May the best candidate win

I have a strange habit.

Several of them really.

But this one I do always gets looks.

When I'm at a store, I'll ask a clerk, "If I was (product), where would I be?" rather than just saying, "Where's the (product)?"

Stupid, I know, but habits are hard to break.

Well, if I was a jury, I would still be "out" over this whole police department hiring deal.

If you haven't already read the story on today's front page, do that now, then come back.

Okay, we all caught up?

Good.

First off, I think that Phyllis went about it the right way.

Hiring two police officers at the earliest convenience is a necessity for the city.

The fact that we had to "skirt" the Civil Service list, and as such pass by a reportedly qualified black candidate, is a shame.

What it isn't, though, is a conspiracy.

For the sake of speed — and speed is needed — we had to hire the "laterals" instead of going by the Civil Service list, which we normally follow.

That will get us two patrolmen in just a few weeks. Those patrolmen can get out on the pavement and keep you and me and my family safe from the would-be bad guys of the world.

Now that that's solved, let's get back to the Civil Service list and hire the best candidates.

That's B-E-S-T. Not B-L-A-C-K.

Now, I'm not saying to NOT hire a black candidate. I'm just saying don't hire her — or him in this case — only because he's black.

"He has to be the best candidate," said Police Board President James "Jimmy G" Gugliuzza.

Well said, Jimmy.

I would hate it if we hired this guy and he is led to believe that he was hired just because of the color of his skin.

I would hate it even more if we really did hire this guy just because of the color of his skin.

Discrimination is discrimination even when it's reverse discrimination.

Here's another bad scenario: (Candidate) reads the news reports and concludes that the only reason he's being considered is because he's black, opts out because he wants to be considered on his merits, not the color of his skin, and we're back to square one.

Unfortunately, I don't think that any of those scenarios are going to play out.

Here's how I see this happening:

The Police Board will make its recommendation at noon today to hire two additional candidates using the Civil Service list.

Alderwoman Green will take that recommendation to the Common Council next Wednesday.

It will get held up, delayed, or otherwise misplaced and tabled until the meeting on Feb. 5.

The Common Council will grandstand their own respective views and in the end ...

We won't see a vote on the issue because Schrader and Green will know that they haven't made their case to Cercone that the city can afford it and it will end up stuck in a 3-3 tie.

(Candidate) will remain an officer at the Fairfax, Va., Police Department, laughing come December when we're stuck in the Blizzard of '03, the police department is begging the Common Council for extra manpower, and he's still basking in the glow that is Virginia in winter.

Scott: If I were a happy police officer, where would I be?

Clerk: Fairfax, Va.

The slicing dicing casinomatic ...

I love infomercials.

Most people, I've convinced myself, actually love infomercials.

There's just something about the glitz, the glitter, the ability to remove tar, gum and grease from any surface without scrubbing.

"Have you ever tried to get spaghetti sauce off your car upholstery? IT'S SO HARD!!! Well now with saucomatic, you can remove any tomato-based product quick as a flash."

At some point while you're watching, you come to your senses and realize that either the product won't work at all or that it may not be quite as great as its marketing experts have claimed.

Most of us, at least, come to that realization.

Some of us take that step and dial the 800 number to "charge by phone" hoping to be one of the first 1,000 callers so that we might qualify for the extra jar for only a penny.

Sunday, I was one of the first 1,000 callers when I trekked my behind across

Niagara County to visit "beautiful" downtown Niagara Falls and her new casino.

The media check in for the casino's play night was scheduled to take place from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. with the doors opening to the general public at 6. I got there at a couple minutes after 5 o'clock and was met with a couple hundred people waiting in the casino lobby to get in.

This was after the parking. Can I just say $8!?! Sorry, I'll move on.

So I move to the head of the line to ask someone from the casino where I should check in. I had to preregister and I knew I needed to pick up a special press pass.

The first three people I asked didn't know and I started to get worried.
"Do these people know what's going on," I thought to myself.

Then the fourth person told me where to go — politely, I might add — and the experience began.

I checked in and was told the rules. I could talk to members of the public and people from the marketing group, but I couldn't quote the marketing people and I could go anywhere except employee area and whah whah whah (think Peanuts).
Wow!

Alright, I'm off. Gaming floor, here I come.

I didn't bring a note pad since I didn't plan to interview anyone.

No offense to our faithful readers, but I wasn't interested in your opinion on

Sunday. I wanted to know what I thought.

I bumped into some colleagues of mine.

Dennis Stierer (US&J photographer), Hi. How are ya?

Mark Scheer (Niagara Gazette reporter), nice to see you.

Tom Prohaska (he works for the enemy), fancy running into you here.

Tom actually said to me, "I thought they had security at this place. How'd you get in?"

He's a nice guy, let me tell you.

And mainly, I walked around.

Standard operating procedure is to circle the grounds twice to get a feel for things and then move in to take a closer inspection.

So I circled then moved in.

First game - Baccarat.

It goes something like this: Flip flip. Flip flip. "You lose."

Flip flip. Flip flip. "You win."

At the end of the baccarat session, I was ahead.

See, you start with $1,000 and have four hours to blow it.

After baccarat, I had about $1,200.

Next stop, craps.

I met a really nice couple from West Seneca who came to the falls just so they could see the casino.

I never caught their names, but the male of the pair gave me some good advice on playing craps and I ended up winning another couple hundred dollars.

Okay, I'd been there for about 90 minutes now and I was way ahead. I had only two and a half hours to lose $1,400.

Roulette, baby.

It took me a while to get in and when I did, I didn't like it — and I didn't lose my money quickly enough.

In the end, I literally handed my money back to the casino folks and left.

Next time I go, I'll donate $20, just like always.

And I hope I run into people like the folks from West Seneca and the guy who had lived in Syracuse before moving to Niagara Falls to work for the casino.

Just like the saucomatic, the casino will not be a cure all, but I'm guessing that it will reduce the blemishes of aging left behind by years of neglect.