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Museum reviews: Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, NY

Rochester, NY’s failed fast ferry: What went wrong?

The geography of Rochester, NY

Places to volunteer in Rochester, NY

A guide to grocery stores in Rochester, NY

These articles were published at Helium.

Sgt. Nicholas Maugeri, squad leader with Company A, Anti-Terrorism Battalion, teams up with Georgian soldiers to conduct Military Operations in an Urban Terrain training July 19 during Exercise Agile Spirit 2011. Photo by Cpl. Nana Dannsaappiah

Georgian soldiers can be found fighting alongside U.S. Marines on the frontlines of the Afghanistan. But to ensure both parties work well together on the battlefield requires practice conducted on the training grounds.

Marines from Anti-Terrorism Battalion based in Rochester, N.Y., and Black Sea Rotational Force 11, alongside soldiers from the Georgian 4th Infantry Brigade practiced Military Operations in an Urban Terrain (MOUT) during Exercise Agile Spirit 2011. Agile Spirit is designed to increase interoperability between the forces by exchanging and enhancing each country’s capacity in counterinsurgency (COIN) and peacekeeping (PKO) operations, including: small unit tactics, convoy operations and counter-improvised explosive device training.

“Because of our partnership in Afghanistan, and in order to work with us and support our mission, the [Georgian soldiers] have to be able to move and do what we do or at least understand it,” said Staff Sgt. Daniel Bauer, an infantryman with Black Sea Rotational Force 11 and an Elk Grove, Calif., native.

In Overseas Contingency Operations, Marines conduct COIN operations in which they encounter enemies holed-up in small towns and villages. The urban environment presents challenges to troop safety and mission accomplishment because the enemy has cover and concealment in the buildings in towns and villages.

The interoperability training between the Georgians and the Marines focused on overcoming MOUT challenges by sharing proven tactics and techniques among each other and practicing them numerous times.

The Marines and Georgians began their training with lessons from instructors on principles of MOUT and different techniques for room clearing. The instructors drew diagrams and gave demonstrations while translators echoed their messages to the students.

The students showed their interest in the subject with frequent questions.

With almost 1,000 troops contributing in Operation Enduring Freedom in Helmand province, room-clearing techniques, MOUT and COIN training can really help while fighting on the frontlines alongside U.S. Marines.

Following the classes, the Marines and Georgians teamed up to apply the lessons they were taught.

Instructors observed as mixed teams of Marines and Georgians entered buildings and cleared rooms. They looked for application of basic techniques and principles. The instructors occasionally stopped the teams to point out any missed steps or mistakes and explained the reasons for applying specific techniques.

“We utilize techniques to make sure we are as safe as possible inside a house,” said Gunnery Sgt. Charles Evers, an infantryman with Black Sea Rotational Force 11 and a Lewiston, Idaho, native.

Sgt. Spencer McAvoy, a squad leader with Company A, Anti-Terrorism Battalion, clears a room with Georgian soldiers July 19 during Exercise Agile Spirit 2011. Photo by Cpl. Nana Dannsaappiah

With each round, the teams were clearing rooms with fewer mistakes, and the instructors didn’t have to interrupt and explain as many times.

After several times maneuvering through the buildings, the teams were moving through faster and smoothly by communicating and synching their movements.

The smiles on their faces overshadowed the sweat running down their foreheads as they gave each other thumbs ups and traded “kudos” after practicing clearing rooms several times, gaining more comfort.

“They are doing good and understanding proper room clearing tactics and techniques,” said Cpl. Nicholas Ediss, a fire team leader with the BSRF-11, and a Reno, Nev., native.

“It’s a great first time because even with the language barrier, we are able to work together.

The Marines and the Georgian Armed Forces will be training alongside each other for the next two weeks of Agile Spirit. This type of training and interoperability is a stepping stone to the success of the joint missions that are currently being conducted in Afghanistan.

Black Sea Rotational Force 11 is a rotational deployment of Marines to the Black Sea, Balkan and Caucasus regions to work with partner and allied nations to help build their military capacity, promote stability throughout the region, and build enduring partnerships with 13 nations throughout Eastern Europe.

DVIDS
Story by Cpl. Nana Dannsaappiah

Sgt. James Quatro -left-, a military policeman assigned to 105th Military Police Company, guides Cpl. Patrick West during a demonstration of proper stance for firing an AK-47 rifle during training at the Provincial Directorate of Police Headquarters in Mosul, Iraq, June 29, 2011.

Sgt. James Quatro enlisted in the 105th Military Police Company, New York Army National Guard, to be a part of something greater than himself.

Answering the call of duty, the military policeman recently deployed to Iraq, attached to Task Force Shield, 4th Advise and Assist Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, in support of Operation New Dawn.

His mission involves advising and training Iraqi Security Forces in U.S. Division – North, helping to make the ISF a sustainable force for their country.

“Since I was little, I always wanted to be a soldier,” said Quatro, a native of Rochester, N.Y. “My grandfather served in Korea, and I wanted to honor him.”

Quatro trains his Iraqi counterparts on tactics to increase their overall proficiency as policemen, including counter-improvised explosive device procedures and rifle fundamentals.

“Weapons have always been my strong point, and I enjoy teaching,” said Quatro, who said he is knowledgeable on a wide variety of weapon systems.

Sgt. James Quatro -right-, a military policeman assigned to 105th Military Police Company, Task Force Shield, 4th Advise and Assist Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, instructs Iraqi Police assigned to the 2nd and 4th Emergency Response Battalions, how to stand properly when firing their AK-47 rifles. Quatro, a native of Rochester, N.Y., also trained the policemen on how to assemble and disassemble the weapon, and basic rifle marksmanship. Photo by Spc. Angel Turner

Since arriving in Iraq, Quatro conducted two iterations of AK-47 training to help Iraqi emergency response battalions become proficient on their rifles.

“We build our relationship with ISF through this training,” said 1st Lt. Joshua Bode, a platoon leader assigned to 105th MP Company.

Serving as a team leader, Quatro is the primary instructor in his squad and is an asset to the squad and company, Bode added.

“Sgt. Quatro is an outstanding soldier and a well-disciplined [non-commissioned officer],” said Bode, a native of Buffalo, N.Y. “It’s great to be able to watch how well [Iraqi policemen] respond to his training, and you can see how well they implement what he trains when they conduct their range.”

DVIDS

Munir Muthana, 27, of Rochester

When it was all over, though, Munir’s bad day turned into an arrest and five counts of second-degree assault, driving while intoxicated, and reckless driving. RocNow

Howie at the Jawa Report wonders if it is a case of Sudden Jihad syndrome. This is where a Muslim suddenly begins to try to kill, maim and mangle innocent people around him whose only crime is that they are American.

Muslims engaging in acts of violence is nothing new. Muslims in Rochester being linked to terror is nothing new. Muslims getting drunk and hanging with transvestites is, well, nothing new.

The reality is that the most faithful Muslims in America are those who have just been arrested. Drinking, hookers, strip clubs and computer pr0n all are forgotten as the Muslim in question discovers his faith.

In his statement to police, he said he drank six cans of Budweiser in an hour. Then he started using swear words, cussing police and government. He said, “Ben Franklin was stupid. He should have made it so you *expletives* can’t swerve the law. The Muslims will fix this country.”

When bail was being set at $20,000, the prosecutor said that Muthana has ties to Yemen.

WHEC TV

Muthana is accused of intentionally droving into several pedestrians in the parking lot area of the Sunoco gas station at 700 S. Plymouth Ave. striking a bicyclist, two pedestrians and then ramming his vehicle into a parked car, which in turn hit another pedestrian and pushing her under the parked car, according court documents.

Then Muthana allegedly fled from police officers who were trying to stop him and led them on a chase throughout the southwest part of the city. The chase ended when the vehicle Muthana was allegedly driving rammed into a civilian’s vehicle on near the intersection of Brooks Avenue and Genesee Street before coming to stop and taken into custody by police.

Democrat & Chronicle

Frankly, I think this is a case of merely being dumb and ugly in public. Munir probably has connections in the old country but he’s no jihadi, just a jerk.

He shouldn’t have dissed Ben Franklin.

An Iraqi tile-maker puts the finishing touches on a piece of tile as a Soldier from 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cav. Division, walks through the factory in Boob al-Sham, July 30. Photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell

In an open-air factory on the outskirts of northeast Baghdad, Iraqi workers diligently polish mosaic tiles with buffers, spraying water in circular, cascading waves. An Iraqi teenager sweeps the water toward a drainage ditch with a determined look on his face as the workers’ machines drone on noisily. The owner of the factory, a distinguished Iraqi man with salt and pepper hair, strides toward the wrought iron gate of his factory. With open arms and a wide, beaming smile, he greets American Soldiers and Iraqi federal police officers at the entry gate.

The factory owner, Kaled Waead al-Hahed, is happy to see the Soldiers because, being a member of the Factory Owners Association, he knows they are here to help.

By visiting with Iraqi factory owners, July 30, members of the 1479th Civil Affairs Company, embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team and 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, furthered the mission of improving economic growth in the area.

The FOA is a council formed and funded by coalition forces to organize the factory owners in the area, explained Staff Sgt. John O’Leary, an Army Reserve civil affairs specialist from Tewksbury, Mass.

The association is receiving help from CF, but will ultimately be Iraqi organized, controlled and funded, he added.

“Eventually, the owners will pay dues, get training, meet important social contacts, and receive training on new equipment and new machines,” explained O’Leary, assigned to the 1479th CA Co., 450th CA Bn., 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. “They may not see immediate effects, but the factory owners can tell it’s beneficial for them in the long run.”

According to Blake Keller, an industrial advisor assigned to Baghdad ePRT 3, the local factory owners will elect officers to represent them on the council, provide training in managing and marketing and lobby the Government of Iraq for resources.

Currently, the association is applying to be a Non-Government Organization and already has the support of the majority of the factory owners operating in the area, revealed Keller, a native of Rochester, N.Y.

“I think anytime [Iraqis] are working and getting paid, they’re happy and then we know they’re not doing bad stuff,” said O’Leary.

“What the Americans are doing is very good for the people here,” added 2nd Lt. Juwad Kadhem Mossa, an executive officer for the 2nd Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Federal Police Division. “A lot of people don’t have jobs and the factories help when the coalition forces give them economic help.”

Juwad and his fellow policemen patrol the neighborhood daily and he asserts that their relationship with CF – his policemen providing security and the Americans creating a council to stimulate the economy – is a win-win situation for the area.

“When the people don’t have jobs or work, then the terrorists will prey on them by giving them money to do bad things,” explained Juwad. “But if they have jobs, with the help of the factories, then security will be better.”

Staff Sgt. Robert Mosqueda, a cavalry scout section leader from Mission, Texas, agreed with Juwad.

“This council keeps us involved with the community – if there were no factories than there would be no jobs, so the workers would get money from [terrorists],” added Mosqueda, assigned to 1st Sqdn., 7th Cav. Regt., 1st BCT, 1st Cav. Div.

In order to make the association a success, it has derived its business model from an American system to provide the owners with support and other benefits, explained Mosqueda.

“Sometimes people will stop us during missions and say, ‘Hey, I have two sons and I need work,’” continued Mosqueda. “We’ll push them toward the factories and the FOA, so it’s Iraqis helping Iraqis and all we did was point them in the right direction and sorta market for their businesses.”

“I learn a lot from the coalition forces when they work with the community,” said a stern-faced Juwad. “The Americans respect the human rights of the people because before, the Iraqi army under Saddam, didn’t care about the people and their rights.”

The civil affairs Soldiers and cavalry scouts patrolling this area have genuine concern for the locals here and their future, according to Mosqueda. That’s why ideas like the factory owners association can be successful in helping locals find work and keeping the area secure.

“The security situation is good now and they will build more houses in the future,” said a grinning Kaled wearing a starched, white-collared shirt. “And of course, they will need more of my tiles to build their houses.”

DVIDS
Story by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell

Accused murderer Frank Garcia pleaded not guilty in Sweden Town court to two counts of First Degree Murder and one count of attempted murder at his arraignment last night. He is charged with the murders of Mary Sillman and Randall Norman and the attempted murder of Audra Dillon.

A Lakeside Health spokesman calls Randy Norman “a hero”.

Mary Sillman started with Lakeside as a CNA in their long term nursing facility in October. Garcia was let go by Lakeside last week. He was hired in late October or early November. His was a per diem position, a nursing supervisor on off-shifts at the long term nursing facility. He was an RN. His RN registration

The Lakeside spokesman cannot comment on Garcia’s employment history or reason for termination.

A memorial service is being planned in Brockport.

Christopher Glatz was an administrator at the Quail Summit assisted nursing facility in Canandaigua. Kimberly Glatz worked at F.F. Thompson Hospital in Canandaigua and was a student at Nazareth College and Finger Lakes Community College according to her MySpace page.

Shots rang out during an argument in the parking lot of Lakeside Memorial Hospital in Brockport, New York about 5 a.m.. A man and a women were arguing when a couple passing by attempted to intervene.

A suspect fired multiple shots killing two and wounding one. He then fled the scene. Killed at the scene were Randall Norman, 41, from Holley and Mary Sillman, 23, from Albion. Sillman is reported by Monroe Country Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn to have been the women the shooting suspect was fighting with. Norman was one of the two people who intervened.

The wounded individual, a woman, is being treated at Strong Memorial Hospital this evening. Sheriff O’Flynn does not believe her injuries to be life threatening. Her name was not released by the Sheriff.

Around 1:30 p.m., Ontario County Sheriffs deputies responded to a shooting on Middle Cheshire Road in Canandaigua. A man and a woman, reported to be Christopher and Kimberly Glatz were found dead, shot execution style. A teenaged boy and girl in the home were unharmed.

Neighbors on Middle Cheshire Road have told Ontario deputies that the suspect was going door to door in the vicinity looking for the Glatz home.

Kimberly Glatz’s MySpace page

Monroe County investigators were able to contact the suspect by cell phone and arranged for him to surrender. He was taken into custody peacefully at a Tim Horton’s on Lake Avenue. Sheriff O’Flynn stated that he was found in possession of a 40 caliber Glock pistol, which is believed to the the murder weapon.

The suspect is Frank Garcia of Hilton.

Assistant District Attorney Doug Randall states that the suspect has been arraigned on two counts of First Degree Murder and will be held without bond. Ontario County DA Michael Tantillo told reporters that he would present the Canandaigua murders to a grand jury in about two weeks.

The suspect is reported to have been recently fired by Lakeside Hospital. All questions concerning his employment were referred to the hospital. Neither sheriff would speculate on the suspect’s motives or relationships with any of the shooting victims.

From Stimulus Watch, this list of projects for the Rochester New York area. My comments in bold.

• Brighton: $3.6 million for Senator Keating Blvd. This street is less than a mile long and lined by medical office buildings. I was there last week and it is in great shape.
• Rochester: Broad Street tunnel rehab: $10 million. An old subway runs under Broad Street. Due to lack of attention over the decades, it is now creating problems overhead. Full of winos most of the time.
• Rochester: Mt. Hope Ave. reconstruction $5 million. Busy street near University of Rochester Medical Center. Narrow, poorly marked, lots of driveways for businesses and many pedestrians.
• Rochester: Art Walk 2. $3.3 million. To extend an “urban art trail” and improve a key intersection. Intersection sucks. WTF is an “urban art trail” and how is it different than a sidewalk?
• Rochester: Milling and resurfacing. $3 million. Doubles the City’s existing program for street repairs.
• Rochester: Jefferson Ave revitalization. $2.5 million. Moving the hookers, gangbangers and drug deals to another part of the city?
• Rochester: Genesee River Crossroads Park Plaza Deck $2.2 million. Fixing the place up for the four people who use it yearly.
• Rochester: East Henrietta Road Reconstruction $2 million. Same dealio as the Mt. Hope work. Road is wider and not as full of pedestrians.
• Rochester: 2009 Hazardous Sidewalk Replacement Program $2 million. Doubles the City’s program. Guns don’t kill people, sidewalks kill people.
• Rochester: Genesee Riverway Trail Rehabilitation $2 million. It’s a nice walk in the summer, but in Rochester it’s unbearable a good part of the year.
• Rochester: Brooks Avenue Reconstruction $1.775 million. Another street project. Heavy truck traffic.
• Rochester: South Clinton/Mount Hope $1.25 million. Improve intersection for hookers, gangbangers and drug dealers.
• Rochester: Cultural District Sidewalk Replacement. $1.1 million. They failed to raise enough money for a performing arts center, but they can fix up the sidewalks for the theater goers at the Eastman, etc.
• Rochester: La Avenida Streetscape Improvements. $1.1 million. Ensuring that the rioters at the annual Puerto Rican festival have a nice area to enjoy their random acts of violence.
• Rochester: 2009 Bridge Maintenance Program. $1.1 million. Doubles the City’s program.
• Rochester: Stutson Street Reconstruction. $400,000. How this did not get down when they put the new bridge in several years ago is beyond me. Part of the “Port” revitalization. Will be just as empty of tourists after it’s completed.
• Rochester: Orchard-Whitney Brownfield Site. $200,000. Obviously unable to make original polluters pay.
• Rochester: Durand Eastman Beach Water Quality Improvements. $1.6 million. To filter the water being discharged from the water treatment facility into Lake Ontario. Apparently water treatment doesn’t mean what I thought it meant.
• Rochester: Charlotte (West) /Summerville (East) Pier Safety Enhancement. $1 million. To keep drunken boaters from running into the damn piers and killing people.
• Rochester: 425-435 Mount Hope Site Environmental Remediation Project Erie Harbor on the Genesee River. $1 million. I don’t have a clue. Sounds like it might be intended to support a private development on the river.
• Rochester: Rundel Library HVAC Upgrades. $2.2 million. They have a new library building. This is for the old building. I have no idea why the building is in use.
• Rochester: Revitalizing Vacant Properties with Clean Energy Systems Grant. $1.5 million. Will this be before or after the drug addicts and arsonists set the places on fire?
• Rochester: Edgerton Recreation Center Upgrades. $1.315 million. It might keep some at-risk kids out of trouble.
• Rochester: Mercury Vapor Streetlight Replacement Project. $1.1 million. More light with less electricity.
• Rochester: Blue Cross Arena Energy Efficiency Upgrades. $831,000. Ice making made more efficient to support pro hockey team at no cost to the team.
• Rochester: Chestnut Street Firehouse HVAC Upgrades. $575,000. 70 year old firehouse. Worth all the trouble?
• Rochester: City Facilities Energy Efficiency Program. $500,000. You’re gonna love this. Change exit signs to more efficient lighting. Tint windows. Improve insulation in 18 buildings. Change exit sign lights????
• Rochester: Rochester Riverside Convention Center Energy Upgrades. $400,000. The Convention Center, where there is no place to park but it gets $$$.

Here are some pics from today’s snow storm.

snowing around 1130 am

Another money making scheme

Snow depth at 1420

It was a fairly normal call. Mom was worried about her son’s mental health. May 1, 2008, about 8:30 pm.

Rochester City police officer Robert Osipovitch responded to the call. He found the suspect, and asked him to remove his hands from his pockets.

Also on scene was a Rural Metro ambulance crew, two people including EMT Brandon McCaughey. They would be transporting the suspect if he were arrested for mental health reasons.

The suspect did not comply with the police officer. The officer pulled out pepper spray and asked again. The suspect rushed at Osipovitch and pulled a knife.

The officer used the spray and the two grappled. EMT McCaughey saw the suspect repeatedly stabbing Officer Osipovitch and moved to help.

R News:

I saw the subject pull out the knife in his right hand and started repeatedly slashing the officer on his left side torso and I immediately jumped in, grabbed the subject’s hand with the knife, removed the knife out of his hand, took him down onto the ground,” said McCaughey.

McCaughey says he then grabbed the handcuffs off Officer Osipovitch’s belt and used them on Sterling.

“These guys, they’re out for us, protecting us when we’re out there and I feel I had to do the same thing,” said McCaughey.

Officer Osipovitch was treated and released for a stab wound to the tricep. Another officer sustained a hand injury. McCaughey received some of the pepper spray but otherwise was not injured.

See also the Democrat & Chronicle story

I was out and about earlier with the scanner on. What I heard shocked me, and it’s darn hard to shock me.

Rochester NY city fire was dispatched to a “fumes in the house” call. As the engine company responded, it was advised by the dispatcher that there was a note on that address. The note advised that “this address is a known, fortified drug house” and that it may be “boobytrapped by the occupant to injure responders”.

They waited outside for the police and all seems to have turned out ok.

Earlier today I posted about Latasha Shaw, who was stabbed to death by a mob, at rush hour, at one of the busiest intersections in the city. And no one saw anything.

Why on earth are we worrying about a few hundred deaths in Iraq each year when a hundred times that number are killed in our cities? Why are we concerned about Iraq when there are places in America that firefighters and EMT’s cannot go alone, without police escort?

We could load up every minority male in our inner cities between the ages of 16 and 30, ship them to Iraq, and they’d be safer.

Where are the liberals? Where are the Democrats? Where is Al Shapton and Jesse Jackson?

When will a candidate for President say “I will end the killings in our inner cities!”

Latasha Shaw was stabbed to death in the middle of a busy Rochester intersection. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people witnessed it.

No one will identify the people involved.

Rumors abound. The family says that the group came from a local troublespot, a house where people come and go at all hours and the resident population varies daily.

The cops have interviewed 60 people.

No one will identify the people involved.

Sometimes I think we need to go through our inner cities like the Marines did Fallujuh.

R News

Two college students died and one was seriously hurt after a two-alarm house fire in Rochester early Friday morning.

Firefighters were called to Upton Park at 2:39 a.m. for the report of a porch fire. When firefighters arrived on scene there were heavy smoke and flames coming from the house.

One of the victims was found on the first floor and the other was found on the second floor. A third person was pulled out of a second- story window and rushed to Strong Hospital. Rochester’s Deputy Fire Chief says the victim is in a room at the hospital with burns to his trachea and is in stable condition.

Neighbors say the three were among six RIT students who lived in the home. They tell us the residents do not appear to be from this area.

Democrat & Chronicle

“The first arriving units were here within five minutes,” said Curran, who was in charge of the fire scene. “On arrival, three people were outside the building already. A smoke detector had alerted them.”

Craig DelGiorno, 19, lives next door and was awaken. “People were screaming, it was chaos,” he said. “People were coming out of the building, just collapsing. Guys were jumping off the roof. In a matter of minutes, the whole house was up.”

DelGiorno said he and his landlord started breaking windows to help get the students out but the fire prevented them from getting too far.

DelGiorno said he hangs out with the students who live in the house. “They were fun-loving guys. Never bothered anyone.”

Two of the people escaped through the front of the house, one from the back.

“Simultaneous to our arrival, our first unit’s arrival, two people exited the second floor through a window, then jumped off the porch roof, to escape the fire,” Rochester Fire Chief John Caufield said. “The third tenant escaped through the back stairway.”

Curran said the first unit on scene found heavy fire and smoke.

“They pushed in, they had a lot of fire around them,” Curran said of the firefighters. “We called a second alarm. It took a couple of ladders to get the one person out of the second floor. The conditions were tough, but that is what we are here for.”

Firefighters had the blaze under control in about 20 minutes. According to firefighters on the scene, it appears that the fire started in a first-floor bedroom.

“Three got out with the smoke alarm We do not know what happened with the other three yet,” Curran said of the victims. “This is too early in the timeframe to be speculating what happened.”

Caufield said that the working smoke alarm helped saved lives.

Here’s a story of justice delayed but not forever… And the hint of a solution to a serial killer…

R News

A Florida man is behind bars charged with murdering a 7-year-old Rochester girl in what the Rochester Police Department calls the oldest cold case it’s ever cracked.

Florida authorities and a U.S. Marshal arrested James Pressler in Big Pine Key, Florida Tuesday. The 64-year-old is charged with intentional murder in the death of Michelle McMurray. She was a seven-year-old girl whose body was found outside her Jay Street home in April, 1976. Police say she’d been raped and strangled.

“It’s not everyday that you make this type of arrest after 30-some years,” said David Moore, Rochester Police Chief.

“We’re always happy to help other agencies when it comes to this sort of case,” said PIO Becky Herrin, Monroe Co. Florida Sheriff’s Office. “Obviously this sounds like it’s a particularly heinous case and to solve it after 31 years is amazing.”

Police say Pressler had been living in Florida for the last two decades. Before that, he had lived in Rochester in the same apartment complex where Michelle McMurray had lived.

Investigators say Pressler was always a person of interest in her death, but never arrested because no evidence linked him to the girl’s death.

“He was a person that they took him as far as he could go and without the proof at that time, the technology’s changed that changed things around,” said Lynde Johnston, Rochester Police Dept.

Pressler did not have a criminal record until his arrest. His DNA evidence was recovered as part of the investigation into Michelle McMurray’s killing. Florida authorities tell us DNA from one of Pressler’s cigarettes linked him to the crime. Authorities there sent the evidence up here to Monroe County to be tested in the crime lab for a match.

“It is the oldest case that we’ve worked on in our lab and achieved results so it’s a great feeling,” said Nancy Scibetta, DNA technical manager.

Pressler is being held in a correctional facility in Florida. He fought extradition in court Wednesday. The Monroe County District Attorney’s office must secure a signed warrant from the governor before Pressler can travel to Rochester to face charges.

“The legal process has started and this case will end with justice,” said Mike Green, Monroe County D.A.

Police say they’re gratified to finally be able to offer McMurray’s family a chance for peace.

“As hopeless as it seems sometimes on these old cases we don’t forget them. We constantly, constantly are reviewing them,” Lynde said.

The family of Michelle McMurray could not be reached. Her gravesite at Riverside Cemetery in Rochester appears to be well kept.

Michelle would have turned 39 this month.

Democrat & Chronicle

At the time Michelle was killed, there was community speculation that her death might be connected with the slayings of three girls from 1971 to 1973 that became known as the double initial killing because the first and last names of all three girls — Carmen Colon, Wanda Walkowicz and Michelle Maenza — had the same initials.

Police at that time, however, discounted any possible link. Green also said no evidence has been filed claiming Pressler was responsible for those slayings.

“At this point, to try to link this to that would be nothing but wild speculation,” Green said.

The Sunday edition of the Democrat & Chronicle has two stories on its front page that are, and are not, related.

No Time to Wait talks about the interim superintendent of the Rochester City School District and the challenges he faces. The paper printed a set of statistics as part of its headline which it pulled from Census Bureau reports.

56% of the families in the district are headed by women with no husbands.
51% of families headed by women live in poverty.
36% of all families live in poverty.
21% of the city’s population over 25 did not graduate from high school.

Dozens Witness Fatal Attack tells the story of the 39th homicide in the City this year. A woman was stabbed to death by several other women, in broad daylight, at a major intersection in the city.

These are related and unrelated. On the face of it, violence has no direct connection to the school district. On closer examination, it does.

One of the only ways for a person to lift himself / herself out of poverty is education. Only 56% of the District’s students graduate. The latest drop out rate is 8.7%.

Violence in the city is mainly related to gang or drug activity, two of the ways that poor people cope with their situation. Education is a last resort. That has to change if the pockets of poverty and violence in Rochester are ever going to change.