Lately I have read a bunch of interesting articles but I can't talk about them all and give links to them all. So I will briefly mention them (the ones I remember). I think the article I have below is the most interesting one. I think it brings up a good question. Is preservation a good thing. I understand that there are historic bulidings that have a lot of history and should be kept. But what about new buildings that could add revenue for the city and make sense for Buffalo to move ahead in time. Some people belive that preservationsists keep companies from moving to buffalo by not allowing new buildings to replace old ones I don't agree with that but it is interesting to read.

I read two articles in todays Buffalo News about The Silos and the Casino. Apprently the Sencas have had plans made up for the new Casino that include knocking them down and Keeping them and working them into there plans. I think the fact that they at least are considering keeping them may be a good sign who knows what will happen there are still legal battles going on. The other article was about those legal battles and that was interesting. It was about how cheap the indains got the land and that if they got more land then they needed for the casino that it could violate the state compact with them.

I Have read about a couple of possible constrution projects. One was about the New Burchfield Penny Center. They make it sound as if it is a sure thing. I guess one complaint is that there wasn't much community invovlement in it and it isn't predestian friendly. The other article was about how the person who owns the buildings on Elmwood near forest where Skunk Tail Glass, Mondo video and a few other places wants to turn that area into a Hotel with underground and ground level parking and shops. They didn't say if all those houses would come down or if they would be built into it. I assume that they would be torn down. I guess calling this post Changing Buffalo isn't really correct yet because none of these projects has started officaly yet. For example Niagara Falls has supposed to have gotten I'm guessing about 30 differant big time devolpments that never happend.

In sports local boy Travis Meyer from the Meyer Brothers family didn't medal in the olympics. That is to bad. I was hoping he would. There is a real nice article about him in the paper. When I have more time I want to talk about the Google and Yahoo issue of helping China Sensor there web use there are a lot of issues there to be covered from the few articles I have read about it, but I want to hear some thoughts on TV about it also before I chim in. I want to know all my facts before I talk about it with the computer savy people on this site.





FOCUS: PRESERVATIONISTS
Preserving or obstructing?

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Saving historic buildings is a fierce passion for some, but others feel an 'everything must be saved' philosophy is hindering Buffalo's growth

By MARK SOMMER
News Staff Reporter
2/16/2006



The historic value of the H-O Oats grain elevator has been a subject of debate, with preservationists touting the tourism potential of elevators near the Erie Canal terminus.





Preservationists in Buffalo can be found in the trenches, trying to stop 19th century buildings from being torn down, or saving hulking grain elevators from meeting the wrecking ball.
But not everyone applauds such efforts.

From average citizens to developers, some local people see preservationists as obstructionists who want to save every blighted building in an aging city. They do so, critics charge, without regard for feasible reuse, prospects for restoration funds or how their actions discourage investment in the city.

"There is definitely a school of thought - and quite a large contingent of people - who very openly take the position that everything must be saved. I don't think that helps the city in terms of moving forward," said Richard C. Baer, a member of the Buffalo Preservation Board, the city agency that considers changes to historic structures.

"I think preservationists are choking the city with the things they are doing," said Ernestine Aberle, a Buffalo native who lives in Clarence and opposes spending $76.5 million to restore the historic H.H. Richardson complex.

"I'm all for preserving things from the past, whether it be family customs or buildings, but it can get way off balance."

Critics point to several buildings they believe preservationists have gone overboard to save: the Vernor Building in the Theater District, the Balcom/Chandler House on Niagara Square and a 19th century building next to Pano's restaurant on Elmwood Avenue.

Preservationists are hardly a monolith. Some focus on buildings with clear historical value, such as the Richardson complex, while others are concerned about maintaining the historic integrity of neighborhoods that include structures less highly regarded.

But all believe the city's future can be found, in part, in its past.

"Preservationists have visited other cities and know that quality economic revitalization occurs when the fabric of the built environment is invested in, rather than demolished in the name of progress and easy profits for developers," said Dennis Galucki, executive director of the Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier.





The Pano's battle

A recent battleground between preservationists and those who think they go too far is the building next door to Pano's, a popular Elmwood Avenue restaurant. The 1893 structure is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

Restaurant owner Panagiotis Georgiadis applied for a demolition permit in September 2004 to tear down the building. He wanted to replace it with a dining patio and more parking, and later offered to incorporate design elements from the building.

Preservationists insisted that the building was essential to the Elmwood Avenue streetscape. They pressed their case with picket lines and at public hearings, attracting the support of some politicians.

Georgiadis said his supporters voted with their feet, boosting his business during that time to all-time heights.

The case is in the courts, but the experience, Georgiadis said, landed him in the hospital.

"I got a bleeding ulcer, and since then, I don't care about this house anymore, or this city. I just go to work every day. I think [preservationists] are parasites," he said.

Baer, the Preservation Board member, is another critic.

"I think of those of us on the Preservation Board as being pragmatists," said Baer, who works as a construction consultant in Angola.

Baer said he is sympathetic to developers because he recognizes obstacles and delays can make redevelopment of historic buildings untenable.

"They just drag out beyond the developer's patience or ability to financially make it work," Baer said.

Tim Tielman of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture and Culture, can recite dozens of downtown buildings torn down through the years, most prominently, Frank Lloyd Wright's Larkin Administration Building in 1950.

Tielman blames the city's failure to penalize irresponsible owners and its lack of interest in citizen concerns for forcing preservationists into action.

"These complaints about "preservationists' are not about preservation. They're about power," Tielman said.

"For 50 years, the decisions about the future of our city and how our money was spent was the exclusive province of the business and political elite," he said. "Today, on the margins, citizens are making themselves heard. Hooray for them."

Preservationists also point to many run-down buildings that were nearly demolished in recent years and are now success stories.

Recent examples include: the 1863 George Squier mansion on Main Street, now home to Literacy Volunteers of Buffalo & Erie County; the former Holling Press on Washington Street, which opened last year as mixed-income housing; and The Church, the former Asbury Delaware United Methodist Church, at Delaware Avenue and Tupper Street, now reborn as an art gallery and, soon, a performance hall.

That's why Baer also said a debt is owed to activists like Tielman.

"I've always said I couldn't be a Tim [Tielman], but I think of the Erie Canal Harbor and [buildings being rehabbed at] Main and Virginia, and I'm sure many more that would probably be gone if he hadn't jumped into the fray, as mad as it makes developers," Baer said.





Developers aren't fans

Not surprisingly, many developers see preservationists as impediments to progress.

"There are a lot of projects people would like to see saved that are not saveable and may ultimately be a hindrance to development," said Benjamin Obletz, president of First Amherst Development.

The company owns Lofts at Elk Terminal near the Cobblestone District and is restoring the row of mostly 19th century buildings at Virginia and Main streets.

Carl Paladino, chief executive of Ellicott Development Co., who was vilified by preservationists for demolishing the Harbor Inn in 2003, is more blunt.

"I think the preservation effort is tempered by the Preservation Board. Beyond them, you have a bunch of extremists who have no appreciation whatsoever of how to help our city move into the 21st century," said Paladino, who has converted two historic downtown buildings into housing and is planning others.

The fate of the H-O Oats grain elevator, on Seneca Nation of Indians land near the Cobblestone District, has stirred perhaps the most recent controversy. Preservationists have promoted tourism potential in the collection of grain elevators near the historic terminus of the Erie Canal and suggested the H-O Oats silos could be turned into a hotel.

Paladino, who sold the grain elevator to the Senecas in October, recommended that the silos be used for signs, and was told the idea would be considered.

But he fails to understand what preservationists see in them.

"We have enough grain elevators to show the next few generations," said Paladino. "There's nothing particularly unique about the H-O grain elevator compared to the 17 other ones in town."


e-mail: msommer@buffnews.com

I hope that everyone has a great valentines day. If that means running your self a bath and lighting 1,000 candles after you give your self 5 orgasims or if it taking the hunny out to dinner and giving them a great gift or if it buying a cute bear in a balloon and seting the Bear on fire then stabing it through the Hart with a spike. However you deal with the holiday I hope everyone enjoys it. It has never been a holiday I really cared for. Why should you treat someone special on a certain day and be oblogated to just do special things for them all the time when you feal like it, not because it is a holiday. I not sure whare the meaning of valentines day is or what it is, but what ever it is was lost a long time ago. Ok enough of my rant.


One Anti-Valentines day site you may enjoy



Below is some art work I found on line doing a google search. I think they are preaty cool looking.











Another interesting site.

That reminds me about this really cool lady I knew online. I can't remember how we met exactly. She seemed preaty cool and we got along great. She was having some problems. So I being a Nice guy thought I should send her some roses. I almost did then talked to her on line a few days later. Turned out she hates roses, good thing I didn't send them. Another strange story was a guy at work in a training session mentioned he sent his wife flowers but they put the wrong name on the card. People at her work know him so they had no idea who this other guy was. That must have been very interesting and a little humilating but still funny. Hope eveyone has or had a great day.

That is right today is the eve of that evil holiday Valentines Day (maybe i'm over doing it a bit but oh well). I'm supposed to be going out with the family for desert or something but have no idea what time. I wish I was artistic so I could draw a black heart with some black Roses and maybe like a bloody dagger or something. Then I could post it here.

Onto better things so far I have really been enjoying the Olympics. I look forward to seeing Womens Half Pipe on TV tonight it should be awesome. Granted they don't go as big as the boys but still good stuff. I may have missed the ski jumping. Luge is interesting also along with Bobsleigh.

Here is a concert that I may wind up going to.
There is a third band at this show also whos name I just blanked on.



I know there was something else I wanted to talk about but I can't remember what. Was it the hot ness of all the (e:peep) ladies in the pics. Was it that sleeping on sunday nights is diffacult sometimes. Was it that I still set off those scaners they have by the doors at Walgreens, Tops, Eckard, Rite aid and Target. Was it that I really need to find some great concert to go to. Someone at work is going to see Motley Crue friday that would be awesome.

I woke up this moring and watched the Mens snowboard superpipe this morning it was verry good. I thought I would put up some pics from the web but I didn't want to put up any competition shots that might give away results. Right now Canada should still be playing Russia in Womens hockey and later the Americans play someone I forget who.

Well for somereason I can't up load pics here using firefox or internet explorer it must be something on my end I lost a post earlier to this. The page opens but no media files show up well onto my point. I saw some of the peonig ceromines last night at home at Preal Street Bar and grill. I went there after the Bandits beat the Luberjax it was a great game. Man there where some hoties there. None of them noticed me unless I was in ther way going somewhare. I went there to see a band I saw the night before at cozumel. I belive the name of the band is Mark Wisnick. I knew the guy playing drumbs. On thusday I got to watch the sabres lose it ot but at least they got a point. Back to the olympics I saw a little bit of them live this moring they where good. One good website is cbc.ca/olympics. If you are going to watch them taped on NBC only then you may not want to go there. I will be watching some of the taped coverage but then I need to watch the sabres to, and I have some shows to catch up on that I taped. Plus I have to pick up pictures and put them in an album. I really want to see the freestyle moguls that is fun to watch and maybe some womens hocky not sure what other sports are on. I'm sure there was more I wanted to say but can't think of it. Oh yeah I'm also really looking forward to seeing the snowboarding and mens hockey. If I get more info I may talk about the Gambiling ring that the great one may be invovled in; that may really make for an interesting olympics.

Not sure How I didn't Know the Grammy Awards where on until today. So I will tape Bones. It is really a good show. House was good last night. I taped but havn't watched to episodes of the seceret life of women. The one episode looks really good. I missed Miami Ink. I like the show because it is a reality show about a Tattoo shop but you also get to see Tattos people get and why.

On friday Is the next Bandits home Game the play the Portland Lumberjax If menory is correct. That is also the same night as the opening Ceramonies for the Olympics. From what I understand there is no such Place as Torino, Italy it is Turin and the Americans have the name wrong. It wouldn't surprise me if I dissapear from this site for about two weeks. I may or may not depening on how well the games are covered and what sports are on.

V-day: I'm guessing I'll be busy watching TV or the Olympics and so I won't care to much about it. It has never really ben one of my holidays. I think it may go back to that whole exchanging them at school with everybody in class was weird. You made them out for everyone. I wonder if stripclubs do better or worse on V-day (not to be confuseed with the real v day wich is victory day, is that even a holiday anymore). The guys with girls wouldn't go but maybe single guys would go.

Sabres Play in about 5 minutes. Go Sabres!!!!!!!!!!!

24 was a good episode this week hopefully House Will be Tonight.

There where a bunch of great Superbowl ads, like all the Beer Comericals, that crazzy Burger king, Full Throtle and a few others. But that being said None of them was truely inovative and none of them took any chances except the streaking one.

Some of the calls in the Superbowl where Very close and The Seahawks could make a good case that there Touchdown should have counted and the Steelers shouldn't if you saw the game or the replays you know what I'm talking about.

Buffalo Auto Show is this weekend. I guess they are having some activities downtown some of them are at the Hyatt I think there is also free Ice Skating some people may be interested in that.

In yesterdays paper i Saw 3 coupons for like 15% off adult shops. One of them used to give ladies a discount on certain days. That sounds illegal to me, don't know if they still do that.

For Valentines day I want two bisexual stripers who force me to do drugs, and other stuff I won't get into. Even though it is't really a holiday I'm into that would still be cool.

Now I'm eating diner and listing to the sabres, still go Sabres!!!!!!!!!

I had a few politcal points I wanted to get to but forget what they are. Ok now I remember I think it is to bad that part of the Rollingstones songs where edited by ABC or was it the NFL for the Superbowl. I think that if you don't agree with the lyrics to a song then don't have the group perform. If you think the real lyrics will offend some one then again don't have them perform. If I where the stones and they said we don't want this part to be heard I'd tell them to go fuck them selves we arn't performing. Suposidly the stones where told before hand about it but they are still upset. Who knows what really happendend. Hopefully my next post will be better.

The L word was good this weekend. Some great Nudity. Not sure who my favorite lady is. I think Dana is the hotest or maybe carmen. But Jenny is the most interesting. She hasn't really been that interesting yet this season. But last season she was verry interesting.

Hopefully I read something in the paper or someone else post that gets me fired up and maybe even gets me to start a little trouble. In case I don't have anything to say and don't post Hope everyone has a great Valentines day.

Not sure what my favorite Commerical was during the Superbowl. I like the one with the Bear then those Full thortle ads where cool also. But That wasn't really why I posted. I have been a Steelers Fan for A Long Time. I remember they have allways been great I think I statred watching them when Chuck Knoll was still coach not sure I know Bradsshaw wasn't still playing. I remember people like Bubby Brister and can't rembember who used to be the running backs. I thought slash was the man Wide reciever then play QB. I am glad to to my steelers finaly Made it to the Superbowl and Won it has been a long time. Here are some pictures I got off the net of the Celebration.

Well not sure how to start. But here goes last night I took a nice walk down Elmwood down to coles. Coles was packed got there right around 8. But they said the bar was closed so I went out side maybe for about a minute with all the smokers and looked around and didn't see anyone I knew. If I would have been thinking I would have gone to see if Goodbar was showing the Sabres game and that would have fixed things but I decided to bail. So that makes it offical I'm unrealiable to show up for things, so if I say i'm going to be there don't count on. Some people here allready know that. This remindend me of one of the reasons why I never call anybody. Don't get me wrong at work I do a lot of work and if I don't understand something I ask. But in friendship I feal I have been a burden (maybe that is the wrong term) a few times and misunderstood some stuff. That got me to thinking about How even in highschoool I was an outsider. Yes I was in a couple differant groups of people that is true. But I was always in the outer circle of the groups I was in as opposed to the inner circle. I'm not complaining just making an observation. I thought some more but to hard to explain and to much to really get into. But on my way home went to just pizza and got a couple slices of pizza and watched the end of the sabres game. That 3 chese steak is really good. The sabres won in the shootout. So I still had a good time but there where a couple things I wanted to do that I didn't get to do. This moring I read an interesting article about Stripers and Street sex in Niagara Falls. I think I have to get up there more often. I may comement on the social aspects of it later but I need a bagel and I need to look at the ads in the sunday paper and then start watching the pregame today. I'm sure in the coming week I will have more thoughts on what I said above.





FOCUS: NIAGARA FALLS, ONT.
THE DARK SIDE OF THE FALLS

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Murders of women in Ontario shine some light on a world of illicit sex and street drugs

By MAKI BECKER
News Staff Reporter
2/5/2006





Derek Gee/Buffalo News
PAtrons leave Seductions Gentlemen's Club on Lundy's Lane in Niagara Falls, Ont. While Seductions and other men's clubs operate legally, many of them are located in an area of the city that draws men and women involved in drugs and the sex trade.


NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. - Around the corner from a landing pad for helicopter rides and the construction site of an indoor water park, a person walking through a desolate, wooded area off Whirlpool Road made a grisly discovery Jan. 24.
Wrapped in a sheet, amid garbage and large animal bones, were the remains of 22-year-old Cassey Joyce Cichocki, who had disappeared more than a month earlier.

She was last seen near an empty storefront in downtown Niagara Falls.

She was the fifth woman who had led what Canadian authorities politely call a "high risk lifestyle" to be found slain in or around the Niagara Falls region over the last 11 years.

Police soon arrested a man they believe responsible for Cichocki's death, but the murders have exposed the underbelly of this falls-side city, better known in the United States for its breathtaking vistas, the Skylon Tower and its revolving restaurant, two bustling casinos and the neon-lit tourist spots.

In the midst of theme park-like Clifton Hill and just a short drive west through Ferry Street and Lundy's Lane, or north of the city's sparkling tourist spots is a Niagara Falls teeming with illicit sex, drugs, massage parlors and strip clubs. "Of course there is an underworld in Niagara Falls," said Michelle, who identified herself as a 43-year-old street sex trade worker.

Michelle said she usually works in Toronto and Hamilton, Ont., but noted she once made $900 in two hours turning tricks near the casino in Niagara Falls. "I picked up four rich men, went to their hotel rooms," she said.

It's another side of this city of fewer than 80,000 that draws nearly 14 million visitors a year - a side that isn't spotlighted by the tourism bureau, which beckons "Discover Niagara Falls. There's more to us than meets the eye."





One who left the street

Deb Nanson knows this other Niagara Falls all too well.

Until two years ago, she was a street prostitute who sold her body for money to buy crack cocaine in Niagara Falls, and then later in Hamilton. Nanson went clean and stopped selling sex after being busted in Hamilton in a crack house. She now runs Come Walk a Mile Addiction Services in Hamilton, Ont., an outreach group that works with drug addicts and sex workers.

Nanson, 45, the granddaughter of a Falls daredevil who survived a plunge over the falls, grew up in this city. She was raised down the street from Dawn Stewart, the first victim in the five homicides now being revisited by authorities. Stewart's skeletal remains, along with those of her 6-month-old fetus, were found on a dirt road near a farm in Pelham in 1996. "We got high together," Nanson recalled of her old friend. "She was a sex trade worker, but she was a good mom."

She realizes she could easily have ended up dead herself, whether by a killer or by the drugs. On Friday, Nanson stood at Ferry Street and Sylvia Place by the Lundy's Lane Historical Museum, recalling how that had been her spot for picking up tricks. "This is the corner," she said, pointing out the back parking lot and the alleyway just around the way where she would go with her customers. "My stomach's in knots," she said, admitting that even after being clean for nearly 19 months, she still considers herself an addict.





Prostitution laws fuzzy

Canada's laws involving prostitution are not exactly clear-cut, and Canadian strip clubs are legally allowed to have all-nude dances as well as lap-dances, leaving a lot of gray area that is readily exploited by frisky customers and cash-driven dancers.

"The basic idea is prostitution itself is not illegal," explained Brenda Cossman, a law professor at the University of Toronto. "But solicitation of prostitution is."

Canada's criminal codes specifically ban street prostitution and brothels, called common bawdy houses. It's also illegal in Canada to live off the proceeds of a prostitute - a law designed to prevent pimping, but a law that could be applied to the children of prostitutes and a partner of a prostitute. "It's a bizarre situation," Cossman said.

The law allows a customer to call for an escort and have her, or him, meet for sex at the john's home or a hotel room that the john has rented, said Valerie Scott, executive director of Toronto-based Sex Professionals of Canada. But it's illegal for a john to meet the escort at her residence or even a hotel room the escort has rented, because that place could then be considered a common bawdy house.

Scott, whose group advocates decriminalizing prostitution, believes the law puts prostitutes in danger. "If it's your place where you're comfortable with your own surroundings, then you know there aren't three guys hiding in a closet," Scott said.

Operating a bawdy house can be punishable by up to two years in jail, she said. And police have been known to confiscate everything from a home determined to be a bawdy house, she said. "The police can and do show up with moving vans when they arrest someone, and they take absolutely everything."



Fears of serial killer

Although police quickly arrested a suspect in Cichocki's death, they don't know whether they have a modern day Jack the Ripper on their hands - or if they're faced with a disturbing increase in violent behavior toward women involved in stripping, prostitution and drugs.

Sex workers throughout Ontario are worried about a possible serial killer targeting them, Michelle said. Street sex-trade workers like herself face many kinds of dangerous predators, she said. "I remember hearing about a guy in Hamilton who was sleeping with women and giving them AIDS," she said. "I knew I was safe because I always use a condom. But it's scary what some guy will do to the girls. You never know what is going to happen to you."

Four out of the five Niagara Falls victims "worked the streets," said Detective Sgt. Cliff Sexton of the Niagara Regional Police, who is heading the task force.

The other one, Nadine Gurczenski, 26, who was found dead in 1999 in a ditch in Vineland, was an exotic dancer.

But with the street women, he said, "the driving force was drugs." Sexton, a longtime investigator in Niagara Falls, said drugs and prostitution have always plagued the city. "I don't see it as a growing problem," he said. "But I do think there's a problem."

Nanson recounted how she had slid into her dark life. First, she got hooked on cocaine and then crack, became increasingly desperate for money.

"Stealing didn't cover my addiction," she said. "First, I stole. Then I robbed. Then the sex trade. I thought it was glamorous. I would think, "He's picked me.' "

While drugs are a major problem among street workers, escorts - who probably make up the majority of prostitutes in Canada - aren't as affected, said Scott, of the Sex Professionals of Canada.

"What you're seeing on the street, a lot of times, are crack addicts turning tricks to get high," she said. "And that really is a different issue than prostitution . . . But that being said, we still consider them our sisters. Even though they're doing it for the drug money, they're still doing it."





Dancers provide extras

Niagara Falls' strip clubs are legitimate, but it's an open secret that there are plenty of dancers in some clubs who are willing to provide "extras" if the price is right.

A quick scan of an online chat site about one such club includes postings on recollections of sex acts performed in private back rooms as well as questions and advice about taking a dancer from the club back to a hotel. "You have to pay the club a release fee and then the girl for her time," one poster explained. "By the time you pay both fees you're better off paying for an escort . . ."

The Canadian government has taken steps to try to regulate the adult entertainment industry through special licenses, similar to those issued to taxi cab drivers and street food vendors.

Niagara Regional Police Services currently has licenses issued to 2,238 people in the adult entertainment business; about 40 are operators, the rest are exotic dancers.

Police throughout Ontario have taken some steps to stem violence against women in the sex trade without punishing them for reporting attacks.

Niagara Regional Police and Toronto Police operate "Bad Date" hotlines - toll free phone lines that allow women to anonymously report robberies, assaults and rapes. That information is put into a database and used to identify potential serial predators.

The task force will mine this database for any possible clues to help them solve the homicides, Sexton said.

Sex worker advocates also maintain their own "bad date" Web sites where they list descriptions, even cell phone numbers, of customers who stood them up, refused to pay, got violent or forced them to do things that hadn't been previously agreed to.

Nanson is now trying to start a self-monitoring program through her organization to help keep tabs on sex trade workers. If the sex worker fails to check in, Nanson's volunteers call around, then go to the police. Like other Canadian sex workers and their advocates, Nanson knows how critical it is for there to be some sort of safeguard for women in the sex trade.

She points out Vancouver, where Robert William Pickton is on trial for the murder of 27 prostitutes from that city. For years, police there dismissed the women's disappearances - until their remains were found at Pickton's pig farm. "We don't want another Vancouver," Nanson said.


e-mail: mbecker@buffnews.com

Yeah The super bowl is a huge event. Sometimes I think it is more of an event then a game. There is more pregame then game itself. I will admit that I have seen some verry good pregame stuff before the game in the past. There have been a couple amazing comericals that where only on during the pregame, some good music performances and interesting information. I found the article below on line at the buffalo news website. I thought it could have included more info but still enjoyed it. Hope all you football fans enjoy the event of it and game, I know I will, not sure when the TV will go on and what I will do for dinner but I don't even know what I will eat tonight. Hope you enjoy the article hopefull I will see some of you tonight.

Super Bowl takes over Sunday

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From pizza parlors to church services, the big game has a big impact

By FRANK GREVE and IRIS KUO
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
2/4/2006

WASHINGTON - Football has disrupted regular life ever since hordes of medieval villagers put down their scythes and caldrons to amuse themselves by throwing, lugging or kicking a ball across the countryside and between the stoutly defended gates of a rival village's parish church.
So it's no surprise that during the Super Bowl, a descendant of that rowdy ancient sport, some of usual American life stops. And some reaches new heights. Among the changes, cosmic and mundane, are these:

• Crime - It really does go down. The Dallas Police Department reports an 18 percent drop in calls during Super Bowl hours compared with the same time period on Sundays before and after the game. Both violent and property crimes fall, according to Geoffrey Alpert, a criminologist at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. "Of course," he said, "some of it could be cops just watching the game and not responding."

• Movie attendance - It plummets nearly 40 percent compared with the average Sunday, according to VNU Media, which studies entertainment audiences. Movie studios often release their deadest dogs on Super Bowl weekend.

• Traffic - It's sparse, according to Bob Ryan, the operator of Atlanta South 75 Travel Center, a truck stop in Jacksonville, Ga. He said his gas, diesel and restaurant sales dropped about 20 percent. Business might fall off even more without the stop's big-screen TV to lure truckers who are heading home from weekend deliveries. "Drivers pull over and pack the house in the TV lounge come game time," Ryan said.

• Takeout service - Super Bowl hours are the busiest of the year for Domino's and Pizza Hut, which move about 40 percent of the nation's takeout pizzas. Business for the day is 20 percent higher than most Sundays, and nearly half the pies go out in the three hours before halftime, according to Pizza Hut spokeswoman Christa Osswald. • Snack fare - Until 2002, avocado sales peaked in the run-up to the Latin holiday Cinco de Mayo, followed by the Fourth of July. Today, it's the Super Bowl, according to Jan DeLyser, the vice president for marketing at the California Avocado Commission in Irvine. Florida avocado producers agree. For the California avocados and Latin imports that the California Avocado Commission handles, Super Bowl consumption last year totaled 43.8 million pounds, nearly 6 percent of the year's total sales. No surprise: Pre-Super Bowl chili seasoning-sales doubled their weekly average, according to a 2004 AC Nielsen survey. Salsa was up 30 percent; tortilla chips, 25 percent.

• Shopping - Customers slow to a trickle about an hour before kickoff at grocery chain Safeway's stores. "I guess the men are home, hunkered down waiting," said Craig Muckle, Safeway's East Coast spokesman. A surge in female shoppers occurs during the game, he said, so the net drop is 10 to 15 percent on the day, compared with an average Sunday.

• Church attendance - Lots of churches cancel services or otherwise yield ground to the Super Bowl. Then there's Hunter "Doc" Sherman, pastor of Bellview Baptist Church, five miles north of Springfield, Mo. His parishioners move the church's seats aside, roll out Astroturf, put up a goalpost in front of the altar and watch the game on a 9-by-12-foot drop-down screen. For those who don't like football, there's a chick flick room and a nails and cosmetics parlor.

"We follow Jesus, too," Sherman said in a telephone interview. "But we rejoice in the world that he's put us in and feel that he wants us to enjoy it."

• Commode use - Does toilet use really rise sharply during Super Bowl breaks? Yes, reports Mark Stanley, the operations and maintenance superintendent for the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities. Stanley's system burst a 16-inch water main during the 1984 Super Bowl. "It was during halftime," he said. Stanley suspects a Super Bowl role partly because he had seen big water-use surges during commercial breaks for the February 1983 "M*A*S*H Special," the highest-rated TV program of all time.

An interesting fact: The Super Bowl TV audience is not overwhelmingly manly. Forty-five percent of its viewers have been female for the last decade, according to Stacey Lynn Koerner, executive vice president for global research at Initiative Media, an analyst of TV audiences. Women are just as likely as men to watch until game's end, Koerner said, though 53 percent of the women in a recently reported study said they watched mainly for the commercials.