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	Locally, It Was a Shocking and Dramatic Year News Events Here Turned the Eyes of the Nation on Western New York By Maki Becker Buffalo News January 1, 2008 http://www.buffalonews.com/363/story/241122.html It was a year that thrust Buffalo and Western New York into the national spotlight over and over. The news from Buffalo was shocking, even dramatic. A serial rapist and killer was caught. An innocent man wrongly imprisoned for a quarter of a century was freed. Then, it was as if lightning had struck twice. A woman in prison for more than 13 years after being convicted of killing her daughter was let out of prison and gets a retrial. Football fans across the country gasped when Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett crumpled to the ground after suffering a potentially life-altering spinal cord injury. Then they cheered as he beat the odds and was able to walk again. The headlines were also sad, even downright embarrassing when Buffalo was ranked the second poorest city in the country. There were also moments of beaming pride for the region. Cpl. Jason Dunham, a native of Scio, drew the solemn admiration of the entire nation when his parents received his posthumously awarded Medal of Honor at the White House. And the excitement was electric as eight massive wind turbines were erected on the old Bethlehem Steel site, the first of their kind on an abandoned industrial zone, and when the NHL announced plans for today's "Ice Bowl," the first ever outdoor game right here in Orchard Park. But the year was also filled with major local stories with far-reaching consequences on the lives of Western New Yorkers, from the anticipated changes to the region's hospitals to the shuttering of Catholic churches and schools. There was so much important local news, in fact, that many stories that made the national news didn't make the cut as News reporters and editors decided on the year's top 10 stories. Here is how we voted: 1. The Bike Path Killer is caught. There was little debate in the newsroom over what the top story of the year would be: the arrest of Altemio Sanchez. The dreaded Bike Path Killer who killed three women and raped many more over nearly three decades turned out to be a seemingly normal Cheektowaga factory worker with a wife, two grown sons, and a sick secret. A task force made up of investigators from the Erie County Sheriff's Office, the State Police and the Buffalo and Amherst police departments had been formed after the Sept. 29, 2006, murder of Clarence mother Joan Diver. Traces of DNA found on her SUV proved the Bike Path Killer, who had been dormant for 12 years, was back. The task force members culled through old tips and cold cases from across the region and realized that the killer they'd been looking for was right in their midst. They followed Sanchez as he took his wife out to dinner at a restaurant and grabbed the glassware that he used. DNA on the items proved a match — and two days later, on Jan. 15, they took him into custody. In May, after months of denying he was involved, Sanchez admitted he was the reviled serial predator DNA evidence had proven him to be. Two months later, he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars. 2. Anthony Capozzi is exonerated. The members of the Bike Path Killer task force said it many times: without Anthony Capozzi, they never would have arrested Altemio Sanchez. That's the sad truth about a miscarriage of justice that took over two decades to make right. As the task force members looked at old rape cases, they came across Capozzi's file. He was a West Side resident with a history of schizophrenia who had been convicted of raping two women in Delaware Park. The investigators noticed that the rapes Capozzi had been accused of committing were remarkably similar to other rapes in Delaware Park that had gone unsolved, even one that occurred after he was arrested. Long-forgotten slides from rape kits at Erie County Medical Center were discovered — and showed that the rapes Capozzi had been sitting behind bars for since 1981 had actually been committed by Sanchez. Capozzi was released and exonerated, and is now a free man. 3. Diocese announces the closings and mergers of churches and schools. In 2005, Bishop Edward U. Kmiec announced that he was embarking on a journey — a "Journey in Faith and Grace" — to downsize the Buffalo Diocese. With the numbers of parishioners and priests diminishing, the bishop was faced with the difficult, and unpopular, task of closing churches and schools and merging parishes to form new, more vibrant, congregations. In March, the Bishop Kmiec announced his first round of closings and mergers. By the end of the year, 14 elementary schools had been closed and mergers involving more than 130 parishes across eight counties were in the works. Some parishes fought back to stay open. St. Hedwig's in Dunkirk staged protests and won a reprieve. St. Adalbert's parishioners also tried to stay open, but just this past week, the Vatican upheld the diocese's decision to close it. 4. Chris Collins easily wins election to become next county executive. Joel Giambra's name was mud and Republicans nationally weren't winning any popularity contests either. But somehow, a Clarence Republican's promise to run Erie County like a business resonated with government-weary Democrats and Republicans alike, sweeping Chris Collins to victory in November. On Election Day, Collins easily trounced his Democratic opponent, James P. Keane, in nearly every community outside Buffalo, where the poor weather kept many Democratic voters at home. 5. Buffalo is rated the second-poorest city in America. Here was a top 10 list that no city wanted to see itself on. Census estimates released in August painted a grim picture as it ranked Buffalo the second-poorest city in the United States, just behind Detroit. The census estimates found that nearly 30 percent of the city's residents are considered poor and close to 43 percent of the Queen City's children are living in poverty. The figures were hardly a surprise to anyone but served as a wake-up call as politicians and organizations vowed to work harder to improve the chances of a better life for everyone in Buffalo. 6. Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett badly injured in first home game of the season. It looked as though there was no hope for Kevin Everett, the way he lay motionless on the ground. With his head lowered, Everett had crashed into the chest of Denver Bronco's Domenik Hixon on the opening kickoff of the second half. He appeared to have lost consciousness on contact. He came to, but he couldn't move any of his extremities and his teammates prayed as he was carefully carried away on a backboard. The prognosis was sobering: he had suffered a severe spinal injury and doctors said he'd likely never walk again. But Everett beat the odds, perhaps due to an experimental treatment he received in Millard Fillmore Hospital. Feeling returned to his limbs and he began to learn to walk again. He amazed everyone when he walked into the locker room to greet his teammates before the Bills' final home game. 7. Overhaul of the region's health care system. Last Jan. 1, a law went into effect mandating the changes proposed by the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century and that has meant major changes for Western New York. After months of acrimony, Erie County Medical Center and Kaleida's Buffalo General Hospital began making steps toward merging their operations. The Catholic Health System waged a legal and PR war to keep St. Joseph's in Cheektowaga open. 8. Thruway toll booths removed. Motorists rejoiced in October 2006 when the state Thruway Authority announced it would no longer charge tolls to drivers traveling through Buffalo on the Niagara Thruway. The Thruway saw a noticeable increase in traffic and frequent backups were reported as the influx of cars had to slow down to squeeze through the empty toll plazas. In June, construction crews began tearing down the reviled structures, making for smooth sailing for Buffalo drivers. 9. The Sabres let co-captains Chris Drury and Daniel Briere go. For true-blue-and-gold Buffalo Sabres fans, Black Sunday still hurts like a slap shot to the jaw. That was the day — July 1, 2007 — when the team lost star co-captains Chris Drury and Daniel Briere to the hated New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers, respectively, in free agency. The talented teammates had just led the Sabres to the best regular-season record in the NHL and to their second-straight appearance in the Eastern Conference finals. Western New York sports fans reacted to the team's high-flying success by packing HSBC Arena and local sports bars for every game and by buying truckloads of team merchandise. But Sabres management only half-heartedly pursued the pair of free-agents-to-be and watched helplessly as other teams snapped them up the moment they went on the open market. Their departure left a hole in the lineup, and a sluggish start to the 2007-08 season showed the Sabres are still trying to find a new identity in the post-Drury-and-Briere era. 10. Lynn DeJac is freed from prison, gets a retrial in her daughter's murder. For the last 14 years, Lynn DeJac had sworn that while she had been less than a model mother, she was not the one who strangled her 13-year-old daughter, Crystallyn Girard, to death on Feb. 14, 1993. So when her former boyfriend, Dennis P. Donohue, was arrested this year in another strangulation murder in 1993 and was named a "person of interest" in the deaths of Crystallyn and a woman, she knew she had a chance of getting out of prison and clearing her name. Then, when investigators tested evidence from the crime scene and found blood that likely was Donohue's, DeJac got her wish. She was released from prison in November and a judge granted her a retrial. The case was all the more shocking, coming at the heels of the exoneration of Anthony Capozzi. Contact: mbecker@buffnews.com
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