BATAVIA Voters in the Batavia School District may solve a longstanding problem for the School Board in the May 20 election: getting rid of a large piece of property that has been vacant for years.

A 13-acre landscaped stretch of land in the citys northeast residential area was once pegged as the site for an elementary school to serve a fast-growing part of the city. That plan was abandoned and years later it was decided to convert the acreage into an athletic field. That idea didnt sell to a dozen neighbors who front the property.

Now the board has a $150,000 offer from a Batavia resident who wants to develop housing on the site. The voters must approve a sale for land assessed at $100,000.

The money would go into the 2014-2015 budget, a $42.9 million spending plan that would raise the real property taxes about 2 percent. That is also subject to voter approval.

The ballot will list candidates for three School Board seats with the terms of Wayne Gunther, Amy Barone and Leslie Johnson ending.

Prospective candidates have until next week to get their names on the ballot. Board members serve three-year terms.

A vote that wont count but may help determine future action is an Alternative Veterans Tax exemption. A sliding scale for combat veterans and disabled veterans would still be subject to board approval prior to March 1 of any year. If the straw vote is approved, the exemption would be on any residence assessed at $80,000 or more and would increase the property levies of non-veterans by a small amount.

Residents also will vote on continuing a non-voting student to attend board meetings.

District voters who reside north of Main Street (Route 5) in the city, and towns of Batavia and Stafford that comprise the district, will be voting now in the former Robert Morris Elementary School instead of John Kennedy.

The two are at opposite ends of the city but Robert Morris offers more available space.

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Batavia school voters to consider land sale, budget, board elections

By Off Main Street | The Buffalo News

on April 25, 2014 - 10:25 PM

Buffalo fan on the ball

The guy who dropped Albert Pujols 500th home run this week at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.?

Hes from Buffalo.

And hes also an admirably good sport.

Chris Gordon, 45, won some instant celebrity when he ran toward the ball, which bounced off his stomach and into the hands of longtime Los Angeles Angels fan Tom Sherrill.

Video of the event shows Gordon diving to get the ball and then getting up to hug Sherrill after the catch. The two even exchanged phone numbers afterward.

Sherrill returned the ball to Pujols, which Gordon said shows that there are good people in the world, according to the Washington Post.

Acknowledging Sherrill is an Angels fan, Gordon said, The right person ended up with the ball.

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The offbeat side of the news

A Buffalo man who had been sentenced to seven years in prison for a 2003 assault conviction is going back to prison.

Larry Brooks, 50, of Moselle Street, was sentenced today to 10 years for shooting a man last summer during an argument on an East Side street.

Erie County Judge Sheila A. DiTullio imposed the prison term on Brooks who had pleaded guilty last month to first-degree assault in the Aug. 7 shooting in front of Brooks house.

Brooks and the victim, who had an ongoing dispute, were arguing in the street when Brooks went into his home, got a gun and shot the victim, Erie County Assistant District Attorney John Patrick Feroleto said. The victim was hospitalized for a few days.

Because of his previous conviction for second-degree assault, Brooks had faced at least 10 years in prison and at most 25 years.

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Moselle Street man going back to prison

By Susan Martin | News Home & Style Editor

on April 24, 2014 - 4:32 PM

Looking for home restoration ideas? A new color palette, perhaps? Table-setting tips for a summer brunch? Several local home tours are coming up fast.

Think of these weekend outings as something fun to do while waiting for all those regional garden walks and tours to kick off in June. And theyll give you yet another good excuse for postponing cleaning out your garage.

Here are the details:

Historic Linwood Tour of Homes

This years tour along Linwood Avenue takes place from noon to 5 p.m. May 4 with the theme Streetscape of Buffalo History.

The architecture from one end of the street to the other exemplifies the gradual change in styles and design during the heyday of Buffalos grand era. The southern part of the street has grander homes; as you travel north the homes become smaller to reflect the change in social structure in Buffalo at the time, said chairman James Mack, whose 121-year-old Queen Anne is on the tour.

Other architectural styles include a Second Empire, Richardson Romanesque and Federal, as well as a home designed by noted architects Silsbee and Marling.

Visitors will come across all the architectural features one admires in old homes: handcrafted woodwork, elaborate staircases, leaded and stained-glass windows. These homes were built generally between 1860 and 1920.

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Open houses: Springtime means home tours, and youre invited

Gangstagrass, 8 p.m. April 25 in The Tralf

You remember that night when you watched talented hip-hop artists exhale street-corner poetry, then turned to your friend and said, These rhymes would be much better with a backing fiddle track? OK, maybe this never happened. But with its unique blend of beats and banjo licks, the Brooklyn-based outfit has spun their compatible love of Willie Nelson and RUN-DMC into intense urban twangand an Emmy nomination for Long Hard Times To Come, the theme song for F/X drama, Justifiedfor those curious. http://www.tralfmusichall.com

Back Beat 64, 7 p.m. April 26 at the Buffalo Irish Center

Still celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles Ed Sullivan Show appearance? So is Fab Four tribute band BackBeat 64, which will be turning Buffalos Irish Center into its own Cavern Club as part of Dog Ears Bookstores sixth annual fundraising gala. Alongside offerings from more than 20 local restaurants, the faux Liverpudlians will tour through the classics, with all proceeds going to Dog Ears community-based reading and writing operations. http://www.dogearsbookstore.org

The Whigs, 7 p.m. April 27 in The Waiting Room

If youre looking for one more Fender-aided kick to the teeth before the working week, find this Athens, Ga.-based power trios show for its brand of Southern-tinged audio upheaval. The band has toured with the likes of Drive-By Truckers, The Killers and Franz Ferdinand, with tracks like Right Hand On My Heart and Waiting setting the table. On Sunday night, the Whigs bring these accessible chords to Delaware Avenue. http://www.waitingroombuffalo.com

Michael Farrell

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Three club shows worth checking out

An Alden woman who collected more than $36,000 in welfare benefits for more than five years, at the same time she was receiving unemployment benefits even though she had a job and was stealing from her employer, pleaded guilty Thursday to third-degree welfare fraud.

Crystal Adkinson, 43, of Bush Gardens, admitted in Erie County Court that she falsely claimed she had no income and that she collected $36,465 from the Erie County Department of Social Services from May 1, 2007 to Nov. 30, 2012, according to District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III.

In fact, Sedita said, she had two sources of income: state jobless benefits and her job at Ryerson Steel, where she was stealing from her employer.

Adkinson had pleaded guilty in 2012 in Erie County Court to attempted offering a false instrument for filing for receiving state jobless benefits while working at Ryerson and attempted fourth-degree grand larceny for stealing from Ryerson. She was placed on three years probation in those two cases.

Besides those two convictions, she has a criminal record dating back to 1991 that includes five other theft offenses, prosecutors said.

In the welfare fraud case, Adkinson faces a maximum prison term of 28 months to seven years when she is sentenced July 8 by Judge Michael F. Pietruszka.

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Alden woman pleads guilty to welfare fraud

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Character Home Restoration in Masterton - Video

Long Valley Home Restoration Montage
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Cape May, NJ (PRWEB) April 23, 2014

Since Dennis Spilker took ownership of the Spilker Funeral Home three years ago, he restored the 1882 building back to its original beauty. The building boasts original stained glass windows, original hardware on three sets of pocket doors, unique antiques, as well as unique woodworking and tile throughout. We are very proud of the complete restoration. We want to offer the best for our families, said owner, Dennis J. Spilker.

In addition, Mr. Spilker renovated the exterior, with a recent installation of a large one-of-a-kind antique gas lamp. He said, I want people to see we are a home where memorials and funerals take place. This building was a home first built in 1882 and converted to a funeral home in 1928.

The Spilker Funeral Home offers funeral and memorial services year round in Cape May, a beautiful backdrop. Their funeral services incorporate Seashell Tributes and Uniqueness of Our Handprints Tributes two types of creative offerings well-received by the families served. In addition, the funeral processions make a slow pass by the Atlantic Ocean and beachfront, which can be calming for families grieving.

Dennis Spilker has been in funeral service since the age of fifteen and was licensed in New Jersey and Pennsylvania over twenty-one years ago. He is a first generation funeral home owner having worked for the former owners of Spilker Funeral Home. Over all of these years, the Victorian home has been owned and operated by first generation funeral directors and their families, preserving the home and operating at the highest level of service.

We take great pride in being the small town funeral home that offers all the latest the industry can provide while being creative and progressive with our own ideas to create something meaningful and lasting at such an important life event, said Mr. Spilker.

Spilker Funeral Home is located at 815 Washington Street in Cape May, NJ 08204. For more information, please visit http://www.spilkerfuneralhome.com or call 609.884.3793.

About Spilker Funeral Home When sitting down with a family, they have just one goal: to create a fitting, memorable, and affordable service for their loved one. Together, they will explore the wide variety of services and products available, as well as a wealth of creative ideas and suggestions.

About NALA The NALA is a full service marketing agency for local business owners offering online advertising, marketing and branding expertise, great business benefits, education, and money-saving programs, as well as a charity program.

PR Contact: Tiffani Tendell ttendell(at)thenala(dot)com 805.650.6121, ext. 361

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Spilker Funeral Home Completes Restorations for Cape May Home Built in 1882