The Buffalo News from Buffalo, New York • 7

EOlTiQS The Buffalo NewsMonday May 22 1995 Briefly Six suffer injuries in Elma car van crash The driver of a van left the scene of a car van collision that injured six persons in Elma ear ly Sunday sheriffs deputies said The driver whose identity was being withheld was expect ed to surrender in the crash which occurred at about 1:05 am on Clinton Street near Winspear Road authorities said Deputies Alan Tipton and Mel Kinton said the van was leaving a nightspot along Clin ton Street when it entered the road without yielding and was struck by an eastbound car driv en by Mark Wieczorek of East Aurora our fire companies helped extricate six persons from the van and the car Both vehicles were heavily damaged All six people were taken to the Erie County Medical Center one by Mercy light Joanne Pomona 27 a pas senger in the Wieczorek car was listed in fair condition with back and chest injuries Nicole Ashley 25 a passen ger in the van also was in fair condition with back and facial injuries Of the other passengers in the van Ronald Grzybey suf fered rib injuries William Twa rozek facial lacerations and a head injury and Anthony Ro gacki a shoulder injury They were not admitted to the hospital Wieczorek who suffered face and neck injuries was treated and released Assisting the Blossom ire Department were Springbrook Elma and East Seneca fire companies Hamburg councilwoman announces for re election Hamburg Councilwoman Kathleen Courtney Hochul has announced she will seek re election A Democrat elected to a one year term last year Mrs Hochul said her door to door campaign already is well under way with a goal of meeting ev ery resident by next fall She said she sees herself as an advocate for neighborhoods and has made a number of sig nificant contributions in a short time She proposed the recently enacted avoidable alarm ordi nance which imposes fines for excessive false alarms requiring police or firefighter response and the Hamburg Rejuvenation Project dedicated to improving the appearance of the commu nity and eliminating blight She campaigned for a lower speed limit on McKinley Parkway and was successful in securing a traffic signal at Plaza A lawyer and mother of two Mrs Hochul said she has exten sive governmental and private sector experience including staff work for the State Assem bly and the House of Represen tatives and US Senate Iroquois Central voters to decide 1995 96 budget Iroquois Central School vot ers Tuesday will decide the fate of a $24076383 budget for 1995 96 that includes a new communications system in all school buildings and fill one five year seat on the School Board from a field of three candidates If approved the budget will increase the tax rate in Elma the largest of the towns com prising the district by 207 per cent or $3274 for a home assessed at $109500 Trustee Herman Moessinger seeking his third term will be challenged by two former board members Gary Kent and Charles Schneckenberger Vot ing will be from 7 am to 9 pm in the intermediate school on the Girdle Road Campus in Elma County improving roads before turnover to Boston The Boston Crossroad on the east side of Route 391 and Mill Street its shorter extension west of the Route 391 intersec tion both now county roads are being improved by the Erie County Public Works Depart ment before being turned over to the Town of Boston The latest event was the au thorization by the County Leg islature for a land exchange that will replace the existing intersection with Cole Road and the Boston Colden Road with a simpler and safer intersection That will be accomplished by abandoning a curved section of the Boston Colden Road in fa vor of merging it with Cole Road just south of the Boston Crossroad intersection Supervisor Richard Ken nedy said that the completion of preliminary alignment and drainage work below the inter section clears the way for pav ing the Boston Crossroad hill from the Route 391 intersec tion When that work is com pleted the contractor will im prove Mill Street and a short segment of the former Pfarner Road between Route 391 and the spot where contractors for the recently renamed West Tillen Road completed improvements Elms Senior Citizens slate potluck luncheon Elma Senior Citizens will meet at Iroquois Intermediate School on Girdle Road at noon Wednesday for a potluck lun cheon Bingo cards or pool will follow Elsewhere Kensington Ave market is robbed by 3 gunmen Three gunmen robbed a Kensington Avenue supermar ket Sunday afternoon Kensington Station police said The trio robbed the Cleve Hill Market Place at 1439 Ken sington Ave at about 12:15 pm helping themselves to money in the office and cash registers according to police re ports The amount of money stolen was not disclosed Police were told the robbers were dressed in dark hooded clothing and wore blue bandan nas They reportedly fled south on Eggert Road in a black car Akron completes work on bike path extension Work on extending the Vil lage of Akron bike path along the former railroad right away to Clarence Center Road has been completed Peter orrestel spokes man for the Akron Newstead Rotary Club said the path is about of a mile longer than originally planned project had been very well he said pleased that we were able to provide residents with a worth while project that is good for the Plans for the path were first introduced to the Village Board in January 1991 by Planning Board Chairman Allen Kid der The Rotary Club agreed to fund the $5200 cost of materi als for Phase I of the project The village received a $15505 federal grant for construction of the 15 mile biking and jogging path The 10 foot wide recreation al path runs from the northeast corner of the village along Ce dar and Jackson Streets to the edge of the village line at Hake Road Town of Newstead crews last week put in gravel and black topped the path from Hake to Clarence Center Road Addi tional trails are envisioned in cluding one through Newstead to Clarence Hollow Group from alls air base on support duty in rance NIAGARA ALLS Some members of the 107th Air Re fueling Group of the New York Air National Guard stationed at the Niagara alls Air orce Reserve Base have been sent to Istres in southern rance to support the United Nations mission to limit flights over Bosnia Herzegovina Air crews maintenance and support people from the 107th will remain on duty in rance until mid June Capt Barry Griffith said They are aug menting members of the 157th Air Refueling Group from Pease Air National Guard Base in New Hampshire to provide in air refueling for a multina tional force supporting the United Nations Griffith said The crews are refueling air craft from six nations and air craft carriers in the Adriatic providing protective air cover age in the airspace over Bos nia Herzegovina under a UN resolution Some of the personnel on the deployment will be replaced midway through the mission Istres is near Marseilles Helipad is installed at Gowanda hospital A cooperative effort has re sulted in installation of a 25 foot square concrete helipad behind the Tri County Memori al Hospital in Gowanda When completed it will replace the soft grass landing spot The helipad will be ready for use when the already poured concrete and sealer cure and the lights and a 100 foot square chain link fence are installed The project is a cooperative effort among the Village of Go wanda and towns of Collins and Perrysburg and some local contractors and suppliers Pafle 5 11 South Suburban News Matteson changes his mind on retirement Clarence highway superintendent says he has some jobs he wants to finish ROBERT STODDARDBuffalo News Ready to sell their anthology on Hope and are from left Joseph Pignatora Denise Russell and Lindsey Matheis I jKuJ i nemr rJ 09 I 1 KXXZZB 1 rw IB Ji 1 wlZ to k7 ks anthology seeks to aid homeless By JAY REY News Amherst Bureau thoughts about home are raising money for those without one ifth graders from Heritage Heights Elementary in the Sweet Home Central School District and a class of fourth graders from School 67 Red Jacket Academy in South Buffalo have produced the anthology Home and The writings focus on their thoughts about home a familiar topic for the pupils used as a theme throughout the year to study a range of subjects from English to science The collection of their stories essays and poems is being sold by the Sweet Home PTA and $500 has been raised since the two schools met last week to un veil the final product Proceeds will benefit riends of the Night People a shelter and soup kitch en on Hudson Street is my favorite place it brings a smile to my writes pupil Kerri Slocum I am lonely home is there When I am sad home is there It sounds to me we are a perfect pair best thing about a home is that you always have shelter a place that has family and writes Gina Mykulak a fourth grader at Red Jacket Academy Compassion for the homeless has become part of the lesson plan Heritage Heights fifth graders and teachers served food and folded clothes for riends of the Night People on Saturday easy to write about the homeless when you go down said Mitchell oster a Heritage Heights fifth grader we really know what homelessness learned) to treat homeless people like regular said Steve Jones also a fifth grader at Heritage Heights just like us but they have a Red Jacket Academy pupils also helped out at riends of the Night People But visiting and working with suburban pupils proved to be enlightening too learned that it was fun working with the other said Shawntell ord a fourth grader at Red Jacket Academy first' I thought they would be weird but was one kid Douglas Ball we became really good said Richard Labuz an other Red Jacket Academy fourth grader Pupils from both schools have corresponded throughout the year and met last week in Heri tage Heights where they also began making a friendship quilt Heritage Heights reading teacher Gail Keiling said the idea originated when a group of authors produced a similar anthology for charity Ms Keiling and fellow Heritage Heights teachers Mark Basehart and Marc reda received an $800 grant from the district for the two fifth grade classes to pursue the project! Paige Boles an acquaintance teaching fourth grade at Red Jacket Academy and her pupils were asked to join the project Basehart said the group hopes to raise about $1000 for riends of the Night People "think the kids received it very reda said learned a lol and have been more sympathetic toward their fellow Hamburg expects ruling in 2 weeks Law judge to decide on transfer station By TOM ERNST News South Towns Bureau An administrative law judge has reserved decision on a number of objections raised by the Town of Hamburg to a proposed solid waste transfer station in Blasdell Daniel adminis trative law judge for the state De partment of Environmental Con servation is expected to rule in about two weeks on issues raised by the town during a daylong hearing last week His decision is expected to be limited to whether the issues merit being explored in depth during an adjudicatory hearing The town has been granted full party status allowing it to partici pate in the adjudicatory process A group of residents opposed to the transfer station withdrew their request for full party status saying they believe the town will adequately represent their inter ests The residents will instead con centrate their efforts on a separate front: a court challenge to the Blasdell Village decision to grant a lease for the facility to a private concern 17 months ago The town argued that plans submitted by the Blasdell Develop ment Group and approved by DEC staff members are inade quate in several areas including coping with emergencies dealing with unauthorized waste handling of storm and sanitary waste water and control of rats and other ani mals that could spread disease The developers argued the plans meet or exceed require ments Some of the regulations are im possible to meet until after the fa cility is built and staff has been hired they said More local news on Pages B6 D8 By DICK DAWSON News Amherst Bureau Clarence Highway Superintendent Charles Matteson has changed his mind about retir ing next month throwing the political scramble to succeed him into limbo Matteson town highway chief for 25 years must retire before Sept 20 for the vacancy to be put on the November ballot according to the Erie County Board of Elections A Republican leader in Clarence for many years Matteson on March 7 announced his to retire June 30 with more than two years remaining in his seventh consecutive four year term However the Clarence Conservative Town Committee Thursday night was preparing to in terview three Republican candidates to succeed Matteson when word arrived from GOP offi cials that he had postponed his retirement certainly disappointed in the way he handled this waiting until the last said Elmer Gerbracht Clarence Conserva tive Party chairman I believe he full well knew what he was going to do long before Matteson denied charges that he postponed his retirement to avoid the uncertainty of a fall election and enable town GOP leaders to ap point Deputy Highway Superintendent Orin Kelkenberg as superintendent until the Novem ber 1996 election truly never thought of Matteson said recently truth is got some jobs started that I want to finish before I Matteson 67 said the jobs involve correct ing in scattered locations promised people resolve them a few years ago and 1 he said Matteson said he may retire as early as end of July or and as late as the end of the year on when the jobs are Meanwhile sources who asked not to be identified have quoted a Clarence GOP offi cial as telling other political leaders that Matte new retirement date will be Sept 30 In announcing his retirement plans in March Matteson recommended Kelkenberg as his successor Kelkenberg has been deputy highway superintendent for 32 of his 40 years with the town Besides Kelkenberg Ronald Witnauer and Reas Graber two Republicans with long careers in private sector trucking and transportation in recent weeks announced their candidacy for highway superintendent Wit late father Norman Witnauer town supervisor from 1969 to 1976 Any vacancy that occurs before Sept 20 must appear on the November ballot county election officials said If the vacancy occurs af ter Sept 20 it is filled by Town Board ap pointment until the following November It is unclear what effect decision will have on the Clarence candidate en dorsement meeting scheduled for 7 pm Thurs day Kelkenberg Graber Witnauer and possi bly a fourth candidate former town councilman Roland Boiler had been expected to vie for the nomination After 5 years in limbo Amherst center will open its doors By JAY REY News Amherst Bureau It has been white el ephant for almost five years now but no more The grand opening of the Am herst Recreation Center at 4415 Millersport Highway near New Road will be held riday knock on wood It may seem like a routine cer emonial event except to those who appreciate the history of the building The $2 million building was col lecting dust since plans for the Ni agara rontier Aviation and Space Museum crashed just before the building was to open in the spring of 1990 The Town Board backed the museum for a while approving a bond issue in 1989 but decided later it was too regional an en deavor for taxpayers of one munic ipality to subsidize ormer Supervisor Jack Sharpe who proposed the idea when in of fice still maintains the aviation museum would have worked it would have Sharpe said re gional excuse was a phony from day one would have been making money 18 months after it said Sharpe who pointed to the need to preserve the rich aviation 1 1 5 1U Zu di!" I i ROBERT STODDARDBuffalo News The Amherst Air Museum building is being turned into a recreational center heritage of the Niagara rontier glad a recreation facil ity but disappointed it had to come at the expense of that build ing The debate is over and Am herst will have a recreation facility that will be rented out to town soccer volleyball and lacrosse leagues now and maybe other sports leagues later Supervisor Thomas Ahern who has pushed to find a use for the facility since coming into of fice sees the building as a reve nue producer in time He wants to make it a facility all residents of the town can use this summer al though details of how and when are still being discussed you have a building like that find a use for it And basically what we Ahern said Many ideas for using the build ing were kicked around after the museum concept collapsed One idea suggested using the facility for a hockey rink or swim ming pool Officials of Amherst and Williamsville school districts in 1990 talked about sharing the gymnasium like facility: A multi use center possibly with tennis courts and golf driving range was suggested back in 1990 Uses for the building were studied and studied again The front portion was used as a command center when the area was host to the World University Games in 1993 But for the most part the building came in handy for conducting police drills and storing town equipment was beginning to look like Ahern said But cosmetic touches have been made Lights were installed and a carpet surface outlined for soccer and a few volleyball courts covers the floor of the cavernous build ing which is really an airplane hangar A walking jogging track sur rounds the carpeted area Plans already are being made for the next phase Ahem said to utilize the front portion of the building Officials still sure yet how it will be used The long awaited grand opening of the building will be at 7 pm riday 5QUIH EDITION.