in Lebanon,
N.H. According to the city website,
“Unless unavailable due to an appointment, meeting, etc., the City
Manager's door is always open.”
Upon making a recent tour of
some of the county buildings, County
Legislator Jason Zona commented
that "this is idiotic, especially for the
Brooks building, where the county
manager and the real estate tax offices are located. The public has the
right to see these people. It is making
it more difficult to access county officials. This is not a top security place
like the Rainbow Bridge or NYPA."
Zona proceeded to point out that ever
since there was a county, the public
could open the door and walk into the
offices of the people the public pays
to serve them. "The place looks
ridiculous," Zona said. "We are not a
high security threat and to waste this
kind of money for making it difficult
for people to get in and out is bad for
employee morale. I feel more like I'm
going into the county jail than the
county building."
13
14
Mother Nature, Not City Hall,
Thaws Frozen Pipes on Royal Ave.
Tony Farina
It was just a week ago (April 1)
that we reported on the frustration of
several homeowners on Royal Avenue who had been without running
water since Feb. 13, and who had
been carting jugs of water from a
nearby fire hall to keep to fulfill their
needs.
The loss of water had been a
nightmare and according to one
homeowner, Dorothy Wooten at 3421
Royal, City Hall had turned a deaf
ear to cries for help from the frustrated residents.
But apparently somebody was
listening, even if it wasn’t the mayor.
While Councilman Andrew
Touma had promised to look into the
situation after we contacted him, a
power much greater than City Hall
intervened and the water suddenly
began flowing again to the homes.
The greater power in this case apparently was Mother Nature, as
warmer weather thawed what most
likely was the cause of the problem:
frozen water lines, not too uncommon a problem in Niagara Falls during this bitterly cold and lengthy
winter.
“Around 5 o’clock on the day of
the story, the water came back on,”
Ms. Wooten told the Reporter. “It
was kind of like a miracle.” And
that’s just what the homeowners
needed as City Hall had previously
told them it was their problem and to
contact a private contractor to get it
fixed. Ms. Wooten had explained
that a private company wanted
$3,000 just to take a look at the problem. Fortunately, in this case, the
homeowners waited and Mother Nature saved the day and the budget.
While the immediate problem
has been solved, and the water is running again, it is unfortunate that citizens who have lived in an area for as
long as Ms. Wooten and her neighbors couldn’t have received more
than an ‘it’s your problem’ response
from City Hall. The question now is
Proverbs 28:1:
The wicked flee
when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a
lion.
what about next year?
Maybe the city will address the
vulnerable pipes on Royal Ave. during the warm season so in case of another bad winter, residents won’t
have to resort to lugging jugs of
water from a fire hall to flush their
toilets and wash their clothes. Let’s
hope City Hall is listening.
Rescue Shelter Targeted by Block Club
Is Doing Important Work, Says Touma
15
Tony Farina
Niagara Falls Councilman Andrew Touma, who is quickly gaining
a reputation for taking his role as an
advocate for the people very seriously, is urging patience on the part
of the Memorial Park Neighborhood
Block Club in their efforts to shut
down a homeless shelter on Ferry
Ave.
“I made a personal, unannounced
visit to the Niagara Gospel Rescue
Mission, after hearing from the block
club, in order to get an up-close look
at their operation,” said Touma.
“And what I found is that it is based
on ministry and helping people find
the Lord. I believe a lot of good is
being done there.”
Touma went on to explain that
the rescue mission feeds about 70
people a day, or about 2,100 a month,
and houses between 20 and 30 people
a night who otherwise would most
likely be roaming the streets.
The freshman lawmaker said the
shelter is getting an overflow from
city missions and, in his words, “is
giving hope to the hopeless. It is providing a service and fulfilling a need
in the city,” adding if its current location isn’t acceptable to the community, maybe a new location could be
found because of the importance of
the work being done.
The block club has long complained about the shelter run by
Shaun Smith, raising concerns about
the conduct of some of its clients, ac-
Andy Touma
cording to the Niagara Gazette, and
also questioning the legality of the
presence of the shelter (1023 Ferry
Ave.) in a residential area, saying it
is not properly zoned to be there.
Director Smith disputes the contention that the shelter’s clients have
caused neighborhood disruptions and
says, on the contrary, a lot of good
work is being done for a great many
people and the entire city.
Touma says no sex offenders are
allowed at the shelter and anyone
found to be actively using drugs is
sent away for treatment and only allowed back when they are clean.
Unless they are stable (drug free),
they are not allowed to stay at the
shelter.
The lawmaker believes there is a
need for a better dialogue between
the community and the shelter, and
that improved communication may
ease some of the concerns of the
Niagara Gospel Rescue Mission serves the needy.
block club. Anyone staying at the
shelter must be inside by 7 at night
and are not allowed to leave until
8:30 the next morning. Touma says if
the transients who stay at the shelter
did not have a place to go at night,
they would be on the streets and potentially become a greater problem
for the community.
Members of the Memorial Block
Club are expected to attend next
Monday’s (April 14) council meeting
where they and the council are expected to receive an update from city
code officials about the legality of the
shelter under current zoning laws.
Touma said he believes zoning issues could be addressed, if necessary,
by the Zoning Board of Appeals to
give the shelter a mixed-use variance
if it is going to stay at its current location.
This is clearly a ministry-based
facility that is helping people who are
in dire need of assistance to try and
get their lives back, says the law-
maker. Touma says he will do plenty
of listening at the next council meeting, and will be anxious to get an update from the city on the code issues.
It is clear from his early involvement in the community and his levelheaded style that Touma is willing to
listen to both sides on an argument
before reaching a decision. That’s
exactly what voters should expect
from elected representatives: a cool
head and a clear mind.
If the whole world stands
against you sword in hand,
would you still dare to do
what you think is right?
16
James A. Schlesinger, Fashion Outlet
Mall Developer, Dead at 65
During the last two weeks two
notable
men
named
James
Schlesinger passed away.
One James R. Schlesinger died
on March 27 at the age of 85.
He was an economist who served
as secretary of defense from 1973 to
1975 under Presidents Richard Nixon
and Gerald Ford. He became America's first secretary of energy under
Jimmy Carter.
The other James A. Schlesinger
passed away on March 30.
Schlesinger was founder of the
Schlesinger Companies and Talisman, predecessor to AWE Talisman
LLC. He was responsible for forming
its outlet division, "Fashion Outlets."
In 1986, James A. Schlesinger
turned the old Midway Mall, a
690,000 square foot regional mall in
Miami, into the Mall of the Americas, the first Hispanic-oriented mall James A. Schlesinger
in the U.S.
marketing shopping centers, such as
Schlesinger formed Talisman in
Roswell Town Center, Roswell, Ga.,;
1994 and continued rebuilding and
Knoxville Marketplace, Knoxville,
TN; Towson Marketplace, Towson,
MA; Southland Mall, Miami, Fla.,
and Miracle Marketplace, Miami.
In 2000, Schlesinger formed a
“Fashion Outlets” division, combining architectural design with marketing programs. The redevelopment
and remarketing of Fashion Outlets
in Las Vegas and Santa Fe reflects the
planning of Schlesinger and the AWE
Talisman team.
Locally, Schlesinger’s company,
AWE Talisman, is best known for the
Fashion Outlet Mall on 1900 Military
Road in the Town of Niagara. Home
to 150 outlets offering up to 75 percent savings on name-brand apparel,
the Fashion Outlet Mall features outlets for Coach, Banana Republic,
Burberrys, Juicy Couture, Saks Fifth
Ave Off 5th, Tommy Hilfiger, Timberland, Michael Kors, Hugo Boss
and Nike.
In 2010, AWE Talisman began
construction on the first two-story en-
closed outlet mall, Fashion Outlets of
Chicago, which opened on last August.
Schlesinger was born in Detroit
and studied law at Wayne State University where he was graduated from
in 1974. He lived with his wife,
Pamela, in Coral Gables, Fla..
"He was a great developer, businessman and a great friend, not only
my friend, but a friend to all the people of Niagara. Look what he built up
here. He believed in this area and in
his mall," said Town of Niagara Supervisor Steve Richards.
The Outlet Mall is the single
largest generator for sales tax revenue in Niagara County.
His partner at AWE Talisman,
Chairman of the Board Arthur
Weiner, sent this message: "James A.
Schlesinger, my great partner, good
friend, great father and grandfather
left us this week at the tender age of
65…. He will be missed."
We Have the Power to Stop Child Abuse
propriate ways. There should not be
just one “sex talk.” Such conversations should occur more often.
Tip: Teach children that it is okay
to say “NO” to any unwanted or uncomfortable touch from anyone. Tell
children it is not OK for adults to use
sexual words or actions with them.
Emily Foschio
Child abuse has the power to destroy lives. Its effects are devastating,
and without treatment its impact can
last well into adulthood.
Child abuse crosses all boundaries:
ethnic, racial, socioeconomic, religious
and geographic. It feeds on the ignorance, silence and shame that surround
it.
April is Child Abuse Awareness
and Prevention Month. Child abuse is
difficult to address, but we have the
power to stop it. There will always be
hope if responsible and aware adults
show courage and stand up to take action.
Here are some facts about child
abuse followed by tips about action
you can take to prevent abuse.
Fact: According to the National
Children’s Alliance 1,640 children
died from abuse and neglect in the
United States in 2012. Eighty percent
of reported child fatalities that year resulted from abuse or neglect by one or
more of the child’s parents.
Tip: Most child physical abuse is
accompanied by parental stress. Each
stressor – addiction, illness, poverty,
domestic violence or a history of child
abuse – increases the risk of child
abuse. With stress relief, child abuse
can decrease. For referrals to agencies
that can help, call the Child Advocacy
Center at (716) 285-0045.
Fact: One in 10 children will be
sexually abused before their 18th
birthday. Most children never report
their abuse. We can prevent child sexual abuse and teach children to be
more comfortable reporting their abuse
by educating them about their bodies,
privacy and sexual abuse risks.
Tip: Teach children about their
bodies, and teach them the correct
terms for their anatomy – not nicknames. Talk to children about what sex
is and what sexual abuse is in age ap-
Fact: We can prevent child sexual
abuse by knowing its signs and symptoms. Physical signs are rare. Emotional and behavioral signs are more
common. To learn more, visit the
Darkness
to
Light
website
atwww.d2l.org.
Tip: If a child discloses abuse to
you, do not overreact. Children may
“shut down” if they see that you are
upset. Believe them. False reports are
rare. Believing a child and letting them
know you believe them is the most
powerful thing you can do for them on
their path to healing.
Fact: More than 90 percent of
child victims of sexual abuse know
their abusers and 30 to 40 percent of
sexual abuse is perpetrated by family
members.
Tip: Perpetrators look like everyday “normal” people. They may be
people you know and love. They may
have power and presence in the community. Do not dismiss the signs, or
leave your children alone with people
because you think “they would never
do something like that.”
Fact: Eighty percent of child sexual abuse cases occur in one child-one
adult situations.
Tip: Be cautious about who cares
17
for your child. Choose group situations
or observable, interruptible one-on-one
situations as often as possible.
Tip: Insist that all organizations
your child participates in have a policy
regarding sexual abuse, one-on-one
situations and employee screenings
and background checks. Eliminating
one child-one adult situations can prevent most cases of child sexual abuse.
If you witness or suspect child
abuse, report it immediately. The New
York State Child Abuse Hotline number is 1-800-342-3720. If a child is in
immediate danger, call 911.
Please step up with us this April
and every day to prevent child abuse
in our community. Our children are our
most vulnerable population, and their
futures are our futures. Let’s help make
it brighter.
Emily Foschio is the Education &
Outreach Coordinator /Child Fatality
Review Team Coordinator at the Child
Advocacy Center of Niagara. The
Center, a service of Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, is a countywide resource providing a place for a
multi-disciplinary team of law enforcement, social services, prosecution, and
medical and mental health personnel
to investigate allegations of child
abuse in a child-friendly environment.
If you have questions about abuse, or
if you would like to schedule prevention training for your organization,
please contact the Child Advocacy
Center of Niagara at 716-285-0045.
The U.S. has arguably the worst
rate of child abuse of any industrialized nation — triple that of
Canada and 11 times that of Italy.
A 2 to 3-year-old child from a
cemetery in Dakhleh Oasis,
Egypt, shows evidence of physical
child abuse, archaeologists have
found. The child, who lived
around 2,000 years ago, represents the earliest documented
case of child abuse in the archaeological record, researchers say.
Child sexual abuse is NEVER, not
in whole or in part, the victim's
fault. Informed consent is not possible at that age.
Petaling Jaya, Malaysia - A
woman beating a toddler was
caught on video and posted on
Facebook about a year after the
abuse took place. The woman,
the child's mother, was reportedly
arrested and sentenced to 18
months in jail.
18
Population: Niagara Dropping, New York Stagnant,
U.S. and World Growing
Marilyn Hayek
Last week the Niagara Falls Reporter wrote that the U. S. Census
Bureau estimated that, from July
2012 to July 2103, Niagara County's
population dropped by 596 people most of these fleeing the city of Niagara Falls.
Niagara County’s population is
estimated to have dipped to 214,249.
Meanwhile Niagara Falls is enjoying,
for the first time since WW1, a population under 50,000.
What should also be mentioned is
that New York State, that highest
taxed of all states, remains virtually
stagnant. Immigrants, headed to that
leech of cities, attached unhappily to
the buttocks of the rest of the state,
uber-liberal, fascist, self-centered
New York City, accounted for most
of the state's marginal increase in
population. Overall, the state's population grew by 273,025 since 2010,
reaching 19.65 million. Overcrowded
New York City got 59 percent of that
population boost: 161,564 people.
Most of them were foreigners, offsetting the steady cadre of long-time
working citizens fleeing the state for
lower-taxed states, and helping explain why New York Democrats desire to pass the Dream Act which, if
passed, would force working Americans to pay for free college education
for illegal immigrants.
Democrats should consider a
name change for "illegal immigrants"
to a more politically-correct, "undocumented Democrats."
The United States population
grew by 0.7 percent during 2013 to
an all time high of 317 million. Abortions (21 percent of U. S. pregnancies, about 1 million per year) helped
curb growth, but 788,000 immigrants
- illegal and legal - offset most of
those who, had they not been unwelcome by their prospective mothers
and consigned to the abortionist’s
knife, the scissors or the suction
pump, would have taken birth.
In America, someone gets pregnant every seven seconds. There is
one birth every eight seconds, and
someone dies every 12 seconds. Add
one abortion every 31 seconds, and
one immigrant entering the country
every 40 seconds, and it all adds up
to a net gain of one person every 16
seconds.
Nationwide,
free-enterpriseTexas, golden-retirement-Florida,
and the new fracking areas - the gasrich fields of the Great Plains and
Mountain West - are gaining most in
population.
The world population is growing
faster.
It was estimated at 7.14 billion at
the beginning of 2014, an increase of
77.6 million – or 1.1 percent – during
2013. There are 4.3 births and 1.8
deaths every second, making world
population explosion a risk and, with
finite resources and more and more
people, ensures the have-nots, the
impoverished, and the slaves of
growingly totalitarian states (including the U. S.) will expand in numbers, as are their governments
expanding in laws, perforce, to control the hungry, growing hordes.
Worldwide, growth is mainly occurring in so-called "developing
countries," with more than half in
Africa.
Except for an estimated 46 million annual abortions - worldwide
population would be zooming upward at unsustainable rates.
Most statists prefer low cost or
subsidized, easily accessible and late
term abortions (up to birth or in some
cases shortly thereafter) as an important over-population fighting tool, as
valuable as encouraging widespread
acceptance of homosexuality.
The fastest growing country in
2013 was India (which has one of the
lowest abortion rates), adding 15.6
million people to its 1.23 billion in
2013 and challenging China (1.35
equal with men - so it's fair) life span
for women and reduced population.
While population is a troubling
issue for most of the world outside
Niagara County, it is wonderful to
contemplate all the marvelous things
that dramatically expand the role of
government and reduce the role of
freedom in the world making the
human animal daily more of a slave
to the various states and their rule of
force and oppression.
billion) for most populous nation.
The USA is a distant third with
317 million.
The World Health Organization
lists the U. S. as having the 35th
highest life expectancy at 79.8 (men
77.4, women 82.2) which, because
life is shorter in America than in
more civilized and freer countries,
the population is not expanding as
fast.
Women in America live on average 4.8 years longer than men. Here
is one gender gap that no one seems
to be whining about. Perhaps the
gender panderers in congress should
pass some sort of law ensuring equality of life spans.
Life span equality is as important
as pay equality especially for a government that wants to micro manage
every aspect of people's lives.
Maybe, more medical research
money should be spent on men's
health issues until there is equality of
life span.
Or maybe like pay equality,
which is in effect to lower hard working men's wages, shortening women's
life spans to equal men would be
preferable, doable and a good population control. With the new Obamacare and the potential for rationing
elderly care, the U. S. government
may achieve a win, win: shorter (but
"Arise, awake, sleep no more;
within each of you there is the
power to remove all wants and
all miseries. Believe this, and
that power will be manifested.....
“Be free; hope for nothing from
anyone. I am sure if you look
back upon your lives you will
find that you were always
vainly trying to get help from
others which never came....
“Be not afraid, for all great
power throughout the history of
humanity has been with the
people. From out of their ranks
have come all the greatest geniuses of the world, and history
can only repeat itself. Be not
afraid of anything. You will do
marvellous work....
"All the powers in the universe
are already ours. It is we who
have put our hands before our
eyes and cry that it is dark...
“Be not in despair, the way is
very difficult, like walking on
the edge of a razor; yet despair
not, arise, awake, and find the
ideal, the goal....
~ Swami Vivekananda
19
Tall People Needed in Niagara Falls to Boost Population
College graduates are too short for this big-time city.
The plan of Niagara Falls Community Development Director Seth
Piccirillo to pay college graduates to
move to Niagara Falls seems to be
failing (see story page 2).
It only attracted seven people.
But it may have failed not because it is a flawed but because it
does not go far enough.
The plan to pay people, who re-
cently received an associate degree or
better from a college, $3,500 a year
for two years, if they move to certain
areas along Third and Fourth Sts., between Niagara and Cedar, is a grand
idea.
College graduates are a darn sight Tall people can reach things.
better than the people we have here
"Creative, young professionals the "City of Educated Giants."
already who simply work for a living
make decisions on where they are
and pay Piccirillo's salary.
going to live. We have to build neighborhoods that attract them here," said
Piccirillo.
And "creative" (subsidized) and
"young" is better than hard working
(boring) and old.
But the narrow stricture of only
wanting college graduates, who are
often snotty, arrogant and conceited,
is holding us back.
I suggest we pay tall people to
live here.
Tall people, because they are
taller, can reach more things and people always look up to them.
A lot of college graduates are
short anyway. The average male college graduate is only a runt-like 5'9"
while the average college female is
only a shrimp-like 5 feet 4 inches.
If a person is both a college graduate and tall then he/she should get
We need tall women too and
two payments. That's only fair.
Then we will become known as ought to pay them to live here.
Have you got
the will to surmount
mountain-high
obstructions?
20
Tony Farina
Bills Should Focus on Present,
Try to Win Football Games
Buffalo Bills’ fans should spend
less time worrying about the next
owner and more time worrying about
next season.
Sure, names like Rich, Pegula,
Golisano, and other familiar billionaires are making headlines these
days, but it would be nice hear some
football names along the way.
One football name did pop up a
few days ago, a troubled (personally)
wide receiver named Michael
Williams who the Tampa Bay Bucs
were anxious to unload for his offthe-field problems.
Williams did grow up in Buffalo
and played for Bills Coach Doug
Marrone at Syracuse, but arrests and
injuries made him expendable to the
Bucs and the Bills were right there to
pick him up for a sixth round draft
pick.
Now that kind of acquisition
makes folks want to go back into hibernation and talk about the future
when the Bills will be sold and their
possible relocation now that Ralph
Wilson is gone.
But what about next year, fans?
There will be games to be played and
more expensive tickets to be bought
for the coming season, and so far the
Bills have done very little that might
help the team that goes out on the
field to play football.
Is this the year the Bills end the
14-year playoff drought and win
more than six games? We hope so,
but so far it looks pretty much like
last year’s 6 – 10 team that fizzled
like a bum firecracker.
Now some of us folks who are a
little older would like to see more
focus on the coming season rather
than just all the bluster about who
might pony up the big bucks to buy
Wilson’s $880 million team.
Wilson left this earth a very rich
man, and yes, he did give Buffalo a
professional football team but not too
many winners. His brief run at the
top, after the AFL championships of
the mid ‘60s, ended in four Super the
Bowl losses in early ‘90s. That’s
been about it.
Now the football team has a new
brain trust but so far the same losing
results. Fans should not be so focused on the future-after-Wilson,
whether in Buffalo or not, but on the
present fortunes of this losing franchise and whether next year will be a
playoff year.
I have to say a lot of big names
have moved this off-season, but none
of them have come to the Bills. The
team may draft a pretty good offensive tackle, if the projections are correct, but likely won’t draft a big name
like Johnny Manziel, even if he’s
available at the 9th pick.
Now I’m not giving up on E. J.
Manuel, but I wasn’t sold on him to
begin with and he didn’t do enough
last year, when he was healthy, to
convince me he’s the next Tom
Brady.
Sure, I like to hear all about who
might “save” this team for Western
New York, but I’d like to hear a little
more about putting together a playoff-team for next season.
Let’s hope marketing whiz Russ
Brandon, Wilson’s handpicked guy,
can figure out how to make a winner,
not just money. We know this franchise knows how to make a buck, as
Wilson did for all those years. Fans
want to know if they know how to
win. The jury is still out.
Bridge Painting and Street Closure;
Something You Have Experienced Before
The LaSalle Expressway Bridge
over 87th Street in Niagara Falls is
going to be painted starting next
Monday (April 14). While the painting is going on, 87th Street between
Mang Ave. and Buffalo Ave. (NY
Route 384) will be closed to traffic.
Posted detour signs will aid motorists
in getting get around those closed
streets to their destination. The work,
which will entail an entire crew, is expected to take three weeks. (Note: In
the old days, when Americans had
common sense, a group of able-bodied townsfolk would have gotten together and knocked off this job in a
half a day for the cost of paint and a
picnic lunch).
Niagara Aquarium to Get Lower River Exhibits
The Discovery Pass, sold by the
New York State Parks, is a package
of attractions that includes the Maid
of the Mist boat ride, the Cave of the
Winds, the Trolley, a Niagara Falls
movie, the Geological Museum and
the Aquarium of Niagara.
At the aquarium, there are sea
lions that perform for their supper,
penguins in a glass cage, harbor seals
in a pool and many displays of saltwater fish, in brilliantly arrayed
aquariums.
It is natural enough that tourists
coming to the aquarium might expect
to find displays of the inhabitants of
the Niagara River.
Presently there are none.
But that may soon change.
The Aquarium of Niagara is planning to utilize a grant from the DEC
to create new exhibits featuring the
21
Also planned are exhibits on invasive species and how to stop the
spread of these misplaced fish,
plants, and invertebrates that compete with native species and change
their adopted ecosystems, such as
lamprey, gobies, zebra mussels, and
the Asian carp.
Molnar said the Aquarium hopes
to begin work on the Niagara exhibits
by the end of August.
The Aquarium of Niagara, a not
for profit enterprise, survives on a
combination of ticket sales, fund raising events, grants and donations.
It received $30,000 from casino
money in 2007. Since that time, the
fish and aquatic life of the lower Ni"We are planning a series of ex- aquarium has not received any casino
agara and Lake Ontario.
hibits on what our region offers," funds, although discussions with city
According to the Aquarium's Ex- Molnar said. The display will include officials have been held from time to
ecutive Director Gay Molnar, it may live exhibits on the aquatic life of the time about reinstating gifts to the orNiagara.
open as early as next year.
ganization.
NT History Museum to Host War of 1812 Lecture,
Celebrate 10-Year Anniversary
A lecture on the War of 1812 will
be delivered by Robert W. Arnold III,
historian at the College of Saint Rose,
on Saturday, April 26, at the North
Tonawanda History Museum, 54
Webster St.
The program is free and open to
the public.
The lecture is part of an all-day
"open house" at the museum, where
visitors can also view hundreds of exhibits, spread over 10,000 square
feet, harkening back to the rich and
colorful
heritage
of
North
Tonawanda, a port on the Erie Canal
and Niagara River.
The museum is also celebrating
two birthdays on the 26tj: its own10th
anniversary and the 117th anniversary of North Tonawanda becoming a city. Cake and coffee will be served
in the afternoon.
Prof. Arnold will examine the impact of the War of 1812 and its aftermath on the people of New York, and
the roads and canals that were built in
response to the war.
Prof. Arnold is retired from the
New York State Archives. Former
Albany County Historian, Prof.
Arnold was also an historical archaeologist. He currently serves as commissioner of historic resources for the
City of Albany and teaches American
history at the College of Saint Rose
and Excelsior College.
22
*****THIS IS A PAID ADVERTISEMENT*****
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ANTISOCIETY CITY
New York State did the biggest mistake by sending the goats to graze at the
Falls where there is no grass. It is the city
of wonders and only prayers can shower
graces on a city built by mid 17th century strong Roman Catholic Italians ,
which has now become trash with anticreatures and criminals. There are many
things that can be done to help this faltering city. For instance, taxes must not
be increased on working people who
feed welfare people. E-CIGARETTES
must be lowered on taxes so people get
out of addiction. The doctors must decrease the dosage of pills prescribed to
the mentally ill and the bipolar, who
wake up with gagging style looks, like
frogs swimming in the waterfalls - croak
croak - what - what did u say? Landlords
must be able to get rent directly and not
cut for any reason. If they are not paid
then tenants will be on the streets and
will become thieves and crime will over
flow. They must be under observation
by caseworkers of public assistance to
comply with their duties until they recover from all illnesses, mental and
physical, to wellness. Also they should
strictly check on food stamps so that they
are not sold to buy drinks or drugs. Drug
testing should be compulsory for all people on welfare. Obese people must be
watchful and dieticians should visit their
homes where by hospitals will be filled
with joy and new jobs will be created.
Single parents must be counseled to take
up matrimony and give good parental
guidance to their kids. Prayers must be
recited every evening at dusk and hi-tech
life have to be less in use. Ideally, people
must go to their places of worship, offer
thanks and learn to speak clean.
Churches must stop bingo where they
teach people to pray for their inner problems. Mental counseling must be given
to cheer them up when in misery. They
also should feel that society wants them
and must not be pushed away. Churches
must stop saying "asta la vista" and wave
hands in bye-bye motion and instead
shake hands to greet the brothers or sisters with tears of joy - not worrying
about catching flu or an infection. Just
carry a sanitizer. Depression will flee just
from that. Bail must not be granted easily
but the criminals must be kept to inhale
life - jurisdiction must think on this
sharply as our city police department undertake a lot of risks in catching them.
Releasing these criminals takes no time
which looks like a big business. No tenants must be left isolated.
State must emphasize on alertness to
the social services department to reform
and clean the city - soon we will be in
joy.
Here's a story when such reform is
not undertaken. Ron Proctor hurt a landlord Reena and her tenants by robbing
her store and houses, and fought with her
tenants. Ron, who is mentally ill, then
robs bigger stores stays at one of
Reena's condos to store stolen computers
and other expensive stuff. The police officers have arrested him more than 20
times, but because he easily gets bailed
out, he comes out in no time and simply
continues his crime. He hurt her best tenant Tammy Cycyk by going through
window breaking -hurt Karl Tedlock-attack Donny Nixon the best young guy.
He can break into any house or store and
call kleptomaniacs. Benny Street is another mentally ill person, who did not
pay rent for 3 months, works off the
books, threatens her who also enjoy best
of food stamps is the fault of air.
On the other hand, Melody Harrison
helps her tenants to live in good spirits
and Reena is asking the Lord to have
mercy on her and help her to put nest for
him to wash his feet from purifying waterfalls. The simple way to get out of antisociety is no lust, no humanism, no
materialism, then you will get back wonderland- Amen.
by Dumiana Niagara motion pictures Inc.
*****THIS IS A PAID ADVERTISEMENT*****
23

Something Stinks In Niagara County

Transcription

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