Warriors repeat as sectional champs Time to revise

By russ TArBy Contributing Writer

At the monthly meeting of the village of Liverpool Board of Trustees on Monday, Feb. 27, Mayor Gary White announced the need to develop a new comprehensive plan for the village.

The last time such as vision plan was instituted was in 2006 after three years of work by the planning board, its comprehensive plan subcommittee and its consultants, Clough Harbor & Associates and Basile Baumann Prost & Associates.

The plan outlined efforts to make the village more pedestrian-friendly. In the planners’ surveys of residents and business owners, traffic was repeatedly identified as the village’s most pervasive problem.

Comprehensive plans are used by local governments in applying for monetary grants to help pay for future development. Such applications can show how individual projects would help achieve the overall vision described in the adopted plan.

By PHil BlACkWell

Furious comebacks, major momentum shifts, overtime sessions –all were part of the recent boys basketball saga between Liverpool and West Genesee atop the Section III Class AA ranks.

Little of that was evident Sunday

By AlyssA DeArBorn

When Linda and Deb Young founded Kitty Corner – a cat rescue that rehomes cats and sterilizes feral cats –they made it their mission to help felines in Central New York. Now, after more than 30 years and having cared for hundreds of stray cats, the sisters have established themselves as heroes - both to cats and to the communities where the strays were found.

“Well, we actually started more than 30 years ago, and my sister and I decided we had to do something to help the animals.” Linda said when asked about the organization’s beginnings. “Cats were sort of our expertise at the time and we hoped to do it after we retired. But it occurred to us that the cats needed help at that pointthis would’ve been around 1992 - and we didn’t want to wait. They couldn’t wait until we retired.”

One of the top complaints in many communities across the state is cat overpopulation, Lisa explained.

“[Feral cats], in my opinion, don’t do any serious harm, but they do leave droppings on lawns and things like that. People get really upset about it. They get in gardens, that kind of thing. They can get into trash, though there are ways to prevent all of these things. But people get upset about the cats themselves,” Linda said. “And they’re wild, so they can’t really be adopted out. Some people try to take them in and make friends with them, but frankly, a feral night at SRC Arena – and that suited the Warriors just fine since it continued to hold dominion over this rivalry and, more importantly, repeated as sectional champions.

Liverpool’s 66-53 victory meant that it has won four of the last six sectional tournaments dating back to 2017, all done under the guidance of cat is much happier outside because that’s the life it has known. It wants to take care of itself, it’s afraid of humans, they’re terrified of humans usually.”

Linda explained that feral cats reproduce at very high rates creating significant overpopulation which adds to the nuisance. One of the ways Kitty Corner helps address this challenge is through their trap-neuterrelease (TNR) program. This program – in which feral cats are humanely trapped, neutered or spayed, and then released back into their territories – helps Central New York communities by addressing feral cat overpopulation.

“With TNR, which is the only really successful way to deal with feral cats, you trap them, you spay and neuter them, and then you release them back into their own territory, back where they were,” Linda said.

“So they’re comfortable, they’re relatively safe there because they know the dangers, it’s usually the area where they grew up. They know where the food supplies are. And, of course, if you do TNR, you typically also feed the cat. You’re sort of keeping them out of everybody else’s areas. You’re keeping them around your own.”

According to Linda, neutering wild cats not only helps with the challenge of overpopulation, it also helps the cats live a safer, more comfortable life.

“It does not attract new cats, because the cats that feel they own that territory will

PHil head coach Ryan Blackwell.

This title, said Blackwell, was “a testament to the players. They got better as the season went on. They’re tough, play together and are very resilient.”

On this particular evening, each of the Warriors’ top three players – An-

Warriors l Page 11

“I believe that we have to have a new plan in place by 2025,” White told the trustees. “If that’s the case, then we need to think about how to move forward, and do it soon.”

The project would need a chairman and a budget, White said. In 2006 the comprehensive plan subcommittee was headed by Planning Board Chairman Nick Kochan who is no longer involved in village government.

Five DWis in January

At the village board’s monthly meeting on Feb. 27, Police Chief Jerry Unger reported via memo that his officers made 159 traffic stops and issued 133 citations for violations of the state’s vehicle and traffic laws in January.

Ten accidents were investigated here last month, two parking tickets were written, and five motorists were arrested for driving while intoxicated. Officers made 50 residential checks and 230 business checks in January while responding to a total of 569 incidents and calls for service.

The LPD arrested 31 individuals last month on 41 criminal charges.

New overnight officer Officer Dominic Albanese has completed his field training and is presently working the overnight shift for the LPD. Albanese, 35, is a former Onondaga County Sheriff’s deputy.

“LPD is still critically understaffed,” Unger reminded the trustees in his memo.

Winter parking ban in effect

From now through April 15 parking along most village streets is banned from midnight to 8 a.m. In the village business district, street parking is prohibited from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m.