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Judge dismisses Mongielo’s police brutality case

November 15, 2013, 7:14 pm
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NIAGARA FALLS – David J. Mongielo’s do-it-yourself police brutality suit was dismissed Thursday in State Supreme Court here, but Mongielo said Friday he will appeal – his way.

Mongielo, who did not have an attorney for the suit against the Lockport Police Department over his June 27 arrest at a traffic checkpoint, said he filed a document he called a “writ” late Friday. He said if State Supreme Court Justice Catherine Nugent Panepinto doesn’t change her mind about throwing the case out, he will try to get the matter into the federal courts.

Mongielo, who has argued that city and town courts in Lockport have no jurisdiction over him, said he doesn’t recognize Panepinto’s authority to dismiss his case.

“They’re going to proceed the way they want to proceed, but they have no right to take over my court,” Mongielo said. “When they don’t practice under constitutional law, you can’t defend your rights.”

In court Oct. 17, Assistant Attorney General Benjamin K. Ahlstrom told Panepinto that Mongielo’s arguments “are irrelevant even if they’re true, which they’re not. Repeatedly, it’s been recognized in case law that Mr. Mongielo’s theories are frivolous.”

Mongielo faces a third trial in early 2014 over charges that the LED sign in front of his Robinson Road auto repair shop violates a town ordinance banning signs that change format more than once every 10 minutes.

He also has faces a variety of charges stemming from the June 27 arrest on Lincoln Avenue, in which he said a patrolman rammed him head-first into the pavement. Police said Mongielo compared the situation to Nazi Germany after he was stopped.

Frank T. Housh is Mongielo’s attorney in both town and city courts, but has taken no role in the civil suit.

The suit also accused Lockport City Judge William J. Watson and Assistant District Attorney Joel M. Grundy of conspiring to violate Mongielo’s rights.

Successful motions to dismiss the case were filed Thursday by Assistant Attorney General Benjamin K. Ahlstrom, who represented Watson; Assistant County Attorney Brian D. Seaman for Grundy; and Paula M. Eade Newcomb, representing the city.

They had done so Oct. 17, but Panepinto said then she wouldn’t sign the dismissal order if Mongielo, who didn’t attend the session, called the court by the end of the day. He did so then, but Mongielo didn’t show up or call the court Thursday.

The case was thrown out because Mongielo didn’t comply with rules in state law requiring defendants to be served with lawsuits, nor did he send the city the mandatory notice of claim before suing it.

“All their rules are set up to benefit themselves,” Mongielo said. He added later that the lawyers “belong to a secret society called the bar association, and I don’t.”

email: tprohaska@buffnews.com
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Banned pesticide found dumped near Niagara town garage

November 15, 2013, 7:42 pm
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TOWN OF NIAGARA – An offensive odor behind the town garage on Lockport Road is apparently coming from high levels of a pesticide dumped somewhere on the back property.

Preliminary bore samples taken on the town property found levels of lindane, an agricultural insecticide, that were more than twice the amount normally detected in the area, a state engineer told the Town Board at a work session Thursday. The use of lindane in agriculture has been banned by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Although the results aren’t definite yet, the levels are not believed to be widespread in that area, said Greg Sutton, a hazardous waste remediation engineer with the state Department of Environmental Conservation,

Board members said they were concerned with how far back the traces could be found and whether they reached beyond the railroad tracks to a residential area.

Both Sutton and Town Engineer Norman Gardner, from Clark Patterson Lee, said only further testing could confirm how far the contaminant has traveled but because of the hard soil conditions in the property, the pesticide is not believed to have migrated very far.

Gardner said the recent sampling by his firm did not find the pesticide on the surface but did find it below a buried layer of stone by the back fence and about one to two feet thick. Sutton said it is possible that the pesticide “would branch out” to some degree.

Highway Superintendent Robert Herman said his workers noticed the smell and a “sniffer” apparatus used in the sewer department was brought in but found nothing volatile. Herman said he notified the engineer.

Sutton said lindane is a fairly common contaminant found in many local landfills. Several local chemical companies have been known to dispose of it in low-lying areas during “midnight dumping,” he said.

If the responsible parties could be found, they would be charged for clean-up and remediation of the land by the DEC. Unfortunately, it would be difficult to prove who the culprit was without witnesses, Sutton said.

The board has two choices, according to Sutton:

DEC could be brought in to conduct complete testing, dig out the contaminated soil and transfer it to a landfill. The work would be covered by federal “Superfund” money but the DEC would not be able to begin work until after the first of the year;

Or, the board could have Gardner’s firm hire an outside environmental contractor to begin the work in one or two weeks to determine the extent of the problem.

If the board opted to have the engineering firm do the work, the cost would not be recoverable from DEC.

Supervisor Steven Richards and Deputy Supervisor Danny Sklarski said they favored getting the work under way as soon as possible.

Sklarski said a plan needs to be in place while Richards said he was concerned if the contaminants had traveled beyond the tracks.

Councilman Marc Carpenter noted that the chemicals have been there for many years and were not believed to have migrated. He said it may be best to wait for DEC to handle the project.

The board is expected to make a decision when it meets on Tuesday.
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DePetris tries to convince judge to let him out of solitary confinement

November 15, 2013, 9:39 pm
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LOCKPORT – Timothy C. DePetris, the Niagara Falls businessman who allegedly tried to hire a hit man after failing in his own effort to kill his brother-in-law, was hard-pressed Thursday to offer proof that he is being denied his rights in solitary confinement in the Niagara County Jail.

DePetris took the witness stand in a hearing on the issue in Niagara County Court, but he repeatedly left Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas with nothing to go on but his word that he was barred from contacting his lawyer after being placed in solitary.

He was removed from the general jail population after he was arraigned June 10 on charges that he tried to hire a hit man through contact with a fellow inmate and phone calls to the outside.

He had been in jail since his March 30 arrest on attempted murder charges stemming from the shooting of Sandro Viola, his brother-in-law and owner of a rival business, March 26 at Viola’s office.

At the June arraignment, Farkas cut off DePetris’ phone privileges, except for calls to his attorney, E. Earl Key.

But under cross-examination by Deputy District Attorney Doreen M. Hoffmann, DePetris admitted that he hadn’t tried to call anyone since June 13. “I didn’t think I was allowed to,” he said.

He said that on June 13 he asked to use the law library and was refused.

He said he asked to use the law library twice more, on July 2 and 9, and also was refused. But it turned out that the latter occasions actually involved attempts to find Key’s mailing address, since DePetris had lost it. He said the guards told him he had to look it up in the library.

After that, he said, “I gave up on it. I was a little afraid to keep asking.”

But as Hoffmann repeatedly pointed out, there is no written evidence that he kept asking after July 9.

Sgt. Anthony R. Suess testified that the jail’s “law library” is a computer on a cart, offering access to the Lexis-Nexis online legal search service.

Suess said inmates need to hand in a permission slip to use the computer, and any denials are to be recorded in writing. He said DePetris’ file contains no such rejections.

Only one of the three permission slips entered into evidence had any written response on it.

Key established that a guard receiving a permission slip is supposed to initial it before taking it to a superior, and two of the slips have no such initials, meaning it’s possible that the slips never were taken up the chain of command.

Suess will have to testify on that issue when the hearing resumes Tuesday.

DePetris said he was able to use the law computer regularly before being sent to solitary, because another inmate in his pod was a former paralegal and helped teach others how to use Lexis-Nexis.

Since that inmate was always signed on, DePetris didn’t have to log in himself. DePetris said that’s why there’s no record of what he said were frequent uses of the law computer before he was removed from the general jail population.

DePetris also complained that he was often moved from the special housing unit, which is near the infirmary, to a cell in the busy inmate processing area. He said he is unable to sleep there because of the commotion.

Key argued, “He’s not mentally competent if he’s not getting any sleep.”

DePetris said he was placed on “generic Prozac” three or four weeks ago because of anxiety. He said he didn’t need those drugs before he went to solitary, although he admitted taking Prozac on the outside 10 years ago.

Suess said the moves were necessitated by other inmates with medical problems needing to be near the infirmary.

email: tprohaska@buffnews.com
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Seventeen people homeless after Lockport building’s stairs collapse

November 15, 2013, 9:39 pm
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LOCKPORT – Seventeen people were homeless Friday evening, as a staircase collapsed inside an apartment building off Lincoln Avenue in the Town of Lockport.

Two women said they were injured when a plaster ceiling beneath a wooden staircase fell on them at 6559 Lincoln Place.

Two steps on a short staircase between the first and second floors gave way.

One of the injured women, Tara Gibson, said, “Kids were running up and down the stairs.”

She added, “Part of the stairs fell on my shoulder and on my neck, and I just had neck surgery not even a month (ago).”

She said a friend, Cynthia Hazzard, who also lives in the building, was hit in the head.

Town Supervisor Marc R. Smith said Building Inspector Brian M. Belson condemned the building because the wrecked staircase left tenants on upper floors with only one escape route from the building. At least two are required by the fire code.

The American Red Cross said it is helping five families living in the building find shelter.

Onlookers who live in other buildings in the multi-unit complex told a reporter that structural conditions are poor in several of the other buildings, too.

Smith said the town will be looking into conditions at Lincoln Place in the coming days.

Hazzard, who said she was treated in Eastern Niagara Hospital for a muscle tear in her neck, said there are 12 apartments in the building.

“Somebody was walking downstairs, and the stairs collapsed,” Hazzard said as she bent down under the yellow tape blocking the entrance to return to her apartment and obtain some clothing.

The collapse happened bout 6 p.m.

Town records identify the owner as Michael R. Morgante of Clarence, who purchased the property for $290,000 in 2010.

The 12,000-square-foot building was constructed in 1988. The Niagara County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident.

email: tprohaska@buffnews.com
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Wilson driver injured in crash into bridge over Twelve Mile Creek

November 16, 2013, 4:29 am
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One man was injured early Saturday morning when he crashed his vehicle into the bridge over Twelve Mile Creek in Wilson.

When Niagara County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at about 1:40 a.m., they found the driver on the lawn of a house on Lake Road and the vehicle wedged into the bridge, between the bridge frame and the guard rail.

Albert N. Giovannucci, 22, of Wilson, was conscious and complained of severe pain on his right side, deputies reported. After being treated on the scene by the Wilson Volunteer Fire Co., he was transported by Mercy Flight to Erie County Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition.
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Staircase collapse leaves 17 without shelter in Lockport

November 16, 2013, 11:44 am
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Seventeen people were left homeless after a staircase collapsed Friday inside a Lockport apartment building.

The Red Cross is assisting the 17 and it said five families have been provided with hotel vouchers but indicated additional individuals may be seeking help.

The building is located in the 6500 block of Lincoln Place.
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Starpoint plans first-ever “Turkey Trot” for young students

November 13, 2013, 8:17 pm
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PENDLETON – Starpoint Central School will give its younger children the runaround Friday.

The school is holding its first Turkey Trot, a footrace for kids from kindergarten through fifth grade, on Friday morning.

Using a paved road on the Mapleton Road campus, some 1,200 kids will be asked to go varying distances, depending on their grade level.

“They’re all encouraged to walk, run or jog,” said Jeff Tracy, the fitness lab teacher at Regan Intermediate School. “We want to encourage healthy lifestyle choices and physical fitness.”

The paved path makes a single loop around the primary and intermediate school buildings, and it will be easier for teachers and students alike to have the event near the buildings instead of making the trek to the high school track at the opposite end of the complex.

Kindergarteners will be asked to walk or run a quarter of a mile. The first- and second-grade students will have a half-mile target. Third- and fourth-graders will have a three-quarter-mile course, and fifth-graders will be asked to run a mile.

“Every grade level was assigned their own time, so it’ll run through the day,” Fricano Primary School Principal Bonnie Stafford said.

Tracy said the children have rehearsed the course so they know where to turn, but volunteer students from the high school, recruited primarily from interscholastic sports teams, will be on hand on race day to assist them.

Tracy said he has friends who teach in other districts that offer a similar event. The Tonawanda city schools have a Turkey Trot, while Newfane has a race, but not at Thanksgiving.

“With me being a runner, it’s a big part of my life,” Tracy said. And the event will be set up like an organized adult footrace.

The children whose parents give permission for them to take part will have to fill out an entry form and will be given a race number. At the finish line awaits a sticker reading, “I am a Starpoint Turkey Trot Finisher!”

Otherwise, there are no prizes.

“There is a charity component,” Tracy said. An “entry fee” of a jar of peanut butter or jelly will be charged, to be given to the Lockport Peanut Butter and Jelly Drive for area food pantries.

Tracy said he’s not concerned about the weather unless it’s extreme.

“If it’s raining or snowing or a little cold, I think the kids can handle it,” he said.

“Obviously, we would never do anything to endanger their health or safety,” Stafford said. “It’s just a way to get the kids some exercise and hopefully increase their interest in a healthy, active lifestyle.”

email: tprohaska@buffnews.com
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Students in Wilson show soldiers and their families how much they care

November 15, 2013, 7:47 pm
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WILSON – Finding a caring student at Wilson High School appears to be the norm rather than the exception.

Two ongoing projects are taking special care to help soldiers and their families.

For one student, whose father was deployed to Afghanistan four years ago, the memories are still vivid of how he felt when he was 13. Dominic Curcione, 17, a junior, said it’s now his turn to help other youths who are going through the same feelings of fear and loneliness.

Dominic said his father, Paul Curcione, currently in the Air Force Reserve, was in the Marine Corps when he was deployed. Dominic said he struggled when his dad left but was fortunate to have received a grant from Our Military Kids.

“The grant was to get me out of my house. At home, I was just sitting in my house all day, doing nothing. I was sad about my father being gone,” he said. “My family’s kind of close-knit, so what affects one affects all of us.”

He said he used the money to take tae kwon do classes, something he said that helped him through a tough time and that he continues today.

“It really helped me to interact with people,” he said. “I wanted to repay the organization. I want all the kids to have the same experience I did.”

After attending several leadership camps, Dominic said, he came up with a three-phase plan that included setting up a website, getting the word out by knocking on doors and putting flags in people’s yards, and Nov. 1 he held a bake sale – with a little help from a head baker, also known as his mom, Holly, who made red velvet cake served in cups, which Dominic frosted and sold at school for 50 cents. He said he raised $200 and plans to continue fundraising.

“I thought what Dom did single-handedly was awesome,” said Deborah Sweeney, a family and consumer science teacher at Wilson for the last 31 years. “He is teaching kids to be active citizens and how important it is to be leaders.”

She said it is amazing how people in Wilson step up.

Special-education teacher’s aide Janet Durham, who has been with the district for 24 years, said she knew she could turn to the students when she, or actually her 7-year-old grandson, Caleb, discovered Lockport’s United Stockings for Sailors and Soldiers.

Durham’s son, Army Capt. Joshua Durham, 29, is a Special Operations helicopter pilot, flying secret missions in Afghanistan. He is also a graduate of Wilson High School.

“I was with my grandson at the Krull Park playground in Olcott, and he saw this lady working on stockings, and he asked about them and asked if he could have one for his uncle,” Durham said.

The whole family ended up making 20, Durham said, and now she is a regular volunteer with the Lockport group, which has been making stockings that are filled with food, games, toiletries, and cards and letters.

In Lockport, Durham said, they have a goal of 7,000, but in Wilson, the goal is a bit more modest.

“All these stockings are going to go to him, and he’s going to distribute them directly to his men,” Durham said. “He needs 200.”

Sweeney said that one of her classes is cutting, sewing, decorating and filling the stockings. The students also are including a special sticker on the back of each one that reminds them that they were made by students at Wilson Central School.

Wilson High students also have been collecting money for postage, gathering items to fill the stockings, and middle school students are writing Christmas cards and letters for the stockings. Collection boxes were placed at Thomas Marks Elementary School.

“They’ve done an amazing job, I am so proud of these kids,” said Durham, pointing to the decorated stockings, collection baskets and donation jars, which she said the students in Sweeney’s class did all by themselves. “This is a fantastic group of kids sitting right here,” she said pointing to members of the Students in a Safe Child’s World Class: Brittany Burdette, Maria Giambra, Bonnie Milczarski, Mariah Miller, Kallie Olear, Lauren Phillips, Alyssa Rupple and Morgan Susice.

Morgan, 17, said she brought a donation jar to her work at Subway in Lewiston and raised $70.

“I hope they are happy and feel loved and know we appreciate what they do for us,” she said of the soldiers.

Kallie, 15, said she has been enjoying decorating the stockings and including her favorite items.

“I am a Christmas freak,” she said. “I love it all. I always think of the little things that matter to me – hot chocolate in the wintertime and candles, so that’s what I like to put on the stockings.”

“He is so excited,” Durham said of her son Joshua. “He can’t believe it. He can say these came from my school where I graduated.”

“We are trying to teach our kids that being an active citizen feels good,” Sweeney said. “It’s just so important. It feels like fewer and fewer people are helping out, at church at school, the Lions Club. We’ve just lost that volunteer base.”

But not at Wilson, said Dominic.

“The first class I went to” – to get volunteers for the bake sale – “everybody signed up,” he said.

“Whether they knew him or not,” Sweeney noted.

email: nfischer@buffnews.com
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Disabled student gets taken for a ride over after-school program

November 16, 2013, 3:05 pm
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In Jackie McBride’s view, allowing her disabled daughter to attend an after-school program in Lockport should have been as simple as opening the doors of her bus and letting her off.

The bus, after all, stopped outside the school every day for months to drop off another student.

Instead, McBride has spent two years and has had to enlist the help of an attorney in the hopes of getting the Wilson Central School District to let her daughter, Sydney Leszczak, get off the bus when it stops in Lockport on its 80-minute drive home from Sydney’s day program.

But what really angers McBride is what happened after a state review officer ordered the district to allow her daughter off of the bus. The bus route was changed, McBride said she was told. It would no longer stop at the Lockport school where the after-school program is offered.

“It’s incredible that this case has gone through this process,” said Ron Hager, a senior staff attorney for the National Disability Rights Network. “The school bus literally stops at their building and they refuse to let her off the bus. They’ve gone through two due process hearings, an appeal to the state and maybe even potentially to court.”

A school district attorney, citing federal student privacy laws and the potential for a pending appeal, won’t discuss details of the case involving McBride’s daughter. But the district has argued in two administrative hearings that state education law and its own district transportation policies prevent it from allowing Sydney off the bus – an argument Sydney’s attorney and an impartial state hearing officer rejected.

“From our perspective, we didn’t do anything wrong,” said the district’s attorney, Ryan L. Everhart, a partner with Hodgson Russ who specializes in education law. “We intend to present our case to the federal court, and we think that a fair review will show that what we did was appropriate.”

Sydney’s family moved into the Wilson Central School District in 2010, the same year she began attending an after-school program run by People Inc. at Lockport High School.

Because Sydney, 19, is intellectually disabled, she attends special education classes at Orleans-Niagara Board of Cooperative Educational Services in Medina. And for a few months, the district continued to transport her to the People Inc. after-school program in Lockport on her daily trip from Medina to Wilson.

Then, in August 2011, the district told McBride it would no longer drop her daughter off at the after-school program. The district told McBride in a letter in 2011 that it was prohibited from transporting a student to or from a site other than a student’s home or school, according to an appeal decision.

Minimal cost

 The after-school program, operated by People Inc., is paid for through Medicaid, but the cost of transportation is not covered.

Because Sydney’s bus had already been stopping at Lockport High School, where the after-school program is held, McBride and an attorney from Neighborhood Legal Services contend there would have been minimal or no cost to allow her to simply get off the bus at the site. Sydney’s bus does not return to Wilson in time for her to participate in Wilson’s after-school programs, her mother said.

“It’s a program that meets her needs. She loves it. She does so well there, and it’s appropriate for her,” said attorney Linda J. DeTine, of Neighborhood Legal Services, a nonprofit agency that helps advocate for disability rights. “We have appropriate programs for children that don’t have disabilities, and this one is appropriate for her and there’s not a real practical reason why they’re not letting her go.”

A state review officer with the Department of Education ruled that the district “has not identified any legitimate reason” why Sydney should be treated differently from the student who, at the time of the appeal, was already being dropped off in Lockport.

“The district’s steadfast refusal to allow the student to access this program that is already available has, under these facts, denied the student an equal opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities,” the state review officer, Justyn P. Bates, ruled in September.

The state decision came after the district appealed an earlier impartial hearing officer’s ruling that ordered the district to allow Sydney off the bus but found that the district had “met its obligation” to provide her the chance to participate in extracurricular activities. The district argued that the hearing officer erred in ordering Wilson to drop the student off at the site.

Months in appeal

 McBride and her attorney question why the district has spent months appealing an issue they believe could have been resolved with a simple solution.

It is not clear why Sydney’s bus route changed, but her mother has questioned the timing of the change not long after the state review officer ruled that, if the bus stops at the Lockport building, the school district should let her off at the site.

“This is a lot of hours for the minuscule amount of effort on their part,” DeTine said.

While the bus no longer stops at Lockport High School, McBride said it now stops at another nearby school in Lockport a few miles away from the after-school program.

Federal law outlines how parents and school districts must resolve disagreements over the level of services for special education students. After an initial meeting in which the district and McBride were not able to come to a resolution, the dispute was aired at an administrative hearing in which a hearing officer ruled that, although the district had met its obligations, it must allow Sydney to get off the bus if it stops at Lockport High School where the after-school program is held.

The district appealed to a higher administrative review officer, who found that the district had not offered Sydney equal access to extracurricular activities. That hearing officer also ruled that the school district should allow Sydney to get off the bus in Lockport.

“On the face of it, it can be confusing why the district has taken the position it has,” Everhart said. “But I can assure you that there are very strong reasons why the school took the position it has, and it really does feel that its position is in accord with what the legal requirements are.”

District prohibition

The district sent a letter to McBride in December 2011, claiming that it was prohibited from transporting the student to or from a point other that the student’s home and school.

Sasha Pudelski, an assistant director of policy and advocacy for the American Association of School Administrators, has studied how school districts resolve these types of disputes and said most are addressed before they reach the point of administrative hearings and lawsuits.

So far this year, according to the Department of Education, state review officers have issued 31 decisions regarding disputes over services provided under federal special education law.

“The decision to move forward with a due process complaint or hearing is really not taken lightly by districts,” Pudelski said. “There are a lot of factors that are considered before a district decides to settle with a parent or engage in due process hearing or further litigation beyond that.”

Among those factors, she said, could be whether a settlement with one parent could lead to additional requests from other parents or whether a settlement would be fair to other students. The cost of a settlement and attorneys fees can also play a role.

But Hager, an attorney with the National Disabilities Rights Network, said the length of time this dispute has lingered is unusual.

“I’ve never seen a case like that,” Hager said, “where it’s that little of an issue that’s being fought over that hard.”

email: djgee@buffnews.com
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Falls adopts budget for HUD programs

November 13, 2013, 6:23 pm
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NIAGARA FALLS – A spending plan for federal funding in a city where more than one in five people live below the poverty line was put in place last week without much fanfare.

The City Council unanimously adopted a budget for next year for $2.7 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through several of its programs, most notably the Community Development Block Grant program.

The money will go to things like home rehabilitation programs, new housing projects, youth mentoring programs and a new program to provide a uniformed presence downtown without using police officers.

Seth A. Piccirillo, director of the city’s Community Development Department, unveiled the proposed spending plan in late July after holding community workshops and releasing a survey to residents seeking input on funding priorities.

“The budget responds directly to public opinion,” Piccirillo said in a written statement in July upon release of the proposal. “Our citizens made it clear; they want to see bricks and mortar improvements in our neighborhoods that support home ownership, so that is what we are presenting.”

Since the spending plan was initially released, about $130,000 in funding was moved around upon input from Councilman Charles A. Walker, the only city lawmaker to submit changes to Piccirillo’s budget.

The changes, which were part of the package that the Council approved, include addition of $30,000 for a Niagara Falls Housing Authority after-school program; $30,000 in additional funding for the Highland Community Revitalization Committee; and an additional $69,439 to be shared by Neighborhood Housing Services Inc. and Center City Neighborhood for targeted home rehabilitation programs.

The funding was shifted from city street, sidewalk and lighting repairs; cleanup campaigns by the Department of Public Works; city funding for housing rehabilitation; and the Niagara Falls Police Department’s ranger program, which Superintendent Bryan DalPorto has said will serve as “eyes and ears” to help tourists, but at a much lower cost than having police officers do the job.

The budget allocates about $2.2 million under the Community Development Block Grant program, about one-fifth of which will cover the city’s administrative costs.

Administrative costs include contractual step increases in salary for Community Development Department employees, Piccirillo said.

The spending plan also covers $357,000 from the HOME Investment Partnership Program, which covers housing rehabilitation, and $155,000 from the Emergency Solutions Program, which covers things like emergency shelters.

Housing Visions Inc., a Syracuse-based nonprofit, will receive $300,000 for an affordable-housing project in the area of Fifth and Seventh streets.

The Isaiah 61 Project, which provides construction training for the underemployed and unemployed, will receive $150,000. The budget goes to Housing and Urban Development officials Friday.

email: abesecker@buffnews.com
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Niagara County faith-related events Nov. 17-24

November 15, 2013, 7:46 pm
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Monday

 PRAYER: The Healing Rooms of Buffalo Niagara is open for prayer for anyone who needs physical, emotional or spiritual healing, 7 to 9 p.m., Potters House Christian Community Church, 723 Seventh St., Niagara Falls. No appointment or fee necessary. For more information, call 884-0048.

Tuesday

 RECOVERY GROUP: 7:30 p.m., Wheatfield Community Church, 3571 Niagara Falls Blvd., Addiction Conquerors will offer a Life Recovery Group every week to those who are dealing with any addiction. The Rev. Pat Lavery, co-founder of the group, will lead. For information, call 553-3794 or visit www.wheatfieldcommunitychurch.org.

Wednesday

 worship service: St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, 1073 Saunders Settlement Road, Lewiston. First Hour Service, followed by refreshments and devotional time, 7 a.m. Vespers, followed by “Learning About the Ancient Christian Faith and Practice,” 6:15 p.m. All are welcome. For more information, call 297-2668 or email saintgeorgeorthodox@yahoo.com.

Thursday

 GROUP DISCUSSION: 6:30 p.m., Mount Olive Lutheran Church. “Step One,” an informal group gathers to discuss various faith-based topics. All are welcome. For information, call 434-8500.

If you would like your event included, send the information two weeks in advance to: Niagara Community Calendar, c/o The Buffalo News, P.O. Box 100, Buffalo, NY, 14240, fax to: 856-5150 or email to: niagaranews@buffnews.com.
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Barker’s clerk/treasurer looks back on her 26-year career

November 13, 2013, 7:53 pm
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BARKER – Aaron Nellist recalls first attending Barker Village Board meetings as a “concerned citizen” and marveling at Kathie K. Smith’s “wealth of knowledge” in her position as village clerk/treasurer.

“Now that I’ve worked with Kathie for the past four years, it’s just cemented this fact,” said Nellist, who served as a trustee prior to becoming the current mayor. “And, above all else, Kathie is just a wonderful person who cares for her community. She’s just great.”

Smith, who turned 62 Wednesday, will retire Dec. 20 after 26 years with the village government – the first nine as deputy clerk. She was appointed clerk/treasurer in 1996 in this village of 540 and has worked under seven mayors.

“She’s been wonderful,” said Amanda Detschner, her deputy clerk. “Kathie is one of the most ethical people I know. She’s honest, caring and so knowledgeable. She doesn’t even have to look things up half of the time.”

Smith recently took a few minutes to chat about her career in village government.

Are you originally from Barker?

I was born and raised in Lockport and went to Starpoint schools, but my parents and grandparents were from Barker. When my grandmother passed away, my husband, Bill, and I bought her house in 1981 and raised our four kids here. I live a half-block from Village Hall.

How did you come to work for the village?

My bachelor’s degree is actually in education from SUNY at Fredonia, and I was supposed to be a teacher. I worked for the Head Start Program for a while and for Wyndham Lawn (Home for Children) for 14 years. I worked midnights when our kids were young.

My next-door neighbor was the deputy clerk, and she was leaving to go to college and told me I should apply. She thought it would be perfect because it was only a couple of days a week, and our youngest daughter was starting nursery school. I took the job, but I always thought I’d get back to education. But then I wrote state grant proposals for record management, and we got the grants for four years, and I started doing inventory of village records and we built the records room and really got organized. We scanned all of the old minutes or typed them into the computer. They go back to 1908, when the minutes were hand-written with fountain pens. It was like having two part-time jobs. And then this full-time job (clerk/treasurer) came up.

What does your job entail?

We have the same type of work in a little village as they do in a big city. I like working with people, making a difference, giving them the information they need.

We do a lot of bookkeeping, record-keeping, we take care of the water and tax bills, the correspondence. We’re kind of the secretaries to everyone, including the Police and Public Works departments. We take care of the village budgets, and we also run our own elections here. We keep up with code enforcement and building inspection records. It’s sort of one-stop shopping here.

What do you think of statewide talk in recent years of dissolving villages in favor of being absorbed by towns?

I think the smaller the municipality, the more chance you have of being heard, and I do believe our boards listen to the people … I remember long ago when John Hayden was mayor and two young children wrote the mayor a letter and asked for a water fountain in the park so they could give their dog a drink of water. The board did put the fountain in. The mayor said he thought it was important that the children learn that their voices could be heard. You can write a letter and make things happen. You don’t have to hold an office to be instrumental in making things happen.

Your mayor and trustees have two-year terms, and you’ve served as clerk for seven mayors. Is that difficult?

The day-to-day business of the village stays the same because so much of it is routine, but the priorities of the board change (with elections). You can have different dynamics with different boards, and that’s really part of what I like about the job. There’s a general adjustment, but we’re just here to serve the residents, mayor and board.

What attributes best serve this position?

Flexibility, a positive attitude and willingness to learn new things and go for training because there are always changes in the law and in state mandates to local municipalities. Most board members have full-time jobs, so they rely on the clerks to be the gatherers of information. We’re sort of a clearinghouse of information for the boards.

Any plans in retirement?

My husband retired from Harrison Radiator, and he’s been working in computers and went to part time a couple of years ago. My father is going to be 97, and my mother is 95 – they’re in Heritage Manor in Lockport now, and they need more of my time. We also have eight grandchildren, ages 23 (Michael Goodlander, who is serving with the Army in Afghanistan) to five-month-old Elanor “Nora” Gow. We have two kids getting married next year, and we’d like to travel – Ireland is on our bucket list. I say, “When I retire, I’ll have enough time to think about what I want to do when I retire.”

Know a Niagara County resident who’d make an interesting question-and-answer column? Write to: Niagara Weekend Q&A, The Buffalo News, P.O. Box Buffalo, NY14240 or email: niagaranews@buffnews.com.
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Around Town / Niagara County meetings and hearings this week

November 15, 2013, 7:51 pm
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Barker

 The School Board will meet at 7 p.m. Monday in the district’s administrative offices, Quaker and Haight roads.

Cambria

 The Planning Board will meet at 8 p.m. Monday in Town Hall, 4160 Upper Mountain Road, Sanborn.

Lewiston

 The Village Board will hold a work session at 6 p.m. Monday in Village Hall, 145 N. Fourth St.

Also this week:

• The Lewiston-Porter School Board will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Community Resource Center on the district’s Creek Road campus.

Lockport

 The Town Board will hold a work session at 1 p.m. Wednesday in Town Hall, 6560 Dysinger Road.

Also this week:

• The Common Council will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Municipal Building, One Locks Plaza.

• The town Industrial Development Agency will meet at 8 a.m. Thursday in the Town Hall annex, 6560 Dysinger Road.

Middleport

 The Village Board will meet at 7 p.m. Monday in Village Hall, 24 Main St.

Newfane

 The School Board will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Early Childhood Center on Godfrey Road.

Town of Niagara

 The Town Board will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Town Hall, 7105 Lockport Road.

Niagara County

 The County Legislature will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the County Courthouse, Park Avenue and Hawley Street, Lockport.

Also this week:

• The Niagara County Community College board of trustees will meet at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the Notar Administration Building on the school’s Saunders Settlement Road campus

Niagara Falls

 The Water Board will hold a work session at 5 p.m. Thursday at the municipal water plant, 5815 Buffalo Ave.

Also this week:

• The Niagara Charter School board of trustees will meet at 8 a.m. Tuesday in the school, 2077 Lockport Road.

• The Public Library board of trustees will meet at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in the library, 1425 Main St.

• The School Board will hold an agenda review session at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the district’s central office, 630 66th St. The board’s regular meeting will follow at 7.

North Tonawanda

 The Common Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in City Hall, 216 Payne Ave. An agenda review session will be held in the city clerk-treasurer’s office at 6:15.

Also this week:

• The Property Maintenance Task Force will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday in City Hall.

Pendleton

 The Starpoint School Board will meet at 7 p.m. Monday at the school, 4363 Mapleton Road, Town of Lockport. Prior to the regular meeting, the board will hold an executive session at 6 to discuss collective negotiations.

Also this week:

• The town Planning Board will meet at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Town Hall, 6570 Campbell Blvd.

Porter

 The Zoning Board of Appeals will meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Town Hall, 3265 Creek Road.

Royalton

 The Town Board will meet at 7 p.m. Monday in Town Hall, 5316 Royalton Center Road, Middleport.

Wheatfield

 The Town Board will meet at 7 p.m. Monday in Town Hall, 2800 Church Road.

Wilson

 The Town Board will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Town Hall, 375 Lake St.

Also this week:

• The Village Board will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday in Village Hall, 375 Lake St.
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Lockport Salvation Army plans “biggest Christmas card”

November 15, 2013, 2:45 pm
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LOCKPORT – For the seventh consecutive year, the Lockport Salvation Army is collecting signatures from the public for what it calls the world’s largest Christmas card, to be mailed to American military personnel.

The cards are 26-by-40-inch sheets of paper, bound together in a foamboard cover, front and back, and mailed between sheets of quarter-inch plywood to keep them intact.

Christopher Gresart, director of the Salvation Army Community Center, said the cards are available to be signed in the Salvation Army building, 50 Cottage St., any time the building is open from Sunday through Friday starting at about 8 a.m.

A more formal signing opportunity is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 28-30 in the gymnasium at the Salvation Army complex.

The claim of the world’s largest card is based on the total surface of the multiple pages.

Gresart said the official Guinness world record for the largest Christmas card is held by a 10-by-30-foot wall mural. He said that the total square footage of the Salvation Army’s pages far exceeds that.

“Last year, the total square footage of ours was over 600 square feet. Theirs was 300 square feet,” Gresart. “It was a wall hanging in a mall. It wasn’t meant to be sent. … We haven’t tried to have it verified, because there’s a fee you have to pay to have Guinness come out and verify it.”

On 2012’s card, 174 pages of signatures were gathered, and each bound book sent out had at least 20 pages.

Over the past six years, about 21,750 signatures have been collected on the cards.

“I had one of the after-school kids count them when they were laid out in the gym,” Gresart laughed. “It averages about 25 signatures a page.”

No other Salvation Army location has copied the Christmas card idea.

“We actually try to not have anybody else do it. I believe if you overdo something, it’s overkill, and it doesn’t mean anything,” said Maj. John Wheeler, commanding officer of the Salvation Army in Lockport. “If it’s just Lockport doing it, it’s special to us.”

The binding and printing of the covers is handled by Jack Florio at Micro Graphics, a Lockport company. Local artists have contributed an original work for the cover each year since 2007. This year’s cover, depicting a soldier at prayer, was produced by Kathleen S. Giles of Barker.

She said the painting actually was made several years ago and shows a Barker man who had just returned from Afghanistan.

Gresart said the bound books of cards are designed to be kept together or separated into individual sheets, as the recipients desire.

Cards will be hand-delivered to the Veterans Affairs medical facilities in Buffalo and Batavia. The U.S. Postal Service handles delivery to the head trauma rehabilitation center at James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa, Fla., and to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

Addresses for two active units in Afghanistan will be obtained through a contact at the 914th Airlift Wing at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station. Last year’s card to Iraq actually ended up at a base in Kuwait that was processing the forces being withdrawn from Iraq. There will be no mailing to Iraq this year, Gresart said.

“We have to send them to specific people. You’re not allowed to just generally mail them,” Gresart said. “We get those addresses through National Guard Family Services.”

Gresart started gathering signatures in May, at the Memorial Day car cruise in Lockport. He’s gathered signatures at other local events, although he didn’t get out as much as normal this year because of an illness in his family.

Some people he asked to sign actually said no, Gresart said. “People thought we were collecting money and they had to pay to sign the card,” he said. There is no fee connected with signing.

Blank cards are sent to classrooms in primary, intermediate and middle schools in the Lockport, Starpoint, Newfane and Wilson districts, Gresart said. Many make class projects out of the request.

“Some of them get rather elaborate,” Gresart said. “We have over 100 pages out at schools right now. We’ve actually got about 30 signed pages here now.”

The idea for the card arose during a brainstorming session about the Salvation Army’s Christmas programming.

Gresart said he came up with the notion himself, adding to an already full plate.

“I oversee the after-school program, evening recreation programs, adult self-help programs that go on in the evening, community outreach things, different events that go on in the community, open gym time for adults during the day,” he said.

“The original idea was, we were going to do a barn-door-size card and get either the 107th or the 914th to send it somewhere,” Gresart said. “They said only if one of their planes was being deployed would they be able to transport something like that. So then Hank Beamer (of the Salvation Army advisory board) went to the post office and found out what was the largest size they would ship.”

Beamer is in charge of buying the lumber and packing the cards.

Wheeler said about 15 percent of the meals served daily at the Salvation Army soup kitchen are believed to be fed to veterans.

Wheeler, the Salvation Army’s commanding officer, said the Army’s annual Thanksgiving Day dinner will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the holiday. Reservations for deliveries, which are restricted to the handicapped, ill or homebound, may be made by phoning 434-1276. Takeout meals will be available as well as eat-in meals at the Cottage Street site.

“Some families grab several of them and have their Thanksgiving dinner at home,” Wheeler said. The Army serves between 700 and 800 meals each Thanksgiving.

“For a city this size, that’s quite a lot of food,” Wheeler said.

Also, the Salvation Army’s kettle drive started Friday at the Tops Markets on South Transit and Rochester roads in Lockport, on Lockport-Olcott Road in Wrights Corners and at the Lockport Walmart on South Transit Road. Those kettles are expected to be there daily, while other kettles will make occasional appearances at other area stores this holiday season.

The Salvation Army plans to break ground in the spring for its long-awaited expansion project, Wheeler said.

The $3 million project was approved by the city nearly three years ago, but design issues have held up the plan, he said.

email: tprohaska@buffnews.com
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Lockport Council considered abolishing fire chief’s job

November 16, 2013, 6:19 pm
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LOCKPORT – The Lockport Common Council and Mayor Michael W. Tucker considered abolishing the job of Fire Chief Thomas J. Passuite during budget deliberations, Tucker disclosed last week.

The Council backed away from the move, and that was the reason that nine Fire Department layoffs in the proposed 2014 budget were reduced to eight before Wednesday’s public hearing on the budget.

“We took the chief’s position out and then put it back in,” Tucker said.

Another move being considered in the wake of the layoffs, if the Council approves them this Wednesday, is to negotiate a scheduling change for the Fire Department. The roster would be divided into three platoons, and they would be assigned to rotating 24-hour shifts: one day on, two days off.

However, the Lockport Professional Fire Fighters Association has not agreed to the change, Alderman Patrick W. Schrader said.

At present, there are four platoons, and two work each day, one for 14 hours and the other for 10 hours.

If Passuite’s job had been done away with, Police Chief Lawrence M. Eggert would have added the Fire Department to his responsibilities, under the new title of public safety director.

Eggert said he was willing to do it, but Alderman Patrick W. Schrader said the Council decided it would have been too much work for Eggert to handle.

However, he and Tucker said it’s possible the notion of a single public safety director could be revisited, perhaps after Passuite and Eggert have retired. Passuite said he might step down this year or next. Eggert said he intends to stay for a few more years.

“There were some inquiries if I was interested [in being public safety director], and I said I was,” Eggert said. “It would have been exciting, something new.”

He said his focus was trying to save jobs in his own department, where four layoffs are in the budget. However, Tucker has said he expects those positions to be restored.

Passuite said, “They would not be able to abolish my position. There’s the Civil Service Law, and the City Charter [protecting me].”

Passuite said he doesn’t think the one-boss format would work. “It would be mind-boggling to have one person in charge of each department, especially with all the changes that are going to come after the budget,” he said.

Eggert said he would have delegated a lot of duties to assistant chiefs and captains. “It depends how you divvy up the workload,” he said. “A lot of small cities that are strapped for money are looking for ways to save.”

Passuite said he doesn’t mind the proposed switch to 24-hour firefighter shifts. He said the men could get some sleep if things were quiet.

The schedule change “would reduce overtime substantially,” Passuite said.

The union contracts calls for minimum staffing of nine firefighters per shift. Under the four-platoon system, there are three groups of 11 men and one of 12. If too many men are on vacation or otherwise absent, firemen from other platoons are called in to reach the nine-man minimum, and the fill-ins are paid time-and-a-half for the entire shift.

With three platoons of 12, Passuite figures the overtime risk would be less.

email: tprohaska@buffnews.com
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Niagara County Real Estate Transactions

November 15, 2013, 9:52 am
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CAMBRIA

• Shenk St., Diane L. Fritton to Amy Petree; Travis Petree, $115,000.

• 4636 Ridge Road, County of Niagara to Lyle K. Evans, $18,603.

HARTLAND

• 2664 Bishop Road, County of Niagara to Johnathan Eckborg, $33,000.

• 2499 Carmen Road, County of Niagara to Michael C. Corraine, $25,000.

• 9035 Ridge Road, County of Niagara to Kegan Llc, $23,000.

• 3608 Carmen Road, County of Niagara to Michael A. Shepard, $18,000.

• Seaman Road, County of Niagara to Fred Kulikowski, $5,000.

LEWISTON Highest price: $218,000 Average price: $79,425 Median price: $50,000 Number of Sales: 13

• Cherry Lane, Kelly A. Marotta; James S. Marotta to Thomas P. Asklar; Kelli L. Asklar, $218,000.

• Porter Center Road, Gordon L. Nelson to Jamus T. Jegier; Briana J. Jegier, $180,000.

• Ox Bow Lane, Thomas P. Asklar; Kelli L. Asklar to Christopher J. Lachick, $175,000.

• Ridge Road, Donna L. Kinney to Vanessa L. Vincent, $127,730.

• Dickersonville Road, Denise A. Wozniak to Amanda Jo Kukovica; Nicholas S. Difelice, $114,000.

• 5153 Dana Drive, County of Niagara to Mark D. Grossman, $90,000.

• 997 Brookside Drive South, County of Niagara to Jill L. Boland, $50,000.

• 5903 Ward Road, County of Niagara to Daniel C. Davidhazy, $22,152.

• 428 Aberdeen Road, County of Niagara to Thaddeus Fita; Mary Collesano, $15,953.

• 5966 Hyde Park Blvd., County of Niagara to John E. Hagerman, $15,492.

• Dutton Drive, County of Niagara to Thomas A. Cumbo, $12,000.

• Pletcher Road, County of Niagara to Heather Ann Giambra, $6,500.

• 2934 Lower Mountain Road, County of Niagara to James J. Faso Jr., $5,700.

LOCKPORT Highest price: $150,000 Average price: $58,367 Median price: $40,500 Number of Sales: 12

• Mccollum St., Aaron L. Schwartz; Steven A. Savigny to Tereza Gallineau; John P. Gallineau; Jozef Bajus, $150,000.

• East Ave. & Vine St., James Haehl; Jean P. Wise to Sarah J. Matteson, $114,000.

• Vine St., James Haehl; Jean P. Wise to Sarah J. Matteson, $114,000.

• Spruce St., Amanda B. Schaus to Nicholle E. Hannigan, $89,000.

• Gooding St., Crestview Property Holdings to Leeanne Merriam, $49,900.

• Prentice St., Jeffrey D. Smith to Lisa M. Crandall, $49,000.

• Clinton St., Mary Ferruzza; Mary T. Ferruzza; Samuel C. Sansone to Roger J. Platt; June M. Platt, $32,000.

• Washburn St., John Rinaldo to Thomas Cassenti Jr.; Carla L. Cassenti, $30,000.

• East Ave., JB Enterprises to Melinda Kay Richards, $28,500.

• Columbia St., John J. Rinaldo; Michelle L. Rinaldo to Thomas Cassenti Jr.; Carla L. Cassenti, $20,000.

• South St., Raja N. Moorthy to Petar Zecevic, $12,000.

TOWN OF LOCKPORT Highest price: $170,000 Average price: $90,121 Median price: $81,000 Number of Sales: 10

• Leete Road, Betty A. Tolli; Pasquale J. Tolli to Edward Pietrowski; Melanie Pietrowski, $170,000.

• Badger Road, Rita Upson; Jennifer U. Steiner to Scott A. Tanyi; Jennifer J. Tanyi, $155,000.

• Purdy Road, Michael D. Cavalieri Sr. to Katherine B. Trombley, $126,500.

• Eastwood Drive, Sarah E. Benedetti to Michaeleen Boudeman, $95,000.

• 6385 Erna Drive, County of Niagara to Mark D. Grossman, $87,000.

• Cambridge Drive, Worthington Ridge Condo Unit 4821-B, Jane E. Allan to Glodyle A. Zigrossi, $75,000.

• 7498 Fairview Drive, County of Niagara to Kegan Llc, $49,000.

• 6700 Lincoln Ave., County of Niagara to Thomas J. Sparks; Michael R. O’Neil, $44,210.

• 5480 Old Saunders Settlement Road, County of Niagara to Donna Lee Bailey; Douglas L. Bailey, $24,500.

NEWFANE

• Lockwood St., Kyle R. Andrews; Patricia A. Boye to Dean Walker, $35,600.

• 6016 Collard Ave., County of Niagara to James W. Hedley, $33,000.

• 2795 Main St., County of Niagara to Michael Florio, $25,000.

• 6532 Dale Road, County of Niagara to Judith A. Wasik; Richard C. Wasik, $21,973.

• 1538-5839 Cooper St., County of Niagara to Scott Hedley; Tina L. Hedley, $19,186.

• 6271 Driveake Settlement Road, County of Niagara to Mark R. Barnett; Yvette M. Buzard; Yvette M. Barnett, $9,664.

NIAGARA FALLS Highest price: $500,000 Average price: $85,929 Median price: $75,000 Number of Sales: 23

• 402 & 430 Buffalo Ave., Orbit Properties to Merani Hospitality Inc., $500,000.

• Beechwood Circle, Robert R. Villani; Sandra R. Villani to Yolanda M. Levesque, $185,000.

• 5320 Grauer Road, Scott A. Movesian to Willard A. Rice; Angela M. Malaney, $135,000.

• Parkview Drive, Christine Pagano; Daniel Pagano; Michael Pagano to Salvatore O. Cioffi, $104,000.

• Meadowbrook Road, Jason A. Zona to Michael J. Patronski; Tara L. Patronski, $101,867.

• 1143 Pasadena Ave., Donna J. Matchett to Wayne E. Cooper, $100,000.

• 81st St., Jennifer A. Smith; Jamie R. Smith to Nicholas P. Lepiane, $96,000.

• 60th St., Roger Fortin; Agnes H. Fortin to Jacquelin M. Lord; Benjamin F. Lord, $93,000.

• 80th St., John R. Bottom; Marian M. Bottom to John A. Bottom, $89,000.

• 88th St., Brett K. Young; Traci L. Bucelata-Young to Paul J. Annis, $83,500.

• 1126 Lasalle Ave. & 474-476 20th St. & 535-537 20th St. & 2233 Michigan Ave., Double K Consulting III to LNMS Properties Inc, $80,000.

• 81st St., Jennifer J. Marszalkowski to Louis E. Townsend; Sandra C. Townsend, $75,000.

• 98th St., Terry G. Schumacher to Robert C. Kerns III, $67,000.

• 91st St., Thomas J. Crawford; Patricia A. George to Elaine T. Mangino, $60,000.

• 71st St., Paul J. Janese; Theodore W. Janese Jr. to Phyllis Stallard; Michael Stallard, $38,000.

• 8209 Porter Road, County of Niagara to Niagara Homes of WNY Inc., $36,000.

• 2020 Grand Ave., Mary Ann Rosini; Molly Webber; Mary A. Lafornia to Molly Webber; William E. Webber, $34,000.

• 8135-8139 East Britton Drive, County of Niagara to Keith Baker, $29,500.

• 153 63rd St., Charles J. Chiarenza; Laura M. Chiarenza to Mary Ann Murphy, $19,009.

• 2914 Nevada Ave., County of Niagara to Olcott Properties, $14,000.

• 6th St., Roberta Shelton; Wiltcher Shelton Jr. to Anthony Sirianni; Deborah Sirianni, $14,000.

• 3031 Panama St., County of Niagara to Wallace J. Rowell, $12,500.

• 7th St Townsend Place, Buffalo Niagara Falls Real Estate to Rana Muhammad Nadeem-Ul Hassan; Hassan Rana Muhammad Nadeem-Ul, $10,000.

NORTH TONAWANDA Highest price: $238,400 Average price: $106,804 Median price: $100,500 Number of Sales: 14

• Daigler Drive, MCW Construction Inc. to Keith A. Mckay; Christine P. Mckay, $238,400.

• Bowen Drive, Carolyn Stone; Carol Confer to Aric C. Kopf, $172,500.

• 1514 Jamaica Square, Thomas P. Meranto to US Bank, $168,916.

• Jefferson Ave., Troy Haner; Lynda S. Haner-Mele to Sean Morningstar, $165,000.

• 237 Goundry St., Michael J. Skuce to 316 Fletcher Llc, $139,000.

• Wright Ave., Karl E. Schmelz to Daniel J. Murray, $115,000.

• Brentwood Drive, Andrew G. Siradas; Jennifer L. Bressette to Ashley M. Beamish, $101,000.

• Duane Drive, Estelle Hunt; Keith A. Bell; Stella J. Hunt to Mark R. Utzig; Jessica R. Bell, $100,000.

• Felton St., Joseph A. Pirk to Craig J. Pyszczynski, $78,440.

• Falls Blvd., William R. Shomers; William F. Shomers to William R. Shomers, $64,000.

• Walck Road, Carol A. Polek to Thomas Mcgann, $52,000.

• Carruthers Place & Miller St., Christopher J. Maziarz; Teea R. Maziarz to Allison M. Vanhorn; Dale G. Davis, $36,000.

• Miller St., Christopher J. Maziarz; Teea R. Maziarz to Allison M. Vanhorn; Dale G. Davis, $36,000.

• Simson St., Patricia H. Yahr to Muriel Rua; Joseph M. Rua, $29,000.

PENDLETON Highest price: $360,000 Average price: $162,732 Median price: $137,500 Number of Sales: 9

• Seneca Court, Judy K. Bykowski; Michael B. Bykowski to Leenna Schulte; Garth C. Schulte, $360,000.

• Devonshire Lane, Ryan Homes of New York; Nvr Inc. to Jennifer A. Birkemeier, $319,960.

• Devonshire Lane, Ryan Homes of New York; Nvr Inc. to James A. Adams; Barbara L. Adams, $259,295.

• Main Road, Tammy L. Skorka; Tammy L. Rydza to Jamie R. Smith, $137,500.

• Mapleton Road, Shear Color Inc. to Kenneth R. Sherk, $30,000.

• Donner Road, Mary Lynn Carubba; Susan J. Ernst; Russell T. Alba to Katherine Benedict; Dudley G. Benedict, $20,000.

• 5654 Tonawanda Creek Road, County of Niagara to Clay B. Schroeder; Janet F. Schroeder, $11,469.

• 7091 Townline Road, County of Niagara to Conrad J. Janik, $5,000.

PORTER

• Church St., Sandra Gilbraith; Richard N. Gilbraith to John Bullington, $170,000.

• 1312 Cain Road, Kim Smith; Donald G. Smith to Joelle Pawlikowski; Brian D. Keil, $105,000.

• Blairville Road, County of Niagara to Edward J. Hess; William E. Joseph Jr., $35,000.

• 2021 Balmer Road, County of Niagara to Christine A. Reed, $23,181.

• Ransomville Road, County of Niagara to Karl R. Blair; Kristine R. Gedeon, $7,500.

ROYALTON Highest price: $400,000 Average price: $60,308 Median price: $18,500 Number of Sales: 16

• Chestnut Ridge Road, Thomas Lewis to AM Farms, $400,000.

• Peet St., Thomas V. Lovejoy; Roberta M. Lovejoy to Matthew S. Burch; Katherine L. Burch, $190,000.

• 4727 Cottage Road, County of Niagara to Julie Anne Diel, $85,000.

• Central Ave., Brandon M. Sacco to Samantha Handley; Christian Handley, $77,910.

• 4440 Main St., County of Niagara to McCollum Farm Partnership, $40,000.

• 4807 Cottage Court, County of Niagara to Michael Skomski, $38,000.

• 9951 Mountain Road, County of Niagara to Matthew Karlak, $26,000.

• 7955 Telegraph Road, County of Niagara to Alan Roath, $19,000.

• 8391 State St., County of Niagara to Olcott Properties, $18,000.

• 7946 Chestnut Ridge Road, County of Niagara to Clay B. Schroeder, $15,711.

• 9747 Watson Ave., County of Niagara to Stacy L. Kleitz; David S. Uschold, $15,299.

• 29 Main St., County of Niagara to Carrie Tag, $12,500.

• 8394 Park Ave., County of Niagara to Olcott Properties, $9,000.

• 7588 Dysinger Road, County of Niagara to Brian T. Hy; Andrea E. Hy, $6,500.

• Fairview Drive, County of Niagara to McCollum Farm Partnership, $6,500.

• Mackey Road, County Niagara to David J. Pratt, $5,500.

SOMERSET

• Quaker Road, Mark Adams to Richard M. Tomaino Jr., $115,000.

• 9668 Hall Road, County of Niagara to Paula A. Cramer, $8,000.

• 1678 Quaker Road, County of Niagara to Michael Skomski, $6,500.

WHEATFIELD

• Ashwood Drive, Vanderbilt Properties Inc. to Ralph R. Sollie Jr., $389,900.

• Ward Road, Tracy S. Fleischman; Robert A. Fleischman to Tracy J. Mallon; Christopher M. Mallon, $130,000.

• 2853 Niagara Falls Blvd., County of Niagara to Shauna L. Amato, $26,000.

• 6782 Sy Road, County of Niagara to Niagara Homes of WNY Inc., $22,500.

• Nash Road, Pamela Bellreng; Clark A. George to Richard J. Roetzer, $20,000.

• 2496 Niagara Falls Blvd., County Of Niagara New York to Christopher Rosky, $14,537.

• 2465 Old Falls Blvd., County of Niagara to Kim Tipton, $6,000.

WILSON

• Harris Road, Mary Beth Volpe-Safee; Mary Beth A. Hailey to Matthew J. Ziembiec; Theresa M. Ziembiec, $115,000.

• Youngstown-Lockport Road, James E. Skorik; Melissa S. Skorik to Jason Danielewicz, $70,000.

• 2348 Washington Ave., County of Niagara to Tamara Vekich; Frank Vekich, $19,000.

• 92 Sunset Island, County of Niagara to Leonard A. Zeintara; Sandra A. Zeintara, $17,564.

• 434 Young St., County of Niagara to Jimmy Lynn Goode; Glenda M. Goode, $15,005.

• 2341 & 2343 & 2345 Lincoln Ave., County of Niagara to Timothy A. White, $7,500.
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Man shot during argument on street

November 17, 2013, 10:11 am
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LOCKPORT – One man was shot at 5:55 p.m. Saturday as a group of men were arguing at Pine and Genesee streets

Police said the victim, whose name was not released, was initially treated at Eastern Niagara Hospital, then transferred to the Erie County Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

Detectives were reviewing video of the shooting.
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Cuomo here Thursday to unveil 'major' development

November 21, 2013, 1:37 am
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In the largest down payment on his Buffalo billion-dollar commitment, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo this morning will announce the creation of a clean-energy research campus on 90 acres of land along the Buffalo River that will include two initial tenants moving from California to create 850 jobs.

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Live updates at 10:30 a.m.: Get the latest from today’s announcement on BuffaloNews.com.

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The RiverBend project calls for $225 million in state funding to build the first of six buildings on a brownfield site that Cuomo administration officials believe will become the center of some of the nation’s leading clean and green energy research.

“It’s the initiation of an industry,’’ said a senior Cuomo administration official who spoke with The Buffalo News on condition of anonymity.

The project will be run by the State University of New York’s Research Foundation, which is headquartered in Albany, and has the help from top officials at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, the State University of New York’s newest college, which has become a major source of jobs in Albany with its focus the past two decades on nanoscience research.

“If it’s just 850 jobs, that’s great. But we believe it could be for Western New York what nano was for the Capital District,’’ the administration official said Wednesday night.

The first two tenants in the first of six planned buildings are being lured, like those in Albany to the nanoscale facility, with the promise that the state will provide the space and expensive equipment that they could not otherwise afford on their own to do cutting-edge research in the field of clean energy.

Officials say the model works because companies, once they locate, find it difficult to leave because they cannot replicate a facility with so much expensive equipment upon which research is conducted. In Albany, the nanoscale center has attracted a who’s who of computer chip makers and other high-tech firms from around the world.

“One of the things that built Buffalo, literally, was the availability of low-cost energy, and clean energy and the technology of clean energy is a growth industry,’’ the Cuomo administration officials said.

Cuomo vowed in 2012 to pump in an extra $1 billion in state money over several years to try to provide an economic rebirth in Buffalo, which he said has been ignored for too long by the state.

“The premise of the Buffalo billion was to develop an economic strategy that builds on the strengths of Buffalo. You identify the strengths, you then build on rock and the strengths are the rock,’’ the administration official said. “This is a very cool, big thing,’’ the source added of Thursday’s announcement.

Speaking in Adam’s Mark Hotel this morning, the governor will flesh out a proposal, first made last month, to make this region a hub for high-tech research, manufacturing and work force training.

The state in October began seeking bids from developers to work on the high-tech campus, saying it was seeking proposals to create “state-of-the-art facilities and cutting edge infrastructure” at an unknown site in this area.

Several major developers in this region have expressed interest in the contract, and they have until Dec. 10 to respond.

The project being unveiled today will be constructed on the former Republic Steel and Donner Hanna Coke site.

The previously contaminated industrial property, which is now vacant, takes up more than 200 acres in total, bounded by the Buffalo River to the north, Tifft Street to the south and a set of railroad tracks and the Tifft Nature Preserve to the west.

Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper has led a federally funded habitat restoration of the property. The Buffalo Urban Redevelopment Corp. is the lead redevelopment agent and has proposed a mix of commercial, residential and retail uses for the site.

Also today, the governor is expected to visit the Ford Stamping Plant in Woodlawn, the site of a planned $100 million investment by the automaker that is tied to expanded production across the border and will create as many as 300 new jobs, The News reported earlier this month. That project is in line to receive $1 million from the New York Power Authority.



email: tprecious@buffnews.com and swatson@buffnews.com
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Gasport watercolorist breaks into national painting scene

November 14, 2013, 11:28 am
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For the past 16 years, prolific watercolorist Kathleen S. Giles has opened her studio one weekend each fall to visitors seeking a glimpse into her working process. She’ll host her 17th annual open studio event from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in her home at 2336 Hartland Road in Gasport.

Giles’ work, which includes portraiture, still lifes and landscapes, has been widely exhibited locally and has more recently caught on with national painting enthusiasts and collectors. In an artist’s statement, she refers to her style as “romantic realism,” saying it is “defined by strong values and colorful shadows that are often the result of scenes that are bathed in light.”

“I paint everything,” Giles told The News in September. “I like to do people and landscapes, but it’s really all about what’s got light on it. It’s something that catches my eye.”

Giles, who hosts a television show about watercolor on Lockport Community Television with fellow painter Jody Ziehm at 7 p.m. Mondays, won the top prizes at the 2013 Allentown Art Festival and Lewiston Art Festival. She recently was featured in the October issue of American Art Collector and had a painting in the American Watercolor Society’s prestigious 2012 exhibition in New York City.

For more information on the open studio event, call 795-9368.

– Colin Dabkowski
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Search on for missing guide dog in Niagara Falls

November 21, 2013, 5:13 am
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NIAGARA FALLS – A $250 reward is being offered for the safe return of a guide dog that has been missing since Tuesday from her city home.

It’s believed that something spooked Prudy, a 3-year-old yellow Labrador, causing her to run from her owner’s home, according to a spokeswoman for Guide Dogs for the Blind, a California-based agency that trains and places dogs with people who are blind or have low vision.

The owner contacted local police, and has been searching animal shelters and posting flyers throughout the area without success.

Prudy has a pink nose and is on antibiotics to help manage an infection, spokeswoman Karen Woon said. She has a microchip, number 151822141A.

Anyone with information about the dog is asked to call 800-295-4050, ext. 4004.
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