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Gowanda News /Saturday, December 06, 2014
‘WHAT IS THAT?’
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WEEKEND FORECAST FRI SAT SUN 39o/33o 40o/32o 40o/34o Partly cloudy
VOL 12 NO. 48
Mostly sunny
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Toy Collection under way
Tolerating noise in Collins By Mary Pankow
GOWANDA NEWS EDITOR
PHOTO BY MARY PANKOW
FOR A MERRY CHRISTMAS — A toy drive is under way in Gowanda for children in need. The Gowanda Police Department and Gowanda Lions Club teamed up to spearhead the drive. In addition, Gowanda Ford is offering free oil changes for those who bring in unwrapped toys and non-perishable food to fill up the pickup on display in their showroom. Jesse's Toy Box is also working with Gowanda Police to bring some of the toys collected to Santa after the Dec. 5 tree lighting in Chang-Hu Park. In front row are Nicole Wielkie, left, and Diane Winter. Standing are Police Officer Sean Campas, Officer-in-Charge Steve Raiport, Community Bank employees Dana Bellinger, Beth Federowicz and Branch Manager Ralph Swanson, Jesse's Toy Box owner Dave Gabel, Gowanda Lions Club members Peggy Luther and Zandra McCormack, Gowanda Ford representatives Greg McClure General Manager Pat Riter, and Lions members Dave Williams, Arnold Smith and Ed Palen. (Missing from photo are Lions Sandy Gaylord and Jane and Dan Sion, Gowanda Mayor Heather McKeever and Gowanda Police Officer Earl Farina.
Mostly sunny
At its Dec. 1 meeting the Collins Town Board heard a complaint about a noisy rock band playing loud music into all hours of the night, making an undue disturbance. The residents said that calling the police had little effect, as the police told them that with no laws on the books in Collins restricting such behavior, there was nothing that they could do. This led to quite a discussion as most villages do have such laws. Town Supervisor David Tessmer stated that writing such a law in an agricultural community would be a bit tricky, because of farm machinery and such, but he promised to research the problem and hopefully be able to remedy it. The public hearing regarding the adoption of an up-to-date code book on the town laws and policies gave some clarification on how this new system would help. One important feature that was explained is that the town code would be online and therefore easily accessible, and updates could be done as easily as making corrections on something being written on a home computer, without having to re-publish
a new code book every time a new regulation is passed. There were no new building permits issued in November. Town Clerk Becky Jo Summers reported transactions in her office in November came to $4,472.50, of which the town’s portion was $3,328.77. In other matters the board: • Resolved to submit to Erie County Civil Service a PO 17 establishing the position of Recreation Supervisor Part Time for the Town of Collins. This will eliminate the need for positions of Head Counselor and a Head Cashier. • Authorized the Supervisor to sign the agreement with the Town of Evans to provide Emergency Dispatch Service to the town for the years 2015-19. • Approved a budget modification moving $528.92 from Compensation to State Retirement allotments. The next regular meeting of the Collins Town Board will be on Monday, Dec. 15, at 7 p.m. in the Collins Town Hall. The town hall will close at 1 p.m. on Christmas and New Year's eves (Wednesdays), and will be closed all day on Christmas and New Year's days (Thursdays). The next trash day will be on Saturday, Dec, 27.
North Collins Trap Shoot team visits C-LV BOE checks spending By Megan Pankow-Walker NEWS CORRESPONDENT
At the regular meeting of the Cattaraugus-Little Valley Board of Education meeting held on Tuesday, Nov. 18, board member Eric Pritchard introduced members of the Franklinville School District’s Trap Shoot team and its advisors. One advisor, Alan Ciesla, also a New York State Trooper, addressed the board regarding this concept as an opportunity for students in the district to have a “sense of belonging … and build character education: responsibility.” Ciesla continued to say, “The program is for students aged 12 and up … and there is no try-outs to get on this team, if they want to participate, they participate.” The board responded to Ciesla and the others representing the trap shoot club that the proper channels would have to be taken in order for the board to take action on the idea, beginning with a letter of student interest. Until the chain of action is followed, Board President Cheryl Wilder
said, “No action will be taken by the board.” Following the public participation was the Principal’s reports. Elementary Principal Aaron Wolfe began the reports by showing a large piece of paper that had drawings and pictures on it from a kindergarten class. Wolfe interpreted the paper and its content to the board, saying it was a vote the students in the classroom held on whether they wanted to ask to have a turtle or a fish in their room. Wolfe then said he sees this paper as having five skills displayed, including: emergent writing and reading skills (understanding letter sounds and language acquisition); voting skills (what is voting and how and why vote); math skills (concept of numbers and putting numbers to ideas); art skills (putting images to ideas); and political acumen (how does life work, how do we get what we want?). This warranted Wolfe’s praise to this class and called it “impressive for a group of kindergarteners.” The classroom will receive a
turtle for their classroom. Three more classrooms in the elementary building will also be receiving a reward for their hard work of attendance. After a First-Quarter attendance contest, it was determined that there was a three-way tie for first place, a 98 percent attendance rate, for the quarter. A pizza or ice cream party will be given to the classrooms with the support from the PTA. Grades 5-7 Principal and Director of Special Education Gayle Pavone presented next to the board, allowing Grade 7 Math teacher Tim Miller to discuss his success with the iPads in his classroom. The pilot program through BOCES has allowed the students to have iPads to conduct school work and participate in class through the technology. Miller says he has seen an improvement in student achievement with the access to the iPads, and has seen students who once rarely turned in assignments, now turn them in on time and more frequently and believes students “have been learning a lot, and I think it’s fantastic and a boost for
our kids.” Pavone said she would like to see the iPad program continue, but is aware that it would cost approximately $20,000 in order to do so. Pavone continued to say over half of the students in grades 5-7 were on the Merit, Honor or High Honor roll this quarter. As for special education, Pavone did mention progress reports were not done in a timely matter and the goal for next quarter is to have them out at the same time as report cards. High School Principal Tony Giannicchi was last to report and started with handing the board a State report showing a post-graduate data count of students who were enrolled in a post-secondary institution four years after graduation compared with the number of students in a graduating class. Giannicchi said he would like to see exposure to options given, starting at sophomore year so there is more time to plan and take appropriate and/or related class to support their plan.
See “C-LV BOE” on page A2
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
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OBITUARIES ............................................SECT. SECT. A PAGE 11
CLASSIFIEDS ............................................. SECT. B PAGE 4
AROUND TOWN........................................ SECT. A PAGE 9
POLICE BLOTTER ..................................... SECT. A PAGE 3
LETTERS .................................................... SECT. A PAGE 4
REFLECTIONS .......................................... SECT. B PAGE 8
SECT. B PAGES 1-3 SPORTS..................................................SECT.
EDITORIAL ............................................... SECT. A PAGE 4
By Larry Wroblewski NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Holding a Saturday morning meeting on Nov. 16, the North Collins Town Board approved a $1.8 million budget for 2015 and kept the tax rate relatively flat, with an extra infusion from reserves. The board sought a lower rate by calling for an identical budget from this year, only to see the tax rate rise. That situation was brought about by a change this past year in the formula the State allows for assessment of gas wells. Supervisor Rosaline Seege explained that assessments are based a year behind. “Two years ago the winter was mild so gas production went down. We should see the assessments rise next year due to the very cold weather last year,” she said. To generate the budget the town used $424931 from the previous year's surplus and projects revenue of $443,807. That leaves $932,437 to be raised by taxes.
Per thousand rates in the town will be 6.191942 or approximately $619 on a $100,000 home. That is up from 5.904090 this year. Village home owners get a small break as their rate is set at 3.430086, down from the current 3.655404. Fire protection rises as well. The 2015 rate will be 1.422687 up from the current 1.401398. While the Refuse and Garbage service provider will receive a contractual increase, homeowners will see a slight decline with a $161.53 rate per unit. This year's rate was 161.81. The change is due to new builds erected over the past year. While contractural personnel costs rose. The town has realized savings in changing the health insurance plans of employees as well as expecting significant savings as Helmuth Fire Control is disbanded early next year. Of the budget, Town Clerk Margaret Orrange, who has not always been in agreement with the Supervisor said, “Rose, you've got a good budget here.”