Published: August 19, 2008 08:01 pm      

BLOTTER: Police reports published Aug. 20

NIAGARA FALLS

Cops investigate racist sign at DPW

Falls police are investigating what is described as the placing of a racist sign in a work area at the Niagara Falls Department of Public Works garage on New Road.

Officers were called to the facility on Tuesday and took a report from Deputy Director of Public Works John Caso. Caso told them that an employee discovered a sign posted by a water fountain on Aug. 13.

Police said the sign read: “For Whites Only.”

Officers indicated that DPW officials are conducting an internal investigation of the incident as well.



TOWN OF LOCKPORT

911 calls lead to pot growing bust

A 51-year-old Old Beattie Road woman who repeatedly called 911 Sunday afternoon was eventually arrested after Niagara County Sheriff’s deputies found marijuana growing in her home.

Deputies said Michele Anastasi of 6304 Old Beattie Road began calling 911 Sunday afternoon to report bulldozers behind her house making noise and kicking up dirt. When they arrived, deputies said she was intoxicated and the bulldozers were not on her property.

A short time after deputies left, Anastasi began calling 911 again, requesting a report be filled out. Deputies returned to the home, due to the high number of 911 calls. Anastasi admitted to calling four or five times.

While at the home this time, deputies spotted a marijuana plant growing under a fluorescent light.

When deputies brought the plants outside, they said Anastasi told them, “Thank you. I needed to get help. I have a problem.” She was charged with second-degree harassment, second-degree obstructing governmental administration, unlawful possession of marijuana and unlawfully growing cannabis.



Wheatfield

• CAR FIRE: Deputies and crews from the Adams Fire Department responded to a Schultz Road home Sunday night for a report of a car on fire in a driveway. The 1968 Dodge Charger was fully engulfed in flames, the report said. The owner said he had pushed the car out of the garage and had not started it in at least a week. The Niagara County Origin and Cause team responded and determined the fire to be of a suspicious nature. An employee of a nearby business reportedly said he’d seen three teenage boys in the area shortly before the fire broke out.

Town of Lockport

• FIRE: Deputies and fire crews from Rapids and South Lockport responded to a Locust Street Extension home about 10:53 p.m. Monday after a fire reportedly broke out in the basement. A resident told deputies she smelled smoke in the basement, and when she and her husband went downstairs, they saw a fire near the base of their clothes dryer. The resident began to put out the fire with a fire extinguisher before crews arrived. The damage was contained to the dryer, the report said.

• LARCENY: A Birchwood Drive man reported Monday that someone threw a rock into his passenger window, breaking it. The man’s wallet was stolen from his front passenger seat. The wallet contained $23 in cash, a debit card and the man’s driver’s license. Damage to the window was estimated at $100, the report said.

• LARCENY: A Wilson man reported Monday that he used the ATM at NOCO on South Transit Road about 9 a.m. Friday and accidentally left his ATM card on top of the machine. The man said he went back to NOCO and retrieved the card, which someone had turned in to the clerk. Before the card was turned in, someone charged $100 in gas on it, the report said.

Newfane

• LARCENY: A Charlotteville Road woman reported Monday afternoon that sometime since Aug. 9, someone stole a power washer from her porch and the lawn mower from behind her shed. The items are worth about $1,500, the report said.