Gun-show operators agree to new rules

April 5, 2013, 10:43 pm

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Twenty-six gun show operators in New York State have agreed to put in place new rules designed to prevent the sale of guns to customers who can’t pass criminal background checks, State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced Friday.

The organizations, including at least seven that operate gun shows in Western New York, reached voluntary agreements with the State Attorney General’s Office to follow a set of model procedures that grew out of Schneiderman’s 2011 investigation of gun shows in the state.

Highlights of the new procedures include notifying dealers at the show that they must complete a background check before any guns change hands, tagging each weapon sold at the show to make it easier to confirm the required check was performed and making an effort to ensure illegal gun sales aren’t made outside the gun show building.

“The cooperation we have seen shows that public safety does not need to be divisive or a partisan issue. Gun show operators around the state have voluntarily agreed to adopt simple procedures that increase the safety of New Yorkers without infringing upon the Second Amendment rights of gun owners,” Schneiderman said in a statement.

In the 2011 gun show probe, undercover investigators were able to buy semiautomatic rifles here and across the state without undergoing a criminal background check. The undercover agents were able to buy the weapons even after telling sellers they had domestic-violence histories.

Ten dealers were charged with illegal gun sales following the eight-month investigation that included visits to gun shows in Erie and Genesee counties. Nine pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges, and one was found guilty after a trial.

The attorney general’s office used the threat of future sting operations to win cooperation from gun show operators in enforcing the model procedures.

Schneiderman last November announced that Niagara Frontier Collectors, which hosts shows here, was one of the first to cooperate with the new rules.

They’re now up to 26 operators, and the rules should be in place for at least 55 gun shows this year, Schneiderman said.

In addition to Niagara Frontier Collectors, local operators include: Bontrager Real Estate and Auction Services in Genesee County; Daniel A. Carter Auction Co. and York-Penn Shows, both of Cattaraugus County; New York State Arms Collectors Association, Genesee County; RL Mason Auction, Allegany County, and Williston Auctions, Erie County.

The gun show operators also agree to post signs alerting dealers and customers to the background check requirement; limit the number of entry and exit points at the show to make it easier to determine whether a check has been performed; and request law enforcement patrols in the parking lots of the shows to discourage illegal sales.

The background check requirement is included in a 2000 state law and predates the controversial New York SAFE Act, a set of gun laws recently signed into law.

Schneiderman’s office is handling the prosecution of the first defendant charged under the SAFE Act, Benjamin M. Wassell, a Silver Creek resident who is accused of illegally modifying two assault-style weapons before selling them to an undercover officer.

email: swatson@buffnews.com

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Slight warm-up expected in area over next few days

April 5, 2013, 11:00 pm

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About two weeks into the start of the season, spring’s warm-up arrives today.

The high temperature is forecast to hover around 50 degrees, which is right where it should be for this time of year, said James Mitchell, a National Weather Service meteorologist at Buffalo Niagara International Airport.

“It will be mostly sunny with clear skies and light winds,” Mitchell added.

That is a far cry from earlier in the week, when the high temperature barely inched above 32 degrees, with trace amounts of snow and hail peppering the region.

Temperatures are forecast to be a bit above average early next week, with highs in the mid-50s forecast for Monday and Tuesday.

Sunday’s high is expected to reach 48 degrees, with a chance of showers and gusty winds.

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Newfane home raided as a meth lab by state police and niagara county sheriff

April 5, 2013, 11:08 pm

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A Hazardous Materials Response Cleanup team was dispatched to clear volatile meth lab chemicals from a Franklin Street home in Newfane after it was raided by Niagara County Sheriff’s Drug Task Force and state police late Thursday.

Sheriff James R. Voutour said a two-month probe targeted 1579 Franklin St., where methamphetamine was made and sold. Two Newfane men, Dearick Hoefer, 32, and Geoffrey Linderman, 28, were arrested.

Hoefer is being held in lieu of $15,000 bail on a felony charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree. Linderman was charged with maintaining a public nuisance and released on $250 bail, officials said.

The sheriff said the sale of the dangerous drug out of the Franklin Street house had been the subject of neighborhood complaints, which prompted the joint investigation. Voutour said the Newfane meth lab is the 12th one shut down in Western New York since early 2012.

email: mgryta@buffnews.com

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Bidding goes awry on Lockport parking ramp demolition

April 5, 2013, 11:08 pm

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LOCKPORT – Friday’s opening of bids for the demolition of the closed downtown Lockport parking ramp featured an error that could cost the city $190,000, produce a lawsuit, or both.

Scott Lawn Yard of Sanborn submitted the lowest bid, $987,000, for demolition and replacement of the ramp with a 42-space surface parking lot on Main Street near Pine Street.

The problem was that Scott’s bid was handed in late, after a city employee allegedly told the Scott representative that the bid had to be presented at the Buffalo office of Conestoga-Rovers & Associates, the company that designed the project.

That was wrong information, and by the time the Scott employee returned from Buffalo, he had missed the 2 p.m. deadline.

“We were there at 1,” said Scott Lawn Yard co-owner Scott Miller. “We were in the right place. We were turned around by a secretary for the city.” Mayor Michael W. Tucker said it happened “upstairs,” meaning at an office on the second floor of City Hall. But he noted that Scott Lawn Yard has bid on several city contracts in the past and should know the procedure. The bid documents say the bids were to be delivered to City Hall.

“Very clearly, it says where the bids are going to be opened,” Tucker said. He said he would have to consult with Corporation Counsel John J. Ottaviano about the situation. Ottaviano did not return a call seeking comment.

Miller said he wanted to pursue the matter in some fashion.

The lowest bid of the nine handed in by 2 p.m. came from Empire Dismantlement of Grand Island at $1.17 million, which is $190,000 more than Scott’s offer.

Also, there were five bids for electrical work at the site. Industrial Power and Lighting of Buffalo was the apparent low bidder at $71,000.

The bids must be acted upon by the Common Council, presumably at its April 17 meeting.

Tucker said the package was budgeted at $1.6 million. He expects demolition to begin in late April and take two or three weeks. The construction of the surface lot will ensue, with its opening targeted for the first week of July.

email: tprohaska@buffnews.com

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Judge bars Maid from work on storage site

April 6, 2013, 8:21 am

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A preservation group with ties to the Maid of the Mist’s Canadian competitor continues to make waves for the iconic local company.

A State Supreme Court justice Friday put a temporary halt to construction on the Maid of the Mist’s new boat storage facility in the Niagara Gorge,

Judge Ralph A. Boniello III signed a temporary restraining order requested by a group known as the Niagara Preservation Coalition, a move that bars the Maid of the Mist from continuing work on the $32 million facility until legal objections are ironed out.

The storage facility, to be built at the site of the former Schoellkopf power plant, is critical to the Maid of the Mist’s future because the company lost its storage area when the Ontario government granted rights to the tours to Hornblower Cruises last year.

The Niagara Preservation Coalition, headed by Louis Ricciuti, went to court with a series of objections to the project, which already was facing a legal challenge from Hornblower, a California company.

The Maid of the Mist has begun what it says is preliminary work on the gorge wall, removing potentially dangerous loose rocks.

But the preservationists say it’s the beginning of construction.

Linda R. Shaw, an attorney for the Niagara Preservation Coalition, said the group wants proof the proper environmental reviews for the site have been completed.

“They’re about to put a huge crane on the edge of that cliff,” Shaw told The Buffalo News.

Supporters of the Maid of the Mist have said they believe the preservation group was created by those close to Hornblower to try to delay the dock construction, a charge Hornblower officials have denied.

However, both Hornblower and the Niagara Preservation Coalition use the same lobbying firm, Nicholas & Lence Communications of New York City. Also, Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster told The Buffalo News last month he had never heard of the preservation group and had “a sneaking suspicion it might have been created solely for the purpose of attacking Maid of the Mist’s project on behalf of the Canadian competition.”

Maid of the Mist officials also have said they believe the group is bogus.

And after the restraining order was issued Friday, attorneys for the Niagara Preservation Coalition met with Hornblower’s local attorney.

The suit by the preservation group aims to save the ruins of the Schoellkopf Generating Station, the hydroelectric plant whose 1956 collapse into the gorge led to the construction of the Niagara Power Project.

New York State Parks and the Power Authority said in a joint statement that they were sure the planned project complies “with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations.”

“We are confident that the New York State Supreme Court will conclude, upon further review, that the proper steps have been taken in this matter and that the capital improvements at the Schoellkopf site should be allowed to proceed,” the agencies said.

The coalition suit notes that State Parks filed an application in December for the powerhouse ruins to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, while at the same time allowing the Maid of the Mist construction project that, the court papers assert, would damage some of the remains and bury much of what is left under a layer of concrete.

The lawsuit also seeks to invalidate the Power Authority’s Feb. 19 declaration that the Maid project would have no negative impact on the environment, and it demands a full environmental review.

Maid of the Mist officials say they are following all rules.

“It is our strong belief that all permits were issued and procedures followed in accordance with applicable law,” said Maid of the Mist spokesman Kevin Keenan. “This is just more of the same from Hornblower.”

Hornblower officials say they are simply interested in a fair shot at the project.

“Whatever happens, we want it done right,” said John P. Bartolomei, Hornblower’s local attorney. “[Hornblower CEO] Terry MacRae has put on the table $100 million more than the Maid of the Mist.”

Both cases are to receive their first hearings in court Thursday before State Supreme Court Justice Catherine Nugent Panepinto. Boniello signed Friday’s injunction in her absence.

Hornblower, which runs tours in San Francisco and New York City, is taking over operation of the boat rides from the Canadian shore in 2014.

Last year, the Ontario government chose Hornblower from more than a half-dozen proposals to provide boat trips on the Canadian side of the falls, ending its no-bid lease with the Maid of the Mist.

That move threatened the future of the tour company, which has carried the Maid name for more than a century and has been owned by the Glynn family since 1971.

In December, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo came to Niagara Falls to announce a new deal that would allow the Maid continue to operate on the American side.

That deal blocked Hornblower from bidding on providing the attraction from the New York State side of Niagara Falls.

In January, MacRae, Hornblower’s president, said he was willing to pay double what the Glynn family will pay to the state for the right to run the tour operations.

On March 4, Hornblower filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court against the Maid and officials in the Cuomo administration, challenging the legality of the December deal.

In court papers, Hornblower called the deal to allow a new U.S. storage facility a “misguided and inexplicable effort to enable MaidCo to continue generating profits for itself” without a fair and equitable bidding process.

The state says the deal is legal because it’s an amendment to the 40-year contract already in place.

email: abesecker@buffnews.com and tprohaska@buffnews.com

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Beilein’s road to Final four started at ECC

April 6, 2013, 9:13 am

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ATLANTA – Thirty-five years ago Ralph Galanti played a hunch that would impact college basketball for decades to come. He entered the president’s office at Erie Community College and declared he had found the school’s next head coach.

The guy’s name was John Beilein. He had played college ball at Wheeling Jesuit – which isn’t exactly Duke, or even Florida Atlantic. He was coaching at Newfane High School – which isn’t exactly DeMatha, or even Bennett. Beilein’s resume was sparse, uninspiring, so lean that basketball-savvy president Oscar Smukler, who’d officiated the sport for 30 years, suggested his athletic director come back with another name.

Galanti and Santo DeSain, the assistant AD and women’s basketball coach, persisted. They explained that none of the other candidates matched Beilein’s enthusiasm and passion. The guy was a basketball junkie. The game was his calling. To say he aspired to great things in coaching didn’t take it far enough. It was more than an aspiration, closer to a link with destiny.

“He blew us out of the water,” Galanti said by phone while wintering in Florida. “He was so enthusiastic. He was young, he didn’t have any experience at the college level, but his interview just went so great.

“But our president at the time didn’t really want John. He wanted more experience, and he was really upset when Santo and I recommended him. We had a meeting in his office, and he kind of read the riot act, saying if this guy doesn’t prove himself, Santo and I might be looking for a job besides the basketball coach.”

Many years passed before Galanti retired from ECC on his own terms. He watched as Beilein made a methodical climb up the coaching ladder, from ECC to Nazareth and on to LeMoyne. Then came that first Division I job, at Canisius, until he was lured away by Richmond, which surrendered him to West Virginia. The next and presumably last stop on the journey took Beilein to Michigan, which has closed within two wins of the national championship in his sixth season with the Wolverines. They get Syracuse in tonight’s second semifinal.

It’s been a long and accomplished road that Beilein has followed from the tranquility of rural Niagara County and his hometown of Burt to the frenzy of the Final Four. He ranks among the game’s elite, the only active coach to produce 20-win seasons at four different levels (junior college, NAIA, Division II and Division I). He’s won 672 college games all told and has a salary ($1.9 million) commensurate with his successes. But it’s those four seasons at ECC beginning in 1979 that define his determination and provide the baseline for measuring how far he’s come.

DeSain remembers those times well. He and Beilein both lived in Lockport, and neither had a vehicle to brag about, so it made sense for them to carpool from Lockport to ECC’s North Campus in Amherst. “My car had issues with starting and John’s car’s the one that didn’t have the heater in it,” DeSain said. “We had some fun travels. There also were days when we took the bus together. Not a lot of those, but we did have to rely on the bus a few times to get in.

“Sometimes we left at 7 a.m., didn’t get home until 7 or 8. If one of us had the early practice and one of us had the late practice, we would have to wait for the other person. Twelve-hour days were not uncommon at all.”

Beilein laughed at the memory of those trips. Some years they included him chauffeuring his players.

“I had a 1970 Maverick,” Beilein said. “Three on the column and no radio. I picked up – in junior college you could do that – I picked up three kids from Lockport. Two kids from Lockport were in my starting lineup I think. Lawrence Maroney was a great player. Pick them up every morning, take them to school, drive them back. Oh my God.”

The Maverick was a step down from the Volvo Beilein bought when he first started coaching. Then he proposed to Kathleen, and the belt had to tighten.

“I made $10,000 a year, so what do you do? You go buy a $5,000 Volvo as soon as you make $10,000 a year,” Beilein said. “Then all of a sudden we get engaged and I trade it in for the Maverick, and she said, ‘What happened here, John? We had a Volvo, now you have a 1970 Maverick and a radio that you put on the dashboard.”

Never could travel be taken for granted. ECC commuted to away games in vans, sometimes traveling as far as South Carolina. Former UB coach Reggie Witherspoon, a Kat beginning with Beilein’s second season, recalled the team hitting the highway to the Region III tournament and barely arriving on time.

“The van broke down,” Witherspoon said. “Got on the 90, and the freaking van broke down. Tire went flat. It’s cold, windy, and trucks are passing us. Most of us lifted the van, and someone slid the tire off. No jack. Did it all manually. Got there 35, 40 minutes before game. And we lost.”

To Beilein one junior college travel disaster sounds just like another.

“I’ve had more van breakdowns ... ,” he said with a laugh.

Through it all he persevered, developing the coaching philosophies he holds dear to this day. Beilein has been captivated by the art of shooting ever since he was a boy. The best defense on the planet can never win a game unless the ball goes through the basket at least once. Defense can create opportunity, but from there offense takes over. Maybe that’s why he’s always obsessed over proper technique.

“I watched John’s practices, and whenever I could would tap into his knowledge and so forth,” DeSain said. “He worked on the science of shooting. One of the things he told me when I worked with the kids was to have them think about shooting like they’re in a phone booth. They would have to shoot out of the phone booth, which emphasized the reach and the follow-through and so forth. They would go up and down in the same spot. That really struck home with me. It made a lot of sense with me.”

“I’ve honestly heard him say that about the phone both a lot, and I had to catch myself to not use that phrase because I don’t think the kids know what a phone booth is,” Witherspoon said. “He put a premium on shooting even then. Shooting and balance. If you couldn’t shoot, you would feel left out.”

Somehow Beilein made his way without a true mentor. He was never an assistant coach, never had the luxury of learning situational coaching from someone more experienced than he.

“I think in many ways it made it more difficult to become a better coach sometimes because I couldn’t shortcut,” Beilein said. “I couldn’t sit next to a great coach and say, ‘You should never try that in a game.’ I would try it in a game, we would get our butts kicked, I would learn by sleeping on the couch that night because I didn’t sleep all night that night.

“You learn that it takes a step back, but it takes a step forward because the next time you get that opportunity you’re not going to make that same mistake again. It goes up and down, up and down. But it’s well over 1,000 games now, if you go way back to junior college as a coach.”

All the way back to the day when ECC found itself a pretty good basketball coach

email: bdicesare@buffnews.com

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Two escape fire that heavily damages Newfane home

April 6, 2013, 1:07 pm

≫ Next: Disqualified Olympian sues maker of supplement over failed drug test

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NEWFANE – Fire caused heavy damage to a house at 2380 Lockport-Olcott Road Friday evening, Niagara County sheriff’s deputies wsaid.

Residents Jay M. and Stacie L. Hughes, who were in the house when the fire began shortly before 6:30 p.m,, left safely before police and fire crews arrived. Jay Hughes said that when he went downstairs to check on his barking dogs, he saw smoke and his porch on fire.

Dale Road resident Donald L. Geier said he was driving by when he noticed the fire and made sure everyone was out of the house. He also told deputies he extinguished flames that spread to a bush and bird feeder next-door at 2374 Lockport-Olcott.

A damage amount was unavailable. The Red Cross is assisting. Miller House Volunteer Fire Department fought the blaze, with Wrights Corners and Olcott volunteers assisting.

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Disqualified Olympian sues maker of supplement over failed drug test

April 6, 2013, 3:45 pm

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≪ Previous: Two escape fire that heavily damages Newfane home

LOCKPORT – A lawsuit filed here last week pits a Hungarian discus thrower, who was barred from last summer’s Olympic Games in London because of a failed drug test, against a Canadian company that he claims concealed the presence of steroids in a protein supplement he was taking.

Robert Fazekas and his coach, Adrian Annus, filed the lawsuit in State Supreme Court in Niagara County because the supplement maker, MVP Biotech, has its U.S. distribution address in Niagara Falls, according to attorney Kalman Magyar.

The company actually is based in Kirkland, Quebec.

Fazekas and Annus are no strangers to doping controversies. Both men were stripped of gold medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens for doping-related violations. Fazekas had won the discus competition, and Annus had won the hammer throw.

They are represented in their damage suit by Minryu Kim of Buffalo’s Phillips Lytle law firm and by Magyar, a Toronto attorney.

Fazekas, 37, probably missed his last chance at Olympic glory because of the disqualification following a pre-Olympic drug test, Magyar said.

“We believe he would have won in the Olympics,” Magyar said. “During training right before the Olympics, which he was not allowed to go to in the end, he threw a longer throw than the eventual gold medalist in London. We surely believe he was greatly harmed here. … He’s never tested positive for steroids until he came across MVP’s products.”

Fazekas was barred from competitions after the test. He served a two-year ban after the 2004 Athens disqualification, which came after he was unable to produce enough urine to be tested following the event. That was regarded as a violation of the rules.

The Hungarian Olympic Committee asserted that Fazekas is a deeply religious person who, after his Athens win, tried for hours but was unable to produce a urine sample with people watching him.

An International Olympic Committee disciplinary board wasn’t impressed by that argument and disqualified him.

After his suspension, Fazekas made a comeback, finishing eighth in the discus at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The next year, he underwent spinal surgery. That didn’t stop him from finishing third at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona.

That’s the same year that Annus, the former hammer-thrower who was accused of submitting someone else’s urine to be tested in his place at Athens in 2004, became Fazekas’ coach.

In 2012, Fazekas qualified for the London Olympics in an April competition in California, Magyar said. He passed a drug test.

He then began taking “Pro Whey,” a protein supplement sold by MVP Biotech. In June or July, a doping test conducted by a Vienna laboratory certified by the World Anti-Doping Agency picked up anabolic steroids in Fazekas’ urine.

It was “one nanogram per milliliter, the tiniest amount possible,” according to Magyar.

Fazekas sent the lab samples of the supplements he was taking, including opened and unopened containers of Pro Whey. Both containers tested positive for steroids, according to Magyar.

The lawsuit accuses MVP Biotech of failing to list the steroid in question, called Stanozolol, among Pro Whey’s ingredients.

“That is a prohibited substance,” Magyar said. “He never would have taken it if it was [listed].” Calls by The Buffalo News to MVP Biotech’s 800 number and its headquarters in Quebec were not returned.

email: tprohaska@buffnews.com

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3 rescued after boat capsizes in Lake Ontario

April 6, 2013, 7:52 pm

≫ Next: Woodcock Brothers beer to be distributed

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YOUNGSTOWN – Rescue crews battled 5-foot swells Saturday afternoon as they raced to the scene of a capsized boat with three Allegany County men aboard in the frigid waters of Lake Ontario, about four miles from the mouth of the Niagara River, off Old Fort Niagara.

Common sense and good fortune helped the three, who were fishing, to survive, officials said.

The men – identified only as two 51-year-old men from Wellsville and a 61-year-old man from Andover – were said to be in stable condition following the late-afternoon rescue by American and Canadian Coast Guard crews, assisted by a team from Lewiston Fire Company No. 1.

But the ending could have been very different, said Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Craig Deats-Cascio, who participated in the rescue.

One of the boaters, according to the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office, called 911 to say the 19-foot boat was encountering heavy waves and filling with water. Minutes later, about 3:40 p.m., the boat capsized.

Faced with the prospect of immersion in 37-degree water, the three men made the decision to stick together and climb atop the overturned vessel, keeping them out of the water for the roughly 45 minutes it took rescue crews to arrive, Deats-Cascio said.

It was a life-and-death situation, he added.

“When we arrived, they were huddled together atop the boat,” said Deats-Cascio, who noted the men were wet from three- to four-foot waves crashing over the boat. He also said only one of the three wore a life jacket.

“It’s good we got there when we did,” said the officer, who added that it doesn’t take very long for hypothermia to set in. ”Luckily, they got home safely.”

Two of the men were taken to Mount St. Mary’s Hospital in Lewiston. Mercy Flight flew the third, who had a pacemaker, to Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo.

The three used a cellphone and a global positioning system to help rescuers track them down.

Though there is heavy ice presence in much of the Niagara River because of the recent removal of the state Power Authority ice boom, ice was not much of a factor in navigating the lake, Deats-Cascio said.

Officials did not say what caused the boat to capsize, though conditions on the lake were choppy.

The boat – a Crestliner – sank and was not recovered.

“The air is warm enough for boating season, but water temperatures are still dangerously cold,” said Deats-Cascio, who was officer of the day at Station Niagara.

“These three men are lucky to be alive, thanks to the hard work and cooperation between the Coast Guard and our partner agencies.”

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Woodcock Brothers beer to be distributed

April 2, 2013, 1:34 pm

≫ Next: Stepping up to bat for Niagara Hospice

≪ Previous: 3 rescued after boat capsizes in Lake Ontario

WILSON – Mark Woodcock estimates that his family brewery – Woodcock Brothers Brewery Co. in Wilson – sells 100 kegs of homemade brew a month to visitors to the spectacularly renovated, century-old cold storage facility turned brewery and restaurant at 638 Lake St.

But in coming days, patrons at select restaurants and taverns throughout Niagara County also will be able to sample beer from Niagara County’s only on-site brewery, as Woodcock Brewery begins selling its beer through Certo Brothers Distributing Co., Inc.

“We’ll have Porter, Amber Ale and Summer Ale available to the public through our distributors,” Woodcock said. “We’ve asked them to target Lewiston, Niagara Falls and Lockport to start and we’ll go from there.

“If they want to try the other three we make right now, as well, they’ll have to visit the restaurant,” Woodcock said. Those would be India Pale Ale, American Pale Ale and Golden Ale.

Woodcock noted that his family brewery is the “only brewery in Niagara County with on-site production. People get to see it made here – it’s here for the public to enjoy.”

Patrons leaning on the polished wooden bar top made of reclaimed floor joists can peer through the floor-to-ceiling glass behind the bar to glimpse the 600-gallon brewing vats on the floor below.

Woodcock and his wife, Andrea, of Youngstown, and his brother, Tim, and his wife, Debbie, who live in Wilson, are partners in the business that opened its doors last November. Mark Woodcock also owns Ricmar Electric in North Tonawanda, where Tim serves as a foreman and project coordinator and Andrea is treasurer. Their experience in the building trades enhanced their ability to repurpose the abandoned building to the tune of nearly $1.5 million over a two-year period.

“We could expand our beer-making capacity three-fold without having to expand our facility,” Mark Woodcock said.“We can do about 4,200 gallons a month now and we could go to 12,000 gallons without having to increase our footprint,” he said.

The Woodcocks also have enjoyed a boost in becoming an associate member of the burgeoning Niagara Wine Trail.

“We’re located on their map and in their book, so people can find us very easily,” Woodcock said.

Mayor Bernard “Bernie” Leiker is excited about the opportunity for increased beer production for a couple of good reasons, he said.

“First, that means more business for them,” he said. “People are coming from all over to visit them. It’s amazing how well they’re doing. There’s such a demand for their beer – it’s very impressive.

“And secondly, making more beer means they’re using more water and this could eventually help reduce our water rates,” he said.

Looking into the future, Woodcock said he doesn’t know how much water his brewery will use or how it will affect taxpayers’ rates, but added, “Obviously, the more beer you sell, the more water you use.

“Expanding our current capacity (for beer production) three-fold is a steep chore, but we’re up to it,” he said.

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Stepping up to bat for Niagara Hospice

April 2, 2013, 1:46 pm

≫ Next: Lewiston plans $8 million recreation center

≪ Previous: Woodcock Brothers beer to be distributed

Baseball players from four area high schools are teaming up to raise money for Niagara Hospice by holding a “Homerun for Hospice” tournament Tuesday and Wednesday at Lewiston-Porter High School and at Wilson High School.

Junior varsity and varsity baseball teams from Lew-Port, Wilson, Depew, and Starpoint will compete on the field, as well as off, to raise money for Hospice. Before they even take to the field, players are competing to sell the most sponsorship baseball cut-outs with their school logo for $1 each.

Mark Waple, Lew-Port teacher and varsity baseball coach, created the event as a way for students to give back to the community.

“It’s important for our kids to work together to give back to the community. It’s good for them to see that they can really make a difference,” he said.

Lew-Port will host the varsity games with Lew-Port vs. Depew and Starpoint vs. Wilson at 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday. The winners of each game will play a championship game at 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, while the remaining teams play a consolation game. The junior varsity games will be held at Wilson High School, with the same schools following the same schedule.

Spectators are encouraged to come out and cheer the teams on. Concessions and additional sponsorship baseball cut-outs will be sold throughout the event with all proceeds benefiting Niagara Hospice.

“People may visit us at www.NiagaraHospice.org and look under Events to find ‘Homerun for Hospice’ and can make a donation either in support of a player’s name or a school team’s name or even in memory of a loved one,” said Maureen Rizzo, of the Niagara Hospice Alliance.

Anyone wishing to volunteer or sponsor the event may call Rizzo at 280-0728.

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Lewiston plans $8 million recreation center

April 3, 2013, 10:45 am

≫ Next: Water Board employee running for Falls council seat

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LEWISTON – By the end of this month, a deal may be completed between the Town of Lewiston and the Lewiston-Porter School District for an $8 million town recreation center on the school campus.

After two years of planning, Supervisor Steven L. Reiter said he hopes to break ground this year. The complex would take nine to 15 months to build.

“It’s an opportunity for Lewiston to go one step farther and have a quality of life aspect that we didn’t have before,” Reiter said.

The recreation center, to be built on about 10 acres of land directly in front of the high school facing Creek Road, will feature a 90,000-square-foot multipurpose indoor athletic field that could be used be used for soccer, baseball, softball, lacrosse or football.

There also will be a gymnasium and a chunk of open space that was intended to be the town’s new senior citizens center. That plan is up in the air now because many seniors have proved reluctant to move out of the current center on Lower River Road.

Arrangements are expected to be made for Lew-Port sports teams to practice or play in the center. But community leagues for children and adults, including soccer, roller hockey, flag football, volleyball, lacrosse, softball, also will be expected to set up shop there.

“There would be fees for certain uses, but some uses would be free,” Reiter said.

The center would be open to the public – indoor running and walking time is expected to be available – but it would also be used by Lew-Port, and perhaps other nearby school districts, who are in dire need of more space to accommodate all of their athletic programs.

“Gym space is at a premium,” said Lew-Port School Superintendent R. Christopher Roser.

Lew-Port’s campus has four gyms: in the high school and the middle, intermediate and primary schools.

That may sound like a lot, but if you have varsity, junior varsity and modified boys and girls basketball teams, wrestling teams and cheerleading squads, all looking for time to practice, four gyms isn’t much at all.

“The gyms are used until late at night,” Roser said.

But using some of the space in the rec center could solve that time crunch “so a family could actually eat dinner together in the evening,” Roser said. “We’re working out an agreement where we could use it. … We don’t think we’re asking too much.”

“We talked to the school and they were looking at a field-house type project,” Reiter said. The town’s rec center may solve that issue.

The deal for Lew-Port’s use of the facility could be a way to defray some of the town’s costs, Roser said.

Besides sports, the center would serve as an emergency preparedness center in case of power outages, floods or other extreme weather. The space also could be used for non-athletic events such as car, boat and craft shows, and could be rented for large parties and other community and private functions.

The building project won widespread support at a March 25 public hearing in Town Hall, except for the notion of moving the town’s senior citizen center to the new building.

Reiter said that won’t happen. The seniors will stay put in their current center on Lower River Road, but the space set aside for them in the new building – about 6.300 square feet of a total of 139,000 square feet – will remain available.

He thinks some senior activities could be held in the new building, in hopes of tempting the seniors into moving.

“Myself and the [town] board feel eventually, they’ll decide it’s a good thing,” Reiter said.

The senior citizen center is active, with some 15,000 users last year. Also, it’s a nutrition site for the Niagara County Office for the Aging senior citizen lunch program.

Kenneth R. Genewick, director of the Office for the Aging, said the Lewiston site is one of the county’s best attended, with an average of 35 meals served every weekday. He said the county has no plans to move the site.

Reiter said there had been some interest in a lease on the Lower River Road property from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Audubon Society, but they are stymied by the seniors’ preference not to move.

Beyond that issue, the main points still to be settled include a sale price for the 10 acres of land.

Roser said the district originally asked for $50,000 for the parcel, and the price is under negotiation.

“Right now, we’re doing an appraisal of the property,” Roser said. “We’re looking to sell it. If it’s school property, we can’t have someone develop it.”

The town chose the school property for its project after a request for proposals. Reiter said the price was the primary reason for choosing the school’s offer over two others that offered the sale of private property.

There have been some objections to the location because it’s not near the center of the town, as Town Hall is.

Reiter was talking to Niagara-Wheatfield Central School officials in late March about possibly having some school-related activities from that district at the new recreation center, to mollify objections from Sanborn-area residents, who live at a substantial distance from the Lew-Port campus.

He said there are two scenarios for operation and maintenance of the facility, which will be 35 feet high in some spots.

One would be to have the town manage it; the other would be to seek a private operator, with the town having preferential use.

There would not have to be a public vote on the project, although Reiter said the $8 million, 30-year bond issue the town will have to float to pay the cost would be subject to a permissive referendum, meaning one that is held only if enough petition signatures demanding one are submitted in a given period of time.

Another anticipated funding source is Niagara River Greenway money, distributed through the county’s Host Communities Standing Committee, where both the town and the school district are voting members. Reiter said the town will enter the Greenway process.

Helping justify that, there is a connection to a riverside trail at the Robert Moses Parkway about half a mile away from the center, he noted.

“It’s almost a perfect storm. We had the opportunity to do a project and the funding was there,” Reiter said.

email: tprohaska@buffnews.com

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Water Board employee running for Falls council seat

April 3, 2013, 11:34 am

≫ Next: Teen suicide prevention has allies at Mental Health Association

≪ Previous: Lewiston plans $8 million recreation center

NIAGARA FALLS – The field of candidates running for Niagara Falls City Council in November just got more crowded.

Russ Vesci, a lifelong city resident, said last week he will seek one of three contested seats on the council, joining two others who previously announced.

Vesci, 46, has spent two decades working for the Niagara Falls Water Board on the buildings and grounds crew of the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

“I’ve worked on every street in this city,” he said. “I don’t believe anybody knows it better than I do. I’m out in the neighborhoods people don’t see.”

Working for the water board is a path that Vesci said has prepared him for public office – and one that Glenn A. Choolokian followed earlier this year to the council chairmanship.

Vesci, a former block club leader and martial arts instructor, is sounding the same tones as Choolokian and the council majority that has challenged Mayor Paul A. Dyster this year.

“This has been a decades-old problem: somewhere along the line, overspending just got out of control,” Vesci said. “You can’t tax and spend, tax and spend. I think of it like I do a regular household. If you’re broke, you can’t go buying a big-screen TV.”

That means projects like the $44 million International Railway Station and Intermodal Transportation Center need to re-evaluated, Vesci said.

Vesci said the current council, which has pushed to cut city spending, is going in the “right direction.”

But while he said he wants to “continue that train of thought,” Vesci stressed that he wasn’t recruited by Choolokian and wouldn’t owe anything to him or the current council.

“I don’t owe allegiances to anyone,” he said. “I am my own man.”

Taxes need to be lowered, Vesci said, so that city residents aren’t forced to sell their homes and move elsewhere, like he once contemplated doing.

Vesci believes that strategy will help bring the city the economic prosperity of days gone by – days that exist in his memory from stories his father once told him.

“Through his eyes, I saw the decline of this city,” he said. “To hear the way he described this place, with the businesses, the tourists, the Honeymoon Capital, it truly saddens me to see what has been done to my town.”

Vesci, who lives on the city’s East Side, joins Joe Swartz and Andrew Touma as announced candidates for the council.

Swartz, 23, is a telephone operator at the Seneca Niagara Casino. The city’s first openly gay candidate, he is running as a Democrat but has been critical of both Dyster and the council.

Touma teaches third grade at Geraldine J. Mann Elementary School in the Falls. A LaSalle resident, he has pledged to bring the art of compromise and “a voice of reason” to City Hall.

The three candidates will run against Councilman Sam Fruscione, the former council chairman; Councilman Charles Walker and Councilwoman Kristen M. Grandinetti.

All three sitting council members are expected to run, and council members are elected on an at-large basis, with no geographic significance to each seat.

email: cspecht@buffnews.com

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Teen suicide prevention has allies at Mental Health Association

April 3, 2013, 1:02 pm

≫ Next: Doctors on call to serve up drinks

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LOCKPORT – The recent focus on bullying has put attention on an even more distressing issue teens face – teen suicide – and a Niagara County-based mental health group has begun offering a new program for teachers and staff at area schools aimed at handling the aftermath of teen suicide. It is called Allies 4 Life.

“One of the main things we are hoping to do is to help the schools develop a crisis team and protocol that is specifically for suicide, as opposed to when a child is killed in a car accident or a terminal illness,” said Heather A. Jones, a family support specialist at the Mental Health Association in Niagara County which is a not-for-profit organization not affiliated with the Niagara County Mental Health Association.

Mental Health Association Director Cheryl A. Blacklock said most schools have a crisis team, but they are not always ready to handle a real crisis when it occurs.

“A lot of schools are still operating under the myth that this will not happen to us. So they aren’t prepared and aren’t ready to address it the way it should be addressed,” said Stacy A. Bowman, coordinator of community education for the Mental Health Association.

Teen suicide “is a problem in Niagara County and this does occur. No one is exempt.”

Bowman said the Allies 4 Life program addresses what school staff should be looking for to prevent suicides, what to do in the case of a suicide, the responsibilities of each member of a crisis team, and resources available to teens.

Allies 4 Life is a 90-minute presentation designed by mental health professionals, which is free and open to all schools, as well as other organizations and agencies that deal with children.

Bowman said they hope to make the school presentation the first part of a program that will eventually include parents and then students.

Blacklock said the Mental Health Association realized there was a need for this kind of program after results from an annual “depression survey” of area schools conducted in the fall of 2011 raised concerns about what seemed to be an increasing number of students who had thought of harming themselves.

Those results prompted another survey last year of nearly 3,500 middle and high school students across the county focused more on suicide.

They discovered:

• Students as young as 12 reported that they have had serious issues with depression and have considered ending their life.

• Among those surveyed, 395 students reported that within the past month they have had serious thoughts about ending their life.

• They found in their survey that bullying wasn’t necessarily the top problem facing young people.

“Surprisingly bullying came in as number three. Family conflict and self-esteem and body issues were number one and two,” said Jones.

She said these findings were some of the results that were discovered as they were developing the Allies 4 Life program, but recently the need became even more apparent after three teen suicides were reported in the past three months.

While preventing suicide is its ultimate goal, Allies 4 Life also is designed to address what to do after there has been a suicide – and what not to do.

“This is an instrument for schools to use to prepare themselves when a suicide occurs in their district,” Jones said.”

Jones said schools need to take care to lessen “suicide contagion” and not glamorize what the student did, but instead look at it as an educational opportunity to address other kids and help them make better choices.

“Some schools were holding memorials [for teens who committed suicide] in huge auditoriums, full of kids and telling them all that way. According to best practices that is really not the best way to handle that,” said Jones.

Blacklock said while memorials, posters, T-shirts and bracelets created to memorialize a suicide victim were done with good intentions, these types of responses often lead to more suicides and can send a more detrimental message. She said they also should not glamorize how or where the death occurred.

“I know schools have a full plate, but they really, unfortunately are spending more time with kids than a lot of the parents,” Jones said.

“They have to be a little more aware,” Blacklock said.

Allies 4 Life asks teachers on the front lines to build an alliance of caring adults who work together, talk to each other and not assume someone else is taking care of a student who is showing warning signs.

Some signs include:

• Changes in habits, such as eating habits and school work

• Acting more withdrawn

• Absenteeism is up

• Being the clown of the class

More information is available at www.allies4life.com or by calling 433-3780.

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Doctors on call to serve up drinks

April 3, 2013, 1:35 pm

≫ Next: Volunteers needed for Artpark concerts and events

≪ Previous: Teen suicide prevention has allies at Mental Health Association

TOWN OF NIAGARA – Catch your favorites doctors and other Mount St. Mary’s Hospital staff members serving up drinks from behind the bar at Honey’s Restaurant on April 18 when the hospital’s St. Francis Guild women’s auxiliary hosts a “Celebrity Bartender Night.”

Employees, physicians and friends of Mount St. Mary’s Hospital will serve as celebrity bartenders from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Honey’s, 6560 Niagara Falls Blvd.

There is a $10 admission and proceeds from the event will benefit the hospital. Free hors d’oeuvres will be served.

For information, call 298-2145.

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Volunteers needed for Artpark concerts and events

April 3, 2013, 1:35 pm

≫ Next: Q&A with Rachel Hutchinson, founder of Taste of Jamaica festival

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LEWISTON – Artpark is celebrating its 40th anniversary this summer and has started recruiting for volunteers to assist in a variety of duties for the 2013 summer season, which begins in May and continues through August.

Active and enthusiastic volunteers are needed as bus greeters, ticket takers, patron identification verification, raffle ticket sellers, administrative help, art gallery attendants and other duties.

Help is especially needed for Mainstage Theater concert events and musicals and “First Niagara Tuesday in the Park” and “Coors Light Wednesdays” outdoor concerts series.

Artpark has asked for those who wish to volunteer to be aware that they need to be physically able to negotiate the park’s uneven landscape – which includes staircases and inclined surfaces – and be able to stand for extended periods of time.

To become a volunteer contact Rosemary Dann at the Artpark Volunteer Office, 754-9000, ext. 103. or rdann@artpark.net

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Q&A with Rachel Hutchinson, founder of Taste of Jamaica festival

April 3, 2013, 2:00 pm

≫ Next: Restaurant review of Los Nino de la Casa Cardenas

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NIAGARA FALLS—Once Rachel Hutchinson married a Jamaican, she was so moved by his friends’ homesickness for food and family that she threw a backyard picnic.

Then it grew and grew and grew.

In the last decade, the daylong Jamaican summer “Taste of Jamaica” party of curried chicken and reggae music now at Hyde Park every Father’s Day has become so big that she has been wondering what to with it next.

“We take all donations.... Go out and buy paper plates because we need those like crazy,” she said. “We need everything.”

She doesn’t keep an exact count of all the people who come for Caribbean-style chicken and peas and rice that is given away by the plateful and paid for with donations Hutchinson collects beforehand. She estimates that about 1,000 come from near and as far as Canada, Rochester, Lockport, Mississippi, Florida and New York City for the public picnic that features music by DJ Delroy “Avalanche” Palmer.

“Most Jamaicans are very supportive of one another. When they find out something is going on, knowing that they are from the same homeland, they come around. They come around quick,” said Hutchinson, 47, who works as a support assistant and advocate in the state Developmental Disability Service offices in West Seneca.

Hutchinson’s husband once did the same kind of agricultural work that draws many Jamaicans here to earn as much as they can to take home to their families: A government program allows people to come for a few months or more to help with seasonal farm work like the harvest and picking ripe apples in local orchards.

They do all types of work, she said. “They could be plowing, setting up the land. They do a lot of pruning, packaging, boxing,” said Hutchinson. “All the while their doing it, I’m quite sure they have home on their mind. That’s how they are.”

Does your husband cook?

He’s a very good cook. Most Jamaicans are very good cooks.

Why?

I have no idea. Maybe because they start cooking when they’re like 8 years old. My husband is really good at making the curried chicken rice and peas. There’s a certain way you do it.

After all these years, I still cannot make that stuff. I tried it once and it did not taste nowhere compared to my husband’s. It’s not just curry alone. There’s other seasonings.

Did your husband come here because of the agricultural program?

He was working on a farm … It’s mostly males here that come over on the programs. They work and save.

They’re very well known for cooking and playing dominoes.

After your backyard barbeque drew about 40 people, you decided to move it?

I thought, ‘Maybe I should do this on Fathers Day to give them more of a special feeling that something’s going on for them.’ In 2004, we started having it at Hyde Park.

Every year since 2004, it has quadrupled in size.

Probably, including adults and children it had to be at least 1,000 people. When I first started, this was strictly out of my own pocket. We were doing it out of kindness. After we started noticing that it was getting bigger and bigger, we started doing fundraising parties to help alleviate the financial stress we were going through trying to accommodate everybody.

A lot of people that come are from the programs. They enjoy themselves. A lot of them say, ‘Don’t stop. Please keep doing this. I look forward to this every year.’

They love their music. They love socializing with others. That’s something they look forward to every year, including my husband.

They usually prep up everything in our basement the night before. They have like about three big size Dutch pots of rice and peas. Along with other dishes and stuff.

Sometimes it can be discouraging. It’s a lot of work.

It sounds like you need some collaborators.

Sometimes you get a group of people that just can’t agree on anything and they disrupt the whole thing. I want people that are going to be real open minded.

I wish I had some more help. I can’t lie. Sometimes I want to give up.

Can you describe something you really enjoy once the party is underway?

Actually I had a son who died of cancer in 2000. My son, he used to love the way my husband cooked the rice and peas.

If you would see the three different big-sized Dutch pots that they make the rice and peas … I think, ‘Wow, if my son was here he would eat that whole pot.’ He loved the reggae music. He just loved the food. I just wish he was here to be a part of it. Sometimes when I’m out there, I see so many children out there enjoying themselves…

That could be my little son out there. He’s probably just watching down on us. He’s trying to bless everything that we’re doing. That was one of the last good things I remember him saying. He wanted the rice and peas. He was five. He died May 1. He was known as Shaboo. Kalif “Shaboo” Mallory. That’s what I got on his tombstone.

I think of him when we’re doing it. When I see all those kids running around, knowing how active and bright he was. I know he would be enjoying that the same way.

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Restaurant review of Los Nino de la Casa Cardenas

April 3, 2013, 2:41 pm

≫ Next: Coast Guard rescues 3 men from frigid Lake Ontario

≪ Previous: Q&A with Rachel Hutchinson, founder of Taste of Jamaica festival

LEWISTON – Maybe it’s appropriate for a place at the bottom of a hill, but that doesn’t make it right ... or good.

The name of the (ostensibly) Mexican restaurant at the foot of Indian Hill is “Los Nino de la Casa Cardenas,"which is grammatically incorrect. But that’s just the start of the problems. It pretty much goes downhill from there.

We should have had a clue when we popped in at the heart of the dinner hour recently and were the only folks in the joint. Granted, a wild crew of females showed up shortly after; they were, likewise, the only ones there by the time we left.

Maybe it was just a slow night. Or maybe word is getting around that the food is not much more “authentic Mexican” than the name.

After our visit we poked around the Internet and found a couple “independent” reviews of the place. They were dotted with words like “terrible,” “greasy and “not good grease, either,” “tasteless,” “burnt” and “like Italian food trying to pass as Mexican.”

For the most part, we had to concur. Three of us, at least. My wife found her dinner to be just fine. The rest of us agreed with the writer who complained of sauce that was more like "Italian spaghetti sauce” – and likely canned sauce, at that. No heat, no kick, no bite – no anything that makes Mexican stand up and say “Ole!"

The ingredients didn’t seem fresh, nor of particular quality. The cheese – a staple of authentic Mexican – was lifeless. It seemed like fast-food nacho crud pumped out of a container. It failed to add any pizzazz to the dishes we sampled.

The refried beans and Mexican rice? We filed them under the “tasteless” category. The tortilla chips served as an opener were OK – could have used a little salt – but the salsas served with them were limp and listless. The mild version lacked taste, other than tomato. The spicy version seemed to be out of a jar.

Seasonings were definitely lacking and that’s a big drawback when it comes to Mexican eating, where you expect sauces to bite you like a rattler. This was more like a toothless garter snake.

The problem is, the prices are up there with the best Mexican places around. House specials run $10-15 per plate, but the quality doesn’t support it.

Steffany’s chicken fajita platter ($11.95) could have been quite good – had it not been burnt to a crisp on the bottom. Arriving on a sizzling cast iron pan, it was smoking so much – I kid not – that it made me cough across the table. There was a cloud of smoke that lingered for a good minute or two which is too bad, because it seemed to have perhaps the best taste of any of our dishes. At least there was some flavor, although the accompanying veggies were pretty well singed out of existence. Once you peeled the chicken strips off the pan, they didn’t have a bad flavor, even though they took the term “blackened" to the extreme.

Meagan’s chappas dish ($11.95) consisted of “sauteed garden vegetables with broiled chicken in La Casa sauce, and smothered with melted cheese.” It was a hearty dish, at least – size-wise, that is.

The problem was the sauce had a distinct flavor which gave it a much more Italian appeal than Mexican. The cheese was soft and gooey and didn’t really add anything to the mixture. In the end, it seemed more like an extremely chunky-style Italian spaghetti sauce.

I had a concoction called a “Pancho Villa,” which for $9.95 offered a flour tortilla filled with beef, a blend of cheeses and sour cream, deep-fried and topped with sour cream and melted cheese. It sounded good, on paper. It really didn’t offer much in the way of flavor, however. Maybe the sour cream overpowered everything; maybe it just lacked the proper seasoning. I do believe that ground beef would have worked better in this dish than the shredded beef with which it was made. Again, the cheese did nothing to save it. Bland is the best word I could come up with to describe it, just blah.

I really expected more. After all, the old Casa Cardenas in downtown Niagara Falls used to be one of my favorite Mexican places – especially their tasty salsas. This place didn’t come close.

On the plus side, Teresa enjoyed her taquitos ($10.95), which consisted of three corn and flour tortillas filled with beef (you could have any of these dishes with either beef, chicken or veggie fillings), a blend of cheeses and topped with sauce and melted cheese.

She said her dinner was delicious, and could not understand what all our fuss was about. To each his own, I guess.

Now that I think of it, she did have a nice big margarita with her meal ... maybe her taste buds had been softened up sufficiently?

Anyway, que sera, sera.

The service was quite good, the ambience fair, the parking plentiful. Just wish the food had been better.

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Coast Guard rescues 3 men from frigid Lake Ontario

April 7, 2013, 4:25 am

≫ Next: Disqualified Olympian sues maker of supplement over failed drug test

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YOUNGSTOWN – Rescue crews battled 5-foot swells Saturday afternoon as they raced to the scene of a capsized boat with three men aboard in the frigid waters of Lake Ontario, about four miles from the mouth of the Niagara River, off Old Fort Niagara.

Common sense and good fortune helped the three, who were fishing, to survive, officials said.

The men, who were not identified, were said to be in stable condition following the late-afternoon rescue by American and Canadian Coast Guard crews, assisted by a team from Lewiston Fire Company No. 1.

But the ending could have been very different, said Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Craig Deats-Cascio, who participated in the rescue.

When the 19-foot pleasure boat capsized at about 3:40 p.m. in 37-degree water, the three men made the decision to stick together and climb atop the overturned vessel, keeping them out of the water for the roughly 45 minutes it took rescue crews to arrive, Deats-Cascio said.

It was a life-and-death situation, he added.

”When we arrived, they were huddled together atop the boat,” said Deats-Cascio, who noted the men were wet from three- to four-foot waves crashing over the boat.

He also said only one of the three wore a life jacket.

“It’s good we got there when we did,” said the officer, who added that it doesn’t take very long for hypothermia to set in. ”Luckily, they got home safely.”

Two of the men were taken to Mount St. Mary’s Hospital in Lewiston. Mercy Flight flew the third, who had a pacemaker, to Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo for evaluation.

The three used a cellphone and a global positioning system to help rescuers track them down.

Though there is heavy ice presence in much of the Niagara River because of the recent removal of the state Power Authority ice boom, ice was not much of a factor in navigating the lake, Deats-Cascio said.

He said there are “many factors that affect survivability” in such frigid conditions, including the age and physical condition of the victims. He added that the men’s decision to stay together and with the boat was a wise one.

“”You never know when the unexpected can happen,” he said.

Officials did not say what caused the boat to capsize, though conditions on the lake were choppy.

The recreational boat was towed to safety.

“The air is warm enough for boating season, but water temperatures are still dangerously cold,” said Deats-Cascio, who was officer of the day at Station Niagara.

“These three men are lucky to be alive, thanks to the hard work and cooperation between the Coast Guard and our partner agencies.”

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Disqualified Olympian sues maker of supplement over failed drug test

April 7, 2013, 4:30 am

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≪ Previous: Coast Guard rescues 3 men from frigid Lake Ontario

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