Albany Times Union (Albany, NY) back issues from August 1997:
LOBBYISTS TRY TO PUT STAMP ON BUDGET.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: SARAH METZGAR Capitol bureau AlbanyState leaders may have announced a budget deal on Tuesday night, but the haggling is far from over. For many lobbyists and advocates, the real deal-making has just begun. Over the next several days, they will be burning ...
WHITNEY CAMP SOLD AGAIN.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: BRUCE A. SCRUTON Staff writer Saratoga SpringsCamp Bliss, deep in the Adirondacks and right in the middle of 15,000 acres of land the state is interested in buying, was sold again on Thursday to The Nature Conservancy. But the agreement between the ...
EX-STUDENTS WIN $2.3M IN SEX SUIT.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: TRACEY TULLY Staff writer Albany The Galway Central School District agreed Thursday to pay $2.3 million to two women who were sexually abused by a teacher and filed a lawsuit claiming that school administrators knew the man had made improper advances toward students ...
COPS STOP ALLEGED TERRORIST PLOT.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: TOM HAYS and RICHARD PYLE Associated Press NEW YORK -- Police seized five deadly explosive devices in a Brooklyn apartment Thursday. A suspect told police that he and his accomplices had planned to use them in an attack on the city's subways, prosecutors said. ...
REPORT: CUNANAN DID NOT HAVE AIDS.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: Associated Press MIAMI -- Suspected serial killer Andrew Cunanan did not have the AIDS virus when he killed himself aboard a Miami Beach houseboat, The Miami Herald reported in today's editions. Three law enforcement sources, who asked not to be identified, ...
WARD LOOKS TO CLOSE 44 STORES.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: Associated Press CHICAGO -- Montgomery Ward & Co. filed a plan Thursday to close 44 appliance and electronics stores, which would eliminate 3,900 jobs, as it tries to emerge from bankruptcy-court protection. Ward said the Lechmere, Home Image by Lechmere and ...
BABY TALK MAY HELP BABIES TALK.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: Associated Press WASHINGTON -- All that baby talk that adults use infants isn't just silly cooing-scientists say it appears to be vital in helping babies' brains absorb key building blocks of language. And this high-pitched, drawn-out speech is universal, ...
SENATE HEARINGS END WITH SHIFT OF FOCUS TO COMMITTEE MEMBER.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: Dallas Morning News WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee wrapped up a four-week set of campaign finance hearings Thursday by exploring a sensitive side issue: A proposed private investigation of a committee member, Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla. The committee learned ...
CONGRESS SPEEDILY APPROVES BUDGET, TAX CUTS PROPOSALS.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: Washington Post WASHINGTON -- With stunning speed and little dissent, Congress on Thursday whippedthrough final votes on a five-year balanced-budget and tax-cut plan and then headed home for summer break. There was little serious debate or analysis on the ...
JANE HEARN'S DECISION WAS A DIFFICULT ONE.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: EDWARD E. LIVINGSTON Albany I write in reference to the sentencing of Jane Hearn and the lack of compassion shown by the sentence meted out by Judge Scarano. This person knowingly took her husband's life because he asked her to. Sure, she made a wrong call, ...
ONLY GOD HAS CONTROL OVER LIFE AND DEATH.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: SISTER JOAN SCHERMERHORN Latham On Friday, July 25, two articles on Jane Hearn's sentencing for the death of her husband appeared in the Times Union. An editorial presented the view that her sentence for heeding her husband's wish to die was a ``heavy one'' -- ...
COMPUTERS AREN'T AS BAD AS ROONEY SAYS.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: KEN STERN Albany stern@csc.albany.edu Sometimes you have only to know a little about a subject to know how little columnists (and often reporters) know about what they are writing about. Andy Rooney's July 26 column about computers is like one of those puzzle pictures ...
HIGH SCHOOL MAJORS MAY BE PROBLEMATIC.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: KIMBERLY HARVEY Delmar State Education Commissioner Richard Mills is terribly misguided in thinking that by having high school students declare a specific course of study, similar to a major in college, it will be beneficial to them. The proposal defeats the very purpose ...
NYRA WANTS TO FOCUS ON ITS REAL MISSION.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: KENNETH NOE JR. Chairman, New York Racing Association Saratoga The New York Racing Association is in the black. A supplemental franchise fee of $3,620,850, as required by the racing law, was paid to the New York State Thoroughbred Capital Investment Fund (CIF). The ...
IMPORTING STATES SHOULD NOT TAX SHIPMENTS.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: RONALD G. MACOMBER Delmar During the recent moratorium on sales tax for clothing, media reports implied that it was not normally necessary to pay a New York equivalent sales tax on shipments from out of state. The state Department of Taxation and Finance has advised me ...
ROONEY ON THE MARK WITH COMPUTER COMMENTS.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: JACK WANDELL Albany In March of 1992, aided by my trusty Remington typewriter (a treasured gift received more than 20 years previous from my longtime friend, the Mohawk artist John Kahionhes Fadden), I took commentator/columnist Andy Rooney to task on your ``Op Ed'' ...
TAKE MR. ARAFAT TO TASK.(MAIN)(Editorial)
Aug 01, 1997 ... One of the many casualties of the latest round of deadly bombings in the Mideast appears to be Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat. By all accounts, he's losing his authority and credibility. And if he isn't in control of the Palestinian movement, just who is? From the terrorists ...
DEATH PENALTY INEQUITY.(MAIN)(Editorial)
Aug 01, 1997 ... New York's death penalty law has been back on the books for barely two years, and already there are potentially jarring inequities in the pursuit of what has come to pass for justice. Capital punishment is being sought in an uneven and discriminatory way. Upstate prosecutors are twice as ...
SILENCE ABOUT SEX IS DESTRUCTIVE.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: ANNA RUNKLE In our national obsession with abortion, we have evaded our real problem: an epidemic rate of unintended pregnancy. Sixty percent of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended, a rate two to four times higher than in other industrialized ...
FATAL ERRORS OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: TOM TEEPEN On June 29, 1972, the Supreme Court found the states' death penalty laws unconstitutional. Executions were being ordered arbitrarily, the justices said. The practice was rife with racial bias. Legal representation for the poor was atrociously bad. ...
THE TROUBLING PRICE OF STATE BUDGET SECRECY.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: BETSY MCCAUGHEY ROSS If you visited the state Capitol, you would be troubled to see how your tax dollars are actually spent. The state's top three politicians -- the governor, Assembly speaker, and Senate majority leader -- make the spending decisions in budget ...
AT THE END OF ONE'S CYBERROPE.(MAIN)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: ELLEN GOODMAN BOSTON -- The story came over the AP wire in one pristine paragraph. There it was, the Zeitgeist honed down to a solitary police blotter entry: ``A man was coaxed out of his home in Issaquah, Washington, by police officers after he pulled a gun ...
BOARD BEARS THE STAMP OF STUPIDITY.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: DAN LYNCH If you live in the Town of East Greenbush and you're curious about the price of pettiness, you should know it's roughly $4.50. That's the figure paid by each of that suburban community's 14,000 residents for the treatment accorded one Roberta Reno ....
IT'S HARD TO BREAK SARATOGA'S TRACK RECORD IN AUGUST.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: KENNETH C. CROWE II Staff writer Saratoga SpringsThe New York Racing Association markets Saratoga Race Course as ``the summer place to be,'' but for most racing fans, the traditional start of the season doesn't come till August. Since the racing season ...
THE WEB SERVES AS STUMP IN ALBANY PRIMARY RACE.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: JAY JOCHNOWITZ Staff writer Albany The last Democratic primary of the 20th century has both contenders for City Hall's top job engaged in Albany's first online campaign. Though their approaches are markedly different, both Mayor Jerry Jennings and ...
SENIORS APPLAUD REDUCED ESTATE TAX.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: BECHETTA JACKSON and EDWARD FITZPATRICK Staff writers Albany Ed Johnson was thinking of moving from Albany to Florida, at least in part because of all the ``rigamarole'' and expense of New York's estate tax. ``If you have just a little bit of money, it ...
REGION'S DRY SPELL TOUGHEST ON FARMERS.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: ELIZABETH BENJAMIN Staff writer The string of wonderfully warm and sunny days has made the summer of '97 a delight. But the rain-free days have farmers and green-lawn worshipers worried. So little rainfall over the past few months -- including the ...
SCHUMER WAR CHEST AT $6.5M-PLUS.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: Associated Press ALBANY -- U.S. Rep. Charles Schumer, seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Alfonse D'Amato next year, reported Thursday that he has more than $6.5 million in his campaign account. Geraldine Ferraro, who plans to ...
AIRING STATE NEWS.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... ``Legislative Gazette,'' tonight at 8 on WAMC Northeast Public Radio, 90.3 FM in Albany and 93.1 FM in Troy. Host David Galletly focuses on the state budget and its impact on taxes, education, welfare and prisons. ``New York Week In Review,'' tonight at 10:15 on ...
LAWMAKER URGES FEDERAL PROBE OF STATE PRISON UPRISING.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: Associated Press ALBANY -- Federal officials should investigate wheter a disturbance at a state prison may have been sparked by brutality against inmates and racist activities among guards, a state lawmaker said Thursday. Assemblyman Daniel Feldman, chairman ...
HMO AGREES TO PAY $1 MILLION IN INTEREST.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: JOHN CAHER State editor AlbanyThe largest HMO operating in New York state has agreed to pay $1 million in interest to resolve complaints alleging the company dragged its feet in paying doctors and hospitals. The agreement between the state and Oxford ...
LET RACING BE RUN FOR PROFIT, STATE URGED.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: EDWARD FITZPATRICK Staff writer Saratoga Springs A think tank on Thursday called for the state to consider deregulating its horse-racing industry and allowing a for-profit company to run tracks such as Saratoga Race Course. The Center to Preserve Racing ...
COUPLE ACCUSED OF LEAVING 4 CHILDREN IN SQUALID HOME.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: Associated Press BROCKPORT -- A couple were charged Thursday with endangering the welfare of their four young children by allowing their home to become littered with trash and sewage and infested with maggots. While the family was away on vacation, a neighbor ...
PRINCIPAL'S JOB IS IN DANGER OVER FAILURE TO REPORT ABUSE.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: Associated Press NEW YORK -- The Board of Education's Special Commissioner of Investigation called for the firing of a Brooklyn school principal Thursday for failing to notify authorities about a student who was abused at home. Special Commissioner Edward F ....
TAKE A FEW SWINGS WHILE YOU WAIT FOR THE BUS.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: Associated Press - NEW YORK -- Fore. The Port Authority Board of Commissioner approved a plan Thursday to build golf driving ranges on the roof of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan. Duffers will be able to practice their strokes ...
CAPITAL REGION ALMANAC.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... This almanac of community news provides coverage of local governments, local courts and police calls from selected communities in our region. Government listings focus on communities in Rensselaer and southern Saratoga counties, and police calls are taken from the actual police blotters ...
2 DOGS ATTACK, PUT BOY IN HOSPITAL.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: BRUCE A. SCRUTON Staff writer Coeymans An 8-year-old boy was attacked by two dogs Wednesday evening as he accompanied his father at a neighborhood mechanic's garage, town police said. Brian Daggett Jr. was reported in fair condition at Albany Medical Center ...
AMUSEMENT PARK PHYSICS CLASS TURNS PLAYLAND INTO A WORKSHOP.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: CHRIS STURGIS Staff writer Colonie What could a child possibly learn from the Tilt-a-Whirl at Hoffman's Playland? Ten-year-old David Scheffer of Schalmont Middle School in Rotterdam said he learned that those hard turns exert a lateral acceleration four times ...
SUSPECT BELATEDLY PLEADS GUILTY.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: TRACEY TULLY Staff writer Albany In an abrupt about-face a day into his trial, a 19-year-old city man pleaded guilty to a bizarre robbery whose victims were hog-tied and sprayed with Mace in a basement apartment on Clinton Avenue. Matthew Parsons ...
LAWMAKER CALLS FOR REGIONAL TAX BREAK.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: KENNETH C. CROWE II Staff writer Ballston Spa Capital Region counties should eliminate their sales tax on clothing and launch a marketing campaign to attract consumers to the ``tax-free zone,'' a Saratoga County supervisor said Thursday. The proposal by ...
CONRAIL BACK TAXES A WINDFALL FOR CITY.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: MARV CERMAK Staff writer Schenectady The city has received $220,723 in back property taxes from Conrail as part of a U.S. District Court-ordered settlement. Michael Brockbank, the city's chief attorney, said Conrail had filed a class action suit in 1993 ...
RENSSELAER COUNTY UNION TO VOTE ON PACT.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: JOE PICCHI Staff writer TroyRensselaer County's estimated 1,100 unionized employees would receive a 12.5 percent wage increase over a four-year period under a contract agreement announced Thursday. The tentative contract now awaits a ratification vote by ...
MAN FACES PENALTY OVER PAPERS.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: JANE GOTTLIEB Staff writer Albany A Cohoes man being sued over purported fraudulent business practices now faces possible criminal penalties for failing to present court-ordered documents. In March, the state Supreme Court had ordered Anthony Andersen, who ...
ANTI-MEAT ACTIVISTS VANDALIZE MARKET.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: LARA JAKES Staff writer AlbanyYou'd never call the vandals that sprayed graffiti on an Ontario Street market Thursday meatheads. Workers showed up at the Emil Meister's Meat Market to find angry red messages reading, ``Meat is murder,'' ``Stop the ...
REASSESSMENT WOES HIT DISTRICT.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: BOB GARDINIER Staff writer Clifton ParkAn overwhelming number of successful challenges to a property tax reassessment two years ago will cost the Shenendehowa Central School district nearly $500,000 now, with more costs later on. In a memo to the board of ...
CSEA RATIFIES SIX-YEAR CONTRACT.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: MARV CERMAK Staff writer Schenectady Salary givebacks will guarantee the jobs of Civil Service Employees Association blue-collar workers in a new six-year contract approved by the city school district board of education. The contract was ratified Tuesday ...
IMPACT REPORT ON RETAIL CENTER READY.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: Joe Picchi - North Greenbush A draft environmental impact report on the proposed Home Depot project has been completed and is available for review by the public over the next 45 days, town officials said Thursday. Developer John Nigro is seeking to ...
BURGLARS TIE UP 4 LIVING IN TROY APARTMENT.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: Lara Jakes - Troy Two men wearing ski masks and brandishing a sawed-off shotgun broke into the second-floor apartment of 152 Hill St. on Thursday and tied up a woman and three young children with duct tape, police said. The men left within minutes without ...
ZWACK WON'T OPPOSE PETITIONS.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: JOE PICCHI Staff writer Troy Lawsuits brought by Rensselaer County Executive Henry F. Zwack to throw out the nominating petitions for his opponent, Democrat Marilyn K. Douglas, on the Conservative and Independence Party lines were withdrawn Thursday. The ...
TROOPERS SAY TROY MAN DIED AFTER BEING HIT ON THRUWAY.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... KINGSTON -- State Police on Thursday said it was a Troy man who was struck and killed as he walked along the Thurway late Wednesday. Theodore J. Fila Jr., 44, was walking along the northbound lanes at about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday when a tractor trailer struck and threw him into ...
MAN CHARGED IN HIT-AND-RUN ON COLLAR CITY BRIDGE.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... GREEN ISLAND -- State Police charged an 18-year-old Troy man with crashing his car into another vehicle on the Collar City Bridge and then fleeing. Investigators believe Jason Santiago of 878 River St. was traveling too fast Wednesday night when he struck the other car, forcing ...
CONVICTED KILLER'S PETITION TO OVERTURN VERDICT DENIED.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: Joe Picchi - TROY -- A midlevel appeals court Thursday rejected convicted murderer Duane Gabriel's contention that a Rensselaer County jury verdict against him should be overturned. Gabriel argued that the jury's verdict convicting him of two counts of ...
DRUG-SALE SUSPECT UNHARMED BY LEAP.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: BRUCE A. SCRUTON Staff writer Amsterdam A 19-year-old city man, wanted by police on charges he sold heroin, jumped from a second-floor window as police closed in on Thursday, officers said. Clifford Smith Jr. of Hibbard Street was uninjured in the jump. He ...
KIWANIS PRESIDENT CHARGED WITH STEALING FROM CLUB.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: Bruce Scruton LAKE GEORGE -- The president of the Lake George Kiwanis Club faces felony charges for allegedly writing a $1,000 check to himself, but telling the club treasurer the check was for $11, State Police said. William R. Perry, 57, of Morgan Court, was ...
SCHENECTADY POLICE TO JOIN CRACKDOWN ON ROAD RAGE.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: Elizabeth Benjamin SCHENECTADY -- Following in the footsteps of Albany County, the Schenectady Police Department plans to participate in a statewide crackdown on speeding and aggressive driving. But theirs will be a month-long initiative, not a day-long blitz ...
SCHENECTADY MAN JAILED IN HOLDUP OF MARKET.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... SCHENECTADY -- City police on Thursday arrested a 23-year-old city man in connection with a robbery at a local Cumberland Farms last month. James F. Flath of McClellan Street is charged with a single count of first-degree robbery. Police allege that on July 19, he entered the ...
FOGHAT FANS IN SYNC WITH TRIP BACK TO '70S.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: GREG HAYMES Staff writer It's been 25 years since the British blues-rock band Foghat released their self-titled debut album, and that alone must be worth some kind of celebration. On the other hand, it's been nearly 20 years since the band scored anything ...
TROY COUNCIL TALKS OF CRACKDOWN ON PUBLIC DRINKING.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: JOE PICCHI Staff writer TroyPlans to crack down on widespread drinking in public places by increasing fines, and adding possible jail time, under the open container law was discussed Thursday by the City Council finance committee. The plan, as outlined by ...
INSIDE ALBANY JAIL, TWO MORE INMATE ASSAULTS.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: LARA JAKES Staff writer Colonie Three Albany County jail inmates -- including one already charged with murder -- are facing assault charges for two separate incidents that left their victims in need of stitches, Albany County James Campbell said Thursday. ...
LEO THE LEAP FINISHES FIRST IN BATTLE OF FROGS.(CAPITAL REGION)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: ELIZABETH BENJAMIN Staff writer Malta Some people think champions are made through years of strenuous training and unyielding dedication. All Allison Marre needed was a quick pair of hands and unwavering faith in a cold-blooded jumper named ``Leo.'' ...
THE MELODIES OF MANCINI REMAIN AS MOVING AS EVER.(CAPITAL REGION)(Concert review)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: STEVE BARNES Staff writer Movie theme music helps magnify the audience's feelings as they watch the film for which it was written. The effect works the other way as well: Play movie music during a concert and the audience brings with it an automatic familiarity and ...
BIG CHANCE IN LAND OF GIANTS.(SPORTS)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: STEVE CAMPBELL ALBANY -- The first job out of college was working for his father in the landscaping business. The worst job was in a coffee factory, loading 70-pound bag after 70-pound bag of beans into trucks. In between, David Patten tried his hand as an ...
BRIGADE OF GUARDS WINS STEEPLECHASE.(SPORTS)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: MATT GRAVES Staff writer SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Brigade of Guards overcame a three-time Eclipse Award winner and a claim of foul by the rider of even-money favorite Mario to capture the second running of the $53,500 A.P. Smithwick Memorial steeplechase Thursday at Saratoga ...
CARDS' EFFORT EARNS A.(SPORTS)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: Associated Press - The rumors became reality Thursday night when the Oakland Athletics sent Mark McGwire to the St. Louis Cardinals for three pitchers. Both sides took turns confirming and denying the deal in the days leading up to the trading deadline, with ...
DISCUS RECORD TOSSED ADIRONDACK STRIKES GOLD.(SPORTS)
Aug 01, 1997 ... Byline: PETE DOUGHERTY Staff writer The 20th annual Empire State Games opened Thursday on what proved to be a perfect Summer day. Among the gold medals Adirondack collected was one by Summer Pierson of Niskayuna in a record-setting performance. Pierson threw the ...