Island Dispatch, 2001-03-16

              Island DISPATCH 65¢ Vol. 56 No. 46 (716) 773-7676 Golden Coeple page 8 Holy Donor page 5 : Royal Court page 9 - Founded 1944 • Complete Community Coverage _____———_ #■* M . ——_m. ai- an■ mm ill' la 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 Swanick presents Connections with $5,000 Erie County Legislator Charies M. Swanick met with members of Quality Quest on Friday, March 9 to present a check for $5,000 for their Connections Program. "Many Grand Island residents moved here because Grand Island offered them a great place to live, work, raise a family and enjoy life. 1 am pleased to present the final installment of, $5,000, to Grand Island Quality Quests program entitled the Connections," said Swanick. Present for the presentation of the check were (from left) Town Supervisor Peter McMahon, Erie County Legislator Charles Swanick, William O'Connor, Gene Ryshkus, and Connections facilitator Tom DeLoughry. (photo by Cassandra Fallacaro) Grand Island Corporate Bowl by Cassandra Fallacaro Students from Grand Island High School faced off in preliminary round of the 3rd annual Grand Island Corporate Bowl on Tuesday, March 13 in a battle of the brains. Nine team competed for three spots in the finals, which will take place on Tuesday, March 20 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Grand Island High School Cafeteria. Students were asked questions from a number of categories, including current events, science, math, history, literature, sports, and art. The competition began with three teams competing in a three round competition. Round one lasted for five minutes, with randomized category questions open to all participants. Participants were awarded five points for a correct answer with no deductions for an incorrect answer. In round two teams were awarded 20 points for each correct answer with no deductions for an incorrect answer. In round three teams .were awarded ten points for a correct answer and lost ten points for an incorrect answer. The students competing in this years Bowl are Drew Armusewicz, Christian Dommell, Danielle Henry, Katherine Yaksich, Anna Czapla, Jennifer Falvo, Scott McMichael, Sat Yugjit, Nicholas Hahn, Robert Kujawa, Lauren Mergel, Anna Quider, Lillian Choi, Cynthia Czapla, Joanna Micco, Shannon O'Brien, Jennifer Bullock, Jack Burns, Dan Legislature takes another step toward full elimination of county transfer tax Erie County Legislature Chairman Charles M. Swanick and several members of the Legislature filed legislation to begin Phase II of the plan to eliminate Erie County's portion of the Real Estate Transfer Tax. The resolution asks the State to file home rule legislation that would allow the county to remove the tax and asks the county attorney to work with the Legislature to draft a Local Law. "This January we took the first step. toward eliminating this tax, which creates hurdles to economic development and home ownership," said- Chairman Swanick. "Now we are working on steps two and three which will first cut the tax in half by January 2002 and then abolish the county tax effective January 2003." Currently Erie County charges $5 per thousand for real estate transfers. This is the first action aimed at reducing the tax to $2.50 per thousand next year and implementing full elimination by 2003. Double taxation previously occurred when a developer or home builder purchased a piece of land for construction and the same parcel was transferred to the new property owner. "At a time when the county is fiscally strong we must work to eliminate taxes," said Majority Leader Crystal D. Peoples (D- Buffalo). "We have received a tobacco settlement windfall, sales tax receipts are constantly growing and there is a significant budget surplus. Moving forward with Phase II of this tax decrease clearly makes sense." The county's Real Estate Transfer Tax was first enacted in 1990 as a dedicated source of funding to the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA). It has since been redirected to fund repair and maintenance of county .. Chorus captivates crowd at school board meeting plii'io and m>>i> b> i'.iti! i,.,i!i ■>-~ it .; ii . i * "l . . i IH.; IMIIII MI.W i.K-lIV-lXt.il V Scho >l Seleei ( hi'iii-. oniortinncd the (iiund island Sihiml Hoard and those in atiendanee dunns: \f,i[i;!a\ "■> -.eh.vol liu.iiii moi'tuiv: al I huh Ki'iid Scli. ■>>! The ehi>iu>. led h> Mi-> Cin'l ilurii;:an -.mj: "Ovei the K,iiiiiiii\\" ~0.;! ",.\ i, twr Alio " 'Hit (.liiirus .»;iiii' the Ins", Mli:: ;it (ir.iiui Island Vhi-uIV iceent peil'm ■ ■nance ■m""'i he Wi/.ud oil)/.' iiui in:! wh>eh the eliini". played ihe miiivhkuis \ hinldin:' vi'iklii'i'it Miivcv .no :..>!erv ii-puil U.I-. iM-i-ii linili;.- lhv: llUVnlly 1' v..!-. .iixl.'ll'.l llu". .'.!' ll'.'-seh(»>l di-sinef*. huildir.o.-. v-e:e i.ued i-a:i>l.!e!.,i\ nr \i\ ».laic ..l.:nJaiils ■\Un picsentcd Jiinns! ;he meetiii;.' were .iii'.er.ilnis-nis l<> Ihe pr.-posed 2i'Ui 2U0.2 selu...! liiul'-et •.'• dep.iilmi.iii .-.p. i.esivniile .'..Mew pi-ipuin1 item's Fii she buJ;i' !. in. ludni'.' ..ompiilei leilui' li's'v. disliut music, .ineialifii ,11k! inaisi teiMiite and n jn*.p.ni.ilioi: l':Ji\ idu i! .leins pi.'p.'ved me:ii'i'\l the liijih ■-.■■i.v•! s icnm. oui'-. piiid'avn': a >i.-v .vlleyhill s\ .lei.i !"i '.lie '":■;.!) ■...hi..■! Starline USA brings 100 new jobs to Grand Island Starline USA, a promotional products manufacturer and distributor, will invest nearly $4 million to relocate and expand its operation - on Grand Island, bringing with it 100 new jobs. "This is great news for Grand Island and for Western New York," said Erie County Executive Joel Giambra. Starline, a Canadian owned company recently embarked on a new product development strategy and aggressive marketing campaign that has significantly increased growth. To accommodate growing demand for its products, the company recently which was previously located in Niagara Falls completed the $1.9 million purchase and renovation-of an 80,000 square foot vacant facility on Alt Boulevard. The company is also investing $2 million for inventory to support increased production. "Starline has experienced explosive growth during the last three years. Our move to the Grand Island facility has resulted in increased operating efficiencies and true productivity improvements. We are.happy to.be a growing member of the Western New continued on page 2 continued on page 2 <on till ii <d mi pom 1 continued on page 2 Weekend at a Glance Friday LENTEN FISH FRY St. Stephen's Cafetorium, 2080 Baseline Rd., 5 to 7 p.m., (early bird admission 4:30 p.m.) HOLIDAY ACTION DAY Knights of Columbus Hall, 1841 Whitehaven Rd., 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday ST. PATRICK'S DAY DINNER VFW Post #9249, 2121 Grand Island Blvd., . 4 to 7 p.m. HOT SHOT BASKETBALL CHALLENGE Huth Road Elementary School, 1773 Huth Rd., registration begins at 9:30 a.m.