Island Dispatch, 1999-07-23

              Island DISPATCH The Officiai .Newspaper of the Town of Grand Island and the Grand Island School District 100 Years & Counting page 5 Golden "X" page 9 Fighting For First page 12 55 Years As the Voice of Grand Island Award Winning Newspapers JULY 23, 1999 20 Pages 65C V01.55 No. 14 (716)773-7676_ Complete Community Coverage RIDING HIGH - Wednesday's Annual Lions Club Picnic that hosted handicapped children from all over Western New York was a hit again this >ear at the Buffalo Launch Club. Food, fun, and frolic abounded for 1,048 children who were clearly entertained. Sparks Trading Post, Inc. provided the horse rides. Here, Dinorah Santos from School 84 rides atop Andy the horse as Past District Governor Paul Barnas steadies the stead. Jill Lochran, right, led several of the children on their horse rides. See pages two and three for more photos and story. PROGRESS IN THE TOWN CENTER - The corner of Grand Island Boulevard and Baseline Road was bustling with activity this week as P. Rail Contracting Services, Inc. prepares the land for the new Eckerd's store. The 12,000 square foot building is expected to open sometime in October. Learn how to beat the 'Bug' It's the stuff of anxiety attacks — employees without paychecks, production schedules screeching to a halt, businesses going belly, up. Hype? Why wait to find out? Ignoring the Year 2000 Bug could lead to the disruption of everything in your business that uses a computer chip-machines controls, time keeping systems, communications, security systems - the list goes on. Fortunately, Western New York small businesses have an ally in the fight against this confounding computer glitch — the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Small Business Administration. To battle the millennium bug, the Grand Island Chamber of Commerce, the New York State Business Development Center, and ;,the Town of Grand,.lsland is offering a no-nonsense action planning, assessment, and remediation project planning workshop on Wednesday, July 28, at Grand Island Memorial Library at 7 p.m. On Tuesday, Gary Astridge ofthe Grand Island Chamber of Commerce, Councilman Mike Heftka of the Small Business Administration, and Hank Carroll of the Supervisor's Economic Committee, held an informal public hearing in the Town Common area to announce the upcoming program.Heftka explained that each person attending the workshop will receive a "Conversion 2000: Y2K Jumpstart Kit." The kit contains everything you need to jumpstart your Year 2000 project and is contained in an easy-to-use compact disk. Leading the session will be Jim Sharpe, systems engineer for the Sweet Home School District; CPA Christine Learman; and Councilman Heftka. This workshop is critical to your Y2K preparation. For more informations-call Peter Jehrio, Executive Director, Grand Island Chamber of Commerce, at 773- 3651. BUG SQUASHERS - On Tuesday, Gary Astridge, of the Grand Island Chamber of Commerce, Councilman Michael Heftka, of the Small Business Administration, and Hank Carroll of the Supervisor's Economic Committee, met to officially introduce a workshop that will help battle the predicted Y2K Bug. The workshop is set for Wednesday, July 28 at the Grand Island Memorial Library.  Town gives Tops go ahead to build larger store on Grand Island by Rick Forgione On Monday, the Grand Island Town Board gave site plan approval for a new Tops Market at 2140 Grand Island Blvd., leaving at least one Island resident disappointed.Before the vote, John Lexo, an Independence Party candidate for- Town Councilman, asked the board to table the matter and take a closer look at some of the safety issues. He admitted he had no objection to a new store being constructed, but told the board the current plan would endanger residents. One of the issues Lexo brought up is that the current site plan for the new store does not include an access road connecting to Baseline Road. Despite the Department of Transportation not requiring the access road, Tops had agreed to look into purchasing property to allow the access and alleviate traffic problems. . After the unanimous vote, Lexo accused the board of "giving the whole bag of candy away" by approving the plan without a Baseline access. He pointed out that Tops has been given opportunities to purchase land on Baseline that would allow them to create the exit, but turned all the offers down. The site plan, which was approved by the Planning Board on continued on page 2