Speeding drivers

Not only are the (speeding) tolerances much lower, but the frequency of a warning instead of a ticket is way down. Most people, if they're stopped now, are getting a ticket even if it's only a minor violation of a few miles per hour." James Baxter, president of the National Motorists Association, suggesting that the recession may be leading police departments to stop allowing a 5 to 10-mph “cushion” in order to raise more revenue. (USA Today)

This suits me just fine the speeding summer people and people visiting Chautauqua Institution during the season for the weekend have almost killed me going to the mail box. The speed limit here is 45 and they are doing 70mph on county road 33 also known as the Panama-Stedman road. I really worry about the many small children living on our road here in Stedman. The speeding last summer was just terrible.



SPEED KILLS!

Washington Portrait Goes for $1 Million in Rochester

By Sean Dobbin, Democrat and Chronicle

GENESEO - Throughout his childhood, the portrait of George Washington was just another of Oliver Chanler's parents' paintings.



On Saturday, it had the attention of art collectors and history buffs all over the world, and with more than 400 people in attendance at Cottone Auctions in Geneseo, the painting sold for more than $1 million.



The buyer, a private dealer from York County, Pennsylvania, made the winning bid of $925,000 after a lively auction that lasted about a minute and a half. A buyer's fee of 15 percent pushed the final total for the portrait, which was painted by famed presidential portraitist Gilbert Stuart about 200 years ago, to more than $1.06 million.



"I thought it was going to go for more from what I've been reading, but it's fine," said Chanler, a Geneseo resident who discovered the value of the painting about 10 years ago.



Bidding opened at $250,000 and quickly escalated to more than $700,000, when the action slowed down. Grant Holcomb, director of the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, was one of the last remaining participants, but bowed out when bidding reached about $750,000.



Jeff Bridgman, the owner of Jeff R. Bridgman American Antiques in York County, Pennsylvania, was the winning bidder.

Bridgman, who deals in antique American flags and American folk art, said that he knew the painting would sell for much more than the estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. While Stuart reportedly painted more than 100 portraits of Washington, they aren't available on the open market very often.



"There hasn't been one sold for five years," said Bridgman. "I'm very pleased."



While the final bid often exceeds the estimate, items don't always sell for more than expected. For example, a Tiffany floor lamp - which finished with the second-highest final bid of the nearly 300 items auctioned on Saturday - sold for $575,000, after being estimated at $500,000 to $800,000.



But based on art market trends and the historical significance of the painting, officials at Cottone Auctions thought the painting would be sold for between $400,000 and $600,000, said Matt Cottone, co-owner of the auction house.



The winning bid ended up being much more, breaking a record for Cottone Auctions. Previously, the most expensive item sold at the auction house was a James A. McNeill Whistler painting that was sold in July 2006 and had a final bid of $910,000.

"High-end pieces are bringing record prices right now," said Cottone.



Chanler discovered the portrait's worth when appraisers came to value his mother's estate 10 years ago. He can only definitively trace his family's ownership of the painting to his great-grandfather John Winthrop Chanler, who served in the House of Representatives from 1863 to 1869.



However, the portrait could conceivably date all the way back to his great-great-great-great-grandfather John Jacob Astor, who also at one time had his portrait painted by Stuart.



Collectors at the auction said that the provenance created additional interest in the portrait.



Rochester D&C

This is wrong on so many levels!

Tensions erupt, resident arrested at Lackawanna Council meeting
By Harold McNeil

Long-simmering tensions between Lackawanna lawmakers and 1st Ward residents boiled over Tuesday night, triggering the arrest of one resident who refused a police order to leave the Council Chambers.

Shanon Richardson, of Gates Avenue, was physically removed by police officers from the Council meeting and jailed — a move that angered the 1st Ward’s largely black residents who have long charged that lawmakers ignore their community’s issues.

Residents became irate when Council President Charles Jaworski informed them that, individually, they could address the Council for only 3 minutes instead of 5, and only on issues that were on the Council agenda for that meeting. Both changes had been adopted unanimously at the Council’s Jan. 4 meeting. Richardson was among those who complained about the changes.

“You just cannot tell us . . . that you don’t want to hear what we’re concerned about, because our taxes pay your salary and we put you in a place to make sure that our voice and concerns and every one of our issues are dealt with,” Richardson said.

As Richardson continued with his grievances, he wound up angering Jaworski by accusing lawmakers of facilitating crime in the 1st Ward through neglect.

“You guys are manufacturing crime in the 1st Ward to where you guys have all the jobs. It’s all the same names on the School Board,” Richardson said.

Richardson’s comments were drowned out by other residents shouting in support and Jaworski ordering police to remove him from the Council Chambers. When Richardson refused — protesting that his 3 minutes were not up — he was handcuffed and removed.

That act, in turn, sparked an uproar among residents — some protesting bitterly before leaving the chambers.

Jaworski, meanwhile, called for more police officers as a precaution before adjourning the meeting.

As the 100 people filed out of the meeting, many were surprised to see officers — accompanied by police dogs — watching them closely as they left.

Several residents remained in City Hall, and more then 50 signed a petition protesting Richardson’s arrest.

Richardson’s mother, Sharon Thompson of Steelawanna Avenue, said others remained after the meeting to help raise the $1,600 bail required for Richardson’s release.

Lackawanna police declined Tuesday to confirm the charges against Richardson, but his mother said he was charged with disorderly conduct, obstructing governmental administration, trespassing and resisting arrest.

hmcneil@buffnews.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Councilmembers Say Resident Took Too Much Time To Speak



There was not an empty seat inside Lackawanna City Council Chambers. Residents were there to be heard and voice displeasure about the arrest of a resident who spoke too long at the last meeting.

Shanon Richardson ended up in the slammer because Lackawanna City Council members say he spoke too long when he attempted to criticize them a couple of weeks ago.

This year, the Council approved a new rule limiting public comments to three minutes and the public can speak only about items on the agenda.
This year, the Council approved a new rule limiting public comments to three minutes and the public can speak only about items on the agenda.

Council President Chuck Jaworski says he will bend the rule. "I personally, as Council President for the last two years do not have a timer. If the people are speaking and talking about the agenda items, really there is no time limit."

Residents were able to speak longer than three minutes and about various topics at Monday night's meeting.

John Ingram, a resident of Lackawanna told the Council, "the citizens are not here to fight you, we want to work with you, but if you're looking for a fight, or trying to start a fight, we will fight."

Feast of the Three Kings

Feast of the Three Kings ceremony held
Celebrates day when three kings visited baby Jesus

Updated: Wednesday, 06 Jan 2010, 10:26 PM EST
Published : Wednesday, 06 Jan 2010, 10:26 PM EST
Vic Baker
Posted by: Eli George

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - It is the "Feast of the Three Kings," or the Epiphany: the day when Christians believe the three kings arrived to visit the baby Jesus.

Buffalo Police officer David Rodriguez led the walk of the three kings in front of his mother's West Ferry Street home. It included a live camel. Officer Rodriguez organized the ceremony to honor his mother Carmen for her dedication to keeping a nativity outside her home for many years.

On the Road: A Big Moment for Roosevelt, and Buffalo

By SEWELL CHAN

Dan Cappellazzo for The New York Times
The Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site in Buffalo, where Roosevelt took the oath in 1901 following the assassination of William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition.
On the Road


The City Room bureau chief, Sewell Chan, will be filing dispatches from some of New York State’s other cities this week.
Buffalo’s Lower West Side


BUFFALO — He was only 42, and while his previous jobs — state assemblyman, United States civil service commissioner, New York City police commissioner, assistant secretary of the Navy and governor of New York — represented a steady upward ascent, he was stunned by the circumstances that brought him to this room, a wood-paneled library in a stately home that was once part of an Army base here.

Vice President Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office in Buffalo on the afternoon of Sept. 14, 1901, after President William McKinley died, the victim of an assassin’s bullet.

McKinley had been shot eight days earlier, on Sept. 6, by an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz, while attending the Pan-American Exposition — a six-month-long international fair that represented not only America’s rising industrial might, but also Buffalo’s. Then the nation’s eighth-largest city and fourth-biggest port, Buffalo was at the center of a dense transportation system of ships and rails, and its fortunes seemed to be on the upswing.

The Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site, the house where Roosevelt took the oath, reopened in June after a year and a half of extensive renovations that included the reconstruction of a carriage house, which now serves as a visitor center. The site, at 641 Delaware Avenue in the Allentown section of Buffalo, now includes numerous interactive displays that present Roosevelt’s expansive use of the presidency in proper context.

The renovated exhibition is so new that one large wall text — juxtaposing Roosevelt with President Obama — catches viewers quite by surprise. The pairing is all the more remarkable given that Roosevelt, early in his presidency, invited Booker T. Washington as the first African-American guest officially entertained at the White House.

The staff at the historic site, which is run by Molly Quackenbush, the executive director, and administered by an independent foundation under an agreement with the National Park Service, happily tells visitors about the tense week between the shooting of McKinley and his death.

Immediately after the shooting, Roosevelt, who had been on a speaking tour in Vermont, and members of the cabinet were summoned to Buffalo. There, Roosevelt happened upon Ansley Wilcox, a prosperous businessman who had acquired, through marriage, the house on Delaware Avenue, originally officers’ quarters within the Buffalo Barracks, a giant military installation built between 1838 and 1840.

At first, McKinley appeared to recover, so much so that Roosevelt left Buffalo on Sept. 10, joining his family on a vacation in the Adirondacks. Three days later, while hiking on Mount Marcy, Roosevelt was directed to go to Buffalo a second time; the president had taken a turn for the worse. He arrived in North Creek, the train station nearest to Mount Marcy, just before dawn on Sept. 14, and there learned that McKinley had died. He promptly boarded a train to Albany, then Buffalo.

The room where Roosevelt took the oath from a federal district judge, John R. Hazel — news reporters were allowed, but photographers were not permitted to record the moment — is now equipped with an audio recording that helpfully seeks to recreate the somber chatter of the moments before the oath.

The historic site is not the only federal property dedicated to Roosevelt’s memory. Many New York City residents are familiar with the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site, at 28 East 20th Street. Sagamore Hill, where Roosevelt and his second wife, Edith, made their home, in Oyster Bay on Long Island, is also a national historic site.

Sewell Chan, the bureau chief of the City Room blog and a native of New York City, is on the road this week, filing dispatches from some of New York

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/on-the-road-a-big-moment-for-roosevelt-and-buffalo/

http://www.trsite.org/content/pages/about-foundation

http://archives.buffalorising.com/story/construction_watch_wilcox_carr

http://www.ci.buffalo.ny.us/Home/OurCity/Buffalo_My_City/Buffalo_My_City_Watercolors/28A_Wilcox_Mansion_1993

A ratty Christmas

3,400 NY soldiers heading to Afghanistan

3,400 NY soldiers heading to Afghanistan
Fort Drum soldiers will go in first wave

Updated: Monday, 07 Dec 2009, 6:31 PM EST
Published : Monday, 07 Dec 2009, 6:31 PM EST

WASHINGTON D.C. - The first wave of President Barack Obama's new Afghanistan surge will add about 16,000 U.S. troops who got their orders over the past few days, the Pentagon announced Monday.

About 1,500 Marines from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina will leave for Afghanistan later this month, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters. He would not be precise about when those troops arrive, but military sources have said the first forces are expected on the ground by Christmas.

After the first of the year, the Marines begin sending another 6,200 from Lejeune, Whitman said, and 800 from Camp Pendleton in California.

The Army will also begin sending in the first of its forces - a training brigade from Fort Drum with about 3,400 members. Whitman said about 4,100 support forces from various places will also deploy early next year.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates signed the deployment orders last week. They cover a little more than half the 30,000 additional troops approved by Obama as part of an overhauled war plan announced last week.

The overhaul followed three months of deliberations about whether and how much to expand on an already record U.S. fighting force of about 70,000.

Not covered in Monday's announcement are the expected deployments of two Army brigades from Fort Campbell in Kentucky. Those and additional training or support units are expected to be announced in a second wave of orders in the coming weeks.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was visiting Fort Campbell and Camp Lejeune on Monday to speak to troops expected to deploy as part of the new strategy.