Proclamations highlight town board meeting

by Robin M. Woolson
Grand Island Dispatch, June 11, 2004

Three special events are celebrated this month on Grand Island and the town board presented proclamations at the June 7 meeting in honor of these activities.

The proclamations were presented for the Relay For Life Days, Meaghan's Miracle Month and Charles N. DeGlopper Day.

Board members joined Supervisor Peter McMahon as he presented each of the proclamations.

Relay For Life Days

McMahon presented the Relay For Life Days Proclamation to co-chairs Mary Dunbar and Gary Roesch for the second Grand Island Relay For Life which will be held this weekend with more than 50 teams participating with a goal of raising $25,000.

"This town board encourages all Grand Islanders to support, to participate in and to enjoy the entertainment the Relay offers for a very worthy cause," McMahon read from the proclamation.

The Relay For Life opens Friday night and continues to Saturday morning at the Grand Island High School track with the teams walking through the entire night, relay-style, in an attempt to raise awareness and funds to help cancer research.

Meaghan's Miracle Month

The board presented a proclamation to Meaghan's father, Tim Grotz, and her uncle, Dan Drexelius, designating this month in her honor, making it Meaghan's Miracle Month.

Meaghan Grotz is a 16-year-old honor student at Grand Island High School in need of a double lung transplant because of Cystic Fibrosis.

McMahon read the proclamation stating numerous fund-raising events have been planned, including a 5K Walk along West River on June 19 and Meaghan's Miracle at the Grand Island Rod and Gun Club on June 27, which are intended to help defray medical expenses.

"This town board does hereby encourage every resident of Grand Island along with other concerned citizens to support these efforts to help us achieve Meaghan's Miracle," McMahon read.

Charles N. DeGlopper Day

The town board also presented a poclamation to family members of Charles N. DeGlopper, who gave his life 60 years ago on June 9, 1944 as he drew attention away from his comrades near la Fiere, France.

The recognition was presented to Charles DeGlopper's nephew, Ray DeGlopper, Ray's wife, Anita and DeGlopper Post representative Joe Synakowski.

"Private DeGlopper was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest award bestowed on any member of the Armed Forces of the United States, because of his gallant sacrifice and unflinching heroism while facing insurmountable odds were in great measure responsible for a highly important tactical victory in the Normandy Campaign," McMahon read.

As part of the festivities marking this 60th anniversary, there will be a service commemorating his life and sacrifice on Saturday, June 12 at 2 p.m. at the Maple Grove Cemetery, on Stony Point Road near Whitehaven.

Following that ceremony, the Charles N. DeGlopper Memorial VFW Post 9249, 2121 Grand Island Blvd., will hold an open house from 3 to 6 p.m. The event will feature memorabilia from Charles DeGlopper's life.

That evening, there will be a dance honoring veterans from 6 to 10 p.m.

Polling location changes

The board approved a request to petition the Board of Elections to change polling locations for three districts on Grand Island. Those districts are 2, 3 and 11. Currently, districts 2 and 11 are at Huth Road Elementary School and district 3 is at the Grand Island Senior High School.

If the Board of Elections approves the request, the new polling site for districts 2, 3 and 11 will be the Grand Island Memorial Library.

Town Clerk Patricia Frentzel said the request to change those two polling locations came about due to a couple concerns.

The first was security. Prior to Sept. 11, many schools did not have locks on their doors and visitors were able to come in whenever they pleased and could easily roam the halls. Since that day, many schools now have the doors locked with a buzzer to allow people to enter the building.

Frentzel said that since these places were polling sites, the schools had to disengage their alarms so that residents could vote. Last year security was hired to be at the schools when there was an election was taking place in order to ensure nothing happened to any of the students during the day.

The other reason was due to the situation of students in the schools who have allergies and the potential problems that could arise from poll workers bringing in food that the children may be allergic to.

"This is a good move for us," Frentzel said. "And now there wouldn't be an added expense to have security at these two locations."

She said the town has been working with Superintendent Dr. Thomas Ramming, as well as the principals and staff at Huth Road and the High School to come to a solution that would best work for everyone.

Frentzel said the polling place at Kaegebein was another concern, but that polling site would remain where it is because there is no other public facility that can be utilized at this time.

Other board news

• The board also held a public hearing regarding restricted parking signs on Town Hall Terrace between addresses 2129 and 2139. No one in attendance at the meeting spoke out for or against the parking restrictions. Following the hearing, the board adopted the first local law of 2004 prohibiting parking between 2129 and 2139 Town Hall Terrace.

• The board received a request from Mark Stone, St. Martin's in the Field requesting approval for a banner for a chicken barbecue. The request was to hang the banner over Grand Island Boulevard. The board referred this item to the town attorney.