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I meant to note this earlier, when the article on District Attorney George Dentes was posted. He does not in any way "pander to the town's base of leftover 1960s radicals and ivory-tower multiculturalists." I know him personally, and he is an honorable man and dedicated "law and order" public servant (and actually more conservative than I am!). He keeps getting re-elected because the majority of people throughout the county are happy that he does his best to put the bad guys away. Even some of the ivory tower folks, I am sure, quietly vote for him because they know he is the best choice to keep them safe in their Cayuga Heights mansions.

Dentes does the best he can within the framework of the legal system and the tools he has to work with. BTW, he will be seeking a retrial for the folks who got off on a hung jury for throwing their blood at the military recruiting station. He will certainly get a lot of sh*t from "the masses" around these parts, but he knows right from wrong and is never afraid to put his beliefs into practice.

Good points on Dentes.

I think he dropped the ball a little on this case, but some of that might be the stonewalling that Cornell clearly engaged in.

In any event, he does deserve credit for trying those scumbags who threw blood on the American flag.

I used to be a prosecutor. Dentes finessed this case. He could have handled things a lot differently, but he didn't. He's a political operator who sought to avoid scrutiny from the same people who were hysterical over Patricia Morris, the black woman who was assaulted by three whites in the summer of 2002. Who, by the way, Dentes charged with felonies and hate crimes, and went to prison for six months.

Just before I posted this column, I talked with a local lawyer who has known Dentes for eons. He said -- I quote this verbatim -- "George Dentes has the backbone of an overcooked piece of linguini." I felt a lot better posting it after that.