Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 26

DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 2003 DemocratandChronicle.com LOCAL 3B NEIGHBORHOOD NOTEBOOK IRONDEQUOIT Facelift closes clerk's office The Monroe County Clerk's branch office in Irondequoit will be temporarily closed to the public for remodeling this week. The office, at 545 Titus Ave. in the Hudson-Titus Mall, will reopen on Monday, Jan. 27. Customers are encouraged to visit the other branch offices in Greece and Henrietta, where employees have been redeployed for the week.

All offices will be closed Monday, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. PENFIELD Library to host archaeologist Brian Nagle, an archaeologist with the Rochester Museum Science Center, will discuss Penfield's prehistory during a program at the Penfield Public Library, 1985 Baird Road, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. today. Nagle has led archaeological investigations of land near Irondequoit Bay and of the Rothfuss Farm, which the town plans to turn into a park.

He will discuss some of his findings. The free discussion will be the first in a monthly series of talks on Penfield history sponsored by the library and the Penfield Heritage Association. For more information, call (585) 340-8720. Store sets King events A special Kids Story and Activities Hour for Martin Luther King Day will be offered Monday at Alpha and Omega Bookstore. The events, which will include music, will begin at 11 a.m.

at the store, 1601 Penfield Road, in Panorama Plaza. It is free and open to the public. For more information, call (585) 381-1250. GATES Library friends to sell books Friends of the Gates Public Library is sponsoring a winter book sale at the library meeting room, 1605 Buffalo Road. Thousands of books, magazines, records, videos and puzzles are available.

The sale starts with a Friends' night from 7 to 9 on Tuesday (people may join at the door). The sale continues from 1 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. Friday is a half-price day from 1 to 9 p.m. Saturday will be a Dollar-A-Bag from 10 a.m.

to 3 p.m. Admission is free. Hardcovers cost 50 cents, paperbacks 25 cents. Puzzles and records cost 50 cents, videos $2. Proceeds benefit the Gates Public Library.

For more information, call (585) Carol Ritter is ill. Her column will resume when she returns. If you have a news tip Contact the metro desk at (585) 258-2252 or (800) 767-7539 (outside Monroe County), or by e-mail at DemocratandChronicle.com. To find us online For more stories in the Local State Section, click on "Local News" a at DemocratandChronicle.com Compeer pits east vs. west Agency canvasses Eastview, Greece malls to sign volunteers.

BY STAFF WRITER SHEILA RAYAM GREECE Ask Tim Cook where he hails from and he'll be happy to tell you. "I'm a proud resident of the west side," the Chili resident said Saturday. Cook, vice chairman of the Compeer board of directors, was one several volunteers on hand at The Mall at Greece Ridge Center for the 2003 East vs. West Volunteer Challenge. The telethon-like challenge pitted residents from eastern Monroe County against those who live on the western side.

The purpose of the event was to recruit volunteers rather than solicit monetary donations. "What we need more than anything else is to find friends for people on our waiting list," said Ber- nice Skirboll, executive director of Compeer. Compeer, a nonprofit agency, matches friends and mentors with adults and children dealing with mental illness. Currently there are about 500 volunteers matched with Compeer clients. But there are 300 awaiting a friend, said Skirboll.

Compeer hopes to wipe out the waiting list by year's end. It got a good start on Saturday by reaching the East vs. West Chal- lenge goal of 100 new recruits. The east side team, working at Eastview Mall, won with 55 new recruits. The west side group signed up 45 folks.

By 12:30 p.m., the east side had 12 new volunteers to the west side's four. The total board at Eastview changed quickly within the hour, however, and the MOVING DAY AT MOTHERHOUSE 15 FACONIC HILLS VARSITY MAX SCHULTE staff photographer Sister Mary Joseph Helfrich, far left, gets help Saturday from Nazareth College field hockey player Jolyn Drake and Erin Howe, another Nazareth student, as she moves clothes into her room in new Sisters of St. Joseph Motherhouse on French Road, Pittsford. Old motherhouse was sold to the college. District OKs pre pre-budget talks BY STAFF WRITER down the budget again this The meetings will likely worked when the district be held at various schools held informal chats to disLAUREN STANFORTH year.

In May, the 2002-2003 and be smaller and more cuss the district's $119.5 GREECE The school budget failed 8,233 to 4,973. informal than regular bud- million building project in district will hold pre-bud- A subsequent resolution get hearings. The times, 2000. That project passed get community meetings in that would have lowered dates and locations of the overwhelmingly at the hopes of getting more res- taxes also failed in June. meetings have yet to be de- polls.

idents to support the bud- "It's going to be a tough termined. Board member George this year. year, and this is a sincere Board members hope the Hubbard, a regular critic of get The Greece Board of Ed- effort to reach out," said atmosphere will encourage the way the district deals ucation unanimously ap- Greece Board of Education residents to attend and with public, said he proved resolution at its Vice President Gerald Phe- freely express their opin- likes the idea of the meetTuesday meeting stating lan, who proposed the res- ions something that did- ings. that the district will hold olution. "The district has n't happen at the district's But he would like the the meetings in part to meetings after the budget November pre-budget district to provide enough communicate problems has been formed by the hearing.

Ten people spoke information to residents to with delays and decreases school district, but you at the hearing, and three help them understand the in state aid. can't change anything then. people talked about con- budget process. a But the board also hopes This gives the public the cerns with budget spendthat an open dialogue will opportunity to do just ing. E-mail address: keep residents from voting that." Phelan said the strategy DemocratandChronicle.com Charles Stockmeister, 88, dies Charles F.

Stockmeister, a former state assemblyman from Greece who was first elected to public office more than a half-century ago, died Thursday at the age of 88. Mr. Stockmeister, who resided in Clarkson at the time of his death, was most prominent in local political circles during the 1960s, when he served in the Assembly and built a reputation as an independentminded Democrat who could, and did, repeatedly win re-election in a mostly Republican district. "Politics was his first love. He enjoyed it.

He enjoyed every bit of it, maybe to a vice. If you wanted to say he was an old crony, he was an old crony. But back in his day, there were things that he did that were Alliance for gays turns 30, sets goals west side took the lead, 17. to 15, for a short time. Compeer volunteer and east side team member Debra Bonsignore wasn't worried at that point.

She was confident that the east side would be victorious at the end of the 10 a.m.-to-4 p.m. challenge. "Without a doubt," said Bonsignore of Irondequoit, when asked if the east side could come back. Bonsignore has been a Compeer volunteer for 10 years. Her east side team- BY STAFF WRITER BONNIE REDA The Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley has had its share of growing pains but its mission has never wavered: to eliminate homophobia and to advocate for gays and lesbians in the Rochester area.

Today, the alliance will hold an open house to celebrate its 30-year anniversary and kick off a year of special events. The celebration will run from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the GAGV community center, 179 Atlantic Ave. "It means a lot of people have worked for 30 years to get us to this point," said Susan Jordan, editor of The Empty Closet, Rochester's gay and lesbian newspaper, which circulates about 60,000 free copies a year. "We've grown from almost nothing to where the Gay Alliance is a full human-service agency." In 1974, after a year on Brown Street, the alliance and the The Empty Closet relocated to two rooms above a storefront at 713 Monroe Ave.

In 1990, the mate, Michelle Keller, has volunteered for a little over a year by being a friend to a Compeer teenager. "It has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done, no doubt," said Keller, 26, of Greece. Keller was a longtime Penfield resident, she said. On Saturday, she decided to represent the east side. a E-mail address: DemocratandChronicle.com If you go What: Open house to kick off the 30th anniversary of the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley.

Where: 179 Atlantic Ave. When: 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. today. Information: (585) 244- 8640. alliance purchased 179 Atlantic Ave.

for about $90,000. Its brightly colored orange, green and mustard walls house four offices, two meeting rooms, two bathrooms and a kitchen. Evelyn Bailey, a member of the board and chairman of the development committee, said the attitude toward gays and lesbians has changed over the years. Sixteen years ago, she said, "you had to be brave and have courage" to go to the Gay Alliance office. "You walked through a back alley, past garbage and trash, rang a bell and went up the back stairs," Bailey said.

"The new GAY, PAGE 6B Seminars to aid school leaders STAFF REPORTS very, very good," said his daughter, Sugar Moser. Mr. Stockmeister was an early champion of many causes combating crimes against children, holding down utility rate boosts, creating a state lottery to fund education, setting aside parts of the Adirondack Mountains as a park. A longtime foreman at Eastman Kodak Mr. Stockmeister was first elected a state legislator in 1948.

He lost a re-election bid two years later but returned to the lower house in 1960 and served there nearly nine years. He earned an important committee chairmanship and once was a candidate for the Assembly speaker's position. EXTENDED OUTLOOK We're home to 18 colleges and skilled universities. workforce More to Ph.D.s sustain and patents per of life capita and than just about anywhere. Plus a our way keep our prospects sunny.

Find out more at www.RochesterMadeForLiving.com. Rochester Made for TM 2002 Greater Rochester Visitors Association But he left the Assembly in 1969 to accept an appointment by Republican Gov. Nelson Rockefeller to the state Civil Service Commission. Angry Democrats said the appointment was a reward for Mr. Stockmeister's surprising support of a Republican-sponsored tax increase.

Both Mr. Stockmeister and Rockefeller denied any quid pro quo, but Mr. Stockmeister faded from public view after the incident. He served as a civil service commissioner until the mid-1970s, his daughter said. Not too many years thereafter, Mr.

Stockmeister suffered a debilitating stroke that left him unable to communicate effectively. Mr. Stockmeister was predeceased by his wife, Ruth. He is survived by his daughter, Sugar Moser; son, Franklin Stockmeister; a brother, Donald Stockmeister; seven grandchildren; three great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews, including David Stockmeister, who is the former chairman of the Monroe County Independence Party. Friends may call 2 to 4 p.m.

and 7 to 9 p.m. today at Thomas E. Berger Funeral Home, 735 East Hilton. A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Monday at St.

Leo Church, 167 Lake Hilton. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Rochester Children's Nursery Building Expansion Fund or the Crohn's Colitis Society. a STEVE ORR PITTSFORD The Leadership Academy of the Genesee Region, based at St. John Fisher College, is offering a series of seminars this winter for area school administrators and school leaders focusing on communications, school effectiveness and employee relations. "School P.R.

Tools for the 21st Century" will be the topic of Wednesday's session. Heading that session will be communications specialist Brian Woodland. "Making Good Schools Better" is the topic of the Jan. 27 session, featuring a discussion by Richard Hibschman, former superintendent at Pittsford and Scarsdale school districts. Employee relations training will be the focus of the Feb.

6 session, which will be led by Fran Murphy, executive director of the Leadership Academy and a professor in the graduate program of education at Fisher. Heading the March seminar, "Skills for Women in Administration," will be Suzanne Gilmour, head of the education administration program at State University College at Oswego. And author Joseph Hoff will base the March 18 seminar on his latest book, Dynamics of the Empowered School: Getting to the Core. All sessions will be held at the Rochester Yacht Club, 5555 St. Paul except for the Jan.

27 seminar, which will be held at Glendoveers at 2328 Old Browncroft Road, Penfield. All will be held from 9 a.m. to p.m. To register or for more information, call the Leadership Academy of the Genesee Region at (585) 385-8077 or go online to: www. leadershipacademygr.org 6 3.