THE POST-STANDARD Tuesday, February 15, 2011 THE POST-STANDARD PAGE A-3

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LOC AL INSIDE
Steven Pieper, of Clay, is indicted
in the murder of his ex-girlfriend,
Jenni-Lyn Watson. A-9

Call for Council

applicants draws 31
Thirty-one Syracuse city
residents responded to the
call for new applications to
fill a vacancy on the Syra-
cuse Common Council,
bringing the total number of
applicants to 59.
Majority Leader Kath-
leen Joy called for a second
round of applications
Thursday after council
Democrats were unable to
agree on a candidate from
among the first group of 28
contenders. The deadline
Motorist arrested in death of Grimes grad
Andrew Prior, 23, was
killed by a hit-and-run
driver in November.
By Charles McChesney
Staff writer
Boston police arrested a
man they said is responsible
for the killing of a Syracuse
man in a hit-and-run accident
in November.
Colin Ratiu, 23, of Boston,
was arrested Friday, three
months after the crash that
killed Andrew Prior, 23, a
graduate of Bishop Grimes
High School.
Ratiu was charged with
motor vehicle homicide and
leaving the scene of a motor
vehicle accident after causing
a death.
Boston police had asked the
public for help several times
since the crash. ‘‘Investigators
asked community members to
assist this investigation by
being on the lookout for a gray
or silver Hyundai Santa Fe
(2001 to 2006 model), the ve-
hicle used in the accident, and,
thankfully, many did,’’ Boston
police said in announcing the
arrest.
Prior graduated in 2005
from Grimes and in 2010 from
Northeastern University with
degree in sign language.
He was riding a scooter
through an intersection shortly
before midnight Nov. 14 in
Boston’s Roxbury section
when he was struck. The SUV
did not stop after striking
Prior.
Prior was pronounced dead
at a Boston hospital shortly
after the crash.
Prior’s brother, John, said
Andrew was just beginning a
career as a sign-language inter-
preter.
In November, Boston police
said the preliminary investiga-
tion indicated the SUV was
traveling at a high rate of
speed and likely had heavy
front-end damage.
Contact Charles McChesney at
cmcchesney@syracuse.com.

Speedy
Fewer Paws on Patrol
was 5 p.m. Monday.
The at-large council seat
has been open since Bill

response
Ryan resigned Dec. 31 to
take a job at City Hall. An
election will be held for the

saved
position in November, but

the council can appoint
someone to complete
Ryan’s term.
Democrats, who hold a
6-2 voting majority, control
the process but thus far
have failed to agree. Joy
said councilors will likely
interview a limited number
of the new applicants, as
they did with the first
group.
There is no deadline, Joy
said, but she would prefer
to see a decision ‘‘as soon
as possible.’’ One option
would be to leave the posi-
tion unfilled.
Car slides on ice
into child in stroller
Car accident reports
poured in across Central
New York Monday evening
as temperatures plunged
from the day’s high of 48
degrees to below freezing
by 10 p.m.
Icy conditions at Park
and Mary streets in Syra-
cuse may have contributed
to a close call for a
3-year-old. Police said a
13-year-old was pushing
the toddler in a stroller and
entered the path of a car
which was unable to stop
before the car lightly tapped
the stroller.
The children were un-
hurt, said Sgt. Gary Bulin-
ski, who added that the car
and the stroller were un-
damaged as well. The cry-
ing toddler was taken to an
area hospital as a precau-
tion, he said.
CBA students learn
about disabilities
Students at Christian
Brothers Academy will
learn about what it’s like to
live with a disability during
their physical education
classes today.
Greg Callen, founder of
Move Along Inc. who was
left paralyzed after an acci-
dent, will speak to students
and lead 3-on-3 wheelchair
basketball demonstrations.
Callen founded Move
Along to help people with
disabilities take part in
physical activities and learn
life skills.
Callen was invited to the
school by Christian Broth-
ers Academy eighth-grader
Christina Kim, who is a
Move Along Inc. partici-
pant.
Sheriff’s Office
retires 3 from
its K-9 unit,
shifts positions
By Rick Moriarty
Staff writer
Budget cuts eliminated 20
patrol deputy positions at
the Onondaga County Sher-
iff’s Office this year. And
now they’re hitting the de-
partment’s K-9 unit.
The department has cut
the size of its K-9 unit from
eight dogs to five in the last
several months.
Three German shepherds
— Gabo, Gabi and Jesse —
have been retired, leaving
the unit with four shepherds
and one bloodhound.
‘‘Given the economic
times and given the cutbacks
— we’ve lost 20 positions in
the police side of the house
that were eliminated from
this year’s budget — it just
puts us in a position where
to have to rethink everything
we’re doing and how we’re
doing it to meet our man-
power,’’ Sheriff Kevin
Walsh said.
He said the unit has had
eight dogs as long as he can
remember.
The reduction to five dogs
will not save the department
a lot of money — just veter-
inary and food costs. But it
has allowed the department
to reassign three dog han-
dlers to regular patrol posi-
tions that otherwise would
go unfilled, Walsh said.
When not responding to
calls specifically requiring a
K-9 unit, the department’s
dog handlers have always
been available to answer
other types of police calls.
But now one sergeant and
two deputies are available to
answer patrol calls all the
time, the sheriff said.
The unit still has four dog
handlers (one handles two
dogs).
Walsh said the retired
dogs will be kept by their
handlers as pets.
The useful life of police
dogs is eight to 10 years,
and the three dogs that were
retired were approaching the
end of their careers. Gabo
MIKE GRAHAM, an Onondaga County Sheriff’s deputy, demonstrates a training ses-
sion with the K-9 unit Thursday at the heliport in Warners. The dog, named Anita,
has been trained in the detection of explosives.
was nearly 10 years old.
Gabi was 8 years old. And
Jesse was 7 years, 6 months
old. However, during more
fiscally flush times, the de-
partment would have re-
placed them with new dogs
after a 13-week training
course, Walsh said.
‘‘They get to a certain
point where their working
life is beyond its prime,’’ he
said. ‘‘It varies from dog to
dog, particularly if they
have hip conditions and
those kinds of things and
they just get to a point
where they can’t do the
physical requirements.’’
One other dog, a shepherd
named Athos, is 8 years, 1
month old, and is nearing re-
tirement. He will be re-
placed.
The K-9 unit responds to
about 735 calls a years,
ranging from searches for
missing people, tracking
criminal suspects and build-
ing, drug and bomb
searches.
Walsh said the county
will call on the Syracuse po-
lice K-9 unit if a sheriff’s
dog is not available to an-
swer a call. The two depart-
ments have always assisted
each other. But the depart-
ments are hoping to formal-
ize that arrangement in a
memorandum of under-
standing, he said.
‘‘We long ago started
training together with K-9s,
and we’re talking about ex-
actly how we could work
out, in case our bomb dog
David Lassman / The Post-Standard
isn’t available and theirs is,
in case our drug dog isn’t
available and theirs is and
vice versa,’’ Walsh said.
Syracuse police said they
have no plans to reduce the
size of their K-9 unit, which
has seven dogs, all German
shepherds.
Nationally, there is a
trend toward cutting the size
of police K-9 squads to save
money, said Sgt. Tim Step-
ien, who supervises the Syr-
acuse police K-9 unit. But in
Syracuse, a reduction would
save very little money be-
cause all members of its unit
frequently answer regular
police calls, he said.
Contact Rick Moriarty at
rmoriarty@syracuse.com or
470-3148.
woman
Thick smoke hid Shirley
Cavaiolo from her rescuer
until he touched her.
By John Mariani
Staff writer
Quick action by a Skaneat-
eles police officer and effec-
tive work by firefighters are
being cited for rescuing a
woman from a fire Sunday and
saving the 195-year-old build-
ing that houses her home and
business.
Officer Eric Sharpsteen
crawled on his hands and
knees under the dense smoke
and up a staircase, where he
found Shirley Cavaiolo con-
scious but unable to find her
way out, police Chief H. Lloyd
Perkins III said.
Sharpsteen guided Cavaiolo
outdoors four minutes after her
husband, Frank Cavaiolo, dis-
covered the blaze in their
downstairs business, the
Chestnut Cottage gift shop at
75 E. Genesee St.
In that time, Frank Cavaiolo
hollered to his wife to get out,
rescued one of their cats and
telephoned Onondaga County
E-911 at 9:28 p.m. Driven out
by smoke, Cavaiolo then es-
caped the fire, Perkins said.
Skaneateles and other fire
companies arrived in moments
and brought the blaze under
control within a half-hour,
Skaneateles Fire Chief Eric
Sell said.
The building sustained fire
damage on the first floor,
where the gift shop is located,
and smoke, water and heat
damage upstairs, Sell said.
But the damage mainly is
cosmetic, said Jorge Batlle, the
village’s code enforcement of-
ficer. The wood-frame house,
its original portion dating to
1816, remains structurally
sound, he said.
Numerous additions, parti-
tions and staircases made the
fire difficult to fight, as did the
heat and thick, acrid smoke
produced by the building’s
old-fashioned construction,
Sell said.
According to Post-Standard
archives, the couple have oper-
ated the Chestnut Cottage
WOMAN, PAGE A-4
See a video from
the scene at
syracuse.com/video.

Snowman contest
to help Make-A-Wish
The first SquareMan
Contest, a snowman com-
petition to benefit the
Make-A-Wish Foundation
of Central New York, will
be held from 1 to 2:30 p.m.
Saturday at SugarMOST
Park in Armory Square.
The Sugarman Law Firm
is sponsoring the event in
which local businesses will
create snowmen for an
entry fee of $25 per team.
All proceeds will go to
the Make-A-Wish Founda-
tion, which grants wishes to
children with life-threaten-
ing medical conditions.
— Staff reports
Correction
An article Monday had the
wrong first name for a man
running for Skaneateles vil-
lage trustee. The candidate is
James Lanning, not Jeff Lan-
ning.
MPH head Baxter Ball, known
as advocate for kids, dies at 64
Both the private school’s
enrollment and endowment
surged under his tenure.
By Elizabeth Doran
Staff writer
Baxter Ball, the head of
Manlius Pebble Hill School in
DeWitt since 1990, has died.
Ball, 64, died either late
Sunday or early Monday, said
Susan Gullo, speaking for
MPH. She said he had been
suffering from a bad cold the
last few days, but hadn’t been
seriously ill. He broke his leg
before Christmas, but had re-
covered from that injury.
Faculty and staff learned of
his death early Monday after-
noon. Teachers plan to talk to
students today and have coun-
selors available at the school
for students and staff.
‘‘He was visionary, and was
a great believer in the potential
of all kids,’’ Gullo said. ‘‘He
wanted them to find their own
niche. He never said ‘no’ to
students: if they wanted to
start a bizarre club, he’d say
‘go ahead.’ He was a defender
of kids, and he was their advo-
cate.’’
Ball lived behind the school
and had three grown children:
Donald, Jonathan and Rebec-
ca. He was awaiting the birth
of his first grandchild, school
officials said.
Ball came to MPH from Al-
bany, where he was head of
the upper school at the Albany
Academy. He made significant
improvements at MPH. The
school had only one building
when he arrived. Since then,
three buildings have been
added: the Center for Early
Learning, a science building
and a humanities building.
Under his leadership, enroll-
ment surged from about 200
students to about 600 today,
and the schools endowment
went from several thousand
Angela Madonia / The Post-Standard, 2008
dollars to $4.7 million, Gullo BAXTER BALL, head of Manlius Pebble Hill School, died over-
said. When Ball joined MPH,
night Sunday. He was 64.
the school didn’t have any
full-time performance arts fac-
studied history at Kenyon Col- early days, Gullo said. He
ulty; he established a robust
lege in Gambier, Ohio. He re- taught classes about the history
performing arts department,
she said.
ceived his master’s degree of MPH to students.
Tracy Frank, the school’s
from Bowling Green State
MPH also was one of the chief financial officer, will
University.
first schools in the area to offer serve as interim head of
Chinese language instruction.
He loved to read, knew a lot school.
Ball loved American and about antiques and collected Contact Elizabeth Doran at
European history and art and memorabilia from the school’s edoran@syracuse.com or 470-3012.