Last week, I received an email from a longtime villager who asked to remain anonymous, but his perspective on our traffic troubles is worth considering:
“What needs to be done first,” he wrote, “is to have the state Department of Transportation come into the village and synchronize all the traffic lights. For example, when on Vine Street and Route 57 the light turns green, and when you get to Vine and Second streets the light has already turned red, making you sit there for an inordinate amount of time [waiting] for it to change to green.
“Same thing happens at Tulip and Second streets. The light stays green for Second Street a long time, but not for the Tulip Street side of the traffic.
“And when you are trying to turn left onto Old Liverpool Road at Heid’s Corner, the light stays red for a long time.
“If they could get the lights fixed properly then traffic would flow through the village like it should and we wouldn’t have any backups! Lots of luck getting that accomplished.”
Public safety and plenty more
Last week, Sept. 18 to 24, was designated as Sheriff’s Week by New York state. The week recognizes the work of county sheriffs as well as the dedicated and professional work of deputies, corrections officers and civilian employees who work in sheriff’s offices throughout the state.
In addition to traditional public-safety services such as road patrol, criminal investigations and jail operations, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office provides three different departments, the Civil Department, Custody Department and Police Department.
The Civil Department is comprised of civil deputies responsible for serving and enforcing civil processes issued by the courts to include summons, petitions, subpoenas, real and personal property executions, orders of seizure, warrants of eviction, orders of protection and civil arrest warrants.
The Custody Department maintains a 612-bed holding facility “Justice Center” with direct supervision by deputies and supervisors.
The Police Department provides police response, criminal investigative services and specialized operations such as aviation, navigation patrol and SWAT.
For more information about the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, visit Sheriff.ongov.net.
Kit Dodd a Duck
I heard from no less than a half dozen readers correcting my Sept. 14 column item about the late viola player, Kit Dodd. I incorrectly reported that Kit had graduated from Oregon State, but the fact is that he was an alumnus of the University of Oregon.
The correctors included Kit’s wife, Becky, his mother, Ann, and his son, Aaron, who wrote,
“My dad went to the University of Oregon and those two colleges have a huge rivalry, and he was University of Oregon Ducks all the way!”
Morduant in ‘Witness’
Sheirel Mordaunt, who’s hometown is Liverpool, has a small role in the current production of “Witness for the Prosecution,” playing through Saturday, Oct. 1, at CNY Playhouse in DeWitt. Morduant plays a court clerk as the drama unfolds during a tense murder trial.
Sheirel got her start in theater with the now-defunct Clay Towne Players and continues to entertain at King of Kings Lutheran Church in Clay where she’s a puppeteer and also an organist.
“Witness for the Prosecution,” directed by Sharee Lemos Pierce, runs at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sept. 29, 30 and Oct. 1, at CNY Playhouse located near the Macy’s entrance at DeWitt’s Shoppingtown Mall; Tickets cost $17 on Thursday and Sunday, and $22 on Friday and Saturday; 885-8960; cnyplayhouse.com.
Rio almost ready
Looks like they’re getting ready to open the Rio Grande Mexican restaurant over at 510 Oswego St. I saw workers renovating the kitchen there this past weekend. It’s the former location of Heartland sub shop, which closed on May 5.
The columnist can be contacted at [email protected].
