AT&T and Food Bank of WNY kick off 17 weeks of fresh produce deliveries to benefit the individuals and families that are helped by the Response to Love Center in East Buffalo

1. CITY&REGION
The Buffalo NewsStanley Evans • Deputy Managing Editor
849-4444 • sevans@buffnews.com
DSECTION
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
InsIde: Lotteries / Page D2 • Local News / Page D3 • Obituaries / Page D4
ScienceMuseumpresidentsteppingdown
MortensontakingjobwithNativeAmericantribeatGrandCanyon | PAGE D2
By Thomas J. Prohaska
N ews Ni aga r a r eporter
PENDLETON – National Fuel an­
nounced Monday that it has acquired an
option to buy 20 acres of land on Killian
Road, now owned by the Tonawanda
Sportsmen’s Club, as a site for the power­
fulcompressoritneedstobuildaspartof
a pipeline project.
Company spokeswoman Karen L.
Merkel also said National Fuel had met
with Pendleton Supervisor James A. Ries­
teronMondaytotalkaboutapossiblehost
community agreement with cash pay­
mentstothetown.However,Riestersaidhe
and the Town Board, like many residents,
remain stronglyopposedtotheproject.
“I don’t see us selling out just for mon­
ey,” Riester said. “The people are upset.
They don’t want it. It’s an election year.
I’moutonthestreets,andIhaven’tfound
anybody who’s for it.”
He said the company talked about
deals they’ve made in other towns but of­
fered Pendleton “nothing concrete. I just
listened,” Riester said.
The decision on the pipeline route and
facilities will be made in Washington,
by the Federal Energy Regulatory Com­
mission. At its Aug. 10 meeting, the Town
Board hired environmental attorney Gary
A. Abraham of Allegany to represent it on
theissue.Abraham,thesameattorneyrep­
resentingNiagaraCountyinafightagainst
anewCWMChemicalServiceshazardous
waste landfill in Lewiston and Porter, was
tomeetwiththeboardbehindcloseddoors
Mondaynighttodiscussstrategy.
“I wouldn’t discount the fact that we
might have to litigate this at FERC,” said
Town Attorney Claude A. Joerg. He said
Abraham is being paid approximately
the same $220 an hour that the county is
paying him in the CWM case.
Residents have voiced fears of a possi­
ble gas explosion at the 22,000-horsepow­
er compressor, as well as alleged health
risks from the pipeline. The company
says it operates 38 other compressors and
hasn’thadanytroublewiththem.
ThePendletonActionTeam,acitizens
group fighting the project, has called a
public meeting for 7 p.m. Wednesday in
the Wendelville Fire Company hall on
Campbell Boulevard.
The Killian Road location is a switch
from a proposed compressor site on Ai­
ken Road near Beach Ridge Road, a lo­
cation overwhelmingly condemned at a
public meeting in May as too close to too
National
Fuel obtains
compressor
site option
20 acres in Pendleton
eyed for pipeline project
By Janice L. Habuda
N EWS STA FF R EPORTER
A Town of Tonawanda man was
killed as a gunman targeted two peo­
ple walking along a street late Sunday
in the town’s Sheridan Parkside area.
Anthony L. Stallworth, 34, who
lived in the neighborhood, was shot at
about 11:30 p.m. on Blackmore Street,
just east of Burnett Place, town police
said.
“Itappearstwoindividualswalking
together were the intended targets,”
Capt. Joseph F. Carosi, a spokesman
for town police, said Monday morning.
“The bullets struck one of the individ­
uals, fatally wounding him. The other
was unharmed.”
Carosi said the shooter or shooters
remain at large.
On Monday morning, the only sign
of what had happened the night be­
fore was yellow crime scene tape that
blocked off Blackmore Street, between
Burnett and Benefield places.
“I just heard, like, three gunshots:
‘pop, pop, pop,’” said Matt, who lives
nearby and declined to give his last
name. “I heard a lot of screaming. A
couple minutes later, the cops showed
up and blocked everything off.”
Matt, who said he didn’t know the
identity of the victim, said the body re­
mained in the street just west of the in­
tersection of Burnett and Blackmore.
“When I heard that ‘pop, pop, pop,’
10 minutes later, everybody was out,”
Town of Tonawanda man, 34, identified
as victim of fatal shooting on street
‘Two individuals’ said
to have been targeted
Mark Mulville/Buffalo News
Police crime scene tape marks section of Blackmore Street in Sheridan
Parkside area where Anthony L. Stallworth was killed Sunday night.
By Jonathan D. Epstein
N EWS BuSIN ESS R EPORTER
The Seneca-Babcock neighbor­
hood is poised to get a new and
much larger community center on
the site of a former Buffalo public
school, through a volunteer effort
by a group of notable local firms
led by Ciminelli Real Estate Corp.
Thedeveloper-ledgroupisseek­
ing Buffalo Planning Board ap­
proval next Tuesday to build a new
Seneca-Babcock Community Cen­
ter on the site of the former School
26 at 82 Harrison St.
The former K-8 school, about
five blocks from the current com­
munity center at 1168 Seneca St.,
was closed in 1980 and has been
largely vacant except for use as a
Pupil Service Center. The city still
owns it, and plans to spend more
than $600,000 on an environ­
mental cleanup, demolition of the
two-story tan brick building, and
site preparation before selling the
property to the community associ­
ation, said Amber M. Holycross, a
project manager at Ciminelli.
Plans call for a new
26,000-square-foot, single-story
facility to provide more-extensive
services for a client base that rang­
es from young teenagers to senior
citizens. The building will feature
a full kitchen for cooking classes, a
full-size gymnasium, a “black box”
theater to show movies, a record­
ing studio, a fitness center, a com­
puter lab and classrooms for GED
classes, Holycross said. There will
also be a medical clinic, operated
in partnership with Erie County
Medical Center.
That’s a big upgrade from the
current site. Holycross said offi­
cials looked at rehabilitating or ex­
pandingtheexistingbuilding,“but
that was not really an option.”
“Their existing center is just re­
ally run-down, and it’s not serving
the purpose,” Holycross said. “They
really want a full gymnasium.
That’s extremely important, and
theNo.1goalofthisnewcenter.”
The new site is also adjacent
to a small park with a basketball
Seneca-Babcock to get
new community center
By Melinda Miller
N EWS STA FF R EPORTER
One of the victims of the “Allen­
town-Elmwood rapist,” who assault­
ed three women in the course of one
week last summer, is suing the agen­
cies she says should have done more
to keep her attacker off the streets.
The lawsuit, filed by a woman
who was raped on Niagara Street,
alleges that Baker Victory Servic­
es was aware of the danger that
16-year-old Dionte Cooper posed to
the community and failed to ade­
quately supervise him.
Cooper had been de­
clared a Person in Need of
Supervision by a Family
Court order and was placed
in the Baker Victory youth
treatment home on Martin
Road in Lackawanna. He
ran away from the facility
in late June 2014, and then
assaultedandrapedhisfirst
victim three days later.
Two more women were
raped July 2 and July 5.
The lawsuit also names as defen­
dants Our Lady of Victory Homes of
Charity and the Diocese of Buffalo.
The string of late-night outdoor
attacks galvanized the Elmwood-Al­
lentown neighborhood and prompt­
ed a “Take Back the Night” rally and
march. Cooper’s arrest af­
ter theJuly5 rapeeventual­
ly calmed the fear and out­
rage as investigators began
to link him to the two other
assaults.
Cooperadmittedthathe
assaultedthethreewomen,
who were going home from
workoranightoutwhenhe
overpowered them. At sen­
tencing in December, Erie
County Judge Kenneth F. Case said
he couldn’t imagine how a 16-year-
old “could be filled with so much evil
and animosity” before sentencing
him to 21 years in prison.
The lawsuit contends that Bak­
er Victory Services and the other
defendants “had full knowledge of
(Cooper’s) dangerous propensities
… and the likelihood that he would
cause harm and injury to others.”
The victim’s subsequent rape and
injuries were the result of the defen­
dants’ negligence, carelessness and
recklessness, the suit alleges.
Baker Victory Home is a residen­
tial treatment center for juveniles
who wind up in the justice system.
According to its website, its resi­
dents “must have been rejected from
placementbyseveralotherchildcare
agencies due to their serious emo­
tionalandbehavioralproblems.”
In response to the initial filing,
BakerVictorydeniedanynegligence
that could be considered “a proxi­
Elmwood-Allentown rape victim sues agencies
Baker Victory Services
among those named
Dionte
Cooper
A fresh deposit for Food Bank partner
Mark Mulville/Buffalo News
Volunteers from AT&T Linda Hallock, left, Bob Doerflein, center, and Darryl Davis, right, deliver some fresh produce to the Response to Love Center
food pantry on the East Side of Buffalo. AT&T announced that it is donating fresh produce for the next 17 weeks through the Food Bank of WNY to help
feed individuals and families served by Response to Love.
see Murderon Page D2
see Pipelineon Page D2
see Lawsuiton Page D2
see Centeron Page D2