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Sports
West Genesee shaken by loss of student to cancer
Business
Business ���������������������7 Calendar �������������������2 Classifieds �������������� 12 Editorial ��������������������4 Obituaries ������������������8 Public notices �����������X Religion ���������������������X School news �������������6 Sports ������������������� 5, 7
Bonnie Russell
Students packed the West Genesee High School gym in support of Craig Rienhardt Tuesday Jan. 11.
About 1,500 students, staff and community members rallied at Tuesday’s West Genesee boys’ varsity basketball game in support of a friend they were not ready to lose. Craig Rienhardt, 17, died at his home in the town of Onondaga early
Craig Rienhardt
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Bishop’s Academy at St. Charles Borromeo in the town of Geddes will close at the end of the school year, Bishop Robert J. Cunningham announced last Monday night to faculty, staff and parents. The school is one of three other academies the Syracuse Catholic Diocese is dissolving, including the Cathedral at Pompei, Holy Family and Most Holy Rosary. The latter two will transition to parish schools. According to diocesan officials, each school community was asked to prepare a viability study to find out if it were feasible to continue school operations at the parish level. The plans were submitted and reviewed, and it was determined St. Charles would cease operations in 2011. “These are difficult days to operate a school whether it is private or public,’ said Superintendent Christopher Mominey. “Unfortunately, financial support has decreased and enrollment trends have declined which have had a direct impact on operating costs.” Mominey said the diocese will assist families with a smooth conversion; it is offering a $650 transition scholarship to students who enroll in another Catholic elementary school. St. Charles School has served its community for more than 60 years.
Marcellus girls volleyball will have a chance at a state championship run in fall 2011. ...See page 5
By Ned Campbell editor@eagle-observer.com
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By Tami Zimmerman tzimmerman@cnylink.com
From winter to fall
First Niagara has 21 locations in CNY with opening of Fairmount branch on West Genesee Street. ...See page 7
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Bishop’s Academy at St. Charles to close
Craig Rienhardt, 17, was a ‘very polite, friendly, energetic young man’
Bank opens in Fairmount
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the next morning after battling cancer. Sup e r i nte nd e nt C h r is Brown said students and staff first heard the news at 6 a.m. on Wednesday Jan. 12. “Our school really is a family, and when we lose somebody, it is really like we’re losing one of our own kids,” Brown said, adding that for a lot of the students, it’s their first look at “not being invincible.” The school community took Wednesday to grieve, and by Thursday had begun to think of ways to help memorialize Craig and reach out to his family. Craig left behind his parents, Mark and Ellen; two sisters, Sarah and Karen; his brother, Eric; and several aunts,
uncles and cousins. “It’s a very personal time where you realize how close of a family you are, even though you’re in a building that has 1,700 students,” Brown said. Austin Gambino, Peter Johnson and Lindsey Sweet, friends and classmates of Craig, led a blue ribbon campaign during the school day Tuesday Jan. 11, and organized a 50/50 raffle that raised well over $1,000 during the first half of the game against Corcoran. “I really think that all in attendance felt they would have an opportunity to give him what they raised, and they didn’t have a chance to do that,” Brown said. See Rienhardt, Page 3
Tami Zimmerman is editor of the Eagle Bulletin.
West Genesee considers salary freeze School district could be faced with $4.5 million budget gap By Ned Campbell After hearing of Governor Mario Cuomo’s proposed tax cap, West Genesee Superintendent Chris Brown started to look harder at ways to save the district money. Cuomo proposed capping property tax at 2 percent or the inflation rate, whichever is lower, and Brown estimates that inflation will be at around 1 percent by February. A 1 percent tax cap would amount to a $4.5 See Salary freeze, next page
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