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Please count me as another of the thousands who have left Niagara Falls to seek fame and fortune elsewhere in the country.
I am also one of the many who have discovered the Niagara Falls Reporter. I read my first copy while visiting Niagara Falls on vacation in 2001 and have been a regular online reader since.
I am heartened at your approach to journalism and your willingness to endure broken noses and verbal onslaughts to protect the public's right to honest reporting.
The personal point of view of your columnists reflects many of my own memories of Niagara Falls in its heyday and also many of my own opinions regarding the corruption embodied in the self-serving predilections of many of its political and business leaders.
I particularly enjoy the columns of Bill Bradberry and S.K. Brown. Being of an age when nostalgic reminiscences seem to come naturally, I frequently reflect on what used to be a grand and glorious place to live.
Yes, I'm talking about Niagara Falls, N.Y.
This past June, I had the pleasure of attending the graduation at Artpark for Niagara Falls High School (my Alma Mater, Class of '68).
I must admit that, up until that point, I had a quite dismal view of the condition of Niagara Falls. While attending the graduation ceremony changed nothing in terms of the condition of the city itself, a profound change came over me.
As I sat there in the audience listening to the names being called out one by one, I hearkened back 34 years to my own graduation ceremony. While many things have changed since that day so many years ago, the names and faces of those youngsters seemed all too familiar.
Watching the sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, of my friends, acquaintances and classmates take their first steps toward adulthood filled me with a renewed sense of hope and the promise of fulfillment.
No, a simple graduation ceremony isn't going to change a city.
But perhaps the people who have chosen to remain in Niagara Falls can take away a little of what I felt at that ceremony. The belief that renewal and rebirth are ongoing cycles and, with perseverance, hope springs eternal.
For those of you who have remained to fight the good fight, I wish you success and strength. For those who impede your way by seeking only self-aggrandizement and personal gain, may they attain a different level of awareness and choose to work for the common good.
If not, elect people who aren't crooks and morons to run the city. Best of luck!
Also, a note to S.K. Brown. Some believe the name Buffalo came from the French "Beau Flux" (beautiful flow). Probably an apt description of the Niagara River, which was bastardized to "Buffalo" by the English. Who knows?
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | July 30 2002 |