17 minute read
EditoriAl
OuR vOICE
Bike safety
There is nothing like the feeling of getting out and going for a nice ride on your bike.
For many of us this was an important right of passage.
There was the special moment when, after a lot of trial and error and a skinned knee or two for some of us, when you learn to find and keep your balance and could ride securely on two wheels all on your own.
For many it is a first taste of freedom and the chance to transport ourselves a little farther from home and have a little more independence.
Riding bikes with friends as kids can lead to many fun adventures.
And for many adults riding a bike is not only a fun means of transportation, but also offers a chance to relax, perhaps get out and take a path you might not otherwise take on foot or in a car and explore and it offers a chance to get in some extra exercise when we venture out without our cars.
For some it even becomes more than a hobby and offers exciting opportunities to compete and go for long range rides with like minded people.
And with the warmer weather of spring and summer there will likely be more bikes out on the road and this means bicyclists as well as pedestrians will be out and for all involved as well as motorists, there are some important safety tips worth keeping in mind.
According to AAA, May was both Global Youth Traffic Safety Month and Bike Safety Month, but these tips are valuable for everyone’s safety year round.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 846 bicyclists were killed in traffic crashes in 2019, with most killed between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., and most often in urban areas.
Males are eight times more likely than females to be fatally hit while riding a bicycle.
However, what’s more alarming, is the number of pedestrians killed in collisions. The NHTSA reports that, in 2019, 6,205 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes, that’s 85 pedestrians killed every 85 minutes. With more families walking and cycling, AAA has tips to ensure everyone’s safety while sharing the road.
Tips for Pedestrians:
Be predictable. Follow the rules of the road and obey signs and signals.
Walk on sidewalks whenever possible and cross streets at crosswalks or intersections.
If there is no sidewalk, walk facing traffic and as far from traffic as possible.
Keep alert at all times; don’t be distracted by electronic devices that take your eyes (and ears) off the road.
Be visible at all times. Wear bright clothing during the day, and wear reflective materials or use a flashlight at night.
Tips for Bicyclists:
Follow the same rules of the road as other roadway users, including riding in the same direction as traffic and following all the same traffic signs and signals.
Signal all turns.
Wear a bicycle helmet every time and on every ride.
Be visible. Wear bright colors in daytime, reflective gear in low light conditions, and use head and taillights at night.
Remember that respect is a two-way street. Show motorists the same courtesy that you expect from them.
Tips for Drivers:
Stay alert—avoid all distractions while driving.
Yield to bicyclists when turning.
Make a visual check for bicyclists by scanning mirrors and blind spots before entering or leaving a lane of traffic.
Slow down and give at least 3 feet of clearance when passing.
Never honk your horn at a bicyclist—it could cause them to swerve into traffic or off the roadway and crash.
TheRe wASATIMe IN AMeRICA
These are terrible times, times that have elevated gun culture to the point that the gun, particularly the automatic rifle, has become the instrument by which all problems are solved.
My husband and I, shocked again, as you no doubt have been at the senseless murder of innocent children and their teachers in Texas, compared how the times have changed. As a short refuge from these difficult times, I share with you my husband’s images of summers in the late 1940’s and ‘50’s’
“ We lived in the Corn Hill section of Utica, sharing streets with neighbors who were also family, immigrants, first and second generation Americans who combined the cultures of Italy and the United States into wonderful summers for my brother Sam and me.
Both of our parents worked at the Oneida Knitting Mills and so, in the summers, when we were 10 and 11, and 12 , we were “on our own” during the day. Now, to be truthful, being “on your own” only meant that your parents didn’t know what went on until they got home. Supervision was provided by the eyes and ears of neighbors and family. We were in and out of each other’s houses and were expected to obey adults as if they were parents as the adults were expected to look out for us as they would their own children.
What did we do? Weekends were busy. Often our parents would take us out to eat at the one and only Joe’s on Pellitteri Avenue. My parents were harsh critics of food eaten outside the home and Joe’s made the cut. Everyone ate at Joe’s. Even my Uncle Joe, who lived across the street ate there. Eating there was like eating at home.
And thinking about the name Joe. In our family there were so many named Joe and Mary that we had a series of nicknames to identify who we were talking about. Of course these were nicknames we only used at home. I can’t share them, even today.
Family, so much family, visiting all the time. There wasn’t a day that family didn’t visit us or we visit them. My mother came from a family of 10 siblings and my father came from a family of six. Aunts and Uncles and cousins all over Utica. Visits meant gossip and food, “Come sit, eat.”
More eyes and ears to keep you in line.
East Utica never had a downtime when it came to excitement and fun. The Catholic churches in the area held festivals that we called feasts. There were the Mary of Mt. Carmel feast, the St. Cosmos and Damian Feast, the San Gennaro Feast … and others, the names of which I can’t recall. For several days, the area around each church would hold celebrations that included a dramatic parade when numbers of men would carry a heavy statue of the Saint after whom the feast was named. There was music and dancing for the adults and games, food and opportunities to get into trouble for the kids. But, again, the people who were there were neighbors, family, lots of family, the same eyes and ears as on the block.
My parents owned a small camp on Oneida Lake that they rented out over the summer months. This meant that, at least on some weekends, my brother and I would accompany them to the camp to help ready it for the next occupants. After we finished our chores, we could go swimming and visit Oneida Lake’s version of a boardwalk. Bright lights, barkers, excitement for Sam and me.
I had a bike. I loved that bike. It took me to marvelous places, at least in the eyes of a pre-teen. I could ride it to the park and get into a pick-up ball game, or ride it along the railroad tracks to the very first try outs for Little league ever in Utica. I made it as a center fielder and spent my one and only Little League year happily playing ball. Why only one year? I was 12 and aged out at 13. I rode that bike for two miles each way for all practices and games. Good times.
On any ordinary day, my brother and I played in the shade of the trees along our street with the other kids who lived on the block. We did ordinary things like play hide and seek, climb trees … actually we climbed just about anything that you could climb including the roofs of sheds. Pretending, a wonderful ability, we were WWII commandoes climbing into the headquarters of the enemy, jumping off, we were paratroopers or one of our movie heroes. I broke my wrist when I fell out of one of the trees. Jennie Minuti took care of me until my mother came home. I had THE lecture from both of them.
We sat on porches and played pitch for hours, we traded Superman, Archie and Wonder Woman comic books, or took off to the corner store to get a popsicle or a cold bottle of soda. We went to the movies; spent hours in the theaters watching two features, cartoons, news, and a serial, sometimes twice. The stars of these were the cowboys in the white hats. Tex Ritter, Gene Autry, Roy Rodgers and others were our poster heroes. We wiled away the hours in neighborhood camaraderie, with voices calling us to good behavior from all around.
It was a warm and innocent time, when we were surrounded by people who genuinely cared for us. It was that village that some always talk about when raising children. It seemed to work just fine.”
Ramblings from the empty nest
ann Ferro
Ann Ferro is a mother, a grandmother and a retired social studies teacher. While still figuring out what she wants to be when she grows up, she lives in Marcellus with lots of books, a spouse and a large orange cat.
Kabob House adds to the ambiance at Johnson Park
Malik Aboshreakh and his wife, Faye, have a vision.
The owners of The Kabob House, soon to open for business in the former Pizza Villa building at 409 Tulip St., hope to take advantage of their restaurant’s prime location across the street from Johnson Park.
They’re petitioning village government for permission to install a few picnic tables at the west end of the park. The tables would be convenient for Kabob House customers wishing an al fresco dining experience.
But because it’s a public park, the tables would be open to everyone, not only Kabob House patrons.
Ever since the pandemic descended upon us two years ago, Café at 407, next door to the Kabob House, have placed a few plastic-top round tables on the Tulip Street side of the park, so a precedent has been set. And the tables and chairs make for quite an idyllic scene.
Gyros and grape leaves
The owners of the Mediterranean Combo Restaurant at 149 Marshall St., on the Syracuse University Hill, are busily remodeling the Liverpool location, and village Codes Officer Bill Reagan — who has witnessed the renovations upclose — says the couple is sparing no expense to make significant
improvements. Livin’ in Once the work is Liverpool finished, the menu will offer entrees such as slow-roasted russ Tarby whole chicken stuffed with rice and vegetables, and baked meat with vegetables. The bistro’s chicken shawarma bowl features fowl over rice, French fries, salad, hummus and sauces. Customers who order kebbeh will enjoy its fried ground beef and bulgur balls stuffed with meat and onions, all served with pita bread and white sauce. Others will order gyros, falafel and grape leaves. And vegetarians will revel in fresh greens in the tabbouleh salad, Arabic salad or yogurt cucumber salad.
storefront seeks tenants
Meanwhile, catty corner to The
Kabob House, the storefront owners of 612 Oswego St. are actively seeking tenants. Once the site of Foley’s Rexall Drug Store, the address has recently housed an upscale tattoo shop and then a varied beautyand-health spa. Now it’s up for grabs, offering a heavily traveled highly visible location to interested businesses. If you’re interested, call 315491-6055 or 315-807-1614.
Irish Joe sings ‘The Rooster’
On May 17, Irish Joe Tormey bid farewell to Liverpool as he prepared to fly home to the Old Sod.
A fixture for the past several years at The Retreat, Joe was toasting his good-byes with his best buddies at the bar, when they urged him to give us all a song by which to remember him.
It didn’t take too many words of encouragement before Joe stood and belted out an ancient Irish folk tuned called “The Rooster.”
Among its memorable lyrics is this telling stanza:
We had some chickens, no eggs would they lay
We had some chickens, no eggs would they lay
Oh, my wife said, “Honey, we’re losing money!
Then came a rooster into our yard and he caught them chickens right off of their guard
They’re laying eggs now like they never used to.
Coy-dogs and foxes
Speaking of wildlife, there seems to be an influx of critters hereabouts. Several coyotes have been sighted at Salina Meadows and also along Route 57, near Domino’s Pizza in Bayberry.
And red foxes have been spotted at Bass and Second streets, Fourth and Oswego streets and also near Liverpool Elementary School between Hickory and Second streets. Keep your eyes peeled!
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you JuSTCAN’T havEIT aLL
Beware Justin Thomas. A second PGA Cham pionship, and a second Random major title, achieved with Thoughts a come-from-behind win Phil Blackwell at Southern Hills, further cements Justin’s place among golf’s elite, helping him match Collin Morikawa and Dustin Johnson while getting close to Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy in terms of total major wins.
Alas, we will want more. And soon.
Go one or two majors without another win, and it’s forgivable. Go further, and it turns into a cloud, a shadow. Wait any longer, and the burden and pressure only increases, as if they’re running out of time even with years of prime ahead.
Think this is an exaggeration? McIlroy, absent a major since 2014, gave it a go at the PGA, shot 68 in the final round but missed a lot of chances late, and took off, angry, without speaking to the press, unusual for someone so media-friendly.
Spieth has now gone nearly five years since a major victory and he hears about it every day. People are already talking about a slump for Morikawa not even 12 months removed from his win at Royal St. George’s. Koepka has fallen back, hurt by injuries and sky-high expectations.
See, it’s not enough, we keep telling them. They all must be superstars, must transcend the sport, must dominate and win and keep winning. Only then will they reach the exalted level Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson achieved.
Ah, but one quick look at Tiger and Phil tells us that the price of extreme greatness can be an extreme downfall.
The travails Woods has gone through, personal and physical, are more than well-chronicled. Yet it all stemmed from the same mindset – he had everything and wanted more.
Was it greed? Was it a tragic flaw? Either way, the result was personal disgrace, from which Tiger has at least recovered to some degree, along with a physical breakdown that, exasperated by a near-fatal car accident, makes him more of a figurehead than he ever should be for a man in his late 40s.
At least Tiger played (for three rounds) at Southern Hills, though the effort may have curtailed his chances in playing other majors this year, and who knows how more down the road.
Mickelson, on the other hand, appeared, in 2021, to have given his career an exclamation point when he strode to a PGA victory at Kiawah Island and, a month short of 51, became the oldest major champion.
Ah, but Lefty, too, wanted a lot more. His insatiable nature to gamble and go after greater riches and power PGa l Page 13
Chive blossom vinegar
Chive blossom vinegar has many uses like a nice vinaigrette
submitteD photo
By PATTI PuLToRAK
2 cups white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar 12-14 chive flower heads 2 cup jar or bottle with lid
Rinse and dry 12-14 chive flower heads.
Soak the flower heads in white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar until the vinegar turns pink - sometimes for a week or two, storing it in the pantry, out of the light.
Strain the pink vinegar and store in a clear bottle.
To make a vinaigrette, mix 3/4 c olive oil, 1/4 cup chive blossom vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard, 1/2 teaspoon sugar and salt and pepper.
For more visit Ppandorasbox.blogspot.com or Instagram @ppultorak.
LIbRARy buzz
Baldwinsville Center for the Arts, BPL award prizes in teen photo contest
By DANIA SouID young aDuLt serviCes Librarian
Earlier this month, the Baldwinsville Public Library held a reception for the 30th Annual Teen Photography Contest, sponsored by the Baldwinsville Center for the Arts. For 30 years, the contest has given teens in the community a chance to showcase their unique talent and skills in a professionally juried contest.
Here are this year’s winners: • 1st Place: Giovanna V. for “Serenity” (Baker High School, Grade 11) wins a prize of $200 • 2nd Place: Lily B. for “They’re Always Watching” (Baker High
Library l Page 13
submitteD photo
The Baldwinsville Public Library and the Baldwinsville Center for the arts selected prize winners for the 30th annual Teen Photography Contest. From left to right are haylee G., Gracie C., emma h., Giovanna V., Lily B. and Maria B.; not pictured is Grace s.
ACROSS
1. Orator’s podium 5. UK-Netherlands gas pipeline 8. Partner to “oohs” 12. African antelope 14. Indigenous Thai person 15. Monetary unit of Angola 16. Becomes less intense 18. Insurance mascot 19. Tech hub __ Alto 20. Actress Tomei 21. Airborne (abbr.) 22. Type of smart watch 23. Natives 26. Incompetent person 30. Rare Hawaiian geese 31. Unspoken relationships 32. Passports and licenses are two 33. Claw 34. Status quo 39. Mimic 42. Fur-lined cloak 44. Ancient foreigner 46. In an angry way 47. Ill-intentioned 49. Monetary unit of Serbia 50. S. American plant 51. One or the other 56. An alias for Thor 57. Gratuity 58. In a painful way 59. French commune 60. Promotional materials 61. Greek city 62. Assistant 63. Confederate general 64. Former NJ governor DOWN
1. Used by gymnasts 2. “Luther” actor Idris 3. Broad volcanic crater 4. Not for 5. Blur 6. Tots 7. Acted leisurely 8. About the Alps 9. Gets out of bed 10. Town in “The Iliad” 11. Welsh given name 13. Remove salt 17. Calvary sword 24. Mental disorder concerning body odor (abbr.) 25. Keeps a house cozy 26. Ballplayer’s accessory 27. Southwestern Russian city 28. Pro sports league 29. Congress investigative body (abbr.) 35. Stop standing 36. Utilize 37. Sign language 38. Famed ESPN broadcaster Bob 40. Being of central importance 41. Ruin environment 42. Dessert dish 43. Sea eagles 44. Fertilized 45. Jerry’s friend Benes 47. Indian river 48. Pass into a speci ed state or condition 49. Nocturnal rodent 52. A way to travel 53. Iron-containing compound 54. Ancient Greek City 55. NFL signal caller Matt
SUDOKU CROSSWORD
