http://www.niagara-gazette.com en-us Copyright CNHI All Rights Reserved. 5 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:36:00 +0000 http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_323183632.html http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_323183632.html We have got to do something about our kids in this city. Our police chief often meets with many of our area pastors in trying to find a way to help these kids to change their lives. I suppose that some do but not enough. Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:13:00 +0000 http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_317001406.html http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_317001406.html I am not old yet, but I am getting there I am old enough know though, that much of what I know comes from talking with old people. Notice that I said ‘with,’ and not ‘to.’ Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:27:00 +0000 http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_310002801.html http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_310002801.html When I was 17, I traipsed off, joined the Navy and went off to fight in Vietnam. My dad cried as he sighed the papers that permitted me to go. I went because I had more testosterone than brains. Now I hope that I have gotten smarter because the equation has flip-flopped and my sons are of the age, brightness and fitness to serve in the military. I have thought about it and have already nearly teared about those prospects. Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:23:00 +0000 http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_303012804.html http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_303012804.html On Halloween, some 20 years ago, after leaving the Buffalo Avenue DuPont plant and still dressed in my work clothes, I stopped at what was then the Uni-Mart store on Hyde Park Boulevard and Lafayette Avenue. Costumed kids were trick-or-treating there. When it was my turn at the counter, just for fun, I too said “Trick-or-treat.” Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:59:00 +0000 http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_298210027.html http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_298210027.html If I am wrong, then I like to be the first one to admit it. Usually, I don’t have that luxury, because by the time that I discover that I was wrong, sometimes hundreds of other people have already whispered it behind my back. Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:51:00 +0000 http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_288235143.html http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_288235143.html The name “Niagara” seems important to many people. Some citizens took offense to the NFTA tacking on the name of Niagara as a part of the Buffalo Airport moniker, while some took pride in the name of the Niagara Movement — a group that in 1905 dedicated themselves to reducing racial intolerance. The NAACP is an offshoot of that meeting. While we have made tremendous progress, both the Niagara-area and the NAACP still has some way to go in fulfilling their joint destinies. Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:59:00 +0000 http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_282000009.html http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_282000009.html I was advised by some not to write this column, as it was thought that some of my critics may try to use it against me. But, if anyone really knows me, they will find that very little of my life has actually been about me. Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:55:00 +0000 http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_274215606.html http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_274215606.html Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:48:00 +0000 http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_267235204.html http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_267235204.html Should President Obama be telling New York Democrats and our Gov. David Paterson who should run and who shouldn’t?One year and one week ago, I asked my readers if affirmative action ended with an Obama win. While I said that it was just a question, it really wasn’t, it was, indeed, a likely and very predictable outcome. Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:23:00 +0000 http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_261002414.html http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_261002414.html With a halo of hair nearly as white as the pillow upon which he laid his head, dad would have looked almost saintly, except for the new bristles of beard growth that sparkled in the September sun there the upon his darkening skin. Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:29:00 +0000 http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_253233006.html http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_253233006.html I think that I learned a lesson crossing the Highland Avenue Bridge the other day, and it made me wonder if crows are really smarter than seagulls. I think that they may be. Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:58:00 +0000 http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_246235936.html http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_246235936.html I guess that every generation not only gets a chance to screw up, but we also get the chance to start screwing up by stating that we won’t make the same mistakes that our predecessors made — and then we embark precisely upon the same path that they took when they screwed up. Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:59:00 +0000 http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_239190013.html http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_239190013.html Names mean things. The USS New York (LPD-21) will be commissioned in New York Harbor on Nov. 7 at the Intrepid Museum Pier 88. Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:12:00 +0000 http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_233001333.html http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_233001333.html When I first heard about it, this conservative felt as angry as most everyone else now feels about both the government and the recipients of what some call the “Obama-Bonus.” That bonus is the extra $200 per child (between the ages of 3 and 17) that Gov. David Paterson, not President Obama, granted to state Benefit Card holders. “The Paterson-Premium” is a better name. Many of these recipients are those receiving social services; but some of them are also what is known as “the working poor.” Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:19:00 +0000 http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_226122007.html http://www.niagara-gazette.com/kenhamilton/local_story_226122007.html I suppose the Biblical proverb, “As a man thinketh in his heart that he also is,” applies not only to women and children but also to all those that engage in group-think. We act out the things that we ponder.