Buffalo Criterion, 1987-01-15

              wny's necessary minority newspaper — featuring paid legitimate circulation thursday january 15-21 1987 foi 62 - no 3 niagara region the buffalo criterion rochester red cross to honor king in donations mrs king supports blood collection as tribute on january 19th the greater buffalo chapter of the american red cross will be collecting blood in memory of dr martin luther king jr as a tribute to dr king the greater buffalo chapter of the american red cross has received the endorsement of mrs cor etta scott king people who donate blood on jan 19th at the various service centers including the city service center at 125 central park plaza will be invited to sign a scroll indicating that they gave blood in the memory of dr king the scrolls will be sent to mrs king as an acknowledge ment of the support of the citizens of buffalo to dr king's memory garnell smith chair man of the buffalo branch board and jo ann peters branch manager would like everyone to partici pate in this endeavor and to help them show mrs king that we believe in the dream following is a letter sent to the red cross in buffalo from mrs coretta scott king mr f william hughey i executive director dr reginal m lambert center director american red cross greater buffalo chapter 786 delaware avenue buffalo n y 14209 dear mr hughey and dr lambert i was very pleased to . learn that the greater buffalo chapter of the american red cross is planning a special tribute to martin luther king jr on monday jan 19th martin once said i have the audacity to believe that peoples every where can have three meals a day for their bodies education and culture for their minds and dignity equality and freedom for their spirits this is a clear indication of how he was consistently concerned with the plight of others especially the poor the homeless the sick and the disenfran chised martin called upon peo ples of every nation to join together in a common struggle against the enemies of humankind tyranny poverty racism disease and war the national holiday is a time for a personal recommit ment to do something about these evils — to reach out to our brothers and sisters in the spirit of our common humanity certainly the giving of blood so that others may live is a very important and personal way of committing yourself to others 1 wish you every success in your endeavors and i hope that you will continue to have similar tributes in honor of martin luther king jr on the third monday of every january our theme for the king holiday this year is living the dream let freedom ring this means for universal peace with justice human rights and social and economic progress for all peoples we believe the theme is very appropriate because sincerely coretta scott king chairperson former buffalonian elected dallas texas — robert l silmon son of mr and mrs james silmon of buffalo was recently elec ted vice president of the u s corporate banking department of m bank dallas a 1974 graduate of south park high school in buffalo silmon graduated from erie community col lege in 1977 he earned a bachelor's degree from central state university and a master's degree from atlanta stale univer sity silmon joined the mbank in 1982 mbank dallas is the lead bank for mcorp their largest financial or ganization in texas and ranked in the top 20 nationally robert l silmon rutkowski warns of financial consequences from legislative inaction according to erie executive edward j rut kowski tuesday unless the county legislature authorizes him now to make the necessary year end budgetary adjust ments the county will not be able to close its books for 1986 resulting in the delay of scheduled audits and planned road and bridge construction in a letter to the law makers rutkowski re quested that a special meeting be called immedi ately to grant him permis sion to balance depart mental accounts an authority traditionally granted the county execu tive at the end of each year legislators also failed to pass the enabling legisla tion at their first session this year rutkowski said that these are normal routine balancing transfers re quired annually and do not authorize any new spend ing in 1986 they are only for the purpose of balan cing accounts at year end he also said that the county comptroller in formed him that the year-end closing would be delayed one day for each day the necessary balancing authority is not granted the county executive explained that the legisla ture's inaction would de lay preparation of the county's annual financial statements and completion of the annual audit audited financial statements must lie com pleted prior to our sched uled mid-year borrow ing he added these delays may negatively impact our capital pro gram primarily affecting the construction and re construction of roads and bridges rutkowski submitted a resolution to the legisla ture on december 16th requesting immediate con sideration for granting him the authority to approve year-end account transfers in cooperation with the comptroller's office intellect is in visible to the man who has none at tttmt 9*l*t**s*mm griffin scores 1,000th career point jerome griffin who lives with his parents at 706 humboldt parkway in buffalo recently scored his i,oooth career point on the varsity basketball team he is a student at st mary's school for the deaf 2253 main st jerome was presented the game ball in the game against o'hara high school lou pennella is athletic director at st mijrv'a jerome griffin army captian blackwell serving on johnston atoll by staff sgt richard d glynn johnston atoll central pacific — welcome to the end of the earth well maybe not the end but a person can see it from this four-island atoll if there's a place in the assignment inventory of the army that causes a moan of knowing resignation from old hands and frowns of consternation from the uninitiated it's the whispered headshaking name of johnston atoll i was in shock when i heard that i was being assigned to johnston atoll said army captain thomas g black well 26 son of roger i blackwell of 160 hamlin road in buffalo and geneva e short of 3301 accolade drive clinton maryland 1 had been notified just before that i was being promoted to captain and was going to south korea after i finished the military police officers advanced course however because i was being offered a command position at johnston atoll i got over my shock and said great " the johnson island is the largest of the four-island atoll which are man made and together comprise little more than a square mile of coral sand aircraft runway and a few trees add to the mid-pacific isolation an all-male year-long tour of duty and compound it with loneliness boredom and that's duty on johnston island being stationed here reminds me of my mortality — if anything dangerous happens i'm far from any help said blackwell who holds a bachelor's degree in political science from canisius college in buffalo i've learned to take everything seriously life would be better here if we had better gym facilities more current movies upgraded television capabilities and some high-quality uso shows but it's not all bad the best part about being here is working with the troops and being stationed on johnson island is a fantastic way to save money located 717 miles southwest of honolulu this launch site for nuclear testing in the late 19505 and early 19605 is currently the home of the field command defense nuclear agency the u s army chemical activity-western command and u s coast guard and air force elements i'm the company commander of the military police said blackwell i'm responsible for the health welfare and training of all the soldiers to my unit the mps have the mission of providing physical security for the toxic chemical munitions stored here this is a different type of mp mission but it's not a drawback from performing law enforcement duties we'd do on a regular army post i think it's a break from performing law enforcement and it is a facet of our overall mission and as a commander it's a challenge for me to keep the guys motivated on an isolated tour like this even with the stress of working here the soldiers of my command are doing an exemplary job stress — it's the greatest problem soldiers have to face on johnston atoll the army fights on ongoing battle with stress using a variety of weapons ranging from a week-long stress leave in honolulu to providing a wealth of activities like bingo and a small fleet of watercraft for weekend recreation keeping soldiers from stressing out and diving into the cold waters of depression is difficult but not impossible says army capt randall miller company commander for chemi cal corps specialists on the atoll the soldiers rely on each other for help in dealing with the isolation and frustration of duty but it's each soldier who ultimately has to handle duty on the island miller said we have our problems but luckily we also have the best soldiers in the army at johnston island and for some reason this duty brings out the best in them for blackwell the best way to avoid stress is to keep busy 1 work six days a week so there's very little boredom for me but i also read scuba dive and write letters mail is the high point of every monday tuesday thursday and saturday for the soldiers here we also are allowed morale calls to the states and talking to my girlfriend helps relieve tensions of missing her and other things like the change of seasons snow skiing and my family back home army captain thomas g black well checks regulation updates for his unit mission blackwell is the commander of the u s army military police company for johnston island located in the mid-pacific captain blackwell is the son of erie county legislator roger blackwell u s army photos by spec 4 craig olive shaped like an aircraft carrier and two and a quarter miles long johnston island is the largest of the four islands of johnston atoll located 717 miles southwest of honolulu u s army photo pisa sees state of state message as a positive sign for education alhaty —- itle heat 1 the new york branch of the nation's largest teach er organization is calling governor cuomo's state of the state message a very positive sign for ed ucation but at the same time he said he is taking a wait-and-see approach until mere specific budget proposals are made public the philosophical com mitment the governor make to education in his address looks very posi tive says thomas pisa president of the national education association of new york we're delighted with his pledge to make education the state's top priority for 1987 but will need to take a look at the executive budget and legislative proposals before we can know for sure what impact that will have pisa praised the gover nor's promise to work toward a reduction in class sizes and to increase excellence in teaching eit program funds in troduced last year to supplement low teacher salaries in school districts throughout the state funds targeted to par ing down the size of over crowded classrooms and to providing decent salaries that will attract the finest teachers can only mean a better quality education for our children said pisa and this would begin to allow teachers to function as — and to be respected as — the profes simiflt th«y tviafy arte " pisa also applauded concern expressed in the messae for disadvantaged students but said the governor's recommenda tion for dropout prevention programs could be a political football that might not fly there's a possible political problem here in that these programs would primarily be instituted in urban rather than subur ban areas and it may be difficult to get legislative support for that he said another sensitive issue said pisa was the governor's call for a greater emphasis on the teaching of values in the classroom if he's talking about the tradi tional values like honesty and integrity not many would argue that but if he's talking about having teachers get into issues like pro-life versus abor tion we have some prob lems higher education is an area in which a clear commitment from the gov ernor had been lacking in past state of the state messages pisa said this year that changed with a call for a 1 billion increase in capital con struction monies for the state university and city university systems this is a tremendous increase for higher educa tion said pisa we're pleased to see he's finally paying attention to it king films to be viewed the north jefferson branch library 332 east utica st will be showing the following dr martin luther king jr films on these dates thursday jan 15th 1 legacy of a dream 1 p.m 4 p.m and 6:30 p.m tuesday jan 20th i have a dream the life of martin luther king jr 11 a.m and 3:30 p.m these events are free and open to the public for more information contact mary whetzle manager or june pang assistant manager at 883-4418 serving working leading in wny inner cities since 1923 price mil 20 per copy