School security main topic at Warsaw BOE meeting: Middle school students also recognized
By Gary Towner
In the aftermath of the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Warsaw Central School is taken steps to prevent a tragedy of its own.
The Warsaw BOE heard a report from interim superintendent Tom Cox regarding security in the Warsaw school buildings at board's Dec. 18 meeting.
Cox said he met with the school leadership team and concluded that Warsaw’s security plans and practices were solid, but the team still plans to make adjustments.
After a conversation with the Warsaw Police, Cox said, the police were invited to come into the buildings the weekend after the Dec. 14 shooting and during Christmas vacation to get a better idea of the plans and see where the buildings still might be vulnerable. First responders also need to get a handle on each facility for their own safety when entering a building. They are considering “table top drills,” where staff, police and first responders sit around a table, present different scenarios and discuss how to handle each situation.
Another plan is to work with an architect to address any physical deficiencies in the buildings and look for ways to improve security.
Cox stressed that a school building is not a fortress, and if someone wants access, he or she will get it. The key is to set up deterrents and hurdles to slow an intruder’s progress to give staff and first responders more time to deal with the situation.
Other ideas Cox presented are to meet with the Central Study Committee for input from staff, revitalize the Safety Committee, and hold safety drills during January and February, possibly continuing at various times during the school year. Also, the issue of visitors in a building must be addressed, giving them specific information on how to conduct themselves without revealing the school’s interventions and reactions regarding security.
“We are doing our very, very, very best, and we have good plans and processes in place to keep our kids safe,” Cox said.
The BOE also gave recognition to five middle school students who have taken it upon themselves to organize fundraisers to help Kailee Griffith, a Warsaw alumna who is battling cancer.
The five girls – Bridget Cross, Ashley Scott, Caitlin Pietron, Kirstin Ikeler and Brittney Webb – have raised at least $875 by selling bracelets and T-shirts, as well as accepting donations. They plan to start a “Quarters for Kailee” drive, wherein people are encouraged to donate their quarters to the fund. If the girls raise $1,000, their adviser, Helen Barkley, as well as two cafeteria workers, have agreed to have their head shaved.
In new business, Business Administrator Janine Cushman gave an overview of the tentative costs and revenues that will affect the 2012-13 budget. Director of Technology Cheryl Randall gave an update on technology hardware and software, and Kim Monahan, director of curriculum and instruction, reported on the work of the Professional Development Committee.
Local Special Olympian is bound for South Korea: Barney Pedraza of Warsaw to compete in alpine skiing
By Bryan Jackson
Barney Pedraza’s no stranger to the Special Olympics circuit.
While attending Genesee Valley BOCES, now called Genesee Valley Educational Partnership, Pedraza was a powerlifter, bowler and competed in track and field in Special Olympics events. Then, at age 14, he decided he’d give alpine skiing a whirl.
After school, he decided to concentrate solely on skiing, and over 20 years later, as he prepares to represent Team USA at the Special Olympics World Games in South Korea, it’s evident that was a good decision.
When Pedraza arrives in Pyeongchang, South Korea for the games – taking place Jan. 29 through Feb. 5 – it will be the first time he will represent the United States in a Special Olympics competition.
Being selected for Team USA required Pedraza’s skills of the slopes, as well as a touch of luck, as his coach, Martha Pachuta, explained.
“What they do is in order to be selected, you do need to win a gold medal or a first place in your division in the state games prior to the event,” she said. “Anyone who receives a gold medal, their name actually goes into a hat.”
Individual donations have poured in, and in November, the Warsaw Kiwanis Club raised $1,000 through a spaghetti dinner benefitting Pedraza’s trip to South Korea.
Pachuta said funding would not get in the way of Pedraza’s trip, but the less money he needs from Special Olympics, the more the organization can help finance other athletes with a lesser support system.
That selflessness is right in line with Pedraza’s leadership style, Pachuta said.
“Barney is one of those athletes that not only does he push himself to do better, but he also is a significant helper and role model for the other skiers that are coming into the program,” she said. “Barney’s the first one to help unload the car. He’s the first one to help load the car at the end of practice. First one to ask, ‘Is there anything else I can do?’”
Pachuta added that Pedraza is exactly the kind of person to capture the essence of the games.
“Barney is a very patent man and very polite and very well-mannered,” she said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that he will just be a great representation, when he attends this event.”
He might need those amicable traits, considering his first time flying will be a 15-plus-hour flight to South Korea.
To help fund Pedraza’s trip to the Special Olympics World Games, visit http://worldgames.kintera.org/barney.
Surrounded by family and approximately 35 supporters, Assemblyman David DiPietro celebrated his November victory with a swearing-in ceremony New Year’s Day in Perry.
“The people have been so supportive,” he said during a reception that followed the ceremony. “Sometimes you get into a race, and it’s like political machines going at it. This was a race of the people, and the people spoke pretty loud.”
Town of Castile Supervisor Stephen Tarbell opened the ceremony with brief comment, then DiPietro was sworn in and delivered remarks, and much thanks, to his supporters.
“I tell people the easy part is I’ve cut my teeth in local government, and I’ve cut taxes, done all those government things that we need and I can do to help make our lives better (like) get the government out of our life… I can hopefully do (those things) so it makes it a little bit easier on you as a citizen,” DiPietro said.
The Assemblyman added he would be looking to work with other lawmakers in Albany willing to govern on strong moral principles.
“I hope that I can go up to Albany and find those individuals, who are with Christ, and work with them to try to change (the moral) aspect,” he said. “The government things, I can do. I think if you’ve read my record, those things are not hard, and I’ll work really hard to get a lot of that done for everyone here to make their lives a little better. But it’s the moral cliff that I’m really concerned about.”
DiPietro won the 147th Assembly seat by besting Independence Party candidate Christina Abt, who also ran on the Democratic and Working Families tickets, in November’s general election. The 147th district extends from Lake Erie in the east to Covington in the west and includes parts of southern Erie County and all of Wyoming County.
Now, DiPietro is looking forward to getting right to work, once he gets to Albany.
“We’ve already hit the ground running,” he said. “I’ve been talking with the towns of Perry and Warsaw, some people out in Arcade and Attica, so we’re getting the lay of the land and some things we’re going to try to get done right away.”
Justice by the youth, for the youth: Newest Youth Court class takes oath of office
By Julia Merulla
Juvenile offenders, watch out. There's a new group of people in town prepared to enforce the law.
Sure, they're kids themselves, but they've spent hours training and are prepared to hand down some real sanctions.
The four local residents – Autumn Finch of Warsaw, Joel Hulme of Warsaw, Riley Humberstone of Perry and Kristy Mell of Attica – graduated from their Wyoming County Youth Court training Dec. 18 during a ceremony at the Wyoming County Court House in Warsaw.
As part of Youth Court, they will take on different roles in the courtroom, hearing real cases involving juvenile offenders in Wyoming County. Then, they come up consequences for the transgressions.
If the offenders admit wrongdoing – such as petit larceny, fighting and bullying – and go through the youth court system, they avoid having a criminal record.
“They get that one chance to do right and to do well,” said Andrea Aldinger, director of the county's Aging and Youth bureau.
The goal is to stop youth from going down the wrong path early in life, said family court judge Hon. Michael F. Griffith.
He told the graduates, “You are kind of like the keepers of the gate, in the sense that if you can help straighten out somebody's life at an earlier stage, we find that that's the time to catch them.”
The program’s success is measurable: Those in charge of Youth Court said that over 90 percent of the offenders seen in Youth Court do not come back – and that number has been as high as 98 or 99 percent.
Following opening remarks, the new Youth Court members raised their right hand and took their oath of office, vowing to uphold the constitution of the state and nation. Then, with the help of previous graduates, they acted out a mock trial.
Darlene LaGeorgia of Perry played the role of Jane Smith, a hypothetical 16-year-old who had been charged with petit larceny. Hulme and Wyoming resident Quinn Zinkievich played Smith's attorneys, while Humberstone and Finch acted as the prosecution.
The accused testified that while she was after school, she had stolen $50 out of an open locker. As punishment, she was ordered to do 4 hours community service, and write a letter of apology and pay back the money within 30 days. Because she struggled with math, she also would be assigned a tutor.
The mock trial was a truncated version of what would happen in an actual youth court case. The members spend hours preparing for the proceedings and even more time deliberating.
The court averages nine cases a year, said Youth Court coordinator Amy Fialkowski. Training for new members is from September to December, and then they spend the other months handling cases and undergoing more training, such as how to write opening and closing statements.
At the request of area schools, Youth Court now handles bullying cases, said Fialkowski, who took over the position in September 2011 previously held by Castile Town Supervisor Steve Tarbell. With the help of a grant, a trainer from the University of Nebraska presented a 3-hour bullying intervention program in July for Youth Court administrators, who can then pass of their knowledge to the Youth Court members.
It’s a major commitment for those involved, Fialkowski said.
One of the graduates, Autumn Finch of Warsaw, finds time for Youth Court despite a schedule packed with other extracurriculars.
Finch left early from her final modified basketball game to go to the graduation ceremony. Among the eighth-grader’s other activities are National Junior Honors Society, stage crew, track and volleyball.
Finch said she plans to pursue a career in law, possibly as a politician to make changes in government.
“I feel like we're becoming more like a communist country,” she said. “I would like to make it more of a democracy, because that’s what we started off as.”
Finch is following in the footsteps of her cousin Ashley White, who had been in youth court and now attends Syracuse University with the goal of becoming a lawyer.
Finch’s mother, Cyndee Foss, praised the program for the purpose it gives her daughter and the other members.
“It helps them feel like they’re making a difference – and they are,” Foss said. “It’s just amazing.”
Buffalo Bills sign Letchworth grad to practice squad
By Dan Hager
A Letchworth graduate with NFL dreams has received a chance to have a career as a professional football player.
Last spring, Derek Buttles returned home to Letchworth with his degree from the University of Maine in construction management – and received some promising news with an invite to the Buffalo Bills 2012 rookie mini-camp. However, Buttles did not get an invitation to the Bills training camp at St. John Fisher in Rochester this past summer, but he continued to bulk up and stay active with a hope that the phone might ring again.
Just before Christmas, that phone rang and the Bills offering Buttles a shot, signing the tight end to the team's practice squad. With the season-ending injury to starting tight end Scott Chandler, the Bills needed tight end depth at practice, and Buttles offered just that. And while the 2012 season is over for the Bills, just that one phone call might be enough to open the doors for Buttles in the years ahead.
“Just a shot is a special thing for all of us here in Letchworth,” said Letchworth Head Coach Tim McMullen. “Derek is a great story for any school, county or league. He is the complete package for a wide-out/tight end combo. He has great hands and is very athletic.”
A 2007 Letchworth graduate, Buttles spent his college career in Maine playing offense for the Black Bears. After finally gaining some major momentum in his senior season, with a career-high 148-yard day receiving against PITT, Buttles suffered through an ACL tear, ending his season and his momentum.
In 2010, Buttles earned second-team All-Colonial Athletic Association honors after catching 27 passes for 291 yards and a touchdown.
While in high school, Buttles was named the Livingston County News Athlete of the Year in 2006-07 after leading the LCAA in tackles with 152. He also earned the Section 5 Class C Defensive player of the year that season.
After months of rehab the shot the Bills provided in the spring was enough to keep the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Buttles in the weight room and working for the ultimate goal of making the NFL.
Even if his time with the Bills lasted only two weeks, Derek Buttles is the lone Letchworth graduate to wear an NFL jersey, making the number 88 one to remember in Gainesville.
Wyoming County first responders attend Webster funerals
By Trisha Morris-Kopinski
Approximately 55 fire and EMS personnel from around Wyoming County attended the wake and funeral services for two firefighters gunned down while responding to a fire Christmas Eve in Webster.
Arcade, Attica, Bennington, Cowlesville. North Java, Perry, Perry Center, Pike, Warsaw and Wyoming Fire Companies all sent representatives to the wake Dec. 28 and funerals Dec. 29 an 30, said Wyoming County Fire/EMS coordinator Bill Streicher, who attended the services, as did Anthony Santoro, director of Wyoming County Emergency Services.
West Webster volunteer firefighters Michael Chiapperini, 43 and Tomasz Kaczowka, 19, were killed at dawn Christmas Eve while responding to a call for a house and car fire on the shoreline of Lake Road in Webster.
Gunman William Spengler reportedly set fire to his home as a way to ambush the fire fighters, before taking his own life. Two other firefighters who were also on the scene of the fire were injured and are recovering at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.
The outpouring of support for the fallen firefighters was tremendous. Thousands of firefighters and other first responders from across the nation and even some from other countries attended the services for the fallen firefighters, Streicher said.
The Wyoming County Transit Service provided the transportation for the local firefighters and EMS personnel who attended the funerals. The Wyoming County Vet’s Club in Warsaw provided hot beverages and doughnuts while the attendees waited to load the buses for the trips to Webster.
