Island Dispatch, 2006-09-22

              Island Dispatch $1.00 September 22, 2006 24 Pages Vol. 62 No. 27 f.T\. Niagara [fl DJ Frontier Pvblkations proud publishers of Niagara-Wheaffield Tribune Island Dispatch Lewision-Porter Sentinel Grand Island Penny Saver www.wnypapers.com For Home Delivery of the Island Dispatch Call 773-7676 St. Stephen's Fall Festival page 3 Award-winning essay page 10 Remembering 9/11 page 11 Local apple harvest fruitful by Susan Mikula Campbell Sweet, tart, juicy, crisp, aromatic - take a big bite. Fresh-from-the-trees apples are once again filling Niagara * Take another big bite. That old adage about an apple a day keeping the doctor away has merit. According to the New York Apple Association, studies have shown apples play a role in reducing cancer risk, keeping your heart healthy, improving memory, aiding digestion, hardening bones and giving you energy. Plus, they have no fat, sodium or cholesterol. Bake them, sauce them, slice them in salads, make apple butter,-even drink them when they're pressed into cider. Apples are versatile. "My personal favorite is right off the tree," says Peter Wagner, one of the owners of the family-owned Wagner Farm & Market Inc. in Sanborn. "Second is an apple pie." Wagner is now picking Mcintosh, Cortland, Gala, Macoun and Honeycrisp varieties and expects to begin picking Empires in the coming week. Specially Apples The popular, tart Macs account for about 20 percent of the state's apple production and Empires about 10 percent Honeycrisp is a new variety attracting more and more growers in the state. "Honeycrisp is probably the hottest apple on the market right now," said Wagner. If s his favorite variety. Sheri Senek of Senek Farms in Ransomvilie enjoys a busy day at Niagara Falls City Market, (photo by Dave Young) Dunlop grant bid gets town OK by Karen Keefe There's progress in the push to change the vacant Dunlop Building from an eyesore to an asset for Grand Island. The Town Board on Monday approved an application for a Restore NY grant that would commit more than $2 million to establish a "Gateway Center" for business on the Long Road site. The project aims to attract business to a prime commercial parcel on the north end of the Island, where the deteriorating Dunlop building has, for a decade, acted as a deterrent to economic development ~ Town Board members said if Grand Island is successful in securing the grant, the work could be done without cost to the taxpayers and the resulting commercial corridor would increase the town's tax base. Councilman Gary Roesch has worked on this project as liaison to the town's Economic Development Advisory Board. He said the state grant would allow the 74,000-square-foot Dunlop Building at 2761 Long Road to be prepared for a renter. Asbestos Abatement A sum of $1.1 million would be used for asbestos abatement and another $1.1 million for sewer line and lift station construction for the Dunlop Building and surrounding property between Long and Bedell roads west oftheThruway. Roesch, in his resolution to the Town Board, said the project would not only bring construction jobs but also "facilitate long-term, sustained GI wants fair share of NYPA funds by Karen Keefe Grand Island and four other municipalities are claiming hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from the Niagara Power Project. They held a news conference Wednesday to say they're going after what they call their fair share in compensation from the New York Power Authority, operator of the Lewiston plant. The five communities seek to recoup expenses they say they've incurred in dealing with the ravages of erosion and sedimentation, as well as skyrocketing water treatment costs resulting from water level and temperature fluctuations over past decades. Members of the Public Power Coalition put the Federal Energy Regulatory Agency on notice that they want big bucksand plenty of low-cost power to offset those damages. They want the compensation as a condition for reßcensing the Power Project for another 50 years. The license is up for renewal next year., Deputy Grand Island Supemsor Richard Crawford said the proposed relicensing settlement that showers benefits on Erie County and host communities in Niagara County "provides absolutely nothing" for residents of Grand Island, Tonawanda, Amherst and the cities of Tonawanda and North Tonawanda.Crawford said the Power Project's Draft Environmental Impact Shelagh Korman benefit A benefit dinner for Shelagh Korman, center, and her family raised ap- \ proximately $24,000 to help meet the family's medical bills for treatment j of Shelagh's stage 3 bone cancer. The benefit was held at VFW Post 9249 j Sunday. Seen in the photo with Shelagh are her husband, Don; son, Shawn; \ daughter, Kirn Tranter; benefit chairwoman Evelyn Swarts; and grand-daugh- 1 ter, Kayia Tranter. For more photos, see page 24. 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