7.21.2006
"Trash” News Beats Local Coverage
Fate or just dumb luck?
I visit the city library on a regular basis, mainly to read the (news)paper for free and to take advantage of the high-speed Internet connection provided by the public access computers.
I had to wait for the reference librarian to return so that I could sign up for computer time. While standing there at her desk I noticed the pile of scrap paper that patrons may use to scribble notes. Most of the scrap is composed of one-sided computer printouts not needed anymore by the staff or left behind by patrons.
Since the paper was free to use, I decided it was also free to peruse. After all, I’m open to learning about different subjects, especially when I’m killing some time.
So I picked up a few sheets to check out the information they had to offer. The top sheet surprised me, a printout from the Albany Times-Union website; it dealt with Plattsburgh’s former mayor who now has a new job in Albany. It was surprising because it was news I hadn’t read in the Plattsburgh (news)Paper.
Background: Dan Stewart is a Republican. A fellow Republican by the name of Governor Pataki handpicked Stewart to become chairman of the state Commission of Corrections. Stewart left before his term as mayor was up and there’s an interim mayor running things until the next election decides who will be mayor.
There were a couple bits of controversy before Stewart switched jobs. One was whether or not he was qualified to be Corrections chairman. The other involved him appearing in a television commercial for a downtown furniture store going out of business, whether or not it was proper for a public official to give such an endorsement.
Stewart defended his appearance in the Affordable Furniture ad by stating he was promoting downtown and that the business owners didn’t compensate him.
Both bits of controversy slid down the memory hole and Stewart moved to Albany to start his new position.
But it seems the Affordable Furniture controversy may not be over, at least according to a Capitol Connection article that was originally published on July 3, 2006 in the Albany Times-Union. Entitled “Could be it’s a case of poetic justice,” the article explains that the owners of Affordable Furniture, Jack and Harold Pirofsky, have criminal backgrounds. In 1991, states the article, they were sentenced to a three-month stretch in jail and fined $20,000 for selling cable TV descrambling devices that enabled viewers to watch paid services free of charge. The FBI, be it noted, finds cable TV piracy to be a big no-no.
In his defense Stewart told the Times-Union that he would have declined to appear in the Affordable Furniture ad if he had known about the dubious background of its owners.
OK, that may be true. But Plattsburgh is a small city/overgrown town. Live here for a while and almost everyone knows everyone else. I find it interesting that Stewart has been a resident for many years and never heard about the Pirofskys’ descrambler scheme. After all, when the FBI investigates, it does make a something of a splash.
Obviously as mayor Stewart was in contact with the police chief. The chief didn’t know about the Pirofskys’ background? It never came up in any discussions between the mayor and the chief?
So maybe the former mayor didn’t know what was going on. If that’s true, then why is he qualified to be chairman of the Commission of Corrections, overseeing the prison system? Is he going to take everything at face value when dealing with others, making crucial decisions because the other guy seems so honest?
Of course, politics being what they are, maybe the Times-Union article is just trash talk. What galls me is that I have to find out about the controversy by stumbling upon it in a pile of discarded paper one step from the wastebasket.
Looks like I’ll have to keep digging through the trash to get the real news overlooked or omitted by the Plattsburgh Paper.
7.16.2006
Happy Birthday, Artie
Arthur Pope.
Born Plattsburgh, New York. July 16th, 1944.
And still hiding from the feds. Guilty of blowing up a napalm lab during the ugly days of the Vietnam War, accidentally blinding a janitor who shouldn’t have been there that night.
Living underground. No one has heard much about you since Judd Hirsch portrayed you in that 1988 movie. Running on empty. An appropriate title for a movie about your life.
You must feel empty since all you did, all you stood for, means nought in the Noughties, the first decade of the 21st century. History repeats itself. Another dead end war raging on overseas. Divisiveness at home. But so far the protests haven’t spilled over into the extreme measures you and your radical friends took.
Not too many famous – or at least notorious – people hail from Plattsburgh. Maybe we could all learn something from your “youthful indiscretions.” Because what you did screwed up the lives of your parents, your wife’s parents, your sons, and that unlucky janitor.
Before committing to extreme action that can’t be undone, some of today’s angry protestors might think twice after hearing your story. That’s why everyone should remember your birthday.
Happy Birthday, Sam.
