Kloch forces end to North Tonawanda storekeeper’s suit against city

January 10, 2013, 7:39 pm

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LOCKPORT – State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr. Thursday forced convenience store owner Muwafek S. “Moe” Rizek to sign a document which apparently voids his civil rights lawsuit against the North Tonawanda Police Department.

Rizek brought a suit in U.S. District Court last month in which he accused the police of discriminating against him because of his Arab ancestry and accused Detective Robert Kalota of stealing evidence from a May 15, 2009, fire at Rizek’s store.

Rizek’s insurance company, Finger Lakes Fire & Casualty Co., accused him of setting fire to his own store. Rizek sued the insurers, and a jury in Kloch’s courtroom cleared Rizek of the arson charge in December 2011, instead voting to agree with experts hired by Rizek that it was an electrical fire.

Kalota had testified for the insurance company that he thought the fire at Mark’s Food Market II, 290 Oliver St., was arson.

Rizek, 27, accepted a $500,000 settlement from Finger Lakes in January 2012, and the next day agreed to a release freeing the city from all liability in connection with the fire, in exchange for the city refunding a $2,500 building inspection fee.

However, Rizek never signed the release – until Thursday, when Kloch made him do it.

Brought back to court at the request of City Attorney Shawn P. Nickerson, Rizek and his attorney, Kevin T. Stocker, were compelled by Kloch to sign the release.

Nickerson said in his opinion, the signature wiped out the federal case, but Stocker and Rizek said they will appeal Kloch’s order.

Kloch said Rizek’s agreement to a release of liability was on the record from Jan. 18, 2012.

“The court gave us assurances going forward that we could sue Detective Kalota,” Stocker said.

Kloch said the record doesn’t reflect that and demanded evidence. Stocker submitted affidavits from himself and Rizek. Kloch was unimpressed.

“Anybody can say anything. I can say you killed Kennedy,” the judge told Stocker. “The court has decided to compel execution of the release.”

Rizek signed the document “subject to right of appeal.”

Kloch said, “That’s like writing ‘void’ on it.” He ordered Rizek to sign it again.

Nickerson said he would send the $2,500 to Stocker’s office.

Kloch asked Rizek how his business was going. Rizek gave a noncommittal reply, and Kloch said, “I think you’re better off as a grocery store.”

“I think I’m better off leaving that whole city,” Rizek replied.

email: tprohaska@buffnews.com

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Medical waste disposal firm pays five local public entities

January 10, 2013, 7:54 pm

≫ Next: Falls School Board weighs registration system, truancy

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One of the nation’s largest medical waste disposal firms has settled with five local public entities among the hundreds across the state that it has been accused of overcharging for its services.

Stericycle, based in Lake Forest, Ill., will pay a total of $2.4 million in compensation to various police and fire departments, rescue squads, schools, jails and hospitals, according to State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman.

The local entities that will be compensated as a result of the settlement are Wyoming Correctional Facility in Attica, $12,932; the Lancaster Police Department, $8,601; Collins Correctional Facility, $6,311; the Marilla Fire Company, $4,540; and the Buffalo Police Department, $4,107.

According to the State Attorney General’s Office, since 2003, Stericycle implemented a plan to charge automated price increases without giving notice to its customers, which is a violation of its contract.

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Falls School Board weighs registration system, truancy

January 10, 2013, 8:49 pm

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NIAGARA FALLS – Getting new students registered for school and getting existing students to show up for their classes were on the minds of city School Board members at their Thursday night review meeting.

Assessment Administrator Marcia Capone told board members that a new method of centralized registration of students for the whole school district soon will replace the present system of individual registration at each of the city’s public school buildings. She said centralized registration will take place in an administrative office at the school district headquarters, 630 66th St.

Information Services Administrator Darlene Sprague explained that existing students in the Niagara Falls school system do not have to re-register; their registrations are “rolled over” automatically from one year to the next. The new system is for new students who have moved into the district and are being registered for the first time and for those who are moving from one school to another or whose registration information is being changed.

Sprague said the new one-stop registration center would be more convenient for families and would reduce the number of errors in the registration paperwork.

Public Relations Director Judie Gregory-Glaser said the new system probably will be put into place during the coming month.

Sensing a truancy problem among the 7,000 or so students in Niagara Falls city schools, board members also heard reports from the Rev. Jimmie Seright, executive director of the New Jerusalem Reporting Center for Boys and program director of SNUG – GUNS spelled backwards – and from Ron Cunningham, a school truancy officer and community activist.

“We’ve got to get serious about this truancy problem,” Cunningham said. “Every kid we lose from school is an insult to America.”

Cunningham said he has worked with about 200 students with truancy problems. Cunningham, who makes multiple visits to the homes of students who fail to show up for their classes, said, “These are not just student problems; there are multiple problems in their homes and among their families.”

“The solutions require everybody to be on deck: the schools, families, social service agencies, the police, probation officers and others,” he said.

email: baldwin@buffnews.com

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Lockport RV dealership seeks tax break for expansion

January 10, 2013, 8:51 pm

≫ Next: Second man pleads guilty in Falls shooting

≪ Previous: Falls School Board weighs registration system, truancy

LOCKPORT – Mantelli Trailer Sales plans to mark its 50th year in business this year with a $1.5 million expansion.

Mark and Kim Watson, owners of the recreational vehicle dealership, Thursday presented their request for a property tax abatement on the new building to the Town of Lockport Industrial Development Agency.

Town Economic Development Director David R. Kinyon said a cost-benefit analysis will be done and, at next month’s meeting, the IDA board will consider scheduling a public hearing on the request.

Kinyon said the application envisions the creation of three new jobs. IDA board member Duncan N. Carlson said he’d like to see some sales tax data from the business, too.

“We have to justify why we’re giving them $135,000 [in tax breaks] over 10 years,” Carlson said.

Kim Watson, the daughter of the business’ founders, Al and Shirley Mantelli, said the company acquired the lot next door last year and plans to use it for a larger store, south of their current location on South Transit Road. “We’re pretty well packed in there,” she said.

Mark Watson said they are still considering several building sizes and styles, and they are awaiting cost estimates for each. No materials have yet been submitted to the town Planning Board, which also would have to approve them.

Kinyon said, “They’re in tune with Transit North design concepts,” referring to the town’s notion of a historic-looking gateway along Route 78.

“That area needs a lot of improvement,” Carlson said.

“They’re going to design and build a nice building. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime project for them,” Kinyon said.

Mark Watson said the three existing buildings would be demolished and replaced by the single new one.

Kim Watson said the project would be phased, to minimize disruption to the business. She said the new building would shield the company’s storage buildings from the view of motorists along South Transit Road. “Storage is a big profit center for us,” she said.

email: tprohaska@buffnews.com

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Second man pleads guilty in Falls shooting

January 10, 2013, 8:52 pm

≫ Next: Falls’ credit rating drops as casino dispute drags on

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LOCKPORT – Marlyn M. Rubin has become the second man to plead guilty in connection with the near-fatal shooting of a Niagara Falls teenager, but the story he told Thursday in Niagara County Court didn’t match the one another defendant told last week.

Rubin, 20, of Niagara Street in the Falls, told County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III that the last man he saw with a gun was Jacob J. Taggart, 23.

“I heard shots, but I have no idea who actually fired them,” Rubin said.

Last week, Paul E. Buck Jr., 21, said he was the one who shot Anthony McDougald, 18, at 12th and Niagara streets April 25.

Deputy District Attorney Doreen M. Hoffmann said it doesn’t matter much who pulled the trigger, because all the defendants are charged as accomplices to each other.

McDougald was left with a bullet lodged near his heart that surgeons cannot safely remove.

Rubin said his friend Buck got into an argument with McDougald before Taggart and a fourth man, whose name Rubin didn’t know, arrived on the scene.

They all followed McDougald in a car, and Rubin said he saw Taggart with a handgun inside the auto. The car stopped, and Rubin said he and Buck emerged to fight McDougald.

“I was about to have a fist fight with him,” Rubin said. Then he heard three gunshots.

Rubin accepted a plea offer to second-degree assault, the same charge Buck admitted to last week. Both have agreed to testify against Taggart, and both face maximum prison sentences of seven years when they return to court March 21. Taggart, a repeat felon, faces a maximum of 25 years if he is convicted on the first-degree assault and reckless endangerment charges filed against him.

In another case Thursday, a Wheatfield man pleaded guilty in the July 15 stabbing of a man outside a North Tonawanda bar.

Joshua C. Oakes, 25, of River Road, admitted to a reduced charge of attempted first-degree assault. County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas agreed to give Oakes no more than seven years behind bars when he is sentenced March 14. The maximum for the charge would have been 15 years.

Oakes, whose record includes a 2008 first-degree assault conviction in Orange County, Calif., was charged with stabbing Paul Diesing, of North Tonawanda, three times in the torso and twice in the leg outside Ava’s Place on Webster Street.

email: tprohaska@buffnews.com

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Falls’ credit rating drops as casino dispute drags on

January 10, 2013, 10:41 pm

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Thanks to the casino dispute between the state and Seneca Nation of Indians, Niagara Falls has had budget problems.

Now it could have borrowing problems, too.

Moody’s credit agency has dropped the city’s credit rating two slots – from A2 to Baa1 – because of “significant declines in the city’s general fund liquidity and reserve levels ... due primarily to budgeted casino revenues that have not been remitted to the city.”

“There’s absolutely no denying [cash flow] has been dramatically impacted by the casino revenue situation,” Mayor Paul A. Dyster said. “I can’t say we were surprised.”

City leaders warn it could lessen their ability to borrow money and force them to pay more when they do because they’ll be charged higher interest rates. They say it also could dampen Niagara Falls’ role as a tourism hot spot and even hobble New York’s effort to expand casino gambling statewide.

The city now has $65 million in long-term city debt, Moody’s stated, a key issue along with high unemployment and a poor population that is at half its peak level of the 1960s.

And while the city hobbled through a budget crisis last year, a similar situation looms again because the city is counting on $7 million in casino funds for its budget. The Indian nation owes the city $60 million, money it has held up while claiming the state violated its exclusive right to run casinos.

The downgrade only makes the Falls’ situation worse, Dyster said, adding that it could make it harder for the city to borrow money for key tourism initiatives.

Projects like its new $44 million Amtrak transportation hub are likely to depend this year on the city’s ability to borrow, and any problems the city has with those projects could hamper its role in Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s upstate revitalization efforts.

“The thing I’m concerned about now is, for reasons out of our control, the situation here in Niagara Falls could become a drag on the region’s economic recovery,” Dyster said.

“There’s a part we’re expected to play here,” he added, “and ... I’m just concerned the negative impact of casino revenues are going to make it difficult to keep up our end.”

Cuomo in his State of the State speech Wednesday proposed new upstate marketing efforts, and tourism has been identified as a key piece in the governor’s regional economic development plan.

But Dyster said that without some sort of relief to temper the downgrade, “I think the state and regional interests are going to begin to suffer.”

Badly needed infrastructure upgrades and tourism marketing, for instance, have seen large-scale cutbacks in Niagara Falls because of the casino crisis.

That has impacts not only on the city’s economy, Dyster said, but also that of the region and state.

“The potential negative consequences of not resolving the casino dispute are now broadened outside the surrounding area,” he said.

Dyster said the downgrade also “throws a shadow over the governor’s efforts to put in a rational system of statewide gaming,” giving critics of the plan fodder for their argument.

“As this story breaks across the state, people looking at the casino issue statewide are going to look at this news from Moody’s and say, ‘Well, wasn’t Niagara Falls supposed to benefit from this casino?’ ” he said.

That could be a public relations disaster for the effort to bring casinos to other areas of the state, he said.

“I don’t think that’s what the governor’s office wants. It’s not what we want, and I’m guessing it’s not what the Seneca Nation wants,” the mayor said.

Dyster said he would ask state officials about ways the state might help offset the downgrade.

Local officials often talk about how the city’s largest debt obligation – a new police station – was mandated by the state.

As it waits for the casino dispute to end – it is in arbitration now – the city needs to tighten its belt and build up an even greater reserve fund than the $20 million pot that has been depleted in the wake of the casino dispute, Council Chairman Glenn A. Choolokian said.

“It just shows now we’ve got to be more conservative and watch what we do,” Choolokian said.

“We’ve got to prioritize everything now ... It just shows what a devastating effect it’s had on the city.”

email: cspecht@buffnews.com

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Referee meets ‘angel’ to whom he owes his life

January 10, 2013, 11:06 pm

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More than most people, James N. Martek will be thankful to turn 55 at the end of this month. He almost didn’t make it.

The basketball referee from Lancaster collapsed on the court in the first quarter of last Friday’s varsity game between Mount Mercy Academy and Christian Central Academy.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t remember anything from maybe a half-hour before the game,” he said. “The last thing I remember is walking into the locker room to get dressed, and then the next thing was waking up upstairs in ICU.”

Martek’s heart had stopped on the court.

Fortunately for him, Melissa M. Hudecki, an athletic trainer, was working at the game. She ran to midcourt, performed CPR and administered the automatic electronic defibrillator until firefighters arrived, saving his life.

The two embraced Thursday when they were reunited in Mercy Hospital, where Martek had an automated defibrillator implanted Tuesday.

“If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here. This is special,” he told her. “I’ve got tears in my eyes.”

“It’s so good to see you up and around,” said Hudecki, who works for Catholic Health AthletiCare.

The two have seen each other at athletic contests for about 10 years.

Martek, who is a risk manager for HSBC Mortgage Co. by day, also referees football and lacrosse. He said he remembers when Hudecki, now 37, was the scorekeeper for the St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute lacrosse team.

“When I heard that was you, I said, ‘She’s my angel of mercy,’ and my family is just so happy,” Martek said.

A graduate of Canisius College, Hudecki was uncomfortable with the attention Thursday. “I was just doing my job,” she said.

Others noted how important that job is.

“The timeliness when you did it is important; the responding as quickly as you did, is what I believe, saved his life,” said Kelly A. Finkowski, manager of AthletiCare sports program..

“When you delay care, the outcomes aren’t the same.”

Both of them then repeated the CPR mantra: Every minute lost decreases the chances of success by 10 percent.

Dr. Robbie D. Wall, a cardiologist who treated Martek in Mercy Hospital’s Catholic Health Heart Center, agreed that time was vital in the case of Martek, who suffered from an arrhythmia.

“It’s quite remarkable to see how well Mr. Martek is doing, considering what he has been through. The early resuscitation he received from Melissa, as well as the firefighters, really saved his life,” he said. “We know that the death rate associated with what Mr. Martek had is very high. Only less than 5 percent of people actually live.”

Martek was put into a medically induced coma through the weekend to decrease the amount of oxygen his body needed and to stabilize his condition.

The incident has changed his life. He said he has been a referee the last 20 years and often was assigned to games four or five evenings a week. The crisis, he said, has made him reassess his life.

“I’ve been married 30 years. My wife has sacrificed the last 20 years,” he said. “Friday could have been my last day with her. I’ve got 30 years in. I’d love to have another 30 years with her. More than likely, that is the last game I’m going to ref.”

He does hope to return to the basketball court, however.

“What I’d really like to do,” he said, “is apologize to all of the players for scaring the hell out of them.”

email: bobrien@buffnews.com

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Referee meets ‘angel’ to whom he owes his life

January 11, 2013, 4:22 am

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Police accuse man of stealing assault rifle from Eggertsville apartment

January 11, 2013, 8:28 am

≫ Next: Falls man pleads guilty in cocaine possession case

≪ Previous: Referee meets ‘angel’ to whom he owes his life

A Lockport man already behind bars was charged with burglary for allegedly stealing a Bushmaster AR-15 assault rifle from an Eggertsville apartment last week, Amherst Police Detective Lt. Rick Walter said.

Dennis Stankovskiy, 26, of Tonawanda Creek Road, already being held at the Erie County Holding Center on an unrelated charge when he was arrested for the Eggertsville burglary, police said.

Detectives recovered the stolen weapon after executing a search warrant issued by Amherst Town Justice Geoffrey Kelin at a garage on Ontario Street in Buffalo.

The assault rifle was legally owned but stolen during a burglary of a Calladine Avenue apartment Jan. 3, according to police.

Walter said that investigators believe Stankovskiy “had knowledge that the gun was there” and that he intended to sell the weapon, which has been in high demand after federal and state leaders have called for bans on assault rifles. The stolen firearm is the same variety that was used in several recent mass shootings, including by Adam Lanza in the Sandy Hook Elementary School killings.

The case is being handled by Detectives David Kubiak and Todd Homberger.

Walter said the burglary remained under investigation and that more arrests are expected.

email: mbecker@buffnews.com

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Falls man pleads guilty in cocaine possession case

January 11, 2013, 2:13 pm

≫ Next: Akron man pleads guilty in Pendleton DWI case

≪ Previous: Police accuse man of stealing assault rifle from Eggertsville apartment

LOCKPORT – Claude J. Wilson, 35, of LaSalle Avenue, Niagara Falls, pleaded guilty in Niagara County Court Friday to having had two baggies of cocaine when Falls police checked him out in a parked car July 24.

Wilson admitted to fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance for possession of 2.38 grams of the drug near 18th and Niagara Streets. County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III scheduled sentencing for April 19 and promised Wilson, a second-time felon, a prison term of no more than 2 1/2 years.

Assistant Public Defender A. Joseph Catalano said Wilson is awaiting sentencing by State Supreme Court Justice Penny Wolfgang next month on an Erie County drug case that also carries a 2 1/2-year maximum sentence. Murphy will have the choice of making his sentence consecutive or concurrent with the one Wolfgang will impose.

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Akron man pleads guilty in Pendleton DWI case

January 11, 2013, 2:15 pm

≫ Next: Man pleads guilty to two felonies in domestic assault

≪ Previous: Falls man pleads guilty in cocaine possession case

LOCKPORT – Anthony J. Brough, 49, of Main Street, Akron, pleaded guilty Friday to felony driving while intoxicated before State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr.

Brough was pulled over by a Niagara County sheriff’s deputy on Lockport Road in Pendleton Aug. 9, and his blood alcohol content was measured at between .16 percent and .19 percent in three separate tests, Deputy District Attorney Theodore A. Brenner said.

Kloch is to sentence Brough March 8. The judge’s only comment was that if he decides that Brough deserves to go to jail, he will give Brough a chance to withdraw his guilty plea and go to trial.

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Man pleads guilty to two felonies in domestic assault

January 11, 2013, 2:16 pm

≫ Next: Gasport man jailed for not obtaining sex counseling

≪ Previous: Akron man pleads guilty in Pendleton DWI case

LOCKPORT – Terrill D. Pettway, 23, of Ely Avenue, Niagara Falls, pleaded guilty Friday to two felonies stemming from a July 4 incident with his ex-girlfriend and her 6-year-old daughter.

Pettway admitted to attempted second-degree assault and attempted third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and was scheduled for sentencing March 15 by County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas.

He was accused of threatening his girlfriend with a sawed-off shotgun in their Cudaback Avenue home July 4 and then assaulting the girl. Police said the woman stabbed Pettway in the back twice to stop the attack on the girl; the woman was not charged.

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Gasport man jailed for not obtaining sex counseling

January 11, 2013, 2:17 pm

≫ Next: Two charged after meth bust in Newfane

≪ Previous: Man pleads guilty to two felonies in domestic assault

LOCKPORT – A man who violated probation in a sexual misconduct case by not obtaining proper sex offender treatment was sentenced to a year in Niagara County Jail Friday by County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas.

Darwin J. Fifield Jr., 34, of State Street, Gasport, refused to deal with a Lockport doctor who frequently counsels sex offenders, and refused to go to Mid-Erie Psychiatric Center in Buffalo for other services, Farkas said.

“In my world, an adult male who impregnates his teenage babysitter is a sex offender. He says he’s not,” Farkas said of Fifield, who admitted having sex with the 16-year-old in a Newfane mobile home park April 22, 2011.

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Two charged after meth bust in Newfane

January 11, 2013, 5:36 pm

≫ Next: Owner of former mall plans to sell remnants

≪ Previous: Gasport man jailed for not obtaining sex counseling

Two Niagara County men face felony drug charges after a raid Friday that uncovered methamphetamine and a .22-caliber handgun in the town of Newfane, Niagara County sheriff’s officials reported.

Sean A. Smith, 37, and James O. White, 21, were charged with criminal possession and sale of a controlled substance following the raid at 6437 Hope Lane by the Niagara County Drug Task Force and state police investigators.

Smith and White were arraigned in Newfane Town Court and taken to the Niagara County Jail in lieu of $25,000 cash and $50,000 property bond and are to return to court Tuesday.

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Owner of former mall plans to sell remnants

January 11, 2013, 8:10 pm

≫ Next: ECMC announces name for new long-term care facility

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LOCKPORT – General Growth Properties, the Chicago-based owner of the former Lockport Mall, plans to sell what’s left of its commercial property on the South Transit Road site.

The Town of Lockport Planning Board met this week with James S. Thew of Thew Associates, the Canton surveying firm hired by General Growth to prepare a subdivision plan for the mall property.

Thew said General Growth wants the property split into four separate parcels: one each for the Bon-Ton, Arby’s, Wendy’s and First Niagara Bank locations.

At present, they are all part of the same 10-acre property.

“Ultimately, they want to divest themselves of the property,” Thew said.

He said the company has found a buyer, whose identity he did not know, for the Arby’s, Wendy’s and First Niagara buildings.

A year after that deal is done, Thew said, the company intends to sell the Bon-Ton store to that retail chain, which currently leases the building from General Growth’s subsidiary, Lockport Mall LLC.

Thew said he didn’t expect any change in the current tenants of the four buildings.

Planning Board member Rodney W. Conrad told Thew he’d like to know who the buyer of the three smaller parcels is before the board acts on the subdivision plan.

“I want to know who we’re dealing with,” he said.

Thew said the new lots would probably need variances from the town Zoning Board of Appeals because of lot size requirements and rules pertaining to setbacks, or how far a building may be from a property line.

In December 2010, General Growth sold most of the mall site to Walmart Stores Inc. for $3.95 million, keeping only the Bon-Ton from the former shopping center.

Walmart demolished the rest of the building in 2011 and built a fence around the site, but construction on the planned new 185,000-square-foot Walmart supercenter has not begun.

Work has been delayed for a variety of reasons, including seagulls that used to nest on the roof of the mall and continue to return to the site. Also, an environmental snag cropped up last summer when petroleum-contaminated soil from the long-gone Montgomery Ward auto center had to be removed.

Town officials said they have no recent information on what’s going on. Walmart media relations did not respond to a request to comment Friday.

email: tprohaska@buffnews.com

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ECMC announces name for new long-term care facility

January 11, 2013, 8:22 pm

≫ Next: DEC plans 2 public meetings on renewal of CWM permit

≪ Previous: Owner of former mall plans to sell remnants

Erie County Medical Center has announced that its new $103 million, 390-bed nursing home will be named the Terrace View Long-term Care Facility on the ECMC Health Campus on Grider Street.

The facility is scheduled to open in February. The name is based on the design feature of multiple terraces that provide residents with wide-ranging views.

Terrace View replaces the 80-year-old Erie County nursing home in Alden. Terrace View also combines in one location existing long-term care beds from ECMC. The new home is organized into small-scale, 12-bed households, each with a living room and fireplace, kitchen and dining rooms.

Terrace View was designed by Cannon Design of Grand Island.

It contains three floors of 96 skilled nursing beds each; one floor containing 66 sub-acute rehab beds; a 20-bed ventilator unit; and a 16-bed behavioral intervention unit on the ground floor.

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DEC plans 2 public meetings on renewal of CWM permit

January 11, 2013, 8:25 pm

≫ Next: Legislature announces new committee chairman

≪ Previous: ECMC announces name for new long-term care facility

LEWISTON – The state Department of Environmental Conservation will host two public meetings Monday on its draft proposal to allow CWM Chemical Services to renew its operating permit on its current Model City landfill.

The five-year renewal would not permit CWM to expand the size of the hazardous waste landfill. That request is to be considered at a later date.

The formal meetings are set for 5 and 7 p.m. Monday in Lewiston-Porter High School, 4061 Creek Road. A public availability session begins at 4 p.m.

The DEC also announced that it has doubled the length of the period for written comments from two months to four. The original comment period began Nov. 28 and was to expire Jan. 28; now, comments will be accepted until March 29.

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Legislature announces new committee chairman

January 11, 2013, 8:27 pm

≫ Next: 716 patients at VA may have been exposed to HIV

≪ Previous: DEC plans 2 public meetings on renewal of CWM permit

LOCKPORT – New chairmen for the Niagara County Legislature’s five standing committees were announced this week.

Lockport Legislators W. Keith McNall and Anthony J. Nemi will be trading places, with Republican McNall now chairing the Community Services Committee and Nemi, an Independence Party member, taking over McNall’s former Administration Committee chairmanship.

Paul B. Wojtaszek, R-North Tonawanda, moves from the Community Safety and Security Committee to take the gavel at the Public Works Committee. David E. Godfrey, R-Wilson, is the new Community Safety chairman. Legislature Vice Chairman Clyde L. Burmaster, R-Ransomville, had to give up Public Works because of a new rule barring Legislature leaders from chairing committees.

The same rule forced Majority Leader Richard E. Updegrove, R-Lockport, to give up the chairmanship of the Economic Development Committee, where he will be succeeded by Kathryn L. Lance, R-Wheatfield.

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716 patients at VA may have been exposed to HIV

January 11, 2013, 9:29 pm

≫ Next: Dyster says Cuomo’s stand on casinos is good news for Niagara

≪ Previous: Legislature announces new committee chairman

WASHINGTON – More than 700 patients at the Buffalo VA Medical Center may have been exposed to HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C because of the inadvertent reuse of insulin pens that were intended to be used only once.

The possible reuse of the insulin delivery devices occurred between Oct. 19, 2010, and Nov. 1, 2012, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said in a memo sent Friday to local members of Congress, which The Buffalo News obtained.

“There is a very small chance that some patients could have been exposed to the Hepatitis B virus, the Hepatitis C virus, or HIV, based on practices identified at the facility,” the memo said.

The VA told local lawmakers that 716 patients at the facility may have been exposed to the reused insulin pens, and that 570 of those patients are still living.

A routine pharmacy inspection revealed the problem last Nov. 1, when the insulin pens were discovered in supply carts without patient labels on them, thereby indicating that they may have been reused, the VA memo said.

The local veterans hospital “recently discovered that in some cases, insulin pens were not labeled for individual patients,” said Evangeline Conley, a spokeswoman for the hospital. “Although the pen needles were always changed, an insulin pen may have been used on more than one patient.

“Once this was identified, immediate action was taken to ensure the insulin pens were labeled and only used according to pharmaceutical guidelines. The hospital immediately changed its procedures to prevent insulin pens from being reused,” Conley added.

After seeing the VA’s memo on the matter, Rep. Chris Collins, R-Clarence, spoke with Dr. Robert A. Petzel, undersecretary for health at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“His thought was that it’s a very, very low chance of passing infection,” Collins said. “But it’s not out of the realm of possibility, and that’s why they’re testing everyone.”

Nurses apparently changed the needles used with the insulin pens with every single use, but even with a fresh needle, contamination could have occurred if bodily fluid had flowed back into one of the insulin pens during a previous injection, Collins said.

VA officials believe the infection risk would have been far worse if the needles themselves were reused. “That would have been a grave concern,” Collins said. Given the possibility that infections may have occurred, the VA is reaching out to the patients who may have been given insulin with a used insulin pen.

The agency is setting up a nurse-staffed call center to handle calls from concerned veterans, as well as planning to send a letter to every veteran who may have been infected.

The Buffalo VA hospital began using the insulin pens to deliver insulin to diabetic patients on Oct. 19, 2010, and the misuse of the pens appears to have begun on that very same day, the VA said in a draft of that letter.

“At this point, we cannot tell whether your insulin was given using a properly labeled insulin pen,” Brian G. Stiller, medical center director, said in that draft, which was obtained by The Buffalo News. “Although your risk for infection is felt to be very low or nonexistent, we are offering blood tests to rule out any infections needing treatment. There will be no charge or co-pay for your visit.”

So far, the VA has not identified any patients who were infected at the Buffalo facility through the repeated use of insulin pens, the VA said in a handout it is sending to veterans who may have been infected. After the problem was discovered, local VA officials conducted a “root cause analysis,” and they now plan to develop an action plan based on that analysis.

In addition, the VA National Center for Patient Safety was notified about the problem in Buffalo, and is developing a patient safety alert to be shared with other VA medical facilities to make sure the error doesn’t recur anywhere else.

Collins said the VA “is being open and transparent” about the problem, but still, there are concerns. “It doesn’t diminish the fact that it did go on for two years here,” Collins said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., was aghast upon hearing of the reuse of the insulin delivery pens.

“What has happened can only be described as the grossest of irresponsible and dangerous behavior,” he said. “The VA must immediately deal with the health of those that were victimized, and promptly launch a top-to-bottom investigation to root out how this happened and tell us what is being done to prevent it from ever happening again, in Buffalo or elsewhere in the country.”

email: jzremski@buffnews.com.

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Dyster says Cuomo’s stand on casinos is good news for Niagara

January 11, 2013, 11:04 pm

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NIAGARA FALLS – Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s suggestion Thursday that there would be no new casinos in Western New York was seen by Mayor Paul A. Dyster as a sign of a more cordial relationship between the state and Seneca Nation of Indians.

He also believes it opens a new door for a possible resolution to the gambling dispute that has left the city without more than $60 million in expected slot revenues from the Seneca Niagara Casino.

“This opens a potential avenue for resolution of the casino revenues dispute that didn’t exist before,” Dyster said Friday. “The tone has improved, but there is also a path forward here.”

Cuomo said the state would “honor legal agreements that are in good standing” as it decides where to place up to three new upstate casinos.

“We’re not going to violate any contracts that are in good standing, so you’d have to look at the contract,” Cuomo said Thursday. “If it says there’s an exclusivity geographically, then we’re not going to violate any contract that’s in good standing.”

Dyster said it was an acknowledgement that the state does indeed realize the importance of the 2002 agreement between the state and Senecas, which allowed casinos in Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Salamanca.

“I think that’s got to be viewed as very positive and reassuring to those people on the Seneca side who are looking to see the dispute resolved in a serious way,” he said.

He pointed out that the Senecas also responded to the governor’s clarification in a more conciliatory tone than was common at the end of former President Robert Odawi Porter’s administration.

“On behalf of the Seneca Nation, we appreciate the governor’s continued commitment to the economic revitalization of Western New York and recognizing the Seneca Nation’s gaming enterprises as an important component for continuing the region’s growth and transformation,” Seneca President Barry Snyder Sr. said in a statement.

But Dyster said it also puts the onus on the Senecas to pay the state the slot machine revenues withheld to prevent another casino from being built in the region.

The Senecas have withheld the payments because they feel the state violated the exclusivity of their 2002 agreement by allowing racetrack casinos.

“His clarification … puts the ball in the Senecas’ court to come into ‘good standing’ by paying the state what is owed,” Dyster said. “By clarifying that coming into ‘good standing’ could impact where casinos will be located in the future, the governor has put the Senecas on notice that their own actions will determine the long-term future of the Compact.”

Dyster said he would encourage both sides to get together as soon as possible to discuss specifics.

email: cspecht@buffnews.com

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