The Conservation Trail in Sardinia

Headline: The Conservation Trail in Sardinia

Footpath is part of almost 6000 miles of linked trails across seven States and into Canada

There are some pretty well kept secrets places in Sardinia.  The Erie County Conservation Club on Miller Road that we wrote about in our July 2007 Issue is one of them. The Erie County Forest tracts now burdened with the consequences of county budget cutbacks are another. Programming and activities not related directly to extractive logging has made these forests, -enormously important public recreational resources, all but invisible.

Many Sardinians and our neighbors from surrounding towns may not be aware that we have some of the most important natural areas of the whole region right here in our town.  Let’s start with the Cattaraugus Creek and its watershed which forms the southern boundary of Erie County and the Town of Sardinia. Did you know that the Cattaraugus Creek Watershed is the largest intact watershed in the Eastern Great Lakes?  This means that this watershed is one of the most valuable natural resources in New York. Perhaps even in the entire Great Lakes. The watershed provides clean water and important biodiverse habitat that protects both wildlife and humans. It is a great resource for Sardinia.  We also have some of the shining natural jewels of Erie County here. Several tracts of spectacular Erie County Forest lie within Sardinia and in adjacent communities.

One “best kept secret” of Sardinia is The Conservation Trail. You can enjoy the great outdoors in all seasons, breathe in the fresh air, watch birds, study wildlife and plants, or just exercise and or relax all compliments of the Conservation Trail.  This 177 mile footpath is a branch trail of the well known Finger Lakes Trail. The Conservation Trail connects south west of Sardinia to the main Finger Lakes Trail (FLT) near Ellicottville.

The main FLT runs approximately 562 miles and is the longest continuous foot trail in New York State.  The whole connected FLT system has five branch trails (including the Letchworth Trail) and 15 loop trails and covers approximately 880 miles in New York.  The western end of the FLT is at the Pennsylvania Border in Allegany State Park. Here the FLT connects to the North Country Trail (NCT) which spans seven states from New York to North Dakota. Several sections of the main FLT have been certified by the National Park Service as official components of the North Country National Scenic Trail.

The eastern end connects to the Long Path in the Catskill Forest Preserve. Along the way the path goes through the Finger Lakes, Hornell, Bath, and Watkins Glenn.

The other end of the Conservation Trail, traveling north from Sardinia, connects to the world famous Bruce Trail in Canada. The Bruce Trail is Canada’s oldest and longest footpath and is the only public access point to the Niagara Escarpment which is a UNESCO World Biosphere Preserve.

Where to Find the Trail in Sardinia

You can enter the Conservation Trail from several access points in Sardinia. From these access points you can take a short family hike through some of the most exquisite natural areas of Sardinia and the still beautiful terrain of the Erie County Forest tracts located in Sardinia. And should you be ambitious enough, you can walk from Sardinia to Letchworth State Park, or Niagara Falls, or North Dakota, or Vermont.  You can even walk to Georgian Bay in Canada. In addition, you may encounter guests that are walking through our community on their way too and from distant destinations.

The Conservation Trail traverses Sardinia from the Cattaraugus County line at Cattaraugus Creek to Holland near the end of South Protection Road.

Sardinia has about 8 miles of trail, which like the FLT passes through both public and private lands.

The Trail enters Sardinia on Rt 39 near Van Slyke Rd. where it crosses Cattaraugus Creek bridge.  It goes north along Van Slyke Rd, and then into a forested area along an old rail line.  It eventually crosses Middle Road near Hyler Creek.

On the North Side of Middle Rd the trail enters Lot 2 of the Erie County Forest.  Lot 2 is a whopping 852 acres that lies between Middle Rd and Genesee Rd.   It is the largest block of forestry in the county.  A full 810 of the lot’s acreage is covered by hardwood and conifer trees (mostly red and white pine) that make for terrific scenery.

“Old Starbuck Trail” is the name given to the hiking path that is part of the Conservation Trail. This portion runs a few miles through Lot Two in two loops, one on either side of the gravel creek bed that cuts through the property.  There’s a kiosk near the Genesee Road entrance that contains a painted map of the trail.  It’s a fairly easy-going hike and is quite suitable for all members of the family, young and old.

The Conservation Trail crosses Genesee Road and enters Lot 1 of the Erie County Forest as the Silent Wood Trail. It continues north through and beyond this portion of the forest and eventually crosses Allen Rd, Matteson Corners Rd., Warner Gulf Rd, and then crosses into Holland near Savage Rd and Rt. 16 just north of South Protection Rd. 

The trail continues on through Holland where there is a section dedicated to Mabel James. The Conservation Trail then continues through South Wales, and eventually on to Niagara Falls at the Rainbow Bridge where it connects with the Bruce Trail.

March 2009 Sardinia Standard Editorials

March 2009 Sardinia Standard

Masthead:

The Sardinia Standard is proud to stand by its commitment to Respecting the Truth, Reporting the Facts.  If any reader finds that the Standard has reported inaccurate facts, we would be pleased to print a correction or a retraction.  The Standard is pleased to consider your letters to the editor, opinion editorials, calendar announcements, articles, advertisements, and announcements including weddings, obituaries, memorials, graduations, and retirements.  Please send your information to Jay Burney, Managing Editor, Sardinia Standard, PO BOX 79, Sardinia NY.

Editorial A

Chaffee Sardinia Volunteer Fire Company Awards Program Passes Town Wide Referendum 369-357.

The Standard offers its hearty congratulations to the members of the Chaffee Sardinia Volunteer Fire Company and to all residents and businesses of the Sardinia area that are served by that mutual aide company. The town wide referendum held in Sardinia on February 24 in which Sardinia voters were asked to authorize the establishment of a Fireman’s Award Package. That award program is essentially a retirement benefit package and is designed to help recruit new membership and maintain the roster of current members. Volunteer organizations and especially volunteer fire departments around America have been struggling in recent years as economic pressures and have shifted the capacity of individuals to invest time and effort into voluntary activities. As the cost of living increases, volunteer time becomes more precious.  A volunteer fireman can be called on to commit hundreds of hours each year in emergency response, training, and organizational activities.  The Fireman Award Package, which is based both on years of service and includes requirements that individual members meet certain monthly service goals, is an important step toward insuring that the Town of Sardinia will benefit from the essential services that the CSVFC provides.  We are all winners with this “yes” vote!

Editorial

The Sardinia Republican Committee (SRC) Lets Loose an All Out Assault Against the Chaffee Sardinia Volunteer Fire Company.

Voters Reject SRC Campaign of Lies and Deceit

We aren’t sure when or why Sardinia Republican Committee Chair Mike Hannon, his wife, Town Councilman Mary Hannon, and others associated with the SRC decided to make the town wide referendum on the Fireman’s Benefits Package a partisan Sardinia Republican Committee issue, but we do know that not all Republicans in the Town of Sardinia are pleased. We also know, judging by the high vote count, voters turned out.  We also know that the SRC let loose with both barrels of their reeling cannon.  They unleashed an ugly personality driven smearfest that has characterized many recent local elections under SRC Chair Mike Hannon's reign. And oh yes, the voters saw through it this time, and Hannon and the SRC, lost.

The way we see it, this assault on our volunteer fire department tried to make losers out of all of us.  Let’s be honest. Fair minded people have to be questioning Hannon and the SRC’s strategies, thinking, and tactics.  This terrible campaign included elements that are all too familiar to observers of recent local elections. These include vicious personal attacks, the spreading of malicious rumors, the presentations of lies as facts, and an attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of long time Sardinia Republicans, residents, and taxpayers.  The campaign also featured the familiar electioneering and the gathering of “absentee ballots” by an employee of a well known large corporation that has in recent years been a substantial financial supporter of the SRC.  The last minute circulation of the anonymous and nasty “Taxpayer’s Newsletter” did more harm than good. Republicans, which for generations have formed the core of voters and voter values in this area, should be outraged that they were so cynically mislead and abused by the Hannon lead SRC.

The SRC campaign against the firemen began shortly after the November election when newly elected Republican Sardinia Councilman David Montgomery announced that the Volunteer Fireman’s Award Program was a “Cadillac program.” He said that taxpayers could not afford it and that had not been adequately thought about by the Town Board or anyone else.  This was a surprise to the many that had actually been working on defining the program for a long while. When he was told that it had been researched for eight years he arrogantly ignored the substantial material that was available to him. When he and the rest of us were shown by facts and figures showing that this was hardly a “Cadillac” program, and more of a low to middle end program, he blustered and fumed.  Frankly, it was difficult to understand his criticism. Hannon and Montgomery’s economic arguments were unpersuasive and lacked any authorative references. Their constant objections seemed more rooted in politics than common sense or community good. Then they came up with the false accusation that several current firemen, including current Town Board member Norm Uhteg, would be eligible for a $10,000 “lump sum” payment within a year of the plans adoption.  This was immediately shown to be false by Chaffee Sardinia Fire Department President Danny Heinemann and by the Tompkins Insurance Agency that proposed to administer the program.  “There just are no lump sum buy-outs, period”, Heinemann told Montgomery and anyone else that cared to listen. The truth didn’t stop Montgomery and others that pursued the SRC’s political buffoonery.

Last month we described how the Town of Sardinia’s “official” newspapers, the Arcade Herald and the Springville Journal, joined in the smear campaign by publishing letters that repeated the lies about the lump sum payments and fostered fear that Sardinia firemen would not respond to calls from voters that had voted against the firemen. These ridiculous rumor mongering and untruthful letters, signed by Clint Salmon and Robert Church, apparently passed the smell test of the editors of those papers.  Next, the lies about the lump sum payments were repeated in an editorial by Judy Kessler Rix. By the time the referendum rolled around, there had been no retractions or corrections in these papers, and the voters of Sardinia that read those “official papers” were left with false ideas about Fireman’s Award Program.

There is much more

-During February the SRC and others purporting to represent Sardinia Republican interests continued to act against the Firemen.  Schroder Joseph Associates, a law firm that Mike Hannon has publically described as his “personal attorneys”, and whom he hired to represent the ZBA in legal actions against the Town Board when he was still chair of the ZBA, (at $220 per hour) apparently is now engaged to represent the SRC in actions against the Town and the Firemen. They have been getting a lot of work.  This time they sent a letter as attorneys for the SRC to the Town Board demanding that the referendum be canceled. And we thought that Mike Hannon wanted to stop “all the lawsuits”.

-Carole Morrell, public relations consultant affiliated with Waste Management, a long time major financial supporter of the SRC, collected and delivered a number of absentee ballots, some of which she acted as agent for. She is well known for this kind of election activity and absentee ballots have often made a critical difference in close Sardinia elections.

-Both the Arcade and Springville Pennysavers ran paid advertisements the weekend before the election admonishing voters to vote against the Sardinia Volunteer Fire Department. The ads were menacing, misleading, and claimed ominously to have been paid for by the “Concerned Taxpayers of Sardinia.” It didn’t take a whole lot of research to discover that they were in fact paid for by “Hannon Excavating and Lands”. This is a gravel business owned by Mike and Mary Hannon.

-The coup-de-grace came just two days before the election when every registered voter in Sardinia received in their mailbox, the newest version of the anonymous “Sardinia Taxpayers Newsletter.”  This one, part of a series that began early last year allegedly from concerned Sardinia taxpayers, is aimed at smearing the Fireman. It contains personal attacks, promotes divisiveness, and presents outright lies that the previous “editions” have been known for. The language of this letter is familiar and repeats misinformation that we have heard from the Hannons, Montgomery, Salmon, Church and the few others that have engaged in this deceitful campaign.  Among other things, this letter lists the names of everyone on the fire department roster, and repeats the pay-out lie by pretending to show what each member will receive in “lump sum payments.” 

This whole campaign by Hannon and the SRC is political pornography. They must think that the voters of Sardinia are really dumb.  The lies and disinformation that they distribute makes losers of everyone in Sardinia, especially those that are registered Republicans. Especially those that want a better future, or any future for their party and their values in Sardinia. The current leadership of the SRC have chosen a path of shady deception that has visited everyone’s homes.  That cannot sit well with honest people.

Editorial

SRC Bankrupt?

Many of us are Republicans. Many lifelong. And so it was disturbing to read the January Board of Elections disclosure forms filed by the Sardinia Republican Committee that indicates that the Committee has a deficit of almost $1,000.  The same disclosure form indicated a debt to Schroder Joseph Associates of $648.91 for unspecified activity that took place prior to the January disclosure deadline. Since that time we know that this law firm has continued to represent the SRC, as it has tried to bring legal action against the Town preventing the February 24 fireman’s referendum.  We are glad to see that the SRC engaged in a fundraising activity at Sprague Brook Casino on February 22, and we hope that the good Republicans of Sardinia are committed to rebuilding the Republican Party’s coffers here.  We are not sure if honest people can remain committed to funding Mike and Mary Hannon’s and the Montgomery’s many endeavors such as deceitful campaigns and especially the lawsuits that this group advocates.  Donors to the SRC should be beginning to ask pointed questions, especially now that the SRC is in debt. Sardinia Republicans need to make sure that the SRC remains a vital force in our town, and not a financially and morally bankrupt group of self interested “deciders”.

editorial

Compromise with Gernatt? Mary Hannon Lets a Confession Slip Out?

At the February 2009 regular Sardinia Town Board meeting, held on February 11, during a discussion which resulted in a resolution by the Town Board to remove Mike Hannon from the ZBA, newly elected Councilman Mary Hannon, Mikes wife, stated to the Town Board “You don’t know what you are doing, you don’t know what you are opening up here.”  She then went on to say “The ZBA “compromised” with Gernatt Gravel “to prevent problems”. “This vote (to remove Mike from the ZBA) is going to cause a lot of trouble.”

What exactly was this “compromise” and what business does a ZBA have compromising the community’s future? Why the threatening language by Mary Hannon? In addition, it raised more than a few eyebrows when during this discussion, Councilmember Hannon invoked the name of former Town Board member Carla Fuller. Hannon said that Fuller told her that the 2004 Town Board action creating the illegal term of office for Mike Hannon was “deliberately done”.  Mary Hannon said that someone should talk to Carla Fuller because she is “someone that knows”. This needs a little more clarification.

Mike Hannon’s tenure as ZBA Chair was controversial and many residents complained that their voices were not heard during the process of granting Gernatt Asphalt a variance to mine the Gabel Thomas site.  Subsequently, his leadership caused the Town to have to pay for both sides of a lawsuit. The Town Board chose to bring legal action against the ZBA because of the board’s narrow decision to grant the variance, which legally could have gone either way. Because of the way the decision by the ZBA was constructed, Gernatt was left out of paying for the lawyers. The fact that Mike Hannon was removed from office by the Town Board to correct a legal violation of the term of office should not be part of the problem, as Mary Hannon wants us to believe, but instead it should be a part of the day lighting of the solution. We hope that Mary Hannon will be able to better explain what she has described as a “compromise” with Gernatt. 

Editorial

New Truck for the Highway Department? How about an Audit?

We were as shocked as anyone when newly elected Councilmembers Mary Hannon and Dave Montgomery, and Town Highway Supervisor Walt Baker announced at the February Town Board meeting that Baker needed a new $190,000 plow and truck. It was even more disturbing that the trio insisted that the Board had to vote on the expenditure immediately, that night!  When Supervisor Balus and Councilmembers Uhteg and Phelps indicated that this was the first that they had heard of this problem, Balus asked Baker why he had not anticipated the expenditure during the recently concluded yearly budget process. Baker announced that he had not been a part of the Department’s budget process, and that “someone else had handled it”.  Baker, Sardinia’s highest paid regular employee at $45,066 annually, plus benefits, who has had well known personal health problems, runs a department with a nearly half million dollar budget.  It would seem that there may be some serious problems with the highway department if one of Sardinia’s relatively new trucks (purchased in 2006 after an emergency appropriation of $130,000 by then Supervisor Bill Hare) has become so unusable as to need total replacement.  Baker, who said that the department “really beats up the trucks”, is still being paid to keep on top of things, right?  We sympathize with his personal health problems, but someone has to still have to be accountable to taxpayers.  Perhaps it is time to consider an audit of the Highway Department. This is not intended as any kind of reflection on Walt Baker, who by all accounts has been an outstanding Highway Superintendent and has very ably served the Town of Sardinia during his years of service. However, in this new era of accountability which has included on going State audits of the Supervisors accounts and an about to be released audit of the Towns financial relationship with Waste Management it would seem prudent and fiscally wise to have a look at the highway department.  Given this year’s election cycle which will include Sardinia Highway Supervisor, this would be the perfect time to engage in a real audit of Sardinia’s most expensive government operation. 

Sardinia Needs an Ethics Law

Sardinia Standard March 2009

Opinion Editorial

Sardinia Needs a Better Ethics Law

-Wind Companies in New York Subject to Attorney General’s Code of Conduct

-Ethical Standards can be easily adapted to become part of Community Ethics Law.

By Jay Burney

I may be relatively new to Sardinia having lived here for only a couple of years, but I have been around NYS most of my life.  As a writer, observer, and sometimes participant in local government, one thing has become clear to me. Making big decisions in small towns is a complicated and often difficult activity. Residents, businesses, taxpayers, and government officials are constantly faced with a wide array of arguments, opportunities, choices, deadlines, and challenges. Sometimes, these conditions can throw the decision making process into a macabre stew of ethical pressure cooking. The consequences can be enormous.

Often, small communities and local officials are asked by those wanting to do business in the community to make decisions that change the character and quality of a community. Sometimes for the better, sometimes not. 

These can be big decisions involving zoning variances, tax relief, and infrastructure investments. Companies want to make money, and as much money as possible. For whatever reason they have decided that your community is the best place for them to try to do it.  These businesses can affect the quality of life, the environment, and the character of the community in which they seek to do business. The downside is that the effect can be negative.

 Companies involved in communications, energy, mining, property development, and as a good example in Sardinia, a huge multi-national landfill company want to do business in communities because they derive economic benefit. This often means big choices need to be made. Because of a variety of pressures on public officials, sometimes it is hard to insure appropriate community benefit.

New York State Attorney General Issues Ethics Guidelines

One of the more dramatic and well publicized stories of business/community dealings with small towns in New York State during the past decade involves wind energy companies such as Nobel Energy and First Wind.  Some of these companies have been accused of exerting pressures on town officials to make decisions that lack public scrutiny, avoid accountability, and at the very least cross ethical boundaries.  According to a recent report by the Attorney Generals Office, some of these companies have not been “acting properly, or within the law” in their dealings with small communities.

Last fall, in order to address the issue, the Attorney Generals Office released a “Code of Conduct” designed to help small communities deal with wind companies.  This Code includes a written series of provisions covering such issues as Conflicts of Interest, Public Disclosure Rules, Education and Training Provisions, and Compliance. Part of the Compliance aspect involves the formation of a State Wide Task Force designed to monitor and report about Wind Companies and their relationships with communities.

To their credit, both Nobel Wind and First Wind signed onto the Attorney Generals Code of Conduct.  No one else has.

The Attorney General’s Code of Conduct for Wind Farm Development

This code is an “ethical” guideline for communities and businesses. It outlines areas of potential conflict and offers solutions promoting transparent decision making.  It advocates ethical strategies, actions, and behavior, and promotes best practices through actual conduct and detailed education for public officials, the public, and companies seeking to do business. According to a press release accompanying the announcement of the Ethics Code

“-The Wind Industry Ethics Code is a result of the Attorney General’s investigation into, among other things, whether companies developing wind farms improperly sought land-use agreements with citizens and public officials, and whether improper benefits were given to public officials to influence their official actions relating to wind farm development. 
-The Attorney General's Wind Industry Ethics Code prohibits conflicts of interest between municipal officials and wind companies and establishes vast new public disclosure requirements.”

Attorney General’s “Code of Conduct for Wind Companies” Can Be Adapted to Address a Wide Range of Business and Community Relationships.

Most communities in NYS face the kinds of pressures and ethical questions that are addressed in this remarkable document.  Small towns, like Sardinia, often lack financial and expert resources that would help the community to make the best decisions possible. Who knew that until this document was released, there were no ethical guidelines or standards for communities and businesses? It is time to make these guidelines into law.

Examples from the Attorney Generals “Code of Conduct”

-Under Conflicts of Interest-Prohibited:

“The Wind Company shall not directly or indirectly offer to, or confer on, a Municipal Officer, his or her Relative, or any third party on behalf of such Municipal Officer any benefit under circumstances in which it could reasonably be inferred that the benefit would induce such Municipal Officer to commit an official act, or to refrain from performing an 0fficial duty in connection with Wind Farm Development unless such Municipal Officer recuse him or herself from any official duties in connection with Wind Farm Development.”

-Under: No Gifts: 

“The Wind Company shall not give any Municipal Officer, his or her Relative, or any third party on behalf of Such Municipal Officer, any gift of gifts totally more than ten dollars ($10.00) in the aggregate during a one-year period.”

-Under Public Disclosure:

“1.  The Wind Company shall publically disclose the full names of any Municipal Officer or his or her Relative who has a financial interest in any property Identified for Wind Farm Development, and the nature and scope of the financial interest in the following manner:

1. Submit the information in writing for the public inspection to the Clerk of such Municipality
2.  Publish the information in newspaper having a general circulation in such Municipality

c.   Display the information on a website hosted by the Wind Company

-Submit the information it writing to the Task Force and the Office of the Attorney General”

Let’s Make a Better Ethics Law in Sardinia

Sardinia has an ethics law that last year was reactivated by Sardinia Supervisor Kathy Balus and the Town Board. This law includes the staffing of an Ethics Panel that can review conduct of Town officials if asked to by a unanimous vote of the Town Board.

It is no secret that in America big business with huge legal and financial resources target small communities. Doing business in small communities can be very cost effective for the companies because strategies are often employed that avoid transparency and prevent honest scrutiny by the public. This can allow companies to encourage officials to cut corners or manipulate the system in ways that are not always above board.  Sadly this can prevent communities from setting an authentic priority list of important decisions affecting the community’s best interests. That is why the Attorney General’s Office addressed the problems that it has identified between some Wind Companies and some communities. 

Sardinia, its residents, and its public officials are not immune from these complex and often difficult decisions.  In recent years big businesses such as Waste Management, Inc. which operates the Chaffee Landfill, one of the largest landfills in the Northeast, and Gernatt Asphalt Products, Inc. have sought important decisions including zoning changes with the Town of Sardinia. There is more to come.  Many residents and taxpayers have complained that the processes that have led to poor and controversial decisions. Many people have complained that these decisions have not exactly been transparent or subject to public scrutiny. Lawsuits have resulted. 

I think that the Town of Sardinia should review the NYS Attorney General’s Office “Code of Conduct for Wind Companies” and adapt the code to represent an overall improved ethics law for the Town to add to what we already have.

For a More Detailed Look:

http://www.oag.state.ny.us/media_center/2008/oct/Code%20Signed%20by%20First%20Wind%20and%20AG.pdf

Sardina Resident finds Lincoln History

Photo Caption: Sardinia’s Lee Oprea next to 1860 Presidential Campaign Poster that she uncovered in her upstairs bedroom.

First Headline:

Sardinia resident finds Presidential Election of 1860 Poster in Historic House

This is what the poster is

this is what was found

Second Headline:

Washington and Lincoln Images Found on Fireboard Under Layers of Wall Paper.

By Jay Burney

It is not everyday when you come face to face with Abraham Lincoln. But that is just what happened to Sardinia Resident Lee Oprea when she was engaged in removing wall paper from her upstairs bedroom.

Now, Lee Oprea doesn’t live in an ordinary house.  She lives in one of the most historic houses on one of the most historic properties in all of WNY. So historic that it is on the National and State Registers of Historic Places.

Lee lives on her families Rider Hopkins Farm on Benton Road, which is part of the Olmsted Camp property. The home, known as the James and Abigail Hopkins House, dates from the 1840’s. The pre-civil war era brick Greek Revival home is considered to be a rare surviving example of a Western New York settlement era farm.

Lee was doing a bit of renovating and remodeling when she uncovered what she at first thought might be a sheet from an old newspaper. She was looking for a date when she uncovered Lincoln’s face.  “I was surprised and knew that this was something unusual, but this is an old house with lots of history” Lee told the Standard.

The Lincoln face is a part of a poster that is in pretty bad shape. The Poster is an interesting original artifact from the Presidential Campaign of 1860, which included candidates Lincoln, Stephan Douglas, and Sam Houston.

The poster is a 27 x 35.5 inch multicolored broadside published by H.H. Lloyd and Company of New York.  It is titled “Political Chart-Presidential Campaign, 1860”

The poster features portraits of the 15 previous Presidents with brief biographical information.  In the center top of the poster are the various 1860 Presidential Vice-Presidential candidates from the 1860 contest. Candidates include John Bell and Edward Everett of ‘Constitutional Union Party; Stephen Douglas and Herschel Johnson of the Northern Democratic Party;  John Breckinridge and Joseph P. Lane of the Southern Democratic Party;  Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin of the Republican Party , and Sam Houston who was described by the northern press as being of the “Peoples Party”.  Brief party platforms were printed as well as a map of the United States.

These posters and broadsides were widely circulated and hung in classrooms and taverns and became the focal point of debate and discussion.  It is really a wonderful relic from Sardinia’s and America’s past.  When asked what she was going to do with the poster, Oprea told the Standard, “I am going to try to preserve it and I am talking with several experts about how to do this.”  Good luck Lee, and thanks for sharing this wonderful find with us.

Lea and her find

The Hopkins, Olmsted, Oprea Farm

Ensure Fair Winds

Sardinia Standard December 2008

EDITORIALS

Ensure fair winds

Jay Burney

Attorney general crafts a code that strengthens wind power ethics

Updated: 11/04/08 7:05 AM

One thing springs to mind when reading New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo’s new code of conduct for companies seeking to place crops of giant wind energy towers around the state: Isn’t the behavior the code would ban already illegal?
Surprisingly — or, depending on your attitude toward New York government, unsurprisingly — no.
That’s why Cuomo’s new code of conduct is not only a good idea for the wind industry, but a model for rules and laws to govern how local governments keep healthy arm’s-length relationships with other industries seeking favors.

Right now there is no state law or other regulation that makes it illegal for a town official who is voting on zoning permits for windmills that may be nearly 400 feet tall to accept significant gifts, or even go to work for, the very companies seeking to erect those machines.

There’s no specific ban on a village, town or city official from clueing the wind developer in on some confidential information that belongs to the municipality. And there’s no requirement that any other marginal or blatant conflicts of interest, such as a town supervisor voting to give the company he owns stock in a permit for a field of giant turbines, be made public.

Those seemingly clear violations of government, and business, ethics are the things to be corrected by the code regulating the wind energy companies seeking zoning permits in New York. So far two of them, Noble Environmental Power of Connecticut and First Wind of Massachusetts, have signed on. More developers may, and should, follow.

There are reasons to hope that companies making giant investments in wind power make a lot of those investments in New York. The potential for clean wind energy to produce up to 20 percent of the state’s energy needs is enticing.

It stands to be not only clean, but profitable. The developers make money. The landowners who lease sites to the developers make money. And towns can reap such large tax windfalls from wind turbines that, sometimes, everybody else’s property taxes virtually disappear.

But support for the sprouting projects is not universal. Some people find them ugly. They worry about noise and other detriments to their property values. And, when conflicts pitting neighbor against neighbor arise, there is always the concern that decisions are based not on a concern for the greater good, but on the potential for individual profit.

Even if a conflict is only sour grapes — “He’s getting thousands of dollars a year for a windmill lease and I’m not” — it is in the best interest of everyone that the sometimes controversial process of granting permits for landscape-altering projects be as trustworthy and transparent as possible.
Should the same kind of rules apply to other industries with business before town boards? Of course they should. Should they be codified into state law, rather than created by the attorney general and the industry involved? Indeed.

Those are questions for the Legislature to tackle. Until it does, Cuomo has done both the backers of wind energy and the opponents the favor of making the rules clear and fair.

Christmas in Sardinia

From the Sardinia Standard  December 2008

Christmas In Sardinia

The following are brief anecdotal reminiscences of Christmases past.

Christmas Programs at the Old Sardinia School

 By Virg Domes

One of my favorite memories from almost 60 years ago are the Christmas plays that we put on at the Sardinia School Building. The building was part of the Arcade Central School and is now the Community Center on Savage Road.

Each one of us would have a part in the Christmas program. Sometimes I had a big part and other times a small part. But I would always learn everybody’s part just in case someone got sick.  The teachers Mrs. Dabolt, Mrs. Watson, and Mrs. Rice along with Ida Sporman from the cafeteria and AC Rupert, the janitor, all worked with us getting ready for our big night. We all helped making the scenery and all of our mothers would get involved with making our costumes. There was always a real Christmas tree loaded with our handmade decorations.

Most of us back then were farm kids so when the big night came, my family would rush around to get the chores done so that we could get to the school on time. The thrill of being on stage doing my part and seeing all of our families in the audience made this a memorable and joyful experience that I will always cherish.

Earl Northrup, Owner of Earl’s Restaurant

I grew up in the thirties and forties. We lived on our farm on Northwoods Road and Michigan Roads.  I went to school in a little one room school house at Punkshire Corners. That school had grades 1-6 and there were about 10-12 kids that attended.  We were farm kids.

I remember that we had a wood stove and a Christmas Tree in that little schoolhouse. Someone would bring in the tree and we would all exchange gifts. Santa Clause would be there.  Mostly we exchanged baked goods like cookies and such. Sometimes other little gifts. Our Teacher was Mrs. Kohl. Both her mother and sister were teachers in other area schools, over in Curriers or Strikersville I think. We were all like a family. We had some big winters back then.  I remember that sometimes it was almost impossible to get our dairy milk to the trucks to get to wherever it was going.  Once I remember this big snow and all the adults and some of us kids helped to shovel a kind of trench because the plow truck, which had a big V plow on it, couldn’t get through.  We dug this trench which allowed the plow to get going on this deep snow which was a lot higher than the plow. The truck would keep going back and forth and hammering at the snow.  Eventually it got through. We needed desperately to get our milk to market, -that was part of our income you know. Sometimes we would get a horse and sleigh and bring these milk cans down to the railroad crossing at Chaffee Couriers Road and Olean Road.   There would be a truck there to take the milk to market.

These were the war years and I remember Mrs. Kohl had a new Dodge Car.  She would drive it to the school and at noontime we would gather around the radio in the car and listen to war news. Everyone knew someone that was in the war.

One winter I got a little mischievous and on the pathway to the school the snow was very deep.  I decided to make a little trap for the teacher so I dug a hole and kind of covered it up. I was about 10 or 11.  The teacher fell in that snowy hole and we all had a big laugh!

Lou Domes, Owner of the Highlander Forest Christmas Tree Farm

I grew up in here and I remember that we had a parlor room in our house. That parlor room was a special room and you only used it on special occasions.  That was where we put our Christmas tree.

 I had an older brother and I remember that we used to go out and look for a Christmas tree. Sometimes we would end up with a Hemlock Tree for a Christmas Tree. Have you ever used a Hemlock tree for a Christmas Tree?  It is kind of scraggly and may only have 4 or five branches, but sometimes that’s what we ended up with.

My brother ended up getting into the Christmas Tree Business and he convinced me to get into it also. About 20 years ago I started my Christmas Tree place up on my property on Warmer Gulf Road.  We grow a lot of good trees there, and we don’t sell any Hemlock for Christmas Trees!

Christmas at the Cabin, by Dan Degolier

In the early 1960’s my parents purchased the old district no.11, one room school house on Middle Road. At the time the building was about a half mile from our family farm on land now owned by Gary Franklin.  The School house was mobbed down to the farm and eventually moved down in the woods on the banks of Hyler Brook and became a hunting cabin. Over the years a kitchen was added to the front and a bunkroom to the back, but otherwise the original school house remained the same.

As my sister and brothers families grew, Ma and Dad’s house became a little crowded for the family to gather at Christmas time. The solution was to have Christmas at the cabin in the woods and family tradition was started.

Presents were of course a big part of the celebration and Ma would usually get a little perturbed ad Dad because he like to shop and would always seem to buy way to much.  The wrapping everything seemed to take forever, but it showed that Ma and Dad would go way out of their way to make Christmas time memorable for everyone.

What would Christmas be without a tree?  We would always snowmobile or walk around the woods on the farm until the right tree was found. After getting it back to the cabin and putting it in a stand, the thing would never look as nice as it did standing in the woods.  Even thought the ceiling was bout ten foot high, the tree never seemed to fit and a big chunk would have to be cut off but finally it would end up in the corner. Finding a good side seemed like a major ordeal as the tree was turned and turned again until the best side was found.  It always seemed to have so many bare spots, but we didn’t care- it was our tree and we determined to make it nice. It was always decorated with all sorts of old ornaments that Ma had, along with all of the handmade decorations that the kids on the bus had made for our mother. A bird’s next was added for good luck and then with all the lights and tinsel the tree was done and always looked great- you couldn’t even tell that it could have used a few more branches.

When the day came for the Christmas gathering thee w3as always a fire in the old wood stove and the place was cozy- all decorated and waiting. There would be all sorts of delicious food and treats and of course, what would a family get together be without Dad’s homemade wine. Dad’s wine was very popular with everyone around the area and during the winter you could usually find the front lawn at the house loaded with 20 or 30 snowmobiles.  Everyone would be in the house getting warmed up and sampling Dad’s wine. I should say that Dad’s homemade wine was not your normal wine. - It was the kind of stuff that if you drank one small glass you automatically were way past three sheets in the wind. Everyone at our family gathering would try the wine and some of us would maybe have a little too much. Dad was usually one of them and he would start horsing around with the kids. I can still clearly hear my mother saying to Dad “Buster would you straighten up-you act worse than the kids.”

As the years passed by, the tradition continued.  As with everything in life, times change and things happen. That change for my family came in 1981 when Dad passed away. Even though Ma continued to drive the school bus and stay very active in the many clubs she belong to, her spirit for the holidays and especially Christmas was gone. Life was not the same without Dad and the family tradition of gathering at the cabin in the woods came to an end.

As more years passed by Ma hated getting old because she was no longer able to be as active and be involved in all those things that she enjoyed doing. Christmas was always a hard time and usually brought a time of sadness into her life. It was not uncommon to hear Ma make some sort of remark about those family gatherings at the cabin. There would always be a crackle in her voice and a tear in her eye as she spoke of those times when the family was all together. There was no doubt that she missed Dad and the life they had together.

When Ma passed on in 2005 the task began of going through her belongings and sorting everything trying to find things that might hold important memories to each member of the family. I ran across a small box of Christmas decorations and recognized what they were right away. They were from those Christmas gatherings at the cabin and even though they were worn and their shine was long gone, they seemed precious to me because they were part of my families past.  I decided to pack them away with the thought in mind that after I am gone and someone has the task of sorting through my things, they will find those decorations and will remember those wonderful Christmases from years ago.

My younger brother Dennis, inherited the cabin and he decided to renew with his own family the tradition of Christmas at the cabin. Now each year as I hear the news that the tree is being put up, I wait until no one is around and I sneak down in the woods. I am always curious if Dennis’ tree is anywhere as nice as the ones we put up when we were all younger. Looking at the tree I can tell a big part had to be cut off to make it fit and the branches are a little sparse here and there, and yes if you look real close you can almost find one good side. Then again with all the decorations, dried fruit, and lights, it is a good looking Christmas tree. Each year as I quietly stand there in that old one room school house, admiring my bothers’ tree, suddenly it becomes the most beautiful Christmas tree in the world as it brings back all of those wonderful memories of Ma and Dad and the Christmas family gatherings from years ago at the cabin down in the woods.

Smart Growth and Economic Development

Smart Growth Part II

 Sardinia Standard July 2007

Smart Growth and Economic Development

By Ana Hernandez and Jay Burney

This is the second article in a four part series that the Sardinia Standard is publishing regarding Smart Growth and the impact of planning on Sardinia. Clearly appropriate planning decisions are critical to this community’s ability to grow and prosper and to provide a basis for a future that works for the coming generations that will live and work here. The Sardinia Standard publishes this series as a public service and as a resource to raise the level of discussion in our community so that we will not fall into the trap of inappropriate planning that will lead to urban sprawl, inappropriate decision-making, and a less than positive future.

Ana Hernandez is a Masters graduate from the University of Buffalo’s Architecture and Planning Department, and Jay Burney is both a Sardinia resident, and an expert on Sustainable Communities.

             Smart Growth is about thoughtful and deliberate planning. Smart growth is about involving all local stakeholders including citizens and residents in important decisionmaking.  Smart growth is hard work; it requires intelligence, patience, and an understanding of many disciplines. These planning disciplines include economics, environment, design, architecture, engineering, politics, and community.

Smart Growth is also about using a community’s resources efficiently. There is a difference between expansion and development, and Smart Growth is about development first, and expansion second. And if expansion is needed, then how can communities strategically invest resources so that quality of life is preserved. In fact, expansion can strain quality of life, whereas appropriate and “smart” development seeks to protect it.

Investing in Smart Growth strategies has many important consequences. Primarily, an investment in Smart Growth is an investment in the future of a community, and if done correctly, it helps guarantee a future that will work. In these days, that is a challenging task.  And have no doubt; if Sardinia is to have a future that works, we as residents, business owners, and government leaders, have to be up to the challenge.

Smart Growth is all about economic development. Appropriate economic development. Economic development that enriches a community rather than exploits it. Development that doesn’t just expand a community for the sake of expansion.  Smart Growth is development that invests in a community. Smart Growth is economic development that provides a strong local economy and not just exploits and extracts local money in a globalized scheme that tends to enrich outside forces while leaving local communities to deal with low paying jobs, ruined environment, the abandoned or inadequate infrastructure of strip malls, cheap housing developments, and the consequential aesthetic and very real financial burdens to the taxpayer.

What most people call “development” is really expansion. Expansion is just building new things with no regards to the consequences. Development is about improving what exists, protecting what has worked well for years, and being creative about how to meet new needs. Expansion is the creation of strip malls, chain stores, and other big box stores that wipe out small, independent and locally owned business that serves the community.

When these kinds of expansions come into small communities such as Sardinia, offering discount prices for the same products, small business often cannot compete and eventually are forced to close. Local economy is harmed. Money is extracted. Job quality declines.

One does not have to look very far to see abandoned and chaotic urban ruin, all originally created with dissembling arguments about how good this strip mall or that “industrial park” or housing development would be “good for the community”. Sadly, communities all over WNY are left with the very real burdens that this kind of “unsmart” and short sighted economic growth brings. 

Sometimes this occurs because local planning and elected officials do not understand how important it is to fully think through the potential consequences of really critical zoning issues, site plans, and infrastructure and maintenance needs. This includes paying detailed attention to water and sewer issues, runoff and erosion, roads, and traffic flow. This affects both the ability of emergency services to respond adequately and the cost of these services. This all has significant impact on the quality of life and the costs to a community.

And sometimes, actually quite often, a few years down the road facilities are abandoned. Usually the developers do not think in the long range. They want to take what they can now, and if in 10 years the facility is not cost effective, it is abandoned and becomes the burden of the taxpayer.  You can see these abandoned sites everywhere in WNY.

Think of almost any WNY community that invested in strip malls and you will find a preponderance of these have been abandoned and left for the next generations to take care of. It is sad, and it is not smart. It is expensive, and it does not contribute to the well being of a community or a local economy.

Smart growth encourages investment in the quality and character of a community and in the communities’ future.

Services

Of course you will find those that want to argue that these expansion developments provide important benefits including jobs, and inexpensive services. They say that the services provide ready access to products that we must have. In some cases this may be true, but often those that are making the argument, those that grab the soapbox have political or economic stakes, and are not necessarily representing the best interests of the community, the consumer, or the family.  Sometimes price does drive value. Sometimes value drives price.

Smart Growth demands that we examine the real costs and real consequences and real burdens including economics and futures.

The importance of a local Economy

There is little that is as of critical consequence to a community than the strength of the local economy.  In these days of globalization where the big money players are all about creating and exploiting markets of consumers that pay into the big picture, it is more important than ever to focus on how to create and sustain a local and regional economy. Smart Growth recognizes this, and it is important that Sardinia embrace the concept of local economies if this community is going to grow and prosper, and not just become another throw away town/marketplace and economic resource for big corporations whose only interest is the extraction of local wealth as the bottom line.

Local economy means that it is important that money that is generated in Sardinia, generated by our natural and human resources, stay in Sardinia or on a regional level as much as possible, rather than be extracted to corporate bank accounts on distant shores. This requires strategic planning. This means that locally owned businesses that are both sustainable and meaningful need to be supported and encouraged. These include shops and restaurants, local farms, and the wide variety of businesses that are locally owned and controlled.  These are the kinds of business that have a reason to care about the future of the community.  Support them. Buy local. Start one if you can.

Jobs

Smart growth recognizes this. Smart growth is also about job development.

Some will argue that these developments provide important local jobs, end of story. Smart Growth demands that we critically examine that basic premise.

It is important to remember that the most consequential relationships that any company or project has with a community rests in its ability to provide jobs. This should be characterized as the primary investment in the community.  Is the company investing, or is it extracting with low wages and poor or no benefits? The quality and character of jobs determines not only the well being of the individuals employed, but also profoundly influences the quality and character of the community, the wealth of the community, and the strength of the local economy.  An investment in good local jobs is a profound investment in the community. Perhaps it is the most important investment.

The opposite is also true. Low paying jobs with little or no benefits become a burden for the community. Many developments that promote the opposite of Smart Growth are notorious for creating low paying jobs that insure the maximum profit. These developments actually create quantifiable burdens on the communities that have been invaded by these developments. They often get tremendous tax breaks and other politically approved public money investments.  It was recently revealed that a large NYS company, Alcoa Aluminum is seeking a long-term  $5.6 billion subsidy for cheap power generated at Niagara Falls. The argument is that this tremendous subsidy, the largest economic development subsidy in the history of New York State, will create and or save jobs.  The Buffalo News did an analysis of this and concluded that the subsidy works out to $148,000 per year per job over the 30-year span of the allocation.  The average wage at Alcoa for the kind of jobs that this subsidizes is much lower. The Federal government, when considering these kinds of subsidies, caps this kind of taxpayer’s investment at $35,000 per job. One does not have to wonder who benefits and whom is harmed by this kind of lavishing and mind boggling allocation.

It is not smart growth, it is a typically deliberate money grab by a few large corporations practicing the global economy that characterizes our economic culture, and it comes at great expense to the rest of us.

Another example of poor economic planning on a local and regional level involves Wall Mart. This company is notorious for creating low paying jobs and then “helping” its employees to apply for public assistance including Food Stamps and Medicaid. While it is important to recognize that public assistance to those in need is both appropriate and smart, welfare probably should not be available to corporations such as Alcoa and Wall Mart. If it is, and it is, it should be exposed to the light of day.  Wall Marts jobs benefits practice relying on government assistance has been exposed as part of the companies “benefits package” at many U.S. locations. You may pay less at Wal-Mart for shoes, and at other national chains that promote sprawl and local economic extraction but you pay excessively in other costs including not only the public and taxpayer costs of public assistance for these corporations, but also in the additional social services that are required when you have a poor and more disadvantaged population.  This is a bad investment for a community. It is not smart.

What should a community look for when jobs are offered as part of promised economic development?

This can be a very sticky wicket.  Certainly the creation of jobs is one of the most consequential decisions that a community makes when it is asked to support development. Smart Growth says that we must examine the quality and character of these jobs very carefully.

Smart growth and jobs is about investing in a local economy, providing living wage jobs, which include good pay, and adequate benefits for individuals and families. Jobs are one of the prime reasons that we have an economy. Lets not treat them as blistering boils on the back ends of our productive workforce and the families that they represent.

Sardinia has wonderful opportunities for economic development. As we rethink our economic future we should concentrate on quality of life, and making Sardinia a good and desirable place to live.  Our assets include our environment, ranging from our forests and fields to our rivers and creeks.  Our rural character is very appealing.  Preserving that rural character may unlock a wealth of opportunities for a profound economic future.

Our family farms coupled with recreation and tourism opportunities could give us a chance to revisit our past and build upon the foundations that made Sardinia great to begin with.

Strip malls may not offer a positive economic future. But if there are coming, we should make sure that we understand what they are, what the represent, and do our best to mitigate economic, social, and environmental damages.

Of course there are solutions.  Investments in good, well paying local jobs are a tremendous investment in a community.  Appropriate design of facilities that help to maintain the character of a rural community like Sardinia will go a long way toward protecting future property values, and future investments. We will discuss appropriate design and thoughtful site planning in our next edition.

 Remember always that money is just politics.  And like all politics, the quality and character starts locally. We can make good choices here in Sardinia. Lets make sure that our leadership knows that we are interested.

Living Wages

A living wage is defined as paying a worker enough to support a family above the Federal Poverty line.  Generally speaking this pay has been established at approximately 130% of the poverty measurement.

This poverty line varies from community to community.

In the City of Buffalo the living wage has been set by the City of Buffalo Living Wage Commission as $9.59 per hour for a job without benefits and $10.77 with health benefits.

Setting the standard as slightly above the federal poverty line is better than the minimum wage, but one can only imagine the costs to a family of four if they have to obtain their own health benefits. The burden on a community and on the taxpayer for social services is measurable. Investing in job development that includes jobs that do not meet these minimum standards is not only not “smart” but actually creates a greater burden on the community. Sometimes that investment of public monies is substantial. It is not always just a zoning decision, but sometimes it is a tax break, or a grant to the developer or the companies that are the beneficiaries are those that take the profits while extracting wealth from the local economy.  This is not smart growth. When the jobs argument comes up, Living Wages is one way of measuring the worth of the job. Smart growth encourages a critical look at the jobs arguments that we are so often confronted with.

Photo Caption: You may have noticed that the new Tim Horton’s on Rt 16 has had a well drilling rig on the property since the day of the grand opening.  Tim Horton’s has no water.  Why is this? Obviously someone dropped the ball? Obviously Tim Horton’s is suffering because local planning officials did not adequately do their job. 

Edward Moore Kennedy, A Life Worth Living

From the Sardinia Standard, August 2009

Edward Moore Kennedy

A Life Worth Living

By Jay Burney

I grew up in New England where the Kennedy legacies were imprinted on me at an early age.  I met many of the Kennedys including John, Robert, and Teddy Kennedy during various political campaigns and events. When Teddy Kennedy passed away in late August at the age of 77 from the results of a brain tumor virtually everyone in America and every person worldwide that has ever paid attention to American politics knew who he was.  Most remember Kennedy because of his well-chronicled relationships with tragedy. Some remembered him as the man who as a young Senator, found himself inextricably entwined with the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, an aide  to his recently deceased brother Bobby.  Kopechne was riding with the young Senator in his car one late night in 1969 on Cape Cod, when it plunged off a narrow bridge, resulting in her death. 

Others remembered Kennedy because of his three of his brother’s untimely deaths. Oldest brother Joe, lost at war, brother John, 42^nd President of the US, violently assassinated in Dallas on that November day in 1963, and brother Bobby, our New York State Senator, murdered on the occasion of his victory in the 1968 California primary that could have catapulted him to the presidency.  How can one forget the emotional eulogy that Edward Kennedy delivered at Bobby’s funeral mass in which he said:

“My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it,”. “Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will someday come to pass for all the world.” As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him:  “Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.”

Teddy Kennedy was elected Senator from Massachusetts in 1962. He took over the seat held by his brother John, who had just become President. It was a hotly contested election as he faced Edward J. McCormick, Jr. whose uncle was John McCormick, then Speaker of the U.S. House o Representatives. He served as the Senator for Massachusetts for 46 consecutive years longer than but two other senators in the history of the United States.  He played a key role in shaping the policies of America for decades, especially in the areas of health, education, civil rights, and labor. According to his Senate website, 550 of his bills were passed into law. Over 1000 carry his signature. He wrote bills that institute a fair minimum wage, made it possible for workers that lost their jobs to keep their health insurance and take paid leave for family emergencies. He worked for equal pay for equal work and worker safety He was the leader in the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act which helps to prevent discrimination against handicapped individuals. He helped pass food safety laws including labeling requirements, and funding of research into deaths involving food allergies. He helped to usher legislation involving availability of generic drugs. He was a strong supporter of Social Security and Medicare and spent most of his career ensuring that these programs were sound and secure. He also authored legislation ensuring Meals on Wheels, which has served over 6 billion meals to shut ins and the elderly that would otherwise not eat a warm fresh meal.

He was a champion of Civil Rights Legislation including successful advocacy of he Civil Rights Acts of 1964, 1991, and 2008.  He was instrumental in the passages of the Voting Rights Acts of 1965, 1982, and the Fair Housing Act of 1988.  He was instrumental in passing Title IX of the 1972 Higher Education Act, which prevented discrimination against women and girls in schools that receive Federal funding. This program protects against discrimination in academic programs such as science and math, and guarantees equal access to health care, school bands and dormitory facilities.  It may be best known for guaranteeing equal access for women and girls to sports programs provided by schools that accept federal funding. He was responsible for passing legislation protecting minorities and preventing gender bias including wage inequalities and harassment in the workplace.

Edward Kennedy’s life, especially when he was younger, was not without negative aspects.  As a young person, I was often astounded by news reports and stories of his excesses.  He came from a life of privilege. His family was wealthy and powerful.  In his freshman year at Harvard he was forced to withdraw for two years because he was caught cheating on a Spanish final. His family, under the guidance of his father Joe, was very influential, economically speaking, in advancing his son’s political careers including Teddy’s first Senate Race. Edward Kennedy had a life long problem with alcohol.  As he grew into adulthood his friends and family, and most of his political associates recognized that he matured and changed and was able to control his alcoholism. For several decades he has been the cherished leader of a large extended family including his children and grandchildren and those of his brothers and sisters.   In his later years in the Senate, I grew to admire his passion and his ideology.

At his death he was considered by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle as the “Lion of the Senate.”  He will be remembered as an intellectual and political powerhouse, a warm, kind and generous father figure, and a person who has epitomized the ideals of the Democratic Party for a generation.

Teddy Kennedy is arguably one of the greatest men of the Senate.  We all benefit from the ideals and laws that he spent his lifetime fighting for.  Healthcare, education, labor justice, small business advocacy, voting rights, civil rights (including gender anti discrimination laws) and services including Meals on Wheels, access to inexpensive medicine, child health protection, Medicare, and Social Security all benefited from his tireless advocacy.  Yes he was a Democrat.  One that is well known for successfully reaching across party lines.  John McCain made these remarks upon Kennedy’s death: “As a leader of his party he fought for the future for all people.” ”When we were agreed on an issue, and worked together to make a little progress for the country on an important issue, he was the best ally you could have.”  “He made me a better Senator.”

He made our country better and that makes all of our lives better.