Weekend News Brief

The woman who’s dog, Oddey, a french bulldog, ate cocaine, has once again failed to appear for her court date.  30 year old Cassandra Elmore actually did show up, but then left the building before her case was called on Friday afternoon.  A warrant will be issued for her arrest at 2 p.m. on Monday if she doesn’t appear in court before then.  Legally, Elmore still owns Oddey, and the animal shelter must care for it without putting it up for adoption unless she signs over custody of the dog to the county or the case is resolved in a manner that permits her to again take possession of the dog.  Since her initial arrest, Elmore has also been charged with criminal possession of a weapon, obstruction of governmental administration, aggravated unlicensed operation 3rd.  Elmore has failed to appear several times and the judge has been lenient on all previous occasions.

3 people, 48 year old Timothy Tucker, 23 year old Chastity Banks, and 19 year old Loany Gato Aronategui were arraigned in Buffalo City Court Friday for criminal possession of a controlled substance after they were caught with 14 kilos of cocaine inside a garage in a rental home.  The home was on the 100 block of Pine Street in Buffalo.  The 3 are suspected of being part of a trafficking ring stretching from coast to coast.  They are from California and Nevada.

Remarkable as Damar Hamlin’s recovery has been, the Buffalo Bills safety still faces a lengthy rehabilitation some three weeks after going into cardiac arrest and needing to be resuscitated on the field during a game in Cincinnati, his marketing representative told The Associated Press on Thursday night.  Hamlin is still on oxygen, and a heart monitor.  Hamlin has not yet made a public appearance except for a photograph linebacker Matt Milano posted on his Instagram account of his teammate at the Bills facility on Saturday. And he’s not yet spoken publicly except for posting messages on his social media accounts.

The Holland Land Office is having their next Java with Joe on Thursday the 26th at 9am.  Richard Beatty will be presenting, “The Darwin Martin House-Frank Lloyd Wright’s Buffalo 1905 Masterpiece.” Admission is free, and coffee and donuts will be served.  Richard Beatty, a senior docent at the site, will give a presentation on Wright’s incredible design, his client Darwin D. Martin, and the long history of the complex.  Abandoned and neglected during the Depression, taken for back taxes in 1946, and then partially demolished in 1960, the complex of buildings and landscape has been completely restored.  Part of Mr Beatty’s presentation will include a history of the organization that took shape in the 1980s in response to the ongoing decline of the masterpiece, focusing on the key role that volunteers play in presenting the site to visitors from all over the world.

40 Buffalo Plows have been named by the public with fairly predictable results.  In November the Erie County Department of Public Works announced a new contest to name a county snowplow.  A spokesperson for the department announced 3,116 plow truck names were submitted by the public for the contest. That number was then narrowed down to 104 finalists in an “under 18” category and 111 finalists in an “over 18” category. The names that were chosen as finalists were then posted for public voting. Voters were asked to choose their top five names in each category.  The top name in the under 18 category was Stefon Diggsyouout.  And in the over 18 category it was Plowey McPlowface, a reference to the publicly chosen name for the UK Research vessel which was officially named RRS Sir David Attenborough and had the name Boaty McBoatface applied to one of its Underwater vehicles instead.  Crews will be affixing the new names to the plows over the coming days and participants who submitted the winning names will be contacted to have a photo taken with “their” snowplow if they choose to.