Free Republic

SIERRA VISTA — A Vietnam War hero whose father served with a black division during World War II will be honored at this year’s Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers gala and fundraiser. Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, known as the “Drug Czar” during the Clinton administration, also will be the guest speaker at the annual event on Sept. 27. The association is presenting McCaffrey its annual “Spirit of the Buffalo Soldier Award” to honor both his military career and that of his father, the late Lt. Gen. William J. McCaffrey who served as the chief of staff with 92nd Infantry...

The principal of an Islamic boarding school on Buffalo’s East Side has been forced to resign after allegations that he was sexually involved with one of his students and that he claimed to have taken her as a second wife. Evidence suggests Mohammed Ibrahim Memon, a father of seven, persuaded Sajidah Khan, then 21, to marry under Islamic law as a pretense to sleep with her.

He may have taken student as second wife The principal of an Islamic boarding school on Buffalo’s East Side has been forced to resign after allegations that he was sexually involved with one of his students and that he claimed to have taken her as a second wife. Evidence suggests Mohammed Ibrahim Memon, a father of seven, persuaded Sajidah Khan, then 21, to marry under Islamic law as a pretense to sleep with her. Memon, an Islamic scholar and imam, has agreed to leave his post at Darul-Uloom Al-Madania, 182 Sobieski St., for a minimum of seven years...

The fact that charter schools have posted some of the highest state test scores among Buffalo schools this year speaks to the validity of what was once considered an educational experiment. As recently reported, a couple of city-based charter schools posted math and English test results among the best of any schools in Erie and Niagara counties — and charter schools significantly outperformed the city’s traditional public schools. Tapestry, South Buffalo, Elmwood Village and Buffalo United consistently ranked in the Top 10 among all Buffalo schools in the recent math and English tests. Community, Westminster and Pinnacle schools appeared in...

A federal judge today ruled against the Seneca Nation's Buffalo Creek Casino, saying that casino gambling cannot legally take place on the nine-acre site on Michigan Avenue. U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny, in a 127-page decision, vacated the earlier decision by the commissioner of the National Indian Gaming Commission to allow gambling. It was not immediately clear whether Skretny's ruling will halt construction on the $333 million permanent casino, but it is clear that the temporary casino no longer has the legal right to operate. Skretny ruled that the parcel is indeed Indian country. "However, the court finds that...

"Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain might not burn up the campaign trail around Western New York this election year, but the University at Buffalo may have scheduled the next best thing. GOP strategist Karl Rove and former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards will debate the issues of the presidential campaign Sept. 26 as part of the university’s Distinguished Speakers Series, The Buffalo News has learned. As surrogates for the parties’ standard bearers, the two also could square off more than once at other locations around the nation. “We’re working on something like that for our Distinguished Speakers Series,”...

By T.J. Pignataro - News Staff Reporter 03/26/08 A public alert was issued early this evening by Buffalo Police, warning that a gang could be staging rear-end collisions tonight on area roadways and then attacking drivers as part of an initiation ritual. Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson called an emergency news conference at police headquarters just before 6:30 p.m. to make the announcement. He said police received "credible information" late this afternoon suggesting that the initiation ritual could involve gang member recruits intentionally causing rear-end collisions and then robbing or assaulting the other driver. Gipson suggested motorists be aware of their...

m they'd never met before, nine people boarded the raft in Niagara Falls, Ont. With a puttering motor dragging the overloaded vessel -- carrying at least twice the 660 pounds for which it was rated -- across the current of the upper Niagara River, with no oars, anchor or even lifejackets to protect them if it failed, they made their way to Grand Island. Where the United States Border Patrol was waiting. Smuggling certainly isn't what it used to be in Niagara Falls. The area's role as one of the busiest crossings for bootleggers during Prohibition remains part of regional...

Two U.S. Border Patrol agents parked near the tracks at Union Station on a recent morning. Amtrak passengers filed out onto the platform, ready to board. The train screeched to a stop on the southbound tracks. The agents set to work. They checked passengers boarding the train. Then the agents got on the train. They walked down the aisles of two coach cars, asking some of the 150 riders -- many half-asleep in their seats -- for identification. The conductor stood outside on the platform. This is part of his routine -- the daily visit from federal agents whom some...

MESA, Ariz. - Fire officials say a Cave Creek man who was trying to ride his pet buffalo was mauled by the animal after it bucked him off. The man, 75, was flown to a Scottsdale hospital after the incident at his home about 20 miles north of downtown Phoenix on Monday. John Kraetz, a district chief for the Rural/Metro fire department, said the unidentified man suffered non-life threatening injuries. The man owned two of the animals. Kraetz said he's never been on a similar call. "People do have buffalo on their property, but it's pretty darn uncommon," he said.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) - Gary Roberts pulled his 41-year-old legs out of his skates in the warmth of the visitors dressing room at Madison Square Garden. The mere thought of playing a real NHL game outside in the elements of Western New York on New Year's Day suddenly shook him from his comfort zone. The "Winter Classic" is just days away, and the longtime veteran's list of preparations consists of one. "Yeah, how I'm going to get out of it," he said, causing an eruption of laughter from his Pittsburgh Penguins teammates. Come Tuesday, the Penguins will hit the...

The elderly man crying on the sidewalk outside Precious Blood on Lewis Street didn’t have money or influence. All he had was pride — and love for his church.His family had saved for years to install a stained-glass window in Precious Blood, a towering stone landmark built in 1899 on the Polish East Side. Now, Precious Blood has gone dark.That old man, crying for his loss one afternoon this fall, is weakened by it. So too are the rest of us.Christmas, the season of new birth, has become for many Catholics in Western New York a time of mourning and...

Once out of the snow, the Cleveland Browns slid closer to a spot in the AFC playoffs. Jamal Lewis plowed for 163 yards and Phil Dawson somehow kicked two field goals through harsh, wintry winds as the surprising Browns improved their postseason chances with an 8-0 win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. In blizzard-like conditions better suited for the Iditarod sled-dog race, the Browns (9-5), who never figured to be playing meaningful games in December when the season started, picked up one of their biggest wins since returning as an expansion franchise in 1999. Cleveland needed a win and...

A Conservative Website for Rochester, NY, Launched Today, RochesterConservative.com I'd like to invite all Freepers to come on over and visit RochesterConservative.com, the Conservative website for the Greater Rochester, NY area. Our country is currently in the midst of a cultural war between the left and right, liberal versus conservative, athiest versus Judeo/Christian. Anybody who’s been following or participating in blogs and internet forums has probably taken note of this. RochesterConservative.com is a grassroots effort to spread the word that smaller government is good government and self reliance and love of God and Country is still considered a virtue in...

In the 75 years that followed [the Great Depression], this once-mighty metropolis lost 55% of its population,, one of the 20 most quickly deteriorating [metropolitan] regions in the nation. 27% of Buffalo's residents are poor, more than twice the national average. The median family income is just $33,000, less than 60% of the nationwide figure of $55,000. Buffalo's collapse...—seems to cry out for a policy response. Couldn't Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer use their influence on Capitol Hill to bring some needed relief? The truth is, the federal government has already spent vast sums of taxpayer money over the...

Queen City Cigarettes & Candy, a Clinton Street warehouse owned by food broker Mohamed T. Albanna, is one element of investigators' picture of a money-transmitting business that sent large sums to Yemen. A leader of Lackawanna's Yemeni-American community and two other men were in custody today on charges they operated an illegal money-transmitting business that sent funds from Western New York to Yemen. Mohamed T. Albanna, vice president of the American Muslim Council of Western New York and a frequent spokesman for the defendants known as the "Lackawanna Six," appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Hugh B. Scott on Tuesday after...

Man of the people - arrested By SANDRA TAN News Staff Reporter 12/18/2002 Mohamed T. Albanna, photographed in his Clinton Street store last July, is considered outspoken on issues crucial to Lackawanna. Business owner Andrea Haxton saw Mohamed T. Albanna several days a week. He was her main cigarette distributor and regularly dropped off boxes at her A&E Goods store on Ridge Road and Ingham Avenue on his way home from work. "He delivers them, we pay him, chit-chat, and he goes home," the Lackawanna business owner said. "We talk about politics all the time." Albanna came by Monday night...

It was eagerly anticipated news when the Bills provided an update on Kevin Everett Monday afternoon, following his game halting spine injury on the second half kickoff of Sunday's loss to Denver. But the update only gave a clearer picture as to the severity of what is still a potentially lethal injury, and the steps that were taken to give him the greatest chance for recovery. Everett suffered a fracture dislocation between the third and fourth cervical vertebrae. So there was an injury to the cervical spine and cervical spinal cord. But the spinal cord was intact. There was disc...

A search for answers in the case against the Lackawanna SixBy Mark Sommer NEWS BOOK REVIEWER Updated: 09/09/07 6:29 AM The arraignment of the Lackawanna Six attracted national attention. Derek Gee/Buffalo News It was five years ago today that police apprehended the first member of what was quickly dubbed the Lackawanna Six. Headlines blared far beyond Western New York, as news stories raised the specter of homegrown terrorists training with al-Qaida in southern Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden, it would later be revealed, was present, too. President Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller quickly proclaimed the Lackawanna...

The body of a missing priest from St. Bonaventure University was found Monday night in the Kinzua Dam Reservoir. Father Greg Brennan vanished over the weekend while boating along the New York-Pennsylvania border. Two priests from St. Bonaventure identified Father Brennan's body. In a written statement, St. Bonaventure President Sister Margaret Carney said "Our hearts are broken, both personally and professionally here at St. Bonaventure and for all of the people in the Southern Tier whose lives Father Greg touched, especially his parishioners at St. Pacificus and all of the fire company members in Olean and Allegany to whom he...

For most area Catholics, the Latin Mass either is a hazy memory or a footnote in church history. But next month, the ancient rite, set aside nearly 40 years ago in favor of a new, vastly different Mass, will be welcomed back in area churches — thanks to a recent apostolic letter from Pope Benedict XVI. The letter is unlikely to change the way most Catholics in the Diocese of Buffalo experience their liturgies. Still, traditionalists were thrilled by the July announcement. “It’s lifted a stigma. It’s almost like being freed,� said Al Huntz, president of the local chapter of...

Catholic parishioners aren’t the only ones being uprooted from their churches as the Diocese of Buffalo follows through on its downsizing. As churches close and merge, scores of priests will be getting new parish assignments, and uncertainty about where they’re headed has some priests privately questioning the closings and raising concerns about future workloads and living arrangements. An unsigned letter distributed to priests has even urged clergy to form a union. “I know there’s quite a bit of uncertainty out there for priests,� said Monsignor W. Jerome Sullivan, coordinator of the diocese’s priest personnel board, which helps the bishop determine...

FORT HUACHUCA — Another step in honoring the historic presence of black soldiers was taken on this Southern Arizona post Friday as six shovels of dirt were turned over, breaking ground on the Buffalo Soldier Legacy Plaza. The event was appropriate, as 2007 is the Year of the Buffalo Soldier on the post, so designated by Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, former commander of the Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca. “I had no real understanding of what service they (Buffalo Soldiers) did for the country.” said James Kimo Williams, a Vietnam War veteran, a speaker at the groundbreaking ceremony talking about...

They were an anachronism — soldiers on horseback in a war fought with tanks and B-17s. Nevertheless, here they were during World War II, patrolling the rugged hills and canyons along the border between California and Mexico. "They were about four-hour shifts. I would relieve you and your horse. We would ride back and forth looking for men. We never found any," says Andrew Whitaker. Whitaker, 87, was a member of the famed Buffalo Soldiers, all-black units formed by Congress after the Civil War. Nicknamed by the Indians they often battled against, the Buffalo Soldiers of the U.S. Army became...

San Antonio has grown accustomed to winning NBA titles. Its citizens are used to attending championship parades. Elsewhere in the United States, though, long-suffering fans are clamoring for a world championship. Callers to sports talk radio shows and Internet message board posters express their angst daily. "I've been a Buffalo sports fan all my life and except for the 64-65 AFL championships, well, you know the rest of the story," a poster identified as "Bilzfancy' wrote on Bills.com after the Sabres fell in the NHL's Eastern Conference finals. "I will not give up and will be a diehard but the...

Urban cowboy with holstered handgun arrested Updated: 06/02/07 11:06 AM A Best Street man was arrested late Friday on weapons possession charges after he was spotted by police wearing a holstered handgun in plain view. The incident happened just before midnight. Samuel Shannon, 23, was walking north on Myers Street with the revolver in a black holster on the right side of his waist, according to police, and he tried to conceal the weapon with his sweat shirt when he saw a marked police car. When police got out of the car, Shannon tried to remove the gun from the...

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration plans to accelerate deliveries of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles for the U.S. military in Iraq. Officials said not one Marine has been killed during 300 IED attacks on MRAPs. They said MRAP's raised, V-shaped underbelly deflected the force of IEDs. In all, the Marines have deployed 65 MRAPs in Iraq. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said MRAP offered improved troop protection over up-armored Humvees. Gates said MRAP would replace armored Humvees, particularly in the Marine Corps. "Our experience is that Marines in these vehicles have been four or five times safer than a Marine in...

WASHINGTON — The stakes are rising for nine companies vying to supply new armored vehicles to U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the Pentagon will name winners for a big chunk of the $8.4 billion contract in June, shares of one competitor — Force Protection Industries Inc. of Ladson, S.C. — soared Thursday on word that the Army plans to boost its order for next-generation armored vehicles. Force Protection, the maker of the largest mine-resistant vehicles, last month received the largest order to date — a deal worth $481.4 million to deliver 1,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected, or MRAP,...

SIERRA VISTA — “Forget me not” is the plea of the Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers, as the group begins a nationwide fundraiser. The Mountain View Colored Officers Club Restoration Project is what the group doesn’t want forgotten. The project has become even more important now that the association is required to put in $200,000 of repairs to Building 66050 on Fort Huachuca by the end of March 2008, according to an Oct. 30 lease between the Army and the nonprofit group. “The Army Corps of Engineers has taken our feet out of the mire and put them into the...

(CNN) -- Two men tried to re-enter Canada from the United States early Saturday with handguns and ammunition strapped to their bodies, Canadian police said. Ali Dirie, 22, and Yasin Mohamed, 23 -- both Canadians from the Toronto area -- face weapons-related charges and are in police custody in Niagara Falls, Ontario, according to a police statement. Ontario's Provincial Weapons Enforcement Team and the Niagara Regional Police Service are investigating.

BUFFALO NEWS Judge upholds ruling against Seneca casino By Dan Herbeck NEWS STAFF REPORTER Updated: 04/21/07 6:55 AM A federal judge delivered another legal blow late Friday to the Seneca Nation of Indians' plans for a gambling casino in downtown Buffalo. In a 14-page ruling, District Judge William M. Skretny refused to overturn his January decision ordering a federal commission to reconsider the tribe's casino agreement with the state. The decision is anything but good news for the Senecas, who have been building a small temporary casino, which they hope to open this year near HSBC Arena. "For us, this...

Pfc. Richard Chamberlin, Company B, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, poses with the National Football League's Buffalo Bills' cheerleaders, the Jills, during their visit to Forward Operating Base Warhorse, Feb. 25. The Jills singed autographs, posed for pictures and preformed a routine for the Soldiers. BAQUBAH -- Most Soldiers stationed in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 06-08 donÂ’t wake up to cheerleaders, but thatÂ’s exactly what happened to the Soldiers stationed on Forward Operating Base Warhorse, Feb. 25.The National Football LeagueÂ’s Buffalo BillsÂ’ cheerleaders, the Buffalo Jills, arrived in the morning...

Everyone is talking about a huge Sabres brawl. Many fans say it was the wildest game they ever saw! Here's how it happened Thursday night at HSBC Arena against the Ottawa Senators. It all started in the second period, when Buffalo Sabres captain Chris Drury got injured after taking a brutal hit by Senators forward Chris Neil.

Bison poop has more to offer than a field-clearing smell. Genetic analysis of the feces has revealed there are two breeding populations of bison in Yellowstone National Park, according to a new study. The discovery has implications for how to manage the roughly 4,000 bison (called Bison bison by scientists), which were previously considered one giant breeding population within the park's boundaries... The poop itself doesn’t contain the DNA. When a bison chows down, the roughage scoots through the digestive tract before a less-recognizable chunk of it passes out of the gut. During the descent, cells lining the gut slough...

BUFFALO, January 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Catholic deacon has been reprimanded for taking a pro-abortion Congressman to task on his voting record during a homily on “Respect Life Sunday.” Deacon Tom McDonnell pointed out that Democrat Rep. Brian Higgins, in attendance with his family, had voted in favour of legislation allowing federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and suggested that parishioners could talk to him about his vote. The Congressman and his family walked out of the church. Rep. Brian Higgins was endorsed in 2006 by the National Abortion Rights Action League and Planned Parenthood for his support...

The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo will close 14 elementary schools in June - its most dramatic and controversial effort to staunch enrollment declines and ensure the long-term viability of Catholic education in Western New York. Bishop Edward U. Kmiec is expected to announce the closings this morning at a news conference in the Catholic Center. The closures were spread among four municipalities in Erie County, as well as Dunkirk and Attica. They are: St. Agnes, St. Bernard and St. Rose of Lima in Buffalo; Kolbe Catholic School, Resurrection, St. Barnabas, St. Josaphat, Infant of Prague and St. Aloysius Gonzaga in...

Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - WBEN has learned that a possible suspect was picked up for questioning in the Bike Path Rapist investigation this morning. Sources tell WBEN that the suspect, Altimio Sanchez, is under arrest. Police sources say Sanchez' DNA is a match to the three murders and nine sexual assaults along bike paths and other isolated areas since the 1980's. He is said to be a 48-year old Cheektowaga resident.

MALTA, Mont. — The animals certainly looked like bison, with the characteristic humps and beards. But just to make sure, a pick-up truck slowly rolled up to them, and a bison wrangler shot a drug-filled dart into one of several calves. A few minutes later the anesthetized animal was on the ground, grunting and squirming. Several men warily moved in to hobble the animal and take blood samples. This bison wrangling was being done to test the genetics of a herd of 39 animals that is being used by the American Prairie Foundation as seed stock to re-create a large-scale...

After decades of intensive effort by both experimental and theoretical physicists worldwide, a tiny particle with no charge, a very low mass and a lifetime much shorter than a nanosecond, dubbed the "axion," has now been detected by the University at Buffalo physicist who first suggested its existence in a little-read paper as early as 1974. The finding caps nearly three decades of research both by Piyare Jain, Ph.D., UB professor emeritus in the Department of Physics and lead investigator on the research, who works independently -- an anomaly in the field -- and by large groups of well-funded physicists...

WASHINGTON - Counterterror officials suspect that an Arab student linked to one of the Sept. 11 hijackers may have cased the presidential ranch in Crawford, Tex. - six months before the 9/11 attacks. Muhammad Al-Gurashi and three other Arab men suspected of close ties to hijacker Hani Hanjour rented a car in Phoenix and drove to Freeport, Tex., in March 2001, intelligence and law enforcement sources say. They are believed to have stopped near President Bush's ranch to assess security for a possible terrorist attack, the sources told the Daily News. Al-Gurashi, a 28-year-old Saudi who attended Arizona State University,...

Pittsburgh. Pierogies. Pierogies. Pittsburgh. You can't think about the Steel City without visions of these delectable dumplings dancing in your head. Because everybody knows that Pittsburghers consume more pierogies than anyone else in the world. OK, maybe just the United States. That certainly should be enough to qualify Pittsburgh as the Pierogi Capital, right? But noooo! That distinction belongs to Buffalo, N.Y. Yes, the city of hot wings and cold weather yesterday bested the 'Burgh to win the Capital of the Pierogi Pocket contest sponsored by Mrs. T's Pierogies, a food company based in Shenandoah, Pa. Pittsburgh received only an...

While his helpless, pregnant wife watched in horror, a Woburn man says, he was viciously beaten outside the Buffalo Bills’ football stadium last week by a liquored-up mob of New York fans embittered after the Pats crushed their team. “I thought they were going to kill him,” a pregnant Diane Donaghey said yesterday of the booze-fueled ruffians who allegedly attacked her husband, Barry, 30. The couple filed a police report and have retained a lawyer. They say they never saw a security guard during their ordeal.Police in Orchard Park, N.Y., where the stadium is located, did not respond to calls...

Canucks: Get Yank pervert out of here U.S. sex offender sparked uproar after judge gave him OK to serve his time in Ontario By NATALIE PONA AND KATHLEEN HARRIS TORONTO SUN, Friday, October 27, 2006 Canadian officials say they want to deport an American sex offender who caused an uproar when he was granted permission to serve his sentence in St. Catharines. On Wednesday, Canada Border Services Agency arrested former teacher and U.S. citizen Malcolm Watson. Watson, 35, had been sentenced Monday by a Buffalo court to serve three years of probation in St. Catharines for sex crimes. The...

U.S. sex offender serving sentence in Canada arrested at Canada-U.S. border cnews.canoe.ca October 26, 2006 ST. CATHARINES, Ont. (CP) - An American schoolteacher sentenced to three years' probation in Canada for a sex offence involving a teen was reportedly arrested Thursday when he tried to enter the country from the United States. Hamilton's CH News reported that Malcolm Watson was arrested by Canadian officials while returning from a court appearance in Buffalo, N.Y. On Monday, the 35-year-old Watson pleaded guilty in Buffalo to endangering the welfare of a child, and sexual abuse in the third degree. He was sentenced...

National Guard Activated in Weather-Beaten N.Y. By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2006 – The New York governor has called up members of the New York Army and Air National Guard for state active duty in western New York following record-breaking, lake-effect snowfall in the region. The Guard has been assigned to provide Humvees and drivers to the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, N.Y., to provide emergency transportation for medical personnel and to the Buffalo Fire Department to transport emergency medical technicians and evacuate patients as needed, said Army Lt. Col. Paul Fanning,...

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- A rare early October snowstorm left parts of the Great Lakes and Midwest blanketed with 2 feet of snow Friday morning, prompting widespread blackouts, closing schools and halting traffic. The snow downed scores of tree limbs and toppled power lines, leaving more than 220,000 customers without electricity in western New York. By early Friday, 14 inches of snow had been recorded at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, with reports of 2 feet elsewhere, said Tom Paone, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. The snowfall was expected to continue throughout the morning, he said. On Thursday,...

MILWAUKEE - A farm in Wisconsin is quickly becoming hallowed ground for American Indians with the birth of its third white buffalo, an animal considered sacred by many tribes for its potential to bring good fortune and peace. "We took one look at it and I can't repeat what I thought but I thought, 'Here we go again,'" said owner Dave Heider. Thousands of people stopped by Heider's Janesville farm after the birth of the first white buffalo, a female named Miracle who died in 2004 at the age of 10. The second was born in 1996 but died after...

The FBI says it's all part of an ongoing investigation into a group of Sri Lankans with terrorist plans. The FBI says there were no plans to attack Americans, but that the group, known as the "Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam" was targeting their home country of Sri Lanka. Officials say that terror group is responsible for assassinating a former prime minister of India. The Joint Terrorism Task Force raided the Amherst home. Neighbors say three men were taken out in handcuffs. They say the task force also removed files, a computer and suitcases. While it's not clear what role...

FORT HUACHUCA — This year’s gala fund-raiser dinner for the Mountain View Colored Officers’ Club Rehabilitation Project is expected to lead into a major effort to obtain donations to restore the World War II facility. Just recently, the association received an artist’s rendering of what the building looked like when it was constructed in 1952. The fort was the major Army post training colored soldiers, as black soldiers were called in that era, for combat during the war. Two divisions, the 92nd and 93rd trained on the post, with one being sent to fight in Europe and the other in...

Some leaders of Buffalo's black community say they consider the new name for the city's minor-league basketball team, the Silverbacks, offensive and racially insensitive. They say a silverback - an adult male gorilla - is an inappropriate nickname for a team with a large number of black players because bigots have referred to blacks as "gorillas," "apes" and "monkeys."...