My daughter plays for the North Tonawanda Lumberjacks Girls Modified Volleyball Team. The team is made up of seventh- and eighth-grade girls at NT Middle School. First off, I would like to congratulate the girls on yet another win. Great job, girls! Secondly, I would like to know .... what gives their coach, or any coach, the right to sit down during a game while players are sitting on the floor? Last night’s game at Lockport was very stressfull on these girls to begin with. It took a while for them to get into their “groove.” When tired players come off the court, they should have somewhere to sit. There were exactly enough chairs for every player to sit ... why was the coach sitting down throughout the games and a player sitting on the floor? How embarassing for NT, and how sad for the girls who were sitting on the floor. Again, great job, girls!

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I watched an interview of Frank Budwey on TV tonight. He stated that he was already losing business to the new Walmart in Niagara Falls. He said that he would fear for his business if the Walmart was built in North Tonawanda. Don’t I remember not too long ago that Budwey was saying that he was against the North Tonawanda Walmart for the sake of the city? Is he now changing his tune to what we all knew his real motives were — protecting his own business and not the best interest of the citizens of North Tonawanda?

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I just want to ask, don’t the City of Tonawanda police have anything better to do than harass a 16-year-old boy who has never been in trouble before? My son had an incident at Ives pond (which should be closed down or supervised at all times). He supposedly took a dollar from another kid. My son came home to get the dollar. The police showed up at my house and arrested my son. My son was very scared and according to the police, my son resisted arrest. I did not see that he did. They made my son spend the night in jail because he was accused of taking a dollar. Then we had to go back to court with a lawyer, which was costly — all over a dollar. To make matters worse, it was in the police reports that my son was charged with robbery in the third degree. Seriously, for a dollar. My son never got to tell his side of the story. They only took a statement from the other kid. It was OK, though, when some kid beat up my son and broke his glasses at Ives and I pressed charges and nothing got done. I just needed to express my feelings. I think we were treated very unfairly by the police department. I hope the officer who caused this grief for my family reads this. I need him to know how I feel. If you check your records, my family has not been in trouble before. We are law-abiding citizens. You should arrest the real law breakers!

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Another council meeting and another appearance by the “mayor’s assistant.” Where has the mayor been? Why do we always have the assistant? Does the mayor ever speak for himself?