Inside the News

Wilson should put blame where it belongs

   From what I have seen and heard, folks in Wilson are understandably concerned about the image of their town. The sleepy burg is in the media focus after the arrests of three varsity baseball players and two coaches for an incident last month on the high school baseball team bus.

   The varsity players are charged with felony sexual assault of at least one junior varsity player. The coaches, who also teach in Wilson schools, are charged with endangering the welfare of a minor for failing to control the situation.

   In my mind, what may have happened on a team bus does not tarnish a town's image. Hazing can, and does, happen anywhere. The test for a community is in how it deals with the situation.

   Results in Wilson are mixed. On the plus side, school officials canceled the varsity baseball season. The two coaches were suspended from teaching. Police arrested everyone involved. All of it sends the right message: This is serious business.

   On the down side, some folks seem to have their priorities backwards. Concerns about the town's image and the coaches' reputations were prevalent at a recent community meeting. Not much was said about the alleged victims.

   Get it straight: If the charges are true, the blame for all that followed -- media focus, the lost season, the coaches' arrests, the damage to the kids assaulted -- rests with the coaches and the offending players. Not with the victims. Indeed, I think those kids rate credit for coming forward -- despite peer pressure, despite some people's belief that if they had kept their mouths shut, everything would be fine.

   It was not fine. Not unless you think that there is nothing wrong with being held down and having an object forced into your body.

  -- Donn Esmonde   

What to do about Studio Arena

Studio Arena is down, again, but not out, still.

The plan to save the troubled theater now involves bankruptcy protection, a limited season, reviving its theater school and turning some of its facilities and marketing over to its neighbor, Shea's.

There are a lot of ifs, maybes and 'we think we cans' in this strategy, and Buffalo's theater community will be keenly interested in the outcome. The loss of Studio would be a blow, not matter how self-inflicted. A great theater community thrives on having more stages, not less.

For anything to work, Studio must bring back its audience. To make it worth their time and money, it must present shows that can't be found on other local programs, and present them with the professionalism demanded by a sophisticated audience.

What would bring you to a seat, and to your feet, at Studio Arena?

Miley Cyrus' troubling wardrobe problem

  A lot of parents who shelled out money for "Hannah Montana" movie tickets, concert tickets and official girls clothing  feel betrayed today.

   This follows the release of provocative photos of 15-year-old Miley Cyrus, the previously clean-cut superstar who plays the "Hannah Montana" role, published in the latest issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

   It's a blow to parents who held up Cyrus as the wholesome alternative to Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and other troubled starlets.

   But it's only the latest case where parents have had to worry about the sexualized images that bubble out into the mass media landscape.

   The release of the Cyrus photos … coupled with the release last week of the latest version of the violent video game series "Grand Theft Auto" … has parents and experts talking about how best to protect children from violent and sexual content.

   Children and teens have access to a nearly limitless amount of entertainment, ranging across TV, movies, the Internet and video games.

   While some critics say government, broadcasters, game makers and retailers have a responsibility to do more, most say parents have to make the final stand.

   What do you think? How troubled were you by the Cyrus photos?

   How closely do you monitor what your children and teens watch on TV, on DVD or on the Web?

   And do you really believe that these images can have an effect on the attitudes or behavior of young people?

    -- Stephen Watson

The controversial case of Cariol Horne

   Fired Buffalo Police Officer Cariol Horne claimed she scuffled with a white officer to keep him from choking a black suspect police were trying to arrest during a domestic dispute. A hearing officer and a Police Department deputy commissioner disagreed, bringing Horne's nearly 20-year career to a close Thursday when the department dismissed her.

   Her firing followed a long, drawn-out -- and at times bizarre -- disciplinary hearing that took several twists. The police union pulled back from representing Horne. Her lawyers, without any evidence, accused Police Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson of being a drug addict, prompting him to recuse himself while reportedly pondering a lawsuit of his own. And the hearing officer abruptly ended proceedings when Horne's lawyers failed to produce more witnesses.

   But hovering over it all is the long-simmering question of police treatment of suspects, particularly minority suspects.

   Horne's supporters say she intervened to save a life, and some call her a hero. The department says there was no evidence of abuse, and that she could have alerted superiors at the scene if she thought the arrest was getting out of hand.

   As the case now heads to the courts and some Horne supporters ponder civil disobedience, what do you think? Was Cariol Horne a hero who deserves her job back? Or was the department right to fire her for violating departmental procedures and interfering with the arrest?

-- Rod Watson

Clamping down on texting while driving

   A.J. Larson was killed last December in a car accident. Larson rolled through a stop sign on Clinton Street in West Seneca and into the path of a sanitation truck. Police say that Larson, 20, was text messaging -- checking or typing out a message on his cell phone -- just before the accident. It is a common form of communication, especially among young people.

   Kelly Cline, Larson's mother, is pushing for a state law against text messaging while  driving. Texting is more distracting to a driver than talking on a cell phone, which is illegal.

   Cline has no illusions that a law would stop everyone from texting while driving. But it would give some people pause, and it gives police a weapon in the fight.

   Although the danger of texting behind the wheel seems obvious, the message is not reaching a lot of people. Police say that text messaging contributed to the crash last June that killed five recent Fairport High graduates. Accidents involving texting drivers are mounting. I recently saw a young woman driving on Elmwood Avenue, one hand on the wheel, the other tapping out a text message.

   Cline had warned her son not to do it.

   Will a law help to curb the dangerous practice? What do you think?

   -- Donn Esmonde

Is it time for Williams to go?

   James A. Williams has been controversial since he became Buffalo school superintendent three years ago.

   He gets widespread credit for launching initiatives to end social promotion, lengthen the school day and school year, expand Advanced Placement courses and improve the district's athletic program.

   But he tussled with Buffalo Teachers Federation President Philip Rumore right from the start, calling him a "snake in the grass" and talked about taking Rumore out in the alley to kick his rear end. More substantively, Williams has failed to hammer out new contracts with eight of the nine district unions.

   For several months, he has been embroiled in controversy over allegations of wrongdoing or heavy-handedness at McKinley High School, Discovery School 67 and City Honors School.

   On Wednesday, it was learned that Williams is one of five finalists for an opening as school superintendent in Memphis, Tenn.

   Is it right for Williams to seek a new job with three years left on his contract here and so much unfinished business? Should he stay and pursue his agenda in Buffalo, or has he burned his bridges here? What are James Williams' report card grades after three years on the job?

   
   -- Peter Simon

Cynicism at the pumps

   Cynicism was the overriding sentiment among a half dozen motorists interviewed for the story on a possible suspension of taxes on gasoline.

   Flat out, three motorists didn't believe they'd be any better off. They believed some level of government would somehow raise fees or taxes elsewhere to siphon off the lost revenue.

   There was also anger. One complained bitterly about politicians. Another blamed the gasoline problem on an environmental group, saying its opposition to drilling for domestic oil and natural gas has led to a dangerous dependence on imported sources. Another wondered why there are government subsidies to oil companies at a time they are posting record profits.

   Everybody had at least a quick opinion when asked. Feel free to share yours here.

   -- John F. Bonfatti

Teens' nude photos send shocking message

   It's a nightmare for parents, and perhaps a shocking example of the state of teenage romantic interactions in the 21st century.

   Three girls, aged 13 to 16, in the Pioneer Central School District were caught sending to their boyfriends nude photos they'd taken of themselves.

   The district found out about the photos over the past couple months after confiscating the cell phones of students for other reasons.

   School officials have identified the girls where they can and reached out to their parents to let them know what's happened.

   Some of the boys who received or redistributed the nude photos have been suspended, but for offenses only barely connected to the photos themselves.

   The situation has prompted officials in Pioneer and other districts where this has occurred to warn students of the danger of using their phones to record and transmit such intimate images.

   What do you think is going on here? Is this too much technology in the hands of young people who aren't mature enough to handle it?

   Should parents be more aware of how their children are using their electronic devices?

   Is this a result of the over-sexualization of young people?

   And why doesn't anyone just send a folded-up, paper love note to their crush anymore?

   -- Stephen T. Watson

How do the Bills keep drawing season fans?

   It's impossible to figure out the collective psyche of the Buffalo Bills faithful.

   Here's a team carrying both an eight-year playoff drought and widespread fears that it will be moving to Toronto or elsewhere after its owner is gone.

   And yet Bills fans still won't let go. They seem to be embracing the 2008 version of the Bills, holding onto the Bills while they still have them, as evidenced by season-ticket sales, which are expected to crack the 50,000 mark.

   Give credit to the Bills marketing folks.

   But still, can anyone explain why season-ticket sales are so brisk, especially in this tough economy?

… Gene Warner

Sitting in an Indianapolis bar and wondering what the Wright words meant

   INDIANAPOLIS … It's 1:28 a.m. in the Elbow Room in downtown Nap Town, and guys in baseball
caps and T-shirts are downing pints and sucking on cigarettes, and no, I'm not doing shots with Hillary Clinton.

   This is, however, the sort of place Clinton has frequented on a couple occasions in recent weeks amid her reinvention as a working-class hero.

   But as I sit here with two colleagues sipping a Stella Artois … OK, it's not that blue-collar a place …  I wonder if her reinvention is the resurrection her loyalists claim it is.

   After all, Clinton just eked out a 2-point win in the Indiana primary after getting trounced by 14 points in North Carolina. In other words, if Hillary were here, she ought to be crying into her beer.

   And yet it could have been worse.

   Eight days ago, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's former pastor, appeared at the National Press Club and ranted and raved and blamed America for 9/11. I sat there listening, thinking: this is the best thing that could possibly happen for Hillary at this point in this long, dramatic campaign.

   But now, on perhaps the last big primary night of the campaign, Obama came out way ahead. Which makes me wonder:

   If Wright had kept his mouth shut, would Obama have won here in Indiana? If Wright had kept his mouth shut, would tonight be the night when the Clinton campaign ended?
… Jerry Zremski