Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 1

ROCHESTER SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2005 DemocratandChronicle.com $1.50 NEWSSTAND HOW MANY VICTIMS? in School hails prodigy and "lis sacrifice i v- MHW nn IQIQSSHQIUJf Behind the music at the Hochstein, now 85 years old, lies a little known tale of patriotism, tragedy Defendant in two deaths tells dark tale of 'past claims leaving trail of bodies STEVE ORR, PATRICK FLANIGAN, GARY CRAIG AND GREG LIVADAS STAFF WRITERS I' "'M A T' 00 Knight Ridder That lovable pal Furby has grown and "evolved" into a more lively creature just in time for this year's holiday shopping season. Putting a price on fun We went to major discount retailers and a national toy store looking for the bottom line on toy prices, 3E Greece Arcadia girls leave no doubt Undefeated Titans power their way to Class AA state soccer semifinals in Binghamton on Friday, HD Bills don Chief concern Buffalo aims to right its season with a strong second half, beginning today against Kansas City, ID Bishops send message The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops convenes to map out campaign to end capital punishment, 4A Rejuvenate and relax The Finger Lakes region holds your ticket to an upscale spa experience, IOC New driver, new direction for city Rochester Mayor-elect Robert Duffy previews the road ahead, Speaking Out, 27A Trashing our future? Rochester conference will discuss how we can stop our wasteful habits and it'll take more than recycling, 3B A thing of beauty Zadie Smith's new novel, 'On is a skillful update to an E.M. Forster classic, 7C Ml Robert Spahalski said coming forward was "the best thing to do" and that he wanted to "put it all behind me." Sometime late in the day on Tuesday, Robert Bruce Spahalski scrawled his signature on a four-page statement in which he confessed to killing Charles Grande of Webster in the fall of 1991. Toward the end of that statement, Spahalski expressed remorse for what he had done.

"I knew that coming forward is the best thing to do," the statement said. "I settled all of my past business today and want to put it all behind me." The question today is, exactly what "past business" has Spahalski tried to lay to rest? Spahalski, who is 50, was charged on Wednesday with killing Grande and Vivian Iri-zarry, a Rochester woman whom Spahalski told police he killed on Nov. 4. He made his WILL YURMAN stafl photographer Betty Ellsworth tunes 7-year-old Randall John's violin before a "play-in" at the Hochstein School of Music Dance. Inset above is school namesake David Hochstein, a gifted violinist killed in battle during World War I.

3 JIM MEMM0TT SENIOR EDITOR DEUOCRATANDCHR0NICLE.COM For a transcript of statement made by Robert Bruce Spahalski. On Page 10A What is a serial killer? A timeline through three decades of crime. ochstein is a familiar name in Rochester. The wrenching story behind the name is far less familiar. Officials at the Hochstein School of Music Born in humble circumstances in Rochester, Hochstein earned acclaim as a musician before he enlisted during World War I.

His life ended at age 26 in 1918 at the tail end of the war when he was mowed down by German gunfire. The death, as awful as it was, was the spark for the creation of the Hochstein School. The institution celebrates its 85th anniversary this year. Hochstein, which has 3,500 students and 115 faculty members, has remained true to its mission. It makes music instruction available to all people, regardless of their financial circumstances.

"I've been there for so long it's like a second home," says Montana Agte-Stud-ier, 17, a senior at Brockport High School who studies flute at Hochstein. "It's comfortable, and you know you can grow and If you go What: An exhibit on the life of Rochester violinist David Hochstein and on the history of the current site of the Hochstein School of Music Dance. Where: The school's Performance Hall, 50 N. Plymouth Rochester. When: Hours vary, depending on whether the hall is in use.

For information: Call (585) 454-4403. Online: www.hochstein.org. COMING UP Dance hope to make the story of the school's namesake better known. As a first step, they've created an exhibit on the violinist David Hochstein at the school at 50 N. Plymouth Ave.

in downtown Rochester. Through photos and text, the exhibit in the school's Performance Hall documents a compelling tale, one that blends prodigy with patriotism, musical greatness with battlefield death. "It's a Horatio Alger story," say Victoria Schmitt, a volunteer who helped put together the exhibit. "And in another way, it's an American tragedy." K'V1 kt ft. fi admissions, and directed police to Irizarry's body, after he walked up to the front desk at police headquarters Tuesday morning.

Police say he also has implicated himself in two other slayings in Rochester in the early 1990s, and they are trying to determine whether he was involved in still more cases. Spahalski, who was sent to jail in Elmira when he was 16 and had four stints in state prison, has hustled on Rochester's streets for several decades. He told police he has been a prostitute, and is said by people who know him to be a longtime drug user who is HIV positive. Much of his time in Rochester was spent in neighborhoods where there were dozens of unsolved homicides, including the slaying of 20 or more women who, like Spahalski, lived on society's margin. Several of those slain women lived in or near buildings where Spahalski dwelled at the time.

HOCHSTEIN, PAGE ISA Film critic Jack Garner reviews 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Wednesday in Living ONLINE DemocratandChronicle.com "It's a Horatio Alger story. And in another way, it's an American tragedy." VICTORIA SCHMITT, HOCHSTEIN VOLUNTEER HUSTLER, TAGE 10A Hey, watch out for that deer! Ontario County official says this is a bad year for collisions New podcasts on movies, the Buffalo Bills, AP headlines and expanded insider features. Copyright 2005 Gannett Rochester Newspapers Seven Sections Metro ill Cf' there have been 50 such collisions. State officials estimate that there are more than 50,000 deer-vehicle collisions a year, and the highest percentage of deer-vehicle collisions across the nation happen from October to the end of December. Find out more about the reasons for the increasing number of car-deer collisions and learn some steps you can take to avoid hitting a deer, STORY: IB One sure sign of fall in upstate New York is the carcasses of deer lying by the roadside, particularly in rural parts of the region, such as Ontario County.

Ontario County Undersheriff David Tillman said that this year is turning out to be a particularly bad one for collisions between deer and vehicles. For example, more than half of the 40 accidents in a three-day period in Ontario County involved deer. In the past week, in "40901 "07007" apartments.com. powered by democratandchronicle.com.