Human beings are capable of justifying almost anything.
We justify our actions, the decisions we make, and first, foremost and worst of all, we justify our own prejudices.
Maybe this is why an all-white fire department can dismiss its only black volunteer member, hear two of its other members testify that department leadership used race as a means to humiliate and ostracize the member, but yet still chalk the dismissal up to a “personality conflict.”
Gilbert Darrell, a seven-year veteran of the South Schenectady Fire Department that covers parts of Rotterdam, said he believes his dismissal in December was racially motivated...
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 Jan 19 Justifiable behavior?editorial, Spotlight's View CATEGORY: General Society
TAGS: Schenectady, Darrell, fire, racism Jan 19 Poor planningeditorial, Spotlight's View
There’s not much that’s right about newly elected Town Supervisor Sam Messina’s appointment of John Smolinsky as deputy supervisor.
The appointment itself is a misstep by our new supervisor if only for just one small thing: Smolinsky’s role as a member of the town’s Planning Board. Messina is quick to note that appointing a sitting member of the Planning Board as deputy is not illegal, and it’s true... Continue Reading CATEGORY: General Society
TAGS: Bethlehem, Messina, Smolinsky, supervisor Dec 22 Tear it downeditorial, Spotlight's View The damaged and decaying house at 127 Dunning St. in Malta did nothing but get two hours older Monday night as the town’s Historic Preservation Review Commission refused to move along or flat-out deny its demolition. You see, the house is in the Dunning Street Historic District. Unfortunately, it also is in massive disrepair after being damaged during a June 2008 hailstorm... Continue Reading CATEGORY: General Society
TAGS: Malta, Dunning, historic, preservation, Roberts, Connolly Dec 22 Pricey professionalismeditorial, Spotlight's View How do you determine professionalism? And how much is it worth once you do? The Town of Glenville struggled — albeit briefly — with an age-old debate in emergency services circles: paid versus volunteer firefighters. The Town voted Wednesday, Dec... Continue Reading CATEGORY: General Society
TAGS: Scotia, Beukendaal, fire, department, volunteer Dec 22 Parents, be cyber-awareeditorial, Spotlight's View Any reasonable parent wants to ensure the safety of their children. But what do you do if the person trying to harass or make sexual advances toward your child is lost in some Byzantine, ephemeral network of information that makes confronting them nearly impossible? Colonie police detective Sgt. Kenneth Fuchs can help you. Fuchs has been with the Colonie Police Department for 19 years and has received advanced training in computer forensic investigations. He is a member of the FBI's Innocent Images Initiative and the Capital District Cyber Predator Task Force. And on Wednesday, Jan. 6, in the Lisha Middle School auditorium at 7:15 p.m., he will be giving a presentation on the dangers of “cyber predators” to children... Continue Reading CATEGORY: General Society
TAGS: Colonie, cyber, safety, fuchs, Lisha kill Dec 22 Bushwhackededitorial, Spotlight's View
If you were wondering what that rumbling was the other night, why you might have had the feeling that the ground was shifting beneath your feet, it wasn’t another small-scale earthquake coming out of Berne.
It was the Guilderland Town Board agreeing on something. On Tuesday evening, Dec. 15, the board put off dedicating 191 acres of town-owned land to the Albany Pine Bush Commission. The lands, located southwest of Interstate 90, and north of Old State Road, are part of the Pine Bush habitat. However they are a portion of the habitat not managed by the Preserve Commission. Of course, this is politics and consensus wasn’t reached without some back and forth... Continue Reading CATEGORY: General Society
TAGS: Guilderlan, Pine bush, land, transfer Dec 03 Free the moon rock…then sell iteditorial, Spotlight's View
If you are reading this editorial before reading Sean Ahern’s glaring expose of how the New York State Museum is hiding a moon rock from the hard-working, tax-paying constituents of the Empire State (found online at http://www.spotlightnews.com/news/view_news.php?news_id=1259848755), I recommend you read it and come back.
Too lazy? Here’s the long and short of it: In 1973 and 74, President Richard Nixon gave away nearly 200 moon rocks — all carved from the same larger rock t that NASA Astronaut and Geologist Dr. Harrison Schmidt picked up in 1972 while part of the crew of Apollo 17 — to 135 nations of the world, all 50 states and Puerto Rico. New York’s Apollo 17 Goodwill Moon Rock remains locked up in a vault in the New York State Museum... Continue Reading CATEGORY: General Society
TAGS: Moon, rock, new, york, apollo 17, spotlight  |
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