Niagara Gazette - Features

CITY FIXER: From Glasgow to Niagara Falls
Niagara University's Eddie Friel has helped some struggling cities create thriving tourism industries. Now he has his eye on Niagara Falls.
LIFESTYLE: Good things still brewin' for Tonawanda native Jon Luther
Jon Luther might now be the pride of the City of Tonawanda, but it took him quite a while to ascend to the peak of his profession.
JUNK MAIL: What's in a claim?
This edition of Junk Mail will take a look at some of the more outlandish assertions made in product pitches.
BOOK REVIEW: Former coach runs down Bills’ greatest hits
Aside from supporters of the Washington Generals, Buffalo Bills are as forlorn a lot as there is in the sports world.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: Pickiness not always the problem with tots
Having two little boys, I’ve heard a lot of the clichés that go with the gender.
“They love cars and trucks.” “Be prepared for a lot of tumbles and spills.” “They’ll roughhouse a lot.” “They’ll eat you out of house and home.”
Some of these are true of Jim. All of them are true of Sam. Especially the last one.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: NYC takes pity on Niagara
A New York City reporter recently showed sympathy toward Niagara County for the disparity in stimulus spending statewide.
LIFESTYLE: Would a plastic bag law be a waste?
Toronto is as liberal a city as there is. So if change doesn’t come easy there, that same change would face a Berlin Wall of opposition in Western New York, home of “whether it’s broken or not, don’t fix it.”
LIFESTYLE: Local animal wrangler leads wild life
Love takes on a whole new vibe when it involves fur and feathers. Just ask Jeff Musial, a Niagara County Community College graduate who has an entire collection of exotic animals and reptiles.
NIAGARA FALLS: Exotic animal collection leads to exotic career
Love takes on a whole new vibe when it involves fur and feathers.
Just ask Jeff Musial, a Niagara County Community College graduate who has an entire collection of exotic animals and reptiles.
LIFESTYLE: 'Sesame Street' turns 40 years old
When the creators of “Sesame Street” first pitched the idea of a fuzzy elephant and digit-loving vampire teaching children, youth-oriented programming was sparse.
DELUCA: Lecture for the gasless
“Excuse me,” the young woman said.
I looked up and saw a husky, young girl with long red hair standing in front of me, holding her wallet.
HEALTH: NU professor wins breast cancer research grant
Mary McCourt looked out over a sea of walkers wearing pink.
It was the end of the two-day 39-mile Avon Walk in New York City and she was standing on Pier 87 on the waterfront, about to be introduced as one of the honored guests.
Local sleep expert gives slumber tips
Check your clocks. Did you “fall back” today?
LIFESTYLE: A lesson for the gasless
I am getting cranky about all these “gasless” people. Because if they aren’t really out of gas, then they are using human kindness as a way to rip people off. As such, they may be decreasing the already-fragile kindness level on the planet. I hate that.
BOOK REVIEW: Book recounts fascination with Greenlease kidnapping
More than a half-century after 6-year-old Bobby Greenlease was kidnapped and murdered, the story still is recalled in the Missouri cities and towns where the chilling crime left a lasting impact.
CRIB NOTES: Congeniality is apparently a trait that’s learned young
Our daughter has it all: beauty, brains, personality, charm, you name it. So I never doubted that she would some day be Little Miss Popular.
What I didn’t expect is for her — at age 2 — to already have a busier social life than I do.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: Justice found in cheese country
A Tonawanda man recently went to extreme lengths in the pursuit of justice.
UNITED WAY: Are you giving or receiving?
Vandy Van Deusen was surprised that he could still be surprised.
Van Deusen, who has been volunteering for United Way agencies since the mid-70s took a tour recently of all 16 agencies that receive funding from the agency and was pleasantly reminded that his nearly 40 years of volunteering reaches deep and wide into the region.
FOOD: Iron-willed chefs: My day at the cooking contest
I was the one who came up with the idea for the French toast dessert. The chef leading our team looked at me, nodded and said, “great idea!”
I hope you can imagine how exhilarating that felt.
MUSIC: Performer’s tunes win applause from Niagara seniors
Bruce Engelhart really just wants to sing to people. He says it makes him feel blessed to do so.
But, according to those who have watched him work a room of senior citizens, strumming on his guitar and singing tunes like “Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” or “God Bless America,” he has quite an impact on his audiences as well.
LIFESTYLE: Bills museum exhibit scores
If you remember the O.J. Juicer, “Machine Gun Kelly” Bills poster, Thurman Thomas sports drink or Flutie Flakes, then you need to get to the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society sooner rather than later.
BOOK REVIEW: A new look at the old ball game
Released in time for the World Series and for Christmas, “Baseball Americana: Treasures from the Library of Congress” offers several hundred pictures — photos, engravings, drawings, panoramic views of long-gone ballparks and an assortment of ephemera — the majority of which have never been published elsewhere.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: Life with kids, five years later
I don’t know precisely why, but 5 years sounds so much older than 4. Maybe it’s that I can no longer call him a toddler, or a preschooler, or any one of those terms that sounds so much less intimidating that simply “boy.”
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: Savings to be had in States
A recent comparison shopping trip by a Canadian newspaper found several deals to be had on this side of the border.
LIFESTYLE: A peek at the Tonawandas' hidden history
Every local native knows North Tonawanda’s lumber-rich past and that CNN’s Wolf Blitzer attended Kenmore West High School.
But how many Tonawandans know that one of college football’s pioneers hailed from the region, or that a saint once walked through Kenmore?
ARTS: Native expressions
It’s not like he had never done such a thing before. In fact, as a professor of English, he often had asked his writing students to do just that. Look at a picture and find the words to tell me what you see.
But this was different.
LIFESTYLE: Nt native burns up Atlanta
Like the bass player in a rock band or stuntman, a TV news producer has to have a certain mindset in order to pursue a career in the background.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Lost Symbol’ flawed, but fun
Who knew symbologists led such interesting lives?
CRIB NOTES: From the mouths of babes
About a decade ago, Bill Cosby hosted a show called “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” On it, he would ask young children questions, to which they would offer cute and/or silly responses.
I was in college when the show aired, and thus I never got the attraction to children ... well, talking.
After spending some time with Penny and Rigby the past couple weeks, I am no longer skeptical about the power of a child’s word.

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