FREE! TAKE ONE! VOLUME 4 ISSUE 24
JUNE 12 - 18, 2015
The Official Newspaper
www.EllicottvilleTimes.com facebook/theEllicottvilleTimes
of the Village of Ellicottville, the Town of Ellicottville and the Towns of East Otto, Great Valley and Mansfield, New York
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Calendar of Events
Tee Off in the Enchanted Mountains
June 13 Summer Tours Griffis Sculpture Park
By Alicia Dziak
With the long days and high temps that lie ahead, it’s time to enjoy time outdoors with friends old and new. Grab your clubs and head to one of the fantastic area golf courses, where you’re sure to have a ball out in the sunshine. Holiday Valley offers a challenging 18-hole, par 70 course, right in the heart of Ellicottville. The “Double Black Diamond” golf course is beautifully maintained with amazing scenery from every hole. Hoping to improve your swing this season? Holiday Valley offers golf lessons for all ages and abilities, led by Steve Carney, a Master PGA Golf Professional. Holiday Valley also offers junior clinics in July and August for kids ages 7-18, and a no-pressure beginners ladies’ group that meets twice a month. In addition, Holiday Valley’s practice facility, located on Route 219 across from the Inn at Holiday Valley, features a 300 yard driving range, which includes 10 covered tees and up to 50 grass tees, multiple target greens and a ball machine. For more information, visit www.holidayvalley.com. Randolph’s Cardinal Hills is an 18-hole, par 72 course, boasting scenic views and natural rural settings. For more information, visit www. cardinalhillsny.com. Elkdale Country Club, located at 7871 Stone Chimney Rd. in Salamanca, is a semiprivate golf club that is open for public play seven days a week.
June 20 Mudslide Obstacle Run Holiday Valley June 20 Critter Cruise Dice Run June 20 Randolph Arts & Crafts Festival
June 27-28 Raccoon Rally Allegany State Park July 2-5 Ellicottville Rodeo July 3-5 Summer Music Festival Holiday Valley
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July 10 Rock the Park Allegany State Park
See Golfing in the Enchanted Mountains page 7
Mudslide Next Weekend There’s still time to sign up for the annual Mudslide obstacle run, June 20 at Holiday Valley. Head over, under and through and 11 obstacles on the 3.5 or 5.4 mile courses, both ending with the famous mudslide at the bottom of Yodeler! Don’t wait to sign up—space is limited. Visit www.holidayvalley. com for more info.
Giddyup! The Rodeo is Village Water Rate Increase Debate Continues Coming to Town!
By Caitlin Croft
The Ellicottville Championship Rodeo returns July 2-5 for its 27th year of great family fun, hosted as always by founders and avid rodeo lovers John and Karen Kent. Over its long history, the rodeo has grown and attracted contestants from around the world and
is now one of the largest International Professional Rodeo Association/American Professional Rodeo Association-sanctioned rodeos in the northeast. Some 450 professional riders from all over the world who make their living riding rodeo will be in Ellicottville to compete for prize money made up of funds from all of the contestants’ entry fees and added money from the Ellicottville Rodeo. There will be more than 150 head of stock for the event, and Ellicottville Championship Rodeo provides all of the feed and hay for the competition. The stock is world-class rodeo stock, which is instrumental to having the best bucking, fastest horses and bulls. The rodeo is divided into two categories: Rough-Stock (or Riding Events) and Timed Events. Riding events include Bareback Bronc Riding, Saddle Bronc Riding and Bull Riding. Contestants receive a score from each of the two professional See Ellicottville Rodeo page 9
Holiday Valley Reports Data Security Breach Offers Year of Credit Repair Holiday Valley President and General Manager Dennis Eshbaugh has informed customers in a letter on the resort’s website of a data security breach. The breach occurred between October 17, 2014 and June 2, 2015. According to a question and answer (Q&A) section also posted on the website, “As soon as Holiday Valley Resort learned of the incident, we immediately engaged a third-party forensic service provider to conduct an investigation and implement additional security measures and notified the U.S. Secret Service and card payment See HV Data Breach page 6
Board Reviewing Comprehensive Plan
By Jann Wiswall
The Village Board is still debating how it will structure a water rate increase for village residents and businesses. While the board agrees that more funds must be raised to help pay for short- and longterm infrastructure repairs
to the 100-year-old system, the board has not yet settled on methods of calculating a fair and equitable increase, especially in light of the fact that rates were reclassified and increased for most customers in 2013. The 2013 adjustment is generating $20,000 more
in water revenue than in the previous year — or a total of $148,000. Jim Campolong, capital projects manager for Nussbaumer & Clarke, explained to the board that the 2013 increase was a start, See Village Board page 9
GV Considers Combining Planning/Zoning Boards Public Hearing Set on Mining District Issue
By Colleen Mahoney
A vacancy on the Great Valley Planning Board sparked a conversation about combining the planning and zoning boards at the June 8 town board meeting. Currently, the seven member planning board has six seats filled and the zoning board has three seats out of five filled. According to town attorney Peter Sorgi, combining the planning See GV Board page 9
ECS Ranks First in Teacher Experience By Jann Wiswall
Buffalo Business First’s annual rankings of Western New York schools has once again placed Ellicottville Central School as the top District in the entire region for teacher experience. The publication has been releasing installments of its
“2015 Schools Guide” over the past several weeks as it prepares to release the full print-version of rankings on June 12. This is the third year in a row that Ellicottville has ranked first in this category. According to the article
See ECS Teacher Experience page 8