Whether Rep. Tom Reynolds decides to run for re-election again or not, the smart money throughout Western New York is on Jon Powers to become the 26th District's new congressman in November.
A decorated war hero who served with the Army's 1st Armored Division in the defense of Baghdad, the Clarence Democrat got a firsthand look at the disastrous results of the brutal foreign policy decisions foisted on the American people by the Bush administration and its congressional lackeys like Reynolds.
He vowed then that, when he returned home, he would do everything he could to help correct the catastrophic course the Republicans had set.
Last Tuesday -- Super Tuesday to the television pundits -- Democrats taking part in what amounted to a national primary election outnumbered Republican voters by a margin of 2-to-1.
Similar turnouts are expected in November.
In January, when Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, they will need solid majorities in both houses of Congress to undo the terrible damage done to the republic under President George W. Bush. Jon Powers -- schoolteacher, war hero and community leader -- fits the bill nicely.
One thing neither they nor this country will need is tired old GOP political hacks in the mold of Reynolds. His record over the past eight years has been a disgrace, his votes have been partly responsible for bringing us to the brink of economic disaster, and his likely Republican presidential candidate, the elderly John McCain, recently told a crowd of supporters that the United States remaining in Iraq for 100 years "would be fine with me."
Closer to home, it was great to see the Niagara Falls Historic Preservation Commission moving forward with plans to designate Holy Trinity Catholic Church on Falls Street as a local landmark despite pressure from the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo to delay the process.
Anyone who would think of demolishing the beautiful and historic church needs his head examined. While I don't believe that same status should be granted to the other buildings on the church campus, the church itself should be sacrosanct.
Back in April of 1935, Holy Trinity was the scene of 17-year-old Stanley Pluzdrak's funeral. Pluzdrak, one of the ringleaders of the infamous "Little Dillingers" gang here, met his end in the electric chair at Sing Sing for the brutal slaying of Buffalo police Lt. George Uhl.
Built by the Franciscans in 1907 using local stone and classic Gothic architecture, Holy Trinity has been the scene of thousands of weddings, baptisms and funerals over the years. Recently the building was beautifully renovated to commemorate its 100th anniversary.
I've been critical of the Historic Preservation Committee in the past, and the old Holy Trinity school, the barracks-like dormitory building and nun's quarters are in pretty bad shape and have little architectural value in comparison, but the church itself must be saved from the wrecker's ball.
To do any less would be a crime against the city and its heritage.
M is for the many things she gave me, they say, and a boy's love for his mother should know no bounds. Well, almost no bounds. Let's put it this way: If your mother asked you to go rob a bank with her, would you do it?
That was exactly the conundrum facing 20-year-old Todd Allen of Lewiston recently, and cops say he came down on the side of doing as his mother asked. Remembering that R is right, and right she'll always be, Allen helped his mom, Kelli Allen, rob six area banks starting in 2005, police said.
Both mother and son pleaded not guilty to numerous charges last week, but odds are that when the facts are put together before a jury, Todd will likely find they spell "prison" rather than anything more sentimental.
Got a big kick last week when a Lockport elementary school teacher, who's been arrested for drunk driving three times in the past year and convicted once, said she was "sick and tired" of the public scrutiny she's been subjected to.
"I don't even know if I can go to Tops without people looking at me," teacher Marcy Cole complained bitterly last week.
I know how she feels. The sidelong glances I receive for being editor of the Niagara Falls Reporter often make me wonder whether going to Tops, or even Wegmans, will be more than I can endure. And people not only look at me, sometimes they actually speak to me.
That's right, editing the Reporter can be worse than being popped for DUI three times in a year. Sometimes I'd rather be in jail. It's like a sentence that never ends.
Perhaps celebrity journalist A.J. Benza summed it up best a few years back.
"Fame," he said. "It's a bitch."
There's a move afoot to name the city's new court building after revered state Supreme Court Justice Jacqueline Koshian, the Niagara Falls native who served with great distinction for more than 36 years before the debilitating illness that was to take her life forced her into retirement in 2001.
It's about time.
A pioneering woman who was elected just six years after Birdie Amsterdam of New York City became the first woman to successfully run for the state Supreme Court, Koshian bravely endured her medical condition without complaint, retiring from the bench only when her illness virtually kept her from leaving her Buffalo Avenue home. She certainly deserves to be honored in her hometown.
"Judge Koshian's wisdom and elegance have enhanced the image of the judiciary in Western New York," Justice Vincent Doyle said at the time of her retirement. "We are losing a fine judge who is admired and respected for her knowledge of the law, fairness and commitment to excellence. She will be greatly missed and not easily replaced."
Finally, the Redhead and I always watch the "Headlines" segment on Jay Leno's show every Monday night to get a laugh out of mistakes other people make in their newspapers, as well as humorous accounts of police incidents he calls "White Trash News."
Our ears perked up a couple of weeks ago when that segment featured an item from the Lockport Union-Sun and Journal. It turned out to be the story of a man who threw his wife's holiday roast into the toilet after she'd thrown some ribs he was making in the garbage, but in my mind's eye I was convinced the late-night host was about to comment on the newspaper's Alabama ownership.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Feb. 12 2008 |