水果派AV

Officers said they found Smith lying outside of the bar, dead from "an apparent gunshot wound." After notifying next of kin, APD issued a press release Tuesday afternoon providing details about the probe and identifying Smith as the victim.

The APD said it has concluded that people either involved in, or who may have knowledge of, the incident fled the scene before officers arrived. The investigation is ongoing, and no additional details were immediately released.

Officers were still outside of Swifty's late Tuesday morning processing evidence. Numerous crime scene evidence markers were visible in front of the tavern and just down the street by an adjacent parking lot.

Police are requesting that anyone "with additional information to include anyone that was in the bar during the shooting incident" to call lead Detective Sean DeRosa at (315) 255-4706 or email him at sderosa@auburnny.gov. Tips can also be made to the APD through the main number, (315) 253-3231, or email communitywatch@auburnny.gov. Tips can be anonymous.

Deputy Police Chief Roger Anthony told 水果派AV that since Swifty's is located in a public area, there is a possibility that someone might have seen something regarding the incident or may have video footage of the scene.

Anthony also said police don't believe there's a continuing danger to the community connected with the shooting.

"We don't have any reason to believe this is anything more than an isolated incident," he said.

This is is the APD's first homicide investigation in the city since the death of 36-year-old Joshua Poole at 8 Delevan St. in November 2019.聽Two of the four defendants in that case, Lucciano Spagnola and Gage Ashley, were sentenced last last year and all four have pleaded guilty in connection with their roles in the case.

The winning bid is slightly higher than the sale price of the mobile home park the last time it was sold. It was purchased by Sharon Hitchings for $145,000 in 2015.聽

The mobile home park was seized last fall after Hitchings failed to pay more than $55,000 in fines for not providing drinking water to residents and not monitoring the water supply. A boil water order that was issued three years ago has been renewed every quarter, the Cayuga County Health Department told 水果派AV. The order remains in effect.聽

In June 2019, the health department issued a complaint outlining the violations committed by Locust Meadows. But Hitchings did not respond to the complaint and did not attend a hearing in July 2019. The hearing officer concluded that Hitchings was guilty of the violations and ordered her to pay $55,000 in fines.聽

The Cayuga County Board of Health accepted the hearing officer's findings at its September 2019 meeting. Hitchings did not attend the meeting.聽

After Hitchings failed to pay the fines, Cayuga County sought a judgement against her. The judgement issued in September 2021 allowed the sheriff's office to seize the property. At the time of the seizure, interest and fees increased the total amount of fines to $63,668.聽

"The county has really tried to resolve this issue and has assisted but we can't continue to do this," said Eileen O'Connor, who heads the health department's environmental health division. "The park needs to be brought into compliance with the rules and regulations of the state of New York."聽

Once it was seized, the county scheduled an auction to sell the mobile home park. Louise Bonilla, a Locust Meadows resident for more than 25 years, told 水果派AV that she is worried the buyer could use the park for another use and evict the residents.聽

The Smiths could not be reached to comment on whether they plan to continue operating the property as a mobile home park.聽

"This helps us understand how it is for our people in Ukraine," he said. "It hurts all of us. This is a war against the people of the world."

The rally saw elected officials and local residents with Ukrainian heritage voice their support for the eastern European country as its invasion by Russia continues into a third week. Many observed how strong that heritage is in Cayuga County, where 2.6% of the population can trace its ancestry to Ukraine, according to U.S. Census estimates. That's the highest percentage of any county in New York.

State Sen. John Mannion noted that his neighborhood of Tipperary Hill in Syracuse, though famous for its Irish population, is also home to many proud Ukrainian families.

"We owe the people of Ukraine a great debt. They're standing up for the free world, and we must stand with them," he said to applause. "They need to hear our voices, they need to hear our prayers."

The support has already been strong in Auburn, as Cheryl Foster explained during the rally. When she organized a supply drive in the parking lot of Holy Family Church last week, she only expected to collect enough Band-Aids, socks and other critical items to send one truck to St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Syracuse. Instead, she collected enough to send five trucks.聽

Foster said she organized the drive after the need for supplies in Ukraine was shared with her by a colleague at Auburn Community Hospital who has family in the country.

"The response was overwhelming and absolutely awesome. Even the people of Syracuse couldn't believe the generosity," she said. "All those donations will show Ukraine love from this community."聽

Speakers Lida Buniak, of Syracuse, and Olena Vatamaniuk, of Ithaca, said Ukraine needs more forms of support as well.

Citing the civilian death toll of the invasion 鈥� at least 549 as of March 10, according to the United Nations 鈥� Buniak and聽Vatamaniuk called on the U.S. and NATO to impose a no-fly zone over the country. Buniak, president of the Syracuse branch of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, said it would "save countless innocent lives." Signs at the rally supported the move, which U.S. and NATO have rejected due to concerns it could escalate the conflict with nuclear-armed Russia. Other signs called the invasion a genocide due to the number of civilian deaths.

The rally, which Colopelnic organized with support from Mannion and the city of Auburn, also included the singing of the Ukrainian national anthem, "Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy i slava, i volia." Before the afternoon ended, the reverend's daughter, Syracuse University student Bohdana Colopelnic, shared her reflections on her heritage, as well as those of her brother, Taras Colopelnic.

"You can see what Ukraine is fighting for right here in Auburn," she said, referring to her family's 111-year-old church and the nearby Ukrainian National Club and Sicz Club.聽

Bohdana聽Colopelnic mentioned the church's聽Ukrainian Heritage Festival, and the food and music it celebrates, as pieces of the legacy of Ukraine's immigrants to Auburn, particularly its northwest area, since the 1880s.聽Her and her brother's words then stressed the importance of keeping those traditions alive at a time when the future of Ukraine is under attack.

"Whether by blood, marriage or some other connection, many of us are Ukrainian. And by supporting Ukraine, right here and now, everyone else has become an honorary Ukrainian as well," she said. "Being Ukrainian means treasuring freedom and fighting for it until the end. To be Ukrainian means to love what's been given to you, to cherish and nurture it, and pass it down to future generations."

Through his real estate development company, RJC Development, Coe is focused on establishing that larger physical presence on commercially zoned vacant land on John Walsh Boulevard behind Walmart. Coe last year secured an agreement to purchase property from the city of Auburn, and last month the city Planning Board approved his site plan to build a 17,280-square-foot structure there.

The final local government board approval needed for the $2.4 million project is the subject of a public hearing in April. On April 20, the Auburn Industrial Development Authority will hold a public hearing on RJC's request for sales tax breaks and property tax relief totaling $800,120.

During a meeting in February, AIDA discussed RJC's plans with Coe and voted to move his application forward by scheduling the hearing. The board could approve the application at the April meeting.

Coe told the board that the new site would serve numerous functions for his companies, which grew from 10 to 22 employees in roughly the past year and plans to add 57 more as a result of this expansion.

"This would be our home base where our employees would come to start work, where we keep all of our equipment, where our offices would be and where we're able to do repairs and maintenance on vehicles and also service community with selling some retail and also being able to work on medium- to heavy-duty trucks and autos," he said.

The two businesses that would operate out of the space are RYCOE Enterprises, which is the excavation and landscaping company, and a startup called Apex Truck and Auto.

Board member Terry Cuddy, who is also an Auburn City Councilor, quizzed Coe on his job projection numbers. According to the application, the companies would add 57 jobs with about $1.39 million in additional annual payroll within three years of operating in the new facility.

"I am pretty confident between RYCOE's growth and a lot of other connections that we have that we will be able to sustain and grow," Coe said. "We have reached out to a few people that we've worked with before ... and they're very excited and pretty much have given us their business."

Another city councilor who is a member of AIDA, Jimmy Giannettino, told Coe he has some reservations about the tax breaks being sought because of the deal Coe has with the city to buy the land.

The council in August approved selling the land to RJC for $10,000, well below its assessed value of $215,000. The main reason city officials agreed to such a low purchase price was due to the investment Coe said he would be making on the property, which has long been vacant. The city acquired it through a tax foreclosure in 2019 after the previous owner was unable to develop it.

"We did sell this property to you before at a very, very fair cost and then to also have to give these types of tax incentives, that's something, I'm going to be honest, I'm struggling with," he told Coe.

Coe said he understands that concern, but the property's location in a flood plain makes it very expensive to develop.

"I'm very grateful to be able to buy the property at that rate, but there's a lot of work that has that has to be done to make that work," he said.

According to RJC's application with AIDA, the company is seeking sales tax exemptions on construction materials estimated to be worth $138,000, along with $9,000 in mortgage recording tax relief for the $1.2 million in secured financing planned for the project.

The biggest chunk of tax breaks would be through a 12-year relief program that provides exemptions on the added assessment value of development projects. That would amount to an estimated $652,900 in city, school and county property tax relief, although the company would still be paying $561,000 in property taxes on the current assessed value.

The project has also met some opposition from area residents concerned about its environmental impact. During a January planning board meeting, a petition with signatures of 14 residents expressed concerns about the impact of removing what it is currently natural habitat for wildlife and vegetation.

"The review called the land vacant; however, aerial images show it is forested," Dominic Gambaiani stated in written comments provided to the board along with the petition. "Is it truly vacant if trees are calling the land home? Trees have well-known value, especially when the city has had to remove so many due to ash disease. Mature trees also have value sequestering carbon-something we need to continue to do to combat climate change. The cost of losing these trees should properly be quantified prior to any development."

The project's engineering consultant, Matt Napierala, presented revised plans to the planning board in February. He noted that tree plantings for the site in areas where land will be disturbed were changed to include more water tolerant species.

"I think with landscaping, we've worked it out," he said. "We're providing some more screening and replacement. ... There's still a significant amount of tree coverage."

Auburn Deputy Planning and Economic Development Director Stephen Selvek noted that on a 17-acre site that RJC would own, physical disturbance would be taking place on seven to eight acres, with the rest remaining in its current natural state. In addition, the building, parking lot and other "hardscapes" will end up occupying just three to four acres once the project is complete.

"They've done what they can to minimize how much of the site that they impact," he said. "Based upon these plans, it's not their intent to go in and needlessly clear the site."

鈥淲hen you met Jeff for the first time it was instant friendship, as if you had known him forever ... and he never forgot you. He always had a great big hug for you when you would see him and first and foremost he would always ask how you were doing and how was life treating you? And he was sincere when asking it. No matter how many curveballs life threw at him, he never lost his smile and always looked to the positive! A kind soul that will be remembered always and so dearly missed.鈥� 鈥� Kristin Campbell Ratliff

鈥淛eff worked for our family for over 25 years at Indelicato鈥檚. Jeff was such a great employee with such a positive attitude, always showed up on time and with a smile and never complained about anything and always treated customers with a smile and a positive attitude. Even in the later years when Jeff was having health problems and was in discomfort and pain. He never let it show and continued on with the same positive attitude and smile always. He was a pleasure to have as an employee but a privilege to call a friend.鈥� 鈥� Lee Indelicato

鈥淚 met Jeff in fifth grade when we started playing CYO basketball. We were matched up in drills, and from that first practice on we became best friends. People often say, 鈥楬e or she was the nicest person I have ever known.鈥� I can say with all honesty that (Deuce) Jeff was the nicest, kindest person I鈥檝e ever met!鈥� 鈥� Doug Short

鈥淛eff was the baby of the family. He touched so many people鈥檚 lives with his big heart and kindness! The unforgettable stories and times we shared in life live on in my heart forever. He would have made a great mayor with his genuine kindness, honesty and heart. I love and miss him dearly!鈥� 鈥� Tom McCarthy

鈥淥ur brother Jeff was one of the most compassionate, giving and kindest souls everyone knew. No matter how bad he felt or how bad a day he was having he always had a smile for everyone. If you were having a bad day he could always turn your frown upside down. The amount of friends he had is a true testament to who he was, a very kind soul who is terribly missed by all who knew and loved him!鈥� 鈥� John McCarthy

The quotes could go one forever. I met Jeff in the eighth grade, and we became very good friends. As everyone has said here, the common thread we all experienced was Jeff鈥檚 kindness and positive attitude, always. It used to baffle me how kind and decent he was; I just couldn鈥檛 comprehend someone being that genuine. Jeff never cared about money, or what was the latest fad in clothing, or trying to be the cool guy, or doing the so-called cool thing; he cared about doing the right thing, always! He always treated everyone with kindness and generosity and respect and never took to cutting into someone or poking fun at anyone. Never! He was just that special of an individual! Like a majority of friendships, life took us down separate paths in the years to come. We would see each other occasionally and give each other a hug and say let鈥檚 meet up for a beer, but those times came few and far between unfortunately. Back in early 2000, I had gone through some dark times and my life was in a pretty dismal place. I hadn鈥檛 spoken to Jeff in about nine years up to this point. And out of the blue one day during this dark period, my phone rang and it was Jeff, there with a kind word and to let me know he cared and was always there for me if I needed him, and he meant it. He would have me over to his house periodically to check in with me and make sure I was doing OK. He really helped me move forward in life! We lost Jeff on March 13, 2014. I don鈥檛 know if I ever took the opportunity to thank him, so I鈥檓 thanking him now. Thank you for always being that bridge over troubled water, for me and so many more my friend! You are loved, you are missed and you are REMEMBERED, my friend! God bless! 鈥� Jeff King

Thank you, Jeff McCarthy, for being a truly great and much loved Legend of Auburn, New York! We miss you!