She Says They're "Publicity Vehicles" Not Emergency Vehicles!
I was interested in the e-mail from Sheriff's Deputy Paul J. Moran trying to explain why the Sheriff's large gas-hog "Command Center" was seen and photographed on the Thruway near Verona. Was it necessary to send such an expensive vehicle to Albany to represent Niagara County at "National Police Memorial Week?"
I'm told by a friend who lives in the Capitol District that she seems to recall that police agencies all over the state do about the same thing each year to show off their "goodies" to fellow police. My observation is that we don't need such a vehicle here, at Verona, or at Albany. Check out the Niagara Falls Police Department---they also have such a unit. How many times a year are these expensive "command centers" used as true emergency vehicles and not as publicity vehicles? I understand that Niagara County Fire or Environmental Response also has such a vehicle. I seem to recall seeing it at fairs and parades. Wouldn't ONE such vehicle---paid for, maintained, and centrally sited by the State Police--- be adequate for sharing with several counties? I'd rather see available monies used for deputies on the road and police on the street than these publicity vehicles.
Let's focus on the real issue here. Over-spending by local governments such as the Niagara County Sheriff's Department for expensive ---you call them "bells and whistles"---that taxpayers directly, or indirectly, pay for.
Jane Tuttle
6-11-01
And They Call This Progress? The recent events, both local and nationwide, have caused a flurry of excitement, a shaking of heads, a sense of ‘where did we go wrong’ overall. Yet when you look at the last several years, the one thing that stands to the forefront is that we, as a people, have lost all sense of responsibility. We quickly shift the blame for our actions elsewhere. We raise our children to believe that they can do whatever they please, with no fear of consequences for their actions. We tie the hands of our courts, our law enforcement, our schools. We allow people to win lawsuits against other people or businesses for things that are the fault of the suing party. Re: McDonalds lost a lawsuit when a female customer was not warned that placing a hot cup of coffee between her legs in the car could lead to burns, as one example.
We have a court system where we are forced to plead guilty to lesser charges when we are innocent, as that is the easiest way to resolve a problem. Where we are forced to plead innocent when we are guilty, to then be granted youthful offender status. We barter. We negotiate. But we don’t, ever, take responsibility for our actions. I remember, about 20 years ago, when a young man of my acquaintance was driving drunk, hit a 10-year-old girl, dragged her several hundred yards, (she died) and was allowed to plead to the lesser charge of a noise violation. I guess that girl made too much noise while she died.
We have cops who are dirty. And cops, who may well be good cops, who are just as dirty because they "protect" their fellow cops against all others. We have children who have probably never faced consequences in their lives, because it would require effort on their parents’ part, or their parents have effectively forced the schools to stop all disciplinary measures. We go out of our way to teach our children to be irresponsible, to do whatever they want to do with no regards as to the cost or legalities of their actions.
We aid and abet irresponsible citizens in their zealous endeavors to get away with all sorts of unsavory things, from theft to assault to murder. We allow any excuse that allows a violator to shift the blame elsewhere. We cater to the weak and the ignorant. We seldom, if ever, make a stand that if you do something wrong, you must take the consequences for your actions. And our consequences are seldom severe enough to teach the lesson or make the example intended.
Drunk drivers aren’t guilty because they were drunk. If they hadn’t been drunk, it wouldn’t have happened. OK, I can buy that. But I say, they made the decision to drink the booze, therefore they must be accountable for their actions under the influence of the booze. Same with a person on drugs.
A black kid is arrested for assaulting and severely beating another kid. He says the only reason he is being arrested is because he is black. But, hey, there are 1000 other black kids that didn’t get arrested, because they didn’t do the crime. If he were being arrested merely for being black, why weren’t the other kids, equally guilty of being black, also arrested?
A man is arrested for beating up his wife. He says well, he only did it because his father always beat his mother and that is how he was raised. Yet that man has a brother who was raised in the same home, saw the same things, and has a wife who is treated like a delicate vase, with tenderness and care.
Until we demand that our cops stop hiding the dirty cops within their midst, and give our schools the right to teach responsibility and consequences for children’s actions, until we demand our judicial system stop bartering justice, and until we stop the unlawful lawsuits where they stand, perhaps even filing charges against those who file the suits, until we take responsibility for our actions and demand that all others take responsibility for theirs, we are going to continue to regress to an animal-like state where the only law is the one of the strongest.
Parents need to involve themselves in their children’s lives, and teach them responsibility. Schools need to back up that teaching with responsibility given and consequences to those who fail to meet their responsibilities. We need to stop making excuses. We need to start admitting the truths and realities to the world and ourselves. We need to face up to the consequences of our actions. You commit a crime, and you get caught, don’t cry about how you experienced this or that in your childhood, take the punishment and learn from it.
People need to get involved in their neighborhoods. This is not to say you have to be pals with all your neighbors or socialize with them. This is to say you need to watch what is happening around you. When you see something suspicious, call the police, and keep calling until they take care of the problem. That is their job. Yours is to keep them informed and demand they respond. A group of people hanging out in a vacant parking lot at night would certainly set off alarms in my mind. And I sure wouldn’t want that going on near my home. So you get involved by keeping a close eye on things. A group of kids may be just "hanging out" but they don’t need to be ‘hanging out". They can hang out at each other’s homes. Even if they don’t appear to be doing anything wrong, kids have a tendency to act out when unsupervised. And a deserted parking lot at night is just the right place for all kinds of nasty "acting out".
Parents need to know what their kids are doing and whom they are doing it with. This is not to say kids don’t deserve some privacy, but the flip side is that keeping them out of trouble should take precedence over everything else, and no one’s kids have the right to infringe on other people’s lives, unless they are invited. Groups of kids loitering about aimlessly make for unsafe streets. And kids that are overly secretive are, perhaps, the ones who need the closest monitoring. If parents paid attention to the warning signs, kids wouldn’t be showing up at school with guns and taking out their classmates and teachers in a hail of gunfire.
People, as a whole, must take responsibility for the actions of those around them. If you see someone doing something they shouldn’t be doing, don’t be afraid to call the police or other authorities. Let the person get mad. Who cares what some lowlife cretin feels? Make them accountable. If they aren’t doing anything wrong, they won’t get mad because people are concerned. If they get mad, ask yourself, hmm, what were they doing, to get so mad at having the police show up? Don’t allow yourself to be put on the defensive, you are protecting your home, your neighborhood, your children, yourself. Bullets flying tend to hit the first available object within their path, which is not necessarily the object they were intended for. But that won’t make you any the less dead.
It’s time we took control of our streets, our schools, and our neighborhoods. To ignore it only encourages it to escalate, slowly gaining in momentum like a snowball rolling downhill, getting bigger and bigger and bigger until it hits the bottom, taking out the whole town with it when it hits. Personally, I am in favor of swatting that snowball before it gets started.
Nancy Malcomb
3-25-01
We Don't Need To Lower The Age That Children Are Allowed To Kill
Faced with a declining number of hunters and a chronic deficit in the hunting coffers, the Governor's budget proposes to lower the hunting age of children from 16 to 14 in order to kill deer and bear with firearms, while accompanied by an adult.
While children are permitted to use firearms as young as 12, to kill small
animals, most of the hunting fatalities occur during big
game season. This Budget desensitizes children to the suffering of animals and places
children in a dangerous arena in which children will be killed by adult family members and
vice versa. In a tragic NYS incident, a father, accidentally killed his son while deer
hunting and in his grief, killed himself. The wife and mother was delivered the terrible
news.
Even pro-hunting newspapers in upstate New York have opposed such proposals in previous
years stating that despite accompaniment by an adult, 14-year-olds have poor judgment and
should not be used to boost sagging hunting license sales. They have called lowering the
hunting age bizarre and "insensitive". Consider the spate of numerous
killings in schools by
children with hunting weapons of schoolmates and teachers and parents. 14 shooting
incidents in just 6 years, leaving 27 people murdered and 50 wounded were committed by
children mainly with hunting weapons. The state should not be in the role of placing
weapons in the hands of children which can lead to a road of destroying animals and
committing violence against
humans. Children need love, education, food and shelter. I have never met a child who needs
to use firearms or kill animals.
Margaret Graham
2-6-01
Sidewalks For Everyone Is The Answer
The long cold winter with much snow has brought to light a real and
ongoing problem with new housing developments both in the City of Lockport and in the Town
of Lockport. Developers are not required to put in sidewalks in front of properties
being developed. The result, of course, is there is no truly safe way to walk the streets
of such developments. With no sidewalk, pedestrians are forced to walk on the roadway.
This is especially hazardous in winter when drivers of vehicles may not see them due to
accumulation of high snow banks, especially near driveways.
The homeowners in these developments seemed content enough with this situation when they
bought their dwellings, and have not seen any need to put in a proper set of connecting
sidewalks. Now a few of them have set up a great whining howl of protest that it is
unsafe for their children to walk to school. One couple even is quoted on the front
page of the local newspaper as saying, "We are appalled at the lack of concern for
the safety of the students who must walk to school every day..." Well, of
course it is unsafe, but don't blame the indifference of OTHERS for something that should
rightly fall on the homeowners themselves in these relatively new developments. If
they don't have sidewalks, get them put in!
In the City of Lockport, get a bylaw passed that ALL property owners have sidewalks at the
front of their properties and that these sidewalks be maintained by the property owners.
In the Town of Lockport, since there hasn't been a tradition of putting
in sidewalks, have the Town put in sidewalks especially in areas near schools where
children walk to school.
Perhaps in the Town, (the Town being notorious for not providing any more services than
absolutely required) officials could be persuaded to buy one-man snow plows to plow the
new sidewalks as is done in many cities in Ontario, Canada.
Once these new sidewalks are in place, the children, and perhaps the some of the rest of
us, will be able to take long safe walks to get to school, the mall or from after hours
sports activities, adding to our general well being and fitness.
Peter G. Buckholtz
Lockport
1-11-01
Niagara County IDA Helped Move 300 Jobs Out Of Lockport
In light of the glowing "Buffalo News" article on Lockport Savings /First Niagara there is need to remind everyone that taxpayers are in process of having their pockets picked in support of the bank organization. This as result of IDA tax exemptions granted on the new building in Pendleton. What the bank saves in taxes every small business that has accounts there pay a bit more.
From the minutes of the NCIDA public hearing in Pendleton Town Hall of February 1996, it is recorded the bank would save $1,097,608 as result of tax exemptions over fifteen years. Normal exemption period for such projects is ten years, but to cover a property evaluation error by Ciminelli an extra five years was tacked on. This addition is recorded in agency memo and Ciminelli letter of Jan.18,1996.
--- Don Hobel
6/00
She Points Out The Value, Needs, Of Small Business In Lockport
In view of the recent announcement from Corson's as well as the previous
letter to the Editor from Ms. Coyle I felt compelled to write.
Small Business Works for America is a slogan established by the National Federation of
Independent Business (NFIB)
America should know: Small Business employs almost 60 percent of the nations work
force. Small Business created two thirds of all new jobs since the early 1970's.
Small Business produces half of the nations good and services. Small
Business is the back bone of America's hometowns.
I am proud to be a Small Business operator in our community. So often the headlines are concerned with Delphi and Industrial issues. Rarely is the focus on small business operators who are also struggling to stay afloat among the tax implications, regulatory constraints, liability concerns and other red tape. Small Business's are over taxed, one the hardest hit with Workers Compensation increases, insurances and are rarely capable to affording Health Coverage for employees.
It seems that the anti-small business policies at the federal and state levels have seeped in under cover of darkness to our hometown politics. When I first became a owner of a small business my only concerns were competition, opportunity and a little risk. Today I feel that small business owners should be given a break at so many levels I can not list them all here. These breaks would allow small business owners the leverage they need to continue being the backbone of America's hometown.
Downtown Lockport would be a beautiful place to pilot a better Small Business relationship and modify the anti-small business practices that have filtered into hometown USA via the politics at the State and Federal levels. (See NFIB on the web.) Efforts through City and State to offer small retail business's a tax free incentive to stay in the Downtown area. Loans offering new small retail business's zero interest loans and other incentives for a established time period would be a brave new beginning.
Giving a little to get a little seems the only solution to end the decay of our Downtown Business/ Retail Districts. While attempting to salvage our Downtown Lockport and end the anti-small business political poisons from the past, jobs would also be created.
Although operating a small business has not been a picnic over these past years ( employing five or so seasonally) I will say that it is nice to have control over my destiny. I have not been asked to relocate into another state, been laid off, nor have I lost my job due to corporation cuts or factory closings. The roller coaster ride of good economics and bad are always a concern but somehow it works out in the long run. A quote lifted from the Winners Collection reads: Some people dream of success... while others wake up and work hard at it. All this is what it means to be an entrepreneur. Consider small business as a new building block for our community.
Candy Haylett
02/17/00
She Objects To "Anonymous" E-Mail To The Editor
I am very concerned that your policy of allowing people to sound off in
anonymous letters is dangerous practice. People become very brave, and occasionally
ridiculous, when they do not have to be accountable for their statements. It is
unfair for anyone to be allowed to point fingers and belittle others without requiring the
writer to be identified for his/her words.
I have also noticed that the more recent anonymous letters are becoming increasingly
accusatory and hostile. I believe that most people would not be willing to incite
such anger in such bold statements if they knew that they had to stand by their words.
Please consider following the journalistic standards practiced by most newspapers, as well
as the standards practiced at legislative, city, and town meetings, and require people to
sign their name to any opinions they send to you for print.
Thank you for providing the Lockport Home Page. I have enjoyed your wide range of
reporting and your topical lore.
Karen L. Lyons
2-17-00
She's Seen What Could Be In Downtown Lockport
I have lived away from Lockport for 20 years. I have traveled to some of the most charming
places in both the US and Italy, England and Ireland.
I think Downtown has the potential to be one of those unique places to visit. What has been done along the canal in Lower Town is wonderful. Why not make more use of the attraction of the Locks and the Historical value of Lockport's downtown scene. It could have the charm of Lake Como in Italy, or Killarney in Ireland, or just the Boulder outdoor walking "mall" in Colorado.
Do you still have Old Fashioned Bargain Days? I worked Downtown, first at Hair People when it was next to the Palace and then at Anthony's Hair Salon, which backed up to the Canal. I could see the future with small antique shops, places to eat lunch to Stroll, trees lining main street. And why is there still a big vacant lot on main street. There's got to be a way to move forward in a positive way.
Charlotte Coyle
2-16-00
Returns To Lockport For Holiday Visit---Confronted By Thugs On Washburn St.
I have written in the past expressing how I feel when I get the chance to visit the city where I grew up. Again I had the pleasure over the Holiday's to visit Lockport. I had first thought I would keep an open mind when driving up Washburn Street. The city is a joke! It is hard enough for the police to cover the city, they cannot be everywhere.
Upon driving up Washburn Street, a group of thugs walked out in front of my vehicle, one then turns around and punches my hood. Enough said, right. My past observation's of the city are right. Lockport is becoming another Niagara Falls. Move to Lockport and receive welfare, walk the streets and terrorize people.
I was, to say a bit hesitant of saying anything to these kids. Running in packs, like dogs seems to be the norm in that area. Standing on the corner with brown bags is also a pleasant sight. Reading this web page keeps us up to date on the crack problem in that area. You walk up Washburn street at midnight. I love those school signs: Gun Free/Drug Free Zone. I wouldn't let my kid's go to the Lockport mall, I was curious if they have installed metal detector's there yet. Don't get me wrong, there is a great number of good hard working people in Lockport. I have friends and family still living in the city. It's just a shame that Lockport has become a haven for illegal extracurricular activities. Used to be a great place to live, I know, I grew up and graduated from Lockport.
Now I feel like an outsider going to what I used to call Home. It's really a shame. One can do allot of complaining of the problem, do something about it, or like me.....walk away. It's a shame back when a few prospered during Urban Renewal, that they did not have the insight to see ahead at what they would create. The almighty Dollar and Big Houses................Nice way to be remembered.............empty streets, allies and crime. Thanks guys for making my return to Lockport harder each time I return.
Anon.
1-21-00
Grand Island Not Alone As Victim Of Indian Land Claims
I am writing to suggest several websites that are available regarding the federal
government's (DOI) to take land from rightful property owners and give it to various
Iroquois tribes. The Cayuga Indian land claim involves over 8000 property owners and
64,000 acres of land in Seneca and Cayuga County - - not including the land that is being
discussed in 'secret negotiations' that is not even mentioned in the law suit....(not
known to the people who live there). This claim is based (as are others in this state) on
revised American history and legal maneuverings by the federal government and the Indian
tribes.
The property owners are unrepresented and uninformed about their fate. Governor Pataki and
Senator Nozzolio of the State Senate representing this district are putting great pressure
on the County Boards to 'settle' while at the same time telling the press that "they
will abide by whatever the County Boards decide." Essentially the state, which
is supposedly defending these people and the federal government have placed these counties
under attack with little defense but their hope that they
can resist. The website for the Cayuga land claim is www.ucelandclaim.com
The Oneida/Madison land claim is similar but involves over 20,000 landowners and thousands
more acres of land. There are several websites regarding this claim.
http://www.madisoncountyny.com/landclaim/
http://www.madisoncountyny.com/uce/index.htm
It is my understanding that Grand Island, NY is under the same kind of legal attack.
That is why I am writing to The Lockport Home Page - - to see if possible
your website actually supports the people who are being made victims by the state and
federal government.
The Onondaga Indians have already made known that they plan to file a similar lawsuit
against Onondaga County and half of the city of Syracuse. As far as I know those
people don't have a website - - but they will.... when they realize that this is not a
joke and that they can lose their communities and homes.
There is little doubt that the Iroquois indians intend to take as much of New York State
as possible - - taking it from the tax rolls, setting up multiple casinos and destroying
local economies with no regard to the populations that live there. They have stated
that they are not American citizens - - yet our own federal government continues to aid
their legal attack on the state....... and pay for their lawyers and legal fees out of tax
money - - taxes that they (as a supposed nation) refuse to pay.
This is written as a chance that you might be interested in telling your readers what is
going on in the rest of the State and how thousands of people are being made victims.
Thanks for any consideration you might give this.
Laurie Davis
Geneva, New York
12/11/99
Anti-Catholic Exhibit At Brooklyn Museum
Another Reason To Cut All Taxpayer Funding Of "The Arts"
I read with some interest your "Report To Washington" relating the
support Mrs. Clinton is giving to the display of anti-Catholic "art" at the
Brooklyn Museum.
Smearing elephant dung on a painting of the Virgin Mary certainly is extremely offensive.
However, not much less offensive is the practice of forcing people to
pay for it against their will. But that's the inevitable result of giving Mrs.
Clinton and like politicians the power to subsidize art. This exhibit, featuring the works
of young English artists, includes not only the Virgin Mary smeared with dung and
surrounded by photographs of buttocks, but also dead animals in formaldehyde, live
maggots, and a translucent bust filled with the artist's blood.
But the problem didn't start with the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and it won't end by cutting
off funds for this one exhibit.
Politicians were smart: They didn't announce they would use our tax dollars to display a
feces-smeared Virgin Mary, or to display a crucifix immersed in urine. Instead, they
promised to subsidize operas, museums, theater, and other inoffensive art.
We'll never eliminate all offensive art---nor should we try--- but we can
end most of the legal fighting and political confrontations that offensive art generates.
We can do that by simply turning the world of art -- museums, operas, theater, and so on
-- back over to the private and non-profit sectors. So, if you enjoyed a certain kind of
art, you could support it
with your patronage and contributions. If you are offended by another kind of art, don't
try to censor it -- simply boycott it. Either way, you would have control. If such a
policy were implemented, museums could go back to being places that display art -- instead
of being turned into political battlegrounds. And we wouldn't have to worry about
politicians turning our money into elephant dung, and calling it art.
Jane Tuttle
10/15/99
Al Goehle Clears Up Some Questions About
The Stone Stairs & Rose Garden At Outwater Park
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, I worked summers at the park. The rose garden was then in it's prime and
was cared for lovingly by Jimmy DeCarlo who continously cultivated and trimmed every bush
and the climbing vines over the rose arbor. He lived off Vine St hill and always had a
great vegetable garden of his own. My wife still has his spaghetti sauce recipe. I recall
that he had twins(two sets?) of which he was very proud.
One summer I was assigned to carry flagstones as Jimmy built the stone steps from near the rose garden to
the cemetery road. It may be that they had been built earlier and we were just doing
maintenance, but I think he was doing original construction, using native stone from the
hillside below the garden.
Jimmy's work ethics, his outlook on life and the events of the day, expressed with a
definite Italian accent, remain as great memories in my mind today.
Al Goehle Lake Havasu, AZ
9/12/99
Not Just The Best...But The Truest
Overall Picture
The Lockport
Home Page: www.Lockport-NY.com
THE PICTURE OF LOCKPORT