Anchoring the business
By Jen Radomski
After being in the business for over ten years, Jodi Johnston has had many different experiences to get her where she is today as an anchor at Channel 2.
Stringing cable for the live truck, working overnight shifts, and doing any grunt work that is needed in the newsroom are just a few of the things Jodi did while striving for her goal.
Her ambition was to be a successful, accomplished, on-air journalist that was respected in the community.
One of the hardest things for incoming journalists to learn is how to balance both a career and home life.
“You have to be willing to make those sacrifices and be motivated enough to keep yourself going on the schedule and to keep balance in your life. You have to be good about finding time. It is a learning process and I’m still learning,” says Johnston.
Most of the time this business is anything but the usual 9-to-5 job that people may think.
“You can work unusual hours, you can work very long hours. I think the key is number one having a supportive family background. I have a husband who from day one knew what I did and was supportive of it, accepted it and understood it,” explains Johnston.
Volunteerism is another aspect of this business that can be considered almost essential, especially for Jodi.
“If there’s one thing that I feel passionately about it’s being involved in your community. Especially in this job I think that it comes back to you in so many ways,” expressed Johnston.
Jodi is personally involved with numerous community organizations which include:
Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
American Red Cross
Camp Good Days
Juvenile Diabetes Foundation
National Kidney Foundation
“I feel so strongly about volunteerism and finding something you feel strongly about and being involved. You can’t do enough of giving back,” she said.
Eric Chadwick, a Lancaster resident who has been a fan of her said, “You can tell that she truly cares about the community and people in it, it shows. She definitely has a lot to offer and I have a lot of respect for who she is and what she does.”
Jodi also says: “It takes a lot of hard work to get into this industry. A liberal arts background is really important because what we do every day is speak a little bit about a lot of subjects. I think many times too many communication students become too involved with English and broadcasting.”
Improv classes are also great to take as a way of learning how to deal with real-life situations.
It is also important to know that when getting into this business journalists have to be able to learn to have thick skin, which Johnston says can be very tough.
“It can be very frustrating. You are in the public eye and it is all part of the ball game. When you throw yourself up there, on stage, people will take shots. It’s all about being centered, it’s all about focusing on your job and doing your best at it every day,” she said.
Johnston explains how she gets e-mails almost daily from viewers explaining how they feel about how she looks in yellow, or how her hair looked that day and so on.
“The public pressure and deadline pressure we face every day, the pressure not to make mistakes when you’re on air, the pressure to be first to have information on a story, it’s really a lot that comes at you every day,” she explained.
Keep up with Jodi by checking out WGRZ.com to read her stories or get an inside look of what she has to say checking out her blog.
Contact: Jenradom25@yahoo.com
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Blue bikes bring alternative transportation to Buffalo
By Chris Coughlin
 Graphic courtesy of Justin Booth
Blue hubs with bicycles to match are gradually bringing a new form of transportation to Buffalo. For a small donation of time or money to the Buffalo Blue Bicycle group, anyone can borrow these bikes to use for up to two days.
This program was developed by Justin Booth three years ago. It began with a bicycle recycling program aimed at children in which they would take old bicycles from the side of the road on garbage days and fix them.
“I have a three-car garage and it was stuffed front to back, top to bottom with bikes,” Booth says. “I didn’t want to throw them out again because that would defeat the purpose.”
It was then that Booth discovered the Toronto Yellow Bike Program, an initiative that promoted cycling in the community over the use of cars for transportation. He sought to bring this to Buffalo.
The program is multi-faceted in its objectives. These include:
- An alternative means of transportation in light of rising gas prices.
- Promote physical activity, especially for children.
- Easy access to bicycles to those who do not have one
Booth says that the challenge with this program is to really get as many bicycles out there in good working condition. Having them in key locations makes the program into a more convenient mode of transportation.
Most recently, these hubs have been placed throughout both campuses at the University at Buffalo. Other hubs are located around the city:
- Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus
- Buffalo Place
- Buffalo Psychiatric Center
- Buffalo State College
Volunteers gather at Old Precinct 17 on Colvin Avenue Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons to strip and fix old bicycles. Anybody is welcomed there to donate old bicycles or to help out.
“There is a wide range of people coming to this place,” Booth says. “There are many ages, backgrounds, and ethnicities and for a bicycle to break down barriers, we have really accomplished something.”
Mike Coahn has been fixing bicycles for a month with the group because of his discovery of the Web site. In the short time he has been there, he has seen the group change.
“More and more people are joining the group,” Coahn says. “I have certainly seen it grow in the past month.”
The coming winter does not mean an end to the group’s activities. Volunteers often meet for potluck dinners, documentary screenings, and discussions related to cycling and its role in the community.
“We keep people engaged in the winter,” Booth says. “Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean you can’t go for a ride.”
Contact: cougcr64@mail.buffalostate.edu
Volunteer stripping and fixing an old bicycle. Photo courtesy of Justin Booth.
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Tyler Perry’s ‘Why Did I get Married?’ teaches life lessons
By Nicole O’Dierno
Tyler Perry has done it again. His new film, “Why Did I Get Married?”, which was released Oct. 12, pulled in $21.4 million in its opening weekend, topping the weekend box office hits.
The movie centers around four couples who meet each year for a vacation to discuss their marriages and address issues with one another:
- Dianne and Terry, played by Sharon Leal and Tyler Perry, are too busy to find time for each other. Will Diane continue to choose her career over her family?
- Sheila and Mike, played by Jill Scott and Richard Jones, don’t have a happy marriage. Although Mike constantly puts her down for her weight, Sheila prays that her marriage will work. Will she feel the same way after she realizes that her husband is betraying her with her friend?
- Angela and Marcus, played by Tasha Smith and Michael Jai White, are always fighting. She is overbearing, mouthy, and constantly telling him how worthless he is to her. How much longer will he put up with it?
- Dr. Patricia and Gavin, played by Janet Jackson and Malik Yoba, seem to have it together the most out of all four couples. However, in trying to cope with a tragedy that neither one can talk about, will they be strong enough to get past it together?
Throughout the weekend, problems arise, secrets are revealed, and tempers flare. As each couple face their marital problems, they have to make a decision: Is it worth it? The movie will have you laughing out loud one minute and crying the next.
In a review in the New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis said: “More than anything, a Tyler Perry movie is an interactive experience, and ‘Why Did I Get Married?’ is no exception. At the screening I attended, it was often difficult to hear the dialogue between bouts of enthusiastic applause and shouts of ‘You go, girl!’ “
“Why Did I Get Married” is playing in the following local theaters:
- AMC Maple Ridge 8 (Amherst)
- Dipson Market Arcade Film & Arts (Buffalo)
- Regal Elmwood Center 16 (Buffalo)
- Dipson McKinley Mall 6 (Hamburg)
- Flix Superplex Movie Theatre (Lancaster)
- Regal Hollywood Stadium 12 (Niagara Falls)
- Regal Transit Center Stadium 18 (Williamsville)
E-mail: pattywackpink86@aol.com
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University police looking for new officers
By David Kelting
The New York State University police is looking to find future employees when New York state holds its bi-annual civil service exam. The exam will be held on Nov. 17 with a location yet to be determined.
Lt. Sam Lunetta of the Buffalo State University Police Department says that campus departments are always looking to hire someone. With three upcoming retirements and recent promotions, BSC will be looking to hire about 3 to 5 officers to add to their force. So what does it take to get considered for a university job?
“You really need to get a good score,” said Lunetta. “Anywhere between 85 and 100, but you're definitely going to get yourself an interview if you score in the 90s.”
Those candidates fortunate enough to score well on the initial exam will be called in for an interview. Those candidates must then complete a number of other exams:
- A physical agility exam, called the “Cooper test,” made up of three components
- sit-ups
- push-ups
- a distance run
- A psychological exam
- A thorough full-body physical exam
As for a location for the exam, Lunetta says exams are usually held in local public schools. He also said that some people don't realize that there are other jobs that candidates can apply for that hold exams that same day. Lunetta said it's all the same exam, so while you must file separately for each position, you only have to take one exam.
So why choose the University police? Lunetta, who has been a member of the Buffalo State police force for the past 31 years, has had the privilege of watching the group transform from campus security to a complete police department.
“During that time period it had always had the peace officer status,” Lunetta said. “We also had a lot of jurisdiction, the legalities were under the education laws of the United States.”
Lunetta says that now they have full police department responsibilities and the department now is no different from any other police department. Lunetta says the university setting is very different from the setting at any other agency.
“The policing in the university setting is very unique, it's a culture in its own,” Lunetta said. “ Because we're always dealing with the younger element, we have our own unique problems.”
Lunetta continued by saying that the college is a reflection of the community. BSC is even different from other colleges as well. Lunetta said the department recently had officers transfer over from the University at Buffalo and have noticed a difference as well. BSC has a different cultural aspect and with it being in the city, it has different problems that other universities may not have. A few of the problems include, different types of crime and even having to watch out for crime in the surrounding community making it's way onto the campus community.
Lunetta talked about the different advantages that the university setting provides . He says the job is not very money driven. Instead, the job has other benefits, and while crime does occur, Lunetta says the university setting allows for opportunities to do things that an officer may not get the chance to do in other agencies.
- working with students and faculty
- service calls
- host educational programming
- work with other agencies, mostly the Buffalo Police Department
- land “Mercy” helicopter flights on campus.
Lt David Baumgartner of the Town of Tonawanda Police Department, agrees with Lunetta. He said that that officers in other agencies have to deal with all aspects. The calls other agencies receive are both the same and different from what University departments receive. The calls other agencies receive pertain to a group of all ages, whereas the University police receive calls that pertain to a younger group. Calls received by other departments can also be more serious or more simple then calls the University police receive.
University police wages and contracts have become very competitive in the state, Lunetta says. And while everyone wants to be hired on the bigger campuses where more may occur, Lunetta says that other schools have just as much of their own unique activity.
Applications and the $30 registration fee for the civil service exam must be sent out and post marked no later than Oct. 15. For more information on the exam and the University police, visit your local campus departments or check out these sites:
http://www.cs.state.ny.us/examannouncements/announcements/oc/24-776.cfm
http://www.buffalostate.edu/offices/police/
http://www.public-safety.buffalo.edu
http://www.policequiz.com/?gclid=COKD36XonY8CFRGoGgodv16mfQ
http://www.nonsolofitness.com/en/articoli/articoli.asp?articolo=3
Contact: keltda88@mail.buffalostate.edu
Lt. Sam Lunetta and the BSC University police will be looking to hire about 3 new members following the Nov. 17 police exam. |
Process of accreditation causes several changes in the communication department
By Nicole O’Dierno
 Ron Smith, the communication department chair at Buffalo State College, has had his hands full these days with the amount of changes being made as it goes through the process of accreditation.
 Smith began teaching at Buffalo State in 1990 and has taught over 15 communication courses. Before coming here, he served as a public relations adjunct at Syracuse University and was also a tutor and teaching assistant in English in the San Francisco public school system. He worked for ten years as communications and public affairs director with the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse and was a reporter and editor with Grit Publishing Company in PA. He is the author of several professional books and frequently presents workshops on public relations and marketing communication.
Deborah Silverman, a public communication professor at Buffalo State, said of Smith: “He is diligent, focused on the future, and provides terrific leadership for our department- no easy task given the large number of students and faculty.”
In order to become aligned with other accredited schools, a policy was instituted two years ago that put a cap on the amount of credits communication students were allowed to take within the major.
Smith said: “Because we’re a bachelor of arts degree, we need to make sure that students are taking primarily courses in the liberal arts, rather than overloading in communication.”
Rather than looking at it as a maximum of 40 credit hours allowed in communication courses, it is actually a minimum of 80 credit hours that have to come from courses outside the communication department. Overall, students must have a total of 120 credit hours in order to graduate. When this cap was put into effect, several speech and criticism courses were changed from communication (COM) to speech criticism (SPC).
“Those courses don’t have to count toward the maximum of the number of COM courses that can be taken so it gives the students more flexibility,” Smith said.
Also, there are three different versions of general education requirements that can cause confusion:
“Each of these have different sets of requirements,” Smith said. “Which is really confusing for students and for faculty because there are just so many different versions so we have to make sure that the students are in the right version to start with.”
The general education requirements are retroactive, which means that students follow the version that was in place the year they started at the college. Even if a new version is instituted, their requirements will not change. However, if the newer version is more beneficial to the student, the student can opt to be put into that version.
Some things the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC) looks at are:
- Faculty scholarship- Are the faculty involved in presentations? Are they publishing books or peer-reviewed articles?
- Diversity- Is the department ethnically diverse as far as students and faculty? Is there curriculum that discusses diversity and communication with different publics?
Although the department’s full-time faculty is not very mixed as far as diversity, there are a lot of diverse part-time faculty, as well as a very mixed blend of guest speakers. As far as the ethnicity of students in the department, according to Smith, Buffalo State has a larger mix of diverse students than other colleges.
The department has also established the American Indian Policy and Media Initiative, which is resourcing and researching classes that provide information on Native Americans. It is also working with area African-American high school students in producing a radio program, YGB, and allowing them to use our facilities.
Over the process, the department has had to:
- form a more active alumni group
- provide job information for graduates of 2005 and 2006
- update record keeping
- update technology equipment
- restructure courses
“There’s a lot of paperwork, but it’s good paperwork,” Smith said. “It’s not just busy work. It’s the kind of stuff that we should be able to tell an incoming student.”
Silverman said: “Smith has done a superb job with all of the changes. In fact, I’d call him our ‘maestro” because he has written a number of reports, kept in contact with the accrediting body, and informed all the faculty, students, and college administrators about our progress. We are very fortunate to have him as our department chair and colleague.”
If the department becomes accredited, there will be several benefits to students as well as faculty members:
- we will be the only accredited school in the State University of New York (SUNY) system
- we will be one of five schools in New York state accredited
- we will have leverage and continual support for resources
 standards will be higher for students- as graduates, we will be a part of the top 15 percent of all communication programs that are accredited
- establishes prestige when looking for jobs
 Smith said, “It’s a win, win, win for everybody.”
As the communication department neared the end of the last phase of the accreditation process, which concluded with a visit Oct. 21-24 from four people from the accreditation committee, Smith was optimistic that by May 2008, the communication department will be accredited.
“When our students talk to students from other schools, the feedback I get is that our students say, ‘Wow, we’ve done so much more’,” he said. “We jump through hoops here. I’ve recognized that our program is probably more demanding than a lot of majors on campus. We value that because we know we’re giving the students more.”
E-mail: pattywackpink86@aol.com |
As manager of dining services, new semester brings both challenges and rewards
By Shannon O’Sullivan
It may be one of the most important concerns for any college student: the food on campus.
With terms like “the freshman fifteen” becoming as much a part of college life as homecoming weekend, students should know who’s in charge of what they’re eating and what they can do to voice their concerns.
One of the toughest jobs on campus
“That’s the number one complaint at any college campus,” says Bob Karski, retail operations manager of dining services at Buffalo State College, in regard to campus food.
Karski has worked in food service management for 16 years, and has worked here for the past two with the largest food contracting company in the U.S., Sodexho. Both Sodexho and Buffalo State are participating in a dual venture to renovate the dining facilities here, which are scheduled to open in January 2008.
It’s made this semester much more challenging for him as a manager, in which there are three less restaurants, including the popular Taco Bell, and an increased number of students. To accommodate the increased demand and restaurant shortage, two kiosks have been set up in the Science Building and Moore Complex, which forces Karski to run back and forth between there and the Student Union.
Despite the longer lines and fewer food choices, he remains positive that the renovations will be worth it next semester.
“Atmosphere alone is gonna be amazing,” he says with a smile. “There’s gonna be a lot more units to go to, so the food variety will be greatly improved.”
Changes on the way
There will be eight restaurants total, including a pizzeria, a sub place, and a restaurant featuring Asian cuisine. The dining room will have a fireplace and will seat up to 438 people. After these renovations are complete, phase two will begin, in which a new residential dining hall will be built where the current plaza is by next fall. With all these changes, it is amazing that he can manage everything as well as he does.
Extra hours and a lot to keep track of
“I would say he puts in a 9-to-10 hour day,” says Ann Matheis, an office administrator for dining services. She has worked with him for two years, and explains that he oversees everything from hiring and scheduling to making sure all the technical aspects of the renovations go smoothly.
In response to whether or not things would fall apart without him, Matheis joked, “We’ll find out next week,” as he was scheduled for a conference off site in mid-Sept.
Karski prefers college over corporate any day
There is a lot of activity in the plaza, as about 40 students eat a late Friday lunch, and the employees are cleaning up before the dinner hour. He seems calm and relaxed, as an employee interrupts him to ask a question about a timesheet.
Despite all the challenges, he says he would never go back to commercial restaurant management after working here.
“That’s the nice thing about what I do is (that) it’s something different every day,” he said.
He enjoys the fast-paced atmosphere, in which his duties not only include overseeing all retail operations, but assisting with catering events and residential dining when necessary.
“We (dining services) work strongly with a lot of organizations on campus,” he said, which allows him to meet a lot of different people and be involved with the students.
Student voices heard
There was some student input via focus groups as far as the renovations, which are being modeled similarly to the food court at Kent State University. He also meets with the food committee on campus each month; a group comprised of students and campus administrators from Student Life, so that there is an open line of communication as far as problems and improvements that need to be made.
Because of the focus on student input for the renovations, Karski is confident that students will be very satisfied with what they see next semester.
“It’s gonna be something that this college probably hasn’t seen in a long time,” he said.
Pictured Above: Bob Karski, retail operations
manager of dining services at Buffalo State College.
Next to the plans for the new dining facility.
Contact: Osulse33@mail.buffalostate.edu
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Buffalo River researcher secures National Science Foundation grant
By Justin Vernold
Many college students are painfully aware that higher education entails not only a strong work ethic, but also a significant financial investment.
But just as classes can't be attended for free, Buffalo State College faculty can't undertake research without the requisite funding, as Jill Singer of the Earth Sciences and Science Education department can attest. She, along with colleagues from Middlebury College in Vermont, recently secured a grant from the National Science Foundation in the amount of $308,980 for a project on the internal dynamics of the Buffalo River.
Singer's research is focused on the effects of a physical phenomenon referred to as a seiche (pronounced "SAYsh"). The Lake Erie seiche occurs when the prevailing winds that cross Lake Erie from the west push water along the surface of the lake, creating a sudden, fleeting rise in lake elevation on Buffalo's shore and a similar drop in lake elevation on the western shore; a "sloshing back and forth of water in the lake,” Singer said.
Buffalo residents have known about the Lake Erie seiche for over a century. In fact, on Oct. 18, 1844, seiche waters breached Buffalo's 14-foot-high seawall, wreaking havoc on the waterfront. According to research by Chuck LaChiusa of the Erie County Preservation Society, newspaper accounts of "The Seiche of 1844" indicate at least 78 fatalities.
"It's not so much that the phenomenon is new," Singer said. "What we started to document was the fact that the Lake Erie seiche is strong enough to actually pick up sediment from the bottom and carry it back upriver."
This might seem harmless enough, but heavy metals and pesticides from past industrial activity on the Buffalo lakefront have literally attached themselves to the sediment particle-by-particle, posing a significant public health risk to the communities near the mouth of the Buffalo River.
"A lot of those contaminants that were discharged from those industrial processes attach themselves to the sediment," Singer said. "We have a bleed of organic compounds and pesticides that make the sediment of a quality which impacts the ecosystem. There are restrictions on the use of the river for recreation purposes.
"If you fish in that river, you're advised not to eat any of those fish, and yet this is a river that flows through a part of the city of Buffalo where there are young neighborhood kids swimming in that river. Even though it's not healthy place necesarily to fish or swim, people do."
Singer's research track the frequency of the Lake Erie seiche and the distance it travels up the Buffalo River, providing important data needed for plans to decontaminate the river.
"The river is classified as an area of concern within the Great Lakes basin," Singer said. "There are a lot of problems this river potentially faces, and some of those problems have to do with the sediment. So, understanding both the sources and the movement of the sediment is an important component in trying to understand how this system operates."
Oddly enough, Singer and her colleagues were rejected after filing their original proposal with the NSF. But she said the foundation often initially rejects proposals for ideas that it actually likes, with encouraging suggestions for adjustments to be made on a second proposal. And as a program officer with the NSF, Singer is also involved in the other side of the process, where she makes recommendations about which projects should be funded. While applying for the Buffalo River project, Singer had to recuse herself to avoid a conflict of interest.
Singer served the NSF for two years from 2001-2003, and has returned to its offices in Washington, D.C., as a program officer for the 2007 academic year. She won't get a chance to work on the Buffalo River project until she leaves the foundation to return to her position at Buffalo State.
"For the year that I'm at the NSF, I had to identify what are called substitute investigators," Singer said, "because it would be a conflict of interest to do the research."
Visit Dr. Singer's Web site on the Buffalo River project at: http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/singerjk/
Visit Chuck LaChiusa's Web site on the history of Buffalo and the Seiche of 1844 at: http://freenet.buffalo.edu/bah/h/1865.html#1844 |
Outdoor hockey game excites all
By Anthony Basileo
The Buffalo Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins will meet in the NHL’s first outdoor hockey game played in the United States, and judging by ticket sales, many people are excited.
It only took less than 30 minutes on the morning of Sept. 18 to sell all of the 42,000 tickets for the “NHL Winter Classic.” It will be played at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Jan. 1, 2008. Thirty- two thousand tickets have been held back for Sabres season-ticket holders.
“I bought tickets online right away,” said Bob Witkowski, a life-long Sabres fan. “I’m not too excited about the actual season with all of the changes made to the team, but I know this will be a historic game.”
And it’s not just Sabres and Penguins fans who are excited. Many NHL fans throughout the world wish that they could be in attendance for this unique contest.
“I hope I can watch it on TV, but I would have loved to actually be there,” said Ben Docktor, a Flyers fan who resides in Philadelphia.
The first-ever outdoor NHL game was in Edmonton in 2003 when the Oilers took on the Montreal Canadiens.
Contact Anthony Basileo at basiam18@mail.buffalostate.edu
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Cassety Hall will serve as a dorm
By Betty S. Ofori
Timothy R. Ecklund is the vice president of campus life here at Buffalo State College. He earned his bachelor’s in psychology and elementary education at State University College at Geneseo in 1981.
He has been working here at BSC for about ten years and has been working as a Resident hall director for 23 years.
The shortage of dorm rooms on campus, is a problem to Ecklund and is almost about to come to an end. Cassety Hall will be turned into a dorm so that there will be more housing space for students this spring. Ecklund said the delay was due to the amount of space the college has left
This has led to so many changes on the BSC campus this semester;
- student organizations moved to the union
- staff moving into offices in Caudell Hall
- decrease of food courts in the dinning hall
Students are still living in the Holiday Inn and Adams's Mark Hotel for since last year august and are waiting to hear some sort of good news from the school authorities so that they can pack their belongings and live on campus like other students. Ecklund said Cassety Hall will be ready for occupancy by the beginning of next semester. Some things still need to be done:
- certificate of occupancy
- punch list( things the contractor missed)
- furniture
However, the targeted completion date is still November
According to the college site there has been a 14 percent increase in the demand for campus housing, but Ecklund say Cassety will only house 150 students when it opens. The remaining 20 students will be housed in the other spaces that will be available when students graduate or transfer at the end of the fall semester.
“About 200 to 300 students graduate or transfer at the end of fall semester,” Ecklund said.
He also said students who live in the hotels have a very tight security system available for them 24 hours but when they leave the hotel vicinity and go out elsewhere they are not in the care of the hotel security just like the student’s who live on campus. There is also hotel’s assistance to help student who live there whenever they need something or want to know more about anything on campus or just need to get around.
Ecklund said there have been several attempts to try to build a dorm on the current tennis court. That was during the time of hurricane Katrina and construction industry felt there would be a high priority on building, so then the price escalated from $11 million to $20 million. With a price that much, the campus housing fee will have to be increased from about $6000 a year to $8000 per a year. This increase would be too much for students to pay so there was a halt on that idea. He also mentioned, in order to construct a building certain procedures have to be followed first to determine the cost.
Huewayne Watson a hotel assistant at the Adams Marks’s Hotel says Ecklund is doing a good job with the way he handles things in the hotels the students are staying at. He also said Ecklund is aware that students are missing on-campus experience so he is making sure that they are comfortable and able to gain some genuine on-campus life even though they live off-campus.
- buses has been rerouted to fit students schedules
- extended budget to provide the students with things they need.
Ecklund said he is very excited about the decision to turn Cassety back into a dorm again. So that student will be out of the hotels and move into their new dorms and enjoy the on-campus living.
Contact Bettyofori@yahoo.com
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Funding for Iraqi refugee group frozen
By Justin Vernold
With the embattled Iraqi national government being asked to mediate sectarian strife in Iraq, it should come as no surprise that unpopular political organizations have borne much of the responsibility for their own security. But now, according to a report from www.democracynow.org, the government is actively undermining the financial viability of organizations it views as threats:
“The Iraqi government has frozen the bank accounts of the Organization for
Women’s Freedom in Iraq led my Yanar Muhammad. The group has been
highly critical of the U.S. occupation and has closely monitored the human rights
situation for women in Iraq. It has documented the disappearance of some
4,000 women and girls since early 2003. The group believes most have been
trafficked to other countries and forced into prostitution.”
Formed on March 8, 1992, the Organization for Women’s Freedom has seen a sharp spike in the number of women forced into prostitution since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. In an interview with CNN, Muhammad said Iraq’s lack of security has forced many women from their homes, and Iraq’s lack of economic stability has prevented many from finding legitimate jobs:
“There is a population of women who have had to sell their bodies in order to
keep their children alive,” Muhammad said. “It’s a taboo that no one is speaking
about. It crushes us to see them, but we have to work on it and that’s why we started our team of women activists.”
It’s difficult for my Western mind to comprehend how an organization that helps female refugees find food and shelter represents any kind of threat to a government, but the Iraqi public’s lack of confidence in their government’s ability to keep the country safe has caused many officials to act unreasonably (i.e., banning harmless organizations) in an attempt to save face with voters who hold strong prejudices while also undermining critical voices.
For more information on the Organization for Women’s Freedom, visit their English Web site at: www.equalityiniraq.com/english.htm
Contact Justin Vernold at: vernjd55@mail.buffalostate.edu
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Don’t get caught
By Jennifer Sikora
Before going out for several alcoholic drinks think about the consequences that could happen, for instance getting a DWI conviction. New York state requires convicted drivers who receive two DWI convictions in five years, and three convictions within 10 year’s to have an ignition interlock device installed in their vehicle.
Former New York State Director of Operations Michael Lysiak, 30, had left National Interlock Services five months ago, but during the seven years he worked there he helped try to put a stop to drinking while driving.
“I answered an ad in the Buffalo News, a 1-800-number. I spoke to Jack Dalton, the eastern regional director of operations, and he interviewed me right over the phone. Well, needless to say, I got the job and I went to Detroit for training,” Lysiak said.
Lysiak has seen many DWI offenders come and go, and some even come back. Each client in the program is put on probation and comes to National Interlock Services because of his or her convictions.
If the offenders want to be able to drive:
- clients must get an ignition interlock device installed
- clients pay $70 for installation and $75 a month for monitoring
- probation period can last anywhere from six months to five years.
The device installed in vehicles measures a driver’s breath alcohol level. To use the device, one must blow into the air hole on the device for a steady 30 seconds; this will check the driver’s ability to drive. If the driver passes the test, the vehicle will start up, but if they fail:
- the car will lock out for 15 minutes.
- a second test is then taken, and again if the person fails, their car will lock out for a half hour.
 if the third time, results in a failure the car will lock out permanently and the vehicle will have to be towed to the nearest National Interlock service center.
While driving the vehicle, the device also requires that a client participate in a test, but if the client refuses to take the test, the car horn will start honking until the vehicle is pulled over and turned off.
While on the program clients are only allowed to drive to work, they are able to pick one day during the week for three hours of leisure driving. If any of these rules are violated, the device will lock out the car.
Every two months, clients would come in to see him and he would check the device. Lysiak would connect a computer to the device and download information that included the time, date and breath alcohol content level a person was tested at. The information would then be sent to the county probation department to be reviewed.
Lysiak spent most of his time out on the road going to DWI conferences where probation officers, judges and media officials were there to learn more about the program. There were articles run about the program, and he also was on television, showing the public how the device works.
One of his most memorable experiences was when one of his service centers in Rochester decided to close the shop down. He had to go to Rochester and service 20 clients outside of the building with a battery pack in order to run his computer to download each client’s information. If this wasn’t done their cars would have locked out because clients are not allowed to miss appointments.
Lysiak soon realized that being the New York State Director, and taking after hours customer service phone calls, he would have to choose between continuing his education or his career.
He decided to focus on receiving his bachelor’s degree in business management at Medaille College. Receiving a degree is something he has always wanted to do. Some day, he would like to run his own business, but he is not quite sure what type of business he would  like to be involved in.
Lysiak also started a new job at Shield Security Systems installing fire alarms, servicing and repairing the units, which gives him more time to concentrate on school.
“Michael has shown integrity and has a strong work ethic. He takes pride in his work, as it is always clean and meticulous,” said Jeffery Lysiak, who is the technical director for Shield Security Systems and Lysiak’s brother. “Michael is not satisfied with mediocre work, and always does his best.”
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Greenspan releases “The Age of Turbulence” amid cheers and jeers
By Justin Vernold
Former federal reserve chairman Alan Greenspan doesn’t find himself in the headlines frequently anymore, but the release of his memoir “The Age of Turbulence” has reviewers and columnists buzzing.
In the book, Greenspan offers a sharp critique of President Bush’s oft-criticized fiscal policy:
“Their economic policy, largely, was to take the proposals made during the campaign when there was a prospective very large surplus and those policies continued in place, irrespective of what was happening to the surplus … it was wrong.”
An admitted Republican, Greenspan also takes a pointed shot at Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003:
"I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."
But while Greenspan clearly had no responsibility to critique the president's foreign policy while he was serving on the Federal Reserve board, his criticism of Bush's lack of fiscal responsibility seems dubious given that Greenspan endorsed the president's 2001 tax cuts. In his typical ambiguous style, Greenspan offered a lukewarm endorsement of the policy before the Senate Budget Committee in 2001, telling Congress that "having a tax cut may, in fact, do noticeable good" for the federal budget in the long run.
In a review of "The Age of Turbulence" for the Los Angeles Times, columnist J. Bradford DeLong offers fair criticism of Greenspan, giving the former Fed chairman credit for steering a robust economy through a long period of prosperity in the late 1990s, but also calling him out for his maddening tendency to give ambiguous, inconsistent positions on issues at different points in time:
"One could indict (Greenspan) on four counts; that he should not have, but did, support the Bush tax cut of 2001; that he should not have, but did, encourage new U.S. homeowners to get adjustable-rate mortgages in the early 2000s; that he should have done something about the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, and that he should have done something to prevent the real estate bubble of the 2000s."
For the official Penguin Books page on "The Age of Turbulence," visit: http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781594201318,00.html
For DeLong's review, visit: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-book17sep17,0,1474034.story?coll=la-headlines-calendar
Reach Justin Vernold via e-mail at: vernjd55@mail.buffalostate.edu
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Buffalo State’s athletic director
By Ryan Szymanski
Jerry S. Boyes has always had a love for football, basketball, baseball and coaching, but growing up he always wanted to be involved in mechanical engineering.
Always having a heavy interest in sports, he decided to go in the opposite direction and he went on to major in physical education at Ithaca College.
In 1979 Boyes became the assistant coach under Jim Butterfield at Ithaca College.
After eight years assisting his mentor, it was time for Boyes to do his own thing. He wanted an opportunity to challenge himself with a brand new program and in 1986 he accepted the job at Buffalo State College to become the new head coach of the football team.
After 15 years of being the head coach, Boyes once again turned to a new challenge in his career. In 1999 he became the athletic director.
Boyes thought he would ever have an interest in being an athletic director, but he is thankful that he made the decision. He says sometimes his average day as the athletic director is a “whirl wind,” and he is never bored because there is always something going on.
While working with several different coaches’ needs and desires, Boyes makes sure the student-athletes have a great experience and are provided with the coaches, resources, and facilities.
“Compared to the other colleges in the SUNYAC, Buffalo State sits at the bottom of the list and is the worst,” Boyes says.
To take care of this there have been projects to enhance the following facilities.
The 70,000-square-foot Sports Complex, home to the NCAA Division III Buffalo State Bengals, comprises of:
Surrounding athletics facilities include:
- Softball Field
- Tennis courts
When I think about recruiting, the parents are heavily involved. Boyes talks about how first impression is crucial in the recruitment process. Parents want the best for their children and they want the best facilities for their son or daughter.
Buffalo State alumni and former women’s soccer athlete Amanda Cendrowski said, “The facilities are definatley needed to be upgraded. This is one of the reasons why I did not participate after my sophomore year.”
As the athletic director there is not much involvement with the recruitment process but says he would love to meet with all the parents and student-athletes if he had the time. He says he is more involved in the accountability with the coaches. He makes sure to see that they are doing the recruiting and getting out there so they can bring in participants.
The college competes at the NCAA Division III level and is associated with the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) as well as the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).
The men's intercollegiate athletics program consists of eight varsity sports teams, while the women's program provides competition for 11 teams, which include:
basketball (M) basketball (W)
ice hockey (W) ice hockey (M)
lacrosse (W) cross country
cheerleading soccer (M)
football (M) soccer (W)
softball swimming and diving
track and field volleyball (W)
Buffalo State College has a Mission Statement for its student-athletes and it is very important to Boyes.
He are some important reasons why Buffalo State Intercollegiate Athletics will be nationally recognized as a leader in NCAA Division III.
- As a caring academic and athletic environment where the lives of student-athletes are positively transformed through interaction with coaches and each individual student-athlete is valued.
- For competitive programs that challenge student-athletes to fulfill their intellectual, emotional, and physical growth.
- As a department that serves to improve its athletics reputation regionally and nationally, one student-athlete at a time.
Boyes says over the years, more then 50 percent of student-athletes finish with a 3.0 GPA or better. Buffalo State has been number one in the nation compared to other SUNY schools.
Not only does Boyes want the student-athletes to come to Buffalo State, he most importantly wants them to stay here and graduate. This is what makes Jerry S. Boyes a good athletic director; he is an individual who cares about the student-athletes, education and their successes out on the playing venue.
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Greenspan releases “The Age of Turbulence” amid cheers and jeers
By Justin Vernold
Former federal reserve chairman Alan Greenspan doesn’t find himself in the headlines frequently anymore, but the release of his memoir “The Age of Turbulence” has reviewers and columnists buzzing.
In the book, Greenspan offers a sharp critique of President Bush’s oft-criticized fiscal policy:
“Their economic policy, largely, was to take the proposals made during the campaign when there was a prospective very large surplus and those policies continued in place, irrespective of what was happening to the surplus … it was wrong.”
An admitted Republican, Greenspan also takes a pointed shot at Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003:
"I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."
But while Greenspan clearly had no responsibility to critique the president's foreign policy while he was serving on the Federal Reserve board, his criticism of Bush's lack of fiscal responsibility seems dubious given that Greenspan endorsed the president's 2001 tax cuts. In his typical ambiguous style, Greenspan offered a lukewarm endorsement of the policy before the Senate Budget Committee in 2001, telling Congress that "having a tax cut may, in fact, do noticeable good" for the federal budget in the long run.
In a review of "The Age of Turbulence" for the Los Angeles Times, columnist J. Bradford DeLong offers fair criticism of Greenspan, giving the former Fed chairman credit for steering a robust economy through a long period of prosperity in the late 1990s, but also calling him out for his maddening tendency to give ambiguous, inconsistent positions on issues at different points in time:
"One could indict (Greenspan) on four counts; that he should not have, but did, support the Bush tax cut of 2001; that he should not have, but did, encourage new U.S. homeowners to get adjustable-rate mortgages in the early 2000s; that he should have done something about the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, and that he should have done something to prevent the real estate bubble of the 2000s."
For the official Penguin Books page on "The Age of Turbulence," visit: http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781594201318,00.html
For DeLong's review, visit: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-book17sep17,0,1474034.story?coll=la-headlines-calendar
Reach Justin Vernold via e-mail at: vernjd55@mail.buffalostate.edu |
Curiosity turns crusade: Lt. Lunetta's fight against graffiti
By Anthony Swinnich
Anyone who has ever seen a piece of graffiti on a wall in Buffalo should know that Lt. Sam Lunetta of the Buffalo State University Campus Police force probably has seen it too.
Lt. Lunetta is part of the Buffalo Police “Graffiti Hurts” Task Force and he takes his job seriously. So seriously, in fact, he has over 2,000 photographs documenting <a href= “http://www.buffalorising.com/story/graffiti”>graffiti,</a> and a wall in his office adorned with pictures and actual “sticker tags” left behind by vandals. He said graffiti is getting a lot of strong attention from both local law enforcement agencies and homeowners associations.
“It's a quality of life problem,” said Lt. Lunetta. “We have great media coverage when this happens, that we're able to get the word out that graffiti writers are going to be arrested. If they're caught, they're going to be prosecuted. And we stay on those cases.”
This is a problem that has affected Buffalo State College. Lt. Lunetta said that while attending a regional community policing forum around six years ago, graffiti came up as a topic. When told that some of Buffalo's most active graffiti writers were potentially Buffalo State students, Lt. Lunetta decided to look into the matter himself.
“We started to get into it a little bit more, started comparing to some of the graffiti I was finding on the campus.”
After investigating graffiti culture by interviewing arrested vandals and monitoring graffiti-related websites, Lt. Lunetta said he found that graffiti artists fit a certain profile.
- they are into skateboarding and extreme sports culture
- they have an urban influence (wearing hoodies, listening primarily to hip-hop)
“I got to actually talk to lots of kids that were writing graffiti. Some that were arrested. A few of them actually got to finish their community service hours here with me, which gave me great opportunities to get one-on-one with these kids.”
Lt. Lunetta found out four of the biggest graffiti artists in the city were Buffalo State students. Three artists have since been arrested, one hailing from Buffalo State College.
- in 2006
- Derek "Merk" Thurlow and Fernando "Lions" Godinez were arrested in 2005, sentenced to pay $1250 each to a local business, and perform 150 hours of community service
He said there is less graffiti in areas where the police concentrate, but it springs up elsewhere as a result. He encourages business owners and citizens to report any incidents, take pictures for documentation, and cover it up immediately.
Lt. Lunetta said he has not seen a decrease in graffiti around the city as a whole, but realizes his efforts will make a difference in the long run. His willingness and passion for learning all the tricks of the trade means he can pass his knowledge on to the rest of the police force.
He believes that educating other officers in graffiti-related matters will help combat the problem. The “Graffiti Hurts” task force held a “Graffiti Crime Workshop” in the Butler Library on Sept. 27, focusing on exposing the culture of graffiti artists, community prevention techniques, how to identify what kind of graffiti it is, and how to document evidence. These are things Lt. Lunetta does on an almost daily basis, and he showcased his work in a slide-show put together specifically for the event.
Lt. Lunetta hopes to eventually write a book on graffiti, potentially distributing his knowledge to people on a world-wide level.
“I've already been encouraged to do it. I think I have enough research and expertise. I've actually been tapped as an expert in the field.”
Contact Anthony at Swinam82@mail.buffalostate.edu
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Blackwater bobs, weaves outside Iraqi, U.S. legal systems
By Justin Vernold
Those of us who have been following recent developments in Iraq may have heard about an incident in Baghdad on Sept. 16, where employees of the private security firm Blackwater fired into a busy traffic circle and killed 17 people according to CNN.
But hardly anyone has a firm grasp on the specific means by which Blackwater will be held legally accountable for this massacre. In a recent Wall Street Journal report, journalist Philip Shishkin describes the Iraqi discontent directed at Order 17, a decree issued by the U.S. Coalition Provisional authority which "lays out broad immunity from criminal prosecution for U.S. diplomats, troops and private contractors operating in Iraq."
Iraqi officials from diverse backgrounds who have disagreed on numerous issues are now united in calling for new measures of accountability for private security contractors:
"This is a very good point on which everyone agrees," says Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of Iraq's Parliament.
"We cannot continue to have the Iraqi-American relationship solely on the basis of Order 17," says Mithal al-Alusi, a Sunni member of Parliament.
Unfortunately, the scarcity of reliable manpower in Iraq also gives Blackwater some leverage. In an interview with Reuters correspondent Paul Tait, an unnamed Baghdad security official said a move to ban Blackwater personnel from Iraq could create a "security vacuum."
The secretive nature of private security contractors, as compared with the more transparent nature of government forces, makes it hard to find reliable measures of Blackwater's presence, but Tait estimates between 25,000 and 48,000 guards employed by such contractors are currently working in Iraq. Another complication is presented by the guards' status as private employees; they aren't subject to the rigorous court martial investigations that could be used against U.S. military members, and the Pentagon's rules of engagement aren't iron clad for mercenaries who work outside the government.
Nobody doubts that the forced expulsion of over 25,000 armed guards from Iraq would complicate the security situation. But Zuhair Hummadi, an adviser to Iraqi vice president Adel Abdul-Mahdi, told the Wall Street Journal's Shishkin that nobody is happy with the restrictions placed on prosecutors by Order 17, and nobody is surprised when Blackwater employees shoot from the hip without fear of repercussion.
"This is really an unfortunate situation, but it happened many times before," Hummadi said. "Order 17 supercedes the Iraqi law. What we need now is a new treaty."
Read Paul Tait's report on the Blackwater investigation at: http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnL24471510.html
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Blackwater USA rewarded amid controversy
By Justin Vernold
When the news broke recently that employees of defense contractor Blackwater USA may have used excessive force during a shooting incident in Baghdad that left 17 civilians dead and 27 wounded, it seemed likely that the company would face some form of legal repercussion.
And when the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released a report recently that was critical of Blackwater's conduct in a similar incident three years ago, it appeared that Congress and the Pentagon were planning some opprobrium.
The report claims that Blackwater attempted to transport equipment through Fallujah furing March 2004, when the city was still considered an insurgent stronghold. The families of four slain Blackwater employees have since sued the company, and the House report claims that the company "embarked on this mission without sufficient preparation, resources and support for its personnel."
But anyone who expected strong repercussions will have to wait, as the Pentagon awarded a $92 million aviation contract to the corporate parent of Blackwater in early October, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The contract, awarded to parent company Prince Group LLC, is a four-year pact for airplanes, crews and equipment to be used for military transportation throughout central Asia.
According to an investigation by The Asia Times, Blackwater has "an estimated 1,000 employees in Iraq and $800 million in U.S. government contracts."
View the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's report on Blackwater at: http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1503
View The Wall Street Journal's report on the Blackwater contract at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119120219033644320.html
View The Asia Times' report on Blackwater at:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IJ02Ak04.html
Visit Blackwater USA’s Web site at: http://www.blackwaterusa.com/
Contact Justin Vernold at: vernjd55@mail.buffalostate.edu |
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