Island Dispatch, 2001-01-12

              Island DISPATCH Mercy Flight page 3 Rotary Students page 8 I Champs J* page 12 JANUARY 12.2001 56 Years As the Voice of Grand Island • Award Winning Newspapers. 20 pages ■SI - Foundedl944® Complete Community Coverage The Official Newspaper of the Town of Grand Island and the Grand Island School District V01.56 No. 37 (716)773-7676 Moore Corp. closes research facility on Grand Island by Christopher Marquis About 130 employees at the Moore Research Center will lose their jobs over the next few months as the facility closes. Early Thursday, the 300 workers at the center were notified that the corporation had decided to end work at that location and to release almost half of the employees. The other workers at.the facility will be relocated to either the other Moore building on Grand Island Boulevard or elsewhere in the region. The action by Moore's new »M«Bi»s*d©ii*<«»d<*Gß©;4tebert-"Burtori" is part of his nation-wide commitment to reduce company costs by $100 million. The stand alone research and development facility on Grand Island will be a large step in that direction, according to a Moore news release. "By eliminating the research facility, we are taking a significant step in reducing operating expenses. Immediate savings from the action are expected to be $12 to $15 million through the elimination of projects that do not support our core business and the elimination today of approximately 130 research-related positions. An additional financial benefit should be generated from the sale of the building later this year." Company spokesman Stephen Forbes told the Dispatch that the facility will be closed over the next six months, as severance packages are negotiated and the remaining workers are transferred. The termination of the 130 employees will take affect in early March. "Part of the plan is to reduce overall costs. It is no longer cost effective to keep the stand alone research and development facility on Grand Island," he said, adding that the corporation wanted to become "more responsible to customer needs." Town Supervisor Peter McMahon said that the Moore closing was unfortunate. "Moore has always been a good company. The entire community is going to feei the impact of the closing of the facility," he stated. McMahon said that he .had met with local leaders like State Senator Byron Brown, Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, Erie. County Legislator Charles CLOSING ITS DOORS - The Moore Corporation is downsizing, and has decided to close its research center on Lang Boulevard. About 130 workers will lose their jobs. Residents criticize new Wilson Farms project by Christopher Marquis About 50 people gathered outside the conference room of Town Hall Monday to raise objections to the pending approval of construction of a new Wilson Farms store. Most of the residents objected to the location of the project, which is intended to be built at the corner of Ransom Road and Stony Point. Gloria West of Queens Drive believes that the area should be kept residential. "We came over here to get away from commercialism," she told the Dispatch. "Keep business in the business district. Why put it in the middle of a residential area?" "Property values are going to decrease," said Andrea Martinez of Ransom Road. "I moved from Buffalo to this area because I wantedwanted to have a rural area for my children."Martinez believes that a new Wilson Farms would become a hangout for students, because of its proximity to the Middle School and High School. She also stated that she would not shop at the convenience store there, because Tops is only four minutes from her house. William Lock of Ransom also CONVENIENCE STORE CONCERNS - Grand Island residents speak to Councilman Michael Heftka about a.plan to build a Wilson Farms convenience store and gas station at Stony Point and Ransom Road. . Girl Scouts do good for Grand Island Giri Scout Troop 437 of Grand Island recently completed their Silver Award project. The girts collected toys on Grand Island and the Tonawandas. They were able to give about 60 less-fortunate families a memorable Christmas. Pictured are Kelly Frantz, Nicki Tales, Amanda Finn, Lt. Bill Garrett, Angela Cribbs and Jen Farrell. The toys were distributed through the Salvation Army in Tonawanda. Knights of Columbus hold soup-er event The Grand Island Knights of Columbus held an all-you-can-eat soup dinner to raise funds for its many charitable projects. Members also presented a check to a charity organization that works with handicapped children. Pictured here, John Dormer serves up "bottomless" bowls of soup to Knights and their families. Grand Knight Paul Klock {seated, wearing tic) enjoys the meat and friendly conversation. We have more pictures and details of this event on page 7. continued on page 2 continued on page 2