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Camillus gears up for Feb Fest ... Page 3 Volume 181, No. 7 Feb. 16 to 22, 2011
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ESF professor presents on willow shrub cap ... Page 3
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NEWSPAPERS
Let it snow! Camillus Ski Association can’t get enough of this winter’s fluff
Young ski enthusiasts, all 5 years old, take a break from the slopes to sip hot chocolate with ski instructor Meg Gilheney, left. Pictured, from left, are Teniola Dladunjoye, Nickolas Janczyk and Rachael Andrews. NED CAMPBELL
Generous donation First Niagara donated $1,000 to the Camillus Town Shop Youth Center at the opening of its Fairmount branch last Friday. ...See page 7
Sports
By Ned Campbell editor@eagle-observer.com Had enough snow yet? Andy Arbital, President of the Camillus Ski Association, has not — he says keep it coming. “Some people say, ‘I hate the snow,’ but we love the snow,” said Arbital, “because that’s our business.” This year’s record-breaking snowfall has been great for the Camillus Ski Association, which
lacks the finances to make its own snow. “East Hill,” located on Blackmore Road next to East Hill Elementary in Camillus, usually has to wait for January to have enough snow to open. This year it opened in mid-December, and Arbital doesn’t expect it to close anytime soon. “We’ll stay open as long as there’s enough snow on the ground to ski safely,” Arbital said. The only times they’ve closed were on holidays, when volunteers took rare days off. The association runs on the support of about 40 volunteers. Families of volunteers ski free of charge.
Arbital says the club is in need of more volunteers, and welcomes newcomers. To become involved, call Arbital at 569-5566. A family affair Ann Schmutzler has been volunteering since the 1960s, when her son, Tom, started the ski hill. She assists with the ski instruction program and runs the kitchen, which sells beverages, pizza, hot dogs and other snacks. See CSA, page 10
Mustangs’ Felicia signs with UB West Genesee faces
$5.63 million deficit
WG tops CNS in OT West Genesee forward Nate Colabufo (24) slips in the first goal of his Wildcat career in the first period of last Wednesday’s game against CNS. The win gave WG their fourth-straight regular season title. ...See page 12
BUSINESS .....................7 CALENDAR ...................2 CLASSIFIEDS .............. 18 EDITORIAL ....................4 OBITUARIES..................9 PUBLIC NOTICES ........ 17 SCHOOL NEWS ......6, 13 SPORTS ..................... 14
By Ned Campbell
DAVE TADDEO
Joe Felicia signs his letter of intent to play football at the University of Buffalo. From left are sister Makenzie, mother Tamera and father Joe. our football camp back in sixth or seventh By Dave Taddeo grade. He didn’t want to get out of the car. Marcellus defensive tackle Joe Felicia And now here he is, several years later, signsigned an NCAA Division 1 National Let- ing a national letter of intent to play football ter of Intent and accepted a full scholarship on a full football scholarship at the Division Thursday Feb. 3 to play football for the I level.” Felicia’s football stats include 7.5 sacks University of Buffalo next year. and 64 tackles as a junior, and 11 sacks and “Joe is about hard work,” Marcellus assis48 tackles as a senior. He made First Team tant varsity football coach Rick Belvito said All League (Class B West) and Third Team to family, friends teammates and coaches All CNY in his junior year, and as a senior gathered in the high school library for the earned first team honors at the league, CNY ceremony. “I remember when Joe came to and State levels.
The West G enes e e School District is scrutinizing all areas of its operation in order to close an estimated $5.63 million budget gap — last year’s deficit was substantially less, at $2.3 million. West Genesee Superintendent Chris Brown recently laid off 62 employees from all levels within the district, including administrative, as one step toward closing the deficit. “The hardest thing that you do as the leader of any organization is lay people off, because they didn’t do anything wrong,” Brown said. “It’s simply their place-
ment on a seniority list, or a it’s a budget number that you have to reach.” In a Feb. 3 blog post responding to the governor’s proposed budget, which would cut spending for K12 education by 2.9 percent, Brown said he understood Cuomo’s desire to reduce funding to schools.. “I disagree with the governor’s assertions that schools can close the gaps he presented through the use of reserves and pay freezes, however,” he wrote. Brown told the Observer that many schools “simply don’t have the types of reserves [Cuomo’s] thinking they have in order to balSee Budget, page 8
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