Buffalo Criterion, 1987-01-29

              wnys necessary minority newspaper — featuring paid legitimate circulation thursday january 29-fcbruary 4 1987 vol 62 — no 5 the buffalo criterion niagara region rochester pending budget viewed as unsound rutkowski sees proposed state budget victimizing county taxpayers erie county executive edward j rutkowski wednesday called new york states '■ proposed 1987-88 budget oppressive and fiscally unsound for local taxpayers on his return from two days of meetings and hearings on the budget in albany at a morning press conference in his rath building office rutkowski said that increased county expenditures re suiting from the state's spending plan could cost erie county residents as much as 9 million more this year and next these proposals won't pass without a good fight from me rutkowski vowed the taxpayers of erie county deserve nothing less from discussions with other county executives and budget officials he said it is clear that the onus once again is on the property taxpayer skyrocketing costs of increasing state mandates have been devastating our budgets he added relentlessly burdening those who own properties and driving many counties to the brink of bankruptcy according to rutkowski key ele ments of the governor's proposal which would impact heavily on erie county's 1987 and 1988 budgets include * increase of the county subsidy to fund the nfta's operating deficits means that erie county would have to come up with an additional 3.6 million in funding out of the recently passed 1987 budget another 4.8 million more is anticipated for next year elevating the state budget mrs thyra m charles r.n succumbs by mrs verlie walton r.n and dr juanita hunter thyra merriweather charles daughter of the late frank e merri weather sr and the late mrs carmelita mitchell merriweather departed this life unexpectedly in the erie county medical center friday january 16 1987 she was third at four children of mr and mrs merriweather sr and was born in houston texas on june 6 1919 mrs charles formative years were spent in buffalo where she attend ed public school no 32 and hutchinson central high school from which she received a college entrance diploma in 1935 after completion of high school she entered the edward j meyer memori al hospital school of nursing and graduated with a diploma in june 1941 she was awarded a new york state health depart ment traineeship to the state university of new york at buffalo where she earned a bachelor of science degree in public health nursing in feb ruary 1949 after working for the new organized erie " county health depart ment as the first qualified black public health nurse she entered new york - university where she earned a masters degree in education with a major emphasis on supervision and administration of public health nursing services in june 1950 she was united in holy matrimony to the late clifford charles sr and to this union two sons were born clifford h jr and the late earle charles she is survived by a son clifford h charles jr a brother frank evelyn merriweather and a sis ter barbara william sims she is the sister of the late hulit robert curry an aunt mrs lottie moore an uncle george perkins nieces nephews cousins and friends other relatives are florence hendrix and camille charles of new york city and ethel forbes of los angeles california mrs charles was a member of lincoln me morial united methodist church for most of her life and received her christian experience there as a child she became a member of st philip's episcopal church with her husband clifford charles sr and was a parishioner there until his death in 1968 mrs charles then returned to lincoln memorial united methodist church where she served faithfully until her death funeral services were held on wednesday jan 21 at 11 a.m at lincoln memorial united metho dist church buffalo memorial chap els inc were in charge mrs charles was a counselor educator hu manitarian and a role model she was truly a mother's mother a nurs es nurse and a leader's leader for sixty-seven years our departed sister grew worked loved fought remembered and challenged each one she touched to excel and to overcome barriers to self fulfillment as a nurse she was a trail blazer and set the example by achieving many firsts among which were first buffalo black to graduate from the state university of new york at buffalo school of nursing first black to be employed as a qualified public health nurse by the erie county department of health first black from western new york to earn a masters degree in nurs ing and first black to teach in a collegiate institution in buffalo the road to success for thyra was continually fraught with obstacles of prejudice and discrimina tion however for over three decades she pioneered and perservered to further her education and goals amidst these thyra charles thyra . charles blackwell calls on congressional delegration to control health costs erie county legislator roger i blackwell d-7th district has won approval of a resolution that he co-sponsored in the erie county legislature calling on the local congressional delegation to act on the grtvkaz jiw«w-_r irf a \ it a care costs and delivery of medical care during this year's session of con gress as america grows older the problem of health care will become an ever-increasing problem and will challenge this nation's capacity to pro vide adequate medical nursing-home and home health care now and in the future blackwell ex plained and with this the soaring cost of health care threatens to deny our citizens access to the most advanced medical technol ogy in the world the billions that corporations unions city state and federal governments have spent have not given millions of uninsured americans even basic health care added black well blackwell continued costs for health care have become so high and so detached from legiti mate medical need or quality of care that they threaten the very core of american medicine this problem along with the contributing fac tor of the nation's growing elderly population which has expanded far beyond projections of just 25 years ago and has placed unex pected financial demands on medicare to provide the finest high-tech medicine has been compounded by the government's reaction to its budgetary problem of shifting costs like peas in a shell game rather ohm wonling-to recast me health-care system it is obvious that the time has come to improve the way health care is delivered to people if we don't change the system we must prepare to live in a nation in which the annual health-care bill will hit 1 trillion in the early 1990's and continue to double every six or seven years after that the federal government must continue trying to make health care afford able by offering hospitals doctors and other provid ers better incentives for efficiency and cost-effec tiveness my resolution calls upon our local congres sional delegation to work towards these ends while ensuring the delivery of health care to all ameri cans especially the poor our veterans the young working couple whose lack of adequate coverage pre vents needed care for themselves and their chil dren and all our senior citizens who have given so much to this country and who now must face the uncovered expenses of nursing home care com munity based services and other long-term care ser vices concluded black well annual dinner meeting of niagara community center & girls club set mrs lillie r davis has been named chairman for the 59th annual dinner meeting of the niagara community center inc and girls club the dinner meeting will be held friday february 6th in the grand ballroom of john's quality inn intown in niagara falls ny a cash bar will be held at 6 p.m followed by dinner at 7 p.m mrs davis has announ ced the appointment of the dinner committee chair persons mrs elizabeth bradley program mrs helen schoninger tickets mrs bennie williamson dinner arrangements mrs letitia andres hos tess miss e marie davis levy brothers memorial awards and nathaniel smith nominating com mittee the guest speaker will be nelson davis jr of santa monica california mr davis a syndicated writer and producer of t.v programs is a former member of the niagara community center he is the son of mrs lorean davis and the late nelson davis of niagara falls dr mitchell r zavon is president of the board of directors and sandy l perry is executive direc tor the niagara com munity center and girls club is a united way agency reservations can be made by calling 716 285-2920 lillie r davis jackson was speaker at unity of buffalo rev jesse jackson third from right president of operation push and breadbasket was a recent speaker at the unity of buffalo the photo was taken at a press conference held at st john baptist church dr bennett w smith shown at far right is pastor of st john baptist church and head of the local push branch is a shown with i man nurdeen and others black leadership crisis forces formation of new alliance party following is a statement from spokesmen of the new alliance party for too long we the disenfranchised black have stood idly by and watched the democratic n»n.r fif ,__. a uf ily . vtknv is constant mention in the media of sellout let down and unkept prom ises made to so-called leaders in our community the various references above is an example of the game that is played in establishment circles with our community and the oppressed masses who are left out of the democratic process only recently we have seen the results of the deals made between our so-called leaders and the established parties of this city and county repub licans indeed the time has come for us to say enough is enough we will no longer stand idly and allow our people to be trampled upon by the forces of deception and deceit no longer will we stand for the history of ' capitu lation and co-optation that our so-called indepen dent leaders have shown us the call for a truly independent political con census is hereby made with the announcement that a progress alliance is formed to run for offices in the common council of ißiiftub ana titer legisla ture of erie county n.y dr fred newman nap executive board mem ber said a lot depends on whether other social forces in particular pro gressive black democrats can be won over to the recognition that indepen dent politics is a force to be reckoned with the new alliance party has announced its inde pendent slate for buffalo and erie county new york legislature there fore with the call for those forces that seek meaning ful change to come for ward and join the indepen dent ranks in support of the groundswell leading up to 1988 a change must come - and soon brother rafael mendez coordinator of n.a.p - mid atlantic region said that many black dem ocrats until 1986 were black leadership crisis naacp state official presses for murder charge in young man's death ellenville n y - with the official autopsy report confirming a death by choking naacp state resident hazel n dukes thursday demanded that a suspended white police man be charged with nothing less than mur der in the untimely death of a local naacp leader's son on dec 13th mrs dukes and a bus load of new york city naacp officials joined a packed rally in this town of 7,500 in the mounting protests by local blacks and whites over the death of 20-year-old jim my lee bruce jr who was involved in an alterca tion with two white off duty police officers moon lighting as security guards at the wallkill cinema about 30 miles south of ellenville we have come to orange county not as rabble-rousers we have come demanding justice mrs dukes told the cheering audience many of whom had made the three-hour trip with her to join the protest we know that people do not want us to rock the boat but we will not tolerate anything but a guilty verdict and will not stop until these officers are indicted and off to sing sing or attica mrs dukes added the new york naacp delegation was joined by protesters from surround ing towns in orange and rockland counties as well as members of local naacp chapters and the . middletown minority min isters alliance police officers harold simpson and gregory warycka have been sus pended from the force pending an investigation and grand jury action in the case simpson 40 put bruce in a chokehold and minutes later he was dead william cram attorney for the bruce family said the preliminary report confirms that this was no accident this requires knowledge of a deadly hold and what has been done to date the suspen sion of the officers is not enough a crime has been committed and it is a tragic miscarriage of jus tice cram said see page 7 see page 7 see page 2 serving working leading in wny inner cities since 1923 price only mt 20 c per copy