Quantcast
Channel: The Buffalo News - niagara
Viewing all 1955 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

Soccer shelters would honor victim of Flight 3407

January 16, 2013, 8:00 pm
$
0
0
SANBORN – The Niagara Wheatfield School Board Wednesday night supported a fundraising effort to memorialize Steven L. Johnson, the father of three female soccer players who was killed nearly four years ago when Flight 3407 crashed in Clarence Center.

The request, brought to the board by Gina Terbot of the girls soccer booster club, sought district backing to build four soccer shelters on the athletic fields for the varsity and junior varsity teams to remember the man who was a longtime supporter of the sport and a familiar sight at his daughters’ Niagara Wheatfield High School games.

Terbot was accompanied by Ashley, Chelsea, and Alexis Johnson, who all played soccer for the school and were honored to have the project initiated in memory of their dad. Two of the girls have graduated; Alexis is a senior.

Steven Johnson was one of four Northrop Grumman Amherst Systems employees on Flight 3407. The 52-year-old died along with 50 others when a Colgan Air flight crashed into a house on Feb. 12, 2009.

Terbot read a portion of a letter from Chelsea Johnson to the board that described her father’s devotion to the sport, and the girls’ participation, as well as the reaction of the daughters to the project. In the letter, she recounted all the time and effort Steven Johnson invested in his daughters’ soccer years.

“For my sisters and I, being approached to have dugouts dedicated to our father left us speechless,” she wrote.

“Since the plane crash, various memorials have been built to remember the 51 lives lost. However, not one of those monuments has been created to help us remember our father the way we feel he should be remembered.

“For us, having a place in our father’s name where he stood for so many years showing his support for our friends and us would mean the world. The dugouts can become a place to help people remember a kind and generous man who had a love for his daughters and a love for soccer that no one could ever take away, a quiet place to sit and think, as well as a place to shield players from the weather’s elements.

“Lastly, they can become a symbol of hope and strength that your life does not end when one life is taken, and that you must never give up on the soccer field or in the field of life, no matter what.”

Terbot said the club is looking at a number of different types of shelters before a final decision would be made on which type to construct, but she wanted the shelters to be permanent. She said the cost could be somewhere between $20,000 and $40,000.

She anticipated that the fundraising would take about five years to successfully complete, and that she would like the fundraising to kick-off next month on the anniversary of the crash.



email: niagaranews@buffnews.com
↧
Search

Wegmans ranked among best places to work for 16th straight year

January 16, 2013, 8:12 pm
$
0
0
In what has become an annual tradition – the 16th annual, to be exact – Wegmans Food Markets has been named to the Fortune magazine list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For.”

Wegmans is No. 5 on the list this year, one spot below last year’s position. The magazine with the list will hit newsstands Feb. 4.

“This ranking is a gift to Wegmans from our employees,” said Theresa Jackson, Wegmans’ consumer affairs manager. “They relayed their daily experience to Fortune magazine, and we are grateful.”

Wegmans has been in the top 10 for 11 consecutive years and is one of 13 companies to have been on the list since the list’s inception in 1998.

“Our employees are the No. 1 reason our customers shop at Wegmans,” CEO Danny Wegman said in a release. “I’m convinced there is only one path to great customer service, and that is through employees who feel they are cared about and empowered.”

The company looks for employees who are customer-minded and identifies them through an application process that includes behavioral questioning.

“We look for the type of employee that will really take care of customers and has the same values as we do as a company,” Jackson said, “and really high standards – high standards for themselves and the work that they do.”

She added that employees at Wegmans are trained to make decisions and aid customers without management involvement, a responsibility that makes workers feel valuable.

The company also offers scholarship programs to employees who are pursuing higher education, Jackson said. Since the program began in 1984, more than 26,500 Wegmans employees have been awarded scholarships totaling $85 million.

“While they are working for us, it’s a nice thing for people who need it to help them to learn and grow,” she said.

Wegmans operates 81 stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts.



email: esapong@buffnews.com
↧
↧

Inmates blame man’s death on lack of care at jail

January 16, 2013, 10:21 pm
$
0
0
Tommie Lee Jones Jr. suffered from heart disease, high blood pressure, emphysema, gout and claustrophobia.

But as an inmate at the Niagara County Jail, he was denied adequate medical treatment and died after going into cardiac arrest in his jail cell late last month, according to his loved ones and more than two dozen county inmates who wrote a letter to The Buffalo News about what they observed.

“All you had to do was let him see the doctor and send him to the hospital where he needed to be,” said Genesser Moore, Jones’ longtime domestic partner. “If he would have been at home, he would have gone to the hospital.”

Sheriff James R. Voutour adamantly denied the accusation and said Jones received excellent medical care, but the state is investigating.

Voutour said jail medical logs prove the 51-year-old Niagara Falls resident was under near-constant care by the jail’s medical staff.

“I can tell you he received intensive medical care at the jail, and I am confident that when the Commission of Correction finishes its investigation, it will provide a reasonable explanation,” Voutour said of why Jones died Dec. 29.

Voutour said that because medical information is covered by federal privacy laws, his hands are tied from being able to make a public case that Jones indeed received intensive medical care.

“Our staff risks their lives every day to take care of these individuals, and we keep getting beat up by the media,” Voutour said, adding that claims made by inmates have turned out to be inaccurate or outright attempts to besmirch the reputation of the institution.

The state correction commission confirmed it is investigating Jones’ death, as well as the death of a second inmate, Daniel Pantera, 46, of North Tonawanda, who died four days earlier in the jail’s medical unit.

The News received a letter from inmates complaining that the jail’s correctional and medical staff failed to address Jones’ medical needs. The six-page letter, signed by more than 30 fellow inmates, described Jones as a man who was slowly dying in front of them.

“He literally begged the staff, both correctional and medical, to take him to the hospital,” they wrote. “On Friday, Dec. 28, his condition has visibly worsened, but jail staff acted as if they did not see the dying man. I told Tommie to call his relatives to see if they could make some phone calls to the jail so they could finally take him to the hospital. Jones told me that they told him if he calls his family that they would put him in the medical unit or isolation.”

The next day, the letter states, Jones’ condition had further deteriorated.

“When he walked up to get his [breakfast] tray, he could barely stand on his own, and his body was shaking so bad that the officer asked him if he was OK. Jones could not and did not respond to this officer. Instead of further investigation, the officer told him to ‘go lay down.’ He went and lay back down at or around 8:30 to 9 a.m., and staff never checked his condition.

“When lunch arrived around 11:30 a.m., a couple inmates were trying to wake him up, but he was unresponsive, and they began kicking and banging on his door, and he was not moving or breathing.”

After the correctional officer was notified, the medical staff tried to revive Jones. An ambulance crew arrived at 12:25 p.m., the inmates wrote. Jones, according to the Sheriff’s Office, was transported to Eastern Niagara Hospital and pronounced dead at 12:50 p.m.

Jones was jailed earlier in December, after he was paroled from state prison on a robbery conviction. He was back behind bars because he violated terms of his parole by not meeting his parole officer, his girlfriend said.

Voutour would not allow a reporter to meet with inmates who wrote the letter, explaining they do not know what was medically wrong with Jones and have no official insight into what happened.

Moore said she arrived at the jail Dec. 29 just in time to learn Jones was being taken to the hospital. She said she was not shocked, because of his failing health.

On four past occasions, she said, she called supervisors at the jail to inform them that Jones was having difficulty breathing or experiencing chest pains.

After one of those calls, she said, Jones was taken to the hospital and received treatment for his breathing before being returned to the jail. On other occasions, she said, the jail staff provided him with an inhaler and oxygen machine, but the measures did not go far enough.

Before his incarceration, she said, it was not uncommon for Jones to end up in the hospital if his breathing medications, administered through a nebulizer, failed to help him.

“Before he went to jail in December, he was at Mount St. Mary Hospital for nine days, and they had a tube in his lungs to help him breathe,” Moore said, adding that his problems were compounded by a weak heart.

“He had heart surgery in 2005 and had a defibrillator implanted in his chest,” she said. Jones, she added, refused to take medications provided by the jail’s medical staff.

“He kept asking what kinds of medicine they were giving him, and they wouldn’t tell him what they were. The nurse said either you take them or not. So he refused,” Moore said.

The deaths of Jones and Pantera occurred at a transitional time. A Florida company, Armor Correctional Health Services, took over as the jail’s health care provider a few weeks before their deaths. When the Niagara County Legislature awarded the physician-owned company the contract in October, it was estimated that Armor would save the jail’s medical budget some $800,000 annually in hospital, staffing and pharmaceutical costs.

Voutour defended the move, saying the jail medical staff has increased from seven to 11 full-time nurses.

“The doctor has more hours at the jail, and Armor has added two administrators to oversee all the medical care,” the sheriff added.

In a normal year, Voutour said, there is one in-custody death, usually the result of natural causes. Last year, however, was unusual, he said. Besides the two December deaths, an inmate committed suicide Jan. 23 by leaping from a second-floor walkway, landing headfirst on a concrete floor.

The family of that inmate, Harold G. Case, 50, of Hartland, last week filed a lawsuit against the jail for failing to prevent his death. Case, jailed after his conviction for attempted rape, had made it known that he was suicidal, according to his family.

If Moore has her way, the jail may soon face another lawsuit. She said she has met with attorney Thomas Mercure, of the Buffalo law firm of Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria, because she believes Jones would still be alive if his repeated requests for adequate medical attention had been met.

Voutour pointed out that individuals who end up in jail often arrive in poor health.

“You have to understand that the people we are dealing with are from a sick population that does not take care of itself when they are outside of jail,” the sheriff said. “When they come in, they get the best health plan of anybody.”



email: lmichel@buffnews.com
↧

Higgins calls on Power Authority to aid Falls waterfront development

January 17, 2013, 10:56 am
$
0
0
Money from the Niagara Power Project helped break decades of inertia on Buffalo’s waterfront.

Rep. Brian Higgins thinks it can do the same for Niagara Falls.

The Buffalo Democrat on Thursday called on the New York Power Authority to fund the removal of the Robert Moses Parkway, which is seen as the main barrier to tourism along the Niagara River.

“NYPA planned the parkway, NYPA built it, NYPA evicted several scores of homeowners and other property owners to seize the land on which it sits, and NYPA owns the land under the parkway to this day,” Higgins said. “As such, NYPA bears the responsibility for fixing it.”

Higgins said the Power Authority should pay $120 million for the removal and redesign of the highway, which Higgins termed as “absurdly overbuilt.”

State officials and Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-NY, already are working on plans to convert a stretch of the highway near Niagara Falls State Park into a pedestrian-friendly, low-speed road that would connect the city to the river, and similar plans are under review between Niagara Falls and Lewiston.

But a lack of funding – which has stalled previous plans for the Moses – remains a key obstacle with only $5 million allocated for two projects that could top $100 million.

“Right now, you’re going to have a very ambitious plan with very little money to finance it,” Higgins said. “Five million won’t do anything for you here, it just won’t. One hundred million will.”

Higgins argues the Power Authority has an obligation to undo Moses’ namesake because it tore down homes to build the highway in the 1950s despite opposition from concerned residents and local leaders.

Those decisions not only displaced residents but created a physical and economic barrier between the crumbling city and the gorge, according to a 14-page report he provided to Power Authority Chairman John R. Koelmel.

“As the successor to Robert Moses, you have an historic opportunity to right one of the more egregious historic wrongs which he committed by reworking the roadway which bears his name to actually serve the interests of the city and the neighborhoods in which it sits,” Higgins wrote to Koelmel.

City officials said they were pleased that Higgins is engaging in waterfront affairs in Niagara Falls, two weeks after the struggling city was added to his redrawn Congressional district.

They hope Higgins can get the Power Authority to deliver the kind of money it gave to Buffalo, when a 2005 settlement netted $279 million for the redevelopment of Buffalo’s waterfront.

“I think this is going to be very popular cause in the City of Niagara Falls,” Mayor Paul A. Dyster said. “There’s certainly a feeling in the region that the Niagara power plant provides benefits for the state in excess of what we get back as a region.”

To underscore that point, Higgins said the Power Authority:

• Helped take more than $1 billion from the Niagara project in the last six years to fund operations elsewhere.

• Had a 2008 surplus of $309 million, 76 percent of which came from the Niagara plant

• Generated an extra $39.5 million last year from excess water flows at Niagara and should see its profits grow as it increases its generating capacity

Higgins also notes that the Niagara plant is one of few power plants that makes money for the state. He says state studies showed that prior to the relicensing agreement, only 14 percent of the economic benefit from the Niagara plant remains in Western New York.

“No other place in the state can provide what Niagara Falls can,” Higgins said. “NYPA can and should choose to be a partner in the city’s rise once again.”

Power Authority spokesman Michael Saltzman declined to comment on the details of the proposal but said the authority would “respond in a timely manner and continue to have an open dialogue with the congressman.”

If the authority does not pay the funds, Higgins suggests he could object to the 2019 federal relicensing of a power plant in the Catskills which is deemed crucial to the New York City power supply. Local leaders could push for the authority to lose control of that plant, the report states.

“I am prepared to use that as leverage again,” Higgins said.



email: cspecht@buffnews.com
↧

Woman charged with driving while impaired by drugs in Sanborn

January 17, 2013, 11:25 am
$
0
0
SANBORN – A woman driving recklessly on Saunders Settlement Road, almost striking a school bus and a guard rail, was stopped by Niagara County sheriff’s deputies just after 10 a.m. Tuesday and charged with driving under the influence of drugs.

Emily A. Lebay, 25, of Divide Road, Niagara Falls, was found with a narcotic hydrocodone pill on the floor of her vehicle, a hypodermic syringe with a needle that had been used for heroin, and 11 small baggies commonly used to carry heroin, according to deputies who ordered a drug test to determine the drug content in her blood.

She was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and driving while impaired by drugs after she appeared under the influence and told deputies she was heroin user and had taken one Xanex and a “hydro” earlier that morning.

Deputies said multiple witnesses described her driving as erratic and reckless and one driver told deputies he pulled over because he was afraid of being rear-ended. Deputies said when they pulled Lebay over she started backing up and almost struck their patrol car.
↧
↧

Canadian man arrested after paddling across river with a shovel

January 17, 2013, 11:56 am
$
0
0
A Canadian man was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol in Youngstown this morning, after he illegally entered the country by canoe.

The man – whose name was not released – is accused of stealing a canoe from a residence in Niagara-on-the-Lake, then crossing the river overnight using a shovel for a paddle, officials from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.

When he reached shore, the man abandoned the canoe at a boat ramp in Fort Niagara State Park. Agents on patrol in the area found him walking out of the park and determined he was in the U.S. illegally.

The man – a resident of British Columbia – was planning to travel to New York City, officials said.

↧

Visions emerge of upgrades to Ralph Wilson Stadium

January 17, 2013, 2:48 pm
$
0
0
Gone will be the concrete barriers and chain-link fence that greet fans as they enter Ralph Wilson Stadium from Abbott Road. Vending carts that clog concourses during halftime will disappear. Dead space on the 300 Level will be a thing of the past.

In their place will be a luminous glass team store designed to create a focal point on Abbott Road, an outdoor plaza that will funnel fans into the stadium and clearer concourses that offer more places to buy food and drinks.

All are part of a $130 million renovation proposed for Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park that aims to erase some of the nuisances of going to the game – from the long lines at the gates to the touchdown you miss while you’re in the restroom.

The centerpiece of the project will be the 8,000-square-foot team store on Abbott Road that will mark the entrance to a new pedestrian plaza at the front of the stadium. The store – envisioned to include a modern glass design with elements reminiscent of the Old Rock Pile – will help create a “new front door” and boost the “curb appeal” of the 40-year-old home of the Buffalo Bills.

“We want it to glow and light up at night,” said architect Scott Radecic, a former Bills linebacker who is now senior principal at Populous. “We want it to be a beacon along Abbott Road. We want people to know and to be obvious about what it is. We want to reinforce the Bills brand when people are passing by the stadium.”

Populous, selected by the team to design the stadium upgrades, Thursday gave Erie County legislators their first in-depth glimpse into what a $95 million state and county investment into the county-owned stadium renovation will buy.

One of the main goals, Radecic said, is to improve the ways fans move in and out of the stadium by pushing the entrance gates 75 to 100 feet out and creating an outdoor space around the stadium for fans. Radecic said discussions are still under way with concessionaire Delaware North Cos. to determine what amenities could be added to that area to connect fans to the game.

“You’ve got all that space to circulate once you get inside the perimeter,” Radecic said. “Right now, once you get in, you have to immediately get up to your seat, go right down, and there’s no space to mingle.”

A chain-link fence around the stadium will be replaced with new fencing that will create better views into the complex, and more lanes will be added that will more clearly define how people line up as they enter the ticket gates.

Inside the stadium, the renovations will focus on redesigning existing space to create more places to sell food and beverages, upgrade restrooms and clear portable vending stands that create backups in the concourses.

While improving the way fans move through the stadium was a priority, Bills executives ruled out a more expensive “retrofit” of the stadium that could have widened concourses to alleviate congestion. Instead, they will add more fan space with “destination concessions” to the east end zone by expanding into an area on the 100 Level that currently houses administrative space. Four barren promenade areas on the 300 Level that now are mostly empty during the games will get concession stands and will become more accessible. Some concourse areas also will get radiant heaters, improved lighting and better signs.

“We want to be able to provide some areas where we can actually heat the concourses so that people get a little bit of relief on the really frigid days,” Radecic said.

Fans also will notice technology upgrades in the stadium that could allow them to access wireless Internet and provide the ability for cellphone companies to boost coverage during the games. A new high-definition video scoreboard will replace the existing scoreboard on the west end of the stadium, allowing the older scoreboard to be split into two video boards that will sit atop indoor club seating areas on the east end, Radecic said. A third video screen will stretch across the top of suites at the stadium’s east end.

Updated infrastructure to pipe data throughout the stadium also will allow the team to add high-definition television screens throughout the concourses and to pump game sound into restrooms. “Technology is changing the way people experience a game today,” Radecic said. “It’s one of the fastest moving elements of the whole participating in an NFL game experience.”

The project – which has a long list of other changes that include safety upgrades, work to meet standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act, infrastructure repairs and a new commissary building – is part of a 10-year lease deal negotiated by the Bills, New York State and Erie County.

The proposed lease, which still needs approval from the County Legislature and the group of team owners in the National Football League, would require the team to pay a $400 million buyout if the Bills leave during the first seven years.

The cost to the state and the county is expected to be about $226 million during the 10-year lease, including the renovations, team subsidies and other annual payments.

Asked about the lifespan of the stadium after renovations are complete, Bills CEO Russ Brandon told legislators that it would need to be a community decision about whether it makes sense to build a new stadium or renovate the existing facility beyond the next decade.

“Those are the kind of decisions we need to make as a community moving forward,” Brandon said. “But I’m very comfortable that this stadium can continue to prosper with the renovations that have taken place in the past and in the future.”



email: djgee@buffnews.com
↧

Sex abuse case against Niagara County correction officer will continue

January 17, 2013, 3:08 pm
$
0
0
TOWN OF LOCKPORT – A town judge on Thursday denied a request to suppress statements made as part of a probe into claims of sexual abuse involving female inmates leveled last year against a Niagara County corrections officer.

David B. Elliott, 56, of Sanborn, an officer in the County Jail since 2006, was charged last February with a misdemeanor count of sexual abuse, as well as official misconduct.

His attorney, Joel L. Daniels, argued to Justice Raymond E. Schilling that Elliott’s statement made to his superiors when the investigation began should be barred under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a public employee cannot be compelled by his employer to incriminate himself.

Schilling let the charges stand.

Sheriff James R. Voutour said Elliott remains suspended without pay, correcting earlier statements by the Sheriff’s Office that said he was continuing to draw a salary.

Though he can’t be specific about the type of sexual abuse involved, Voutour said the charges leveled against Elliott involved more than one female inmate and occurred over a period of time, a few months before the Sheriff’s Office suspended him in February. Internal hearings are pending regarding Elliott’s continued employment, Voutour said.

Daniels is using sheriff’s internal hearings “to glean as much information to dispute everything he can in the criminal case,” the sheriff said. “That’s why this is getting dragged out.”

Following an appearance in court Thursday, Daniels said, “We are waiting for the results of arbitration.”

Daniels appeared in Town Court without Elliott, who he said was out of town, and asked Schilling for another adjournment – the eighth time such a request has been made – until after arbitration is finished.

“We can’t rule out going to trial on this,” Daniels told The Buffalo News after court.



email: nfischer@buffnews.com
↧
Search

Lackawanna man admits to selling drugs in Niagara County

January 17, 2013, 5:20 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – Patrick J. Murtha, who served four years in federal prison in the wake of a 1999 cocaine arrest, faces a maximum of eight years in state prison after pleading guilty Thursday to illegally selling prescription painkillers.

Murtha, 37, of Ridge Road, Lackawanna, admitted to attempted third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and was scheduled for sentencing May 24 by Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas.

Murtha was charged with selling oxymorphone in Cambria June 10 and 11. Murtha said he is 85 percent disabled because of a back injury that he said occurred while moving a 55-gallon drum at work in 2009.
↧
↧

Hearing held in Falls slain baby case

January 17, 2013, 5:24 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – Three Niagara Falls police officers testified in Niagara County Court Thursday in a hearing on the admissibility of Tyler S. Best’s confession to police that he helped stash the body of a 5-year-old Cheektowaga girl in a stolen garbage tote Aug. 26.

Best, 18, of Barnard Street, Buffalo, is charged with evidence tampering and hindering prosecution in the death of Isabella S. Tennant. The girl allegedly was strangled by babysitter John R. Freeman Jr., 17, of Sixth Street, Niagara Falls. Freeman is charged with second-degree murder, a crime that allegedly occurred in the Falls home of the girl’s great-grandparents.

Officer Jack Miljour said he was the first to encounter Best at Police Headquarters on the morning of Aug. 27. He testifed that Best “seemed very remorseful” as he told his story.

The content of what Detective William Smith said was a 33-minute interview was not discussed during Thursday’s hearing, but the tape of the interview was submitted to Judge Matthew J. Murphy III for his review.

Smith said Best also gave a DNA sample, and Deputy District Attorney Doreen M. Hoffmann told Murphy that Best’s clothing also was confiscated.
↧

Man indicted on charges of torching three autos

January 17, 2013, 5:26 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – A Lewiston man was arraigned in Niagara County Court Thursday on charges of setting three parked vehicles afire in North Tonawanda July 22.

David E. Spencer, 26, of Model City Road, pleaded not guilty to three counts each of third-degree arson and third-degree criminal mischief. He balked at two preindictment plea offers Nov. 28 and Jan. 10. His attorney, Thomas Hurley, said Thursday he’s leaving the case.

Restitution would have totaled $1,935 in the plea deal. At his Jan. 10 court appearance, Spencer said he was drunk and didn’t know what he was doing when he allegedly used a cigarette lighter to ignite the right rear wheel well of one of the vehicles on Sandra Lane.
↧

Falls man surrenders, takes plea deal in gun case

January 17, 2013, 5:34 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – A Niagara Falls man, whose attorney thought he had left for Atlanta, turned himself in Wednesday, and Thursday he pleaded guilty before Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas to a reduced charge of attempted second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Thomas J. Pryor Jr., 20, of Center Avenue, is to be sentenced April 12. Farkas promised him a one-year sentence, but he also must plead guilty in Niagara Falls City Court March 6 to a misdemeanor stemming from a domestic violence case. Thus, Farkas said Pryor’s total term is likely to be two years.

Pryor, along with DeMario D. Crittenden, 33, of 16th Street, and Levester J. Rose, 34, of Dudley Avenue, were arrested on cocaine and weapons charges Dec. 3, 2011, after a vehicle stop at 22nd Street and Willow Avenue. Crittenden and Rose pleaded guilty Monday.

Pryor also is facing a prosecution demand for a DNA sample in connection with another gun possession arrest Aug. 24.
↧

North Tonawanda man off to prison for pharmacy burglaries

January 17, 2013, 5:38 pm
$
0
0
A North Tonawanda man was sentenced Thursday to nearly six years in prison following his conviction for burglarizing a pharmacy and selling stolen prescription drugs.

Prosecutors said Timothy J. Lichtenburger, 30, twice broke into the Rite Aid Pharmacy, 1381 Nash Road, City of Tonawanda, on May 15, 2011, took more than $26,000 worth of various prescription pain pills, then sold them for the next six days until he was arrested.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara also ordered him to pay $27,197 in restitution to Rite Aid.
↧
↧

Lockport mayor to announce impact program for Washburn Street area

January 17, 2013, 5:46 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – Mayor Michael W. Tucker will host police leaders and elected officials at a news conference at 1 p.m. Friday in City Hall to announce details of an impact program to clean up the Washburn Street area.

Tucker said Thursday he has worked out an interagency plan with the Lockport Police Department, Niagara County Sheriff’s Office and State Police, in the wake of the still-unsolved Jan. 3 shooting of a man outside a gas station at Walnut and Washburn streets.

“I’m going to send a message to the residents that we’re concerned. I’m going to send a message to the criminals that we won’t tolerate it,” Tucker said.

The shooting scene is across the street from the Harrison Square complex into which Trek Inc. of Medina is to move its business soon, bringing almost 100 jobs.

Tucker said the city Building Inspection Department will be asked to crack down on abandoned housing in the area.
↧

Lockport police gave 150 improper parking tickets

January 17, 2013, 6:30 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – Because of Common Council inaction, Lockport police handed out more than 150 parking tickets since Jan. 1 showing fines the Council hadn’t yet approved.

City Clerk Richelle J. Pasceri said Thursday that the aldermen agreed during a work session last July to raise the city’s parking fines as of Jan. 1. But they never took a vote at a formal meeting until Wednesday.

“Everybody thought it was done,” Pasceri said.

The Council tried to make Wednesday’s action retroactive to Jan. 1, but Corporation Counsel John J. Ottaviano put a stop to that, telling the aldermen that retroactivity would be illegal.

The result? Anyone who paid a fine for a parking violation incurred between Jan. 1 and Wednesday afternoon paid too much.

Parking tickets are a substantial source of revenue for the city. Pasceri said her office collected $77,075 in parking fines in 2012.

Mayor Michael W. Tucker said Thursday he opposes any rebate program, but his advice to those who already paid tickets handed out since Jan. 1 is, “They can come to the City Clerk’s Office and we’ll see what we can do for them.”

As for those who have a 2013 parking ticket they haven’t paid yet, Tucker said, “They can go to court, and maybe the judge will dismiss the tickets because they’re improper.”

Police Traffic Capt. Michael F. Niethe recommended the fine increases last summer, saying it was an opportune time to do because the supply of tickets was running low.

The Council agreed to increase the fine for most parking violations from $20 to $30. Tickets for double parking and blocking a fire hydrant were raised from $30 to $40, and the fine for illegal parking in a handicapped space went from $40 to $50.

The city adds $20 to any parking fine if it’s not paid within five business days. Another $25 is added if it’s not paid within 15 business days.

The fines for each type of violation are printed right on the tickets. Niethe had a new supply printed with the higher fines, and officers have been using them since Jan. 1. But the Council had never officially approved the increases.

“Thankfully, there haven’t been a great number of parking tickets the last two weeks,” Pasceri said.



email: tprohaska@buffnews.com
↧
Search

News conference will address cleanup of Washburn St. area

January 17, 2013, 7:15 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – Mayor Michael W. Tucker will host police leaders and elected officials at a news conference at 1 p.m. today in City Hall to announce details of an impact program to clean up the Washburn Street area.

Tucker said Thursday he has worked out an interagency plan with the Lockport Police Department, Niagara County Sheriff’s Office and the State Police, in the wake of the still-unsolved Jan. 3 shooting of a man outside a gas station at Walnut and Washburn streets.

The shooting scene is across from the Harrison Square complex into which Trek Inc. of Medina is to move its business soon, bringing almost 100 jobs.

The Building Inspection Department will be asked to crack down on abandoned housing in the area.
↧

Doctor sees shift to single- payer care

January 17, 2013, 7:32 pm
$
0
0
Single-payer health care remains the only way to meet public health needs, and demand for it will reignite as changes brought by the Affordable Care Act fail to make health care cheaper and continue to leave tens of millions uninsured, the head of a national physicians organization said Thursday.

Dr. Andy Coates, president of Physicians for a National Health Program, which represents more than 18,000 members, spoke to The Buffalo News Editorial Board. He later spoke at a forum sponsored by Partnership for the Public Good.

Coates, who practices in a community hospital in Albany and teaches in the departments of medicine and psychiatry at the University at Albany, said he constantly sees rising premiums and deductibles force low-income patients to choose between critical health needs and basic survival.

“I had a man [recently] who bled half of his blood volume, and he insisted on discharge because he had a day-by-day hospital co-pay of over $200, had no savings and hadn’t been able to pay his bills because it hadn’t snowed enough to plow snow like he usually does. He just absolutely insisted on going home when our advice was that he should be in a hospital making sure he didn’t continue to bleed,” Coates said.

“This kind of thing is unbelievably common.”

He predicted changes under way in health care will fall far short.

“The data we’ve seen most recently suggests that even in 2019, with the [Affordable Care Act] fully implemented, there would still be 36 million people without health insurance. It’s not fundamental reform, and the proven cost savings are none.”

Coates, who compared doctors to “lawyers for the poor,” said the country eventually will have to turn to single payer because “nothing else will work.”

He said studies and polls have shown a majority of the public and physicians would support single payer, but the idea remains outside mainstream acceptability among the political class.

He also promotes a more holistic approach to health care and was joined by Dr. Kathleen Grimm and Jessica Bauer Walker of the Community Health Worker Network of Buffalo.

Members of the 2-year-old network of health care and public health advocates operate as community educators and organizers who, through social networks, help people underserved by traditional health systems.

“Our way of working is based on trust, which is a very different framework for those who are providing and receiving services,” said Walker, the group’s executive director.

Grimm, co-chairwoman of the health network, noted the U.S. ranked 17th in a 2007 study by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council of life expectancy among high-income countries.

“The one distinguishing factor is that the United States does not have universal health coverage,” Grimm said, “and the other 16 do.”



email: msommer@buffnews.com
↧
↧

Town of Niagara board weighs altering commercial zones

January 17, 2013, 7:32 pm
$
0
0
TOWN OF NIAGARA – The Town Board wants to look at allowing office use and light storage facilities in commercial zones.

Town Attorney Michael Risman told the board members at a work session Thursday that he and Supervisor Steve Richards had discussed permitting offices and storage sites to move into areas zoned for business use, such as Military and Porter roads.

Present zoning restrictions allow office and storage use only in light industrial zones, which are scattered throughout the town. Office and storage use is not permitted in business areas unless selling is conducted on the premises, he said.

Risman said the change would allow the town to keep up with development trends. The proposal would allow retail space on plazas and other areas to be rented for office use and storage of office files, for example.

He said there are fewer of the traditional large office buildings in existence, and “more and more space in retail is going to office use.” He used the Apple- Tree Mall in Cheektowaga as an example.

“We believe this would result in increased occupancy in retail areas and increased jobs,” Risman said. “The world is changing, and these maps were drawn 11 years ago.”

A public hearing would allow the board to solicit opinions on the proposal and find out if it “would negatively impact the retail store next door,” he the town attorney said.

Most of the councilmen seemed to favor holding the hearing to get opinions on the issue.

Deputy Supervisor Danny Sklarski, who presided over the session because Richards was ill and did not attend, said he would direct the town clerk to put the matter on the agenda for Tuesday so a hearing could be scheduled.



email: niagaranews@buffnews.com
↧

Medical Center gala Saturday is a sellout

January 17, 2013, 7:56 pm
$
0
0
NIAGARA FALLS – A sellout crowd of more than 900, at $225 a ticket, is lined up for the Premier, Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center’s annual black-tie entertainment gala, set for Saturday night in the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel.

Hospital spokesman Patrick J. Bradley said proceeds from the event will benefit Memorial’s cardiac and stroke care programs. During dinner, there will be music by the Wendell Rivera Jazz Quartet and a short program honoring Dr. Michael Cropp, president and CEO of Independent Health, and the nursing staffs of Niagara Falls Memorial and the Schoellkopf Health Center for their service to the community. Entertainment headliner Jon Secada is scheduled to take the stage at 9:15 p.m., with the Baila Salsa Dance Company performing before and after. Late-night dancing with Soul Committee also is scheduled.
↧

‘Gun Appreciation Day’ rally planned for Niagara Square

January 17, 2013, 7:59 pm
$
0
0
Hundreds are expected to turn out at noon Saturday in Niagara Square for a “Gun Appreciation Day” rally organized locally by New York Tea Party leader Rus Thompson.

“What started out as a small thing is absolutely exploding,” Thompson said.

Close to 700 people already had agreed to come to the rally as of Thursday morning, according to the event’s Facebook page.

The rally is one of an array of events being organized nationwide Saturday in support of the Second Amendment.

Participants are being asked to “bring the Stars and Stripes and pro Second Amendment signs,” the invitation on Facebook reads.

“Lets show our government that we won’t tolerate our rights being infringed upon,” it continued.
↧
Viewing all 1955 articles
Browse latest View live
Search