THE YEAR IN REVIEW
Locally, the resignation of a governor and the death of Buffalo’s best-known fan captured attention
In some ways, we caught a break in 2008. No serial murder on a bike path. No cop-killer in the woods. And our control boards and weather almost seemed minor compared with the damage inflicted by crises — both financial and meteorological — across the nation.
Yet, we will remember 2008 as a remarkable year here.
All it took was for the governor to hook up with a call girl.
Go to the Year in Review section
Sadly enough, the news turned from absurd to somber a few months later, as Buffalo tried to absorb the loss of Tim Russert.
The iconic “Meet the Press” host and South Buffalo native, considered Buffalo’s greatest ambassador in the nation’s capital, died unexpectedly at age 58.
In the end, Eliot Spitzer’s fall from grace and Russert’s death — both stunning — emerged as the year’s top news stories, as judged by reporters and editors at The Buffalo News.
Headlines also reflected the region’s worries as well as its hopes.
The national recession and its impact on local plants left Western New York wondering if its lifeblood, manufacturing, will survive.
The Buffalo Bills played a home game — in Toronto.
The Burchfield Penney Art Center opened to positive reviews.
And finally, something happened on Buffalo’s waterfront — the opening of Erie Canal Harbor, with a wooden central wharf deck as wide as the Atlantic City boardwalk.
Other stories didn’t make The News’ list of the top 10.
Former four-term mayor Jimmy Griffin, a political institution for four decades and one of Buffalo’s most colorful and divisive figures, died of a rare brain disease.
Terrorism claimed the lives of three local people: Jonathon Cote, a private security contractor in Iraq; John Granville, a diplomat in Sudan; and Susan Elbaneh, a Lackawanna High School student killed in Yemen.
Environmental concern for the common tern killed plans for a dramatic two-tower cable-stay bridge, another blow to the Peace Bridge project.
Good and bad, here at the Top Ten news stories of 2008:
1. What was he thinking? Back in March, New Yorkers were the ones watching their embattled governor — already reeling from allegations that he was using the state police to smear a political rival — in the glare of the national spotlight, a crusader caught patronizing a high-priced prostitution ring.
People watched Spitzer during not one, but two, news conferences, the first to respond to the breaking story and then again days later to announce his resignation.
“The remorse I feel will always be with me. I am deeply sorry I did not live up to what was expected of me,” Spitzer said, ending his political career.
In November, prosecutors announced Spitzer will not face federal criminal charges.
2. Mourning a favorite son When Tim Russert died of a heart attack in June, the outpouring of tributes and anecdotes dominated the nation’s attention.
President Bush attended his wake. Fans drove from as far away as South Dakota. Presidential campaign rivals Barack Obama and John McCain sat next to each other during the private funeral Mass in Georgetown.
3. McKinley fiasco A high school student’s name became a household word in Buffalo: Jayvonna.
By the time the McKinley High School mess ended, it would involve several others: James Daye, the suspended boys basketball coach; Michelle Stiles, a volunteer coach; and principal Crystal B. Barton.
Stiles lost her position after she questioned girls on the team to find out why Daye had been at a home where one of them was living. Jayvonna was given a seven-week suspension — later shortened to five weeks — for using a cell phone at school to arrange to speak to the Board of Education to protest Stiles’ dismissal and for later leaving school without permission and being “insubordinate.”
Eventually, the Buffalo School Board hired an independent investigator to examine why Jayvonna was suspended so long.
The investigator filed a report critical of Jayvonna’s suspension. Jayvonna graduated with her class and shook hands with Barton as she received her diploma. A divided Board of Education fell one vote short of pursuing disciplinary charges against Barton for her involvement in Jayvonna’s suspension.
In the end, the revelations and lack of district action further eroded the credibility of the city school district.
4. DeJac’s charges dismissed Murder indictment 003291993— The People v. Lynn M. DeJac — was officially dismissed in State Supreme Court.
Prosecutors sought the dismissal, largely because two forensic pathologists had determined her daughter, 13-year-old Crystallynn M. Girard, didn’t die from strangulation in 1993. Instead, they suggested she died from cocaine intoxication.
Thus ended the case against De- Jac, jailed for more than 13 years until November 2007. But the questions remain about who’s responsible for Crystallynn’s death. 5. Recession hits the region The region’s manufacturers reported declines for a second straight month during November, pushing an indicator of business conditions at local factories to its lowest level since June 2003.
The auto industry accounts for an estimated 8,200 jobs in the region. The number of other jobs that depend indirectly on the auto sector is probably more than double that.
Experts aren’t sure what will happen locally if General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. continue to struggle, but it surely won’t be good for the region.
“We may end up with the same number of workers earning less. We may end up with nothing,” said George Palumbo, a Canisius College economist. “I could see this turning into a delayed, very bad time for us.”
6. Paying more for gas Gasoline prices skyrocketed to more than $4 a gallon. Across the country, few communities saw prices as high as they rose in Western New York. The higher pump prices sparked investigations by the state attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission.
7. Finally, a waterfront win The Erie Canal Harbor opened, featuring the rewatered Commercial Slip, a pedestrian bridge and a boardwalk offering visitors a front-row view of the waterfront. The foundations of buildings from the canal’s heyday give it authenticity.
8. Building casinos is no sure bet The Seneca Nation halted work on its new Buffalo casino and an expansion of its Salamanca casino, citing a struggling economy, increased competition and soaring construction costs.
The August announcement came just one day after a federal judge ruled that gambling remains illegal on the site of the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino. The Senecas plan to resume construction at both sites once it becomes economically feasible.
9. Bills lose in Toronto, too The Buffalo Bills played their first home game in Toronto as part of a larger plan to regionalize the team’s market and, in the eyes of some, secure its future in Western New York.
High ticket prices, averaging about $200 apiece, put something of a damper on the Dec. 7 game in the Rogers Centre, where predictions of a quick sell-out fell short by about 1,000 seats. Bills fans and players alike complained that the home field advantage was tempered in Toronto, where fans were less enthusiastic. The Bills lost to the Miami Dolphins, 16-3.
10. A new jewel The new $33 million Burchfield Penney Art Center opened at Buffalo State College, winning praise.
The center features a 156-seat theater and a curved, 147-foot-long East Gallery.
“I think it’s a triumph, an absolute triumph for Buffalo — a brand-new museum with a whole new concept of what an art museum should look like inside,” one Buffalo resident, Peter Dow, said on opening night.
plakamp@buffnews.com and mpasciak@buffnews.com
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