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Courier-Express Fcenomic stagnation, the exodus of south and deteriorating homes, sewer ard water lines are threatening rural Western New York This is the first of a Iwo part look at the crisis in the By CHARLES HADDAD ©1980 Buttalo CourlerAxpress Company ins. IT'S 1980 but Eugene and Dorothy Co Ins less than 50 miles from Buf- { ilo, live like the ploneers who settled {ee stern New York during the early sud Their life lacks the glamour and the tverture described in dime store n v c', about ploneer living. like the carly settlers, the Col- it..) 1 ive mo indoor running water, no sewer. no water lines and no gas Lines: They use a small, wood-burning to beat their deteriorating + ine covered with a tarpaper roof {1 Adied with holes Lhe problems of the Collins family '+ extreme but not unlike the living conditions of many families through- out tural Western New York, accord- mep to a survey by the Courier Lapoce Napolean Taxi Buys Blue Bird Fleet in Olean Caveier 4xpress Oleon iC A% - Blue Bird Cab Co has e' the sale of its fleet of 13 *. pole in Taxi Service here 1 statement by Louis A M presilent of Blue Bird Cab, . on ind Merton Greene, co- © Napolean Taxi, it was an- 'Sat the new taxi service for © Aiea will take effect Tues ton of the Blue Bird cabs «6 Napolean s fleet to 20 c can wil establish a dis- office at 502 N Barry St <6 / Hue Bird's corporate ~ said that Blue Bird Cab, ®) his father. Joseph Mag- in 191%. will continue to pro- «ervice and contract work Oakfield-Alabama Sending Tax Bills Betevie bu- sew t - Tax rate increases \~ cents to $104 per $1000 of vc s tf .aluation over the 1979-80 ~oo+ - far wil be reflected in the tox ments going out to Oakfield sim a Central School District resi- ~ Tuesday ntendent Norman Fagnan © ates in the Town of Alabama < ease % cents to $15 48, Town a \5 cents to $16 69; Town of ® nents to $15 51, Oakfield. 94 <~* *> $15 61 and Pembroke, $1.04 to ~_ The Town of Barre rate, $14 97. he compared to 1979-80 since : has undergone 100 percent \on F s may be paid at the school dis- tone shee in Oaxfield from Sept 4 +_ 6 penalty. Oct 6 to v 7 +5 i pervent penalty and Nov <> 14 at 3 percent penalty his it * Arms wil. be turned over ilk inns Treasurer s Office after 292 ant a egional In a close look at Chautauqua, Cat- taraugus and Allegany Counties, the Courter-Express found deteriorating housing, sewer and water lines, eco- nomic stagnation and the flight of young people. All these conditions ap- pear to be threatening the clean and peaceful life of rural Western New York. THE REGION I8 NOT alone in these problems. A state study of rural housing found that, among other things, 45 percent of all substandard housing in New York is in rural areas. Cities had only 25 percent of the state's poor housing, according to the study by Steven Crane, a professor with the State University College at Canton. A study by the U.S. General Ac- counting Office (GAO), the investiga- tive arm of Congress, showed that ru- ral areas nationally have one-half of all substandard housing, although they contained only one-third of the population. Despite these problems, rural areas received only one-fifth of federal housing assistance, the GAO report showed. Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Collins relax in their front yard in Chantaugua County Count Erreess/rostET witt? .. . their life emphasizes some rural problems Poverty and Rundown Homes Facts of Life for Rural WNY The Collins family is a good exam- ple of problems confronting rural areas throughout the country and especially Western New York. The Collins' begin their day by hauling water in buckets from a well several miles away. Some of it goes immediately to the tollet, which flushes only with a pail or two poured down its throat. Then with a loud swoosh, the toliet empties. THERE ARE NO sanitary sewer mains along Bebee Road, the site of the Collins home, in an unincorporat- ed area just outside Silver Creek. No matter. The Collins' can't use their bathroom year-round anyway. It freezes up In winter. Not that the Col- lins don't have heat. They just lose much of it through a tarpaper roof, missing walls and holes in their wood- en-frame house. Nonetheless, the Collins' try hard to keep their house warm. There are no gas lines put on Bebee Road but the house has a small, wood-burning stove in the living room. In late summer and early fall, the Pa. Town in Limbo Over Water Reports zpross Jeresstewn Beresv YOUNGSVILLE, Pa. - This com- munity's water supply is (choose one): -Contaminated by PCBs. -Not contaminated by PCBs. -Contaminated by another subst ance -None of the above Those were the choices facing off} cials last week in this western Penn- sylvania community, located about 25 miles southwest of Jamestown, in the wake of conflicting reports on tests of the borough's water supply. THE PROBLEM dates back to a time about two years ago, when some 25,000 galions of oll laced with poly- chlorinated bipheny (PCB), were stored in a warehouse here The oil was owned by Robert J. Burns of Lakewood, and the warehouse is the property of Daniel Dracup of James- town In July the federal Environmental Protection Agency moved the 400 bar- rels of oil to a General Electric ware- house in Philadelphia after obtaining a federal court order to seize the oil from Burns The storage in Phyladel» phia has raised protests from the citizens who live near the warehouse When the ofl was stored here, offi- clals claim. some of it leaked onto the broken concrete floor of the ware- house. Some also was spilled outside, apparently when the EPA was put- ting it into new barrels during the spring The water supply for this communi- ty of 3,500 comes from two wells only a few hundred yards from the ware house, and the fact sparked the crea- tion of a citizens' group. The group later advised Youngsville residents not to drink the water from the bor- ough system. PCBs - chemical substances often found in a liquid industrial wastes - are dangerous. they said. because they can cause birth defects. skin af- ments. liver problems and possibly cancer The EPA has banned mano- facture of PCB THE EPA and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Re- sources both ordered regular testing of the water supply this summer. The results came up with, at most, \trace amounts\ of PCBs. The citizens' group, however, said it did not trust the state and federal results and took its own samples, but from local houses, not from the water wellheads, as the agencies had done Results of a second private testing were made public last week and showed, according to Mrs. Mary Ann Schmidt of the committee, that the water contains 10 parts per billion of PCB, but, what she called more alarming. 20 parts per billion of a now-discontinued pesticide called dieldrin SHE SAID the EPA has recom- mended that no dieldrin. a carcino- gen, be present in water used for drinking or cooking. But Warren County Farm Agent Bernard Wingert said he was not con- cerned. Dieldrin, he said, has not been used for \10 years or more and what showed up in the test may have blown off a truck or something.\\ He said the chemical was of the kind mixed with the soil to kill certain bacteria and insects attacking plants Mrs Schmidt said the results were found in tests conducted by Microbac Laboratories of Erie, Pa Tests of water sent to the Jewish PA. TOWN Continued on Page B-3 Quote of the Week \It's freto her all right. This is the way she enty a Hitle blazd,\ said John F. D=yer last week after be received a letter from his wife. Cynthia: a free lance writer who has been beld captive in Iran far 17 weeks on spy Collins' can be seen cutting wood for their stove. Its heat is not enough dur- ing the coldest months. In January, they huddle around the electric kitch- en stove with the oven door open. The Collins' would like to improve their situation. But with a total monthly income of $282, plus food stamps, they can't manage to climb out of poverty. \TT REALLY HURTS when you know what needs to be done and can't do it,\ said Eugene Collins, a middle- aged man with a disability of the ner- ous system. DESPITE THEIR problems, the Collins' don't want to leave their ru- ral area. Many other Western New Yorkers feel the same way. Poor housing, high unemployment and low income have not deterred many people from living in one of the 809 towns and 10 small citles state- wide with populations of less than 10,000 people RURAL SLUMS APPEAR Continued on Page B6 Sunday, August 31, 1980 Senate andidates . Wed to Image, for Better or Worse By RAY HERMAN This was strikingly apparent here last week during two Courier- sponsored televised debates. The one last Wednesday involved the Demo- crats -- consumer activist Bess Myer- son, Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, former New York Mayor John V. Lindsay and Queens District Attorney John J. Santucci. Saturday's debate pitted Sen. Jacob K. Javits and Alfonse M. D'Amato, the presiding supervisor of ' the Town of Hempstedd, Long Island. In their bids for their respective party nominations in the Sept. 9 pri- mary elections, the six have been waging leave-no-stone-unturned cam- paigns for so long that they have be- come prisoners of their own images. Travelingon the time-honored as- sumption that folks are more inclined \'to vote against\ a candidate rather than \for\ a candidate, it might be useful to examine some of the per- ceived negativesattending the image of each Senate candidate. ~ 4 Terms in House HOLTZMAN - The 38-year-old, four-term congresswoman from Brooklynhas apparently been caught \up in the post-Watergate zealotry. She rightly pointedout both here and else- where that she hammered Richard Nixon asa member of the House Judi- clary Committee, threw high, hard ones at Gerald Ford over the Nixon pardon, and exposed fraud in summer food programs for children which led to17 criminal convictions. However, by wrapping herself in nobility, Miss Holtzman, a hard-work- ing political independent, occasional ly comes across as self righteous - an abrasive loner who is ideologically rigid, a public figure who demands a high degree of liberal ideological pu- rity. Indeed, her bitterest intraparty ri- val, Miss Myerson, continually im- plies that the fiercely independent Holtzman is incapable of cutting any political deals in Washington in behalf of her home state. Trying Too Hard MYERSON - The former Miss America, who is 55, is still strikingly handsome, has a big war chest and most of the important endorsements - Gov. Hugh L. Carey, Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan and New York Mayor Ed- ward Koch. At times, however, she seems to try too hard to bury her beauty queen past. As if to demonstrate that she's intelligent too, she recites great pral- riesof figures to show that New York is being gypped in federal aid for- mulas. Accordingly, her speeches are inclined to be bloodless. Although she is a person of accom- plishment in several fields, she fre- quently comes across like a packaged candidate who doesn't want to rock any boats in the apparent belief she's ahead. Miss Myerson's official campaign CourlorExpress Political Writer The six New York State candidates for a U.S. Senate seat - four Democratsand two Republicans - can't shed their campaign images anymore than one can shed a birthmark. biography notes \her ability to ad- vance her beliefs and build coalitions within groups with such wide-ranging interest in one of Bess Myerson's greatest assets .. .\ __ For all her beauty and charm, ho- wever, Miss Myerson'sfence-mending rhetoric at times produces a candi- date who is as bland as a mashed potato sandwich. Is His Time Past? LINDSAY - The former mayor and congressman, who is 58, used the same phrase at least a half - dozen times during the Courler-Express de- bate -- \I've been there.\ While the other candidates talk about federal revenue sharing, crime Inthe streets and various Russian in- terventions, Lindsay says \I've been there.\ This is to underscore his wid- er and longer governmental service. However, every time Lindsay in- vokes his mayoral days, he reminds voters that he was frequently por- trayed in the late '60s and early \IOs asa man who could not deal with the hard substance of government. The ''I've been there\ bit also has a sort of tired, world-weary ring to it. And when the liberal Lindsay, a former Republican, said here that the \Republican Party moved away from Jack Javits as it did me years ago,\ it had an almost wistful, nostalgic quality as if Lindsay were living in an earlier political age. In many ways, the Lindsay image suggests thatthe parade may have already passed him by. Simplified Statements SANTUCCI - The 4-year-old DA is the candidate of the hard-pressed middle classes. However, in making his points, Santucci is inclined to be sweeping and unselective in his assaults. \A large portion of the population is being written off by government - the middle class,\ he asserted here. In his pitch for the blue-collar vote, Santuccl, in street-hardened tones, simplifies everything which may, in part, result from the time constraints of television debates. Much of his rhetoric, however, does not seem to hold up well under close examination. Going for the Jugular D'AMATO - The presiding super- visor, 43, has a real instinct for the Jugular. As the result ofhis aggres- sive behavior, however, some voters may view him as simply a sassy bun- dle of ambition. Additionally, when he raises the is- sues of Javits' age (76) and Javits' nerve disease (motor neuron), there are some who feel he is indulging in mudgun politics. This could result in a sympathy backlash for the senator. However, D'Amato's Vesuvius of CANDIDATES Continuedon Page B-3 émfiaw , U AP Mad SR PrEQANCT Courser row uoscan Pro-abortion grou tests Senate candidate's acceptance of 'Right to Life Party' endersement group pro . . . prior to debate by candidates at Conrier-Express Pro-Abortionists Picket at C-E About 20 members of the Coalition for Abortion Rights and Against Ste- rilization Abuse (CARASA) picketed in front of the main entrance of the Courier-Express building on Main Street Saturday morning. The target of the demonstration. according to CARASA spokeswoman Laura Grube, was Republican senato- rial hopeful Alfonse M D'Amato, who hasaccepted the endarsement of the anti-abortion Right to Life Party He is also the Conservative Party candi- date D'Amato, along with the incum- bent, Sen. Jacob K. Javits. R-NY, was at the Courier- on Saturday for a senatorial debate sponsored by the newspaper. However, both D'A- mato, presiding supervisor of the Town of Hempstead, and Sen. Javits were already in the building before the protest began. D'Amato, exiting the building. waved to the picketers who contizmed their chants. ''We want to inform Mr. D'Amato that acceptance of that (Right to Life) endorsement will cost him many votes, 44 Ms. Grube said. Ms. Grube said that in every major poll taken the majority has shown support for a woman's right to chose \whether and when to have chil- dren.\ She contended cther polit- clans who teek the sappart of \a vo. cal minority\ against the rights of wornenwil lose é, I J cress e takin ening a wed tions men
