Look at this card. A fly shit on the corner. It's no good! Damn lawyers! Thus pontificated the flamboyant, white horse riding, cursing ex-minister E. Dent Lackey, mayor of Niagara Falls, during a heated meeting on a union matter.This is but one incident chronicled in this fascinating modern history of Western New York.In Niagara County, the old Board of Supervisors was deadlocked after an election produced an equal number of Republicans and Democrats. The ensuing political melee would have been hilarious if not so serious.The author covered the politically astute James K. Murphy, the first Democrat elected Sheriff of Niagara County in decades. A railroad engineer by profession, he became a top law enforcement officer and political force. Kostoff became embroiled in a labor dispute, which involved Bill Miller, a congressman who later became Barry Goldwater's vice presidential candidate. The author had the first story indicating the impending environmental doom at the infamous Love Canal. Later, he worked out of the Buffalo office covering many top police stories as well as school, government and political affairs not only in Buffalo but in many of the Erie County suburbs.Read all about four decades of important events at the end of the 20th century as well as scores of scintillating features, many about ordinary people. Perhaps your name is among the hundreds chronicled in these pages.