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

Longtime newspaper carrier killed in a car crash

January 23, 2013, 1:02 pm
$
0
0
TOWN OF NIAGARA – Judith B. Sparks, a longtime carrier for the Niagara Gazette died following an automobile crash on Porter Road late Tuesday. The cause of crash appears to be health related.

Sparks, 73, of the Town of Niagara, had been a carrier for the Gazette for more than 20 years, according to dispatchers at the paper. She had just returned to her route on Friday after recovering from heart surgery. She had contacted her customers to thank them for their get well wishes and to let them know she was back on the road. A dispatcher at the paper said Sparks was driving to the Niagara Gazette to pick up her papers prior to the crash.

Town of Niagara Police Lt. Kellie Aderman said Sparks’ 2012 Chrysler sedan veered off the roadway at 11:51 a.m. Tuesday in the 7100 block of Porter Road and hit an unoccupied, parked, 2004 Chevy sedan in the Jetport Restaurant parking lot, damaging the other car’s rear panel.

She said Sparks was taken to Mount St. Mary’s Hospital where she pronounced dead at 12:49 a.m. Wednesday.

Niagara County Coroner Richard W. Rutland confirmed Wednesday that the cause of death was health-related and not from the impact of the crash.
↧
Search

Attempt to thaw water lines turns destructive in Lockport

January 23, 2013, 1:33 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – Frigid temperatures contributed to a fire that destroyed an old, stone-framed house on North Transit Street.

The homeowner told officials the blaze started about 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, after he tried to use a propane torch to thaw frozen water lines.

Fire spread quickly and destroyed the two-story house at 124 North Transit which was built in the 1800s in the Lowertown area of the city. Damages to the single-family home were estimated at $58,900.

City firefighter Timothy M. Loucks, 37, was treated at Eastern Niagara Hospital in Lockport for burns to his back, after an ember fell onto his jacket, Assistant Fire Chief Joseph Morello said.

Homeowner David A. Owens, 52, who lived alone in the house, said he tried to thaw his water lines with a propane torch, Morello said.

“He called for help when a fire started and it got out of control,” the assistant chief said.

City firefighters remained on the scene overnight, clearing the scene just before 8 a.m. today.

“There was one engine left on standby because it was still smoldering a bit,” Morello said.

The house was declared a total loss and Red Cross was called in to assist Owens, Morello said.



email: nfischer@buffnews.com
↧
↧

Dufour named to vacancy on Lockport Town Board

January 23, 2013, 3:54 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – Patricia Dufour was appointed to the Lockport Town Board today, taking the seat left vacant by the Nov. 17 death of Paul H. Pettit.

Dufour’s appointment to the Town Board is valid through Dec. 31, but Dufour, a Republican, announced she would run for a full four-year term in this fall’s election.

She also said she will resign today from the board of the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency, to which she was appointed in March 2010.

Town Supervisor Marc R. Smith said Dufour was chosen from among three finalists, who in turn were drawn from a list of about 30 people he keeps on standby to be considered for opening on various boards and committees.

Dufour, who turns 60 in April, has been a town resident since 1998. She served on the board of the town’s IDA from 2007 through 2009, and has served on the town Board of Assessment Review since 2006. She must resign the latter post.

Dufour is the owner of Cornerstone Services Group, a real estate brokerage, which she founded in 2005. Before that, she had worked 32 years at Barden & Robeson Corp. in Middleport, where she was the construction administrator for that home builder. She also served on the company’s board of directors for 23 years.

“I am honored to have been chosen for this appointment,” Dufour said. “Paul Pettit was a friend who served this community for many years. I will work diligently to fill the void left by his passing. I am also looking forward to the campaign in November.”

Dufour was not required to resign from the county IDA. Two elected officials – Lockport Mayor Michael W. Tucker and North Tonawanda Clerk-Treasurer Scott P. Kiedrowski – currently sit on that board, and many other elected officials have served in the past.

“Based on my expertise and years of experience with local agencies and government, I am excited and ready to devote my time and energy to my new seat on the town council,” Dufour said.

In another matter today, the board introduced a local law to create a new town Department of Operations, which will administer the parks, the water, sewer and street lighting systems, and all town buildings except the highway garage, which will continue to be the domain of Highway Superintendent David J. Miller.

The board scheduled a public hearing on the new department for 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6.

Smith said administration of the various functions of the new department has been “haphazard,” with Miller, town councilmen and others stepping in to handle problems as needed.

Smith said the new department head position would pay something similar to current department head posts. Miller earns $61,379, while Town Clerk Nancy A. Brooks is paid $49,813.

On another topic, Councilman Paul W. Siejak announced that the town’s 2012 sales tax receipts were up $191,832, or 3.81 percent, from 2011. Also, the town collected $2,958 from electronic waste recycling in 2012, Siejak said.

Almost 41,000 pounds of electronic waste were dropped off at the highway garage during the year, with the second half of the year showing a major jump over the first six months. The town is paid 8.6 cents per pound by the recycler, Regional Computer Recycling and Recovery of Rochester.



email: tprohaska@buffnews.com
↧

Man absconds during sex crime trial

January 23, 2013, 4:28 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – Paul S. Turley, on trial in Niagara County Court on charges of molesting two small girls repeatedly during the late 1990s, went missing during Wednesday’s lunch break.

Turley, 47, who gave his latest address as Lincoln Avenue in Dunkirk, had been threatened during the morning session with being jailed without bail, after a prosecutor accused him of violating an order of protection by sending a friend request Saturday to one of the prosecution witnesses.

County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas said she would rule on the request from Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth R. Donatello at the end of the court day. She ended up issuing a bench warrant for Turley’s arrest after he didn’t return to court for the afternoon session.

Defense attorney D. Daniel Stevanovic said he reached Turley by phone about 2:30 p.m., and the defendant told him he was in a parking lot at a Tim Hortons. There are three Tim Hortons in Lockport alone.

“He was very frightened” by the prospect of being jailed, Stevanovic said.

Farkas said in court that Stevanovic was concerned Turley might to do something to harm himself, but the defense lawyer said in an interview, “He didn’t say, ‘I’m going to off myself.’ Like any attorney, I’m concerned about my client’s well-being.”

Asked after court if he expects Turley to show up Thursday, Stevanovic said, “I have no idea.”

Turley sat through a day and a half of jury selection, which wrapped up about 1 p.m. Wednesday. Stevanovic said he didn’t have lunch with Turley, as his client told him he planned “to sit here and meditate.”

Turley, who faces a maximum of 39 years in prison if convicted on all charges, wasn’t around when court resumed with Farkas’ opening instructions to the jury and the attorneys’ opening statements.

Like all Niagara County Court defendants, Turley had signed a form at his June 15 arraignment, allowing proceedings to go forward without him.

No announcement was made to the jury about why Turley wasn’t in court. “Maybe they won’t notice,” Farkas said.

Assistant District Attorney Cheryl L. Nichols said in her opening statement that the alleged crimes occurred in North Tonawanda, where Turley was then living, between August 1996 and June 1998.

The two girls were 5 years old when the abuse allegedly began. One of them said she was molested again by Turley on Christmas Day 2003, when she was 12 years old.

Since the State Legislature has in effect repealed the statute of limitations for many sex crimes, Turley wasn’t in the clear when his alleged victims, now 21, came forward in November 2011.

Stevanovic told the jury that one of the witnesses, a half-sister of one of the alleged victims, “had a deep grudge against my client. … We are all prepared now to find the truth.”

Nichols said one of the accusers made a recorded phone call to Turley about the abuse, in which Turley said to her, “Do you think any explanation would be valid? … I was misguided when I thought it was something you wanted.”

Turley, who was living on North Bailey Avenue in Amherst when he was arrested, said in court Wednesday morning that he had moved to Dunkirk after being evicted from the Amherst residence about three months ago.

Stevanovic said Turley spent about a week in jail after his arrest before posting a $50,000 bail bond.



email: tprohaska@buffnews.com
↧

Work progresses on Trek site; funding doesn’t

January 23, 2013, 5:39 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – Corporation Counsel John J. Ottaviano said Wednesday that asbestos removal and interior demolition at Harrison Place is almost complete. The work is needed for Trek Inc. to move its electronic instruments plant from Medina to Lockport.

However, Ottaviano said the appraiser hired by Five Star Bank to place a value on Building 4 at Harrison Place still hasn’t reported on the building’s value, which is holding up a loan the city’s development agency intends to take out to pay for the renovation.

R. Charles Bell, city planning and development director, said he thinks the appraiser’s delay is starting to endanger the project, announced Dec. 12. Trek is to bring nearly 100 jobs to Lockport.

Without the loan amount, city leaders can’t sign a lease with Trek for the property, because the lease payments have to be enough to enable repayment of the loan, expected to be more than $3 million.
↧
↧

NT man who put out girlfriend’s eye imprisoned

January 23, 2013, 6:34 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – Donnell J. Kent, already serving state prison time for three Niagara Falls burglaries, picked up additional prison time Wednesday for blinding his girlfriend in the right eye by shooting her with a BB gun.

“It was reckless and it was idiotic. I understand that,” said Kent, 20, of North Tonawanda. He shot the 16-year-old girl May 8 and pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree assault, as well as second-degree bail jumping for skipping mental health court in Niagara Falls.

Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas gave Kent 1 1/3 to four years on top of the 2 1/3 to seven years he is serving on the Falls burglaries.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph A. Scalzo said he always thought the shooting was accidental.

Kent said, “I saw no possible way for her to get hurt. I shot [the BB gun] three times.”

The girl’s father said his daughter suffers from headaches and her school grades are falling. “She cries a lot,” the father said. “I’m extremely angry. … The BB’s still in her head because, believe it or not, it would do more damage to take it out.”
↧

Cheektowaga woman jailed for selling cocaine

January 23, 2013, 6:35 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – A woman who sold cocaine Oct. 3 in North Tonawanda was sentenced to a year in Niagara County Jail Wednesday by County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas.

Sharee R. Bailey, 20, of Vern Lane, Cheektowaga, had pleaded guilty to fifth-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance. She entered the plea in exchange for prosecutors’ agreement to drop charges conencted with two other alleged drug deals.
↧

2 robberies in Niagara Falls appear to be unrelated, police say

January 23, 2013, 7:35 pm
$
0
0
NIAGARA FALLS – Two robberies, one at gunpoint in broad daylight, were reported to city police Tuesday. The heists appear unrelated.

A 25-year old man, a driver for H.W. Bryk and Sons Heating and Air Conditioning, said he was robbed at gunpoint just after 10:30 a.m., as he was making heating service calls in the 300 block of 22nd Street. The man told police he stopped when someone in the street blocked his path. He said that when he rolled down his window to see what was going on, a second person, a man wearing a ski mask, approached his driver’s side door and told him to give him his phone and wallet, or he would shoot him. He said the man appeared to have a black semiautomatic handgun partially hidden inside his sleeve.

The victim said $19 in cash, a debit card and a $50 Gander Mountain gift card were stolen, along with a flip phone and silver metal binder.

One robber, whose face was unrecognizable, wore a light gray jacket with a fur hood and light-colored blue jeans. The one with a gun was a black man, approximately 5-foot-7. He wore a light blue Indianapolis Colts jacket with a horseshoe on the front and emblem on the back, a black knit face mask and prescription glasses on the outside of his mask, the victim told police.

Another robbery was reported at about 8:30 p.m. outside a pizzeria in the 1400 block of Hyde Park Boulevard. The 21-year-old victim said two men approached him, one punched him in the face, and the two stole $137 in cash and a $123 cellphone from his pockets after he fell to the ground.

Anyone with information on either robbery is asked to call police at 286-4547.



email: nfischer@buffnews.com
↧
Search

Lockport eyes new ticket process for property violations

January 23, 2013, 7:51 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – The Common Council is considering a speeded-up process for fining property owners for violating city ordinances on sidewalk snow shoveling, lawn mowing, garbage placement and unlicensed dogs.

Alderman Patrick W. Schrader, D-4th Ward, proposed Wednesday that the city should use the same procedure as it does for parking tickets: print the fines right on the tickets and have people who don’t want to contest them simply pay the fine at the City Clerk’s Office.

At present, violators of the property upkeep rules are given appearance tickets, which means they have to go to City Court and face a judge.

Schrader said, “I want Rob [Turner, the enforcement officer] to have the ability to write a ticket: ‘Hey, pal, you’re guilty.’ ”

“Your way would free up a lot of court time,” said Alderman John Lombardi III, R-1st Ward.

Mayor Michael W. Tucker said, “You can plead guilty and pay at the window, or go to court.”

Alderwoman Kathryn J. Fogle, R-3rd Ward, said the summonses to court often don’t result in fines, because by the time the case goes to court, “They shoveled their sidewalk in that amount of time, or they moved the mattress in that amount of time.”

Corporation Counsel John J. Ottaviano said for this plan to function, the Council would have to come up with a fine schedule to print on the tickets, instead of leaving penalties up to the judge’s discretion. Lockport parking tickets list the fines for the various types of violations.

Ottaviano said the plan will be drafted into a proposed local law for the Council to vote on at a future meeting.

On another topic Wednesday, Ottaviano said the city received four bids to buy the Sprint cellphone lease on the Outwater Park water tower.

He said only two are going to be considered: the ones that envisioned simply buying the lease and collecting money from Sprint, allowing the city to lease additional antenna space on the water tower, if it can. Two other bidders sought to buy rights to all the space on the tower.

Ottaviano said the bids were within $20,000 of each other, so it wasn’t financially worthwhile to give up all the rights. “If we could lease the rest of the tower, why wouldn’t we?” he asked.

In 2000, the Council approved a 25-year deal with Sprint, in which the company agreed to pay $15,408 per year for the use of the tower. The city would collect $184,896 over the next 12 years if it kept the lease. However, in December, Landmark Dividend of El Segundo, Calif., offered to buy the lease for a slightly larger lump sum, and the city then sought other proposals.

Ottaviano said Landmark is one of the two finalists.



email: tprohaska@buffnews.com
↧
↧

Three promoted in Lockport Fire Department

January 23, 2013, 8:53 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – Matthew O. Streckewald has been promoted from captain to assistant chief of the Lockport Fire Department, Alderman and Fire Board member Patrick W. Schrader said Wednesday.

Streckewald, a 32-year veteran, replaces Bruce K. Scheffler, who retired at the end of last year after 38 years in the department.

Robert A. Haley was promoted to captain to fill Streckewald’s former spot, and Firefighter Benjamin L. Lesold was in turn promoted to lieutenant.
↧

Schumer seeks testing for veterans’ families

January 23, 2013, 9:04 pm
$
0
0
WASHINGTON – The Buffalo VA Medical Center should offer health testing not only to the veterans who may have been exposed to HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C, but also to their family members and caregivers, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday.

Schumer said he decided to ask the VA to extend testing to family members and caregivers after hearing from relatives of diabetics who were treated at the hospital while it was failing to properly label insulin pens. That practice raised the possibility that those insulin delivery devices were used on more than one patient.

Since HIV and hepatitis are communicable diseases, it’s possible that someone who was exposed to one of the viruses through a shared insulin pen could have passed it along to someone else, Schumer said.

“The VA must waste no time in testing the family members and caregivers of the 716 patients in Buffalo who were victims of the negligent and improper use of insulin pens,” Schumer said. “These veterans and their family members who may have been exposed to life-threatening illnesses need testing performed immediately, and every day that goes by is another day the families’ legitimate concerns go unanswered.”

Asked to comment on Schumer’s request, hospital spokeswoman Evangeline Conley said: “We are reviewing the matter and exploring available options. Currently, if any veteran tests positive for any blood-borne illness as a result of this incident, VA will provide necessary testing, counseling and care to the veteran at no cost.”

As many as 716 veterans at the hospital could have been exposed to the viruses as a result of the faulty labeling practice at the hospital, which took place between Oct. 19, 2010, and last Nov. 1.

Schumer spelled out his latest concerns about the problems at the Buffalo VA in a letter to Brian Stiller, the medical center director at VA Western New York Healthcare System.

“These family members and caregivers continued to go on with their daily lives and activities, which often include assisting their veterans with wounds, medication or another health care support service function,” Schumer wrote. “They, too, were unaware of their potential exposure and should be able to receive the necessary follow-up services that will be provided to the potentially impacted veterans.”



email: jzremski@buffnews.com
↧

Niagara Falls shooting victim identified by police

January 24, 2013, 11:24 am
$
0
0
NIAGARA FALLS – A Niagara Falls man shot in the chest while he was at a home on Elmwood Avenue Wednesday morning has been identified by police.

Cornelius Brinson, 28, of 19th Street is now in stable condition in Erie County Medical Center.

Niagara Falls police continue to look for a lone gunman.

Brinson was shot in the left chest area when he reportedly opened the door to the gunman just before 2:30 a.m. Wednesday at 607 Elmwood Ave, said Capt. William M. Thomson, chief of detectives.

“There was a car involved, but we are not sure if there was another person or if the shooter was the driver,” he said.

Thomson said there were other people in the house, but the shooter did not come inside and left after shooting Brinson.

Investigators believe the shooting is drug-related.

Anyone with information is asked call the Niagara Falls Police at 286-4553.
↧

Lockport man found with painkillers in traffic stop

January 24, 2013, 11:27 am
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – A Lockport man pulled over in a traffic stop by city police on Wednesday also faces felony drug charges after police caught him trying to stash pill bottles under a car seat.

Daniel L. Gonzales, 35, of West Avenue was stopped for failing to signal a turn at 3:30 p.m. on Washburn Street and was additionally charged with felony fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Police said Gonzales was observed reaching under the passenger seat and acting nervous. After questioning and a search of the vehicle, police said they found two pill bottles containing nearly 100 of the prescription painkillers, hydrocodone and Xanax.

Gonzales also was charged with aggravated unlicensed operation after a city officer found his license had been suspended.
↧
↧

Man charged in Lockport bar brawl

January 24, 2013, 11:37 am
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – Though a reward had been offered, it was good old-fashioned police work that brought in a man wanted in a city bar fight.

Cory W. Arnold, 33, of Orchard Street, was charged this week with third-degree assault for allegedly walking into the 21st Amendment Bar on Main Street at 2 a.m. Sunday and hitting a man in the back of the head. The blow knocked the Walnut Avenue man out; police found him unconscious and bleeding.

A friend of the victim said the attack was unprovoked and that the man also was hit in the head by a second man.

An anonymous city businessman had offered a $1,000 reward, but Detective Kevin Schrader consulted with state police and the state Division of Parole to help identify a suspect using security video provided by the bar. Police said Arnold was contacted and turned himself in Tuesday night.

Police Lt. Scott Seekins said a second man has been identified as being at the scene, but he will not be charged.
↧

Copper pipes stolen from vacant Niagara Falls house

January 24, 2013, 2:40 pm
$
0
0
NIAGARA FALLS – The owner of a house on C Street that has been vacant for more than two months reported a theft of more than $2,000 worth copper pipe and wiring.

The owner told police Wednesday that he had not been in the house for the past week. He said in that time someone had entered the house and took all the copper pipe out of the walls and also ripped an unknown amount of copper electric wiring out of the walls, causing an additional $1,000 worth of damage to the drywall.
↧
Search

Falls man charged with stealing auto parts

January 24, 2013, 3:40 pm
$
0
0
NIAGARA FALLS – A Niagara Falls man was charged Wednesday in the theft of an estimated $3,000 in metal parts from a Highland Avenue automotive garage.

Romond M. Lamar, 29, of Cleveland Avenue, was charged with fourth-degree grand larceny and third-degree criminal trespassing.

The owner of an automotive garage in the 3200 block of Highland Avenue told police that someone had been taking car parts from a fenced-in area, including multiple car doors and a rear tailgate, during the past two months.

Police used video surveillance and contacted a metal scrap yard in their investigation, and said some of the parts were recovered.

↧

Middleport man on parole faces indecency charge

January 24, 2013, 3:45 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – A routine search by a state parole officer led to charges of indecency and endangering being filed against a Middleport man.

David L. Vercruysse, 38, of Main Street, was charged Wednesday with disseminating indecent material to minors and endangering the welfare of a child.

According to investigators, Vercruysse had nude photos on his cellphone of a girl under age 16.

Vercruysse had been on parole after being convicted on felony drunken driving charges in 2011.

Authorities said someone can be charged with dissemination of indecent materials to a minor when that person sends materials which depict or describe actual or simulated nudity or invite a minor to engage in various sexual conduct.
↧
↧

Trial postponed in 5-year-old’s death

January 24, 2013, 5:18 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – The time needed for a defense expert to conduct a psychiatric examination of murder defendant John R. Freeman Jr. will force a postponement of the Feb. 25 trial stemming from the death of 5-year-old Isabella S. Tennant of Cheektowaga.

Defense attorney Robert Viola told Niagara County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III Thursday that Dr. Louise Feretti, a Williamsville neuropsychologist chosen by the defense, will interview Freeman Feb. 11-13. The time needed to compile a report forced a delay in the trial.

Feb. 25 is now the date for a hearing on the admissibility’s of Freeman’s statements to police. The new trial date will be chosen then. Viola is planning a possible mental health defense for Freeman, 17, of Sixth Street, Niagara Falls.

He is accused of strangling the girl while babysitting her Aug. 26 in the Niagara Falls home of the victim’s great-grandparents. He then called a friend, Tyler S. Best, 18, of Barnard Street, Buffalo. Best went to police the next day and led them to the girl’s body, which he said he and Freeman had dumped in a stolen garbage tote and left in an alley. Best is charged with evidence tampering.
↧

Boot camp recommended for Falls man with illegal gun

January 24, 2013, 6:49 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – A Niagara Falls man was recommended Thursday for the state prison system’s boot camp-like “shock incarceration” program as a penalty for possession of an illegal handgun and some marijuana.

Niagara County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III ruled that if Antonio Hawthorne can’t cut it in the six-month program, he will serve two to four years in a regular cell.

In an August nonjury trial, Murphy convicted Hawthorne, 32, of Townsend Place, on charges of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of marijuana. The gun was found in his basement when police raided the home Nov. 10, 2011, and found marijuana allegedly packaged for sale.

Townsend argued he didn’t know the gun was there, but Murphy said the discovery of ammunition in various locations in the home undercut that claim.
↧

Sex offender to be imprisoned after committing new crime

January 24, 2013, 6:50 pm
$
0
0
LOCKPORT – A North Tonawanda sex offender admitted in Niagara County Court Thursday that he violated his probation last month by having sexual contact with a 17-year-old boy.

At sentencing March 21, Robert W. Miller, 37, of Oliver Street, will receive no more than four years in prison and 10 years of post-release supervision. County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III said.

Miller also will have to plead guilty in North Tonawanda City Court to a sexual misconduct misdemeanor, Assistant District Attorney Robert A. Zucco said.

Miller was placed on probation in December 2009 after pleading guilty to first-degree sexual abuse for molesting a 14-year-old boy in North Tonawanda in 2008.
↧
Viewing all 1955 articles
Browse latest View live
Search