Buffalo Criterion, 1987-10-29

              wny's oldest and largest afro-american weekly for over 60 years featuring paid legitmate circulation established in 1925 thursday october 29 - november 4 1987 rochester the buffalo criterion niagara region vol 63 — no 44 rutkowski blasts democrats on budget cuts erie county executive edward j rutkowski tuesday blasted the dem ocrats in the county legislature for abandon ing the inner-city youth by virtually eliminating all county funding for drug prevention efforts recom mended for the ministers against drugs mad group rutkowski said his pro posed budget appropriat ed 150,000 to the minis ters against drug pro gram to help promote drug prevention and education programs for inner-city youth he said the democratic majority in the legislature cut his propos al by 125,000 leaving the organization with only 25,000 to combat teenage drug abuse i am outraged by the reduction of funding to the ministers against drugs a group of dedicated leaders who have cham pioned drug prevention and educaiton in the inner-city rutkowski said the democrats in the legislature by slash ing my proposal have in effect walked away from our efforts to combat drug abuse by our youth as a parent i am outraged and angered by this action rutkowski said the democratic majority in the legislature also slashed other programs which would have benefited the residents of the the city of buffalo particularly in the inner city rutkowski said his pro posed budget appropri ated 37,000 to the national inner city youth oppor tunities inc the legisla ture he said reduced his recommended funding by 12,000 thereby appropri ating 25,000 to this important youth program the national inner city youth program takes care of the needs of potential high school drop outs the counseling services through the or ganization serves more than 5,000 teenagers an nually rutkowski said in addition the organi zation operates an athletic program which is directed by former nba star randy smith in addition rutkowski said his recommended budget appropriated 80 000 to the gethsemane foundation inc the county executive said he was astounded to learn that the legislature cut his recommended funding in half appropriating only 40,000 to the foundation the foundation also provides counseling ser vices to high school students who might be at risk of dropping out of school the foundaiton also provides family coun seling services to help keep our youth out of the criminal justice system rutkowski said the program provides these much needed services to youth ages 14 t021 in my tenure as county executive i have attempted to recognize and meet the needs of the inner city by listening and working with such groups as ministers against drugs rutkowski said the problem of drug abuse by our youth is very real and very serious i felt an appropriation of 150,000 to mad was extremely important to continue this fight as a parent and as county executive i am angered by the gutting of my proposals to aid the inner city i think the good people of the city of buffalo can clearly see where i stand on the issue of drug abuse while i have worked closely with community leaders to combat drug abuse the democratic legislature is obviously not concerned buffalo's first statewide health education conference set on november 5 6 and 7th more than 400 health educators from all parts of new york will meet in buffalo to discuss pro grams and techniques for disease prevention at the new york state health education conference among the highlights of the program will be the in troduction of several new school health education initiatives by the nys education department in cluding their new aids education and family life education programs more than 60 work judge orders reconsideration of blue cross application for premium rate increase friday oct 23rd in state supreme court al bany county judge ed ward conway ordered the new york superintendent of insurance to reconsider a premium rate increase for blue cross of western new york in a prompt and expeditious manner this determination came from the bench after arguments made by attorneys for the parties blue cross which serves 1,000,000 sub scribers and their families in western new york re ceived its last increase effective july 1 1987 the court heard argu ments that blue cross recieved an increase in january 1985 and that since that time has increased its rates only once in july 1987 this last increase was inade quate to permit blue cross to pay hospitals in a timely manner and to maintain a reserve requir ed for the protection of its subscribers as required by taw the determination of the superintendent in granting this latest in crease was made without any findings and totally ignored the projections made by blue cross in regard to its expenditures for the benefit of subscrib ers by failing to grant even a modest increase in 1986 and 1987 the superinten dent of insurance will force blue cross to in crease its rates again in order to protect the finan cial integrity of the plan and permit it to carry out its statutory duties despite judge conway who recognized the urgen cy of the situation and re manded this issue to the superintendent for prompt relief the superintendent has indicated that rather than abide by this order it will continue to litigate the issue in the appellate courts further attempting to delay relief and thereby jeopardize the subscribers and providers in western new york blue cross which has served the people of western new york for over 50 years will ask the appellate courts to force the superintendent of in surance to carry out his well defined duties there by enabling blue cross to continue its services to protect its subscribers 50th wedding anniversary observed mr and mrs willie fisher recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a lovely dinner given by the fishers and riley families the dinner was served in the dining hall of trinity baptist church 41 spruce st it consisted of turkey ham bar-b-qued chicken creamed potatoes string beans rolls ice cream and cake and beverages the photo shows from left their daughter son elder fisher granddaughter the honorees deacon and mrs fisher and rev and mrs joseph davis leaders of trinity baptist church — criterion photo results of poll released challenge issued the people's forum — election 1987 was held last sunday october 25th in the greater friendship gaprtwt-church ip w-p s<*r»n by its sponsor the outlaw criterion press club as a vehicle for the community to meet the candidates and discuss issues confronting erie county the masten district and the 3rd legislative district jobs affirmative action economic development social services programs true representation from elected officials and decreasing property values in the masten district were among the many concerns voiced by the audience of approximately 110 persons that gathered during the course of the 32 hour event candidates vying for the offices of county executive masten district councilman 3rd legisla tive district and judicial seats were also quized by a staff member of the buffalo criterion representa tives from the fine print and challenger newspapers were on hand to question the county executive candidates responses to the questioning helped members of the group decide their choice in each category in a poll conducted by the press club the poll though unscientific produced mixed results which seems to indicate that voters will be doing their own thinking and picking the candidates of their own choosing the poll asked three questions and the results are as follows 1 if you were voting today what candidate would you vote to elect re-elect county executive rutkowski gorski undedcided 43.5 47.8 8.7 masten district councilman collins hemphill mcpeak undecided 34 43.2 11.4 11.4 3rd legislative district robinson gillette herndon 9 52.3 4.5 williams undecided 2.4 31.8 lodge to honor 1st black city court judge on saturday oct 31 the odd cadet lodge 11679 grand united or der of odd fellows of america and jurisdiction will hold its annual har vest ball at the holiday inn-downtown 620 dela ware aye cash bar will be served from 7 to 8 p.m the dinner will be held from 8-9:30 p.m with dancing from 10 p.m to 2 a.m the affair will honor the first black buffalo city court judge william sims who is also a well-known attorney he is a past district master for the state of new york and former grand lodge attorney william sims has served the buffalo community as a former president of the local naacp has repre sented many clients in our courts and has been active in the civic political and religious life of our com munity for many years he now serves on the board of auditors for the grand united order of oddfellows of america and jurisdiction in the grand lodge other honorees will include ruth scott and verdia jenkins both past most noble governors of the household of ruth theodore stroud is din ner chairman james scott is noble grand william sims he's still in the race the commitee to elect herbert bellamy council man-at-large says that councilman-at-large her bert is still in the november 3rd election despite his loss in the primary mr bellamy who will be on the liberal line urges residents to vote on the liberal line first in order to vote for him narrowly losing the september primary was a serious setback for mr bellamy who has been a public servant for some three decades and perhaps the most disturbing aspect of it all recounts mr bellamy is that his defeat was by design as he found himself the target of a racist move to lessen the number of african-ameri can representatives on the counci i man-at-large council with the general elec tion less than a week away mr bellamy and his team of supporters are now working hard prepar ing a last-minute blitz on the african-american community states mr bellamy the bottom line is i need this community's votes i've proven my ability to deliver service to the community he continued you can see touch and feel many of the things i've been able to accom plish in office for nine years as a councilman and in city government for a total of 22 years bellamy a businessman of 33 years has developed some 12 businesses of which 10 still exist i've created jobs and rid the community of blight and what i've done for my community i've done or tried to do for every district in the city he said many who endorsed mr bellamy in the primary have also endorsed him in the november 3rd general election such as the teachers federation many unions individuals and groups based on my record of service bellamy said that his win would simply ensure sensitive caring and knowledgeable represen tation on the council for the african-american community and communi ties throughout buffalo mr bellamy said i sincerely want to be re-elected i am happiest when i'm serving my people but it's impera tive that voters go to the liberal line and pull row 14-e for herb bellamy first on november 3rd herbert bellamy rites held for stabbing victim funeral services were held for baby shaquita kora montgomery 18 months old thurs oct 29th at 1 p.m from the thomas t edwards fu neral home the rev william bunton jr offi ciated shaquita was born to ms claudette marie hud son and reginald mont gomery on april 24th 1986 in buffalo it is alleged that she was stabbed several times by her mother she passed away oct 24 1987 in children's hospital she is survived by her parents a brother master submitted by mrs mamie garrett reginald claude mont gomery grandparents mr and mrs isaac hud son and mrs helen montgomery of buffalo and john t montgomery st of baltimore mary land six aunts nine uncles a host of cousins relatives and friends she was also the granddaugh ter of the late mrs clordelle hudson pall bearers were adrien smith sam dozier jr edward montgomery and ronald montgomery interment was in forest lawn cemetery shaquita kora montgomery black educators assn plans conference dr jawanza kunjufu dr richard williams to speak the black educators association will hold its annual conference on saturday november 7th at the buffalo traditional school located on wood lawn avenue the conference will be gin at 9 a.m the keynote speaker for this year's conference will be dr jawanza kunjufu dr kunjufu is an educational consultant with african american images he is the author of the book countering the conspir acy to destroy black boys vol 1 and 11 developing positive self images in black children and motivating and pre paring black youth to work the luncheon speaker for the conference will be dr richard williams dr williams is a health educator lecturer and educational consultant he has travelled to many cities and spoken to com munity groups as well as educators he is the author of the book they stole it but you must return it there will be several workshops featured at the conference these work shops include the follow ing mrs cynthia jeffer son director of the afri kan child and family institute will present a workshop entitled a school that works for an by mrs evam doyle publicity chairperson black educators conference 1987 effective community and parent involvement her workshop will give more insight into the activities and programs at her school located at 351 grider st the next workshop will - feature the buffalo board of education in a discus sion of its role and function the participants will include members from the board carl ingraham a teach er from mckinley high school will lead a discus sion of self-esteem and developing a positive self image a workshop on career awareness for the 80s will feature a number of people from the african american community they will discuss careers in health law the media engineering and others mrs ruthetta smikle and mrs mildred stal lings will lead a workshop with the emphasis on parents as partners in education both mrs smikle and mrs stallings have been educators and principals in the public schools the conference fee is 20.00 per person the conference chairperson is mrs edith b james the presient of the black educators association is mrs theresa e pope dr richard williams poll results see page 2 health see page 7 serving working leading in wny inner cities since 1923 price only 20 c per copy