Death of Bob Anderson’s comatose daughter brings back
memories of how it started

There are some stories you never forget.  As a reporter for more than three decades, many of the events and people I’ve covered have faded from memory but not the story of a young Niagara Falls’ woman’s terrible tragedy and the strength and support of her loving family that kept her going for 21 years despite her comatose state.

I was working as the investigative reporter at Ch. 7 in 1991 when I received a call from the family of Bernadette Jones asking for help to find out what had happened to her on the night she suffered terrible head injuries that had left her in a coma and to follow up on their suspicions that she had suffered those injuries at the hands of her husband, Patrick Guiteau, who had not been charged but who they said had been abusive to her in the past.

There were many calls for help during my time as a television investigative reporter, but this particular call got my attention and I went to the hospital to see Bernadette for the first time.  There she was, a very attractive young woman lying in a hospital bed in a coma, her mother by her side, weeping at her daughter’s terrible plight.  Marie Anderson turned to me and said, Will you please help us, we know who did this but he has not been charged by the police.’

 I was very moved by that scene, one I will never forget, and spent quite a bit of time in that hospital room as I heard from the mother how she believed Patrick Guiteau, her daughter’s husband, had been abusing her for some time and there was no doubt in her mind and that of her husband, Bob Anderson, Jr., that Guiteau had delivered the blows that had put Bernadette in her comatose state.
 It was a different time in local television back then, and I had a very supportive and hard-hitting news director at Ch. 7, Linda Levy, and I called her and told her I needed a few days to investigate this tragic story.  She said, Tony, do what you have to do.  You know I’m behind you 100 percent.’ That was all I needed to hear and I spent the next several days chasing down the story, talking to witnesses who had been upstairs in the house the night Bernadette was injured and who had heard a loud argument that had suddenly stopped.  Apparently they had been reluctant to talk much to police, but I was able to track them down one at a time, get them together one dark night in an apartment, and persuade them to tell me what they could about what happened to Bernadette.

Guiteau had told police his wife had been injured in a fall, but as I pieced the events together aided by the reluctant witnesses, it looked more and more like there had been a terrible argument that night that ended with her being knocked unconscious.  I eventually confronted Guiteau in a back alley and chased him on foot to the house where the incident had taken place.  I sort of pushed my way into that house with my cameraman right behind me, and over his protests I questioned Guiteau on what happened that night.  He eventually made some astonishing admissions, conceding that there had been an argument, and hinting a broomstick may have come into play at some point.  I seem to remember asking him if in fact he had struck his wife with that broomstick and his denials and vague description of how she had been hurt were unconvincing to say the least.

 Based on my series of stories, including televised portions of that interview, police eventually charged Guiteau and he was convicted at trial of assaulting his wife and was sentenced to a 10 to 15-year prison term.  I testified at that trial about my stores on Ch. 7. Of course, through it all Bernadette remained in a coma, eventually being brought home where she was cared for by her loving family until last week when she died from pneumonia.

 Her mother, Marie, preceded her in death but not before winning a battle with the state to have the Crime Victims’ Board put up the money for the care of her daughter in that special room in the family home on 73rd St.
 
 Last week, some 21 years after she had been injured, Bernadette Jones slipped away from this world and her stepfather, longtime City Councilman Bob Anderson, Jr., said “we know she’s gone home to God and her mother and wow, that’s a plus,”

 I’ve stayed in touch with Bob Anderson all these years and more so recently in my role as president of the One Niagara tourist center and as a reporter again.  We spoke last week and we continue our bond that was formed, so many years ago in that hospital room with his daughter.

 Bob wants people to know how much his family appreciates the outpouring of support they have received since Bernadette’s death and he was genuinely moved by the large turnout for Bernadette’s final farewell last week at Trinity Baptist Church. 

 “A lot of people, including Mayor Dyster and many other folks who I have worked with over the years, came to see us and I am sincerely touched,” he said.  Now 70 and suffering from some paralysis on his left side as the result of a stroke 12 years ago, Bob Anderson is still an outspoken and passionate human being who has been able to maintain that wonderful outlook despite the pain and suffering his family had endured.

 As I said at the beginning, there are some stories you never forget.  And that includes the people in that story, in this case the unflappable and courageous father and public servant, Bob Anderson, Jr.  I wish him well.

It has been estimated that Detroit has 33,500 vacant houses. We don’t know how many empty houses we have in Niagara Falls. And while we’re sure the Niagara Falls number pales in comparison to Detroit, it’s a lot more vacant houses than we want or need. Hopefully, we’ll soon have accurate numbers along with good solutions for those empty houses here in town. To that end this article contains several recommendations to address the problem.   There’s been a good deal of discussion lately about what we should do to grow the city’s population and spur development.  One suggestion receiving media attention is the notion that we pay college grads to live here as renters. We have to disagree with such “incentive plans” by insisting that we work to make our city more livable and therefore more residentially and commercially viable.  We should build a city where people pay to live here not get paid to live here. Pay to live here through home ownership and business investment. At a May City Council meeting, we raised questions as to what the city’s plans are for doing building demolitions in the near future, and the answers we received were disappointing. While dollars are admittedly tight, Niagara Falls seems to have no current workable plan, and certainly no long-range plan, to take down the dilapidated structures in the city. As the old saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail. For years, we’ve lurched from one demolition season to another, never getting ahead of the demolition curve. We’re losing the city: to blight, to a shrinking tax base, to economic decline, to crime, and to population loss. Demolitions aren’t the one-shot cure for a sick local economy. Demolitions are the treatment of one symptom resulting from a sick local economy. Even with vacant buildings removed, we still have to deal with unemployment, population loss, and crime.  But with our vacant and abandoned buildings pulled from the playing field we eliminate dangerous, unattractive nuisances that devalue our neighborhoods, deter investment and promote the further decay of our city. In last year’s council race it was recommended (by Councilman Anderson) that we conduct a Demolition Summit in order to develop a detailed plan to tackle the demolition crisis. It’s time to hold that summit in order to address the challenge of securing demolition funding while laying out immediate and long-range plans to remove our dilapidated buildings. That summit should generate a Demolition Initiative containing four elements: History/photo record of structures requiring demolition. City map with structures requiring demolition color coded by priority. Property demolition schedule with funding source and projected demolition date identified. Publicly accessible and transparent record of all the above.  Let’s hold this summit yesterday because we’re losing time, we’re losing home owners, we’re losing business and we’re ultimately losing money. Having said that, it’s not enough to simply “knock things down” because Urban Renewal taught us that just because you raze old buildings it doesn’t mean you’ll raise new buildings. So, we’re recommending the implementation of a Homestead Program that will target those city buildings worth saving by linking potential new homeowners with viable houses. Houses that – with a conscientious owner and sweat equity – can be put back on the tax rolls to the benefit of the city and the homeowner. A Homestead Program is a win-win proposition long overdue in Niagara Falls. Okay, so we’ve called for a Demolition Summit, we’ve presented the Demolition Initiative and we’ve recommended the immediate creation of a Homestead Program. There’s no need for consultants, pay raises, stipends or written reports that won’t be read. We need to roll up our sleeves and get down to the work of removing the blight and bringing Niagara Falls back from the brink.