Island Dispatch, 2001-11-02

              Island DISPATCH GIFTS Give Children a Smile Page 3 Meet the New Ambassador Page 21 The Farmer's Almanac predicts: Warm/Showers j l ■ ■ (•-.■■. Ph0ne:(716)773-7676 • Fax:(716)773-7190 • E-Mail: NFPNctts@aol.con_ Founded 1944* Complete Community Coverage 57 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 Vol. 57 No. 36 November 2, 2001 • 44 Pages The Grand Island of yesterday paved the way for today by Jon Sandino Grand Island's 150 birthday is inching closer, but the celebration is already beginning. Plans for the sesquicentennial bash started close to a year ago. At that time a committee was selected and a plan was set in place. Shortly after the selection of the committee, came the creation of the Sesquicentennial Logo Design Contest. After weeding through 135 entries, the committee narrowed the field down to three before selecting the winning logo. As the dog days of summer approached, the plans to launch this gigantic bash continued to fall into place. Through all of it, the committee continued to live by its theme: "We only get to do it once, so lets do it right." More pieces of the puzzle were set into place as early fall approached. Suddenly it was October, and the first event was a mere three weeks away. Then came Saturday, Oct. 27, the date of the first official event of the Sesquicentennial 2002 Bash. The Scubiduck Regatta, which was organized by Linda Tufillaro, supervisor of the Grand Island Recreation Department and the was held on the East Niagara River, near the South Grand Island Bridge. Through the course of late summer and early fail, little yellow rubber ducks could be purchased then released during the regatta. . According to Tufillaro, a total of 372 scuba ducks were purchased, with the proceeds to go towards future sesquicentennial activities. Despite below normal temperatures and damp conditions, three boats embarked onto the river for the hour long event. The award for the individuals duck that made it to the shore first was a family four pass to Fantasy Island. Colette Falters duck helped her capture the grand prize. Other top finishers that won The Niagara River was the site of the scubiduck regatta, the first event of Grand Island's Sesquicentennial 2002 celebration, (photo by Marion J. Woods, artcraftimages.com) Did you know Grand Island almost Hosted the Pan-American Exposition? The following article was printed in the centennial issue of the Island Dispatch on Aug. 28, 1952, it was a reproduction of an article that appeared from an old newspaper clipping from 1900: Grand Island still maintains its big lead as the most popular site for the Pan- American Exposition. Riverside Park, which had dropped to third place, has now regained its former position as second, with the Driving Park site third and Stony Point fourth. The only other change in the list today is the Elias site has gone ahead of the Front, As the time draws near for the selection of the site by the committee, the interest increases, and votes come in faster and faster, A large package of votes came in this morning, but to late to be counted. They will be duly credited in next Friday's list, • Since Sunday, 1,618 votes have been received, which makes the standing of the several sites today as follows: Grand Island : 5,982 Riverside Park, Lower Black R0ck...2,734 Old Fair Grounds, or Driving Parfc.,2,098 Stony Point, South Buffalo ..1,991 Rumsey Site, near Delaware Park....t,170 North, or Delaware Park , ~.515 Elias Site, South Buffalo 380 The Front, Porter Avenue ;'...„200 Cayuga Island, near La Salle 200 Depew- 137 Cheektowaga.., , ~...54 Gerhard Lang Stock Farm , 33 Squaw Island, Black Rock .....', 9 South Side Park. .6 Red Jacket Park, South Buffalo .- 2 Total Vote Cast ~15,786 School and town boards gather for joint meeting by Jon Sandino On Monday night, the Grand Island Board. of Education members and the Grand Island Town Board members met at the Sidway Dining room for a joint meeting. The individuals in attendance quickly realized the meeting was more informative then action based. The only issue on the agenda that had potential for action to be taken was the Ransom Road parking issue in front of the high school. . This has constantly been a problem over the past few years for residents that live across the street from the high school. They have been seeking "No Parking" -to be put in place. This issue was brought up at a September board of education and town board meeting, however, neither side was content on making a decision until both parties discussed the issue. During Monday's meeting, town board members Mary Cooke and Mike Heftka explained why they felt it should be discussed before a decision was made. "If we put parking signs up in front of the school then people will park across the street. Then they'll have to cross the street which puts them at even greater risk," Heftka said. "We have to come up with a better solution than slapping no parking signs on one side of the street," Cooke said. "If we do that, the safety concerns won't be solved." In the end, both board's agreed to refer the issue to the School Safety Committee for further review. "We'll collect information and start to do more studies on it," Jack Burns said. E-Mail Alert Address One of the more interesting portions of the meeting came when the e-mail alert address issue was discussed.The Grand Island School District is looking at creating a web site where students could turn if they feel others are students are in danger or may cause danger. The board of education members all agree an e-mail system would provide more privacy than a telephone hotline. "In every single case of school violence... there were students in the schools who were friends of the people involved that had advanced knowledge," Town Supervisor Peter McMahon said. "If we have this e-mail address, maybe somewhere down the road it will get used and it will save us from a tragic event." continued on page 16 (&" continued on page 16 «3P Week-j i * " lance Saturuay Kaegebein PTA 12th Anaual Craft Show Kaegebein Elementary School, 1690 Love Rd., iO a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday ■ 1 Holiday Bazaar ' I Grand Island Senior Center, . > 3278 Whitehaven Rd. !! a.m. to 4 p.m. . Tuesday 'Voices of Freedom' Grand Island High School j auditorium,. 1100 Ransom Rd., 7 p.m. ' Presented by Huth Road Elementary School to honor veterans and the victims of the recent tragedy Election Day 2001 l RE-ELECT If mi I " • ELECT ' : T~ZT~~ RAY DLUGOKINSKI . \ KEN GARTER »: • > HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT - HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT  PAID FOR BY THE FRIENDS TO ELECT RAY DLUGOKINSKI BaJB I | PAID FOR BY THE FRIENDS TO ELECT KEN CARTER mWLLJ§m