“Ooooh,” the youngsters gasped. Then “Watermelons? Grown in water?” several asked.

That’s right, said Rich Kolceski, owner of Hydroponic Shops of America on Erie Boulevard East in DeWitt. “I’ve got sunflowers growing in water in my store. Anything you can grow in the ground, you can grow in water.”

“Sunflowers? Wow,” one pupil said.

Kolceski recently talked to nearly 50 sixth-graders in the classes of Mary Jo Hoeft and Rosemarie Murray at Driver Middle School in Marcellus about the science of hydroponics, which is growing plants in nutrient-rich water.

Before long, he had them planting zinnias, peppers, lavender and sunflowers in what will become a hydroponic garden.

Source: Syracuse

YORKVILLE — Sam Yafai said he was sitting near the front window of his grocery store, Sam’s Mini Mart, Sunday evening when he saw a car pull up slowly near his Whitesboro Street business.

As the next few minutes unfolded, the grocer would be attacked — and would fight back, police and Yafai said. “The man came in and I stood up to face him and he jumped over the counter and pushed me down,” Yafai recalled the day after the incident.

Yafai said he was kicked in the ribs and a demand for money was made. “He said, ‘I want all your money. Give me your money!’” said the native of Yemen. “I told him, ‘Take it! Take it! I’m just an old man, I don’t want any trouble.’”

Source: Utica OD

UTICA — As former Rome lawyer Robert P. Moran Jr. was sentenced in federal court Friday for helping to distribute methamphetamine in Oneida County, he spoke of the lives he ruined with his drug addiction.

“I want you to look at my mom and dad and tell them they’re not victims of my drug abuse,” the 48-year-old Moran said in U.S. District Court, while his parents sat behind him. “I alone am responsible for what I did. The buck stops here.”

Moran was sentenced to six years in prison for bringing methamphetamine from Arizona to the Rome area between 2002 and 2003, then giving it to others who would either use it or further distribute it.

Source: Utica OD

Boy Utica sure is a great place to raise a family. Move to the 1600 block today or miss out!

UTICA — “A Utica couple has been indicted on sex abuse charges after a teenage girl was beaten during a sexual assault in December, according to Oneida County District Attorney Michael Arcuri.

Gerard E. Hayward, 35, and Sabrina J. Robinson, 39, both of West Street, each face charges of first-degree sex abuse and second-degree aggravated sex abuse, as well as other counts of assault and endangering the welfare of a child, according to the grand jury indictment.

Investiga
tors with the Oneida County Child Advocacy Center said they believe Hayward hit the teen two times in the head with several objects, including a metal tire rim, after she returned without marijuana she was supposed to sell Dec. 16. ”

It has also been reported that anal sex was forced over and over again.

Source: Utica OD