Buffalo Criterion, 1987-07-16

              the buffalo criterion rochester wny's necessary minority newspaper - featuring paid legitimate circulation niagara region established in 1925 thursday july 16-22 1 mp t , _ vol 62 — no 29 n.y telephone rate reduction urged economically distressed parts of state could reap benefits says gorski assemblyman dennis gorski the independent democrat candidate for erie county executive has asked the psc to approve rate change re quested by new york telephone co the proposed tariff revisions to be effective aug 30th 1987 will result in signi ficant rate reductions mar a ii tt*m cuts more important is the provision establishing the industrial economic de velopment zone rate which would provide eco nomic benefits to hard-hit areas of the state such as erie county the telephone com pany has asked for per mission to give a 30 c o dis count to certain certified businesses in economical ly distressed parts of the state gorski stated that is one positive and necessary way to attract new businesses to erie county under the phone com pany s plan all business customers that are located m an industrial economic development zone and have phone service at their facilities m the zone would be eligible for a 30 percent discount on the present business owner i line rate tne discounts would apply to each individual tele phone nee each auxiliary line and eacn trunk line the discount according to new y.ork telepnone s proposal would be allow ed for eligible customers for up to three years such a savings would be significant in erie county where one ot the first zones will probably be created ". gorski stated in his letter to peter a bradford chairman of the public service commis sion lackawanna is one of the finalists awaiting word on which communities across the state will be designated in new york's first batch of economic development zones the decision on the zone designations is imminent further enforcing the time mess of the new york tel proposal in his letter to chairman bradford gorski noted that lower utility bills as proposed by new york • tm ii mrottlt.l • bm especially attractive to new start-up ventures this would permit a young company to devote its funds to capital improvements and hiring employees during the crucial early years of the company s growth furthermore precedent has already been set in this area as you know electric and gas utilities are oiler ing similar dis counts to businesses which set up operations in an industrual economic de velopment zone gorski added i understand that the psc must make its de cision by august 19th the new york state department of commerce recommended that ny tel offer discounts so the state s position on this matter is apparent as a member of the legislature who has a special interest in eco nomic development measures which would benefit erie county i cannot urge more strongly that the psc approve this telephone rate reduction gorski concluded the tuna swim set for aug 9th on sunday august 9 charles the tuna chapman will be swimming from fort erie canada to the buffalo erie basin marina he will leave canada at 1 30 p.m and will arrive at the marina at approximately 2:30 p.m charles the tuna is the first black african-american to swim the english channel after the swim there will be a cocktail party honoring the tuna at the tralfamadore cafe 100 theatre place the tickets are 20.00 per person and includes open bar and hors doeuvres hey can be purchased at the door everyone is welcome ' charles the tuna chapman rutkowski announces grant to aid buffalo's african-american elderly erie county was suc cessful in obtaining a 75,000 federal grant to develop methods of help ing african-american seniors to make full use of available local services it was announced monday by county executive ed want j rutkowski available data sug gests thai a disproportion ate number of african american elderly do not use the services they need rutkowski said the purpose of our in vestigation he said is to identify barriers that prevent seniors from using services in such areas as health housing social ser vices transportation crime prevention commu nity involvement nutrition and elderly abuse rutkowski continued i have asked the county legislature to approve a 35,000 appropriation of this grant-in-aid specifi cally for use by the st augustine's center to assess the health and social services needs of those elderly in the city of buffalo he noted that st augustine's would work with the local chapter of the national caucus on black aging in commis sioning a study by the state university of new york at buffalo funding for the pro gram is from the federal area agency on aging grant county executive rut kowski explained thai a major thrust of federal aging legislation embodies the older american's act is to target services to those elderly who present a social and economic need this study with en abling legislation will better enable erie county to provide appropriate services to our african american seniors he added the county legislature authorized acceptance of the grant award sorority held annual dinner meeting the buffalo alumnae chapter of the delta theta sorority inc held their annual dining meeting at the little white house 5877 mm st recently the buffalo alumnae chapter of the delta theta sorority inc held their annual dinner meeting recently at the little white house 5877 main st the students and their parents were guests of the sorority where they received monetary and certificate recognition parents and students were carla johnson daughter of mayone charles and john p johnson robyn tate daughter of mrs sarah tate tonja * williams daughter of mr and mrs robert williams and davina winston daughter of mrs linda winston the sorority chairperson is mrs yvonne hargrave and the chapter president is mrs joyce green the photo at left shows the recipients along with mrs hargrave mrs joyce green ms g green and mrs peggie johnson the photo at right shows the head table of the sorority — criterion photos the naacp speaks naacp national convention buffalo looks good by daniel acker the 78th annual con vention of the naacp was held july 5-9 th at the new york hilton hotel n v . n y the motto is the struggle yesterday today and tomorrow approximately 12,000 persons attended the con vention outstanding speakers were dr benjamin hooks rev jesse jackson gov mario cuomo coretta scott king carol rowan john jacob mayor washing ton of chicago and howard baker white mmm che uif sxtav the buffalo branch naacp had four act-so winners against national competition we received a beautiful membership trophy from the member ship lay down program we rceived a thalheimer award for carrying out the total program of the naacp membership legal redress fair share economic development employment education act-so housing we also received the dr benjamin hooks award for selling over one hun dred life memberships at least fifteen persons from buffalo attended the naacp national confer ence some very important resolutions were passed during the convention there was an emergency resolution passed dealing with robert heron bork as follows whereas judge rob ert heron bork member of the u s court of appeals for the district of columbia has been nom inated by president rea gan to become the 104 justice to the u s supreme court and whereas judge bork in a 1963 new republic article criticized the pro posed public accommoda tions provision of what bcamethe civil rights act of 1964 stating that it means a loss in a vital area of personal liberty the legislation would in form a.substantial bodyof the citizenry that in order to continue to carry on the trades in which they are established they must deal with and serve persons with whom they do not wish to associate and whereas judge bork has expressed views as late as 1985 that original intent is the only legiti mate basis for constitu tional decisions the only why in which the consti tution can constrain judges is if the judges interpret the document words according to the intentions of those who drafted proposed and ratified its provisions and various amendments and whereas judge bork's expressed view re the death penalty is it is a little hard to understand how a penalty that the framers explicity assumed to be available can some how become unavailable because of the very consti tution the framers wrote ..": and whereas judge bork has criticized justice pow ells endorsement of affirmative action in the bakke case and whereas the con firmation of judge bork would place on the high court of justice who does not feel constrained by precedent and who has favored a congressiona limit on the use of pupil transportation as a schoo desegregation technique and whereas the so preme court is too iinpor tant to our hope of equal and justice to permit us to sit idly by and watch a whole line of civil rights liberties be threatened by the appointment of a justice whose ideological orientation would deprive us of the gains achieved in the last 30 yars now therefore be it resolved that the naacp launch an all-out effort to block the confir mation of judge bork ■ buffalo branch naacpi act-so student winners were carla johnson who won first prize on an essay she received a gold metal willie jones won prize in photography he won a gold medal john robinson won third in architecture and received a bronze medal terry whitehead won second prize in poetry and received a silver medal other act-so students who attended the naacp convention were clinton white cassandra daniels carla vernon cozette lyons and tracey foye daniel acker omega psi phi fraternity awards scholarships the omega psi phi fra ternity inc phi omega graduate chapter of buf falo awarded 1,500.00 in scholarships at high school commencements these scholarships were awarded based on aca demic achievements lead ership abilities church and community services students selected for a 500.00 scholarship award for the 1987 school year are ms alison l ashe of the buffalo academy for visual and performing arts school who will attend radcliffe college ms melissa y barrett of huchinson-central tech nical high school who will attend suny at buffalo and scott l ruff of ■ buffalo traditional high school who will attend cornell university the omega psi phi fraternity scholarship committee chaired by cla a conners wisiies iv thank and commend all deserving students who submitted an application for the scholar ships serving working leading in wny inner c'ties since price only 20 c per copy