Clarence Bee

09/05/2024

The Clarence Arts and Crafts Society is hosting its 47th annual fall holiday show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, and Sunday, Sept. 8, at the Clarence Town Park clubhouse and large pavilion, 10405 Main St. Admission is free.

Vendors will be selling paintings, fabrics, textiles, Buffalo Bills merchandise, copper art, photographs, jewelry, wood, note cards, novelty items, quilts, baskets, wreaths, purses, fine arts, usable arts, wearable goods and more. “It’s really a wide variety,” said Jill Ognibene, a member of the society and co-chair of the show.

Over 60 artists will be in attendance. The artists are “typically people that live in and around the area,” said Ognibene. “All the artists involved are pre-screened and chosen.”

There will also be a basket raffle and Clarence Band Boosters will be selling hot dogs and desserts.

The Clarence Arts and Crafts Society is hosting its 47th annual fall holiday show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, and Sunday, Sept. 8, at the Clarence Town Park clubhouse and large pavilion, 10405 Main St. Admission is free. Vendors will be selling paintings, fabrics, textiles, Buffalo Bil...

09/04/2024

See photos from the Clarence Center Volunteer Fire Company Benevolent Association's annual Labor Day Fair in today's edition of the Bee.

09/03/2024

Tuesday, Aug. 20: A vehicle was on fire on Transit Road at Wolcott Road. Deputies and Swormville Fire Company responded, and the fire company extinguished the fire. No injuries were reported. Read this and other entries in the police blotter:

Saturday, Aug. 17 • Deputies responded to a 911 hang-up call on Sheridan Drive. Deputies spoke to people on the scene and determined everything to be in order. • Deputies and the fire company responded to a brush fire on County Road. The fire was extinguished, and no injuries were reported. • ...

09/02/2024

Around 6:30 p.m. on a warm summer evening, Aug. 14, Main-Transit firefighter and EMT Andrew Fischer was out with his 16-month-old son and wife, visiting neighbors on a walk around their Berkley Road neighborhood in Amherst.

One neighbor they came across was Emily Mages, who is married to Fischer’s cousin, Jeff. Emily was in their front yard with her two daughters and was 38 weeks pregnant with her third child, two weeks away from her due date and feeling ready to have the baby.

Just hours later, after making dinner and putting her daughters to bed, Emily had a big contraction - followed by another just three minutes later. They continued every three minutes, lasting about 30 seconds.

“I called Jeff and then my OB, who didn’t answer,” Emily said. “I went into the bedroom and was hit with such a big contraction that it brought me down to my knees.”

She was on her hands and knees on her bedroom floor when her OB called back to say to come in, but at that moment her water broke.

“Jeff was on his way home from work and was close to the house when my water broke so he called the ambulance from the car,” said Emily, who also called her mother to come to watch the other two children. Fischer, along with fellow Berkley Road neighbor and Main-Transit firefighter/ EMT Dan Hooper, got the call at 9:30 p.m. about a person in labor on Berkley Road.

“We knew who it was when the call came in,” Fischer said. “I live about five houses down and Dan lives seven houses away in the other direction.”

Hooper said he had known Jeff for years because his stepfather was a firefighter at Main-Transit for over 40 years.

Jeff arrived and a couple seconds later Fischer and Hooper came in.

“I started pushing and I didn’t push more than two times and the baby was out,” Emily said.

“Dan and I both have first aid kits in our car,” Fischer said. “When we arrived Jeff let us in and he told us she was in the back bedroom.We found her in the bedroom in a natural birthing position, on her hands and knees.”

Fischer said that he had been to labor calls before, but either with plenty of time to get the woman to the hospital or after the baby had been born. Hooper said he’d assisted in two deliveries before when he worked for Rural Metro ambulance, but “This was the first time I actually caught one.”

“We asked her how she was doing and how far apart her contractions were,” Fischer said. “She told us less than a minute. We were getting our gloves on when she said she was starting to push. I grabbed the head and Dan helped with the baby’s body. It was so natural the way things came out.”

“It is way different than a hospital setting,” Hooper said. “We get trained to do this but we had never actually done it ourselves.”

Main-Transit Fire Chief Brad Sprague, who is a nurse at Oishei Children’s Hospital, arrived on scene just after the baby was born.

“We haven’t had a delivery in recent history, I’d say the last 15-20 years,” said Sprague, who got the OB or obstetrics kit with a clamp and knife so the father could cut the umbilical cord. “I’ve assisted in a controlled setting through the hospital but nothing like this.”

Fischer said everything happened so fast that they didn’t even have time to put gowns on, just gloves.

“We arrived at 9:30 p.m. and the baby was out at 9:35 p.m.,” Fischer said. “From the start of contractions to the baby being born was probably 55- 58 minutes total. She was the perfect patient with it being her third baby and having gone through this before.”

The couple had not found out the s*x of the baby prior to birth with any of their children, so they were surprised to have a third girl. Baby Nora was born healthy, weighing 6 pounds, 5 ounces, 19 inches long joining big sisters Mila, 3, and Aria, 16 months.

Jeff was able to cut the umbilical cord with a scalpel.

“I’m a girl dad I guess,” Jeff said, adding that it was wonderful walking out to the ambulance surrounded by firefighters from Main-Transit who he knew, since his stepfather was a longtime member. “We are thankful everything worked out the way it did and everyone’s healthy. It happened so fast. We want to thank everyone at the fire hall, they were so responsive.”

Emily said she had always wanted a home birth, but didn’t expect it to happen quite like this.

The firefighters even brought a gift the next day: a Main-Transit onesie for the baby.

On a warm, summer evening two weeks ago, Main-Transit firefighter and EMT Andrew Fischer was out with his 16-month-old son and wife, visiting neighbors on a walk around their Berkley Road neighborhood in Amherst. One of the neighbors they came across on their walk was Emily Mages, who is married to....

09/01/2024

One of Clarence football coach Paul Burgio’s jobs is to have the pulse of his team, and it has been pretty obvious since Nov. 18 – one day after the Red Devils played East/World of Inquiry in the Class A Far West Regional – that no one was happy with how the 2023 season ended.

Fast forward 10 months, and it’s equally obvious that even the players on the roster who weren’t with the varsity squad for that game have a singular goal in mind: Make it back to the regional game and play up to their capabilities.

And while Burgio is all for that, his main concern – with the official start of the 2024 season looming in the nottoo distant future – is making sure the Red Devils don’t put the cart before the horse.

“It’s great that the kids are coming into this season with the long-term goals that they are, but my job is to get them to focus on one game at a time. I don’t want them to come off of a sectional championship last fall and assuming doing that and more is going to be a given this year,” Burgio said. “How last season ended showed us all that we need to be prepared for every possible situation. We came out of the sectional final last year feeling pretty good about ourselves, and I think we lost our focus a little bit with our preparation for the regional. Hopefully, we’ll remember that game showing us that we can’t get too high or too low in any given situation, because that regional game showed us that if we’re not focused, things can end for us super quick.”

One of Clarence football coach Paul Burgio’s jobs is to have the pulse of his team, and it has been pretty obvious since Nov. 18 – one day after the Red Devils played East/World of Inquiry in the Class A Far West Regional – that no one was happy with how the 2023 season ended. Fast forward 10 ...

08/31/2024

Recent upgrades to Clarence High School’s auditorium have done more than make life easier for those running the tech systems – the enhancements have also improved safety and cut down on some costs of running the theater, according to a presentation made by teacher Steve Merlihan during last week’s school board meeting.

Merlihan said that much of the old equipment had been around since the 1940s, including the rigging, which is the system of ropes and cables that theaters use to lift and hold up lights, backdrops and even people if needed. Hundreds of pounds of weight would be up in the air when lights were brought down, he said, and if lights were removed to be worked on, all of that weight would still be suspended overhead. With the new rigging, the lines are now motorized and can remotely bring lights down to four feet above the floor if someone needs to get hands on them – a safety improvement, since staff and students no longer need to climb into the attic to adjust lights by hand or prop a ladder up in the balcony area to manually move them. Instead the lights move themselves.

New energy-efficient LED lights have replaced 45-50 lights that would cost about $150 per bulb each year, and Merlihan noted that the old bulbs ate a lot of energy at 750 watts each. The new lights also have a robust slate of color options and textures that can be changed by hitting buttons on a tablet, rather than getting special plastic “gel sheets” each year for $100 a roll to manually put over the lights. Three new spotlights were also added, a relief for Merlihan since the old spotlights’ $450 bulbs only lasted about 1.5 years before going out with a bang – literally.

“When [the old spotlight bulbs] go, they don’t just burn out. They explode in the unit, and it often happened in the middle of a show when we were using it,” he said.

Merlihan received a lot of help designing the system from Clarence Class of 2010 graduate Jacob Brinkman, who works as a Disney Imagineer and holds a master’s degree in lighting design. Brinkman also aided in ensuring the whole system is one brand, since differing brands that are allegedly compatible with each other can sometimes have trouble working as a single unit.

Clarence Class of 2021 graduate Dylan Janish also helped to fine-tune the system. Janish, who is wrapping up his bachelor’s degree in lighting design at SUNY Fredonia, visited the auditorium during a rehearsal to see the new system; when he learned some bugs needed fixing, he volunteered his time and got everything straightened out.

“They come and they pay us back, our students, in ways that help us. That’s one of the things that has worked for us,” Merlihan said. “This investment is well worth it because we have plenty of students come here that decide … they want to do this as a career."

https://www.clarencebee.com/articles/ccsd-highlights-auditorium-enhancements/

Clarence Central School District

Recent upgrades to Clarence High School’s auditorium have done more than make life easier for those running the tech systems – the enhancements have also improved safety and cut down on some costs of running the theater, according to a presentation made by teacher Steve Merlihan during last week...

08/30/2024

A new subdivision proposed for the southeast corner of Strickler and Greiner roads is under review, with the potential to create 62 lots on about 81.5 acres near Clarence Middle School.

SGC Development LLC would build the new lots under the town’s “incentive lot” design, which means each lot would need to be at least 100 feet wide. The developer is proposing that each lot have a minimum of 110 feet of frontage and 19,250 square feet of land.

The developer considered two other types of development for this property, but one required 125 feet of frontage when the developer wanted to go down to 110 feet. The other created 105 single-family lots that were smaller than the 62 lots in the developer’s preferred proposal, and additionally required 50% green space to be preserved. The plan that is under review is required to have 25% green space and is proposed to include 45% green space.

Ken Zollitsch, who is from the engineering firm GPI and represented the developer during last week’s planning board meeting, noted that although no buffer is required from neighboring residents, the project proposes a 90-foot buffer, which is double the amount required for commercial developments.

One concern brought up in residents’ comments was whether the roads could handle the additional vehicles and traffic. A traffic study is not yet underway, and since both Strickler and Greiner are county-owned roads, it will be up to Erie County to determine whether a traffic study is necessary.

Members of the public and the board both expressed interest in defining this project’s limits of disturbance, meaning the borders that show what land and vegetation will be disturbed as infrastructure and homes are built.

Board Chairman Robert Sackett also said that the town engineer has concerns about a retention pond proposed to be on private land. Zollitsch indicated that it encroaches on one of the lots to ensure it is maintained and to avoid issues with people walking behind that yard; however, he said it can be pushed back farther from the lot line.

A new subdivision proposed for the southeast corner of Strickler and Greiner roads is under review, with the potential to create 62 lots on about 81.5 acres near Clarence Middle School. SGC Development LLC would build the new lots under the town’s “incentive lot” design, which means each lot w...

08/29/2024

Travelers of Greiner Road are likely familiar with the long lines of cars that materialize every weekday during the school year. Plans for a parking lot overhaul could fix the problem.

As parents arrive to pick up or drop off their Clarence Middle School students, the line of vehicles exceeds the parking lot’s capacity and stretches a significant distance down the road, facing the wrong direction, against traffic. In addition to causing congestion and frustration for other drivers, some say the backup is also a potential safety hazard.

Clarence Central School District has heard the complaints and believes that parking lot redesigns can help alleviate the issue.

“A redesign of the south (Greiner Road) lot would include a dedicated queuing lane to allow for vehicle[s to line up] on school grounds, off the public roadway. This would be assisted by eliminating the east [driveway] to Greiner Road and consolidating incoming traffic into one point of ingress,” Superintendent Matt Frahm told the Bee. Safety, he added, is the main focus, and the plan to reformat the parking lot would also keep the car line out of parking areas and create a crosswalk intended to keep pedestrians in one area.

Clarence High School parking lot upgrades are also on the district’s radar.

Frahm noted that drawings of the proposed changes are being revised following feedback from Clarence Central School District’s facilities committee; New York state, which has jurisdiction over Main Street; and Erie County, which has jurisdiction over Greiner Road.

CCSD is determining the scope of the capital project that would include these parking lot enhancements, and once the capital project is finalized, residents will have the chance to vote yea or nay in December.

Travelers of Greiner Road are likely familiar with the long lines of cars that materialize every weekday during the school year. Plans for a parking lot overhaul could fix the problem. As parents arrive to pick up or drop off their Clarence Middle School students, the line of vehicles exceeds the pa...

08/28/2024

The Benevolent Association of the Clarence Center Vol Fire Co. will hold its annual Labor Day fair from Friday, Aug. 30, to Monday, Sept. 2. The midway will open from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday; and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Fair chairman Mike Rogowski, a former Clarence Center fire chief, said this year’s event “is about the community and the people that come.” He added that the fair and parade “really brings our community together,” and when the weekend ends, he begins thinking about how the Labor Day committee can improve it for next year.

“I mean, we have a committee that’s made up of about 10 firefighters and we meet once a month and put the plan together for the following year,” Rogowski said.

The event has been running since 1922 and has only been paused for World War II and COVID-19 lockdowns.

The Benevolent Association of the Clarence Center Volunteer Fire Company will hold its annual Labor Day fair from Friday, Aug. 30, to Monday, Sept. 2. The midway will open from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday; and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. The Clarence Center Fir...

08/27/2024

LABOR DAY SCHEDULE – Our offices will be closed on Monday, Sept. 2, for Labor Day, so all deadlines are moved up one business day, including submissions for Letters to the Editor, Bee Heard comments, obituaries, etc.

08/27/2024

135 Years Ago, Aug. 22, 1889: The mail bag from Buffalo to Clarence, and vice versa, is now opened at all the post offices along the route. A letter mailed at Clarence in the morning will now reach Williamsville within two hours. Read this and more in our Out of the Past column.

35 Years AgoAug. 23, 1989 Al Pack, the advertising sales rep for The Clarence Bee, is observing his 30th anniversary with the company this week. The Antique World Expo, set for this Friday and Saturday, will feature 600 quality antique dealers spread out on 120 acres of property. 60 Years AgoAug. 20...

08/26/2024

Members of the Clarence Middle School art club painted six canvases that are hung up in the Family Support Center office in Clarence High School.

The club, which meets once a week during the school year, consists of students in grades six through eight.

School social worker Penny Glenna kick-started this project when she asked club adviser and sixth grade art teacher Elizabeth Spielman to create art for the Family Support Center office.

Spielman realized the art club could work on this project. “I thought it would be perfect for the art club kids to create something specifically for that space,” said Spielman.

So, Glenna gave a presentation on the support center to the club members. She discussed what the center looked like and what it is used for.

The center’s goal is to “enhance the physical, mental, social, and emotional health of our community by providing support, referrals, and linkages to area services,” according to www.clarenceschools.org.

After learning about the center, club members began brainstorming project themes and ideas. ”The club decided that they wanted the paintings to create a sense of belonging, support and encouragement,” said Spielman.

One of the paintings depicts a girl wearing a shirt with the phrase “Be Kind” on it. The girl has her hands cupped because she is holding children and adults from all different backgrounds. The people in her palms are embracing each other and holding hands.

The seventh grader who came up with the initial sketch for the painting, Mary Harvey, said she got the idea for the painting after looking at her hands. “I was like ‘this might be a good idea for a painting.’”

Harvey’s original plan was to paint the Clarence Middle School tree house in the girl’s palms. However, Harvey realized that she wanted the painting to symbolize “the whole Clarence community,” especially since the painting was going in the Family Support Center office.

“I mean it was a little difficult to figure out exactly what we were going to do,” said Harvey. “But overall it was really fun.”

Harvey’s best friend, Abby Rae, also worked on this painting. “Mary and I finished it at my house,” said Rae.

Rae, who is a member of the Jump Start Program at Buffalo Arts Studio, said she has been making art since she was two years old.

“I love painting but drawing is my go-to whenever I’m doing art,” said Rae.

“This was a super unique project for the kids,” said Spielman. “Normally during the school year they will create artwork to beautify the halls of the middle school.”

Spielman added that working as a team was good for the students because it taught them how to problem-solve. “My job was just to kind of oversee it,” said Spielman.

Spielman also said, “Having the kids create art for a purpose was super powerful.”

https://www.clarencebee.com/articles/middle-school-art-club-creates-paintings-for-family-support-center/

Members of the Clarence Middle School art club painted six canvases that are hung up in the Family Support Center office in Clarence High School. The club, which meets once a week during the school year, consists of students in grades six through eight. School social worker Penny Glenna kick-started...

08/25/2024

Ella Corry and Sammi Jo Payne are the Clarence Bee 2023-24 co-Female Athletes of the Year.

Even in the age of specialization, it’s still not a rarity to have high school athletes take part in more than one sport any given year. But to have that athlete truly excel at an elite level in both arenas? That’s still something coaches recognize is a once-in-a-generation occurrence. Clarence ...

08/24/2024

Regan Landscape may have to do some work on a temporary structure to come into compliance with the conditions of a permit it received last week for outside storage.

Located at 8490 Wolcott Road, the landscape and property maintenance business was not an allowable use of the property, and neighbor Robert Geiger (not to be confused with the former town councilman of the same name) critiqued a structure that he believes is closer to his property line than what is allowed. As of press time, the town was still uncertain whether the structure needs a permit from the building department, as it is not a pole barn or other permanent structure – it is a canopy on concrete blocks and is used to store topsoil.

Both Councilman Paul Shear and Town Supervisor Patrick Casilio expressed reservations when Calvin Regan came before the town board last week seeking the permit for outside storage. The board ultimately granted the temporary conditional permit for outside storage but with its timespan shortened to six months instead of the typical one-year period. One condition on the permit required that the applicant meet “any additional requirements” from the town’s building and engineering departments, which addresses the matter of the potentially unauthorized structure on the site, and Councilman Dan Michnik additionally suggested that the landowner work with neighbor Robert Geiger in regards to the structure’s location.

“With a temporary conditional permit in place, it now allows us to control the business/use with a series of conditions and related code/regulations,” Director of Community Development Jon Bleuer told the Bee. “Without classification, we would start with a blank slate on the site, and then try to determine what aspects of the business/use are allowable in the zone, and what aspects are not. Neither the town board nor the planning board had a particular issue with the business/ use itself, as it is very similar in operation to what historically operated on site, albeit far more active. That being said, both boards wanted controls and protections put in place for the surrounding property owners.”

Regan Landscape may have to do some work on a temporary structure to come into compliance with the conditions of a permit it received last week for outside storage. Located at 8490 Wolcott Road, the landscape and property maintenance business was not an allowable use of the property, and neighbor Ro...

08/23/2024

Plans for Clarence’s first inclusive playground are well underway, spearheaded by the Clarence Lions Club, and the Lions are hoping for a spring 2026 build date at a location in Town Place Park, 5400 Goodrich Road, between the baseball field and Lions Den pavilion.

“It’s a playground where all kids play together despite any special needs that they might have, but also we want it to be side-by-side and imaginative and interesting, challenging, [with] a non-static slide for kids with cochlear implants; special and unique swings; a zipline; a quiet, safe place for kids to be and go; and much more,” said Elaine Diederich of the Lions Club. The playground will accommodate caregivers in wheelchairs or with mobility restrictions as well as children with a wide variety of needs, including kids who are autistic, blind, have impaired hearing and/or cochlear implants, and more.

The cost of the playground will be more than $1 million, with the turf alone costing $20 per square foot and totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, so the Lions have some work ahead of them in terms of fundraising and grant applications. The committee began with its wildest dreams, pared it down to a realistic plan and is identifying equipment deemed “mission critical” to present to donors – however there will still be stretch goals too.

Plans for Clarence’s first inclusive playground are well underway, spearheaded by the Clarence Lions Club, and the Lions are hoping for a spring 2026 build date at a location in Town Place Park, 5400 Goodrich Road, between the baseball field and Lions Den pavilion. “It’s a playground where all...

08/22/2024

After three days of heated competition, the United States Artistic Swimming Team brought home the silver medal with a total score of 914 points, 81 points behind China, which won the gold.

This is the first Team Artistic Swimming win since 2004 in Athens when they won the bronze. Among the winners was three-time Olympian and Buffalo native Anita Alvarez.

Alvarez’s road to the 2024 Olympic stage was not an easy one, as just two years ago she nearly drowned after fainting during her solo performance at the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest. However, instead of shying away from the sport after the incident, she stated that she did not want her career to end in that way and continued competing. This year her dedication paid off as the artistic swimming team was qualified for the Olympics for the first time since 2008.

Alvarez started artistic swimming at the age of 8, as soon as she could participate in the Tonawanda Aquettes Novice Team.

“Her mother coached the Tonawanda Aquettes and was also an assistant coach for the Canisius College team, and Anita would travel to both practices. So, from a young age she was always around the sport,” said her father, David Alvarez, who is a Tonawanda native and Clarence Brothers of Mercy employee.

This will be Anita Alvarez’s third Olympics, as she competed in the Artistic Swimming Duet Category at Rio in 2016 and in Tokyo in 2020, but competing in a team was her goal from the start.

After three days of heated competition, the United States Artistic Swimming Team brought home the silver medal with a total score of 914 points, 81 points behind China, which won the gold. This is the first Team Artistic Swimming win since 2004 in Athens when they won the bronze. Among the winners w...

08/21/2024

Adrienne Costello-Sulik has been appointed to the Clarence Central School District Board of Education with a term ending in summer of 2025, filling the vacancy left by board trustee Kym Cannizzaro’s resignation.

“I absolutely hope to listen, learn and serve and collaborate with my fellow board members in productive ways,” Costello-Sulik told the Bee after Monday’s board meeting. “I recognize that this appointment only lasts through May, so it’s my goal to just be as helpful as possible and as supportive to the good work of the district as I can be.”

Costello-Sulik is a 1994 Clarence High School alumna with a Ph.D. in English education from SUNY Buffalo and has a child in ninth grade attending CCSD. She has worked as an associate professor of English education at SUNY Buffalo State, where she held leadership positions, chaired committees and observed teachers and classrooms, and she is now employed at Xtreme Discount Mattress, her family business, which has assisted CCSD’s Family Support Center. She has also published in peer-reviewed journals about the effectiveness of teaching and has volunteered with CSEF.

“She has hands-on experience with management, finance, budgeting, advertising and human resources,” said Board President James Boglioli. Board Trustee Dawn Snyder will be Costello-Sulik’s mentor, and Trustee Cindy Magera is mentoring Olivia Collins, the student representative to the board.

Cannizzaro submitted her resignation in July, effective Aug. 15, because of the time commitment required by her new business.

Adrienne Costello-Sulik has been appointed to the Clarence Central School District Board of Education with a term ending in summer of 2025, filling the vacancy left by board trustee Kym Cannizzaro’s resignation. “I absolutely hope to listen, learn and serve and collaborate with my fellow board m...