News for the week of February 10, 2003

Brockport Fire Department logs busy year
Brockport's fire personnel logged more than 1,041 calls during 2002, Fire Chief Greg Wing announced at the February 3 village board meeting. more

Brockport police facing overtime increases
Citing officer injury and illness, Brockport Police Chief Dan Varrenti said his office is looking at escalating overtime costs. more

Brockport police make arrest
Following an eight-hour period early on Sunday morning, Brockport police arrested a man after he had allegedly been terrorizing an ex-girlfriend. more

Canal wall rehabilitation
in Brockport going smoothly
If the weather holds, the canal wall reconstruction in Brockport will be "substantially" completed by April 5, Village Department of Public Works Superintendent Brad Upson said. more

Girl Scouts summer camp information sessions set for March
The Girl Scouts of Genesee Valley invites all girls, ages 5-17, to participate in its summer program. (Girls do not need to be currently registered in Girl Scouts to sign up for summer camp). more

Great backyard bird count needs bird watchers
All across North America, birds face survival challenges ranging from loss of habitat to introduced predators and diseases such as West Nile virus. The 6th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count (February 14-17) promises to add important new information to our understanding of birds' movement and overall health by focusing our attention on common birds as well as on birds of special concern. more

Hilton's marathon milkman
announces his retirement
Milk has been good for him. Really good. At soon-to-be 63 years old, Doug Hurlbutt has outlasted at least seven trucks and hasn't seen a sick day in over four decades. more

Holley Central facing staffing cuts
A combination of skyrocketing costs for special education programs, contractual obligations, double-digit health insurance increases and unfounded state mandates have all played a part in the $1.2 million budget deficit the Holley Central School system is facing. more

Horse farms familiar sights
Horses are a big business in New York state. Monroe County ranks sixth in the state for the number of horses owned, namely for pleasure purposes. more

Lakeside medical staff presents
excellence in nursing awards
The Medical Staff of Lakeside Memorial Hospital presented its 2002 Excellence in Nursing Awards at its annual holiday dinner meeting. Laurel Bellacosa, an LPN in the Emergency Department, and Joan Zavitz, an LPN in the Operating Room, received the awards. more

Teen smokers target of media campaign
Helping teen smokers has been the aim of web site GottaQuit.com. According to County Executive Jack Doyle, this Monroe County media campaign has been successful in attracting smokers to free online counseling and personalized quit calendars. "Clearly, getting people, particularly our youth, to quit smoking is an important goal," said Doyle. He added that GottaQuit.com is unique in targeting youth and bringing them resources to help them quit smoking. more

In Briefly:

Baby quilts workshop planned
There will be ABC Quilts workshops on February 15 and March 15, from 9 to noon at the United Methodist Church of North Chili, 2200 Westside Drive at Buffalo Road. more

Cosmetology students offer a Cos Clinic
Second year cosmetology students at WE-MO-CO Career and Technical Education offer a Cos Clinic for the public. more

Imagining Freedom Program offered at the RMSC
Rochester Museum and Science Center's Imagining Freedom February Break Week programs offers visitors a chance to touch history and "meet" innovators who imagined new freedoms for all Americans. more

Nominations invited for Hilton High School Alumni Hall of Fame
Hilton High School Alumni Hall of Fame has issued its call for nominations for the 2003 induction to be held June 2003. Nominations are due March 28. Nominees must have graduated 15 years ago: class of 1988 or before. more

Ogden Farmers' Library programs
On Monday, February 17, Kevin SerWacki will be at the library to teach a class on cartooning. It will be an artistic treat. The program is limited to young adults ages 9 to 14. more

Village of Hilton seeks nominations for "Citizen of the Year" award
The Hilton Village Board is accepting nominations to recognize an outstanding individual who has unselfishly served the Hilton/Parma community. more

Walker Fire Department receives a grant
The Walker Fire Department received the Safe Neighborhood Hero Grant given by the Sam's Club in Greece. The Walker Fire Department received $1,200, which was used to purchase two suction units for their emergency medical vehicles. more

In Schools:

Brockport's Hill School students
to compete in regional spelling bee
When Christian Hernandez, a fifth-grader at Brockport's Hill Elementary School, heard his school was going to have a spelling bee, he couldn't wait. Christian loves to read and spelling has always come naturally for him. more

C-C poster winner advances to state competition
Churchville-Chili art teachers Jane Betrus and Gretchen Foehner know the importance of fostering artistic talents. Over 450 students from the Intermediate School and Junior High School submitted artwork to a local poster competition sponsored by the Churchville Lions Club. more

Hilton High School Technology EXPO Feb. 11
The Hilton Central School District Board of Education will hold its regular meeting February 11 at 7 p.m. in the Library/Media Center of Hilton High School, 400 East Avenue, Hilton, which will include a Technology EXPO. more

New 'Challenge Scholarships' help make higher education possible
Genesee Community College's "Challenge Scholarship" program has helped 34 students enter or remain in college since its inception two years ago. Awards have totaled $11,942 to date. more

Riding in style
Holley sixth-graders who sold the most holiday items to raise money for the sixth-grade trip to Albany in May were treated to a ride in a stretch limousine. more

Saying thank you
Children from Lakeside Child Care hosted a pizza party to thank the Lakeside physical plant services staff for keeping the roads and sidewalks throughout the health system campus clean of ice and snow. more

Spencerport cancels high school musical
Spencerport school administrators say their decision to cancel this year's musical production, "Flower Drum Song," was not an easy one to make, nor was it made quickly. According to High School Principal Gerald Bucklin, "We have known since last spring that it was going to be difficult, if not impossible, to have the production. There were many critical pieces that came into play." more

In Seniors:

Chili Senior Center programs
Yoga - Thursday afternoons from 2 to 3:15 p.m. Participants should wear loose clothing and bring a beach towel, mat or small blanket. The cost for the 6 week program is $20. For upcoming dates, call the center at 889-6185. more

In Sports:

Bright Raven Gymnasts compete
Bright Raven Gymnastics Optional Level girls competed in the USA Gymnastics Sectional held at the Gymnastics Training Center in Penfield, January 26, winning numerous awards and qualifying for the State Championships to be held in the spring. more

Brockport sweeps men's and women's players of the week
The State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) men's and women's SUNYAC Basketball Players of the Week for the week ending February 2 were Brockport's Brandon Mills (Rochester/Spencerport) and Kristen Clark (Hilton/Hilton). more

Cadets' Clark scores career high
Junior Marisa Clark scored a career-high 24 points, including a personal-best four three-pointers, to lead the Hilton Cadets past Greece Olympia 56-33 in girl's basketball January 30. more

February recess ice skating clinic
Learn to ice skate during February break. ESL Sports Centre will be hosting an Ice Skating Clinic from 10 to 11 a.m. on February 18, 19, 20 and 21. more

Karate seminar aides in training
The Kyokushin Karate Fitness USA hosted its first karate seminar of 2003 in January. The karate school, located in Rochester, is the main headquarters of the United States International Federation of Karate. more

Lacrosse clinic in Spencerport in March
The Spencerport Boys' Lacrosse Parents Club will host its second annual lacrosse clinic on Sunday, March 2. Rochester Knighthawks' Tim Soudan will conduct the clinic for boys and girls, grades three through eight. more

Modified team swims for Special Olympics
On Saturday, January 18, the Spencerport Boys and Girls Modified Swim Team held a Swim-A-Thon in order to raise money for the Monroe County Special Olympics Swim Team. The team raised a total of $800, which was used to help purchase new equipment and contribute to the expense of awards, which are given to all swimmers. more

Patalano picks Roberts
Churchville-Chili senior Joanna Patalano announced at a press conference in the high school library February 3, that she would attend Roberts Wesleyan College this fall to play soccer and basketball. more

Ritzel's first shutout paces Rangers
Junior goaltender Curtis Ritzel picked up the first shutout of his high school career and Chris Farnsworth accounted for the only goal of the game as Spencerport beat Churchville-Chili 1-0 in high school hockey February 1. more

Spencerport tennis and track coaches named
Spencerport Central Schools has named new varsity coaches. Melissa Diedrich will coach the Rangers varsity girls track team replacing Paul Sikorski. John Gentile replaces Jody Wyant as varsity boys tennis coach. more