The Buffalo News -

WASHINGTON — Susan Rice, the embattled U.N. ambassador, abruptly withdrew from consideration to be the next secretary of state on Thursday after an ugly standoff with Republican senators who declared they would vigorously oppose her nomination.

The move elevates Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry as the likely choice to be the nation’s next top diplomat when Hillary Rodham Clinton departs soon.

President Barack Obama accepted Rice’s decision with a shot at Republicans.

“While I deeply regret the unfair and misleading attacks on Susan Rice in recent weeks, her decision demonstrates the strength of her character,” he said.

Rice had become the public face of the tangled administration description of what happened in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11 of this year when four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, were killed in what is now known to have been a terrorist attack.

Rice withdrew her name in a letter to the president, saying she was convinced the confirmation process would be “lengthy, disruptive and costly — to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities.”

“That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country,” Rice said.

ALBANY – The State Senate sponsor of legislation to kick-start historic rehabilitation projects says he is comfortable with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s explanation for vetoing the measure and the governor’s vow to re-examine the issue in next year’s budget.

“I’m happy to hear it’s something they want to look at,” said Sen. Mark Grisanti, a Buffalo Republican. “It’s not a dead deal, but it’s something the Governor’s Office is going to look at and do something in the budget. At what amount and what time period, I’m not sure, but it’s something we’ll continue moving forward on to get passed.”

The legislation, passed in June, would raise the current $5 million tax credit available for certain historic property rehabilitations to $12 million. But the Cuomo administration said the measure would cost $20 million in the coming year and $80 million over the following two years.

A Cuomo official Wednesday said the governor was supportive of the concept but did not want to approve legislation with a fiscal impact on the state outside of the regular budget process that occurs in the spring.

Even the most vocal backer of the bill, who also happens to be a Cuomo fundraiser, was not critical of the governor’s veto.

“My understanding is they will include it in next year’s budget, so there’s a bright light there,” said Rocco Termini, a Buffalo developer who has used the state tax credits on project such as his Hotel @ the Lafayette.

Termini said he believes the governor, in his budget plan due out next month, will offer a more comprehensive bill that extends the current tax credit program beyond its 2014 expiration date and possibly allow further tweaks to a provision that now makes developers “buy” both federal and state tax credits to qualify. Such changes, he said, would make more projects eligible for state tax credits.

Also, Termini said he would back any effort to further target the credits to certain distressed areas of the state. “It might be a good idea to target it because there are certain areas of the state that don’t need it,” he said.

Termini earlier this fall shelved plans for a $60 million rehabilitation of the AM&A’s building in downtown Buffalo because Cuomo had not yet signed the tax credit bill.

“It might be a little delay, but I think it’s a win-win for everybody,” Termini said of Cuomo’s veto.

Preservationists agree.

“Municipal officials and developers should not be focused on the impending veto, but on the commitment from Gov. Cuomo to address increased incentives and other needed program enhancements in 2013,” said Daniel Mackay, director of public policy at the Preservation League of New York State.

“Higher incentives for large projects, extension of the program past its current sunset in 2014, and providing greater access to the program for New York State investors will assure that this program moves to the top tier of effective economic development and job growth programs in New York State,” Mackay said.

email: tprecious@buffnews.com

New engines that will be produced at General Motors’ Town of Tonawanda engine plant will go into new versions of the automaker’s top-selling Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks, as the manufacturing complex continues to step up its employment.

GM officials announced their plans for the new trucks Thursday, as well as GM Tonawanda’s prominent supporting role. The Tonawanda complex will be the lead supplier of three new engines for the trucks, as well as the only GM plant that produces all three of them, said Mary Ann Brown, a spokeswoman for the Tonawanda facility.

The engines, which will go into production in the first quarter of 2013, are part of a $400 million investment in GM Tonawanda announced in 2010. The plant is now seeing the payoff in the form of new jobs, as well, as it staffs up to fill new positions that were projected with the new work.

The plant currently has about 1,100 hourly and salaried workers. That total is expected to rise to 1,600 to 1,700 over the next year, as Tonawanda’s new engine lines enter full production. GM workers transferring from other facilities have the first opportunity to fill the new positions.

GM recently announced that the Tonawanda site would be the exclusive supplier of a V8 engine for the next-generation C7 Corvette. And earlier this year, the plant launched production of new Ecotec four-cylinder engines for the Chevrolet Malibu and Cadillac ATS, stemming from a separate, $425 million investment.

The new engine family for the Silverado and Sierra includes a 5.3-liter V8 and a 6.2-liter V8. It also includes a 4.3-liter V6; a new V6 had been a source of speculation at the time of the 2010 investment announcement but was not publicly confirmed by GM until now.

“They’re giving customers three different options to choose from,” Brown said.

GM is aiming to get its new Silverado and Sierra into showrooms by late spring or early summer. The timing is good. Truck sales are growing after a five-year slump amid the economic downturn. And the new pickups replace models that were last revamped in 2007. That means GM dealers are offering pickups that are dated, compared with newer Fords and Chryslers, and it is hurting sales.

GM says the 2014 trucks should put the company back in front. The trucks look a little more aggressive and aerodynamic. They will have quieter cabs, and updated steering, suspensions and brakes, GM says.

Gas mileage and pricing of the trucks was not released, although GM North American President Mark L. Reuss says customers will be surprised by the prices. He says the trucks are 200 pounds lighter than Ford and Chrysler competitors, which will help boost gas mileage.

The trucks should close the gap with Ford’s F-150 and Chrysler’s revamped Ram, especially if the engines are more powerful and efficient, says Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting for LMC Automotive, a Detroit-area industry consulting firm.

“The focus that they really put into these trucks, I think, gets them there,” he said.

Full-size GM pickup sales fell by 8 percent last month, while competitors saw increases.

At the end of November, GM had enough trucks on dealer lots to supply them for 139 days of sales. A 60-day supply is considered optimal.

Reuss says GM raised incentives to match competitors, and sales in early December are strong. The company didn’t offer big deals last month, and it hurt.

Reuss says GM intends to outsell Ford’s F-Series, which is the top-selling vehicle in America, but he would not put a time frame on reaching the goal.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. email: mglynn@buffnews.com

Nobody was injured Thursday night when a USAirways flight from Philadelphia to Buffalo made a precautionary landing at Buffalo Niagara International Airport because of a suspected brake problem.

C. Douglas Hartmayer, Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority spokesman, said the pilot of Flight 3786 radioed the Buffalo tower at 9:10 p.m. to report a possible situation with the CRJ-200 commuter jet’s brakes. As a precautionary measure, Hartmayer said the plane circled the airport for about 30 minutes to burn off excess fuel, while air-rescue-firefighting forces at the airport were alerted.

Both runways were shut down, Hartmayer said, but the flight landed on the main runway without incident at 9:50 p.m.

A Lancaster man was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny to 12 months in prison Friday for tax evasion.

Eric J. Justin, 49, also was ordered to pay $216,295 in restitution to the government.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell T. Ippolito, Jr. said Justin used several schemes to avoid paying federal taxes, including redirecting income to his wife, failing to use typical record-keeping or accounting methods and failing to report $98,000 in life insurance proceeds.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service.

LOCKPORT – Steven J. Hummel, 20, of Oliver Street, North Tonawanda, pleaded not guilty Thursday in State Supreme Court to a four-count indictment accusing him of selling prescription painkillers.

Hummel is charged with two counts each of fourth-degree criminal sale and fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance. He allegedly sold buprenorphine March 16 and 20 in North Tonawanda.

In another North Tonawanda painkiller case, Daniel P. Schwartz, 32, of Main Street, City of Tonawanda, admitted to seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance for illegally having hydrocodone in North Tonawanda Feb. 24. Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas scheduled sentencing for March 21.

WASHINGTON – The federal government Friday gave tentative approval to New York’s efforts to set up a health insurance exchange where uninsured New Yorkers and small businesses will be able to shop for policies starting next October.

The state has met the benchmarks it needs to meet in setting up the exchange, officials at the Department of Health and Human Services said.

“New York has made significant progress, and in 10 months will be ready for open enrollment where New Yorkers will be able to purchase private health insurance plans,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

The creation of the state health insurance exchange may mean little to New Yorkers who currently get health care through their employers, but it will mean a lot to the uninsured, said Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, director of coverage policy programs at the federal government’s Office of Health Reform.

“It will be a one-stop marketplace where people can find the health plan that meets their needs,” Brooks-LaSure said.

That’s something people will have to do starting in 2014 when, under the Obama health law passed in 2010, most Americans will be required to have health insurance.

New York will be ready when that day comes, said Donna Frescatore, executive director of the New York Health Benefit Exchange.

The exchange already has a website, http://www.healthbenefitexchange.ny.gov. And starting in January, the state will begin working with insurers that are interested in offering insurance policies on the exchange.

And starting on Oct. 1, 2013, individuals and small businesses will be able to start shopping for insurance on the exchange. In-person “navigators” will be available around the state next fall to help people navigate the exchange, Frescatore added.

New York is one of only 18 states that has opted to set up its own exchange.

“We want to make sure the exchange is well integrated with our public health insurance programs; we want it to be a seamless process,” Frescatore said. “We also wanted to make sure the exchange was designed to meet the needs of small businesses.”

New York has received $183 million in federal grants to set up its exchange.

In contrast, many states – particularly those with Republican governors – have instead opted to either let the federal government run such exchanges or have set up a federal-state partnership. Some states have worried that a state-run exchange eventually would be a costly burden on state taxpayers.

“If Virginians are faced with running a costly, heavily regulated bureaucratic exchange without clear direction from Washington, then it is in the best interest of our taxpayers to let Washington manage an exchange at this time,” Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said Friday in a letter to Sebelius.

email: jzremski@buffnews.com

Parents flocked to Eggert Elementary School in Orchard Park on Friday for the annual Christmas concert, but they found themselves grappling with a national tragedy that undoubtedly hit home.

“You’re not safe anywhere, I guess,” said Sarah Malburg, who was picking up her two-year-old son. “It’s gotten kind of sad. You just can’t [even] go to school.”

Parents at schools in Orchard Park and West Seneca called the Connecticut shooting “alarming,” and Malburg said she “cried my eyes out” when she flicked on the television set and saw the news.

“You just send your child to school and you think they’re safe,” said Judith Toomey, who watched her granddaughter on the playground of Allendale elementary in West Seneca. “It’s very hard for children of that age to talk about something like that.”

“They shouldn’t have to think about something like that,” she added, holding back tears.

One teacher at Eggert Elementary reportedly ushered her students away from the window just in case, a parent said. Overall, though, the parents said they believe the schools are safe – much safer than when the Columbine tragedy hit 14 years ago.

At Eggert Elementary, parents picking their children up Friday afternoon had to buzz into an intercom system before the main doors were unlocked.

Even Malburg’s husband, Andy, who knows many of the teachers and secretaries at the school, is questioned at the front desk when he comes to pick up his children.

“The schools are doing everything they can and more,” said Sean Croft, who was picking up his daughters from the school Friday afternoon.

Croft works as an administrator in the Starpoint district in Niagara County. He said schools throughout the region have transformed their security procedures since the Columbine massacre.

The simple fact is, parents say, anything short of complete airport-style security with frisking and metal detectors leaves an opportunity for an acquaintance like the Connecticut shooter to enter schools and open fire.

The real problem to be addressed, Croft said, is how society deals with distressed individuals and those with mental illnesses.

“There’s still kind of this stigma,” he said. “[We need to] keep our eyes out for our family members, our friends that are struggling, who may act bizarre. We can help them.”

When the Columbine shooters killed 13 people in 1999, the nation was surprised and outraged, parents said.

But with two other recent high-profile shootings – one at an Oregon shopping mall and another involving a pro football player – it’s clear the world has changed even since they, they said.

“Nowadays, people don’t think twice about it,” said Shannon McDonald, who brought her kids to the West Seneca playground on Friday.

After learning of the Connecticut shooting, the Buffalo mother was then tasked with explaining the tragedy to her two young children.

“Fortunately, I’ve never had to explain anything like this to them,” McDonald said. “What do you tell them?”

email: cspecht@buffnews.com

LOCKPORT – When the Niagara County Legislature votes Tuesday night on amendments to the proposed 2013 county budget, cutting the 3.7 percent increase in the tax levy will be the main order of business.

Minority Leader Dennis F. Virtuoso, D-Niagara Falls, submitted a stack of proposed amendments Friday that, if adopted in full, would wipe out the tax increase.

The majority Republicans have yet to disclose their ideas, but Majority Leader Richard E. Updegrove, R-Lockport, promised reductions in the tax hike.

“We will make alterations to the budget proposed by the county manager, because 3.7 percent on the levy is unacceptable,” Updegrove said. “Whatever budget we come up with will be well below the [property tax] cap.”

The state’s 2 percent property tax cap has several exceptions, and Budget Director Daniel R. Huntington has calculated that because of those exceptions, the county’s “real” tax cap for 2013 is 5.08 percent.

Wiping out the tax increase would require a $2.65 million combination of increases in other revenues or further spending cuts. County Manager Jeffrey M. Glatz’s proposed budget eliminates 40 positions, 14 of which are currently filled.

Virtuoso proposed several “big-ticket” changes, the chief one being a further increase of $900,000 in the amount of expected sales tax revenue.

Glatz’s budget had already anticipated a $2.5 million jump in sales tax income.

Friday, Glatz called any substantial jump in that estimate dangerous, saying, “It’s like playing Russian roulette.”

County Treasurer Kyle R. Andrews said, “At this point, I would be comfortable with taking this budget figure and upping it by $500,000.”

He said through the end of October, the most recent figures available, the county was showing “a mild increase” over the 2011 sales tax pace.

Virtuoso said the county chronically underestimates sales tax receipts.

“It’s probably going to go up $1.5 million this year,” he said. “I haven’t been wrong on sales tax yet. Every year I keep saying they underestimated it and I’m right every year. I don’t feel I’m wrong this year, either.”

Andrews said, “It’s our job to present an honest number, and I think we did that in the original budget, an honest number and one which reflects our county’s history of fiscal conservatism.”

He warned that overdoing the sales tax estimate runs the risk of a sudden downturn producing a shortfall that could force the county to “dip into [its] fund balance mid-year.”

“A budget shortfall is another way of saying the taxpayers would have to pick it up next year,” Updegrove said.

Virtuoso also proposed keeping the county’s contribution to its self-insurance fund at this year’s figure of $340,000. Glatz had proposed hiking that funding to $700,000.

Updegrove said the Republicans have talked about the insurance fund, too. “All suggestions from the minority caucus will not be summarily dismissed,” he said.

Virtuoso also proposed cutting the contingency fund by $100,000; trimming all departments’ overtime budgets by 5 percent, saving another $99,000; and using $773,000 in debt reserve funds in addition to the $10 million Glatz proposed to appropriate from the regular surplus.

email: tprohaska@buffnews.com

A Buffalo deli operator faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced on his guilty plea to food stamp fraud, U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. reported Friday.

Karem Almadrahi, 35, admitted he and others exchanged food stamp benefits for cash while participating in the operation of Zip’s Food and Beverage at 896 Niagara St., according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert C. Moscati.

Almadrahi, Moscati reported, acquired $67,301 through the fraudulent transactions.

As part of the plea agreement, Almadrahi will be required to make full restitution to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Almadrahi is scheduled to be sentenced April 17 before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.

Ground was broken Friday on new low-income townhouses hailed as part of the ongoing transformation of the Fruit Belt and the neighboring medical corridor.

Construction of the $15.3 million, 49-unit project is under way on Maple Street and is slated to be completed in June 2014.

The townhouses are a faith-based initiative, being developed by the St. John Fruit Belt Community Development Corp., an autonomous arm of St. John Baptist Church, with funding from city, state and federal sources.

Lawmakers from all levels of government gathered at the construction site to celebrate the official groundbreaking for the project. Many touted it as being in step with development taking place at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

“It’s nothing short of extraordinary,” said Mayor Byron W. Brown.

While other medical campuses around the country have developed and thrived while their surrounding neighborhoods remained blighted, the mayor said that won’t be the case in Buffalo.

“As we see growth in the medical corridor, we’ll see growth in the Fruit Belt,” he said.

The development will include 22 buildings on 17 sites with two-, three- and four-bedroom townhouses. Their design will be in line with the neighborhood’s architecture. Rent will be $500 for the two-bedroom, $550 for the three-bedroom and $600 for the four-bedroom units.

Five years ago, various development efforts, like the waterfront and the medical corridor, were viewed separately, but Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, said they’ve merged and are gaining ground.

The city has allocated $2.75 million in HOME funds to the project. Additional funding includes $10 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the New York State Homes and Community Renewal and $2.4 million from the New York State HOME program.

About $9.2 million in private equity investment is being provided by Key Community Development Corp., and construction financing is coming from M&T Bank.

“We’re here to celebrate this opportunity to put the Fruit Belt back on the right track,” said Darryl Towns, commissioner and chief executive officer of the state Department of Homes and Community Renewal.

The project is part of St. John’s $500 million revitalization of the Fruit Belt neighborhood through its various community development corporations. The church has a tradition of community development and is one of several East Side churches with projects under way.

True Community Development Corp. and Belmont Housing Resources for Western New York will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for True Bethel Townhomes at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

The complex will be located at 858 E. Ferry St., which was formerly a vacant brownfield site. The $5 million development project will feature 30 residential rental units in four multifamily buildings and a community building.

The Rev. Michael Chapman, pastor of the church and consulting CEO of the Fruit Belt development corporation, released a statement saying: “This is an important step in our ongoing efforts to help improve the quality of life in the Fruit Belt and Buffalo. Construction of these townhomes is leading to new employment opportunities for neighborhood residents.”

email: esapong@buffnews.com

JAMESTOWN – A Jamestown husband and wife are facing criminal charges for marijuana possession and unlawfully growing the plants following a Nov. 30 search by Chautauqua County sheriff’s officials and other police agencies, the Southern Tier Regional Drug Task Force reported Friday.

Kenneth G. Moore Jr., 36, and Sherry M. Moore, 34, both of Kimball Drive, were issued tickets to appear in Gerry Town Court after authorities uncovered 26 harvested marijuana plants and a quantity of packaged marijuana during a consented search as part of an investigation by the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s officials were assisted by the task force and the Jamestown Police K-9 unit.

Both were released pending future appearances in court.

LOCKPORT – Jermaine R. Webster, 32, of McCue Avenue, Lockport, pleaded guilty Friday in State Supreme Court to selling hydrocodone in Lockport April 23 and 24.

Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr. scheduled sentencing Feb. 26 for Webster, who admitted to a reduced felony charge of attempted fifth-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance.

Deputies and corrections officers in the Erie County Holding Center and Correctional Facility Friday ratified contracts with the county, replacing pacts that expired years ago.

The contracts – with CSEA Local 815, which represents corrections officers, and Teamsters Local 264, which represents employees at both jails – were struck at “substantial savings” for taxpayers thanks to provisions that require employees and retirees to pay a portion of health insurance costs, county officials said.

“These contracts represent a new way of doing business for Erie County,” said County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz, who credited the leadership of the local CSEA and Teamsters for “negotiating in a way that was fair to their members, fair to taxpayers and understanding [of] the fiscal realities facing Erie County.”

“Providing 100 percent county-funded health insurance for employees and retirees places a huge strain on county finances and is unsustainable in the long run,” added Poloncarz. “These agreements will make it possible to control such costs in the future.”

The ratified contracts, which are the first approved by county employees this year after rejections by both the white-collar unit of the CSEA and sheriff’s Police Benevolent Association, won’t take effect until they are formally approved by the County Legislature.

The contract struck with the Teamsters, which represents about 540 employees, expired Dec. 31, 2004. Members of the CSEA Corrections Officers unit, with about 230 employees, were working despite a contract that expired at the end of 2006.

Under the terms of the deal with the Teamsters, employees will receive 2 percent raises over three years between 2012 and 2014 with 3 percent pay hikes in 2015 and 2016. Also, employees will receive retroactive cash payments of $300 for each year worked between 2005 and 2011, county officials said.

Included in the health insurance concessions by employees are provisions requiring new hires to pay 10 percent of premiums, with all current employees paying 10 percent of premiums beginning in 2014. Additional provisions call for existing employees who retire after 2016 to pay 10 percent of retiree premiums, with those hired after Jan. 1, 2013 not receiving any paid health care upon retirement.

As for the pact with the CSEA, there will be no “retroactive pay component.” However, all of its members will be bumped up one step starting in 2013 and will receive 2 percent raises between 2013 and 2017. Those employees will be required to pay 15 percent of health premiums starting in 2013, with all new hires to be enrolled in a less-expensive “value plan,” for which they’ll also pay 15 percent of premiums. Newly hired corrections officers also will not receive county-paid health insurance after retirement.

All employees in both bargaining units also agreed to eliminating “summer hours,” and the CSEA group also gave back paid holidays on both Columbus and Election days.

Previous contracts provided employees and retirees in both unions 100 percent paid health insurance.

Calls to leadership from both unions were not returned late Friday.

email: tpignataro@buffnews.com

A former Buffalo man was indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with four local HSBC Bank robberies in 2011, U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. reported Friday.

Clifford B. Smith, 32, is accused of holding up the HSBC branches at 3107 Bailey Ave. on Sept. 29, 2011, the 1017 Broadway location on Oct. 21, 2011 and the branch at 973 Main St. on both Oct. 25 and Nov. 8, 2011, according to a statement by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie P. Grisanti.

Smith made off with roughly a combined $42,000 in all the holdups, Grisanti reported.

A federal grand jury in Buffalo returned a 13-count indictment against Smith charging him with robbery, entry of a bank with intent to commit a larceny, bank larceny and brandishing a firearm during the commission of a violent crime.

If convicted, Smith faces up to 25 years in prison with a seven-year mandatory prison sentence for the firearm charge as well as a $250,000 fine.

The FBI and Buffalo Police participated in the investigation.

It wasn’t possible to hear what the dozen or so parents were talking about Friday afternoon, as they stood outside the Elmwood Village School waiting to retrieve their children.

Such are the safety precautions that schools take these days, that reporters are not even allowed to eavesdrop on school property without school officials’ permission.

Still, it wasn’t difficult to surmise, even from 30 feet away that, at least some of their conversation centered around the tragic events that had occurred five hours earlier and miles away in Newton, Conn., where a gunman walked into an elementary school and killed 26 people, 20 of them children between the ages of 5 and 10.

Sue Warden of South Buffalo waited in the wide, park-like median at Days Park to pick up her youngest son.

“It brought tears to my eyes,” Warden said, about having watched the news unfold on television throughout the day.

“It was like, oh my God, how do you feel safe for your own child, or [how does] anybody feel safe for their own kids to go to school?”

Concetta Ferguson of North Buffalo also confessed to having been chilled by the news out of Connecticut, as she crossed Days Park to pick up three children from the Elmwood Village School.

“It’s horrible. I just think, as a parent, dropping your kid off at school and wondering: Is a gunman going to come and shoot up the school?” she said.

“I mean, you can’t go anywhere without worrying – the movie theaters, the malls, schools. It’s horrible, and that was my first thought this morning,” she continued.

Peter Robert of North Buffalo gripped the hands of two daughters as he walked swiftly across the park to his car and carted the girls off to play hockey.

“My reaction is the same as everybody else’s: It’s just disturbing. It’s disgusting that something like that would happen,” Robert said.

While the anxieties of local parents may have been piqued because of the horrific events in Connecticut, Amir Shahzad, an East Side resident waiting to pick up two children from the Elmwood Village School, said he was feeling more saddened for the families of the victims than fearful for his own children.

“I’m not looking for the fear of what’s going to happen to my children. It’s already happened to someone, right? That is what I’m more concerned [about],” he added.

Warden, too, grieved for the families of victims.

“My heart is just broken for the families. My gosh, and with the holidays coming,”she said.

Asked about her impulses as she waited for her son to exit the school building, Warden added: “I’m going to hug him to death. My oldest, he’s done with school right now, but I was like, oh my god. He’s taking a year off from college and I was like: ‘I’m so glad you’re home today.’ ”

email: hmcneil@buffnews.com

Nick and C.J. Maurer were looking forward to leaving their Buffalo apartments for Christmas at their father’s house in Newtown, Conn.

Now the visit home will take on a whole new meaning.

After a gunman Friday killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School — which both brothers attended — they’ll return to a community enveloped in grief.

“It’s going to be somber this year,” said C.J. Maurer, 26, who runs a Buffalo marketing company. “It just doesn’t feel real.”

The recent St. Bonaventure graduates said they did double takes when news alerts popped up on their cell phones describing the tragedy.

“You hear it all the time, but when horrible events like this happen, its always something you sit watching from a distance and don’t have that personal connection,” said Nick Maurer, 23, who sells copiers in Niagara County.

That has all changed, as suddenly the brothers’ thoughts are on their small hometown and the elementary school that sits just three miles from their childhood home.

“How are those kids going to feel good about going back to that same building?” asked C.J. Maurer.

Maurer described Newtown as an affluent suburb comparable in some ways to Orchard Park. The town has long been known as a sleepy bedroom community of fewer than 30,000 people, some of whom commute each day from New York City.

“Everyone knew everyone,” C.J. Maurer said. “It was a wonderful place to grow up.”

It was just about the last place, they thought, that would ever make national news.

“It’s a surprise because we always joked about how there was never something to do in Newtown,” Maurer said. “I think that’s what parents look for when they bring their families there, to have a safe place.”

That safety was shattered Friday by a gunman who was reportedly a classmate of Maurer’s sister. At least 20 children were killed when the gunman opened fire.

“His name is strikingly familiar,” C.J. Maurer said. “If I saw his face, I would most likely recognize him. What could possess him to do that, I have no idea.”

The brothers are grieving for their hometown, they said, and especially for the families who had children at the school and those who survived the attack.

“You don’t want them to lose their innocence, you don’t want them to see things like this,” Nick Maurer said.

Neither brother knew the shooter and – like most – they struggled to understand the meaning behind the shootings.

“As a human race, we are imperfect, and these things are a sad rendering of our imperfections,” C.J. Maurer said.

email: cspecht@buffnews.com

It’s hard enough for adults to comprehend the magnitude of the horror that unfolded Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

But how do you explain such evil to a child?

There’s no sense in trying to keep it from children, said Dr. Steven L. Dubovsky, chairman of psychiatry at the University at Buffalo’s School of Medicine.

“I would not shield them from it,” said Dubovsky, an expert on post-traumatic stress disorder who has done research on the 1999 Columbine shootings and interviewed some of the survivors of that Colorado rampage.

It’s inevitable that children will hear about it one way or another, and it’s best if they hear about it from their parents first, Dubovsky said.

It’s important to first and foremost emphasize that the child is safe and that nobody is going to hurt him or her, he said.

“What you would say is that a person went to [a] school and shot some kids and that was a very bad thing to do,” Dubovsky said. “You want to emphasize that it doesn’t mean you’re in danger."

And it’s OK for parents to show they’re upset by the events.

“They should see you upset, but not overwhelmed,” he said.

Children may ask why the parents weren’t there to protect the victims who were killed. “Make sure [your children] know: ‘We will protect you,’ ” he said.

Dubovsky strongly discouraged allowing children to watch TV coverage of the shootings.

“All they will show is how upset and scared everybody is and how traumatized they are,” he said. “It won’t help. It’ll just scare them.”

He said parents should also be cognizant that networks may break into regularly scheduled programming with news updates, he said.

Come Monday, he said that if your children seem fearful of going to school, it may be a good idea to take them to school.

“And maybe walk them in,” he said. “Make them feel you’re there with them.”

Later, after the initial shock of the incident has worn off, he said it may be helpful to come up with a safety plan with a child in case something like this should happen.

“Just like you tell your kids: Don’t talk to strangers,” he said.

Parents should talk to their kids about what they should do, where they should hide and other measures to stay safe.

Dubovsky recommended that teachers bring up the incident at school next week.

“Teachers should bring it up,” he said.

They should ask: “What have you heard? How are you feeling?”

Then, they should talk about the things that are being done to protect the children in school, such as keeping doors locked and other security measures.

Teachers should let children know that there’s nothing wrong with feeling scared and that the students can come to them to talk about their fears.

He also suggested drills specifically designed for such an attack.

“One thing we learned [from Columbine and other similar mass killings] is there are bad people in the world who come in all shapes and sizes,” he said. “There are bad people. The rest of us have to do our best to protect ourselves … and our children.”

email: mbecker@buffnews.com

Robert Christmann, the interim superindent of Grand Island schools, was glued to the television Friday, trying to learn the details of the shooting, just like millions of other Americans.

Christmann expects this will have as much impact on security at schools across the United States as the 1999 Columbine tragedy did.

“Columbine was a defining moment for public schools. Columbine changed everything,” Christmann said.

“This event today will have as great an impact on public schools as Columbine did, because of the magnitude of it and the age of the students," he said. “It will bring the kinds of massive changes that Columbine brought – but I don’t know what that will mean yet.”

The first thing Hamburg Superintendent Steven Achramovitch did when he heard about the shooting was to remind all of his principals to make sure doors and access to the schools were secure. He told them to monitor everything and be prepared to answer questions from parents.

However, more needs to be learned about how and why this happened, so schools know what they need to do moving forward.

“I think part of what I don’t understand right now is the reasons behind this,” Achramovitch said, as details of the shooting got out Friday afternoon. “I’m sure this will raise some things that we haven’t thought about before, but our first objective is to learn more about this.”

Schools were closed in the Cheektowaga Central School District on Friday for staff-development day, so teachers and administrators didn’t start hearing about the shootings until early afternoon, said Superintendent Dennis Kane.

There likely will be some new measures taken by schools in the aftermath, but the most immediate issue comes Monday, after students have had the weekend to hear about what happened and are asking some tough questions, Kane said.

Cheektowaga will try to have staff and counselors prepared.

“I think the biggest question, and most challenging question, kids will ask is: ‘Can this happen to me?’ Kane said.

Christmann said Grand Island will be planning for Monday, too.

“I think the best person to communicate about this would be their parents,” Christmann said Friday afternoon. “Let’s get them home today and have them talk to their parents.”

email: jrey@buffnews.com

Where do you go? Where can you hide? What or where is “safe?”

Twelve people were massacred in July while watching a movie in Aurora, Colo.

Six more were slaughtered last August at a religious service in suburban Milwaukee.

Now, horribly, 27 are dead – 20 of them children – at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the leafy Connecticut suburb of Newtown.

What kind of society have we created? What is the price, in innocent blood and in everyday risk, for our freedoms?

I know that, despite the mass media coverage, these are isolated incidents. I know that each of us is more likely to be struck by lightning than to be killed by a psychotic shooter’s bullet.

But when a man walks into an elementary school armed with semi-automatic, military-grade pistols and slaughters innocent children, it shatters any notion of safety and security and sanity.

What is so troubling and so frightening is not just the randomness of the violence. It is the ease with which a psychotic can acquire weapons of mass destruction.

Once again in America, a deeply disturbed – no sane person would do this – and heavily-armed man has slaughtered innocent people. The difference this time is most of the victims were not adults. They were children. Grade-school children. It does not get more innocent – or more vulnerable – than little kids sitting in a classroom.

Mass shootings happen with such frequency that we become conditioned, desensitized. They run together in our minds, get lost in the mist of memory.

But when the body count is this high, when most of the bodies are this small, it is enough to crack the hardest cynic’s shell.

In the wake of the slaughter of innocents, I cannot see how any thinking person can argue against tighter gun controls. I am not talking about taking the rifle out of a responsible hunter’s hands. I am not talking about denying any sane person the choice of a gun for home protection.

But seriously, how can anyone at this point – NRA officials included – argue that a private citizen needs to be more heavily-armed than a cop or a soldier?

Time and again, deeply disturbed people have gotten their hands on weapons that can kill a lot of people in short amount of time.

It has to stop. The level of firepower is the one thing about these mass slaughters that we can control. And, in so doing, we at least can reduce the body count.

“The thing that all of these shootings have in common is they involve the sort of firearms there is no need for the general public to have,” UB professor Charles Ewing said. “There is no reason for the average citizen to have this kind of firepower.”

Ewing is familiar with violence. The forensic psychologist and author has interviewed serial killers and studied mass murderers. He is more conditioned to horror than most people. Yet he told me Friday that the news of this massacre of children brought him to tears.

“If this doesn’t bring you to your knees, what will?” he wondered. “Something must be done.”

According to CBS News, the 20-year-old gunman was armed with a Glock 9-mm pistol, a semi-automatic commonly used by police, and a Sig Sauer handgun, favored by the military. Each has an easily-reloadable magazine holding at least 10 rounds. A military-style assault rifle was found in his vehicle.

Weapons made for combat were turned on grade-school kids. A young madman got his hands on a stockpile of semi-automatic weapons.

How insane of a society are we?

Yes, you can kill with a rock or a knife or a standard handgun. But each of those weapons limits the amount of mayhem someone can do in a short period of time. The longer it takes to shoot multiple times, and the longer it takes to re-load, the more people who can run, or hide, or fight back or call for help. Our latest American madman had the firepower to massacre 26 people in a matter of minutes.

There is no getting around it: Advanced weaponry makes mass slaughter easier. Just count the little bodies at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Across America today, there is a heaviness in the air. We grieve for the victims. We pray for their families. And we hope, at long last, that something will be done.

email: desmonde@buffnews.com

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