Yesterday I was riding my bike down by the river and I saw the rescue trucks who responded to the woman who was hit by the Amtrak train. I didn't know what it was at the time but I saw the police combing through the area she was hit. I called Mike and told him to check the news because I thought it was a murder. The news articles aren't saying much but there seems to be some suspicion that she was already dead when the train hit her.


This appeared in the Buffalo News-

Police identify victim of train-pedestrian accident
Updated: May 22, 2010, 4:31 pm / 1 comment
Published: May 22, 2010, 4:31 pm


The woman killed Friday afternoon in train-pedestrian accident in Buffalo has been identified as Sandra M. Abrams, 37, who had addresses in both Buffalo and Salamanca, Buffalo police said today.

Homicide detectives continue to investigate the accident, which occurred just before 4 p.m. Friday, on tracks near Niagara and Albany streets, where an outbound Amtrak train struck Abrams. She was declared dead at the scene.

I'm surprised the Buffalo News didn't find this themselves. Don't they do any investigating at all? This woman had a warrant out for her arrest for stealing purses in a church.

Warrant issued for woman who stole purses in church
Updated: March 27, 2010, 6:36 am /
Published: March 27, 2010, 12:30 am


An arrest warrant was issued Friday for Sandra M. Abrams, who became notorious for stealing purses during Buffalo church services last fall, after she walked away from an inpatient drug treatment program Monday, authorities said.

Abrams, 36, of North Street, had pleaded guilty Feb. 1 to grand larceny and was sent to the state's Madonna House treatment facility in Lockport. Abrams' lawyer, Andrew C. LoTempio, told State Supreme Court Justice Christopher J. Burns that he has "no knowledge of her whereabouts."

Abrams is scheduled to be sentenced Monday on her guilty plea to felony grand larceny for stealing purses, containing a total of about $22 in cash and credit cards from four Buffalo churches in November. She had been in custody until entering the drug program March 1.

I wonder what happened between her leaving the drug treatment facility and yesterday afternoon. Poor thing is now literally a train wreck. I feel bad for her family.


UPDATE 5/23--Here is the follow up to the story. I'm surprised that they are now thinking it was an accident. It really makes you wonder if rehab places should force people to quit smoking cigarettes at the same time as other drugs. They kicked her out for smoking a freaking cigarette?!

Train accident ends life of troubled woman
By Robert J. McCarthy
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: May 22, 2010, 10:42 pm / 18 comments
Published: May 22, 2010, 4:31 pm

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Sandra M. Abrams' life of drug abuse and petty crime ended just as sadly Friday afternoon on railroad tracks along Niagara Street after she was struck by an Amtrak train bound for Toronto.

Police today identified Abrams as the same woman they arrested last November for stealing purses and credit cards from worshippers at several Buffalo churches.

Abrams was 37 and had addresses on North Street and the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation.

Buffalo Police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge said that police still do not know how she was hit by the passenger train but added that they consider her death accidental.

And in a bizarre twist, the same train that killed Abrams near Niagara and Albany streets about 4 p.m. was later involved in another fatal accident in Toronto. CTV in Toronto reported that a 30-year-old man was struck about 12:40 a.m. Saturday, as the train was backing into a cleaning facility shortly after dropping off passengers at Union Station in downtown Toronto.

Toronto Police Sgt. Tim Burrows told CTV the unidentified man may have been wearing headphones at the time.

Abrams' attorney, Andrew C. LoTempio, said her problems stemmed from a lifetime of drug addiction.

"She started in her mid-teens," he said Saturday. "Her mother struggled for years trying to help her. But she just started getting into petty crimes to support her drug habit."

After she was arrested Nov. 24 for a series of purse thefts Nov. 15 in the Buffalo churches, she was charged with three counts of grand larceny and one count of petit larceny and jailed. On Feb. 1, she pleaded guilty to felony grand larceny for stealing the purses with credit cards and cash.

State Supreme Court Justice Christopher J. Burns had granted LoTempio's request for treatment instead of jail during a March court appearance.

But LoTempio said Saturday that Abrams lasted only about two weeks at Madonna House in Lockport before she was kicked out for smoking ... a violation of the rules. Her whereabouts were unknown until she was hit by the train Friday, though her attorney suspects she had spent time on the Cattaraugus Reservation.

citydesk@buffnews.com

I made the mistake of buying fish oil that doesn't have the protective coating to prevent fishy burps. Nothing is nastier than having a fishy burp. I got the ones at the Co-Op because they were molecularly distilled to remove heavy metals. It seems I can either have fishy burps or no fishy burps ,but if I want the no fishy burps I have to take the mercury that comes with the fish oil?

I can't take it anymore. Why do I have to be forced to take a plastic bag when I go to a store? Time after time, regardless of the store, I have these bags shoved down my throat. I try as hard as I can to yell out that I have a bag before they grab my items and toss it in the fresh plastic but often I am too slow and they are too fast. Very nicely I apologize and tell them I have a bag and I ask them to please use it for the next customer but most times I see them crumple it up and throw it out. I see this almost everywhere with the exception of most people who work at the Co-Op. I have been told that by law I must take a single beer out of the store in a plastic bag despite just putting it in the cloth bag that I have with me. Sometimes I have resorted to begging them to not give me a bag and even that doesn't work. I think if I ever snap it is going to be because of this issue.

How did this culture get started? It just makes no sense at all. It costs the company money to make these bags. I'm not saying that I don't think bags should be offered. I really am not an extremist, I actually am quite reasonable. Sometimes I like to have bags available because we all find ourselves needing them for unexpected purchases one time or another. I just don't get what is wrong with these cashiers that just toss a bag in the trash after I ask them to use it for another customer. Do they hate the earth and want to see it destroyed? is their bagging speed so greatly increased by throwing away the bag I rejected instead of taking the extra second it might take to use that same bag for someone else? I don't think that there really is any reasonable answer for why we do things the way we do.

Since logic and reason does not motivate us, then I believe the answer is to tax the bags. I'm not sure exactly how the logistics of it would work out but I'm thinking .10 to .25 a bag (paper included). The tax would put the burden on the customer not the business. The funds from the tax should be used for cleaning trash from our waterways. Maybe some of the money could be returned to the customer if they bring the bags back for recycling (again logistics)?

This tax I think is different from other taxes including the cigarette tax because the customer really has a choice and can very easily change their ways to avoid the tax. My proposed tax would also benefit us all without being a huge financial burden for our government or even the people who choose to pay the bag tax by opting not to use re-usable bags. If there was a bag tax everyone would win except the plastic bag workers. I know some people want to live in anarchy and don't want the government taxing things but I really think that this would be a good move on the federal level. I think, as evidenced by the oil spill in the gulf, that what we are doing is not working and we are all going to suffer for it. One person's right to throw away a plastic bag is infringing on another person's right to live in a clean and healthy environment.

Mike and I think we will be going. Anyone else want to join us?

I call this the Plastic Crisis. You might think this doesn't matter to you, but this is where we get our drinking water from. This is the beginning of the Niagara river. Our drinking water is pulled from the Niagara downstream from where these photos are taken, downstream from the sewage treatment facility, downstream from a waterway plagued by a history of industry. Plastic does break down. While it slowly degrades, it releases chemicals into the water. It breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces becoming greater and greater threats to our ecosystem. Every single piece of plastic counts and contributes to a huge environmental disaster. Again, as evident by the plastic tampon applicators, what you put down your drains will end up in our drinking water.







































































































This isn't exactly plastic but oil which is what plastic is anyways. There is some type of fish, maybe salmon, which are spawning here. People will eat these fish.























I plan on alerting you all to the next river clean ups which really do a great deal to combat this crisis. They clean up the nation's waterways twice a year but the amount of trash being added outmatch the amount of volunteers needed to clean it all up. The worst thing about all of this is that most of this could be prevented. So much of this trash is from ignorance and complacency. We all need to wake up.

This is for (e:lilho) and (e:jacob)

I got a new bike today! I didn't even realize this until after, but buying a bike today is significant because my last bike was a Technium 420 and today is April 20th! It made me feel like I made the right decision. My first ride was to the river where I got to see how the fisherman have already filled the pier with trash and it has only been three days since we cleaned it up. I like the new bike a lot and am excited to break it in. Right now ass is pretty sore because it hasn't been broken in yet.

Here it is, a Jamis Satellite...

(e:mike) and I just got back from cleaning up trash along the river. This is part of a nation wide effort to clean up America's waterways. We only worked for 2 hrs and 15 minutes but between us got 6-7 bags of trash and a lawn chair. At first we thought that we wouldn't even make a dent in the amount of trash but when we were done we could clearly see a difference.

It is hard for me not to hate the fisherman. I got to remember that not all of them litter but so many do. So much of the trash is clearly from them, mostly Styrofoam containers for their night crawlers. There are also tons of plastic and glass bottles, plastic bags, balloons, plastic combs, take out containers, shoes and fishing line.

I didn't pick up too many of the plastic tampon applicators that girls flush away. These end up all over the shore line. We really need some public service announcements. The amount of trash thrown about is so overwhelming. I definitely want to do it again. They do this bi-annually and now I'm on the mailing list so I will let you all know when the next one is. It is actually kind of fun and a great workout.

Just kidding! Who would want to kill the sweet little child over for his/her monthly weekend visit above my apartment? This time they are here since Thursday and I can't wait for it to be taken away. It is non stop pounding of feet on the floor (wood) and the sounds of things being thrown and dragged across it. I haven't complained because it is only once a month but it is seriously stressful when they are here. I know that children make noise and they have lots of energy and need to run and jump and get all that energy out but can't they take it out and go to the zoo or do SOMETHING? It also happens to be the weekend (e:mike)'s parents came over to my new apartment for the first time and also a weekend where I have barely left the house (not normal).

The dinner with Mike's parents was really nice. I made southern fried Chicken (ya'll), collard greens, macaroni and cheese, corn bread and banana's foster. Would have been nice to have the bro in laws over too but (e:paul) is super allergic to Coco which sucks.

I went to the bike auction with (e:mike), (e:jill) and Steve and that was interesting but we left with no bikes. I couldn't believe how much those bikes were going for. People could buy new bikes for the amount they were paying for them. We stayed for most of it but we gave up at the end. There were a lot of people there. I'm thinking about making a bid on (e:bay) for one. It has five days left of bidding so I am waiting it out to see if anyone bids first. This would be my first bid on something if I go through with it. ebay seems safer than bidding at the police auction because at least on ebay you have time to look at it and ask questions.

Yesterday, I watched Vera Drake as Mike slept next to me. It was about a woman in 1950s England who helped women terminate unwanted pregnancies. She eventually got caught after more than 20 years and sent to prison. We did both watch The Fluffer. This movie dates to the VHS and pager era. An aspiring film maker accidentally rents a porn when attempting to view a copy of Citizen Cane he instead finds a copy of Citizen Cum featuring "gay for pay" pornstar Johnny Rebel. He instantly becomes obsessed with "Johnny" and goes for a job at Janus Studios where Johnny is an exclusive. The film maker becomes Johnny's fluffer boy on set feeding into his obsession and causing him to go great lengths in order to full fill it.

In case you were wondering what a fluffer is:

(fluff*er, n): One who offers ego reinforcement; one who provides the necessary stimulation for a male porn star to perform.