THE POST-STANDARD
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DRWE SFtfT-LV
IAN MARTIN/The Post-Standard
The New York State Fair's
mammoth electronic marquee
is back In operation.
Long-dark billboard
blips, blinks, beckons
as fair days draw near
Motorists on Route 690 East
are getting a golden lineup of com-
ing attractions at the New York
State Fair.
The electronic marquee tow-
ering over the fairgrounds has —
since a judge's ruling last month
— been advertising events at the
.fairgrounds, including those at the
fair, which opens Aug 26 and
runs through Sept. 6.
From about 6 a m. to 11 p m ,
electronic messages blip across
the screen, telling motorists of the
10 grandstand concerts and other
events scheduled for the fair.
Although State Fair workers
are now operating the marquee,
control over the year-old electron-
ic billboard is the subject of an
ongoing court fight. Marquee
owner Pixel International Net-
.work Inc of Watervliet, which
built the $500,000 sign, wanted to
advertise other businesses and
events.
The state contends such ads
would violate the federal Highway
•Beautification Act because of the
sign's nearness to a highway built
with federal funds.
Pixel International darkened
the sign during the dispute, and in
•December won a temporary re-
straining order that prohibited
state workers from operating the
marquee. But on June 11, a Rens-
selaer County judge said the state
could take control of the sign,
temporarily, to promote the fair.
- The court battle is at a stand-
'still as both sides trade informa-
;tion, said Michael McCormick, an
•attorney representing the state
-Department of Transportation and
I the state Department of Agricul-
.ture and Markets, which oversees
•the fair.
Reggae and jazz
.scheduled to rouse
SU's yawning campus
The campus of Syracuse Uni-
"versity is usually a bit sleepy dur-
;mg the summer, but on Friday af-
;ternoon, off-season students are
•going to get an invigorating wake-
Tup call.
i Three bands, including the Ron-
;nie Leigh Quintet, will perform at
-a Jazz-Reggae Festival on the SU
-Quad. The Ronnie France Project
.and Big Roots, a nine-piece reggae
.band out of Rochester, will round
out the show that runs from 4 to
-9 p.m.
- "The students tend to be more
Ispread out during the summer,
•not as tight a group," said Susan
-Keeter, a program planner for
"-SU's division of summer sessions.
;"We want to make sure there's
';something going on."
; Although geared toward stu-
"dents, the concert is open to all,
^ Keeter said. Music and parking
.are free.
Dome Concessions and SU's
health food merchants — the
Good Food Store — will offer pic-
.mc-style food for sale.
Should it rain, the concert will
.be postponed one week.
Give Haggart a Call
Who are the Sewer Seven? Re-
' 'publicans on Syracuse's Common
'. Council made heroes out of them
and shot themselves hi the foot
again. Can Robert R. Haggart on
Newsline, 472-2111 and tap m
4262 to find out why.
— Staff reports
Package Fuels Fear of Bomb
• After bombs injured educators at
other schools, at least two suspicious
parcels sent to people connected with
Syracuse University have been
investigated.
By STEPHEN GLASS
The Post Standard
When Syracuse University Professor
Jeffrey Katzer returned to his house from
his vacation last Saturday a package wrap-
ped like a computer disc was waiting in-
side the mailbox.
After sorting through the week's mail
the information studies professor brought
the package inside where he examined it
further. The return address simply stated
"YOURS TRUE," and three Chnstmas-
style postage stamps were affixed to the
parcel.
Less than one month after mail bombs
critically injured a professor at Yale Uni-
versity and another at the University of
California at San Francisco, local profes-
sors, like Katzer, are wary of what arrives
in the mail.
Katzer called Syracuse police, feanng
that the suspicious package might injure
him.
Police investigators took the package
into the back yard, where they deter-
mined that it contained silver coins and
computer chips.
SIDEWALK SURGERY
Kenny Green, left, and Brian McDeid of Rlzzo Construe*
tlon use a propane torch to loosen old waterproofing
materlal and chip it away to prepare for a new sidewalk
Educator's Summer Labor Is Lesson in Persistence
Omanii Abdullah wants African American
youth to see him making an honest living.
He also likes to cook.
So he's taking a summer
break from his teaching pro-
fession to sell Kosher hot-
dogs and homemade lemon-
ade to the people on Syra-
cuse's east side.
Many of those people are
African Americans, like Ab-
dullah.
He figures young men,
who see him, might be in-
spired to start a business of
their own someday.
Maybe the drug money won't seem as at-
tractive. Maybe the dignity that comes from
honest labor will draw them instead.
"I think it's important for young people to
see positive role models," Abdullah says.
"We're confronted with so many negative
ones."
But Abdullah, who teaches English and
public speaking at Morrisville College and
courses in Syracuse University's African
American Studies Department, said he's be-
ginning to think that some people would
rather see him riding around with tinted win-
dows and selling drugs to his people.
Since setting up his hot-dog stand at the
Thursday, July 22, 1993
Morgue Chief
Despite a lack of patterns in the time or
location of targets, Michnyak noted that
Loses Support
"We're warning everybody to be in all but two cases universities and air-
cautious of unknown mail with
return addresses that are
lines have been the targets. For this rea-
son the FBI has dubbed the series, which
dates back to a 1978 bombing at North-
Of Legislator
western University in Evanston, 111., the • Lawmaker Sam Laguzza calls for Erik
unfamiliar." Unabom case. Mitchell's ouster as state and local
More specifically, the bomber appears
NESTOR M1CHNYAK
FBI spokesman
to target scientists, according to the FBI. investigations into the medical examiner's
The two other bombings targeted com- office gather steam.
puter stores in Sacramento, Calif., and
Katzer declined to comment on the in- Salt Lake City. By JACQUELINE ARNOLD
cident. The police report on Katzer's case said The Post-Standard
Syracuse University Security Director the professor was particularly worried An Onondaga County legislator who sat on an
John Zrebiec said that his office distrib- since he was aware of at least two profes- investigative panel that mostly supported em-
uted notices, shortly after the bombings, sors in his field, at Harvard University battled Medical Examiner Erik Mitchell has put
warning professors that they should be and Stanford University, that had been in- out a call to suspend him.
wary of unexpected or suspicious pack- jured by mailings. But Mitchell's boss, county
ages.
Although none of the Unaboms struck Executive Nick Pirro, said he
About three weeks ago Syracuse Uni- those two schools the most recent attacks refuses to remove Mitchell un-
versity security officers were notified that were on science professors at another Ivy less other state and local in-
a suspicious package had arrived in Max- League school, Yale, and UCSF, which is vestigations prove he acted
well Hall. By using X-ray technology, po- near Stanford's Palo Alto campus. It is un- improperly
lice quickly determined that it merely con- clear if Katzer was referring to the Un- Sam Laguzza, D-Syracuse,
tained a manuscript, Zrebiec said. abom cases. said a photograph of a con-
Federal Bureau of Investigation officials Supervisory senior resident FBI agent victed child pornographer near
claim the Yale and UCSF bombings were Les Amann said that he does not believe a corpse inside the county
the latest in a series of 14 attacks by a the FBI was notified of Katzer's suspi- morgue convinced him that
single bomber. cious package, but noted that he has been
Mitchell was a poor manager, Laguzza
"We're warning everybody to be cau- working with local schools to increase with inadequate control over his office.
tious of unknown mail with return ad- awareness of the Unabom case.
"I feel it's gotten to the point where we have
dresses that are unfamiliar," FBI spokes- "We've been m close contact with the to be concerned about the integrity and respect of
man Nestor Michnyak said. "There is no universities and colleges," Amann said. that office," Laguzza said. "We have to restore
pattern that we can determine, except "People need to be wary of their pack- the public confidence, and I don't think you're
that each one is deliberate." ages." going to have that integrity restored while he's in
office."
Mitchell's attorney, Sidney Commsky, said he
found Laguzza's statements both troubling and
contradictory.
"I think it's amazing that Sam Laguzza is call-
ing for a suspension after he signed his name to a
report that did not call for that," Commsky said
Laguzza Wednesday issued a news release call-
ing for Mitchell's suspension as the state Health
Department continued its investigation into alle-
gations of misconduct that date back eight years.
Wednesday, health department officials subpoe-
naed Larry F. Miller, a former research assistant
at the SUNY Health Science Center, about about
any tissue or organs donated by the medical ex-
aminer's office since 1985.
They also subpoenaed Ludwig Rimmler, a re-
tired employee at the health science center who
worked in the body donation program.
Both are important to the state's investigation,
which includes taking a harder look at Mitchell's
formei practice of donating body parts to the sci-
ence center without the consent of the deceased's
families.
The practice ended in 1989, amid questions of
whether it was ethical or legal.
Laguzza, one of two legislators and three coun-
ty lawyers who conducted an in-house investiga-
tion this past spring, said his call to have Mitchell
temporarily removed did not mean he questioned
the medical examiner's ethics, morals or profes-
sionalism.
The county's investigation concluded that the
medical examiner was a poor manager and a bit
eccentric, but innocent of anything illegal or une-
thical. More serious issues, such as Mitchell's
mental stability, were left to the state investiga-
tion
"I stand behind 95 percent of what came out in
that report," Laguzza said Wednesday.
But after the investigation was complete, La-
guzza said, new allegations arose that involved
photographs of Dennis Woodard, a convicted por-
nographer, taken inside the morgue.
DAVID LASSMAN/The Post Standard The pictures show Woodard holding a sharp in-
strument, possibly a needle or a scalpel, as he
leans over a naked corpse.
In front of OnBank on South Salina Street. The water- Woodard, a former science teacher in the
proofing material, which will be replaced, is In place be-
cause there are vaults under the sidewalk. (See LAWMAKERS, Page B-5)
corner of East Fayette Street and South Abdullah asked how he could go about get-
Crouse Avenue, he's been questioned by po- ting another location on the list.
lice several times, he said. He was told he could file a petition, which
Abdullah said the questioning started on wouldn't be reviewed until October.
June 22, the day he first set up his stand on
It turns out Carlton Collins, another Afri-
a city sidewalk in front of a lot across from can American businessman owns a bar-
Kennedy Square Apartments.
bershop across the street. He heard about
A man approached him. He told Abduiiah Abdullah's plight and offered his parking lot
that he couldn't sell there. as a site for his hot-dog stand.
Abdullah, who has a vendor's license and a City License Commissioner Margaret Da-
permit from the Health Department, showed vies said vendors don't need food vendor's li-
the man his papers. The man turned and censes to sell food on private property.
DAVID LASSMAN/The Post-Standard
walked away, Abdullah said.
John Patterson III, right, helps Omanii "It don't hurt our business, and at least it
But it wasn't long before police were at gives him something to do for the summer,"
the scene. Abdullah said they asked to see Abdullah with his hot-dog stand
Wednesday «t East Fayette Street and Collins said. "I haven't had any problems."
his papers. He pulled them out, and the offi-
cers said he was in compliance with the law. South Crouse Avenue. Still, Abdullah said police have been back
asking questions. They say the man is still
Abdullah still wonders why this man he would have to pack up and leave. The officer complaining.
doesn't know would call the police, when the said Abdullah's vendor's license and Health
vendor wasn't bothering him. Department permit weren't enough. He told When he telJs tb^m that Collins gave hrrp
"Does he lodge a complaint about all the him he would need a food vendor's license permission to use his property, they leave
people selling drugs in the community?" he from City Hall to sell food on a city sidewalk. him alone.
asked. "Here I am trying to make an honest That sounded easy enough. He said he won't be deterred.
living, and it's bothering him." Abdullah went to City Hall to get a food
vendor's license. He was given a list of avail- Maybe that's another lesson African
Two days later, the police were back, Ab- American youth can learn watching him this
able locations.
dullah said. summer, he said.
But he soon noticed that none of the loca-
He said they asked to see his papers and tions were in neighborhoods where he "I want African American youth to know
then let him continue with his work. wanted to sell. when you run up against these obstacles, you
But the next day, July 25, a plain-clothes Most were downtown, near the Syracuse have to fight," he said. "Be ready and have
officer came to the site and told him he University area and the north side. everything hi order."
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•1
Syracuse Post Standard, July 22, 1993,Pg. 51, Syracuse, New York, US
https://newspaperarchive.com/syracuse-post-standard-jul-22-1993-p-51/