In this April 29, 2010 photo, Rev. Francis ‘Butch’ Mazur poses in front of St. Gerard’s Church in Buffalo.

So many of us either lived near, went to, or just knew about St. Gerard’s church at Bailey Ave. and Delavan Ave. in Buffalo.  Now hundreds of thousands of other Roman Catholics will have the opportunity to worship in the glory of that magnificent church.  Slowly but surly the church is moving south. 

For decades, countless people from Buffalo have made the move from Rust Belt to Sun Belt. Maybe it was only a matter of time before one of its buildings would follow.

A Roman Catholic parish in the affluent northern suburbs of Atlanta has begun raising $16 million to import, piece by piece, a closed Buffalo church. The 99-year-old St. Gerard’s would get a second life as MaryOur Queen in Norcross, an up-and-coming parish that has outgrown the 600-seat sanctuary that opened a dozen years ago.

Supporters see it as “preservation through relocation” of a unique structure that already shows signs of deterioration since it was closed in January 2008 as part of a diocese-wide restructuring.

While a dozen other vacant Catholic churches in Buffalo have been reincarnated as housing, office space or houses of worship by other religions, there had been no takers for St. Gerard’s, occupying half a city block in a bereft neighborhood. Then came the Rev. David Dye’s offer to buy it, with the condition he take it with him to Georgia.

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 BP’s attempt to plug the Gulf oil leak with mud and cement has failed, yet another setback in the company’s attempt to stop the crude from further fouling waters, wildlife and marshland.

Dennis Hopper, American actor has died from prostate cancer at age 74.  He was the star of one of the greatest films ever made, “Easy Rider.” 

Hopper was the high-flying Hollywood wild man whose memorable and erratic career included an early turn in “Rebel Without a Cause,” an improbable smash with “Easy Rider” and a classic character role in “Blue Velvet”.

The success of “Easy Rider,” and the spectacular failure of his next film, “The Last Movie,” fit the pattern for the talented but sometimes uncontrollable actor-director, who also had parts in such favorites as “Apocalypse Now” and “Hoosiers.” He was a two-time Academy Award nominee, and in March 2010, was honored with a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

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Thursday I was privileged to witness Andrew Cuomo accept our Party’s nomination for Governor. Andrew unveiled a bold and progressive agenda that will restore New Yorkers trust in open and honest Government.

 Meanwhile, back in Buffalo, the Erie County Legislature’s so-called “reform coalition”, made up of six Republicans and “Democrats” Barbara Miller-Williams, Tim Kennedy and Tina Bove, cut another back-room deal with Republican County Executive Chris Collins – this time the deal involved making Steve Pigeon proxy Jack O’Donnell a Commissioner at the Erie County Water Authority.

Based on their record so far, it seems that the “reform coalition” defines reform as firing experienced Democratic staffers and replacing them with Republican partisans.

Everyone believes that this appointment was part of an inside deal between Steve Pigeon and Chris Collins. In return for helping Jack O’Donnell those involved will reap the benefits of sweetheart deals, campaign promises and much coveted minor party endorsements. Is it a coincidence that “Democratic” Legislator and State Senate candidate Tim Kennedy received the Conservative Party Endorsement on the same day that he cast this vote?

The three “Democrats” who went along with this will need to explain to their constituents and hard working Democrats why they permitted Republican Chris Collins to engineer the removal of Frank Swaitek, a management consultant and replace him with Jack O’Donnell, a political consultant.

I stand behind Andrew Cuomo’s pledge to reform New York State government and will continue to support true Democratic candidates who believe in the ideals of our party and who want to make a difference in their community.

It is this commitment to doing what is right for our party and community that keeps us working so hard for you. I look forward to working together with you and Andrew Cuomo to continue our mission to build the Democratic Party -not the Republican Party.

One of the issues discussed at the 5/04/’10 Monday work session was our golf course.  I want to make this perfectly clear.  Our golf has never made a profit in any year.

 The report the  Town Comptroller gave at the Monday Town Board work session concerning the profit and loss figures for our golf courses was erroneous.  She said that in 2001 the golf course  began the year with a profit of $94,263.  She then stated in  2009 the golf course lost $255,438. 

 Yes, there is a long history of dishonorable people having run the golf course, people who stole great sums of money for years.  The Amherst police did arrest one of  these people.  Pressure was put on the police.  In the paper a police spokesman said that if they had more time they could have found more money than the $7500 they did recover.

 I’m asking our Town Board to investigate the Comptroller and her bookkeeping system, not only the golf course figures but her entire system of bookkeeping.  A report as to where she got the numbers she gave the Town Board on the golf courses needs to be openly shared with town residents.

 Our golf course has been a money pool for several people.  There was a group of politicians and others who would have parties at a certain woman’s home and all the booze and entertainment was paid for using money from golf course fees.

Gary Coleman

 ”Whatchu talkin’ ’bout Willis?”  That’s the catch phrase most of us will remember for a long time yet to come.  Diminuative 10-year-old child star Gary Coleman left a lasting impression. 

Coleman, 42, suffered a hemorrhage Wednesday at his home in Santaquin, Utah and was rushed to the hospital.  He lost consciousness on Thursday.  Coleman was later placed on life support.  He died on Friday morning.

Seven months ago on Oct. 31,2009 a man approached a 19-year-old woman at 9:00 a.m. on Springville Avenue near Main Street by a man.  He tried to kiss her and knocked her to the ground.  When she started to scream, she stood up and got away.  Area residents being interviewed led detectives to 55-year-old Akram Muhammed.  He was not charged.

On Dec.10, 2009 a woman in her early 20’s, who lived in the same apartment as Muhammed, was attacked in the buildings common area. He tried to kiss her and pinned her to a wall.  Muhammed was charged with harassment and an order of protection was issued for the woman.

May 21, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. a 40-year-old woman was grabbed by her buttocks before they both fell to the ground. The assailant reached inside her shirt and groped her breasts before she bit him on the forehead and he ran away.

Was Akram finished with his sexual attacks? No.

Since the May 21st attack there was yet another one at noon this Wednesday, on Callodine Avenue near Main St.  A 20-year-old was attacked. The attacker grabbed her breasts, threw her to the ground and punched her several times.

People who saw what was happening came over to help her.  Akram, seeing the people come, fled the scene.

Officers finally arrested him just after midnight on Thursday morning.  He was arraigned in Amherst Town Court and taken to the Erie County Holding Center in lieu of $10,000 bail.

Why did the police withhold this information from the public?  At this point the police are not saying.  Since they are responsible for public safety it will be interesting to hear their reasons, if and when they respond.

Almost everyone of our previous 43 presidents have gone to great lenghts to avoid uttering three simple words, “I was wrong.”  Presidnet Obama strode into the East Room to address the nation about the gulf oil spill and by the time he walked out an hour later he said he was wrong to assume that oil companies were prepared for the worst as he tried to expand offshore drilling.  His team did not move with “sufficient urgency” to reform regulation of the industry. In dealing with BP, his administration “should have pushed them sooner” to provide images of the leak, and “it took too long for us” to measure the size of the spill.

“In case you’re wondering who’s responsible, I take responsibility,” Mr. Obama said as he concluded the news conference. “It is my job to make sure that everything is done to shut this down. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen right away or the way I’d like it to happen. It doesn’t mean that we’re not going to make mistakes. But there shouldn’t be any confusion here. The federal government is fully engaged, and I’m fully engaged.”

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From left, the author Hilaire Belloc is said to have failed to get into All Souls College. But fellows included Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia) and Sir Christopher Wren.

Back in 1878 some brilliant mind came up with the quintessential test for candidates wanting to enter All Souls College in Oxford, England.  Nothing wordy or complex in its appearance but exactly that in execution.  The test was exactly one word long.  One word.

This year the word was, death.  A fitting choice as this is the last year this exam will be given.

 The exam was simple yet devilish, consisting of a single noun (“water,” for instance, or “bias”) that applicants had three hours somehow to spin into a coherent essay. An admissions requirement for All Souls College here, it was meant to test intellectual agility, but sometimes seemed to test only the ability to sound brilliant while saying not much of anything.

“An exercise in showmanship to avoid answering the question,” is the way the historian Robin Briggs describes his essay on “innocence” in 1964, a tour de force effort that began with the opening chords of Wagner’s “Das Rheingold” and then brought in, among other things, the flawed heroes of Stendhal and the horrors of the prisoner-of-war camp in the William Golding novel “Free Fall.”

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As required, a woman named Laura underwent a pre-abortion ultrasound at the clinic.

Just the word abortion raises emotions to a fever pitch in many women.  A woman deciding whether to abort a pregnancy or not is always in a very emotional position.  Some states are raising the bar and making that  difficult decision even worse.

Over the last decade, ultrasound has quietly become a new front in the grinding state-by-state battle over abortion. With backing from anti-abortion groups, which argue that sonograms can help persuade women to preserve pregnancies, 20 states have enacted laws that encourage or require the use of ultrasound.

Alabama is one of three states, along with Louisiana and Mississippi, that require abortion providers to conduct an ultrasound and offer women a chance to peer inside the womb.

Late last month, Oklahoma went a step further. Overriding a veto by Gov. Brad Henry, a Democrat, the Republican-controlled Legislature enacted a law mandating that women be presented with an ultrasound image and with a detailed oral description of the embryo or fetus.

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