It’s been quite a week on King Street. After all the hoopla last year stirred up about the competition between Unity and Lakeside which led to the blossoming of “Support Lakeside” bumper stickers all over as if Lakeside were some sort of sports team being cheered on by its fans, the CFO, Jim Cummings, announced that Lakeside would be closing its emergency department on April 15, and its inpatient beds on April 22. Lakeside has been badly mismanaged the last several years and finally called it quits and threw in the towel and the recriminations have reverberated around the area, but if anyone knows anything about the health care system in the United States this was an event waiting to happen sooner or later. In a rapidly changing health care delivery environment, a health care entity must either adapt and adjust or die, and Lakeside has been terminally ill for many years. Its passing is still sad, and Brockporters are grieving the loss of a significant community institution.
The barbarians in Holley engaged in their killing of squirrels which brought outrage and embarrassment to the people of the Brockport area because of the objections of the tree huggers around the state, the country, and the world. One report was that over 40,000 people signed on line petitions condemning the event and State Senator George Maziarz, who represents the people in this district, said to think of it like a fishing derby and maybe it won’t seem so decadent. The Holley Fire department said they haven’t been making enough money with their annual fireman’s carnival and so they had to come up with other fund raising events and killing squirrels was the best they could come up with. One woman said that going into the woods and killing animals is bonding time between parent and child when grown adults teach their children to imitate their murderous past time. Frank Benetucci said that it seemed sinful to kill animals just for the sport of it. “After all”, said Frank, “You don’t eat em, you don’t do anything with their pelts. Maybe you cut off their tails to display as some sort of trophy, but basically its just the blood thirsty thrill of the chase which involves a grown adult and maybe their kid with guns just killing animals for the hell of it. Holley has been known as the home of Neanderthals, red neck gomers, and degenerates, but this is the icing on the cake. Now the whole world knows about the limited intelligence, sensitivity and moral turpitude of Hollyites.” How much of this low class stigma spills over on Brockporters remains to be seen.
Kevin’s in rehab and the amount of emergency vehicles stopping in front of his apartment house on King Street has significantly decreased in the last week. A fire truck, an ambulance, or a police car has not been called to the house in over a week now which is some sort of record. Americans love their beer and alcohol, and often times aren’t aware of the high costs their indulgence involves. Americans used to laugh at comedians like Foster Brooks who did foolish things while intoxicated. It’s not all that funny any more and Americans’ sensitivity to the suffering of people for whom alcohol creates significant health, financial, legal, and social problems has increased. The alcoholic behavior on King Street is significant every day of the week but especially on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Those who would like to dissolve the Brockport Police Department could make a more viable argument if they also would argue to turn Brockport into a dry community and remove all alcohol outlets within the Village limits.
Apparently, the Suburban News reporter, Kristina Gabalski, gave Mayor Connie Castaneda an exclusive interview and allowed the Mayor to use the Suburban News as her bully pulpit in the February 17th, 2013 edition. The Mayor rattled on about things like fire district taxes, the application for a grant to study village dissolution, and a referendum to dissolve the Brockport Police Department. Somebody claiming to be Keith Ryan, the Publisher of the Suburban News, made comments on The Brockporter defending Gabalski’s journalistic efforts and when his denial of partiality was met with scoff and derision said that he was being bullied and engaged in retreat. Whoever this person was, he also commented that people should not voice their opinions but run for political office as if this were the only way for anyone who cared about democracy to participate in their governance. One person opined that this article is the Mayor’s attempt to surface “trial balloons” of issues she can use when she runs again for Mayor this spring. In other words, some Brockporters think the campaign has already begun, and the question remains whether the Suburban News is knowingly colluding to support the mayor or did it get manipulated by a cunning politician? The person who says he is Keith threatened to call the F.B.I. if anyone misappropriates his identity, but there is no way to tell if the person making the threat to prosecute anyone stealing his identity as the Suburban News Publisher is, in fact, the Suburban News publisher. So, it is difficult from the vantage point of King Street to tell who is who and what is what and whether there is any truth at all in anything that Kristina Gabalski and Connie Castaneda come up with.
Research findings were disseminated this week that 30,000 Americans die from gun violence every year, 20,000 of which are suicide. Public health data indicates that having a gun in the house increases the likelihood that one of the occupants will die from gun violence as compared to occupants in homes without guns. The counter intuitive fact is that possession of guns make it more likely that the gun owner will die from gun violence not be protected from it. Smart people know this and want to limit access to guns while people who operate more from their amygdala than their frontal cortex obtain guns and raise the likelihood that they will die by them.
Suzie Capella got a box of chocolates from Bart Donovan for Valentines Day and at first was touched but then confused because she had told Bart that she was dieting trying to lose some of her 223 lbs. Suzie didn’t know whether to just say “thank you” or to throw them out. She decided to give them to the Brockport Food Shelf. She said she thought it was the loving thing to do.
And that’s the way things have been on King Street this week where the men went off killing little mammals for the fun of it, the women were crying over the closing down of Lakeside, and the kids were searching for dad’s keys to the gun safe to show their friends the Bush Master automatic rifle dad got for Valentine’s day from mom which can still shoot 10 rounds because she bought it before the new law took effect which dictates magazines are now limited to 7.
