MICHAEL O. ALLEN

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No Sweat, Kids Puff By MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer

By Homepage, New York Daily NewsNo Comments

Sunday, June 22, 1997

Teenagers were skeptical yesterday that any deal to snuff out Joe Camel ads or to ban vending machines would stop them from smoking.

“Kids are going to smoke anyway,” said Ian Hansson, 17, of Highbridge, N.J. “Just making it harder for them to get cigarettes is not going to stop them. They have older friends who will get them smokes.”

Hansson is typical of the teenagers that the landmark deal is aimed at — one of the estimated 3,000 youths who take up smoking each day.

Hansson said he began smoking when he was 14 and hasn’t looked back.

“I found I enjoyed it. I’m hooked,” he said.

Under the terms of the deal, cartoon characters like Joe Camel would be banned from ads along with humans like the Marlboro Man.

In addition, cigarette vending machines would be outlawed and cigarettes would have to be kept behind a counter.

Nonsmoker Jessica Harper, 17, of Yonkers applauded the attempt to snuff out smoking.

Her friend, Tom McQuestion, 17, also of Yonkers called it a habit for the weak-minded.

Original Story Date: 062297

June 22, 1997
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Foes Trash City Over Exporting

By Homepage, New York Daily NewsNo Comments

March 06, 1997

by MICHAEL O. ALLEN and JOEL SIEGEL, Daily News Staff Writers

Mayor Giuliani’s plan to close Fresh Kills landfill and export the city’s trash has prompted howls of outrage — and some eager welcomes — from activists and officials in communities that might get tons of banana peels and dirty diapers.

The city should solve its garbage problem at home and not foist its trash on communities such as Dunmore, Pa., whose landfill is being eyed by sanitation officials, said Dan Scheffler of the Sierra Club of Northeast Pennsylvania.

“It’s ironic that Mayor Giuliani doesn’t want guns imported to New York City, but he doesn’t mind exporting the city’s garbage,” said Lynn Landes of Zero Waste, a Pennsylvania environmental group.

But mayors in two nearby cities with huge trash-burning plants — Newark and Bridgeport — said they would accept New York’s garbage with open arms.

“It’s what the plant is here for,” said Chris Duby, spokesman for Mayor Joseph Ganim of Bridgeport, home to an incinerator whose owners have submitted a bid to burn tons of New York City trash.

The anger and anticipation came in reaction to the planned closing of the massive Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island by the end of 2001. The Sanitation Department recently announced it has received six bids from companies to ship garbage produced in the Bronx out of state for burning or dumping.

Three of the bids call for burning the garbage in Newark, Bridgeport or Hempstead, L.I. The others would dump the trash in Virginia or Pennsylvania landfills.

“We the people in the Ironbound will not benefit from New York City’s trash being burned here,” said June Kruszewski of the Ironbound Community Corp., a group based near Newark’s incinerator. “We don’t like it. We did not want the incinerator to begin with.”

Pennsylvania state Rep. David Argall said Schuylkill County residents feel they may be unfairly dumped on. “You can imagine the frustration my constituents feel,” he said.

But in Newark and Bridgeport, officials had the opposite reaction. Both cities receive huge payments for having the trash plants within their borders. And both signed agreements that all but bar them from restricting the flow of garbage from outside areas.

In addition, Newark and Essex County, N.J., officials said they need garbage for the American Ref-Fuel Co.

If the plant fails to receive enough garbage to operate at an efficient capacity, Essex County must dig into its own treasury to pay off investors who bought bonds that financed the plant, said Newark Business Manager Glenn Grant.

Original Story Date: 03/06/97

March 6, 1997
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Rudy Hopes O’C Stays in Pulpit

By Homepage, New York Daily NewsNo Comments

November 11, 1996

by MICHAEL O. ALLEN and LAWRENCE GOODMAN, Daily News Staff Writers

Mayor Giuliani said yesterday he would like Cardinal O’Connor to stick around awhile longer — and refused to place bets on who would be the next to lead the Archdiocese of New York.

“I better not start rating the possible successor to Cardinal O’Connor,” Giuliani said. “Cardinal O’Connor, hopefully, will continue to be with us for a long time. Maybe there’ll be an extension again of his term.”

O’Connor, 77, handed in his retirement papers to Pope John Paul almost two years ago but was told to stay put.

Yesterday’s Daily News reported that O’Connor (left) will probably stay on the job until Easter, and four possible successors are being considered: Bishop Henry Mansell of Buffalo, Bishop Edwin O’Brien of St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, Archbishop Theodore McCarrick of Newark and Bishop James McHugh of Camden, N.J.

The faithful at Sunday Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral had mixed reactions to O’Connor’s leaving.

Some demanded the Vatican find a successor quickly, and many said they were looking for someone with more liberal positions than O’Connor has.

“It’s time to change,” said Dorothy Chiozzi, 72, who frequently comes in from Medford, Mass., to attend services at the cathedral. “Women should be allowed to be priests. We need someone who is a little more liberal.”

O’Connor was in Rome yesterday attending celebrations of the Pope’s 50th anniversary as a priest and was unavailable for comment.

The archdiocese’s spokesman, Joseph Zwilling, said any discussion of a successor is premature.

“Cardinal O’Connor is the archbishop of New York,” Zwilling said. “He will remain the archbishop until he dies or the Pope tells him otherwise. It’s a waste of time for all this attention to be paid to something that might not happen for several more years.”

Henry Kielkucki, president of the teachers union at the archdiocese’s schools, said O’Connor has failed to connect with Catholic youth.

“O’Connor is far too conservative,” Kielkucki said. “The Church has to appeal more to young people. The kids, especially girls, are not really in tune to religion. The Church has turned its back on women.”

But Lisa Marrero, 29, a doctor from Manhattan, said she’ll be sorry to see O’Connor leave.

“He’s never afraid to defend Catholic teaching and he’s never afraid to apologize,” she said. “Nobody will ever replace him in my heart. I’ve grown up with him.”

Original Story Date: 11/11/96

November 11, 1996
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