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Local Elected Leaders Offer Differing Approaches to Reducing Violence

By Mark Scott

Buffalo, NY – In the wake of several drug-related killings over the past few weeks, including the murder of Sister Karen Klimczak, Erie County Executive Joel Giambra is calling for a serious discussion about legalizing drugs. Giambra says to do anything else is to pretend that current anti-drug efforts are succeeding.

Local law enforcement officials disagreed with Giambra's assessment.

But another prominent public official is weighing in with a more measured response to the problem. State Senator Dale Volker is calling for the hiring of additional parole officers to monitor released prison inmates.

Volker says the current caseload for the average parole officer is 75 to 100 parolees. He says that's an impossible number that has parole officers working with both hands tied behind their backs.

An ex-convict who was staying in the halfway house Sister Karen ran on Buffalo's East Side has admitted to killing her last Friday. Craig Lynch, 36, is alleged to have been in Sister Karen's room at the Bissonette House looking for valuables when she surprised him.

Lynch had been released from the Wyoming County Correctional Facility, where he had served time for vehicle theft.