Buffalo Criterion, 1983-02-09

              the buffalo criterion vol 58 no 7 wednesday february 9 15 1983 rochester niagara region permit no 1314 buffalo new york u.s postage paid wny's largest & only accredited minority newspaper featuring paid legitimate circulation the lessons of ossining before new emergencies distract our attention from the recent events at ( kern ing prison i'd like to review the lessons learned from the 53-hour rebellion on january bth you remember what happen en inmates in cell block b seized 19 guards they held 16 of the guards hostage from that satur day evening until late monday night and early tuesday morning three days before the uprising i said in my state of the state message that our prisons were heavily overcrowded - 28.000 inmates in space meant to hold 25,000 a consequence of the overcrowding was that cell block b had no recreation and visiting areas it was intended to lie a transient modi where new inmates would spend a few weeks before being assigned to another prison on a permanent basis but crowding at other prisons slowed this process and inmates were spending months instead of weeks in celt block b so the lid blew the inmates wanted better living conditions — more mail deliveries more visi tation rights more recre ation time and they were desperate enough to take matters into then own hands to try to get their needs met the reasonableness of most if not all the demands seemed dear but there were two tacts that were beyond ques tion trie lives oi the cor rections officers taken as hostages to dramatize those demands were now in danger - . and some inmates had broken the law in mating those officers in setting our priorities it was clear that our first concern had to be the lives of our people the hos tages they as innocent victims of a bad situation obviously had the largest slake in the outcome we had to do everything to get them out safely and yet we could not make concessions which might by gov mario m cuomo endanger guards and in mates in the future our second priority therefore was to uphold the concept of respect for the law only after both those priorities were established and adhered to could we address the third consider ation the fact that the grivances of the inmates were either outlandish nor unusual how could we reconcile those priorities as we tried to resolve the crisis we did it by refusing any negotiations with the in mates until the hostages were released and refus ing to grant them amnesty from future prosecution at the same time we made clear to the inmates their friends and families that we were not going tc harm them the crisis intervention team served what amounted to a mediation role i consider the fact that we didn't have to ask the team to do more than talk a good precedent the prudent use of the crisis team was a sign of our dedication to the avoidance of violence and retaliation there will be a firm hand a firm applica tion of the law in the aftermath of the uprising but there will be no violence and certainly no - retaliation - those are ! now prece dents — all the priorities i've mentioned the lives of the hostages respect for law and no unneces sary violence - that will stay n tfff*!.-ttb mik ! ti am governor the crucial question for the immediate future is how do we improve prison conditions and provide more space for inmates the easiest and quickest way would be through use of federal funds many of our prisoners have com mitted crimes that are basically a federal respon sibility drug-related crimes for example the drugs come from outside our national borders and the flow should be stopped or at least more effectively impeded by the federal government so there is a rationale for the use of federal prison funds to buy facilities that would enable us to ease overcrowding in new york beyond that we're building new facilities with existing money — at wallkill in ulster county and woodbourne in sulli van county another will go under construction this year at coxsackie in greene county all three are 512-bed facilities at the same time we're looking at unused building around the state for possible conversion for correctional use i'm also interested in alternatives to incarcera tion and in a system of smaller minimum security facilities for prisoners who are within a few months of release we would con centrate at these way stations on preparing them for a return to the outside world we would construct these smaller institutions so that in the 1990's they would be convertible to other uses a decade from now the baby boom will have passed and we will have fewer young people and more senior citizens than we do at present our prison population will necessarily go down par alleling the decline in the number of young unem ployed males who consti tute the largest source of potential criminals we therefore should be fa a position to turn the convertible facilities over elderly using them to help care for a segment of our society that de serves special provision for its shelter i am pleased that as we look to the future we will have thomas a coughlin di continuing as com missioner of correction 1 reappointed him within a few days after the ossin ing incident ended he had performed excellently during the carey adminis tration i described in one word the work he and his staff did during the 53 hours of ossinging that word was superb rutkowski calls for utilities to sell cheapest energy available fcne county executive edward j rutkowski citing a landmark u s supreme court decision handed down last week has proposal m and federal legislation that would for the first time f ** m -■■ a _ a a * m m ___ allow regulatory agencies to avoid so-called take or pay natural gas contracts and force utilities to sell to western new york consumers the cheapest natural gas available mr rutkowski also an nounced that he has obtained a temporary re straining order prohibiting natural fuel gas and niagara mohawk from issuing further shut-off notices to consumers the request was based upon alleged violations of the home energy fair prac tices act by the public utilities in terminating service in a recent case decided on january 24th in the matter of the energy reserve group vs kansas power and light com pany the supreme court of the united states held that state law could void contract provisions if necessary to protect con sumers from the unjusti fied escalation of natural gas prices caused by deregulation the case challenged the validity of the state statute of kansas compelling its public ser vice commission to regu late intrastate natural gas prices raisin in the sun cast visited roswell park proceeds from the talent show will benefit the dag care center shown in the photo from left are leon hall sr ' in the respiratory therapy dept of the roswell park memorial institute carolyn huffman director mamma park hay care inc theresa merritt cast niembr-r gerald k schofield deputy director for administration of " lt,,suell herb downer cast member kirn yancey cast member and samuel herbert biophysics dept of roswell the cast of raisin in the sun which recently performed at the studio arena theatre visited the koswell park memorial institute day care center carlton house i on wed jan 26th to promote the institution's upcoming employee talent show planned for the spring the employee talent show is being sponsored by roswell park day care inc the nonprofit organization established to operate the roswell park day care center urban mass transportation adminis trator arthur e teele jr congratu lates mary louise anderson on her - appointment as deputy regional admin istrator region vi . ms anderson a native of prairie view texas assumed her newly acquired position in the fort worth tex-is regional office in january of thia year •- • t reforms urged for lower natural gas prices kemp chides federal energy rules rising fuel costs washington d c — congressman jack kemp accused federal energy rules of artifically raising fuel costs and called for the eliminaation of take or pay and price escalator clauses for natural gas contracts so that prices for western new york con sumers can come down as they would in more normal market conditions in a letter to federal energy regulatory com missioner chairman charles butler on behalf of western new york consumers kemp said the continually rising price of natural gas was also due to high priced natural gas imports it is neither fair nor sensible to require western new york con sumers to pay above market prices when lower domestic supplies are plentiful i urge you to do whatever ja necessary to -. allow the renegotiation of contracts with foreign sup pliers and to eliminate the uniform border price for canadian and mexican ' imports which would fur ther contribute to lower prices kemp said kemp said only the elimination of take or pay and escalator clauses can foster the economic efficience and expanded energy production needed to bring natural gas prices down a market oriented solution to high prices will allow the consumers of western new york to have the energy they need at a fair and reasonable drice kemp praised state senator dale volker for his fight for lower natural gas prices i applaud all your efforts to bring this issue to the forefront of our public policy agenda you have done a great deal to help end this severe hardship for western new york consumers kemp said the congressman said that he is co-sponsoring rep robert michel's legislation to allow pipe lines to roll back their take or pay obligations to 50 percent of their contract value which will greatly relieve the hardships on - the overburdened natural ga*.u*er --."■ -.' •>*■':*•-***«-* becauae of the 1978 natural gas policy act and its byzantine set of rules and regulations the prob lem we face today is a creation of congress and it is up to congress to sad the solution i will be urging cong ass to take up this issue immediately to stop this unnecessary threat to the people and the economy of our region and the future of our community kemp said anderson takes new post mr teele was nominated to be the allrrilnistraior ol the united states urban mass transportation administra tion by president ronald reagan on march 17 1981 after being confirmed by the senate he was sworn in by vice president george bush on april 8 1981 the urban mass transportation administration i umta i provides grants-in-aid to local public mass transit systems throughout the united states and has an annual budget of over 3 billion teele 35 years old a florida attorney is a highly decorated veteran of the vietnam war as an airborne ranger he received a purple heart a bronze star for valor a bronze star for service an air medal with two clusters and the rvn cross of gallantry during his first year as administra tor of the umta program teele initiated and implemented a major reorganization of the agency in order to streamline and improve umtas ability to address changing national needs he has eliminated unnecessary regulations and guided umta in a new direction consistent with the president policy of enhancing state and local autonomy he has focused attention on transit operations with emphasis on productivity and efficiency and has implemented the section 15 national reporting system a major data base that allows local transit operators to measure their own performance and productivity both president reagan and trans portation drew lewis have called upon teele to serve on several special task forces he is a member of the white house urban policy task force and the white house task force on puerto rico he is also serving on a working group of the miami crime task force chaired by vice president bush mary louise anderson was appoint ed deputy regional administrator of umta's region vi in oct 1982 the region is comprised of arkansas louisians new mexico oklahoma and texas in this position she will assist the regional administrator in overseeing federal mass transit assistance programs thorughout region vi anderson will be responsible for representing the urban mass transpor tation administration in discussions with elected and appointed officials of state and local governments transit authori ties and planning agencies nowak re-elected to small business subcommittee washington — rep henry j nowak d bflo has been re-elected chair man of a house small business subcommittee for the 98th congress this will be nowak's third two-year term as chairman of the subcom mittee on tax access to equity and business op portunities it is one of six subcommittees of the house small business committee nowak starting his fifth term in congress from the new 33rd congressional district of new york which includes most of buffalo plus lackawanna and the towns of cheek towaga grand island and lancaster said this leadership role will enable me to continue my efforts to identify meaningful and targeted tax incentives to promote the creation and expansion of small firms which are such a vital integral part of our nation al economy it will also provide me with a continu ing platform to focus attention on the critical need to force interest rates down unemployment down and economic growth up nowak will also continue to serve on the committee on public works and transportation with juris diction over programs such as mass transit highway improvements airport development economic development and water pollution con trol ncaa raises minimum s.a.t score requirements for college athletes by dr charles e cobbs the recent action by the national collegiate athletic association re quiring that college ath letes achieve a minimum score of 700 on the college entrance examination is undoubtedly racially moti vated this i decision has come on the heels of a report by the college board that black score on the average 100 points lower than whites on the scholastic aptitude test in addition to the test re quirement the n.c.a.a is also requiring that students maintain a 2.0 high school grade point average while taking a core curriculum this curriculum consists of three years of english two of mathematics two of social sciences and two of physical or natural sci ences it is interesting to note that the ncaa is concerned singularly with college entrance require ments for in addition to the resolution passed they had the opportunity to impose a 2.0 grade point average standard during college eligibility years and refused to do so such a move would have compelled academic insti tutions to address the academic needs of their black athletes which they have traditionally ignored most black athletes attending predominantly white institutions never receive their baccal aureate degrees however this is not the first time these issues have been raised in college sports heretofore they shave been raised in a much more selective pos ture for example during the early 70's howard ; university won the n.c.a.a national soccer j championship this championship was imme diately scrutinized and rescinded by the n.c.a.a '. on the basis of howard athletes not hav ing taken the sa.t i \ find it interesting hat this ; was only raised after howard had won the national championship which smacks of selective enforcement certainly the application of the rule was outcome-oriented yet consistent with the current actions of the ncaa howard ath letes had more than proven themselves aca demically at the phi beta kappa level the obvious conclusion is inescapable the n.c.a.a is attempting to decrease minority partici pation in college athletics of the black high school students across the nation who have taken the raci ally biased sat less than 50 have scored as high as 700 while this is a sad commentary on the american educational sys tem it is unlikely that the scoring in the 700 range represents significant numbers of our beat athletes these new require ments will effectively re move large numbers of superior black athletes from collegiate athletic competition such action by the n.c.a.a is not surprising in fight of complaints by professional s.a.t scores continued on page 2 923 1983 criterion press and still the no 1 wny central cities largest press our office has been open every week ol every year since our existence serving our communities you've iusi gotta sign up for a copy of the buffalo criterion every week — for only national 25 upstate new york's oldest and largest minority press — the only w.n.y minority paper that is ; registered as a bona fide newspaper under the march 3 1879 act of congress — regulating newspapers