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JUNE 8-15, 2018
VOLUME 3 ISSUE 23
Your Hometown Newspaper
The official newspaper of the Town of Concord and the Village of Springville, serving Springville, the surrounding communities and Springville-Griffith Institute Central Schools
SCA Gala June 9
We There was a noticeable amount of excitement from SGI students who went to France and Italy when they presented to the school board on Tuesday. A five-minute slideshow had dozens of photos of students having a good time overseas, and a pair of them talked to the board about their experiences. They also thanked the school board for approving the trip, and kudos need to also go out to the teachers and chaperones for organizing it. • Also on the subject of the school board, there was some lighthearted yet focused discussion at the end of the meeting about looking at the possibility of switching to paper straws. While cafeteria contracts and costs are hurdles in doing this — and we won’t get into the plastic versus paper debate — the fact the school board is supporting students who presented on the topic earlier this year is commendable. • The 5th graders were off this week on their annual class camp-out, and rain or shine, we’re sure they had a blast and made many memories with their friends, classmates and teachers! Have good news to share? Email us at info@ springvilletimes.com or stop by our office at 65 E. Main St. in Springville.
UPCOMING EVENTS June 9 SCA Gala June 9 Relay for Life Little Valley Fairgrounds
Looking for great fun for a great cause this weekend? Check out the Springville Center for the Arts’ annual Gala! Twenty years ago, artists, volunteers and members of The Springville Players cut the ribbon on a rented storefront space to create Springville Center for the Arts. Since that time, the organization has expanded to include several buildings, in-school programs, visiting artist residencies, professional staff, and programs encompassing workshops, theater productions, concerts, exhibits and more. The organization will be celebrating this milestone at their 9th Annual Gala and Mini-Golf Tournament on Saturday, June 9. The event includes food, drink, entertainment and a nine-hole mini-golf course crafted by local artists.
SGI Board Approves Preliminary Smart Schools Plan, Talks Potential Full-Time SRO BY RICH PLACE The SGI School Board of Education on Tuesday approved a preliminary plan on how the district will spend $1.69 million from the state’s Smart Schools initiative and also agreed to continue conversations about potentially hiring a full-time school resource officer. JoAnn DePue, director of technology, data and assessment, presented to the school board on the Smart Schools Bond Act, a referendum approved by the state in 2014 to provide funding for school districts to improve technology and infrastructure. With no deadline and essentially a new administration at SGI when Smart Schools was first approved, district officials took more time than other districts in fine-tuning a plan after realizing the district’s technological needs. The result is $1.17 million in spending on classroom learning technology that will focus on increasing mobile devices; spending $300,000 on infrastructure improvements and spending $200,000 on network fiber overlay work and improving energy power backup. “We really have thought about a long-term plan in order to spend this money over time to make it more sustainable for the district,” said DePue. The bulk of the plan centers around increasing mobile devices — whether it be tablets or Chromebooks, for example — and upgrading labs. The classroom learning technology aspect of the plan retains a five-year replacement plan for devices. The upgrades will aim to reduce the amount of learning spaces that have
See Gala page 10
See SGI Board page 6
Village Board Hears Results of Local Business Survey BY RICH PLACE The Springville Village Board on Monday learned more about what new businesses village residents, as well as nearby non-residents, would like to see as well as their overall thoughts on the local business climate. As a surprise to most on the village board, respondents of the survey conducted by Valient Market Research concluded that a new gym or fitness center, as well as a new ice cream shop and coffee shop, ranked near the top of the most desired new businesses. Village board members held discussion with Keith Schoonover, who presented on behalf of Valient Market Research, about the survey’s accuracy and how the data was acquired.
The survey consisted of 183 total respondents, with 100 of them being non-village residents who live within 25 miles of Springville. The other 83 were village residents, of which 52 took the survey online and the other 31 were contacted via telephone. The survey was conducted during the month of May. Village board member Nils Wikman questioned the legitimacy of the survey given the number of respondents, stating his thoughts that a sample size of only 83 in a village of about 4,000 was “way too small.” Schoonover contended the percentage of respondents in relation to the village size
said. “It’s somewhere around the order of a plus-minus 4 percent, which is stronger than what most political polls are that represent the
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BY JOLENE HAWKINS
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Christopher Stone’s son, Lucius Stone, who was born in Springville
PAGES 4-5 Athlete of the Week Season wrap-ups Club soccer
Emerling
actually led to more accurate numbers than traditional national polls. “Eighty-three people does represent a community of 4,000 statistically,” he
Celebrating the ‘Father of Concord’
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June 17 Father’s Day June 21 Last day of school for students
Erie County Legislator John Mills speaks with members of the Springville Village Board during its meeting on Monday. Photo by Rich Place.
See Village Board page 10
June 10 Hike for Hunger Sprague Brook
195 West Main Street, Springville, NY (716)592-2881 www.emerlingcdjr.com
Kids Can Make a Difference ...see page 3
The term “hiraeth” is a Welsh word which means a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was or the nostalgia, yearning or grief for the lost places of your past. When we remember the past, what do we really think of? Was it cookies with grandparents on a old porch, or the feeling we had as we ate them, sharing stories and laughing? When you go back home, is the feeling the same as it was 25 years ago? Has it changed? Does it fill the yearning you had? As I research the old newspapers and other archives, I wonder what to write, how to create articles for our readers and what it is they want to remember. I did not grow up in this area so it is all exciting to me. I want to create an article that will light up readers’ eyes and give them a warm feeling. I hope that I am doing so. With Father’s Day fast approaching, let’s take a look at just how and when it started. A Father’s Day celebration was held at the YMCA on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Wash., by Sonora Smart Dodd. Her father, civil war veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who raised his six children. Sonora was also a member of Old Centenary Presbyterian Church — now Knox Presbyterian Church — where she first proposed the idea. After hearing a sermon about Anna Jarvis’ creation of Mother Day See A Look Back page 6
DAD THIS FATHER’S DAY T A E R T TH *Hats *T-shirts *Hoodies
JUNE 17
*Gift Certificates
*Mugs *Clocks *Signs
Sales Hours: Mon. & Tues., Thurs. 9-8, Wed. 9-5, Fri. 9-5, Sat. 9-4 Service Hours: Mon., Wed., Fri. 7:30-5, Tues. & Thurs. 7:30-8 Sat. 7:30-4