THE POST-STANDARD Saturday, January 29, 2011 THE POST-STANDARD PAGE A-3

PS CONTACT US
You can reach the newsroom
by calling 470-2265 or submit news
by e-mail to citynews@syracuse.com
LOC AL INSIDE
Former Jordan-Elbridge School
District Treasurer Anthony Scro
can’t return to his job yet. A-5

Events pull together

15 religious groups
People from 15 religious
groups will gather in Syra-
cuse on Sunday for a cele-
bration aimed at spreading
cooperation among differ-
ent faiths.
The event, organized by
InterFaith Works of CNY
and Women Transcending
Boundaries, will be from 4
to 6 p.m. at Bethany Baptist
Church, 149 Beattie St.
Festivities will include
singing, dancing, prayer
and poetry.
For more information on
the event, contact Margaret
Doherty at mdoherty@in-
‘You go to bed high and wake up high’
Judge chides young mother who
left her baby to die in 90-degree
heat. He sentences her to prison.
By Debra J. Groom
Staff writer
A Fulton woman cried uncontrol-
lably as she was sentenced to 1á to
four years in state prison Friday for
causing the death of her 9-month-old
daughter by leaving the infant alone
last summer inside a camper during
90-degree weather.
Sara E. Landers, 22, was taken into children. He said a probation report One of Landers’ other children is
custody and is in the notes she used marijuana daily and being cared for by her mother, and an-
Oswego County Jail. also experimented with cocaine, crack, other by the child’s father.
Her lawyer, Mi- heroin and LSD. Assistant District Attorney Gregory
chael Shanley, of Os- ‘‘Most disturbingly, this court Oakes said Landers showed no remorse
wego, asked that she doesn’t believe you comprehend what and ‘‘no natural connection’’ with the
be sentenced to happened,’’ Hafner told Landers. baby. He said when he asked Landers
county jail and ‘‘a ‘‘Your drug of choice is marijuana. to tell him about Reba, all she said was
significant period of You go to bed high and wake up
‘‘she’s a baby.’’
probation so her high.’’
mental health issues He told her marijuana use can affect Shanley disagreed with Oakes, stat-
Landers can be addressed.’’ the memory. ing Landers was remorseful and loved
Hafner admonished the young moth- ‘‘You forgot things all right. You her child.
er for her lack of care for her baby, forgot about your child in a camper on After sentencing, Landers said if she
Reba Jean Barton, and her two other a 90-degree day,’’ Hafner said. JUDGE, PAGE A-5

Facebook
terfaithworkscny.org or
449-3552.

Sinclair, Time Warner

extend talks on fees
Sinclair Broadcast Group
and Time Warner Cable
agreed to another extension
in their negotiations over
programming fees.
The companies are
wrangling over how much
Time Warner Cable Inc.
will pay Sinclair for the
rights to include Sinclair’s
broadcast stations in Time
Warner channel lineups.
Their previous contract,
which expired at the end of
2010, has now been extend-
ed until Wednesday.
Oboist, SSO team up
for concert at church
Anna Peterson Stearns
will be the featured player
for the Syracuse Symphony
Orchestra’s show ‘‘Italian:
Gabriel’s Oboe,’’ at 3 p.m.
Sunday at Most Holy Rosa-
ry Church, 111 Roberts
Ave., Syracuse.
Stearns has been the
SSO’s principal oboist
since September 2009.
The Stained Glass series
page not
friendly,
police say
It’s shut down after
photos, nasty comments
aimed at West Genesee.
By Charley Hannagan
Staff writer
A Facebook page targeting
West Genesee School District
students and community mem-
bers vanished Friday afternoon
from the social networking
website after pleas to remove
it.
Police and school officials
are trying to find out who post-
ed the page called ‘‘Listof
West Genesee Fagz (Andsome
Hoezz)’’ that contains pictures
and comments about West
Dick Blume / The Post-Standard Genesee students, community
ROBERT GABOR, with Ruddy, Cassidy & Foster LLC, a salvage company, goes through shoes in the basement of J. members and students from
Michael Shoes on Marshall Street, in Syracuse. A burst water pipe last week flooded the basement of stores on the other school districts, said
street with nearly 9 feet of water. West Genesee Superintendent
Christopher R. Brown.

Other Shoe Drops on M Street

show also features the Syra-
cuse Vocal Ensemble.
The concert includes
compositions by Corelli,
Marcello, Morricone, Vi-
valdi, Monteverdi, Lotti
and Mendelssohn.
Ron Spigelman will con-
duct the SSO, and Robert
Cowles will direct the Syra-
cuse Vocal Ensemble.
Tickets are $15, available
The person who created the
page could face criminal
charges of aggravated harass-
ment, and — if he or she is a
West Genesee student — be
suspended from school for
Now that ruptured water pipe is fixed, cleanup begins near SU three months or more, Brown
said.
‘‘There’s going to be pretty
By John Mariani chael around the corner to the Mar- hefty consequences,’’ he said.
Staff writer shall Square Mall, 720 University To see a video, go to
syracuse.com/video. Not everyone can see the

at the SSO box office,
www.Syracuse
Symphony.org and
424-8200. Students with a
valid ID can buy tickets for
$5.
Party for a Cure
set for Sharkey’s
A benefit to raise money
for local ovarian cancer re-
search and awareness will
be held from noon to 7 p.m.
today at Sharkey’s Eclectic
Sports Lounge in Liver-
pool.
Party for a Cure 2011,
which is sponsored by
Hope for Heather, Ovarian
Cancer of CNY, Sharkey’s
and TJ Sheehan Distribut-
ing, will feature an after-
noon of music, food and
raffles.
A buffet lunch and a free
soda or draft beer is in-
cluded in the gate donation
of $20, or $15 for those
under 21. There will also be
several raffles for purchase,
including multiple 50/50
raffles.
A
week after a burst water pipe
crippled their operations, a
landlord in the heart of the
Syracuse University commercial dis-
trict and his tenants are picking up the
pieces of their businesses.
Archimedes Potamianos met with
engineers, contractors and insurance
adjusters Friday at the two-story build-
ing he owns at 171-177 Marshall St.
They were to decide how best to clear
out and rebuild the foundation
wrecked when water from the pipe
pushed in a 20-foot section of wall and
flooded the basement 9 feet deep with
water, mud and debris.
He hopes to begin removing debris
on Monday, he said.
A salvage company began helping J.
Michael Shoes, Potamianos’ longtime
tenant at 173 Marshall St., dig through
the wreckage and resurrect the scores
of shoes and boots that store owner
John Vavalo had stored in the base-
ment.
As they worked, Vavalo signed pa-
pers that will temporarily move J. Mi-
Ave. He’s aiming to open by Valen-
tine’s Day, he said.
The pipe provided water to the
building’s sprinkler system. Potamia-
nos said it hasn’t been determined why
it failed.
The break, discovered the morning
of Jan. 21, came at a lousy time for
merchants and restaurant owners, as
33,700 basketball fans descended on
the Hill the next day for SU’s clash
with Villanova.
As a safety measure, the Syracuse
Department of Public Works barricad-
ed the brick sidewalk in front of the
stricken building.
Another set of sawhorse barriers
stretched down the middle of Marshall
Street for about two-thirds of the
block, from Panda West restaurant to
Starbucks Coffee Co.
That eliminated nearly all the park-
ing spaces on a block containing at
least 20 going businesses. But it also
kept cars off the side of the street that
showed evidence of being destabi-
lized, Public Works Commissioner
Pete O’Connor said.
Some Marshall Street merchants
said they’ve hardly noticed any differ-
ence in trade.
‘‘Most of our clients are students
here,’’ said Kaleigh O’Brien, manager
of Some Girls Boutique at 145 Mar-
shall St. ‘‘Everyone is, like, in walking
distance anyway.’’
Others have noticed. Peter Mavriki-
dis, whose restaurant, Acropolis Pizza
House, is next to J. Michael, said his
trade is down 50 percent since the bar-
riers went up.
‘‘I don’t understand why they
closed the whole street,’’ he said.
Potamianos owns The Student Stor-
age Co. and other businesses with
headquarters in the basement, and his
tenants took the worst hit.
The tenants include Halo Tattoo; the
Unique Tea House, which is building a
new restaurant on the second floor;
and Starbucks.
SHOE, PAGE A-4
photos and comments. Like
most Facebook pages, viewers
must ask to be the page’s
friend, and must be accepted,
before they can see its con-
tents.
Someone with access to the
page has allowed police to see
it, said Camillus Police Sgt.
Joe Farella. The page con-
tained pictures of West
Genesee students and com-
ments, he said. There was no
nudity, Farella said.
‘‘There’s conversation
going back and forth regarding
each picture. I think a lot of
kids think it’s funny,’’ he said.
However, there may be oth-
ers who are offended or don’t
know their picture is posted on
the page, Farella said. In that
case, they are victims, and the
person or persons who created
the page could be criminally
charged with aggravated ha-
rassment for each victim, he
said.
KIDS, PAGE A-4

Hamilton firefighter expected

Sharkey’s is at 7420 Os-
wego Road in Liverpool.
For more information, visit

to get his due, posthumously

hopeforheather.org.

African drumming
Saturday at library
A free performance of
African drumming will be
presented 3 p.m. Saturday
in Onondaga Free Library,
4840 W. Seneca Turnpike,
Onondaga Hill. The per-
former is Biboti Ouikahilo,
director of Syracuse’s Wa-
cheva Cultural Arts. Ouika-
hilo is a native of the Ivory
Coast.
— Staff and news service reports
Correction
A report Thursday con-
tained an incorrect title for
Onondaga Community Col-
lege executive Jim Sunser, a
finalist for president at Corn-
ing Community College. Sun-
ser is the vice president for
continuing and extended
learning, not the director of
continuing education, at OCC.
New rule allows Jake had eliminated from considera-
tion anyone who had died
Miller to be considered for more than five years earlier.
firefighters memorial. The selection committee for
the memorial has rescinded
By Glenn Coin that rule. That means Tobias
Staff writer Miller, the father of Jake Mill-
The father of a Madison er, of the town of Hamilton,
County man will likely be en- will be eligible for the memo-
shrined on the state’s firefight- rial when the selection com-
er monument mittee meets in April.
after all. Jake Miller and the fire-
fighters association in Dut-
Tobias chess County fought last year
Miller, who
died after
after the committee rejected
Tobias Miller and another
fighting a
local firefighter, Cornelius
fire in
Robert Fogg, who died in
Poughkeep- 1928.
sie in 1950, Miller learned on Thursday
was denied a about the change in an e-mail
Miller
place on the from State Fire Administrator
Fallen Firefighters Memorial Floyd Madison.
in Albany last year. A new rule ‘‘The five-year rule has
been eliminated,’’ Madison
wrote.
Miller, who had gone to Al-
bany in August to lobby for his
father’s inclusion on the me-
morial, said Friday he was
gratified by the change. As-
semblyman Bill Magee and
state Sen. David Valesky lob-
bied on Miller’s behalf, and
the Dutchess County firefight-
er’s group filed legal action.
David Lassman / The Post-Standard, 2010
‘‘It took a lot of time, a lot
of pushing and a lot of shov- JAKE MILLER, of the town of Hamilton, has successfully lob-
bied to have his father’s name added to the fallen firefight-
ing,’’ Miller said. ‘‘It looks
er’s memorial in Albany. His father died in 1950. He’s hold-
like we’re there, finally.’’
ing his father’s cap at the local firefighters monument in
The wall was created in
Firefighters Memorial Park in Syracuse.
1999. Before the five-year rule
was instituted in early 2010,
the state had enshrined fire- bias Miller, their names would fighters who have died in the
fighters who had died as long be installed on the wall at a
line of duty.
ago as the 1800s. ceremony in October, Jake
If the committee accepts the Miller said. The memorial has Contact Glenn Coin at
applications for Fogg and To- more than 2,300 names of fire- gcoin@syracuse.com or 470-3251.