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Debris recycling business makes pitch to Lockport Council

February 13, 2013, 7:49 pm
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LOCKPORT – Lockport Recycling Center made its pitch to the Common Council Wednesday for a permit to operate the city’s first recycling business.

The Council will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. Wednesday on the plan for a 16.7-acre lot on Oakhurst Street, owned by auto dealer Charles Heinrich.

His plan is to take construction and demolition debris and sift it for recyclable materials he can sell. All the waste, recyclable and not, would be hauled away in containers, said Keith Pellerin of EnSol Environmental Solutions, the Niagara Falls company that drew up plans for the site.

“For all intents and purposes, it functions as a transfer station,” Pellerin told the Council. Technically, it can’t be called that, because state Department of Environmental Conservation regulations use that term only for a facility handling household waste.

City Clerk Richelle J. Pasceri said the Planning Board approved the first phase of the plan Tuesday. It calls for construction of a truck scale and two concrete pads, one for unloading and one for sorting. They would be set on a patch of gravel covering less than an acre.

All the work in the first phase would be done outdoors, Pellerin said. If demand is heavy enough, permission for the second phase, a 10,000-square-foot building to hold more materials, could be sought.

Mayor Michael W. Tucker said the piles of materials are allowed to be no more than 12 feet high. Pasceri said the Planning Board also required construction of 15-foot-high “litter fences” on the lot lines to keep trash from blowing off-site.

Also, watering facilities to hold down dust and a catch basin for runoff are required under terms of the special-use permit the Planning Board approved. The Council is to vote on that after the hearing next week.

Pellerin said drywall and concrete from contractors will be the primary materials handled, but the stuff dumped by customers will be sifted by a worker with a mini-excavator, looking for recyclables.

He said the DEC permit, if granted, would limit Lockport Recycling to handling 150 tons of waste per day. If the building is constructed in the future, that limit would rise to 350 tons per day.



email: tprohaska@buffnews.com
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Merging bridge authorities is found worthy of study

February 13, 2013, 9:16 pm
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The merger of Western New York’s two bridge authorities is worthy of further study, a state commission found this week.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s Spending and Government Efficiency Commission released its final report on ways to cut costs in government and issued several recommendations.

The commission wasn’t able to fully study the merger of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, which operates the Peace Bridge, and the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission, which operates three bridges in Niagara County, but said such a study is warranted, the commission recommended.

“The two entities exist separately, more because of their separate historical development than any organizational or operational logic,” the report stated.

“The two entities already cooperate to some extent, but could benefit from a unified management structure.”

Any merger of the authorities would require cooperation of the U.S. and Canadian governments.
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Bishop sees chance for historic papal election

February 14, 2013, 3:18 am
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Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation announcement earlier this week was a radical break from Catholic Church tradition.

Another historic change in the papacy could be coming as soon as the election of a new pope, likely in March.

Previous popes all have hailed from Europe, but the list of Catholic cardinals currently considered contenders for the throne of St. Peter includes plenty of names from Africa, India, Latin America and Southeast Asia.

The next conclave could elect the first non-European pope, and Bishop Richard J. Malone of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo is among a growing number of Catholics saying that the possibility is a positive development for the church.

“I think it would be wonderful,” Malone said Wednesday in response to a question about whether it is time for the church to have a non-European as pontiff.

“We’ve had a long, long, long time of a Eurocentric lens for the church. It’s not a bad thing, but the world of the church is a lot bigger than Europe,” he said.

Malone met with the Editorial Board of The Buffalo News for about an hour in a wide-ranging discussion that touched on Benedict’s stunning decision to resign Feb. 28 and the upcoming conclave of cardinals from around the world to elect his successor.

“The church in the global south is growing by leaps and bounds. Africa, some of South America – it’s unbelievable how robust the church is in those areas, numerically very, very strong. And so to have a leader, a universal pastor, which the pope is, that comes from that world, I think would be very good for the church,” Malone said. “I think it would be refreshing.”

It was Malone’s first meeting with The News Editorial Board since his installation as bishop in August.

Malone also addressed his ongoing dual roles as Buffalo bishop and as the temporary administrator of the Diocese of Maine while the Vatican sorts out who will succeed him as bishop in that diocese.

The arrangement has forced Malone to rely on teleconferencing, emails, texts and once-a-month flights to Portland in order to administer both dioceses.

“It works,” he said. “But a bishop is best for his people when he’s got his boots on the ground, and by that I mean two things: the Catholics in Maine need a guy with [his] boots on the ground there, and I want to be full time with my boots on the ground here. I just want to be free to put my roots down deep in Western New York.

“So everyday I pray for my successor in Maine, even though I have no clue who it might be.”

Monsignor David G. LiPuma, vice chancellor and secretary to the bishop, said that the arrangement hasn’t inhibited Malone’s work here.

“It hasn’t slowed down anything going on in Buffalo. We’ve been all over the diocese since the day the bishop arrived,” LiPuma said.

Malone presided at Ash Wednesday Mass in St. Joseph’s Cathedral during the afternoon, distributing ashes for the first time in Buffalo.

Some Episcopal priests earlier in the day took to the streets and parking lots of Western New York to distribute ashes to commuters on the way to and from work.

Malone described that effort as a “creative way of trying to reach out to people who may not come to church today for ashes.”

It would not be problematic for Catholics to receive ashes in such a manner, he said.

But Malone, who oversees more than 600,000 Catholics in the eight-county diocese, didn’t recommend it, either.

“I’d be reluctant to give up the opportunity for people to come together in church, to pray and to sing, to be together with brothers and sisters and to be able to come up and receive the ashes that way,” he said.

“I prefer to have them come to a Catholic church, because we usually have Mass as a part of it, and it’s much more important to receive Holy Communion than to receive ashes, that’s for sure.”
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Falls man accused of dealing pot – again

February 14, 2013, 3:04 pm
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NIAGARA FALLS – A city man, recently charged with marijuana possession, was arrested a second time in less than a month after narcotics investigators said they found him Wednesday with 27 individually bagged packages of marijuana and a loaded handgun.

Anthony Bogan Sr., 54, was charged with fifth-degree criminal possession of marijuana, and third- and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon at 2:22 p.m. at his home in the 1500 block of LaSalle Avenue, police said.

“This is the second time we’ve [arrested] this guy in a month and he went right back to work where he left off,” said Narcotics Detective Lt. Theodore Weed. “He just kept on dealing.”

Weed said this has been a continuing investigation based on complaints from block club members over a number of months.
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Falls man charged with child sex assault

February 14, 2013, 3:12 pm
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NIAGARA FALLS – A Whitney Avenue man who was wanted on a warrant for two years on felony assault charges involving a child under age 13 has been arrested on Long Island and brought back to Niagara Falls by U.S. Marshals.

Philips E. Aguilar, 36, pleaded not guilty Thursday in City Court to predatory sexual assault of a child and was sent to the Niagara County Jail without bail. If convicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison. He is to return to court on Tuesday.

Police Detective Patricia McCune said Aguilar allegedly was involved in a criminal sex act with a child under 13. in 2011. She said Aguilar left the area and was arrested on a warrant in Uniondale.
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Shots cause damage to a house in Falls

February 14, 2013, 3:13 pm
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NIAGARA FALLS – A resident in the 2400 block of Monroe Avenue told police that somebody shot through two panes of glass and a curtain Wednesday night in the front window of his house.

Police said they found the bullet holes, but no signs of a bullet fragment or BB inside the residence.
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Falls man pleads guilty to making meth, damaging auto

February 14, 2013, 3:43 pm
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LOCKPORT – A Niagara Falls man, who had been rejected for court-supervised drug treatment Monday, pleaded guilty Thursday and faces up to 2½ years behind bars when he is sentenced April 25 by Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas.

Pedro J. Velazquez, 28, of A Street, admitted to third-degree unlawful manufacture of methamphetamine and third-degree auto stripping.

Assistant District Attorney Peter M. Wydysh said Velazquez was arrested on the meth charge when police raided his home April 27. During a previous court appearance, Assistant Public Defender Michael E. Benedict said Velazquez’ mother tipped off police to the meth making.

Velazquez also vandalized a woman’s car in Niagara Falls July 1.

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Local activists heading for D.C. climate change rally

February 14, 2013, 5:03 pm
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The Sierra Club Niagara Group will send more than 100 people to take part in the Forward on Climate Rally in Washington, D.C., this weekend. The demonstration, billed as the largest-ever climate change rally, will march to the White House to call for immediate adoption of clean energy policies.

Buses carrying the Sierra Club Niagara Group will leave at 11:15 p.m. Saturday from the NFTA parking lot on the University at Buffalo South Campus on Main Street and drive to Washington overnight, returning immediately after the rally is over.
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UB OrthoCare to open its first Niagara County clinic Monday

February 14, 2013, 5:28 pm
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NIAGARA FALLS – UB OrthoCare, which provides emergency care for orthopedic and sports injuries, will open its first Niagara County clinic on Monday in the Summit Healthplex, 6934 Williams Road, Wheatfield.

UB OrthoCare, a collaboration between UB Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine and Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, will be open from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday in Suite 600. In conjunction with UB OrthoCare, the hospital will extend the hours for its walk-in X-ray service at Summit Healthplex to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Appointments are encouraged at UB OrthoCare, but are not required. The clinic will treat muscle, bone and joint injuries and concussions and provide bracing, casting and therapeutic injections. For information, call 204-3200.
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Falls cops raid three houses, condemn one

February 14, 2013, 5:40 pm
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NIAGARA FALLS – City narcotics detectives gave a Valentine’s Day present Thursday to three neighborhoods that have weathered drug dealing.

Police said they raided three houses in succession after complaints about drug dealing and drug use at those addresses. They did not find drugs at one of the addresses, though that home was condemned.

Narcotics investigators, along with the department’s Emergency Response Team, forcibly entered and served warrants between 1 and 5 p.m. at 519 Memorial Parkway, 2264 Falls St. and 1361 Ashland Ave.

“Sometimes you need to send a message,” said Narcotics Detective Lt. Theodore Weed. “Just because they are running a small operation doesn’t mean it’s not going to be addressed. When people complain, we are going to address the problem.”

Officers seized nearly an ounce of crack cocaine and a loaded .357 Magnum on Memorial Parkway, police said, and charged residents Frank M. Thomas, 32, and his wife, Pamela A. Litzsey-Thomas, 39, with two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell. Frank Thomas also was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Narcotics Detective Jay Reynolds said he and his partner, Detective Joseph Giaquinto, had been investigating the house since November and seized 22 grams of crack cocaine that the couple allegedly planned to sell out of the home.

On Falls Street, investigators said, officers found a small marijuana growing operation and seized two marijuana plants. Samantha L. Pelton, 23, was charged with violating public health laws for growing cannabis. The investigation was conducted by Detectives Thomas Rodriguez and Joseph Palermo.

In the third case, Weed said, police received complaints for months about the Ashland Avenue house. Although no drugs were seized, several people were charged with obstruction and loitering, and suspected stolen property was seized. City inspectors were called, and condemned the house.

“What the guy was doing was letting people set up in there. It had crazy traffic,” Weed said. “The dealers would set up there and sell, and they were smoking crack cocaine.”

Fabian Carter, 43, of 15th Street, and Donald Harper, 50, of 21st Street, were each charged with loitering. Carter also was found with suspected stolen items and additional charges may be filed, Rodriguez said.

Donald Lewis, 44, and Lysander Scott, 28, both of LaSalle Avenue, were charged with obstruction of governmental administration.

Rodriguez said the investigation into activities at the house, which started in August, continues.

City Building Inspector Patrick Ciccarelli called conditions at the house “very unsanitary." He said “sewage was backed up in the basement. There were serious electrical issues downstairs, and no smoke detectors, no carbon monoxide testers,” he said. Ciccarelli said the house was temporarily condemned until the violations are fixed. He said, residents are allowed to go inside to remove property.



email: nfischer@buffnews.com
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Fire heavily damages Niagara County home

February 14, 2013, 8:24 pm
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PENDLETON – A home in the 5000 block of Mapleton Road was heavily damaged Thursday night, Niagara County sheriff’s deputies reported.

Sgt. Gary May, first on scene about 6:30 p.m., reported heavy flames and smoke engulfing the house at 5362 Mapleton, between Campbell Boulevard and Bear Ridge Road.

The fire was fed by natural gas and ammunition was going off in the basement as firefighters battled the raging blaze. Wendelville firefighters in charge of the scene, worked with fellow volunteers from Shawnee, South Lockport and East Amherst to try to save the eastern portion of the house.

The family was able to escape the fire and no injuries were reported. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.
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Local families needed for Irish children’s relief program

February 14, 2013, 11:27 pm
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Families from around Western New York who are interested in hosting an Irish child for a month this summer are invited to apply to a long-standing local relief program for consideration as host families, organizers of the project said.

The Belfast Summer Relief Program, an effort started in 1975 in Buffalo, is seeking host families for the 2013 season, said Maureen Fecio, co-director of the effort.

The children in the program are both Catholic and Protestant and come from Derry, also known as Londonderry, the second-largest city in Northern Ireland, to spend part of their summer in Buffalo, said Fecio.

While here, they live with local families, often in homes with children around the same age, she said.

“The cultural exchange is just amazing,” said Fecio, who runs the nonprofit program with her husband, Jack. “You think you’re doing it as a benefit to those children – but actually, what your own children get out of it is certainly amazing.”

The Buffalo-based program has brought nearly 1,700 children to the area since its inception, Fecio said.

The Irish boys and girls who participate are between 10 and 12 years old, said Fecio.

Families who apply do not need to have children of their own.

The group covers the expenses of the children in coming to Buffalo, Fecio said. Host families provide room and board while they are in town, she said. Some group activities are organized so that families hosting children may participate in if they wish, she said.

The dates of the 2013 program have not been finalized, but it is likely to run from late June to late July, Fecio said.

Interested parties are asked to respond as quickly as possible, due to the length of time it takes to process applications, organizers said.

To apply, or for more information, contact the Belfast Summer Relief Program at 822-6626 or by email at jandmfecio@aol.com. Information on the project is also available at www.buffaloirish.com.



email: cvogel@buffnews.com
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North Tonawanda set to address audit findings

February 14, 2013, 11:28 pm
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NORTH TONAWANDA – A new state audit pleased city officials with findings they called minor: Fire department fundraisers should be tracked more carefully, and city staff should research the best price before making small purchases, such as a gallon of paint.

“They were minor infractions,” said Mayor Robert Ortt. “There was no misuse of taxpayer dollars.”

The State Comptroller’s Office issued its review last week of city finances from January 2011 to August 2012. It found that the city’s five volunteer fire companies did not give proper notice of fundraisers, such as bingo games, raffles, chowder sales and Canal Fest beer and food tents. One of them lost money and provided free alcohol, the report said.

North Tonawanda’s fire companies, with about 53 firefighters, operate autonomously and do not have a tradition of making formal announcements.

“I don’t even know if the [Common] Council was aware that it should be notified. I don’t know that the volunteer fire departments knew that they were supposed to,” said Mark Dotterweich, city accountant. But, he said, keeping better tabs on fundraisers and requiring notifications from the departments will help the city better understand their finances.

In 2012, the city spent $113,678 on the companies, covering expenses such as building costs.

“The city subsidizes the volunteer fire companies,” Dotterweich said. “The state comptroller thinks we should be notified when they try to raise additional capital.”

The report also found that city purchases of small things like paint, thinner or an extra bag of salt for an icy sidewalk were being made without a standard of checking around to get the best price.

About $42,000 was spent at nine businesses without a record of price checks, the comptroller said.

Ortt said it didn’t make sense to seek bids for such small things. The Comptroller’s Office said it will be satisfied with three price quotes by telephone.

“There’s a fine line we have to walk,” Ortt said.



email: mkearns@buffnews.com
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2 of 3 achieve success in program of court-supervised drug treatment

February 14, 2013, 11:28 pm
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LOCKPORT – Two defendants successfully completed a court-supervised drug-treatment program Thursday, while a third was ejected from the program and is headed to prison.

The judicial diversion program, which offers a carrot-and-stick approach to dealing with nonviolent offenders whose crimes were triggered by drug abuse, has had few success stories in Niagara County, but two such stories came before the bench Thursday.

Christopher A. Baker, 35, of Stephenson Avenue, Niagara Falls, spent 2½ years in the program after pleading guilty to a felony for possessing cocaine in Niagara Falls on Feb. 4, 2010.

His charge was reduced Thursday to a misdemeanor, and County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas granted him a conditional discharge.

Defense attorney James J. Faso Jr. said Baker, who risked nine years in prison if he washed out of diversion, got through it without a single sanction from the supervising judge, an unusual occurrence in the program where relapses are common.

“It caused me to do a complete 360 with my life,” Baker told Farkas. “If it weren’t for this program, I don’t know where I’d be.”

Meanwhile, County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III allowed another successful diversion participant to change her plea from a felony to a misdemeanor.

Cynthia M. Aponte, 21, of Channing Place, Town of Tonawanda, is to be resentenced May 2 on her revised to plea to attempted third-degree criminal mischief.

Aponte entered diversion in December 2011 after pleading guilty to a role in the attempted firebombing of the North Tonawanda home of the estranged husband of the sister of Aponte’s boyfriend Oct. 12, 2011.

She drove the boyfriend to the house and watched as he threw a plastic bottle of gasoline at the dwelling, but it bounced off the siding and burned itself out on the lawn.

The would-be bomber, Stephen J. Ralston, 22, is on probation.

Back in Farkas’ courtroom, the news wasn’t good for diversion participant Daniel S. Solomon, who was kicked out for walking out on a treatment program.

Solomon, 23, of Pine Street, Lockport, is to be sentenced April 25 for second-degree forgery.

He faces up to seven years in prison and in the meantime, is being held in the County Jail after not posting $10,000 bail.

Solomon pleaded guilty July 26 to altering a Lockport doctor’s prescription May 6 at the Rite Aid drugstore at South Transit and Summit streets.

Solomon, who was a daily heroin user who often combined that drug with heavy drinking, changed the number of pills and the number of available refills on a prescription for Soma, a muscle relaxer. Farkas said it seemed that Solomon had been doing well in diversion until the walkout.



email: tprohaska@buffnews.com
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Lockport IDA moves forward on GM land seizure

February 14, 2013, 11:28 pm
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LOCKPORT – The Town of Lockport’s plan to take land from General Motors to expand the town industrial park moved another step forward Thursday.

The town Industrial Development Agency voted to start the state-mandated environmental review of the plan, with itself as lead agency.

It was another move toward a decision on the effort. Morgan L. Jones Jr., law partner of IDA attorney Daniel E. Seaman, said the IDA has until April 24 – 90 days after the public hearing the agency held Jan. 24 – to determine that a “public use” exists and justifies the taking of 91 acres owned by General Motors west of the GM Components Holdings plant in Lockport, formerly Delphi and Harrison.

Seaman said that doesn’t mean the IDA will actually try to enforce the taking at that time.

That land also borders the town’s industrial park, which covers 201 acres. But because of deals the IDA has made with various tenants over the years, the IDA has only 56 acres left to sell.

GM owns about 120 acres in all on the park’s southern boundary, but the IDA is attempting to take only land it believes to be environmentally clean. Other parts of the vacant GM property are believed by the town to contain waste dumped by GM over the years.

The sides tried to negotiate a sale of the property for more than two years, but the town IDA balked at GM’s conditions, including an alleged effort by the automaker to restrict future use and resale of the land. Since the IDA’s motivation for acquiring the land is to resell it, the deal fell apart.

GM presented an affidavit at the Jan. 24 hearing from Robert Schell, president of Pyramid Brokerage Co., claiming there is a poor market for commercial property in Western New York. GM’s attorney, Brody Smith, argued that means there is no public interest in taking GM’s land.

A report at the IDA meeting indicated that the eminent domain effort so far has cost the IDA more than $7,400 in legal fees to the Seaman Jones firm, plus nearly $1,000 worth of legal advertising in local newspapers.



email: tprohaska@buffnews.com
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Cold, snow return for the weekend

February 15, 2013, 5:40 am
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It’s mid-February, and the lakes remain open, so we all know what that can mean:

A return of lake-effect snow, at least in some parts of the region.

But we are all going to get hit with cold temperatures.

The National Weather Service has issued a lake-effect snow watch for Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties, from Saturday evening through late Sunday afternoon.

Forecasters are calling for possibly 6 inches or more in persistent snow bands during that time period.

The region is expected to see a blast of winter weather this weekend, with forecasters calling for at least a chance of snow showers through Sunday night, accompanied by cold temperatures.

Daytime highs should be in the 20s, with overnight lows expected to hit 15 degrees Friday, 10 degrees Saturday and 7 degrees Sunday.
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Fourth defendant pleads guilty in Lockport gas station robbery

February 15, 2013, 3:04 pm
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LOCKPORT – Ashley E. Bivins of Niagara Falls pleaded guilty Friday in connection with the Sept. 15 holdup of the Gulf gas station at Walnut and Washburn streets, Lockport.

Bivins, 22, of 21st Street, admitted to attempted third-degree robbery and was scheduled for sentencing April 17 by State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr.

She was the fourth person to plead guilty in the case. Last month, Kloch sent James McClendon, 50, of 21st Street, to prison for 1½ to three years.

Lockport City Judge William J. Watson will sentence the other two defendants, both from Niagara Falls. Chelsee Williams, 18, is to be sentenced March 13 for third-degree assault, and Jessica A. Burgess, 28, March 27 on her plea to attempted fourth-degree conspiracy.
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Drugstore robber to plead guilty; details to be worked out

February 15, 2013, 3:14 pm
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LOCKPORT – A man who robbed a Sanborn drugstore Sept. 28 intends to plead guilty, his attorney said in Niagara County Court Friday, but it’s still uncertain what the charge will be. Judge Matthew J. Murphy III ordered the sides back to court March 1.

Assistant District Attorney Brian E. Seaman said Nicholas E. Patterson, 27, of Mount Hope Road on the Tuscarora Indian Reservation, stole a quantity of fentanyl from the CVS store at Saunders Settlement and Cambria-Lewiston Townline roads. He was arrested two days later.

Attorney Herbert L. Greenman said Patterson will plead guilty, but first he wants to be screened for the judicial diversion program of court-supervised drug treatment.

If he’s accepted into that program, he must plead guilty to a nonviolent crime to qualify, so the charge would be third-degree grand larceny. If he’s rejected, he will plead to third-degree robbery, a violent felony. The amount of restitution to CVS is still undetermined, Seaman said.
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Former pharmacy worker says she was blackmailed into stealing drugs

February 15, 2013, 3:30 pm
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LOCKPORT – A former employee of the Rite Aid pharmacy on Lincoln Avenue in Lockport, who stole cash and drugs from the store last year, said at her sentencing Friday that she did it because she was the victim of “blackmail.”

“I’m rolling my eyes, for the record,” Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas said in response to the claim by Jeannine M. Lapaglia, 45, of Lincoln Avenue. She was placed on five years’ probation for her fourth-degree grand larceny plea and ordered to repay $1,458 to the store at a rate of at least $50 a month.

Defense attorney Victor Orzechowski said a family member, “in the nature of an extortion situation,” pressured her to steal pills from the store between April and August of last year. Lapaglia also stole money because of her own financial difficulties, said Orzechowski, who said he didn’t want to discuss details in open court.

Farkas said she wants Lapaglia working so she can pay restitution. “I’ll tell you what, though: one screw-up and you go to jail,” the judge warned.
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Town of Tonawanda drunken driver to serve weekends in jail

February 15, 2013, 3:31 pm
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LOCKPORT – A Town of Tonawanda man, whose auto rear-ended another on the bridge from Tonawanda Island in North Tonawanda after the July 4 fireworks, was sentenced Friday to four months of weekends in jail, five years’ probation and fines and fees totaling $5,570.

Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas imposed the penalties on Matthew M. Halas, 39, of Raintree Island, who had pleaded guilty to felony driving while intoxicated – his third alcohol-related offense. His blood alcohol content was measured at three times the legal limit.

The occupants of the other car, including some children, suffered minor injuries.
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