Island Dispatch, 2005-02-11

              Island DISPATCH Phone: (716) 773-7676 • I ax: (716) 773-7190 * K-Mail: MPNcwsO _ lmail.com Founded 1944 • Complete Community Coverage 60 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 Health Official Speaks to Rotary Page 5 Pushing 100 Page 23 - "volem/fie. ; ■:«*r-3i ._ FT? V01.60 • No. 47 February 11, 2005 SI.OO 24 Pages Town has plan to provide police protection if county can't by Karen Keefe With county funding for sheriff's road patrols in jeopardy, Grand Island has its own alternative plan to guarantee public safety. The Town Board on Monday night approved adding to its Civil Service job inventory either 12 seasonal police officers at 40 hours per week or 30 seasonal positions at 19 hours per week. They would take the place of sheriff's deputies assigned to Grand Island if the deputies lose their jobs as a result of Erie County's budget crisis. "The goal is to have two officers on duty 24/7," said Supervisor Peter A. McMahon. To achieve that, the town would need to hire nine seasonal officers who worked 40 hours a week, or 27 officers scheduled in at 19 hours apiece per week, McMahon said. The town put three more officers in the job inventory, both at 40 and 19 hours, to give some leeway in hiring. The officers, as seasonal employees, would not receive benefits.The board would use between $350,000 and $500,000 from the town's reserve fund to hire the police officers, depending on the hourly rate. The town has a fund balance of about 15 percent of the town's $5.39 million annual budget - roughly $800,000, McMahon said. . The supervisor said the town would use the two existing patrol cars from its Town Police department, plus a third that is on order. Normally, the new car would replace one of the older ones, but all three will be kept in the fleet to get through the short-term needs. All three would be equipped with the Sheriff's Department frequency on their radios. County Shutting Down The county is shutting down all but mandated services to close a $109 million budget gap a sales tax increase originally was designed to close. When the 1 percentage point tax hike to 9.25 percent failed to win the needed 10 votes from county legislators last week, county government began dismantling. That process is expected to put more than 1,000 people out of work initially and cut services to the bone. Sheriff Patrick Gallivan won a temporary court order to stop the layoffs in his department. But even if he successfully halts the layoffs, there is no county money to pay the deputies' salaries. Town's Alternatives Deputy Town Supervisor Richard Crawford said the Town Board has been studying alternative ways to provide essential services since the possibility of county layoffsfirst loomed in November. The board met with department heads and discussed how to cover services such as police road patrols, Sheriff's Deputy Terance Guenot and his K-9 Corps assistant, Rikor, are on duty at the Erie County Sheriff's Grand island Substation. Guenot and the other'deputies assigned to the Grand Island district have received their layoff notices from the county due to the ongoing budget crisis. Grand Island has an alternate plan to provide police coverage for the town by allocating money from the reserve fund to hire police as seasonal Civil Service employees, (photo by Karen Keefe) Kaegebein recopized for accomplishments by Lisa Otto In the midst of preparation for the 2005-06 school budget, the Grand Island School Board took time to celebrate and promote the accomplishments of students, teachers and residents, particularly those involved with Kaegebein Elementary School. Later in the agenda, 'budget updates were given on operations and maintenance, transportation and food service. District staff coordinators and volunteer recruiters, including several past and present district teachers, were honored and recognized for their support with the November 2004 Kids Voting USA. The program, created in 1988, uses the classroom as a tool to educate students on the concepts of citizenship, civic responsibility, and the significance of, political participation.High Student Participation By allowing students to become active in the election process by casting mock ballots on Election Day, they become familiar with the system and have a higher potential to vote as adults. This school district alone saw 54.82 percent of its students participating, which  sponds with 51.6 percent of American voters under the age of 30 who voted, a 9.3 percent increase from 2000, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. Another agenda item concerned with the advancement and performance of future leaders was a .PowerPoint presentation prepared by Kaegebein Principle John | Wiertel and explained by Academic I Intervention teachers Heidi Fiedler and Janet Gorfien. The presentation provided an overview of the reading and math programs being administered to help students who may have struggled on New York State assessments or in the classroom.The "push-in" program provides students additional assistance and specialized practice, combined with and administered in conjunction with existing lesson plans in order for students to gain more from classroom instruction without being separated from their classmates. The "pull-out" program, on the other hand, provides students with a chance to become comfortable with the material without the embarrassment of falling behind other students, and allows them a safe environment in which to ask questions and work more exclusively with the teacher in order to solve problems. The Listening Line Gorfien, along with teacher Andrea Solecki, spoke about the Listening Line, a fairly new program created to increase students' listening and writing Skills. The continued on page 2 as* continued on page 2 __=• I At a Glance j Saturday j Special Friends j (And Family!) J Valentine's Party | Whitehaven Road Baptist Church 1 1290 Whitehaven Road j 2 to 4 p.m. j Tuesday River Lea Quilter's Guild Meeting Grand Island High School cafeteria 1100 Ransom Road !7 p.m. For a complete listing of area events, visit NFP's Web site at www. wriypapers, com (nHH Associate Broker ■«* do you need to buy or sell a j IbPISJm #1 Island Agent in the & home? j ' «B rw*Jil Top Selling hland Company ' I MSI 743-7321 SKmmmm A • cali Linda Kutebach, she knows | 628-1719 KB«*> how and would love to help you j In This ' ■ - ™^:- te^ 111 ■ SlHF ■■WwB™ W Celebrating Hometown Life - ' ■ . . ' . .. ,