Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 109

ROCHESTER METRO EDITION WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1993 35 CENTS NEWSSTAND I infill lift! Stealers run Bills expecting game in trenches ID, 3D Some sun High about 38 Details on 6A Stadium debate irks chief of ieaoue Bells closing? Threat worries shoppers on S. Clinton Ave. 10B rata frafeG oDfi Mobley faults plan for Silver By Jim Mandelaro Staff writer International League baseball president Randy Mobley says he is discouraged by renewed efforts to keep the Rochester Red Wings at buver Stadium. "I've not been a proponent of Employee abducted, later left at Greece restaurant Police search area for 2 or 3 armed suspects that, Mobley said yesterday by phone from Dublin, Ohio. "I don't think it will get the job done." The Red Wings must meet stringent Major League Baseball facility standards by April 1, 1994, or risk losing the 107-year-old franchise.

Assemblyman David F. Gantt, D-Rochester, favors renovating 64-year-old Silver Stadium and having Monroe County take over owner ROBBERIES PLAGUE N.Y.C. 8A 1990 HOLDUP UNSOLVED 9A ship of it from 1 1 ti ill the Wings. Mobley believes this would be a quick fix at best. "To simply meet the standards is to buy a year or two and delay the problem." he aVab" Randy Mobley 1 said.

"It won't bring any new fans in and it won't give the ballclub the amenities necessary to market the team in the '90s." Gantt said a renovated Silver would include such amenities as skybozes and a sprinkler system. "We're talking about most of the stuff that's in the other packages. But my job is to look out for the taxpayers. I'm not so sure we need things like 4,100 parking slots. Cost becomes prohibitive." While Gantt strongly favors keeping the Red Wings at 500 Norton St, Mobley would prefer to see the team move to a downtown loca- I a-H; til'': i I i if' ft 40 I 1 J.

1 By Steve Mills Staff writer A Brinks Corp. armored car facility was robbed of a reported $10 million last night by masked suspects who apparently gained entry simply by knocking on the door, authorities said. Police officials said two or three armed suspects may have been inside the cement-block building on South Avenue, just south of Interstate 490, for as long as a half-hour, tying up Brinks employees while loading the bagged cash into a van. It was the second major heist of an armored car company in Monroe County in less than three years. The June 1990 robbery of an Armored Motor Services of America truck in Henrietta, in which $10.8 million was taken, remains unsolved.

Police sources, who asked not to be identified, said one employee a former Rochester police officer who retired in the early 1980s was abducted from the service center then dropped off at a Greece restaurant and bar. A second employee was subdued, and several others were tied up. None of the other employees was hurt, police said. The abducted employee, identified by sources as Tom O'Connor, was left in the parking lot of the Brook House Restaurant, at 3968 W. Ridge Road, with a bag over his head, police sources said.

He walked on his own into the restaurant, then was taken to Park Ridge Hospital, where he was being held overnight after complaining of heart pains. Police officials declined to comment on O'Connor, saying publicly only that they had heard an employee might be missing and were investigating that possibility. Later, they said that all the employees had been accounted for. Early this morning, Greece and Rochester police had the area surrounding West Ridge Lanes Restaurant Party House, 4232 W. Ridge Road, sealed off so they could search the site.

Farther to the east at the Brook House, city police were searching a grassy site with K-9 dogs. Capt Robert Goldfinger, city staff duty officer, said Rochester police were working with Greece police, but declined to comment further. Merritt Rahn, Greece public safety commissioner, said his department was called to the Brook House about 9 p.m. "We got a call that a person in the Brook House, who was apparently involved in the robbery, was dropped off there by ROB on page 8A 1 tion. "If all things are equal, the club should stay and needs to stay in Monroe County and Rochester," he said.

"But I'm not convinced all things can be equal. "Lf you have options A and and keeps dragging its feet, that's not equal as far as I'm concerned." Fred Strauss, chairman of the board of Rochester Community Baseball said he agrees that Monroe County should assume ownership of Silver. "We can't afford to own our stadium," Strauss said. "That's a given. We've tried it and we haven't done very well at it." Strauss is reserving judgment on whether the Wings should stay at a renovated Silver Stadium "until the city and county present more facts and figures." "But we can't just meet the minimum (major-league) guidelines," he said.

"There would have to be more than that" Mobley says the International League will not get involved in the stadium debate until the club fails to meet the major-league standards. SILVER on page 7 A Kami SchMy Staff photographer Officer checks a Brinks truck outside the armored car facility on South Avenue last night. Thieves got in building by knocking on the door. Other big robberies June 1990 Robbers made off with $10.8 million In cash from an Armored Motor Service of America truck In Henrietta. The truck's driver was Albert M.

Ranieri. The holdup occurred not far from the home of Albert B. Ranieri, the driver's father. The case has not been solved. July 1987 A parked armored van containing $415,000 was stolen from Tops Market at 1900 S.

Clinton Ave. In Brighton. About $120,000 was recovered from the unmarked Total Facilities Services van when it was found later that day. The employees had left the van to fill an automatic teller machine. A defendant was convicted, officials say.

I November 1990 An armored car courier was robbed of $34,000 In cash and $161,000 in checks by two men In the downtown Sibley Tower building. I December 1981 Two armed men stole about 20 bags of cash and checks worth about $196,000 from an Armored Motor Service of America Inc. vehicle parked at a Star Supermarkets Inc. store in Plttsford Plaza. INDEX The Brinks Corp.

I uL- sl Armored Car facility -OlT 1 at 370 South Ave. was 1 the site of a reported -JTjJl '490J $10 million robbery, V-wP last night sometime Vvyc around 7 p.m. Jtfcxfe III MZm CLASSIFIED 6D COMICS 5C CROSSWORD 5C DEATHS 2B EDITORIALS 1 OA HOROSCOPE 4C MOVIES 4C 2A N.Y. LOTTERY 1C INSIDE 11A LETTERS ID SPORTS 3B SUBURBS 2C TELEVISION 6A WEATHER Dvnnl R. FkM Staff graphic ALSO TODAY: OUR TOWNS borhoocl osvchic aot hunch about heist This paper is printed in part on recycled paper fibers and is recyclable in Monroe County.

Recycle your newspapers. The Others near South Avenue amazed by news of robbery Monroe County recycling hotline is 254-4225. To subscribe to the Democrat and Chronicle or Times-Union, call 232-5550. Outside Monroe County can 1-800-767-7539. Christine Cannon said she felt some down over her ears and a worn cloth chic and spiritual in the area, but she 1 Copyright 1993 Gannett Rochester Newspapers Four sections thing.

It was the kind of telepathic hunch she gets when everything is about to go haywire. But she thought it would be something minor, like a car wreck or maybe a drug deal so she was a little surprised when she saw all the cop cars and their flashing lights. "I'm a psychic," the 58-year-old said. "I work with the police all the time." She was wearing a red knit hat pulled didn't pick up any specific details about the robbery. She poked around the edges of the crime scene, though, walking the balconies of the nearby Downtown Motor Lodge, peering over the shoulders of television reporters, looking suspiciously at passersby.

"Nobody's your friend around here," she said quietly as a man walked past "It's a bad area. "I'd move but I have a cat and I don't have enough money for a security de- coat wrapped tight around her body. She lives in a rooming house just down South Avenue from the quiet little Brinks building that last night became the scene of a large armed robbery, netting as much as $10 million. "I was telling that cop over there I was picking up something," she said, standing outside the police tape that cordoned off some three blocks around the Brinks building at 370 South Ave. Cannon said she felt something psy- posit." Back on the comer of South and Mt Hope avenues, Dave Gardner stood like a kid at a fair, smiling broadly as he shivered against the cold.

Two lines of police cars sat across the street and a pair of technician vans idled in the Brinks parking lot "This is amazing!" he said. "I never knew they had money there, I thought it was just a maintenance place. I been living here a long time and I never SCENE on page 9A jl MW BOB LONSBERRY.