You know, for me personally 2007 has been one hell of a year. The Redhead and I spent time in Alaska, Seattle and New England, and I got to see my Cleveland Indians beat the pus out of Bill Gallagher's Detroit Tigers all season long, and then watched them completely dominate that elderly gang of steroid-abusers who call themselves the New York Yankees. My first book quickly became a cult classic throughout the Eastern Lake Erie Basin, and quiet and humble reflection on this magnificent achievement occupied much of the year's waning months.
You know, not paying attention really works!
But news happens every year, whether you're paying attention or not, and 2007 will certainly be remembered here as, well, a year. Was it like any other? Or did things finally hit the rock bottom that people said had been reached ever since I first arrived here nearly 10 years ago?
Let's take a fond look backward now, as we count down the Top 10 Stories of 2007 in a little feature I'm going to call "The Year in the Rear View."
10. DA PROBES GAZETTE
Was it just a year ago? A sweet time last January, one of those times when a plan comes together perfectly. In a startling expose the previous October, we had uncovered evidence suggesting that the Niagara Gazette had accepted a gift, a $35,000 decorative stone wall around its parking lot at the corner of Third and Niagara streets.
The givers of this gift? Every taxpayer in the state of New York! Yes, we'd all ponied up to improve the Gazette's property, which one state official characterized as a hideous eyesore.
Our story led the prestigious "Columbia Journalism Review" to conduct its own investigation that backed our initial report, which then led Niagara County's great District Attorney Matt Murphy to see whether the whole deal was illegal.
Clueless Gazette stenographer Rick Pfeiffer produced a sheaf of fanciful stories attempting to convince readers that Murphy was only conducting an "inquiry" and not an "investigation," but it turned out they were the same thing!
9. FBI PROBES ANELLO
Spring was not yet in the air when the Federal Bureau of Investigation denied widely circulated rumors that it had dropped its probe into whether or not Mayor Vincenzo V. Anello was/is a crook. It's just that they take a super-long time to get anything done! Anello said he wasn't aware of any investigation, even though it had been going on for two years.
8. BEILEIN PROBES DEPTHS
Apparently seeking to steal some of Anello's thunder, Sheriff Tom Beilein made a complete horse's ass of himself, masterminding a frame-up of state Supreme Court Justice Amy Fricano. A massive law enforcement effort worthy of Barney Fife or even the Keystone Kops saw the judge arrested, handcuffed, interrogated and detained for several hours under the most atrocious conditions imaginable for what turned out to be a minor traffic ticket! No fewer than five cops from three police agencies were laughed out of court as formidable defense attorney Joel Daniels deconstructed their absurd notion of law enforcement.
Clueless Gazette glamour-girl Rick Pfeiffer was left holding the bag when nearly everything he wrote in connection with the case turned out to be wrong.
7. ANELLO THROWN OFF BALLOT
Mayor Vince Anello -- who had been saying for three years that even though the Niagara Falls Reporter was critical of him, the people of this fair city were squarely behind him -- failed to collect even the minimum number of signatures on his nominating petitions needed to earn him a place on the ballot. He dragged the inevitable outcome out as long as possible, however, mailing the petitions in from out of town and then appealing the various challenges that showed most of the signatures he'd collected were as phony as most everything else about him.
6. GREATEST BOOK PUBLISHED
In August the publishing world stood agape as "Niagara Falls Confidential: Murder, Mayhem and Madness in the Honeymoon Capital of the World" hit the streets.
Sales skyrocketed and rave reviews appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Buffalo News, The Corry (Pa.) Journal, Artvoice, "Buffalo Spree" and the Niagara Falls (Ont.) Review. Numerous book signings, television and radio appearances followed, and virtually everyone agreed that the book was perhaps the greatest one ever published.
Well, almost everyone. Dan Herbeck at the News managed to dig up some old sourpuss at the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. who said that, even though she hadn't read it, she didn't think she would like it. My tax dollars at work.
5. DYSTER WINS BORING ELECTION
Actually he won two boring elections. In September he beat Babe Rotella in the Democratic Primary, and then in November he beat Candra Thomason in the general election. This came as a surprise to absolutely no one, not even Rick Pfeiffer's comical rag, which all of a sudden switched to endorsing Dyster on the day before the election.
4. ANELLO COPS PLEA DEAL
The mayor, like the rest of us, grew impatient with the glacial pace of the FBI investigation and decided to go out and get himself in trouble some other way. So he went to an old gym on 13th Street that he had earlier sold to a local developer and threw himself against a chain link fence the developer had put up there. He screamed and carried on and held his breath until he turned blue. Finally the developer came over to see what was the matter, and the mayor threatened and harassed him.
The next thing you know, he was in court answering police charges, and took what's known as an Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal -- which means if he can stay out of trouble until he leaves office, the charges will be dropped. Do you think he can do it? He still has two weeks left!
3. CITY HALL BEER BLAST
The mayor's daughter, meanwhile, grew weary of her dad making the headlines all the time with his loony behavior and decided to grab some for herself. Vincenette Anello and three guys had an after-hours beer blast in Vincenzo V. Anello's office, took more than 30 pictures of the various hijinks and posted them on the Internet!
After the Reporter ran the story and published the pictures, all the television news stations seized on it and, finally, even the Niagara Gazette ran a story about it. It made the Associated Press wire and newspapers all over the state turned young Vincenette's romp into lurid headlines. Anello's personal attorney -- I mean, the city's corporation counsel -- Damon DeCastro said there was no wrongdoing, and everyone just pretty much accepted it.
2. ANELLO SCARES KIDS
As if his sibling's plea bargain and his niece's partying didn't provide us with enough lighthearted entertainment, mayoral brother Matteo Anello decided to get in on the act by showing up at a City Council meeting and yelling out a stream of vulgar ethnic slurs in front of a group of frightened schoolchildren, assigned by their teacher to attend the meeting and learn the basics of civic responsibility. What a card! He'll be in court next month to answer charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, brings us to our top story of the year, the one that provided the overriding theme that dominated news coverage here for the past 365 days. With apologies to Garrett Morris, our top story this year:
1. ANELLO KEEPS SAYING HE'S NOT A CROOK, AND I KEEP SO NOT BELIEVING HIM!
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Dec. 18 2007 |