Charity Fund alive despite dispute

by Larry Austin
Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, February 15, 2007

Marc Carpenter helps distribute checks from the Charity Fund on Feb. 3. (photo by Larry Austin)

When the Niagara Charity Fund handed out $50,000 in checks to charitable and benevolent organizations on Feb. 3, the Town of Niagara supervisor also lashed out at those who tried to politicize the gift-giving.

The charitable donations, which are usually dispersed in December, were held up while the county district attorney’s office investigated a complaint by James Sacco, former supervisor of the Town of Niagara.

Current Supervisor Steve Richards, a member of a three-person committee that decides which organizations will receive Charity Fund money, described accusations by Sacco as insulting, slanderous and defamatory.

Sacco told another newspaper that he wanted to see that the money was going to the proper people in the proper way.

“But in Mr. Sacco’s letter to the district attorney, he didn’t mention about accountability of the money,” Richards said. Richards said Sacco alleged in the letter that the supervisor was “laundering the money” to himself and State Sen. George Maziarz.

Richards noted later that he and Maziarz are the only two people who have beaten Sacco in an election. Richards beat Sacco in a race for town supervisor, and Maziarz beat Sacco in a race for county clerk.

The committee receives $50,000 a year to distribute as part of a host community agreement with the Fashion Outlet Mall.

“Rest assured, the money doesn’t belong to the town, it belongs to a committee of three people who decide who to give the money to,” Richards said.

At a ceremony on Feb. 3 at the town community center, at which time checks were distributed to the charities, Richards told the approximately 100 people in attendance that Sacco told the Buffalo News the fund money was going to relatives of Richards.

“I guess you guys are all my relatives,” Richards told the crowd.

Richards said once the investigation began following the Sacco letter to the DA, the committee had to postpone the gift ceremony.

The payment provides something missing today, Richards noted, such as corporate benevolence.

“We need people to do something extra,” Richards said, for such groups as the Salvation Army.

Average citizens would be reluctant to spearhead a public endeavor for fear of criticism, innuendo or worse, Richards said, an issue he knows first hand from past town political races.

“Three years ago, I got a letter, my son got a letter, saying ‘If you don’t back this guy, one of your businesses might have a fire.’ My son’s $60,000 truck burned to the ground,” Richards said.

“This election season, we got another letter. We took this one seriously. They also sent letters to my family, my daughter-in-law, my father,” Richards said. “My daughter-in-law teaches at Maple Avenue School. They sent one heck of a racist letter there.”

Richards said he would handle his issue with his opponents, not with mudslinging but by “the letter of the law.”

Those in attendance at the Feb. 3 gathering were appreciative of their donations. The Town of Niagara Lioness Club received $500 that they’ll use to support the radio readers for the blind in the area, Canine Helpers, the Salvation Army, and a Christmastime fireman’s toy fund, said Shirley Griffin, president. The club also helps the Lions Club with the Strawberry Fest in the summertime.

Regarding the dispute between Sacco and Richards, Griffin said she didn’t worry that the program would end, and believed Richards would come through in the end.

“Mr. Richards is handling it very professionaly and we’re proud to have him as our supervisor,” she added.

Don Moyer of the Niagara-Wheatfield High School Music Parents Group, who received a check for $500, said the money will allow the group to award two $250 scholarships to deserving students at N-W.

He said the charity fund is designed “to benefit the community, and what better way than the future leaders of our community?”

Moyer was worried that the program would end, but he praised the supervisor, the committee, and the Fashion Outlet Mall for keeping the tradition going.

“They’ve done a phenomenal job keeping this all alive,” Moyer said.