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‘Hugging Bandit’ pleads not guilty to grand larceny charge

December 20, 2012, 7:21 am
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Myra Castleberry, 54, has gained international attention over the years for hugging tipsy men while picking their pockets.

In court today after her 60th arrest, Buffalo’s “Hugging Bandit” pleaded not guilty to a grand larceny charge.

The Genesee-Moselle neighborhood woman was arraigned before State Supreme Court Justice Penny M. Wolfgang on the latest charge for a July 22 incident, according to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office.

Castleberry is accused of stealing a wallet from a 35-year-old man’s pants pocket while he negotiated a cab fare near Jim’s Steakout on Allen Street and Elmwood Avenue, according to the DA’s office.

If convicted of the fourth-degree grand larceny charge, she faces a prison sentence of two to four years.

Laura El-Bahtity, a Legal Aid Bureau lawyer representing Castleberry, asked the judge to ban TV news cameras from the courtroom during the arraignment.

The judge refused.

Then El-Bahtity asked the judge to proceed with the court hearing without Castleberry being present.

El-Bahtity said the prosecution’s case relies on an identification by a witness who was first shown a single photograph.

The defense lawyer called it “a case solely based on identification.”

El-Bahtity told the judge she made the requests to prevent photographs of her client at the arraignment “to try to get as fair a jury pool as possible.”

Assistant District Attorney Jaharr S. Pridgen asked for bail to be set at $50,000, given the defendant’s 44 previous misdemeanor convictions and six felony convictions. Wolfgang did so.

Castlebarry tried to cover her face with her coat as she walked into the courtroom, and turned her back to the cameras during the times when her lawyer was not talking to the judge from the defense table.

In past years, Castleberry has been arrested for distracting intoxicated men in the city’s entertainment district by fondling them and then stealing their wallets.

Police arrested Castleberry in 2007 on charges of grand larceny and false personation, and said at the time they suspected her in dozens of similar incidents going back at least a decade.

She pleaded guilty in May 2007 to the false personation charge and was sentenced to time served, according to City Court records.

In January 2008, she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of petit larceny and, four months later, Castleberry was sentenced to one year in prison on that charge, according to the District Attorney’s office.



email: plakamp@buffnews.com
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Former Orchard Park PTO treasurer, husband admit stealing funds

December 20, 2012, 10:41 am
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The former treasurer of the parent-teacher organization at Orchard Park Middle School and her husband have each pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny.

Elizabeth Losardo, 52, and Daniel Losardo, 45, of Manor Lane, Hamburg, face up to four years in prison when sentenced on March 27 by Erie County Judge Kenneth F. Case, according to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office.

Between February 2011 and May 2012, the Losardos stole $29,532 from the organization’s bank account, the District Attorney’s Office said.

The Losardos have made full restitution.

Elizabeth Losardo was the organization’s treasurer from July 2010 through June 2012. Because of her position, she had access to the bank account, prosecutors said.

The two acted in concert with each other to steal the money, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

A law enforcement official told The News in October that investigators believe that Elizabeth Losardo had an ATM card and that her husband may have used the card to make cash withdrawals.
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UB spin-off company moves to Center of Excellence

December 20, 2012, 11:11 am
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Tonus Therapeutics, a biotech startup company spun off from research conducted by University at Buffalo scientists, has opened a headquarters office in UB’s New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

Tonus, founded in 2009, seeks to develop a treatment for muscular dystrophy based on a promising protein, known as GsMTx4, found in tarantula venom. The company builds on research conducted by UB biophysicists Frederick Sachs, Thomas Suchyna and Philip Gottlieb, who also are partners in Tonus.

Jeffrey Harvey, a stockbroker who is Tonus’ chief financial officer, is the only employee in the company’s new offices on Ellicott Street, because research work on the potential treatment is contracted out. Harvey moved into the new offices earlier this month and said Tonus is in final negotiations with a group of outside investors to provide funding for the company’s operations.

Tonus’ original name, Rose Pharmaceuticals, was inspired by the Chilean rose tarantula that is the source of the promising protein.

The partners recently changed the name to Tonus – Latin for “muscle tone” – because of trademark concerns over the many companies that have “Rose” in their names, Harvey said.
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Buffalo Niagara region drops 1,500 jobs compared with last November

December 20, 2012, 12:38 pm
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The Buffalo Niagara job market continued to stumble during November, shedding 1,500 jobs over the past year, the state Labor Department reported Thursday.

The decline was the fourth consecutive monthly drop in the total number of jobs in the Buffalo Niagara region, although the pace of the drop — at an annual rate of 0.3 percent — remains relatively modest.

But some local economists believe the jobs data is overstating the scope of the decline and that revised statistics that will be issued in March will show that the region’s job market is stronger than the latest figures indicate.

“I think we’re probably slowing, but the slowdown may be overstated in these numbers,” said John Slenker, the labor department’s regional economist in Buffalo. “We’ll probably see an upward revision.”

The statistics released Thursday show that the Buffalo Niagara region that most of the weakness during November was centered around the goods producing occupations — primarily local factories and construction — which lost 2.1 percent of their jobs during the past year. At the same time, private sector services jobs were flat and government jobs inched up by 0.1 percent.

Construction jobs, which had been a bright spot of the local employment market for more than a year, slid by 3.1 percent over the past year. Factory jobs, which had rebounded sharply after enduring steep declines during the recession, dropped by 1.7 percent over the last year.

The weakest spot in the job numbers remained the administrative and support and waste management category, whose 17 percent plunge has raised questions from Slenker and other local economists about their accuracy.

Those declines, coupled with a 4 percent drop in financial services jobs, were offset by 4 percent growth in education and health services jobs, and growth in the trade and leisure and hospitality sectors that averaged just under 1 percent.

The local job losses stood in stark contrast with the moderate job growth taking place throughout the country and across the state. Nationwide, job growth during November hit 1.4 percent, without adjusting for seasonal factors, while it was slightly weaker in New York, at 1 percent.

Among the state’s 14 major metro areas, only Elmira, with a 2.3 percent drop in jobs, Binghamton, with its 1.1 percent decline, and the 0.6 percent slide in Nassau-Suffolk counties were weaker than the Buffalo Niagara region during November.

The pace of job growth varied widely across rural portions of Western New York, ranging from a 2.1 percent jump in Cattaraugus County to a 0.8 percent decline in Wyoming County. In between, the job market was grew by 0.6 percent in Allegany County, while it improved by 0.5 percent in Genesee County. The number of jobs slid by 0.4 percent in Chautauqua County.

email: drobinson@buffnews.com
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Cleveland Hill student charged with making bomb threat on Twitter

December 20, 2012, 2:20 pm
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A Cleveland Hill High School freshman told Cheektowaga police his short-lived bomb threat on the Twitter social network was only a joke – but police are not laughing, especially in the aftermath of last week’s school shootings in Newtown, Conn.

Police said today they charged the 14-year-old boy on felony counts of making a terrorist threat and first-degree falsely reporting an incident, and notified both the FBI and the federal Joint Terrorism Task Force.

After the boy sent out the Twitter message about 8:45 p.m. Wednesday, police said.

The mother of one of the hundred or so fellow students who saw the message – which read, “I’m about to bomb Cleve Hill” – notified police.

Though the boy deleted the tweet about three minutes later, officers soon arrived at his home and spoke to him and his mother, according to police officials.

Police said they firmly doubted the bomb threat, but that its distribution over the Internet meant it had to be taken seriously. The boy’s name was not released by the police agency and his school status could not be learned this evening.



email: mgryta@buffnews.com
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Strike force makes drunken driving arrest

December 20, 2012, 2:29 pm
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A Buffalo man was stopped by Buffalo Strike Force officers and charged with drunken driving, drug charges and traffic infractions after he allegedly failed to stop for a red light on Broadway at Wilson Street about 6:50 p.m. Wednesday, Erie County sheriff’s officials said.

Sean H. Joyner, 40, was pulled over by Strike Force deputies and registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.12 percent, the deputies said.

Joyner was charged with driving while intoxicated, passing a red light, aggravated unlicensed driving, having an open alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle, criminal possession of a controlled substance and possessing a controlled substance not in its original container. Deputies did not name the controlled substance.
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E&E returns to profitability, but earnings plummet

December 20, 2012, 3:00 pm
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Ecology & Environment returned to profitability during its first quarter, but the Lancaster-based environmental services firm’s earnings still tumbled by 80 percent.

The weaker profits stemmed from a 13 percent decline in E&E’s revenues, which was spread evenly between its U.S. and international markets.

E&E said that it did less work during the quarter for the federal government, while its revenues from energy projects also declined. Its Walsh Environmental subsidiary in Colorado was particularly hard-hit, with revenues tumbling by 31 percent, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

E&E’s profits plunged to $242,527, or 6 cents per share, from $1.16 million, or 28 cents per share, a year ago, but that still was an improvement over the $946,000 loss that the company reported during the fourth quarter, which ended in July.

E&E’s revenues weakened to $36.8 million during the quarter that ended in October, from $42.3 million a year earlier. Both domestic and international sales declined by 13 percent.



email: drobinson@buffnews.com
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Thieves damage building, steal equipment at MLK Park

December 20, 2012, 3:07 pm
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Angry Buffalo Olmsted Park Conservancy officials can join others in hoping this weekend’s snow storm, and the start of winter, is kinder to city parks than the thieves who stole about $5,000 worth of gear – including a snow blower – from the equipment storage facility at Martin Luther King Jr. Park.

Thomas Herrera-Mishler, president of the nonprofit organization that operates the city’s historic parks, said staffers discovered the thefts when they came to work at 7 a.m. today.

Thieves broke into the storage facility overnight Wednesday by breaking down a recently rebuilt wall, and left a gaping hole in the building as they stole the snow blower, leaf blowers, string trimmers and other equipment.

“This came at just the wrong time,” with snow expected for the weekend, Herrera-Mishler said.

He said the theft also will be felt outside MLK park, because the equipment also is used at Front and Prospect parks off Porter Avenue,

Conservancy crews are rushing to rebuild the damaged wall and shore it up to resist further attacks, Herrera-Mishler said. Meanwhile, Buffalo police plan additional patrols in the park.

All of the stolen equipment was purchased during the past few years with money raised from private donations. A conservancy trustee has pledged to make match dollar-for-dollar all donations to replace the stolen equipment and fund the installation of surveillance equipment, Herrera-Mishler said.

The city provides one-third of the conservancy’s annual budget with remaining funds raised by the conservancy “to provide the citizens of Buffalo with remarkably clean and attractive historic parks,” the nonprofit’s president said.

”The work of the parks is supported by thousands of volunteers who donate their time and talent to the care of the Olmsted parks and parkways,” Herrera-Mishler added Thursday. “This job was made harder last night by the thieves who deprived the conservancy’s workers and volunteers of much-needed equipment.”

The conservancy president said more information about the conservancy or donations can be found online at www.bfloparks.org or by calling 838-1249, Ext. 10.



email: mgryta@buffnews.com
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Amherst woman killed in Wehrle Drive crash

December 20, 2012, 3:35 pm
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Amherst police are investigating a two-car crash at Wehrle Drive and Darwin Road that took the life of an 84-year-old woman driver about 2 p.m. today.

Loretta Sperrazzo, of Amherst, was taken by Twin City Ambulance to Sisters Hospital – St. Joseph Campus in Cheektowaga, where she pronounced dead, police Capt. Patrick McKenna said.

Sperrazzo was driving north on Darwin when an eastbound GMC driven by Irving R. Barrett on Wehrle crashed into her vehicle at the intersection, McKenna said.

Barrett, whose age wasn’t available, also an Amherst, was uninjured.

Anyone who may have witnessed the crash is asked to call police at 689-1311 and ask to speak with Senior Investigator Brian Walsh.
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Clarence teen charged with DWI, pot possession after crash

December 20, 2012, 4:02 pm
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A Clarence teen was arrested by state troopers on drunken driving and marijuana possession charges after a one-car crash on Keller Road in the town Wednesday night.

Matthew J. Berger, 19, was arrested shortly after 11 p.m., and registered a blood-alcohol reading of 0.13 percent, state police said, adding he also was found in possession of marijuana.

Berger was ordered to appear in Clarence Town Court on Jan. 3.
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NFTA takes second look at Amherst expansion

December 19, 2012, 8:07 pm
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For the first time in more than a decade, transit planners are envisioning the day when commuters may board Metro Rail downtown and ride it all the way to the University at Buffalo’s North Campus. Perhaps even beyond.

Naysayers have dubbed the 6.4-mile Metro Rail system the “train to nowhere” because it never realized its full potential.

But the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority next year will spend $1.6 million to determine the best way of enhancing public transit in the fast-growing Amherst area while encouraging regionwide economic development, too.

Though the study may ultimately recommend lesser alternatives, such as dedicated bus lanes or simply more buses, federal officials are, at least preliminarily, supporting the NFTA’s view that public transit can alleviate congestion and pollution.

“There’s so much congestion out there by the big blue water tower [at the Youngmann Highway-Thruway intersection] that the idea is about getting cars off the road,” NFTA Executive Director Kimberley A. Minkel said, “and that’s a benefit to the community.”

Although the current rail line has had its critics, Minkel noted that the system averages 26,000 boardings per day – the fourth-highest passenger density per mile of any system in the United States.

“And I think that if we extend the rail or have some variation [of enhanced public transit], ridership will only go up,” she said.

The move to consider expansion is a long time coming. Metro Rail’s original plans more than 30 years ago called for a far more extensive system that stretched at least to UB’s Amherst campus. Other branches to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, the Tonawandas and the Southtowns also were envisioned.

But money for that original plan never materialized, and even a more recent study in 2001 found no justification for either extending Metro Rail or upgrading Metro Bus service to Amherst.

Now, however, the NFTA has reason to revisit expansion.

First, it has the money to at least get started. The Federal Transit Administration will pay for 76 percent of the study under a new federal transportation allocation that in Washington parlance has been “awarded but not yet obligated,” though local officials expect no problems in obtaining the money. The state Department of Transportation and the NFTA each would contribute 10 percent, and the remaining 4 percent would come from Erie County.

New surveys also show that Youngmann Highway and Thruway commuters are causing major congestion and pollution problems.

Meanwhile, planners see Metro Rail playing an increasingly important role in feeding workers to downtown development such as the burgeoning Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

“Today, the environmental impact is playing a much larger role,” Minkel said. “There is concern about air emissions, commute time, the economic impact on future development and the livability of a community like ‘walkability.’ So the evaluation today is different from 2001.”

Minkel also said new realities dictate the need for the study. During the last study in 2001, she noted, only scant plans existed for the Medical Campus or the UB 2020 development plan. The same for a new downtown UB Medical School, the Buffalo Sabres’ development on the Webster Block or the Canalside attraction.

“I think the community is ready because so much has changed,” she said.

No potential route has been identified, she said, though the study will identify one. Authority officials noted, however, that while previous efforts studied expansion only to UB, the new project will consider outlying destinations such as the CrossPoint Business Park.

The transportation consulting firm AECOM USA will spend the next two years studying various alternatives and the environmental impact for the NFTA and the Greater Buffalo Niagara Regional Transportation Council, the planning agency working with the transit authority. Still, it could be seven to 10 years before any rail or enhanced bus service would begin.

In the meantime, the study will determine if rail will provide the best alternative.

If rail is chosen, the study also would determine the best mode – subway, surface or elevated, according to Thomas George, the NFTA’s director of surface transportation.

While rail probably would prove the most expensive option, he said that it would provide economies of scale by combining with existing Metro Rail and attracting new passengers.

“With rail, you could ride from Amherst to Buffalo on a single seat – without changing,” George said, adding that such a mode might prove most successful. “There are people out there who will ride a train all day but never get on a bus.”

Still, the study may opt for a less complicated option such as bus rapid transit. That could involve dedicated bus lanes, rerouting buses or just increasing frequency.

“It could be anything,” George said, “maybe even streetcars. They’re almost as cost-effective as a bus but have some of the attractiveness of rail.”

Federal transit officials say they have money through the New Starts Program for “meritorious” transportation projects, adding that local governments also must commit their own funds.

“Yes, there is money” for new transit projects,said one federal official who asked not to be identified, “but there is no guarantee for any project.”

All of this plays out against the financial crisis in Washington, as the nation wonders whether vast cuts in federal spending will occur if the government fails to avoid the “fiscal cliff.”

“If sequestration occurs, New Starts funding is projected to be cut by 8.2 percent – that’s $156 million,” said Virginia Miller, spokeswoman for the American Public Transit Association.

Amherst Supervisor Barry A. Weinstein said it’s time to revisit the issue of rail service to Amherst.

“Times have changed,” he said. “If there’s been no study in many years, it’s time to do a new study.”

A major impediment to expansion could be operating costs, even if the agency could secure construction funds. The authority threatened massive layoffs and service reductions this spring until Albany produced new state contributions. Minkel said that it is too early to talk about such money matters until the study is completed.

Still, local officials support at least looking at expansion. Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, a strong critic of the NFTA’s stewardship of the outer harbor, said he will still champion the NFTA’s transit cause in Washington because new downtown activity will create even stronger demand.

“I think it allows the NFTA to focus on its core mission and rebrand public transit in Buffalo,” Higgins said, noting that bus and rail transportation here was never embraced the way it was in New York City, Boston or Washington.

Minkel insisted that the time is right for a new look at how Metro Bus and Rail serve the community. The system served customers on a record 30 million rides last year, up by 9 percent over the previous two years, as gasoline prices rose.

“Over the past several years, it’s just gone up, up, up,” she said of ridership.

The NFTA needs not only to refocus its attention on the aging infrastructure of its current rail system, but to plan how to best accommodate a changing economy, too.

“We’re committed to this study,” she said. “This is not a commitment to a course of action to go forward. But we have to be prepared.”



email: rmccarthy@buffnews.com
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Clarence IDA approves tax breaks for Towne Mini

December 20, 2012, 9:41 am
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The Clarence Industrial Development Agency approved tax breaks for a new Towne Mini auto dealership, financial benefits that were a target for criticism by a state lawmaker.

The Clarence IDA on Thursday backed incentives that add up to about $69,000 in sales and mortgage recording tax exemptions.

Towne Automotive Group plans to build a $1.9 million standalone Mini dealership on Main Street, across from a joint BMW-Mini location on Main Street east of Transit Road.

Assemblyman Sean Ryan, D-Buffalo, had urged the Clarence IDA not to award the incentives, asserting the project would be built anyway and was not a worthwhile use of tax breaks.

The incentives approved by the Clarence IDA were drawn more narrowly than for some projects. The agency did not award property tax breaks. And the sales tax break applies only to the cost of construction materials for the 10,000 square foot building, and not for dealership-related equipment that will be installed.

Nathan Neill, the Clarence IDA’s bond counsel, said the sales tax exemption will be worth about $50,000. The mortgage recording tax exemption was estimated at $19,000, but Paul Leone, a Clarence IDA consultant, said that amount could end up being lower, based on the project’s mortgage.

Clarence IDA board members praised the economic benefits that will come with the new dealership, as described in an economic impact analysis prepared for the Clarence IDA. The analysis identifies $1.7 million in benefits to the community, including some related to construction of the facility.

But the incentives came under fire from Ryan, who has called for IDAs to be more selective in awarding tax breaks. Ryan did not attend Thursday’s meeting, but blasted the Clarence IDA’s vote to “use our tax dollars to subsidize a car dealership” in a follow-up statement: “Just when we thought the IDA’s in Erie County were starting to turn a corner and make some improvements to the way they do business, the Clarence IDA has hit the brakes on any possible internal reforms.”

Ryan pointed to the fact that Towne had purchased the Main Street property and had received development plan approval as evidence the project was going forward regardless of incentives.

Leone said Towne and its attorney had “anticipated” incentives from the Clarence IDA would be part of its project and they “were just trying to get the application put together. That’s the reason why you saw movement where they took down two houses [at the site] and did the utilities. But I always had the [Clarence IDA] chairman aware of what we were doing.”

Frank Downing Jr., president of Towne Automotive, said the dealer group is taking the risk of building a $1.9 million dealership and will generate more tax revenue and create more jobs as a result. Towne expects to create 11 permanent jobs in connection with the new dealership, including two new jobs at its BMW dealership, with projected income before benefits of $463,000.

“The IDA assistance is a good thing, for that gave us another reason to want to pursue the project,” Downing said. “Without it, it would have been another reason to just keep Mini where it is and not build [the new dealership]. And if we didn’t build, how does that help enhance the area and generate more tax revenue?”



email: mglynn@buffnews.com
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Winter storm warning issued for parts of WNY

December 20, 2012, 10:30 am
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The National Weather Service in Buffalo has issued a “winter storm warning” for heavy, blowing snow starting at 11 a.m. Friday through 4 p.m. Saturday for southern Erie County as well as Wyoming, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties.

Total snowfall during that period could be from eight to 14 inches.

Winds are expected to be in the 20 to 30 mph rage with gusts in the 35 mph, producing blowing and drifting snow, reducing visibility to a quarter of a mile.

Weather watchers say the heavy snow could make for difficult travel conditions, especially in higher terrain.

A less serious “winter weather advisory” was issued for northern Erie County, along with Niagara Orleans and Genesee counties, from 4 p.m. Friday until 4 p.m. Saturday.

Four to six inches of snow could fall during that time. Combined with windy conditions, visibility could be down to half a mile at times.
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Brown selects City Hall budget veteran to replace Penksa

December 20, 2012, 9:48 am
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Mayor Byron W. Brown has selected an 18-year veteran of City Hall to become his top finance aide.

Brown is seeking Common Council approval to appoint Budget Director Donna J. Estrich as commissioner of administration, finance, policy and urban affairs.

“She’s steady, she knows the budget better than anybody else,” said Deputy Mayor Steven M. Casey. “Everyone in the building knows Donna to be fair, honest and works very hard.”

If confirmed, Estrich will replace Janet Penksa, who resigned earlier this month. The commissioner oversees 20 to 30 people, and is one of the more high-profile positions in City Hall. The post is a key part Brown’s cabinet and takes part in the CitiStat panel, in which top staff question department heads in televised meetings.

Common Council President Richard A. Fontana said Estrich is capable and he expects the Council to approve her appointment.

“I think she’ll be an excellent commissioner,” Fontana said. “I have no reservations.”

He said Council members will likely ask Estrich questions during the Legislation Committee on Jan. 2 before they vote on the appointment, which requires a simple majority. A vote will likely be held during the Jan. 8 Council meeting.

Estrich has been the city budget director since 2006. Earlier that year she was interim commissioner of administration and finance following longtime Finance Commissioner James B. Milroy’s resignation, and before Penksa was appointed.

She has also worked as a management and budget analyst.

People in City Hall described Estrich as someone who can be relied upon to be forthright about the city’s finances.

“Donna knows municipal finance like the back of her hand,” said Majority Leader Demone A. Smith.

Smith said a national search wasn’t necessary and that it would be hard to find anyone to say anything negative about her.

Casey said Estrich would be paid the budgeted salary of $119,239 annually, which is the highest salary in city government.

Estrich holds a bachelor of science degree from Buffalo State College and is pursuing a master’s in public administration.

She will maintain her seat on the city Water Board.

If the Council confirms the appointment, the city will look for another budget director, Casey said.

Penksa left City Hall this month to be executive director of the Jacobs Institute at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.



email: jterreri@buffnews.com
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‘Phoenix law’ would double penalties for animal creulty

December 20, 2012, 4:08 pm
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Phoenix, the 5½-month-old Jack Russell Terrier recovering from being intentionally set on fire Oct. 29, hasn’t been forgotten.

The Buffalo Small Animal Hospital, where the puppy is recovering, has heard from “thousands” of people – some as far away as Ireland, Australia and Denmark – with donations to pay for treatment and offers of adoption.

On Thursday, Assemblyman Sean M. Ryan offered help of another kind.

Ryan announced he will introduce “Phoenix’s Law” legislation, which would double maximum jail terms from two years to four, and fines from $5,000 to $10,000, for people convicted of aggravated cruelty to companion animals, a felony.

“We’re hoping that, just as Phoenix rises from the ashes, we can have something positive that can come out of this heinous act,” Ryan said at the City of Buffalo Animal Shelter.

As he spoke, Judi Bunge, a licensed veterinary technician at the shelter who also cares for Phoenix at her home after hours, stood with the dog alongside Ryan as he made the announcement.

Ryan said he was “shocked” to learn penalties weren’t stronger for the horrific crime, and thought the time was right to bring New York State into the national average for punishing animal abusers.

The state ranks 38th, according to the Animal Legal Defense Fund, with Illinois having the toughest laws and Kentucky the weakest. New York animal protection laws fall under the state’s Department of Agriculture & Markets, with the companion animal law on the books expressly excluding farm animals.

This bill won’t change that, nor affect non-companion animals who are “cruelly beaten, tortured, mutilated or killed.” Those cases would continue to be treated as misdemeanors under state law.

The proposed legislation also would require a juvenile convicted of animal abuse to have a psychiatric evaluation and treatment.

“Animal cruelty is considered by many experts to be a leading indicator in the predisposition for future acts of violence. Often someone who abuses a vulnerable pet as a child grows up to abuse vulnerable adults and children. This law will help identify somebody with that predisposition, and assist in reducing the possibility of future acts of violence and abuse,” Ryan said. “It will send a message to all New Yorkers that the state is serious about imposing harsher penalties for animal abuse.”

Ryan said he was confident the legislation would pass. He plans to introduce the bill in January, and expects it to wind its way through the State Legislature within three to five months.

Erie County Legislator Terrence D. McCracken, D-Lancaster/Depew, was on hand to lend his support. He introduced legislation in April, which he plans to reintroduce, to create an animal abuse registry that would allow someone to check online to see if a person had a conviction for animal abuse. It also would prevent someone with a conviction from owning an animal for up to five years.

“Animals are part of our families. I have two dogs and two cats, and they would like to thank Assemblyman Ryan,” McCracken said.

Meanwhile, Bunge said Phoenix continues to make an extraordinary recovery, after he was found badly burned from being doused with lighter fluid outside an East Side drug house. It was the culmination of weeks of alleged cruel treatment at the hands of two Buffalo teenagers, Diondre Brown, 17, and Adam Zeigler, 19, who have been charged with the crime.

Veterinarians performed skin grafting on the puppy’s neck and arm pits, and taken dead tissue off its ears. They also worked to save Phoenix’s left hind leg.

“Phoenix still has quite a few weeks of healing to go, but we’re very pleased. His ears are healed – they’re totally functional, and he can hear and move them,” Bunge said. “His leg is looking better than we could have hoped, and it’s looking like he definitely will be able to keep it.”

Bunge brings Phoenix home with her at night, and said he lies with her bulldog on the couch and plays with her cat.

He’s also a model patient, she said.

“Phoenix is still extremely easy to handle, even with all the things he’s had done. He’s very tolerant of all the bandage changes and all of the treatments,” Bunge said.

“He kind of thinks the world revolves around him at this point and has gotten really spoiled, which is OK.”

email: msommer@buffnews.com
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Two arrested for Elma store burglary

December 20, 2012, 4:31 pm
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By Matt Gryta

News Staff Reporter

Erie County sheriff’s investigators seek more information about the activities of two burglary suspects arrested shortly after an incident Tuesday in Elma.

John Kelley, 55, and Thomas Schleer, 27, both of Bailey Avenue, Buffalo, were arrested by Deputy Tom Was in a parking lot close to the Bippert’s Farm store on Clinton Street after the deputy responded to a suspicious incident call from workers there about 5:15 a.m., sheriff’s officials said Thursday.

The workers noticed Kelley and Schleer hanging around outside the store and got their descriptions and the license plate of the car they were driving, passing that information along to the Sheriff’s Office.

Was arrested both men in a car parked in the lot near the store and confiscated from the car a pry bar, two razor knives and a painting tool used by burglars, sheriff’s officials said.

Kelley was charged with third-degree felony burglary, false impersonation, possession of burglar’s tools and attempted petit larceny. Deputies said Kelley tried to pass himself off as his brother, which a document check quickly showed to be false. Schleer was charged with third-degree burglary, possession of burglar’s tools and attempted petit larceny.

The sheriff’s Detective Bureau is seeking public’s help in other recent unsolved burglary cases and asks that anyone with information contact investigators at 667-5224.



email: mgryta@buffnews.com
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Man denies injuring Falls cop during drug arrest

December 20, 2012, 4:57 pm
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LOCKPORT – A Niagara Falls man, charged with injuring a policeman’s thumb during a July 24 drug arrest, was arraigned Thursday in Niagara County Court.

Claude J. Wilson, 35, of LaSalle Avenue, pleaded not guilty to third- and fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, second-degree assault, resisting arrest and second-degree obstructing governmental administration.

Assistant District Attorney Theresa L. Prezioso said Wilson allegedly had 2.38 grams of cocaine with him when the car in which he was a passenger was pulled over for a traffic violation in Niagara Falls. Wilson allegedly struggled with Officer William Kutis. Wilson, who also faces an unrelated drug charge in Erie County, was ordered held in lieu of $30,000 bail set by County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III.
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Falls sex offender arraigned on two felonies

December 20, 2012, 5:11 pm
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LOCKPORT – A Level 1 sex offender who allegedly left the state without permission pleaded not guilty to a two-count felony indictment in Niagara County Court Thursday.

Derrick J. Houser, 26, whose last registered address was on Cedar Avenue in Niagara Falls, is charged with failure to report a change of address and failure to disclose all his Internet identifiers. Both are required under New York’s Sex Offender Registration Act, Assistant District Attorney Robert A. Zucco said.

Houser was extradited after being found in Michigan in September, Zucco said. He’s being held without bail in the County Jail.
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North Tonawanda cocaine deal leads to guilty plea

December 20, 2012, 5:13 pm
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LOCKPORT – A Buffalo man who sold cocaine in North Tonawanda July 6 pleaded guilty in State Supreme Court Thursday, and was assigned to a court-supervised drug treatment program.

Trey A. Donaldson, 19, of Barton Street, admitted to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and was assigned to the judicial diversion program by Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr.

If Donaldson succeeds in the two-year program, his charge will be reduced to no more than a misdemeanor with a probation sentence. If he fails in treatment, he faces up to nine years in state prison.
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Police on scene of Woodlawn Avenue shooting

December 20, 2012, 5:30 pm
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Buffalo police are at the scene of a shooting that took place earlier this evening on the East Side.

Officers were called about 7 p.m. to 111 Woodlawn Ave., near Masten Avenue.

Police would not say at mid-evening how many people have been shot or how serious the injuries were.

About a half-dozen patrol cars remain at the scene and officers are combing through the first-floor apartment of the two-story residence, which sits between two vacant lots and near Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts, and Wright’s Day Care center.

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