Michael Vick appearance at Butler sports card store draws activists ire

THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2011

BY STEVE JANOSKI

Staff  Writer

If throngs of animal rights activists line up outside of Main Street's Butler Sport Cards doors to protest Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick's autograph signing on June 19, store owner Jeff Robbins said he'll be ready for it.

Armed security guards will be on site, and the ButlerPolice Department has been made aware of the potential for problems that might stem from the controversial football player's appearance; already, opponents have created Facebook groups that are trying to "spread the word" about the signing and attempt to gather protesters.



Vick, who is among the NFL's elite quarterbacks, accepted a plea deal in 2007 in relation to running a dog fighting ring that put him in jail for just over 18 months.

Since his release in 2009, the quarterback has clawed his way off of the bench and back to prominence, and is now the Eagles' leader and franchise player. Some fans say that between the prison sentence and his restart at the bottom, he's paid his debt to society.

To others, specifically dog owners or animal rights activists, Vick's debt will never be repaid.

"Michael Vick has a lot of audacity to show up in the good state of New Jersey to make more money than he already has at an autograph signing!" cries the Facebook page "Sick Vick the Dog Abuser Coming toButler NJ." "If you have waited for your chance to let Michael Vick know what you think, this will be your opportunity to have your voice heard!"

About 50 people have replied that they'll be "attending" the protest.

To Robbins, however, it's just business, even if he thinks what Vick did was wrong.

"He's the most desired autograph in all of sports...and Michael Vick has fans, period," he said.

Robbins said that he respects the right of the people to protest, and agrees with them that what Vick did was "100 percent wrong," but he's got the right to have Vick come to his store and sign autographs.

"This is what I do for a living, this is how I pay my bills and support my family," he said. "Whether it's Vick, or Eli Manning, or any other player in any sport, what they do in their personal life is what they do in their personal life. It's not my concern, and if a player is desired...that's what I'm paid to do."

Robbins said that he's done numerous signings with Vick already, and that to him, it's clear that the 30-year-old star has matured far past what he was.

"In my eyes, he's a different person. He never used to want to be bothered, but now he'll stand there and take pictures with his fans, talk with his fans...he's not doing the wrong things that he used to do," he said.

Robbins, who is a season-ticket holder and diehard New York Giants fan, has already had Mario Manningham in for an autograph session, and plans on having Giants running back Danny Ware in store on June 3.

However, he has to pertain to the fan base, and there are a lot of Eagles fans. He expects around 200 people to come in on that Sunday afternoon for autographs on helmets, photos, and jerseys. Tickets for the event start at $90.

There will always be people who hate Vick for what he did, and that's fine, Robbins said. He even applauded the animal rights activists for caring as deeply as they do about their cause, but he is worried that someone might take things too far, especially when attempting to interrupt the signing.



"(The protestors) think they're going to block the entrance to my store, and stand on the sidewalk... theButler Police have said that cannot and will not happen," he said.

He's heard enough of it from the countless phone calls he's been getting at his business, on his cell phone, and at home-but there's "not one chance in hell" that he's going to cancel the appearance.

"I have people mailing things in from California to be signed...I'm here to make my customers happy, not to argue with protestors," he said.

Robbins said that it's also likely that he's going to donate 5 percent of the total made from the session to charity, although he isn't sure which one yet. It may end up being an animal rights group.

"These people will never forgive Michael Vick, and that's their opinion," he said. "In my eyes, he changed, and everybody deserves a second chance."

Whether local animal rights activists will look at it the same way remains to be seen.

E-mail: janoski@northjersey.com

Butler waiting to hear of grant program's fate

Wednesday, March 30, 2011
BY STEVE JANOSKI

BUTLER- Budget cuts in Washington might be trickling down to Butler's streets a little sooner than anticipated as the federally funded Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is on the congressional chopping block — and what's become a regular source of grant money to improve the borough's infrastructure may soon be eliminated.

The program has been very kind to Butler over the past decade. Since 2000, the borough has received 10 grants totaling $985,000.

These grants have gone to provide funding for a variety of infrastructure projects such as the 2002 installation of the Main Street water main and 2007's $80,000 replacement of the Carey Avenue firehouse roof.

The money's not free — the borough often puts up a percentage of the projects' final price tags — but it has been consistent.

At the Borough Council's March 15 meeting, however, Administrator Jim Lampmann told the governing body that the federal faucet might be dry and that funding for the program might disappear entirely in 2011.

'These are not superfluous projects'

Sabine Von Aulock, the director of the Morris County Division of Community Development, said that in 2010, Morris County received $2,453,876 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the CDBG program.

What the 2011 number will be will vary drastically depending on what budget Congress passes, and several proposals are currently being batted around the Capitol.

The grants are awarded in four categories: improvements (for municipal infrastructure), services (which fund adult daycares, battered women's programs, etc.), facilities (such as public health facilities), and housing (which funds the county's Homeowner Rehab Program, among other things).

Von Aulock said that the 2010 monies ended up funding 31 projects: 12 were for municipalities, while 19 were for nonprofits.

However, the House of Representatives has, in its zeal to cut the budget, taken aim at the CDBG, which is required to serve low- and moderate-income areas, and proposed a 66-percent funding cut.

It's likely that in this scenario, Morris County would receive just under $835,000. Of last year's projects, only 11 would have been able to be funded with that money.

Ironically, N.J. Congressman Scott Garrett (R-5) has proposed eliminating the funding outright, which is the doomsday scenario for Von Aulock.

The U.S. Senate has made its own proposal, however, that would only cut funding 12 percent and would likely leave the county with close to $2.15 million to dole out.

"There's all kinds of speculation, and I cannot pin my hopes anywhere. But these are not superfluous projects," Von Aulock said. "It's water mains and roads, and towns are relying on these."

"(The funding cut) may be a deal-breaker for them," she said.

'The work needs to be done'

Lampmann said that he, along with Borough Engineer Paul Darmofalski, made a presentation on March 7 at the Morris County Division of Community Development in the hopes of securing nearly $80,000 in grants, but that this was before he knew the funding might vanish.

"We don't know where that stands," he told the council, "(but) the hope is that our presentation wasn't wasted for a program that's going to go away."

The grants, if the borough receives them, would go toward relining the very old (and now leaking) brick manholes in the neighborhood of Arch and Main streets; the project is important, he told Suburban Trends, because sealing off the manholes stops fresh water from infiltrating into the sewer system.

"Any groundwater that leaks into the system is fresh water, and you're paying to treat that," he said. "If you can stop that (leakage), that's money down the road you're saving."

That is, of course, if the borough can afford to fix it.

Although the council has long talked about the project, other issues have been more pressing. Last year, $80,000 in CDBG money went toward replacing the water main on Bartholdi Avenue, a project that took precedence because Butler's century-old water lines continually cause water pressure issues.

Lampmann said that the federal cuts will directly impact Butler taxpayers. Officials over recent years have rued the decisions of prior councils to not keep up on infrastructure improvements, and they don't plan to follow suit.

"This (money) will have to be raised through a bond, and that's the route that we'll go. The work needs to be done, and it will have an impact on taxes," he said. "You don't want to continue going along without making (infrastructure) improvements."

E-mail: janoski@northjersey.com