Island Dispatch, 2000-11-17

              Island DISPATCH Veterans Day page 5 Director page 17 Sailor page 15 56 Years As the Voice of Grand Island Award Winning Newspapers The Official Newspaper of the Town of Grand Island and the Grand Island School District Founded 1944 • Complete Community Coverage am. mil "" "Wim K!M__wttmmmtmmmmmmnmmm ■■ ■ *^ NOVEMBER 17. 2000 24 pages 65c Vol. 56 No. 29 (716)773-7676 Seneca Land Claim-Grand Island obtains special counsel by Christopher Marquis Grand Island will now have a place at the table in deliberations concerning the Seneca Land Claim of the Island. The case is now being argued in U.S. District Court with Judge Richard Arcara presiding. On Tuesday, Supervisor Peter McMahon issued a press release announcing that the firm of Phillips, Lytle, Hitchcock, Blame & Huber LLP will be the special counsel for the Town of Grand Island. The legal representation will be provided at a cost to the state. . The firm's lead attorney will be Michael Powers, Esq.. Powers has more than 15 years experience in commercial litigation, and has been a partner at Phillips, Lytle since 1988. He has assured the town that the full resources of the firm will be available to assist the town in this matter. McMahon credits Town Attorney Peter Godfrey of Hodgson, Russ, Andrews, Woods & Goodyear LLP with recommending the special counsel. "Godfrey found out we were entitled to legal representation paid for by the state," McMahon told the Dispatch. He noted that Hodgson, Russ will continue to serve as the town's counsel in all other matters. "I would be remiss if I did not recognize the efforts of Hodgson, Russ, Andrews, Woods & Goodyear - and in particular - Town Counsel Peter C. Godfrey," McMahon stated in his press release. "They have put a tremendous amount of work into this issue. I would also like to acknowledge the cooperation of the entire Grand Island Town Board." The decision to seek legal representation in this matter was agreed to unanimously by the board. Councilman Richard Crawford said that the counsel will serve as a check and balance, on the state and county, and assure that Grand Island's interests are in the forefront."We are fully represented now," he said. "In some cases, our Grand Islanders favored Bush, Lazio, Woolworth According to unofficial election results from the Grand Island Town Clerk's office, Grand Islanders would have favored Republicans in seven of the nine Election Day contests last week. Residents gave at least a plurality of votes to George W. Bush, Rick Lazio, and Bob Woolworth, even though Lazio and Woolworth both lost decisively in their elections and Bush is in an as-yet too-closeto-call race for president. Only 13-term incumbent Congressman John LaFalce and 4term incumbent Assemblyman Sam Hoyt managed to win Grand Island support as Democrats. Bush, who appeared on both the Republican and Conservative party lines in New York State, won 48.7, percent of the vote on Grand Island (4514 out of 9269). Island residents favored him over Al Gore, who netted 46.1 percent (4277) on the Democratic and Liberal lines. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader took 4 percent of the vote (369) while five other candidates earned only fractions of one percent.Congressman Rick Lazio was Political Island Grand Islanders' choices of candidates for elected office differed from those of most voters in some key races. Republicans tended to fair better on the Island than overall, particularly in the race for U.S. Senate and State Senate. All statistics presented here are unofficial figures. Results of Grand Island elections are courtesy of the Town Clerk's office. United States President U.S. Congress, 29th Grand Island: District Bush(R) 48.7% Grand Island: Gore(D) 46.1% LaFalce (D) 57% Nader(G) .4% Sommer(R) 43% Overall:* Overall: Gore(D) 49% LaFalce (D) 61% Bush(R) 48% Sommer(R) 39% Nader (G) 3% TT . , „ „ State Senate, 57th District: United States Senator: Grand Mand. Grand Island: Woolworth (R) 33% Xazio(R) 52.6% Brown (D) 32% Clinton (D) 45.9% Coppola (C) 32% °vera,h Murty (RTL) . 3% Clinton (D) 55% Overall: Lazio (R) 43% Brown (D) m% Coppola (C) 23% Woolworth (R) 15% Murty (RTL) 2% *: Figures from the presidential election are not final, since ballots are still being counted in a number of states. Again, all results are unofficial. Island-wide Thanksgiving Service this Sunday The Grand Island Ministerium is sponsoring an Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service on Sunday, November 19, at 7 p.m. at St. Timothy Lutheran Church, located at the corner of Stony Point and Staley Roads. According to Pastor Doug Stewart of St. Timothy, the service will be one of thanksgiving and praise, and will involve clergymen, choir members, and other parishioners from St. Timothy, St. Martin-inthe-Fields Episcopal Church, St. Stephen's Roman Catholic Church, Emmanuel United Methodist Church, Trinity United Methodist Church, Island Presbyterian Church, and Riverside-Salem United Church of Christ. The service will feature the first sermon to an Island-wide ecumenical congregation by the new pastor of St. Stephen's Catholic Church, Rev. Paul Nogaro. The service will also include choral selections by a joint choir from Island churches. The collection taken during the service will go to the Neighbors Foundation of Grand Island. Gail Lazenby, a Director of the Neighbors Foundation, will present the offertory prayer. The Grand Island Ministerium has recently sponsored a "Crop Walk" to raise money for the local food pantry run by the Neighbors Foundation on Grand Island and several inner city soup kitchens and food pantries. It has held the annual Island-wide Thanksgiving Service for several years. The Neighbors Foundation is also set to help 50 or more needy families on Grand Island with food and gifts for children this holiday sea son. The foundation's food drive and gift drive asks residents to "Share Their Happiness" through donations. Donations are being taken at the Nike Base on Whitehaven Road. Call Linda Tufillaro at 773-9680 for more information. For more details on the Thanksgiving Service or the Ministerium, please contact Rev. Paul Robinson at Trinity United Methodist Church, 773-3322. ALL ARE WELCOME - St. Timothy Lutheran Church will be the setting for a Thanksgiving Service this Sunday. Reverends from several different churches on the island will be present at the service, and the collection money will go toward Grand Island's Neighbors Foundation, to help local families in need. continued on page 2 continued on page 2