Two faces in the news 2006

I have met so many heroes during my editorship at the Press – Observer. People, who haunt my thoughts with tremendous deeds big and small, a drive toward excellence and most of all their spirit. Two such men recently looked back at me from publications.

Richard L. Shaffer:
One such gentleman was Richard Shaffer, 60, of Borodino. I unfortunately have to report that I saw him looking back at me from the obituary page of the Press several weeks ago and was stunned, as I had written an article about him last year. It was an inspiring story of him beating cancer. He was such a dynamo and had provided a tremendous amount of hope for many others who were battling cancer.
Shaffer, a master athlete, was lean and mean...

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My actual godfather was a man who really thought children were to be seen, not heard and put away come the cocktail hour. Maybe this is why I gravitated toward “The Godfather of Soul,” James Brown.

I fell hard for Brown’s music, but also, I went mad for Eddie Murphy’s James Brown impersonations on Saturday Night Live, “H-O-T T-U-B.”

I never saw the hardest working man in show business, the man who needed no introduction “live” until he opened at Woodstock III. I happened to be at the music festival working for Apple Computer and Kodak. I rolled in the night before at dusk with a young tech guy named Frank who I worked with at Applied Technical Systems, an Apple computer specialist in Syracuse before the Apple store at the mall came about...

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The Stone Mill on Fennell Street has been called the village’s centerpiece. This agrarian structure has been involved in the Skaneateles’ economy until recent years, when instead it has been waiting for its next role.

Owner and Skaneateles resident Rick Diamond had the go ahead from village officials to restore the structure. His plan included tearing down the auxiliary structures to the original building. A new addition will be added to the west of the Main building...

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Last year, when I turned 50, I was actually really excited.

Big mistake.

It was rough. I mean, I was still reeling from the after effects of being run down by an airplane when the AARP card arrived in the mail.

Okay, I had been warned; but as Bonnie Raitt sang, “those lines are pretty hard to take when they’re staring back at you.”

Skaneateles hadn’t yet had a frost when things started to snowball in my world.

First cancer came calling on several friends from various points in my life. I walked as best I could beside them to the end of their lives.

Personally, I was in trouble with the law in the form of two speeding tickets...

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