Buffalo Criterion, 1987-01-22

              niagara region the buffalo criterion rochester wny's necessary minority newspaper — featuring paid legitimate circulation vol 62 - no 4 thursday january 22 28 1987 precinct reduction raises concerns collins troubled by several issues of plan following is a statement from councilmember david collins the much publicized police plan to reduce the current number of police precincts from 14 to 5 throughout the city of buffalo is of serious concern to our community the preponents of this plan are promoting it because they feel that we are in an era of communi cation and that it would save taxpayers dollars however i point out the following issues that are of concern to me 4 michigan and william precinct 6 main and glen wood precinct 12 gene see and north parade precinct 8 647 fillmore these precincts now serve the central most portion of the city of buffalo where we live b they claim we live in a modern era of communi cation thereby elininating the need for precinct houses however please be reminded that police dispatching is not done by precinct houses but by the central police service by dialing 911 this 911 call-in system has been less than ade quate remember tosha haynes this plan does not propose to change or improve the emergency call system therefore it will not improve the quality ofjxjßce service or the response time c this plan proposes to a the location of the proposed precincts 699 hertel aye 2946 bailey aye 1729 seneca st 672 main st and the broad way-fillmore area would eliminate all precinct houses in our community they would close precinct utilize report technicians to replace police officers whose function now is to perform clerical duties i generally support this proposition it would have the effect of placing mor police officers into police functions however please keep in mind that report technicians are pat included in the federal courts affirmative action order requiring a specific number of minority per sons to ik hired 1 f history previals these position approximately 56 will be appointed by the mayor who has demonstrate consistent refusal to appoint black people to provisional positions i am certain that we a wish to save taxpayer dollars however we car " no sacrifice the satety i our community for the sake of saving money finally it is my firm beliet that the police department should focus its attention on increasing response time and improving the rutkowski says county funds to stabilize orchestra finances the buffalo philhar monic orchestra bpoi moved closer to financial health last thursday when erie county execu tive edward j rutkowski presented orchestra offi cials with an 883,386 check a portion of which will be used to help eliminate its accumulated operating deficit the check included 713,136 in special assistance which was approved by the county legislature last month at rutkowski's request and 170,250 for the county's regular first quarter pay ment to the orchestra for 1987 in giving the check to bpo music director sem yon bychkov in his rath building office rutkowski said the aid underscored community recognition of the orchestra's economic benefits to erie county the continued vitality of our cultural institu tions he added has my top priority bychkov expressed his gratitude adding i don't know of another place in the country where a local government would be as supportive and responsive to the needs of culturals the maestro said the funds would help rebuild the financial operation necessary to sustain ar tistic quality and enable the orchestra to continue growing also joining the presen taiton was gary l good the bpo's executive direc tor who pledged to return erie county's investment manifold erie county ranks num ber one among new york state counties in the funding of cultural organi zactuns — —■ — —— the orchestra previous ly received 619,000 in county funding for 1986 expenses youth sets falls concert sunday feb ist at 4 p.m bro damon oliver will be in concert at the trinity baptist church 1366 south avenue in niagara falls little damon is asking all of his friends in buffalo to come and go with him to niagara falls and worship the lord in songs bro oliver would also like to thank all who came to our lady of lourdes church sun jan 11th for his appreciation ser vice rev glen raybon is pastor of trinity baptist church bro damon oliver mrs emma gillispie expires at 112 years mrs emma gillispie 112 years of age passed away on wed january 14 1987 in her home at 40 norway park she was bom on april 20 1874 in avondale term she had been a resident of buffalo for 4 years funeral services were held tuesday jan 20th at 11 a.m from new hope baptist church 543 rich mond aye th pastor rev paul f thompson officiated mrs gillispie's survi vors are three daughters mrs birdie woodard of louisville kentucky mrs mary sargent and mrs frances matthews both of buffalo a brother booker t cullum of henderson viß terra ■-, u,t c ■*•*£. children forty-one great grandchildren and 22 great great grandchildren mrs gillispie was the oldest member of the new hope baptist church and was one of the oldest persons in the country 22 caliber killer gets 25 to 75 years by abdullah luqman judge joseph mccarty sentenced the 22 caliber killer joseph christo pher to three consecutive eight and one third to 25 year terms for his manslaughter convictions in the fatal slayings of three black buffalonians to lie served when he completes the 33 and one-half years to life term that he received for being the midtown slasher downstete in new york city judge mccarthy said before sen tencing you christopher must be permanently confined for the rest of your life you terrorized the community for months you took the lives of three black men solely because of the color of their skins causing grief to their families you made premedicated attacks on black men selected at ran dom christopher may not be forced to stand trial for the other killings and attacks of blacks seven years ago since the manner in which judge mccarthy sentenced him ensures that he will remain in prison for most of the rest of his life unless his convictions are overturned again on appeal all of the terms are consecutive when christo pher is finished serving an eight and one-third to 25 year term for the manslaughter of glenn dunn once the dunn sentence is completed he must start the eight and one-third to 25 year stretch for harold green then he commences serving the eight and one-third to 25 year term for the manslaughter of emmanuel thomas under this arrangement he must serve the eight and one-third to 25 year term for the manslaughter of emmanuel thomas under this arrangement he must serve at least 58 years at which time he would be just under 90 years old when he is eligible for parole erie county district attorney richrd arcara and niagara county district attorney peter broderick said after christopher was reconvicted that if additional trials would not add additional time to his imprisonment that they would not press for further trials in the fatal shooting in niagara falls of joseph mccoy the last of four 22 caliber victims and the attempted murders of calvin crippen and albert menefee in buffalo nor the unsolved murders of ernest jones and parlor edwards whose hearts were missing putting christopher on trial for the mccoy killing just for the publicity when the conviction could not extend his prison term would not be appropriate said broderick the anticipated insanity defense in all of the pending cases would be extremely costly and time intensive which would not be justified if no additional time can be added to his prison term judge mccarthy gave arcara the maximum term as he asked running con secutively — from 25 to 75 years most of the people who expressed an opinion to us said that the conviction and sentence was the best possible under the circumstances their central theme was that a white judge with an ail-white jury listening to white prosecutors convicted a white man for • killing black men and sentenced him to a time in prison they were not critizing the job that they did rather how could such an im portant case with racial overtones remain lily white nearly 20 years after dr martin luther king jr trinity to host annual musical extravaganza trinity baptist church 41 spruce st invites the public to attend their annual musical extrava ganza sunday feb bth from 5 to 7 p.m their guest singers will be calvary male chorus pilgrim baptist church choir and others to be announced later mrs s barbee will be a guest soloist as well as others all participants are asked to be present at 4:30 p.m as the program will begin promptly at 5 p.m sharp as a special feature the late deacon william v callahan sr will be honored posthumously feb bth is also the date of his birthday he was a great worker in the church he was chairman of the deacon board and was president of the trinity male chorus deacon callahan loved music his favorite song was in the beautiful garden of prayer his favorite scripture was the 23rd psalms don allen wblk's religious director will be the master of ceremonies mrs emma callahan is chairman of the extrava ganza mrs susie riley general program chair man roy rich director ■ the btu and the rev joseph e davis is pastor don allen heroes cited in a ceremony at city hall tuesday jan 20th mayor jimmy griffin ami news center 2'j barry lillis recognized two local heroes with the presenta tion of tv-2's for kids sake award on december 2yih 1986 abraham and angelo nelson of buffalo rescue seven year old valeric calling from an attack by a stray gnat dan the two teenagers held th animal off uniil police arrived to kill it mayor griffin stated th city of buffalo is pleaseii to join wok i ' in recognizing the worth of kids and their importance to our future pot th heroic rescue of valeric catling we hereby pre sent abraham an aug ■ nelson with th for kids sake award too often the good things kids do are over looked but at tv-2 we think they're very impor tant bravery like abra ham's and angel ! de serves to be publicly con gratulated said barry lillis in addition to the award the nelson brothers will also be presented with savings bonds from tv tops friendly markets kwik fill and s.r.i i for kids sake is a major community service campaign presented on wgrz-tv that focuses attention on the challenges and opportunities young people face growing up in western new york may it includes program specials news stories promotion public service announcements and com munity events designed to enrich the lives of our children our families and our future the campaign is sup ported by tops friendly markets kwik fill and 5.8.l.1 prescription drugs for the elderly by governor mario m cuomo governor mario m cuomo is shown signing into law the elderly pharmaceutical insurance program as members of the legislature look on the signing of this bill signifies the conclusion of a four-year long fight to provide prescription drags to our senior citizens at a price they can afford the governor said standing from left are assemblyman lawrence many of our state's senior citizens have for too long been faced with the terrible decision of having to choose between purchasing needed medicine or paying for food utilities and other desperately needed necessities it is estimated that those elderly persons with prescription drag needs expend on average hundreds of dollars each year on medicine perhaps the most significant accomplishment of the december special session of the legislature was the passage of an equitable program to deal with this problem on january 8 1987 i signed into law the new prescription drug program for the elderly the program will begin in october 1987 under it the state will help our senior citizens pay for their doctors prescribe either generic or brand-name the program provides pharmaceutical assistance to persons 65 years of age and older the coverage will be available to those individuals with incomes of up to 9,000 and married individuals with joint incomes up to 12,000 there is a quarterly registration fee ranging from 5.00 to 19.00 depending on a person's income senior citizens receiving this coverage would also have to pay a copayment from 3.00 to 15.00 for each prescription depending on the cost of the drag on the average copayments will equal approximately 40 of the cost of the covered drug once an individual's copayments reach approximately 8 of his or her income the state will pay the entire cost of the drugs catastrophic coverage will also be available to bennett 11 orange assemblywoman helene wein stein d-brooklyn rose kryzak citywide advocate for seniors assemblyman thomas catapano id brooklyn assemblywoman cathy nolan id-queens assemblyman john dearie d-bronx senator dean skelos r-nassauj and eugene callender director of the new york state office for the aging individuals with incomes between 9,000 and 15,000 and married individuals with joint incomes between 12,000 and 20,000 there are different premiums depending on an individual's income the state will assume full payment of a participant's drag bills when the costs exceed approximately 10 of his or her income a major aspect of the program is to encourage the use of generic drugs in place of brand-name drugs when the generic drugs are available unless the prescriber specifically directs a bioequivalent generic drag will be substituted for a brand-name drug this will mean savings for all consumers employee health plans and local state government when i signed this bill it was a satisfying conclusion to a four-year long fight to provide pre scription drugs to our senior citizens at a price that they can afford state health officials anticipate thai approximately 1.25 million senior citizens are eligible and 500,000 will enroll in the program when i became governor i made a promise to new york's senior citizens i promised them that before my four-year term was up new york would have a prescription drug program we would have preferred to get the prescription drug program enacted into law earlier in my first term we fought for it during each legislative session since i first became governor our perserverance and dedication to this important issue has paid off — senior citizens will no longer have to bear the terrible burden of prescription drag costs alone precinct reduction continued on page 2 serving working leading in wny inner cities since 1923 price only 20 c per copy