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•^ FEATURES Old-tine music returns Willi new life — page 8 \ NEWS ; Budget tinkering in Guilderland — page 14 SPORTS IC1T Giants coach likes he sees — page 34 /Owqn WHS HiOA **N ^~^ JVumber 36 • Thursday, Match 27- v 1997\ Albany County's Weekly Fqr 112 Years * 1 , , Hi *: p] RJ / •, M » a: \ ' 0 , ,w-s~\ J Gujjjderluhd project on hold wonders: Where, when? By Andrew Schotz Frus- a lack'of progress, ^GUILDERLAND The Enterprise — Andrew Schotz Who was that furry long-ear red creature waving to the kids of Voorhecsville Saturday? The Easter Bunny, of course, who rode through the village atop the Maple Alenue Cultural Society's float, along with the society's famous stump Alison Funk (left), 6, and Liz Funk, 8. received some candy treats after their visit withJhe Bunny > \ c 1 1 Teacher sued Label lesson backfires \ By Melissa Hale-Spencer GUILDERLAND — A high school student here claims a racist remark made by her teacher humiliated her to the point where she can no longer trust white people Elizabeth Graham, and her parents, Willie Diane and Marvin Graham, filed a suit in state Supreme Court earlier this month against the Guild- erland School District and teacher John Birchler, seeking millions Of dollars in damages School administrators, how ever, describe Buchlcr as a sensitive and compassionate instructor who was teaching that name-calling and la- belling are wrong They «<ay ho; deeply regrets, the effect'his remarks had, a'nd apologized-to Elizabeth Graham both'^.per- sonally, and publicly in front of her classmates, class, the suit says, and railed, \Why not call Liz a nig- ger because that^s what she is 9 Liz, why not tell us what it feels like to be called a nig- per 9 According to the suit, Gra- ham \felt great anxiety, humil- iation degradation and felt nauseous\\when she heaid the questions from Birchler The , suit says that Graham ^has consequently \lost her sen.se of acceptance ftom hei tdachers and classmates, and h a i b e c o m c s u s p I c 1 0 u s generally of all her Caucasian teachers and clas'smates at Guilderland High School \ It says, too, that she \has felt despondent, suspicious,- . and groatty depressed, and has lost her tiust pf Caucasian,, people' generally \ The suit's first cause of ac-' tion deems Birchler's conduct The suit stafes^iat \Birchler 'As being \so outrageous in was.' t&aching a tenth-grade character and so extreme in :, *'fl^__ „- i—*.„„„„..„i degree that it can and'should be regarded^ as atrocious and utterly intolerable,\ and seeks $2 million in damages In the second cau.se of ac- tion, seeking $1 miljion\ in damages, the suit claims that \class 'after a\ homosexual awareness assembly last April when a male student asked, \Why not call them faggots 9 That's what they are'\ Birchler, who is white\ pointed to. Graham, the only African-American student in fcrated b. Ticials have put their, or a Guilderland recre- ational facility at Winding Brook Drive on hold indefi- nitely Fund-raising for the fa- cility has stopped, and other sites are being considered, pos- sibly in other towns Supervisor William Aylward said he was shocked \by the an- nouncement, which he heard after the Capital District YMCA sent out a, press re- lease ' Aylward defended the town's handling of the project \It's a question of going through due process Do they want to build it without a special use permit 9 It can't be done,\ he said \We will have to address issues, like construction, itraffic It's in the interest of the public It is to be a community center, after all \ Asked if he saw the Capital District 'YMCA's announce- ment as a threat, Aylward said, \That is a perception I think people will view it [that wayl \ about which board would do what i Bailey said there had been some donfusion about the roles, but it was clear that the / T\\e Y's announcement came State Environmental Quality six days after the Guilderland Zoning Board of ^Appeals voted to send' the project — along with a proposal for a 108-unit senior citizen center near the Guilderland Public Library — back to the town board The zoning board was \concerned lit didn't have the authority to act without direc- tion from the town board,\ said zoning board Chairman James Carr \There are issues that are larger than those two pro- jects \ That was Tuesday By yes- terday, the differences may have been ironed out Town attorney John Bailey said he had spoken with zoning board attorney Kenneth Runion and reached an understanding Review Act allowed the zoning board to take the lead He said the town board will fund the review if necessary. \There wasn't any direction given\ by the town bo,ard, Runion said yesterday of the zoning board's hesitation Be- sides the need fbr funding, the zoning board was also con- cerned about a land dilemma Part of the newest proposal for the intersection includes a new entrance to the Guilder- land Elementary School that would line up with Mercycare Lane To do that, the district/ would have to trade some of its ( land for part of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Runion said that would take an act of (Continued on Page 22) Super's group works on plan By Andrew Schotz GUILDERLAND — Close to 40 people turned out Tuesday to'help shape the town's fu- ture, as part of an advisory Planning'Task Foice set up by Supervisor William Aylward The group broke off into eight subcommittees, each to be advised by a town official versed in that field About 50 .invitation letters were mailed t!o perspective task force memb'fchs, said Deputy Supervisor Jjamce Glanzrock Upon hearing of the meeting, some people asked to be in- cluded, then \word of mouth got around,\ she said u Aylward said a i list was also kept whenever people called the town hall to talk about planning issues The task 1 force members cov- ered a wide spectrum, with ex- pertise in many areas The subcommittees were natural resources, cultuial resourcck infrastructure and public facili- ties, fiscal and economic devel- opment, traffic and transpoita- fcion. housing, recreation and epmrnuniU activitios,„and>land us/o and zoning Councilman Michael Ricurd, who like Aylward, is a Demo- crat, was on hand But the other three, to\\n, board mem- bo£s, Demooat Paul Caputo 4 and Republicans Timothv Sheehan and Anne Rose — who formed a bloc New Year's Day •'over appointments — did not attend j Asked if the^ other council members were asked to be in- volved, Aylward said they were invited and would have been welcomed However,, earlier Tuesday, Slheehan said he was never told about the task force and \only learned of it a few days at large,\ Sheehan said \That way interested members of the community could participate and the town board would ha°ve a chance to recommend who should be on the commit- tee But Aylward said, \It's really a supervisor's task force\ in which \\the town board will havo a lot of interest\ When he ran for supervisor in 1995, Aylward stressed the need for comprehensive plan- ning and made it a major point of his platform The two parties in town have consistently dis- agieed on the topic, with Re- publicans insisting that the town's various studies make up a plan, while Demociats say a plan is needed A hint of bipartisan support for master planning surfaced in early February when Rose, Sheehan, \and Caputo joined to appoint James Callander as planning boaid chairman The motion eliminated the $9,800, salary from Callander's previ-' ous position, assistant town planner, and transferred it into a master plan fund There has been no mention of using that money for the new task force \There is no hidden agenda,\ Aylward said \I'm very mter- esteoj in broad participation It's quite open to others \ Any interested town residents are encouraged io sigii up, he said About a year ago, Aylward said, he asked town planner Ja.ii Weston to look at Guilder- land's master plan from 1969, as well as the various specific (Continued on Page 1*3) Sprint sprints toward tower in Feura Bush By Bryce Butler NEW SCOTLAND —Sprint Spectrum could start building a second\digital phone tower here as soon as the end of June, ac- cording to Robeit Stapf, chair- man of the Now-* 'Scotland Planning Board The proposed site is on town Sprint began its digital cellular service in the Capital District in January,, Conway said But presentjv the tower at- the Voorheesville site is at the edge of the service area, so the new phones don't work in all parts of town The new tower us planned to extend the service area property next to the Feura Bush .'\The purpose is to have a*car water tower Representatives of drive from One tower to another, Sprint met withAown officials and get seamless service,'* said last night to discuss the lease Phillip Pearson, who formerly agreement \ • handled Sprint acquisition for The tower will be identical to Clough Harbour. ,,3 the one Sprint has already \We have Cellular One,\ said placed 4ear the Voorheesville Town Supervisor,Herbert W water tower; between Crow Reiily, who called the meeting. (Continued On Page 12) i / Ridge and Swift roads The proposed tow<$r will ex- tend digital phone service south and west, according to Tim Con- before when he got some calls way, a site selection specialist for about it. \It would be a wiser Clough Harbour Associates, thing to do to notify his fellow Clough Harbour is acquiring the town board members and pubHc ' sites for Sprint's towers. ' \What is the difference with this 9 \ o \It's digital,\ said Conway. Pearson said the digitalized conversations are scrambled, which provides\ better security. ' \When I am in the ' field,\ (Continued on Page 15)
