BOSTON — As the summer tourist season ramps up, the Coast Guard told recreational boaters and paddlers Friday to keep an eye out for predatory sharks in the ocean waters off the Northeast, warning that the creatures could easily capsize a small boat or kayak. The shark advisory, issued by the U.S. Coast Guard district that covers waters from...

View full sizeBruce Sweet / www.SportFishingMA.com, via APA juvenile great white shark swims in the Atlantic Ocean about 20 miles off the coast of Gloucester, Mass., in the rich fishing ground known as Stellwagen Bank in this photo from June 26. Officials are warning boaters to watch out for sharks this holiday weekend.

BOSTON — As the summer tourist season ramps up, the Coast Guard told recreational boaters and paddlers Friday to keep an eye out for predatory sharks in the ocean waters off the Northeast, warning that the creatures could easily capsize a small boat or kayak.

The shark advisory, issued by the U.S. Coast Guard district that covers waters from Maine to New Jersey, came several days after the crew of a tuna boat caught and later released a 7-foot juvenile great white shark in the Stellwagen Bank fishing area, about 20 miles off Massachusetts.

Several great white sharks were spotted off Cape Cod last summer, and experts believe more will return this summer, attracted by the exploding local population of seals, a favorite shark food. With a hot, sunny July Fourth weekend forecast, residents and tourists are expected to flock to beaches.

Massachusetts officials held a news conference this week to stress that no great whites — the kind of shark that taunted swimmers in the book and movie “Jaws” — had been spotted near beaches, and that beachgoers and swimmers should not be worried so long as they exercise “common sense” and avoid swimming near seals.

In the Coast Guard advisory, Al Johnson, a recreational boating specialist, said boaters and paddlers in the Northeast generally don’t have to concern themselves with predators, and noted that shark attacks are extremely rare in the region.

“But I have no doubt that a great white shark that swims into your comfort zone would surely find a splashing paddle or dangling hand inviting,” Johnson wrote. “I also expect that same passing shark would spend little time differentiating between boater, paddler and prey.”

Sharks spotted off New England have been as long as 15 feet, Johnson said. Recreational boaters and kayakers should steer clear of seal colonies or passing pods of seals, Johnson said. And anyone who spots a shark should resist any temptation to go near it.

“I can also imagine the excitement most boaters and paddlers would have if they visually encountered a shark on our waters,” he said. “However, things can and do go wrong on the water, and since a close encounter could easily have tragic consequence, I recommend an extreme degree of caution.”

Secretary of Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles said he anticipated more great white sightings this summer but did not foresee any beach closings. The last fatal shark attack in Massachusetts was in 1936.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A state appellate court on Friday sided with the Schwarzenegger administration in its attempt to temporarily impose the federal minimum wage on tens of thousands of state workers. It was not immediately clear how the ruling would affect Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s order a day earlier to pay 200,000 state workers the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A state appellate court on Friday sided with the Schwarzenegger administration in its attempt to temporarily impose the federal minimum wage on tens of thousands of state workers.

It was not immediately clear how the ruling would affect Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s order a day earlier to pay 200,000 state workers the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour as the state wrestles with a budget crisis.

The state controller, who cuts state paychecks, has refused to comply with the order. The office declined to comment because it is still reviewing the ruling.

Friday’s ruling affirms a lower-court decision in favor of the administration in a lawsuit filed two years ago after the governor’s first attempt to impose the minimum wage. The latest ruling from the California 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento concludes that state Controller John Chiang cannot ignore the minimum wage order from the state Department of Personnel Administration.

It says, “ ... the DPA has the authority to direct the controller to defer salary payments in excess of federally mandated minimum wages when appropriations for the salaries are lacking due to a budget impasse ...”

The Republican governor issued the order this week on the first day of the new fiscal year because the state remains without a budget, as lawmakers remain far apart on ways to close California’s $19 billion deficit.

Lynelle Jolley, spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger’s personnel department, said the ruling means the controller’s office must follow the administration’s minimum wage order. “This underscores the fact that everyone loses when we have a budget impasse. Every day the Legislature fails to deliver a budget costs the state $50 million,” Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said.

Workers will receive full back pay once a budget is passed. Representatives of several state employee unions did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Schwarzenegger’s minimum wage order will not affect all of California’s 250,000 government employees. The 37,000 state workers represented by unions that recently negotiated new contracts with the administration will continue to receive their full pay. The contracts, including one with California Highway Patrol officers, contain pay cuts and pension reforms.

Salaried managers who are not paid on an hourly basis would see their pay cut to $455 a week. Doctors and attorneys who work for the state will not be paid at all until a budget is signed because minimum wage laws do not apply to those professions.

The governor issued a similar order during a budget impasse two years ago, but it never took effect because Chiang refused to go along with it. That refusal prompted Schwarzenegger to sue the controller, leading to Friday’s ruling. It was not immediately clear whether Chiang will appeal the latest ruling to the California Supreme Court.

Chiang has maintained that the minimum wage order is illegal, even in the face of court decisions indicating the opposite. He has taken in more than $190,000 in campaign contributions from labor groups representing state employees and other unionized workers so far in his 2010 re-election bid. Those donations accounted for about 22 percent of all his contributions, according to campaign reports through May 22.

Chiang also has said California’s computerized payroll system cannot handle the change, specifically because it cannot cut some checks at full pay and others at minimum wage. He said his office is working on a system upgrade that will be ready in 2012.

HELENA, Mont. — The U.S. House of Representatives attached a $3.4 billion government settlement with Indian trust beneficiaries to a war-funding bill that it passed just before breaking for the July Fourth holiday. The settlement was one of several additions made late Thursday to the $80 billion appropriations bill that includes funding for the troop surge in Afghanistan and money...

HELENA, Mont. — The U.S. House of Representatives attached a $3.4 billion government settlement with Indian trust beneficiaries to a war-funding bill that it passed just before breaking for the July Fourth holiday.

The settlement was one of several additions made late Thursday to the $80 billion appropriations bill that includes funding for the troop surge in Afghanistan and money for federal disaster assistance. It authorizes the Obama administration to settle a class-action lawsuit with between 300,000 and 500,000 American Indians who claims the Interior Department mismanaged billions of dollars held in trust by the government.

The House originally authorized the settlement in May, but it was tucked into the Democrats’ jobs legislation that stalled in a Senate filibuster late last month. The plaintiffs hope including the settlement in the war-funding and disaster-relief bill will mean the Senate will approve it.

“We expect that the Senate must give prompt and serious consideration to the bill because, without enactment, there are no funds for our war efforts and no funds for FEMA,” plaintiffs attorney Dennis Gingold said Friday. “The bill is too important to this country. Partisan politics must not obstruct passage.”

Gingold credited House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer with moving the settlement authorization forward, calling him a “true champion for individual Indian trust beneficiaries.”

“It is important for this settlement to move forward as quickly as possible, and because Republicans have stood in lockstep opposition to every piece of legislation, including it in the supplemental makes it more likely it will become law sooner,” said Hoyer spokeswoman Katie Grant.

Sen. John Barrasso, the vice chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, has said the settlement should be a stand-alone bill with several changes, such as capping lawyer fees at $50 million.

Barrasso spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said the Wyoming Republican was at a funeral Friday and could not immediately comment on the House’s action.

Under the proposed settlement, $1.4 billion would go to individual Indian account holders. Some $2 billion would be used by the government to buy broken-up Indian lands from individual owners willing to sell, and then turn those lands over to tribes. Another $60 million would be used for a scholarship fund for young Indians.

Lawsuit participants would receive at least $1,500, and many would receive considerably more. Elouise Cobell, the Blackfeet woman from Browning, Mont., who filed the lawsuit in 1996, has urged passage of the settlement, saying it’s long overdue.

Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Montana, said he supports the settlement but voted against the measure because the public had not been given a chance to examine all the additions to the spending bill.

“Denny supports finalizing the Cobell settlement but not when it means putting funding for American soldiers at risk and adding billions to already record-breaking deficits,” Rehberg spokesman Jed Link said. “The emergency war supplemental shouldn’t be used to fulfill an election-year wish-list.”

Washington, D.C. -- The marching band from Altmar-Parish-Williamstown High School leaves Saturday for Washington, D.C., to participate in the National Independence Day Parade at 11:45 a.m. Sunday. The 75 band and color guard members will march up Constitution Avenue during the parade, tour the Capitol area and watch the Fourth of July celebration and fireworks on the Mall over...

View full sizeJim Commentucci / The Post-StandardThe APW marching band practices in the school's parking lot Thursday in preparation for an upcoming trip to Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. -- The marching band from Altmar-Parish-Williamstown High School leaves Saturday for Washington, D.C., to participate in the National Independence Day Parade at 11:45 a.m. Sunday.

The 75 band and color guard members will march up Constitution Avenue during the parade, tour the Capitol area and watch the Fourth of July celebration and fireworks on the Mall over the Washington Monument.

This will be the sixth time the A-P-W marching band has participated in the parade. Previous times were in 1997, 1990, 1987, 1983 and 1978.

Band director Janet Fiacco said she received a phone call from the parade committee asking if the band would want to come since it had been about 13 years since its last visit. “Then we had to send a videotape of the band and references,” Fiacco said.

A goal of parade organizers is to draw bands from all parts of the United States, the parade website says. Bands must submit a video, photos and biographical information detailing experience, honors, past adjudication results and festival ratings.

Marching bands are selected based on overall quality and geographical, ethnic and stylistic diversity.

A-P-W is the only one of 23 participating band to come from New York state. Band members saved their own money and conducted fundraisers to raise the $25,000 needed for the trip. Fiacco said the Dugway Methodist Church also chipped in “a few thousand dollars” to help the cause.

Last year, Pulaski High School’s band marched in the Independence Day Parade in Washington.

Contact Debra J. Groom at dgroom@syracuse.com, 470-3254 or 251-5586.

Law prohibits gun owners from stepping outside their homes with a handgun.

View full sizeM. Spencer Green / APChicago Mayor Richard Daley speaks during a news conference Thursday, in which he introduced what the city says is the most comprehensive gun ordinance in the United States. Daley said the ordinance would include a ban on gun shops in the city and prohibit guns from anywhere except inside the owner's home. The ordinance would bar gun ownership for anyone convicted of a violent crime or with two or more convictions for drunken driving.

CHICAGO — The Chicago City Council on Friday approved what city officials say is the strictest handgun ordinance in the nation, but not before lashing out at the Supreme Court ruling they contend makes the city more dangerous because it will put more guns in people’s hands.

The new ordinance bans gun shops in Chicago and prohibits gun owners from stepping outside their homes, even onto their porches or in their garages, with a handgun. It becomes law in 10 days, Corporation Counsel Mara Georges said.

The vote comes just four days after the high court ruled Americans have the right to have handguns anywhere for self-defense — a ruling that makes the city’s 28-year-old ban on such weapons unenforceable.

“I wish that we weren’t in the position where we’re struggling to figure out a way in which we can limit the guns on our streets and still meet the test that our Supreme Court has set for us,” said Alderman Toni Preckwinkle, minutes before the council voted 45-0 to approve the ordinance.

It was swift action for a council that typically takes far longer to pass ordinances, but Mayor Richard Daley — who promised the city would not “roll over” if the court ruled against the city’s handgun ban — clearly wanted to give police a law they could begin enforcing as quickly as possible. “You have to get the tools to the police,” Daley said.

And even though the ban remains in effect until it is struck down by an appellate court, Georges said it was important to pass a new law to clear up confusion Chicagoans might have about what kind of weapons they can legally own and how they can use them.

Some residents applauded the vote. “There’s just too much killing going on (and) we need protection,” said Mary Fitts, a retiree who came from her home on the South Side to watch the vote. “You can’t even sit on your front porch.”

Others, like Senesceria Craig, wondered how much good it would do. “They’re not going to abide by it,” she said of criminals, pointing out that her 20-year-old daughter was shot and killed with a handgun in 1992, 10 years after the city’s ban went into effect.

But gun rights supporters quickly criticized Daley and the City Council and promised lawsuits. “The city wants to put as many hurdles and as much red tape in the way of someone who just wants to exercise their constitutional right to have a gun,” said Todd Vandermyde, a lobbyist with the National Rifle Association in Illinois.

Vandermyde would not say when lawsuits might be filed. But he said the ordinance would be attacked on a number of fronts — including requiring prospective gun owners to pay $15 for each firearm registered, $100 every three years for a Chicago Firearms Permit, not to mention the cost of the required training — saying they all add up to discrimination against the poor.

“How are some people in some of the poorer neighborhoods who merely want to have firearms for self-defense supposed to afford to get through all this red tape?” he asked.

David Lawson, one of the plaintiffs in the case decided by the Supreme Court this week, agreed. He wondered if a challenge could be raised over the issue of training, saying it’s unfair to require training but prohibit that training from taking place in the city.

Daley and Georges said they expect lawsuits but that they were confident they could withstand legal challenges.

The ordinance also:
• Limits the number of handguns residents can register to one per month and prohibits residents from having more than one handgun in operating order at any given time.
• Requires residents in homes with children to keep handguns in lock boxes or equipped with trigger locks and requires residents convicted of a gun offense to register with the police department, much as sex offenders are now required to do.
• Prohibits people from owning a gun if they were convicted of a violent crime, domestic violence or two or more convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
• Requires prospective gun owners to be fingerprinted, take a four-hour class and one-hour training at a gun range.
• Calls for the police department to maintain a registry of every registered handgun owner in the city, with the names and addresses to be made available to police officers, firefighters and other emergency responders.

Those who have handguns, illegal under the ban, would have 90 days from the day the ordinance is enacted to register those weapons.

Residents convicted of violating the ordinance face a fine of up to $5,000 and be locked up for as long as 90 days for a first offense, and a fine of up to $10,000 and as long as six months behind bars for subsequent convictions.

New Yorkers would be able to file unilaterally for no-fault divorce under a measure that received final legislative approval Thursday. The story struck a nerve; many people shared it on Facebook and Twitter. Here's a comment from syracuse.com user The Great Baboonsky: "Marriage is now totally meaningless in New York if it can be dissolved that easily. Marriage is...

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New Yorkers would be able to file unilaterally for no-fault divorce under a measure that received final legislative approval Thursday. The story struck a nerve; many people shared it on Facebook and Twitter. Here's a comment from syracuse.com user The Great Baboonsky:

"Marriage is now totally meaningless in New York if it can be dissolved that easily. Marriage is no longer a sacred commitment for life; it is a legal condition with no sustained genuine emotional or spiritual bonding required. Marriage becomes a convenience, and when one-half of the marriage decides he or she has had enough or simply needs a change, they can just submit a sworn statement and the marriage is dissolved. Now that marriage is meaningless in the eyes of the state, perhaps the legislators will pass legislation allowing gay couples to marry."

» Read the story and all the comments

» Read what else The Great Baboonsky had to say

» Become a public blogger on syracuse.com

» Connect with syracuse.com

Marcellus, NY -- The village of Marcellus is home to what is believed to be the largest black maple tree in New York state. It stands 95 feet tall, is 131 inches around and has been growing between the sidewalk and the road in front of 2 Reed St. for about 175 years. But village fathers want to tear...

View full sizeDick Case / The Post-StandardThe village of Marcellus is threatening to cut down this black maple tree on Reed Street, believed to be the largest of its kind in the state.

Marcellus, NY -- The village of Marcellus is home to what is believed to be the largest black maple tree in New York state. It stands 95 feet tall, is 131 inches around and has been growing between the sidewalk and the road in front of 2 Reed St. for about 175 years.

But village fathers want to tear it down. The old-timer is in the way of a street improvement project that involves reconstructing the actual street, laying new sidewalks (from 4 to 5 feet wide), improving drainage and putting down new gas lines.

“We need to address the drainage problem at the lower end of Reed Street (where the tree stands),” Mayor John Curtin said in a letter to residents. “A better drainage system means the reconstruction of the road. The problem will remain unless this is done. That, unfortunately, means that the black maple tree might have to be removed since it lies in the path of the road.”

However, the mayor said, the tree’s future still remains a question. “We’re discussing it,” he explained. “The village board will review all options.”

The owners of the 108-year old home at 2 Reed St. are fighting the tree’s removal. Debbie and Tim Golick, who’ve lived there since 1995, want the village to preserve the tree and instruct the project engineer “to amend construction plans on Reed Street consistent with recommendations provided by a certified arborist in order to preclude harm to this tree.”

The certified arborist is Dan Deyle of Michael Grimm Services, who says the maple is in good health and should be preserved. “If you want to save the tree, plan around it,” he said Thursday.

The tree has been nominated for New York State’s large tree search of 2010. John Graham, with the Department of Environmental Conservation in Cortland, came to Marcellus and checked out the maple. He told the Golicks “your tree is larger than the current champion black maple, so I would presume that it is the new state champion.” The current black maple champion is in Livingston County.

However, he cautioned that being a state champion does not give the tree any protection status.

The Golicks walked around Marcellus and collected 117 names on a petition pleading with village trustees to spare the tree. The petition was presented to the village board in June, which is headed by the mayor.

The homeowners were told of the village’s plans to rework the street in front of their house in November. Previously, work was done on a nearby street, First Street. Deyle, the arborist, had given the village a list of trees he recommended be saved; “they took them all down,” he said.

Curtin said he’d asked a representative of Barton and Loguidice Engineers to meet with the Golicks to explain the options.

“The (village) board will once again review all the options, take all opinions into account and discuss all of the consequences before reaching a conclusion,” Curtin said. “The board regrets that its decision may not be to everyone’s satisfaction, but it will be made with the interest of the entire community in mind.”

“I’m not a tree-hugger,” Debbie Golick said, “but this is such a special tree.”

Syracuse, NY -- A federal jury this week ordered the city of Syracuse to pay $7.31 million to a contractor who alleged it was underpaid for repair work performed on an underground city parking garage 11 years ago. The verdict, if it withstands an appeal, would be one of the largest, if not the largest, ever against the city, Syracuse...

Syracuse, NY -- A federal jury this week ordered the city of Syracuse to pay $7.31 million to a contractor who alleged it was underpaid for repair work performed on an underground city parking garage 11 years ago.

The verdict, if it withstands an appeal, would be one of the largest, if not the largest, ever against the city, Syracuse officials said Friday.

After a two-week trial, the eight-person jury in U.S. District Court in Syracuse found in favor of Illinois-based American Underground Engineering Inc., which accused the city of changing the scope of the work needed to repair the concrete and reinforcing steel in the MONY Plaza garage under Harrison Street and then refusing to pay the extra costs.

The jury determined that the company spent $10.76 million on the job and was entitled to a 15 percent profit, or $1.61 million, for a total of $12.37 million. It subtracted the $5.07 million the city paid American Underground and ordered the city to pay the company the balance owed, $7.31 million.

City Corporation Counsel Juanita Perez Williams said the city will appeal. “This really caught us by surprise,” she said. “It was our position that they walked off the job.”

The MONY insurance company gave the 630-car garage to the city in 1996 after an above-ground garage at the same plaza partially collapsed and the company demolished the rest of it.

The city contracted with American Underground in April 1998 to remove deteriorated concrete and corroded reinforcing steel in the garage for $5.83 million.

In August 1999, the administration of then-Mayor Roy Bernardi terminated its contract with American Underground, alleging the company had walked off the job a month earlier without having completed the repair work. The city later hired another contractor to complete the job, at a cost of more than $2 million.

In January 2000, the city sued American Underground for $2 million, saying it had breached its contract.

American Underground filed a counterclaim alleging that it could not finish the job because the city had changed the repair work and refused to pay for the extra cost. It said the city required more concrete to be removed than was originally specified. It also alleged that the city had given it inaccurate specifications and drawings.

The city denied the company’s claims. It said the company failed to comply with the contract’s specifications, making it difficult for American Underground to perform the repairs satisfactorily. In some cases, the city authorized the company to remove broken concrete in a manner different than was called for in the contract, but it never agreed to pay more for the work, the city said.

The administration of Mayor Matt Driscoll dropped the city’s claim against the company in April of last year, but American Underground continued to pursue its claims against the city.

Perez Williams, who became corporation counsel under Mayor Stephanie Miner in January, said the Driscoll administration apparently dropped the city’s claim because it expected to reach a settlement. No settlement was ever reached, however, and the company’s claims against the city were the only ones to go to the jury, she said.

Perez Williams said she became concerned when she learned that the city had dropped its claim without a settlement. “It’s a decision this administration would not have made,” she said.

If the verdict holds up on appeal, the city will have to borrow to pay the $7.31 million judgment, she said.

Joseph Camardo Jr. and Kevin Cox of the Camardo Law Firm in Auburn represented American Underground.

Contact Rick Moriarty at rmoriarty@syracuse.com or (315) 470-3148.

At least 200 villagers killed, 100 more wounded

KINSHASA, Congo — A fuel tanker flipped over and exploded into flames in eastern Congo overnight, killing at least 220 villagers and wounding more than 100 — many of whom had rushed to siphon leaking liquid from the vehicle illegally, the U.N. and local officials said Saturday.

The truck was transporting fuel when it overturned at high speed late Friday near the village of Sange, around 20 miles (30 kilometers) north of the town of Uvira near the Burundi border. Sange is located between Uvira and the Congolese provincial capital, Bukavu, further to the north.

After the accident, “people came out and tried to siphon the contents of the tanker,” said Madnodje Mounoubai, a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission, which has rushed troops to help evacuate survivors.

“A fire started, and the people trying to siphon the fuel were killed or injured,” Mounoubai told The Associated Press. “Right now, we are talking about 220 dead and 111 wounded, but this is not the final toll. This is a very fluid situation.”

Mounoubai said a dozen homes in the vicinity had also been destroyed in the blaze. Most people in the area live in thatched huts made of dried leaves and hardened mud.

A U.N. helicopter has so far evacuated 35 wounded to Bukavu, Mounoubai said. Other peacekeepers were taking more wounded to nearby hospitals by ambulance.

Desire Yuma, a local Red Cross official in Bukavu, said Red Cross workers were still collecting charred bodies from the scene. The Red Cross put the toll slightly higher, at 221 dead and 214 injured, and said it was likely to rise.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.

Mounoubai said the truck overturned around dusk and was carrying fuel from Bukavu to Uvira. Other officials and U.N.-backed Radio Okapi reported the truck had begun its journey in Tanzania.

The U.N.’s acting special representative to Congo, Leila Zerrougui, expressed condolences for the tragedy and said the U.N. “will do everything possible to help authorities and assist victims.”

Desperately poor people across Africa often descend quickly around damaged or disabled oil trucks leaking fuel on roads and highways, carting it away with plastic jugs, unaware of the danger of doing so.

The worst tragedies have occurred in the West African nation of Nigeria, where thousands have died as crowds siphoned fuel illegally from ruptured or pierced oil pipelines that subsequently exploded.

Two Tampa, Fla., police officers were shot and killed Tuesday

APThe Tampa Police Honor Guard practices at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Fla. on Friday for Saturday's funerals for officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab.

TAMPA, Fla. -- A convicted felon accused of killing two Tampa police officers during a traffic stop surrendered after detectives spent more than a day negotiating with an associate of the man, police said Saturday.

Dontae Rashawn Morris, 24, turned himself in at a police station about 10:30 p.m. Friday, police said. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab early Tuesday.

“Honestly I can never remember a point in my life where I felt more relieved,” said Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor.

Police said Morris also was suspected in two other slayings, and by early Saturday he faced a third murder charge in the May 18 shooting death of a man killed outside his family’s Tampa apartment. A statement from Tampa police Public Information Officer Laura McElroy said ballistic tests indicate the same gun was used in the officers’ killings this week.

Morris was scheduled to make his first court appearance Saturday. Officials did not know whether he had an attorney.

Hundreds of officers in tactical gear had combed apartment buildings, vacant homes and even waterways during an intense manhunt for Morris following the officers’ deaths. Detectives fielded more than 400 tips.

McElroy’s statement said the surrender came nearly 30 hours after detectives began negotiations with an associate of Morris.

“Detectives continued a dialogue with the associate that eventually led to Dontae Morris turning himself in,” the statement said. The associate will be entitled to a $100,000 reward that had been offered for information leading to his arrest, it said.

A short time later, police also announced that Morris’ 21-year-old brother was arrested early Saturday morning at a Tampa motel on charges of domestic violence and cocaine and marijuana possession.

News of the surrender and charges came just hours after a wake for officers Curtis and Kocab drew hundreds of mourners to a crowded church. Photographs of Curtis with his wife and four sons were shown on large screens. Kocab was pictured with his wife, who is nine months pregnant.

Funerals for the two men, who were both 31, were scheduled for Saturday.

It was about 2:15 a.m. Tuesday when Curtis pulled over a man and woman in a red Toyota Camry. He called for backup after seeing the man was wanted in Jacksonville for writing a bad check. Six minutes after Curtis and Kocab approached the car’s passenger side, a witness called 911 to report they were shot. The officers were pronounced dead at a hospital.

The car’s driver, Cortnee Brantley, was charged Friday with a federal count of witnessing a felony and not reporting it. Officials also did not know whether she had retained an attorney.

In the May 18 shooting in which Morris is charged, 21-year-old Derek Anderson was killed outside his family’s apartment after detectives believe the shooter tried to take Anderson’s backpack.

Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said Friday night that Morris also is considered a suspect in the June 8 death of father of four who was found severely injured on the side of a road and died en route to a hospital.

Authorities are looking into why Morris was released from prison in April and not transferred to Jacksonville, where warrants had been issued in the bad check case. Corrections officers informed Jacksonville authorities of Morris’ impending release last October, prison records showed. Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford has said his office is looking into the matter.

New York City developer hopes to have hotel renovated and open by early 2012.

View full sizeNicholas Lisi / The Post-StandardA view of the the lobby and reception desk at the closed Hotel Syracuse.

Syracuse, NY -- Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney has thrown her support behind a proposed $60 million renovation of the shuttered Hotel Syracuse, offering the developers access to $15 million in state grants that was previously set aside to build a new Westin hotel next to the county convention center.

With no hope that the long-delayed Westin will be built this year, Mahoney said she supports using the state money on the Hotel Syracuse.

“We can’t wait forever,” Mahoney said Friday. “And we do have an interesting proposal to bring the Hotel Syracuse back on line, so we’re going to try to make it happen.”

Mahoney said Friday she approved a tentative agreement with developers Berkley Acquisitions LLC inviting them to request the $15 million in state grants and offering $10 million in low-cost financing to be provided by the county and the city of Syracuse through the sale of federally subsidized Recovery Zone Bonds.

Berkley would repay the bonds, but not the state grant.

If Berkley officials agree to the county’s terms, which will be delivered by letter Tuesday, the hotel could reopen as early as January 2012. Among the county’s requirements is an agreement that Berkley spend roughly $20 million of its own money before spending the state’s $15 million, Mahoney said.

Berkley officials, who have been waiting weeks for a commitment from the county, were elated Friday to learn of Mahoney’s green light. “We’ve been waiting with bated breath,” said Eli Braha, managing member. “We’re excited that our work has not been futile.”

In part, the delay was caused by uncertainty over the fate of the Westin project, which developer Wilmorite Inc. continues to pursue. Unable to secure conventional financing, Wilmorite officials devised a plan to finance the hotel by pairing it with a harness track and video gambling operation at the state fairgrounds — a scheme that required new state laws to be passed.

Thomas C. Wilmot Sr., chairman of Wilmorite, said he expected Gov. David Paterson to introduce the necessary legislation this year, but lawmakers’ preoccupation with the state budget got in the way. Paterson said last week he did not plan to pursue the matter.

Wilmot said he will try again next year. In the meantime, he believes the $15 million grant should remained dedicated to the Westin project. But Assemblyman William Magnarelli, D-Syracuse, who helped secure the money in 2006, has said repeatedly that the money can be moved to the Hotel Syracuse project if that’s what county officials want.

Berkley, of New York City, plans to buy the shuttered 1924 hotel from a receiver who is liquidating the assets of majority owner Ameris Holdings Ltd., of Israel, for an Israeli court. Braha said he hopes to close on the acquisition by Sept. 1 and begin construction by mid-November.

He hopes to have the hotel open by early 2012.

Said Mahoney: “I think it’s a good opportunity for us to bring the Hotel Syracuse back.’’

Contact Tim Knauss at tknauss@syracuse.com or 470-3023.

President says effort will create thousands of new jobs

President Obama, shown Friday at Andrews Air Force Base, announced $2 billion in grants for solar power Saturday.

WASHINGTON — The government is handing out nearly $2 billion for new solar plants that President Barack Obama says will create thousands of jobs and increase the use of renewable energy sources.

Obama announced the initiative in his weekly radio and online address Saturday, saying the money is part of his plan to bring new industries to the U.S.

“We’re going to keep competing aggressively to make sure the jobs and industries of the future are taking root right here in America,” Obama said.

The two companies that will receive the money from the president’s $862 billion economic stimulus are Abengoa Solar, which will build one of the world’s largest solar plants in Arizona, creating 1,600 construction jobs; and Abound Solar Manufacturing, which is building plants in Colorado and Indiana. The Obama administration says those projects will create more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs.

Obama’s announcement came a day after the Labor Department reported that employers slashed payrolls last month for the first time in six months, driven by the expected end of 225,000 temporary census jobs. Meanwhile, private-sector hiring rose by 83,000 workers.

The unemployment rate dropped to 9.5 percent.

Obama said that while it may take years to bring back all the jobs lost during the recession, the economy is moving in a positive direction. He placed some of the blame for the slow pace of recovery on Republicans, saying GOP lawmakers, “are playing the same old Washington games and using their power to hold this relief hostage.”

Obama has said that to bring the nation’s economy back from the brink of a depression, it was necessary to add to the country’s debt in the short term.

Republicans have tried to capitalize on that growing sum. Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss said in the Republican’s weekly address that the country’s $13 trillion debt is a national security issue that will leave the U.S. vulnerable and force future generations to “pay higher taxes to foot the bill for Democrats’ out-of-control spending.”

» Obama promotes clean energy economy (Voice of America)

» Obama announces $2B in grants for clean energy jobs (Fox News)

More on the jobs report:

Depressing unemployment numbers forecast long, slow recovery (Newsweek)

Recovery slows with weak job creation in June (New York Times)

More news:

In Britain, accused Russian spy's ex-husband speaks up (Los Angeles Times)

Jefferson changed 'subjects' to 'citizens' in Declaration of Independence (Washington Post)

Schwarzenegger apologizes to flag mural artists (San Jose Mercury News)

An Amber Alert has been issued in Jay, N.Y., for a 5-month-old girl who was taken from her foster home. Naomi Trinity Drake, with blonde hair and blue eyes, was taken from her home on Hazel Road by her biological parents James Drake and Maria Trombley around 11:25 p.m. July 2, New York state police said. She is about 20...

An Amber Alert has been issued in Jay, N.Y., for a 5-month-old girl who was taken from her foster home.

Naomi Trinity Drake, with blonde hair and blue eyes, was taken from her home on Hazel Road by her biological parents James Drake and Maria Trombley around 11:25 p.m. July 2, New York state police said. She is about 20 inches long and weighs about 16 pounds. She was wearing a blue and brown one-piece pajama with a dog on the chest or leg.

James Drake

Maria Trombley

On July 2, James Drake and Maria Trombley, both from Plattsburgh, forced their way inside the foster parent’s home and took the child, police said. Drake and Trombley were seen driving a brown Honda Accord with license plate number EWP6999. According to an Amber Alert update, they are now driving a white Dodge Shadow convertible with New York license plate number ESC2421 toward Texas.

Drake, 24, has brown hair, blue eyes and is about 5 feet 6 inches tall. He weighs about 160 pounds and was wearing shorts and flip flops.

Trombley, 22, has blonde hair, brown eyes and is pregnant. She was wearing shorts and flip flops. She has a tattoo of a sun on her stomach.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the New York State Police at 518-897-2000.

Stephen Rathburn, 64, of Salina, is pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center after being pulled from water this evening.

Lauren Long / The Post-StandardBaldwinsville Police Lt. T.J. LeRoy (left) and Chief of Police Michael W. Lefancheck investigate an area along the Seneca River in Baldwinsville where Stephen Rathburn, 64, of Salina, was found dead Saturday night.

Baldwinsville, NY -- A 64-year-old man died while swimming tonight behind his boat on the Seneca River in Baldwinsville, police said.

Stephen Rathburn, of 124 Sunrise Terrace, Salina, was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center shortly before 9 p.m., said Baldwinsville Police Chief Michael Lefancheck. The cause of his death is still under investigation.

Rathburn was unconscious when he was rushed by ambulance to St. Joseph's after the 7:36 p.m. incident, Lefancheck said.

People on a nearby boat saw Rathburn in the river with his head underwater and his arm on the surface, Lefancheck said. At first, they thought he was just relaxing, but knew something was wrong when he didn't move for 30 seconds, the chief said.

The victim had gone swimming when he lost consciousness.

The nearby boaters pulled Rathburn out of the water. Lefancheck, who was nearby, rushed to the scene with another officer, who began CPR on Rathburn.

The accident happened on the south shore along the riverside park. On Paper Mill Island, a band played and Fourth of July festivities filled the air.

Thousands descended upon downtown Baldwinsville for the celebration. The victim was pulled from the water along the wall where boats lined up for the party.

Police tape marked off the location as Baldwinsville Police, Onondaga County Sheriff's deputies and state police investigated the accident.

Around the tape, the people went on celebrating, apparently unaware of what had happened.

Mexico, NY -- Mexico dairy farmers Gary and Jim Hurlbut were making $1.03 for each gallon of milk they produced this time last year. This year, their take is up to about $1.30 a gallon. "We need it," Gary said. "It’s still tight, though." While prices to Central New York farmers are up, that doesn’t mean they are doing...

Gary Walts / The Post-StandardDairy farmer James Hurlbut milks a cow on the farm he and his brother, Gary, run in Mexico. They said their milk price is up a bit, but without an insurance check they received for apple damage last year, they would have to go further in debt with another loan this year. The Hurlbuts also run an apple orchard and maple syrup operation.

This year, their take is up to about $1.30 a gallon.

"We need it," Gary said. "It’s still tight, though."

While prices to Central New York farmers are up, that doesn’t mean they are doing much better now compared to last year.

And while farmers just concluded the annual Dairy Month celebration, they still have little to celebrate.

Many are drowning in debt. The Hurlbuts took out a loan for the first time ever last year just to pay bills. They’ve been lucky this year and haven’t had to go further in debt.

Other farmers have sold their farms or gone bankrupt. Local figures are scarce, but at least a few dairy farms in the four-county Central New York area have gone out of business.

Jim Barber, Farm Service Agency state executive director, said loan requests at the federal agency are surpassing last year, which was a record year.

In fiscal year 2008, the agency made 516 loans for $68 million.

In fiscal 2009, the agency’s $66 million available to loan in New York state was supposed to last through the year. The money was gone in March and was supplemented by federal stimulus money. The agency made 750 loans, either direct or guaranteed, for more than $110 million.

Barber said the agency so far this fiscal year — Oct. 1 through now — has processed 450 loans totaling more than $79 million. And the agency is out of money. The U.S. Senate has passed a bill to supply more loan money to the agency. The House is awaiting action on its bill.

"There are more applications stacked here waiting for money," he said. "We have 39 loans approved waiting on $4 million, and others to be processed."

While the price the farmers are receiving for their milk is up, it’s not up enough by most counts.

Karen Baase, dairy leader for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Madison County, said she thinks the worst is yet to come.

"Crunch time will be toward the end of the year," she said. "It’s tough. People are trying to cover what happened last year and what they’re making for their milk isn’t sufficient to carry them through this year.

"And the banks are being more selective in making loans," Baase said. "People are depleting their reserves. They’re robbing Peter to pay Paul.

The Hurlbuts were saved by a crop insurance check for apple damage from a summer 2009 hail storm.

"With that we paid off our loan from last year. If we didn’t have that, we would have had to borrow more money this year," Gary Hurlbut said.

The Hurlbuts have additional income from their apple orchard and maple syrup business. Farmers who do just dairying are hurting worse, the Hurlbuts said.

Statewide, farmers received $15.16 per hundred pounds of milk, or a $1.31 a gallon, in May. That’s about 32 percent more than in May 2009, when they received $11.43 a hundred, or 99 cents a gallon. This year’s prices, though, are down nearly 13 percent from two years ago May, when farmers received $17.43 a hundred, or $1.50 a gallon.

"This really shows the drastic fluctuations in the milk price," said Jessica Ziehm, speaking for the state Department of Agriculture and Markets. "Right now, the cost of production statewide is from $15 to $17 a hundredweight ($1.29 to $1.47 a gallon). Most efficient farms may be breaking even."

Milk prices always have fluctuated. A look at the last 20 years of prices for the Central New York area shows prices in any given year up and down. For the month of May, the prices range from a high of $19.09 per hundred pounds ($1.65 a gallon) in 2004 to a low of $11.43 last year.

The year 2007 was the best in the last 20 years, with seven months seeing prices of $20 a hundred pounds or higher and an average for the year of $19.10 per hundred pounds. The worst year was 1991, with nine months having prices less than $13 a hundred pounds. The average price that year was $11.79 a hundred.

And on top of low prices, just like last year, the cost of seed, feed and fertilizer has continued to rise, Ziehm said.

Meanwhile, consumers are paying about 8 percent more for their milk in the store. Wegmans sold skim gallons for an average of $2.69 in Syracuse and Auburn in June 2009 and it’s selling for $2.89 a gallon today.¶

Some farmers in the state are so frustrated they are planning a milk strike today.

David Fitch, a dairy farmer in the Herkimer County town of West Winfield, said farmers will dump their milk to show their displeasure with farm milk prices. He didn’t know if any Central New York farmers are going to participate.

"It’s worse than last year," he said. "Sure the price may have recovered some, but our input costs are a little higher and there is no credit out there. Now everything is on a cash basis. Some farmers can’t afford to put in their crops or are planting cheaper grasses to get by."

Fitch said farmers want the government to set a minimum price for milk of $18 for 100 pounds (11.6 gallons). That works out to $1.55 a gallon.

"We need to stabilize and bring prices up so we can hold on," he said. "Through the strike, we have to send a message that we can no longer make milk at this price. We are tired of working for nothing."

Dumping milk isn’t new. It’s been done nearly every time prices have plummeted. The most recent milk strike was just last year in Europe. Other milk dumpings occurred in August 1939 around New York state, in 1987 in New York and Maine, in 1991 in Central New York and elsewhere, in 1997 in the Midwest and South and in 2000 in Michigan and Wisconsin.

"We’ve talked about it," Gary Hurlbut said of the milk strike idea. "But I don’t know how you can afford to do it." 

DAIRY FACTS

New York is the third-largest dairy state in the country. 

Cayuga County is the second-largest dairy county in the state. 

There are 3,598 dairy farms in the five-county Central New York region, 813,364 acres in dairy farms and 88,524 dairy cows. 

Statewide, dairy is valued at $2.4 billion and accounts for more than 50 percent of the state’s agricultural value. 

Source: 2007 national agriculture census

Contact Debra J. Groom at dgroom@syracuse.com , 470-3254 or 251-5586

Despite recent uptick, four years of losses led to bonds being downgraded to risky this week.

Community General Hospital on Onondaga Hill has lost more than $7 million in the over the last four years.

A merger with Upstate Medical University may be just what the doctor ordered for Community General Hospital, given its weak financial health, health experts said.

Over the last four years, the 306-bed nonprofit hospital on Onondaga Hill has lost more than $7 million and seen patient volume drop nearly 15 percent.

The hospital’s cash flow was so low at the end of last year it was in danger of defaulting on its bonds, according to a report by Moody’s Investors Service.

Community officials say the hospital is doing better and has operated profitably for the first four months of the year. But credit rating agencies that keep a close eye on its finances remain pessimistic.

Standard & Poor’s Rating Services on Thursday reaffirmed its BB- rating on the hospital’s bonds, which means it considers them below investment grade or risky. It also issued a “negative outlook,” which means it may lower the rating again over the next 18 to 24 months.

Community and Upstate are talking about merging. Last week Upstate got the go-ahead from the SUNY board of trustees to explore an acquisition of Community. Upstate is a Syracuse academic medical center that operates a medical school and three other colleges and the 409-bed Upstate University Hospital.

Community broke off merger talks with Crouse Hospital in May.

Hospital officials say it’s too early in the process to explain how such an acquisition would work.

But Tom Dennison, a Syracuse University professor and health care expert, speculated that in such a deal Upstate might get Community’s assets in exchange for assuming or paying off its liabilities, agreeing to invest in upgrades at Community and maintaining its nonprofit mission.

Upstate and Community are on different trajectories. Upstate’s hospital is full, its market share is growing rapidly and it wants more beds so it can expand enrollment in its schools and provide more clinical training sites for students. It finished 2009 with a surplus of more than $38 million.

Community, which lost $2.03 million last year, is the smallest of Syracuse’s four acute care hospitals. It has been struggling to fill its beds, especially on its maternity ward, where patient volume plummeted more than 30 percent over the last three years.

In a report issued in December, Moody’s called Community’s balance sheet, the summary of its financial condition, “anemic.” The report said the hospital’s cash available to make payments on its bonds was in danger of dropping to a level that could trigger a default, possibly prompting bondholders to demand the hospital immediately pay off its outstanding debt.

That never happened, said Tom Quinn, Community’s president and CEO. He said the hospital’s financial performance has improved this year.

For the first four months of this year, Community made an operating profit of $765,000, better than expected, according to Standard & Poor’s.

The hospital is trying to bounce back from several setbacks. It lost money when the state forced it in 2007 to close a 50-bed nursing home on the hospital’s sixth floor. Its maternity unit volume plummeted after two obstetricians left the hospital.

Last year’s loss of $2.03 million was more than the hospital had anticipated. Much of the loss was caused by a higher than expected level of denied Medicare and Medicaid insurance claims, according to Standard & Poor’s.

Last month, St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center pulled its family medicine residents — doctors in training — out of Community, ending a 38-year relationship. St. Joseph’s officials refused to say why they did that.

To make up for the loss of residents, Community has made arrangements to get hospitalists — doctors who care exclusively for hospital patients — from Upstate, which already has doctors working in Community’s emergency room and physical medicine and rehabilitation department.

Community has filled its obstetrician vacancies. Earlier this year, the hospital opened a new $7.6 million orthopedics unit, paid for with a state grant, in the former nursing home space on its sixth floor. The hospital’s orthopedic volume has been picking up.

“We believe the worst is behind us,” said John Zacharek, a Community vice president. “We’ve made some moves that are going to place us in the best position to be profitable now and in the future.”

Dennison, the SU health care expert, said Syracuse’s other hospitals would not be able to handle all the patients if Community closed.

Despite its financial problems, Community has many strengths that make it attractive to Upstate, Dennison said. Community has a lot of primary care private practice doctors with plenty of patients, while Upstate is more heavily staffed with specialists, he said. Dennison said Community can provide many basic hospital services such as orthopedics at a relatively low cost.

Community also has close ties with Van Duyn Home and Hospital, the county-owned nursing home next to the hospital. The two institutions formed a nonprofit in 2007 to do joint planning for their campuses.

“Upstate with its access to capital may be able to enhance the whole Community and Van Duyn campus with the idea of Van Duyn, Upstate and Community as a force going forward,” said Dr. Andrew Merritt, Community’s medical director.

Community also has a relatively low level of long-term debt, $8 million, due to be paid off in eight years.

Quinn said Community wants to be part of a larger health system so it can maintain and improve services and be prepared for changes likely to come about as a result of federal health care reform.

The Health Care Association of New York State, a hospital trade group, recently did a study estimating Syracuse’s four hospitals could get $424 million less in Medicare and Medicaid payments over 10 years as a result of health care reform. Community’s cut would amount to $35.3 million. Some of that is expected to be offset by revenues from newly insured patients, but no one knows yet how much that will be.

Jennifer Soule, an analyst with Standard & Poor’s, said the prospect of big cuts in payments and other changes related to health care reform may prompt more hospitals to look at mergers and acquisitions. She said merging with Upstate might be a good for Community.

“A larger health system has bargaining power with managed care organizations and suppliers, and they have greater efficiencies,” Soule said. “They can weather a tough storm better than a smaller little hospital.”

Contact James T. Mulder at 470-2245 or jmulder@syracuse.com.

The jobs the 'Salina 29' rallied to keep in eminent domain fight 5 years ago didn't have fancy high-tech titles, but they were real.

Dennis Nett / The Post-StandardJessie Motell, of Syracuse, still has his job making foot-measuring devices at Brannock Device Co. in Salina, thanks to the lobbying efforts of the "Salina 29." Mall developer Robert Congel wanted the county to evict 29 businesses to make room for a research park for his huge Destiny USA retail plan. That plan evaporated, but the small businesses are still providing livelihoods for 400 workers.

Salina, NY -- Carole Salisbury has spent many years working in manufacturing, and she has the calluses on her hands to prove it.

“I’m a factory girl,” said Salisbury, 67, as she assembled foot-measuring devices at the Brannock Device Co. in Salina. “I like a routine, and this is it — working.”

The routine could have come to an end for Salisbury and the other 13 people who work at Brannock if mall developer Robert Congel had his way.

In 2005, Congel proposed building a $2.7 billion, 325-acre energy research park to support his planned Destiny USA retail and entertainment center down the road in Syracuse. He asked Onondaga County government to use eminent domain to acquire the land — and evict the 29 small businesses and their 400 workers.

The businesses banded together to fight it. Calling themselves the Salina 29, they waged a public campaign against the wealthy mall developer.

They won. They kept their businesses.

Now, the companies are investing in their properties again, making improvements they put off during their battle with Congel. Salisbury and the other workers still have jobs. They are buying cars, paying their mortgages, upgrading their homes and contributing to the local economy.

Meanwhile, the energy park went nowhere.

Dennis Nett / The Post-StandardWith her job at Brannock Device Co. saved from the eminent domain attempt, Carole Salisbury, of Weedsport, felt secure enough to buy a new Pontiac G6 last year.

“This would have been one of the greatest economic development disasters in Onondaga County,” said John Sposato, the group’s president and owner of Pilot Travel Center and Sposato Floor Covering Co., which employ 125 people.

A spokesman for Congel’s Destiny USA development company declined to comment Saturday.

Salisbury, the factory girl from Weedsport who worked for 22 years at General Motors’ Inland Fisher Guide plant before it closed in 1993, said she dreaded the prospect of finding another manufacturing job.

“I was concerned that it could all end,” she said. “Us older ones, we thought it could just be tremendous bad luck that government could have the last word.”

Feeling more secure, Salisbury last year took on a $380 car payment and bought a new Pontiac G6.

Sky-high plans

The region had never seen anything like Congel’s plan. Complete with futuristic drawings of a giant arch over Interstate 81, it called for 6.5 million square feet of laboratories, office space, testing facilities and a 325-room hotel. He called it the Petroleum Addiction Research Park.

As a private developer, Congel could not force the landowners around 7th North Street to sell. Only government could. So he asked the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency to do it, then sell the land to him for his research park.

Congel planned to wipe out the businesses — whether they liked it or not. The developer predicted the park would employ thousands of people in high-paying technology jobs, more than making up for the 400 jobs it would displace.

Those jobs were old school: the Gianelli sausage-maker, Butch’s Automotive and Transmission, Syracuse Crank and Machine, and Solvents and Petroleum Services.

Faced with their stiff opposition, the county Industrial Development Agency negotiated with Congel for months, mainly over how much money he would put up to relocate the businesses.

The agency never reached a deal. Its refusal to vote amounted to a rejection, so the developer withdrew his request and filed new plans for a much smaller research park on a 51-acre site that would not require the taking of private property.

Dennis Nett / The Post-StandardMichael Bush is co-owner of Bush Electronics, one of the Salina 29 businesses that rallied to save their properties.

Five years later, the Salina 29 believe they dodged a bullet, especially in light of what has happened to Congel’s Destiny USA project a mile away.

Congel began construction on Destiny’s first phase, a 1.3-million-square-foot addition to his Carousel Center shopping mall, in March 2007. But after two years of construction, work stopped last summer over a dispute between Congel and his lender, Citigroup.

The bank refused to continue advancing money on a $155 million construction loan, calling Destiny a failed project with no tenants.

The matter remains tied up in court as the huge concrete shell of Congel’s mall addition sits empty, its unfinished exterior reminding many of prison architecture rather than dazzling with the promised re-creations of old-time Italian villages and the Erie Canal. The proposed smaller research park appears dead, too, though it remains on file with the county development agency.

Back to normal

Sposato said his floor covering business suffered because the two-year battle distracted him and caused him to put off needed roof repairs and upgrades to his storefront.

“If you’re not going to own your own building, why would you put a new roof on?” he said.

Sposato recently did the repairs and upgrades to the business, but he had to do it during a recession when he could least afford it, he said.

“When business was good, that’s when we should have been doing it,” he said.

Paul Krawczyk, senior project manager for the floor covering business, said he made similar choices with his personal spending.

“You cut back,” he said. “All of the little extra things you spend money on, you stop spending money on.”

With the threat gone, he recently fixed up his 24-year-old home in Onondaga. He renovated his home’s stone facade, re-landscaped his front yard and is getting ready to replace his deck.

Phil Jakes-Johnson, owner of Solvents and Petroleum Service, said he recently opened a second facility, in Syracuse’s Near West side, safe in the knowledge that his main facility in Salina was safe from takeover.

Craig Peterson, owner of Peterson Plumbing and Heating, said he spent $5,000 repaving his parking lot only after the battle with Congel was won.

“I had put off everything,” he said. “It was very distracting.”

The fight

Under eminent domain law, Congel would have been required to pay the businesses the fair market value of their properties. But the businesses feared that they would receive much less than what the properties were worth to them and would receive little, if anything, to pay for relocation. Many worried they would be driven out of business.

So the Salina 29 went on the offensive.

They attended nearly every hearing and meeting of the county development agency for two years. They held rush-hour rallies in a field overlooking Interstate 81. They hung signs denouncing Congel’s plans on their buildings and on a large trailer they parked in the field where they held their rallies.

They borrowed an ice cream truck from one of their members, Husted Dairy, covered it with anti-eminent-domain signs and handed out free ice cream at a community parade in Mattydale.

“They heard the noise,” Jakes-Johnson said of the development agency. “They knew they could not do eminent domain quietly.”

Their efforts helped to inspire businesses in Auburn to launch a similar public campaign earlier this year to block a move by the Pioneer Cos. to use eminent domain against three businesses for an 88-room hotel and conference center.

Encouraged by the Salina 29’s success, the Auburn businesses drew 150 people to a rally in April opposing Pioneer’s request. In May, the Auburn Industrial Development Agency voted unanimously to reject the company’s request.

“People brought babies and dogs,” said Renee Smith-Ward, who runs an Auburn dog-grooming business that was among the targeted properties. “It was our local community people just showing their support.”

Salina 29 members say they came close to losing their battle with Congel. They said they believe the county development agency and Congel were only $1 million apart on the issue of relocation costs.

But Gregg Kidd, co-founder of Pinnacle Investments LLC and then a member of the development agency, said he insisted — and the rest of the agency’s directors agreed — that the developer should pay all relocation costs. That could have easily reached $10 million to $20 million, he said.

That may sound like a lot of money. But compared with the projected multibillion-dollar cost of building such a big research park, the relocation costs should have represented nothing more than a “rounding error” to the developer, Kidd said.

Congel offered $2.16 million for relocation costs, plus another $1 million if the development agency determined the initial amount was insufficient.

Dennis Nett / The Post-StandardButch Strutz, owner of Butch's Automotive & Transmission in Salina, wonders what the land along 7th North Street would look like if the businesses there had been kicked out for a research park that was never built. He was active, along with other "real people, real businesses," in fighting the eminent domain attempt.

Nevertheless, Butch Strutz, owner of Butch’s Automotive & Transmission, said he believes the businesses came close to losing the battle. In the end, their public show of solidarity made the difference, he said.

“Nobody has sympathy for an attorney,” he said. “Whenever there was a meeting, we showed up with 10 or 15 people. Real people, real businesses. When we spoke, we were speaking from the heart.”

Strutz wonders what the acres of small businesses along 7th North Street would look like today if they had all been uprooted for Destiny.

“Would it look like the mall down the road there?” he said. “I’m still looking for the Tuscan Village.”

--Reach Rick Moriarty at rmoriarty@syracuse.com or (315) 470-3148.

Otisco, NY -- An Onondaga Nation woman was killed after she drove off Otisco Road Saturday night, according to Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh. Deputies said Sally Toledo, 25, was driving a 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt east on Otisco Road about 11:36 p.m. when she drove off the road near the intersection of Oak Hill Road. The car hit a driveway...

Otisco, NY -- An Onondaga Nation woman was killed after she drove off Otisco Road Saturday night, according to Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh.

Deputies said Sally Toledo, 25, was driving a 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt east on Otisco Road about 11:36 p.m. when she drove off the road near the intersection of Oak Hill Road. The car hit a driveway embankment and rolled over several times, throwing her from the car.

No other vehicles were involved in the crash, and Toledo was the only person in her car.

Investigators are waiting for autopsy and toxicology results to make a final determination on the cause of the crash.

Also: Hezbollah cleric dies; more about Asian carp.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / The Associated PressDakota Linck, 11, from Lebanon, Tenn., visits the grave of his brother, Staff Sgt., Henry W. Linck, Saturday in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Section 60 is where many fallen soldiers from the Afghanistan and Iraq conflict are buried.

From The Associated Press:

KABUL, Afghanistan — Gen. David Petraeus formally assumed command of the 130,000-strong international force in Afghanistan on Sunday, declaring "we are in this to win" despite rising casualties and growing skepticism about the nearly 9-year-old war.


During a ceremony at NATO headquarters, Petraeus received two flags — one for the U.S. and the other for NATO — marking his formal assumption of command.

» Cleric, considered Hezbollah's first spiritual leader, dies [CNN]

» In Congo, burn survivors recover from tanker blast [The Associated Press]

» Asian carp: The fish that could eat Lake Erie [The Buffalo News]

Labor leaders say they received no notice. They want an answer by July 15.

Jim Commentucci / The Post-StandardFired State Fair ticket takers (from left) Joe Scarcella, Teresa Tomeny and Nick Azzarello pose for a photo Saturday outside the fair's main entrance in Geddes. Scarcella had worked at the state fair since the 1960s. On June 22, an administrator called to say he was no longer employed at the fair.

Thousands of union members are threatening to boycott the New York State Fair because the state is no longer honoring 40-year-old agreements to hire union ushers, ticket takers, plumbers, electricians and others for the 12-day event.

The Greater Syracuse Labor Council said it will drop its Labor Day parade and encourage members not to go to the fair if the state does not work out the labor issues by July 15.

Union leaders also said they would encourage politicians to stay away from the fair — a traditional playground for candidates to shake hands and eat a sausage sandwich for the cameras.

Three labor unions have disputes with the state fair: SEIU Local 200 United, CSEA Local 1000 and the Central New York Building and Construction Trades Council. Together, they employ hundreds of people who spruce up the fairgrounds in summer and usher people in and out of the main event.

As many as 40 painters, electricians, plumbers and laborers would normally start work now, but workers saw on the state fair website that the state was taking applications for their skilled trades jobs, said Greg Lancette, business agent for Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 267.

The state fair is offering to pay about $18 an hour with no benefits for jobs that used to pay $47 an hour, including benefits, he said.

“We weren’t notified in any way, shape or form, not even by a phone call,” Lancette said.

At SEIU Local 200, workers show up every year at union offices to apply for 12-day fair jobs as ushers and ticket takers, but they were also told to apply directly to the state fair. Most of those 100 workers have also not yet been hired and two supervisors have been fired.

Joe Scarcella, a supervisor, has worked at the state fair since the 1960s. He has seen Bob Hope and Shania Twain at the grandstand. The state sent him a notice in early June with his work dates and pay rates. Then, on June 22, an administrator called to say he was no longer employed at the fair. There was no explanation, Scarcella said.

“It came out of left field,” he said. “I was completely, completely shocked.”

In addition, 20 year-round security and maintenance workers represented by CSEA were fired with no reason in April.

When a reporter asked for comment in April, state fair Director Dan O’Hara waved his hand out a car window and said only, “Some changes. Gotta go.” O’Hara did not return a telephone call seeking comment for this report.

Union leaders say the changes in employment have to do with a change in the overall operating structure of the fair.

Until recently, the fair was run by the Department of Agriculture and Markets and a little-known public group called the Industrial Exhibit Authority. It was created in the 1930s for the state to accept New Deal money to construct new buildings at the fairgrounds. Over the years, the authority came to employ most of the fair’s workers and control a $6 million budget.

Last year, the state legislature voted to disband the Industrial Exhibit Authority, saying it had outlived its purpose.

A spokesperson for the state agriculture department said at the time that there would be no layoffs and the public would not notice a difference in the fair’s entertainment and exhibits.

For the workers, there was a big change.

Union leaders say the state no longer recognizes the collective bargaining agreements of a defunct state authority.

The workers say it does not matter if the contract is with the state authority or the stage agency. Their paychecks came from New York state. They were signed by the same administrators, who work in the same offices and have the same e-mail addresses.

“We’re saying nothing has changed,” said Dawn Clarry, political director for SEIU Local 200. “We believe this was a way for the state to get out of relationships with this union and others.”

Scarcella said it is possible the firings have to do with an incident two years ago between O’Hara and ushers in the grandstands.

O’Hara threatened to fire an usher who told O’Hara’s teenage daughter and three girlfriends at the Jonas Brothers concert that they had to move from an area reserved for fans using wheelchairs.

O’Hara and his wife loudly cursed at the usher while they were surrounded by families with children, the ushers said.

The Greater Syracuse Labor Council sent a letter to O’Hara and copied it to state and federal elected officials, demanding that the state respond to the union’s questions by July 15.

The Labor Council traditionally hosts a parade on Labor Day — the fair finale. The fair gives the Labor Council 25,000 free tickets and the council organizes the parade, builds floats and pays the bands.

“We won’t be doing anything if we don’t get some resolution to this issue by the 15th of July,” said Dennis Nave, president of the Greater Syracuse Labor Council. “We represent about 120,000 working families, and we would ask all of them not to attend the fair this year at all out of respect for those workers who were affected.”

--Contact Michelle Breidenbach at mbreidenbach@syracuse.com or 470-3186.