For once, I am posting something especially elmwood related. I am eating at Panos and I have to say they have really come a long way since the 90s, when Sara used to work here.

It used to be a semi greasy-spoon sort of like the Towne restaurant but more selection. Now they have a fancy rug, a wood finished surface on the walls, nicer lighting, and best of all a totally new menu. The old stuff is still there but now you can eat things like scallops and rack of lamb. They also have fried calamari both tasty Greek style and Buffalo style for about $6. Its actually a big portion.

The buffalo style Calamari is weird. It really seemed like a good idea but not once it was in my stomach. Terry, the freakin cheapskate won't let me get my calamaris. Whatever, debt ration crap.

This leads me to think its time for a serious job change. Being a professor is fun and all but there is seriously no money there. This is my game plan for 2004 (new job * leave buffalo + less cancer risk) + increased calamari = happy paul.


Here is a link to a map of the location -


Check this out, they actualy sprinkle spices around the edge of the plate.



This guy named Bill Rapaport, who has a restaurant review site gave them a bad review which ended with: I was also surprised to find out that they don't make Texas hots any more--Panos used to have his own "secret recipe", and the stuff was quite amazing. They don't even serve hot dogs. Overrated--Overpriced--Underachieving food--Service was slow."

I have to say I personally am glad they put the hot dog business behind them, and I expect they will make a lot more money now. Bill, you need to put the hot dogs down and spent the time updating your site out of the early 1990s look. Get with the time.

So do you ever go swimming at Zoar valley. We have for years, playing in the mud at the banks and camping in the forest. Eat food cooked on the wood, etc. Well it just happens to be down stream from a nuclear Waste dump that makes the cancer sources in Tonawanda look like nothing.

Here is a site with lots of information

My favorite are the lagoons. . .


Several lagoons are still used to hold liquids with a short half-life. When the fluids meet government regulated safety standards they are released into nearby streams. Streams that I swam in a lot.

Did you play in any of these places around Woodward and Military in Kenmore. I did - very often, I used to dig in the dirt and hide around this building. I turns out that it was radioactive after all. I really played here. No kidding, ten years long.

We knew that we were not supposed to go there. But as a young kid, we thought it was because it was private property and not because it made us sick. Its not like I lived in the neighborhood and happend to be second-hand exposed. I actually played on these piles of toxic death.

Does any one else rememeber them? Believe it or not I have an actual photo of me playing here in the mid eighties. I will post it as soon as I scan it.

The photo of the guy in a space suite is at Linde/Praxair. I actually worked there n the mid 90s when they were digging this shit up and saw these people in space suits while sitting at a picnic tabel during my lunch break.

I talked to my father who assured me that it's ok. And that short term exposure is not so bad, even though I lived there for 18 years and played there for all my formative years, not to mention working there.

Here are some pictures so you know where I am talking about below and here are links to more.

F.A.C.T.S. is a non-governmental, non-profit, public interest organization located in the Western New York area. F.A.C.T.S. was recognized by the U.S.Department of Energy (DOE) as a "community coalition" stakeholder during the required public review process to select a "final" cleanup plan for several Tonawanda, NY properties that were recklessly contaminated with thousands of tons and millions of gallons of Manhattan Project radioactive wastes produced by a dirty wartime uranium refinery that operated in the Tonawanda area in the 1940s.

Study finds more cancer cases than expected

By T.J. PIGNATARO
News Northtowns Bureau
12/14/2001

The incidence of cancer in the neighborhoods surrounding a Town of Tonawanda site where the federal government dumped radioactive waste during World War II is "statistically significantly more than the number of cases expected," according to a state Department of Health study released Thursday.

The study of people diagnosed with cancer from 1994 to 1998 revealed that the number of colorectal cancer cases in males was "significantly more than expected," and in females, "statistically significant excesses" were found in the number of colorectal, breast and thyroid cancers.

"It's about 10 percent (higher)," said Aura L. Weinstein, director of the Cancer Surveillance Program for the health department. "A difference of this size is not likely due to chance."

Health officials found that in the 14150 and 14217 ZIP codes, there were 1,197 males with cancer, compared with the 1,084 expected to have cancer, based on standard cancer-incidence rates by age and sex for New York State outside of New York City.

Weinstein said female cancer rates were found to be 1,201 cases versus the 1,101 cases that were expected.

There were 169 colorectal cancer cases in both men and women, compared with 135 and 143 respective cases that were expected, officials said. Brain and other nervous system cancers in men and breast, thyroid and uterine cancer in women were also above expected levels.

Weinstein cautioned that the statistics do not take into account heredity, occupational exposures or diet.

"This study is not capable of proving any cause-and-effect relationship," she said. "We don't know whether any of these people with cancer were exposed to anything from the Linde site."

Weinstein also pointed out cancers of the cervix along with the kidney and pelvic areas in women were actually lower than the health department expected.

Nevertheless, health department officials said they will pursue additional studies over a longer time frame in the neighborhoods immediately surrounding the site. The results of those studies are expected sometime next year, officials said.

Area politicians, including Erie County Legislator Charles M. Swanick, D-Kenmore, and Republican Town Councilman David H. Rider, criticized state health officials for what they believed to be a failure to notify residents about Thursday's meeting.

The meeting, in the cafeteria of the Holmes Elementary School, was sparsely attended.

"It's a sham as far as I'm concerned. People should be notified," Rider said. "You can't have a public meeting without the public."

Swanick told health officials that more than just the news media should be notified, and that they should consider scheduling such meetings away from the holiday period and in a different location to ensure that all residents interested in the issue can attend.

"We'll help you get to the public, but it can't happen this way," Swanick said. Health department officials promised a better effort to notify residents.

In the subsequent study, Swanick suggested health department officials also take a look at other areas in the town, including the "Mud Flats" near the Youngmann Highway and the town's nearby landfill.

Health officials were noncommittal about Swanick's suggestion.

So our neighbor from Kenmore has a brain tumor and died. According to the mailman so did another guy around the corner. Another neighbor has breast cancer. My friends mom died of cancer in the neighborhood. My other friend has cancer. His aunt has cancer. All from 14217, 14150, 14151. So I decided to look it up some more. Mind you I worked at Praxair, where they burried the Manhattan project. One day during the summer I was eating my lunch outside at a picnic bench and there were men in space suits unburrying stuff not very far away.

I am probably gonna die from this, so I decided to do a little reserach and came up with this info.

Facts of WNY has all the info about this Manhattan project and what happened. Mind you I spent all of my formative years in 14217.

Letter from Aura L. Weinstein, M.P.H. Director, Cancer Surveillance Program

STATE OF NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Corning Tower The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza
Albany, New York 12237
Antonia C. Novello, M.D., M.P.H., Dr. P.H., Commissioner
Dennis P. Whalen, Executive Deputy Commissioner
December 13, 2001

Don Finch, Editor
FACTS Newsletter
Box 566
Kenmore, NY 14217-0566

Dear Mr. Finch:

The New York State Department of Health is conducting the Cancer Surveillance Improvement Initiative (CSII). CSII is a multi-part project designed to enhance the Department's cancer education and surveillance activities. This initiative is commonly known as the "cancer mapping project." Among the goals of the CSII is to make cancer information available to the general public in an easy-to-understand format. The CSII will produce maps of cancer incidence by county and ZIP Code, as well as information to increase public awareness of cancer rates and risk factors. Maps of breast, lung and colorectal cancer incidence by ZIP Code are currently available.

In August 1996, you wrote to the Cancer Surveillance Program requesting an investigation of the incidence of cancer in community residents living near the Linde/Praxair site located in the Town of Tonawanda, Erie County, New York. At that time, you felt there was an excess number of cancers in neighboring residents. You also expressed concern about possible health effects from potential exposures to ionizing radiation. As a result of the CSII, we were able to examine cancer incidence for the Linde/Praxair area by ZIP Code, rather than the study area originally discussed. The ZIP Codes chosen, 14150 (including point ZIP Code 14151), and 14217, (see attached map) are as similar as possible to the area originally selected.

A summary of the methods used to conduct this investigation and tables of findings are attached. The cancers studied were those frequently or occasionally associated with various types of ionizing radiation in a number of studies (Schottenfeld, 1996). As you can see from Table 1, the total numbers of both males and females diagnosed with cancer during 1994-1998 were statistically significantly more than the number of cases expected. In males, the number of colorectal cancer cases was significantly more than expected. No other type of cancer in males showed a statistically significant difference from the number expected. In females, statistically significant excesses were found in the number of cases of colorectal, breast, and thyroid cancers. Table 2 shows the results for all cancer sites.

Due to the finding of excesses of cancer cases both in total numbers as well as for certain individual cancers that have been linked with radiation exposure, we will be initiating a follow-up study of cancer incidence in a smaller area closer to the site. The study area will be defined in terms of census tracts and census block groups and the study will cover the most recent 10 year period for which cancer data are available. We anticipate that this follow-up study will be completed and released in approximately one year.

I have also included information on colorectal cancer, cancers of the breast and thyroid, and background information on cancer in general. It is important to remember that this type of study cannot tell us why the incidence of certain cancers in an area may be high. These studies can only show cancer patterns.

We hope this information helps to answer your questions about cancer near the Linde/Praxair site in the Town of Tonawanda. If you have any questions regarding this investigation, the follow-up study or any further concerns, please feel free to call me at (518) 474-2354.

Sincerely,

Aura L. Weinstein, M.P.H.