<!--Don Glynn--><table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Don Glynn</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:don.glynn@niagara-gazette.com">don.glynn@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>
Whatever people might find fault with in the Niagara Falls area, they can’t say there is a lack of warmth and caring for anyone trying to cope with the holidays.
Take today for example.
The Hard Rock Cafe, 333 Prospect St., will be host to some 200 persons shuttled via buses from Community Missions Inc. to the restaurant near the Niagara Falls State Park entrance.
“This marks the 10th year the Hard Rock has been providing this dinner,” said Don Luce, public relations director for the Mission. He noted that for the past five years, the event has been held at the restaurant.
Hard Rock staffers and their children will wait on tables and perform many other chores to make certain all the guests have a memorable time.
In addition to the restaurant dinner, the Mission distributed turkeys and food baskets to 150 other area families struggling to make ends meet.
Aside from the Hard Rock, needy families can also find a free Thanksgiving dinner — with all the trimmings — at the VFW Post 917- LaSalle Griffon, 2435 Seneca Ave. Known as “The Lord’s Day Dinner,” the event is coordinated by Matt Davis.
The Heart & Soul, 939 Ontario Ave., which is closed today, offered a special meal for its clients Wednesday. In advance, the agency provided Thanksgiving dinner baskets to 360 families this year, about 100 more than in 2008.
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TIME TO REFLECT: Count your blessings today and enjoy your Thanksgiving, especially if you’re lucky enough to be surrounded by family and friends.
It also would be fitting to say a prayer for those thousands of men and women serving with our military forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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LINKS TO NIAGARA: A New York Times article Wednesday noted that Joseph L. Bruno, the former state Senate majority leader, accused of improperly mixing his political and business interests, often used pricey golf outings to drum up deals that could result in hefty rewards for himself.
The article recounts that years ago Bruno played in a charity golf tournament at the Niagara Falls Country Club that was sponsored by the local laborers’ union seeking state Senate approval for casinos in the area.
Prior to the tourney, the article states, union official Michael Quarcini took Bruno on a helicopter ride, pointing out the rapid development on the Ontario side of the border, where gambling had already been legalized by the provincial government.
Among those testifying at Bruno’s current trial in Albany was Mark Congi, a former union official convicted on federal racketeering charges. Congi told how Quarcini mentioned that helicopter ride at the post-tournament dinner: “He told Bruno that if he didn’t get the money for us to fix up the area, he was going to throw him out of the helicopter.”
Congi added that the late Quarcini, who died shortly after being indicted himself in 2002, was just joking. Casino gambling — actually with the Seneca Nation of Indians given the right to operate three casinos in Western New York — did become a reality.
