New evidence

Interesting story on the Heidi Allen case

Syracuse.com reported today that new evidence has surfaced in the Heidi Allen  case. 

This could mean the Oswego County Sheriff's Department has been wrong all these years. 

The story states, "Lisa Peebles, the federal public defender in Syracuse, intends to file a court case next week claiming Gary Thibodeau was wrongly convicted of the teen's abduction from a convenience store near Oswego on Easter morning 1994."

This will be a case worth watching, and hopefully the family of Heidi Allen can have some closure.

Family court race

And then there were four

 It appears that Ed Izyk and sue-the-town-and-county Norfleet have dropped out of the Family Court race.

 Left, from what we can tell, are three Republicans- Jim Eby, Sal Lanza, and Thom Benedetto. 

Jim Eby has probably represented three-quarters of the county at one time or another. He's the "go to" man for speeding tickets. As one legislator joked, "He's probably represented most of the Schroeppel committe."  The reference was, of course, to Carl Richardson who served prison time. 

Published on September 2, 1992, Syracuse Herald-Journal (NY) POLICE ARREST FOUR PEOPLE IN NATIONAL DRUG RING

Four Oswego County residents were arrested and charged today as part of a nationwide drug ring. The four are among 15 people charged with conspiracy to manufacture and sell methamphetamine, a drug similar to cocaine. Jeanette Jennings, 29, and James Scandura, 46, both of Oswego, and Phoenix residents Lee Noel, 45, and Carl Richardson, 34, were to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Syracuse this afternoon.

And perhaps Rodney Trask who also had a little run in with the law when he worked for the Town of Schroeppel.

Sal Lanza is also well known, Thom Benedetto... not so much other than in the north country.

The Dems are running Lou Anne Coleman, who people either love or hate. 

It will be interesting to see how the GOP plays out.  And if voters are ready for another woman as Family Court judge.

Some have been critical of Eby because he can only serve five years- of course there are waivers that would allow him to stay on longer. Others think it's a good thing. Judge Seager is a good example of how people feel about being able to get rid of a judge after five years. 

Baby dictator?

This comment deserves its own post

We don't want anyone to miss this comment that was posted earlier. 

We the people in the county clerks world have been blessed recently with yet another of baby's monthly "gee I'm great"newsletters. In it he informs us not to speak to any media for comments on a clerk,DMV,Historian or records center issue. He wants us to clear anything through him first. Gee I wonder why? Is he afraid someone in one of his offices might speak the truth? He states it's important that our office speaks with one voice and I guess we all know whose voice that will be. He can spin the truth and tell his lies. Maybe he doesn't understand the concept of free speech. What is he hiding????

Who is Backus to tell his employees who they can and cannot talk to and about what they can talk about? 

Is he concerned that it got out that his deputy clerk threw away some books that we are told were supposed to be kept permanently?  That tidbit didn't come from someone in his office, it came from someone who allegedly overheard the county attorney mention it. 

We call Baby Bullshit. Hasn't he heard of the First Amendment? Maybe Baby spent too much time in Russia.

Hey Buckey!

What's going on?

 After the Beckwith Road fiasco, which we hear is far from over, Legislator Terry Wilbur told the Hannibal Town Board that the county is "desperate" to find sand on that side of the county.

 Where has this desperation gone? There's not been one mention of sand desperation.

A man in Hannibal, who has property contiguous with Beckwith Road offered his sand to the county, but no one ever responded to his offer. He offered to sell for $1 per cubic yard and his property has been permitted in the past for mining, so he could probably get a permit relatively quickly.

Perhaps all is quiet because there's been too many "visitors" to the town lately, so we hear.

Golf Day!

Who's around today?

 We suspect that today the taxpayers are paying for quite a few county officials to be out on the golf course. Today is Assemblyman Will Barclay's golf tournament.

 Those salaried employee like Baby Backus, Fred Beardsley, and Sheriff Todd are most likely out on the greens on your dime.  Nice, eh?

 But wait! That's not all. We expect some of them to be MIA from their county jobs again on Thursday when the Good People for Good Government (Hastings GOP) has their golf tournament.

Here's the salaries of the three that we expect are out golfing today:

 County Treasurer  $76,215

County Clerk   $76,215

Sheriff    $84,536

He's da man

More from the endorsement meeting

A little more from the county GOP meeting. Enjoy! We'll have more over the weekend.

Here's a thought

Some ideas to save money in the clerk's office

UPDATE- We learned that Legislature Chairman Kevin Garnder said that Baby doesn't have to cut 5 percent. But, there's nothing wrong with being fiscally conservative.  And, there's nothing like department head inequity. 

 Each county department head was asked to cut 5 percent from their budgets. Here's some ideas on how Baby Backus could do that:

1. Stop sending people to IQS and bring the copy fees back to the clerk's office. It was stated at a previous leg meeting that the clerk's office is losing in excess of $100,000 annually. 

2. Get rid of the messenger who goes around to car dealers to collect car registrations. Do it by Fed Ex. It's much cheaper than what was spent buying a car, paying for gas, and paying the employees salary and benefits. This is a no-brainer and it's how other counties do it.

3. Get rid of the deputy clerk of operations. It's no secret that the position was created for Matt Bacon.  At the time the position was created, it was stated that the job duties were that of a senior index clerk and that it was simply a title change. Not long after, a senior index clerk was hired. There are duplicate positions. 

4. Stop hiring employees. 

5. Pay attention to the comings and goings of employees. It's been alleged that an employee of the DMV is padding hours.

The clerk's revenues are down. It's a shame that Backus doesn't take some cost saving measures.