Stories from

The Third Annual Pedal to Save the Church -- J.D. LeSeur Memorial Bike Rally is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10.

The Landmark Society of Genesee County will be assisting with the 21-mile event. There is a $25 minimum pre-registration fee, $30 registration day of the event, which can be obtained by sponsors or donation.

A $50 gift certificate from the The Adam Miller Toy & Bicycle Shop will be awarded to the rider with the most sponsorship. Also, the bike shop people will be at the church checking over bikes prior to the event.

Optional tours will be given of St. James Episcopal Church and short presentations given at several historic sites in Oakfield. There will be refreshments and prizes.

All proceeds benefit the St. James Restoration Fund. For more information, please call 343-6802.

The brand-new Palm Island Indoor Waterpark is looking to hire lifeguards. Full- and part-time jobs available. Applications can be found, along with park hours, at the website www.palmislandindoorwaterpark.com

The 12,000-square-foot facility is at the Clarion Hotel on Park Road in Batavia. It includes a 197-foot and a 169-foot waterslide, a pool equipped with basketball hoops, a spa, a play lagoon with waterfalls, small slides and dumping buckets, as well as birthday party rooms, a food and beverage concession and an arcade room with 15 games.

The public is welcome to enjoy Southern gospel music performed by The Crist Family beginning at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7, at the New Hope Fellowship. A free-will donation of $10 is suggested.

The church is located at 8052 Bank St. in Batavia.

St. Paul Lutheran Church & School in Batavia is hosting Oktoberfest from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 1. It will take place on the back lawn area of the church at 31 Washington Ave.

St. Paul invites all crafters, local businesses, and organizations to host a booth. If you would like a booth, contact St. Paul at 585-343-0488. Booths are $30 each.

Oktoberfest admission is free!

Participants can welcome fall in the German tradition with German food, an authentic 25-piece German band, kids' activities, crafters, a Chinese auction, and more. This is a family friendly event for all ages!

Local author Tom Rivers will be the guest speaker at the first free spaghetti dinner, "Pasta for Peace," at 6:30 p.m., on Thursday, Sept. 15, at the First Presbyterian Church, 300 E. Main St. in Batavia.

The dinner is sponsored by Pax Christi Genesee County. Tom Rivers, who authored "Farm Hands," will share his "food for thought" -- his first-hand experience with farm workers, hard work and lessons from Western New York fields.

Pax Christi Genesee County is part of the national and international Catholic Peace Movement and operates locally on an interfaith basis. Pax Christi has sponsored programs such as a recent Interfaith Witness for Peace at Genesee Community College and a three-part series, "Understanding Islam for the 21st Century."

William Privett, coordinator, Pax Christi Genesee County
Home: 585-599-3366
Cell: 315-866-6925

Dine-Out Days to support local restaurants and student scholarships at Genesee Community College are back with new, delicious local eateries. This year's restaurant revue is scheduled for two full weeks starting Friday, Sept. 16 through Friday, Sept. 30.

During this time, 34 restaurants throughout the Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming counties (GLOW) have agreed to donate a portion of their proceeds to Genesee's Foundation, which supports student scholarships.

This event is a great way to have fun, promote the local economy, try a new restaurant, and sustain student scholarships at the college.

The foundation is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing service and support to Genesee Community College. It was formed in the mid-'80s provide philanthropic support, scholarships and grants totaling $599,779 to Genesee students as of last year.

"Dine-Out Days is just one way GCC promotes and supports the local economy," said Dine-Out Days Chair Robert Moore. "This program focuses on our area restaurants and at the same time helps fund Genesee's scholarship program which encourages students to pursue their academic dreams locally and remain in our community to live and work.

The following Genesee County restaurants are participating this year:

• Alex's Place -- 8322 Park Road, Batavia

• Bohn's Restaurant & Lounge -- 5256 Clinton St. Road., Batavia

• Miss Batavia Diner -- 566 E. Main St., Batavia

• Delavan's -- 107 Evans St., Batavia

• Larry's Steakhouse -- 60 Main St., Batavia

• Pauly's Pizzeria -- 314 Ellicott St., Batavia

• Subway -- 412 E. Main St. and 8351 Lewiston Road, Batavia

• Terry Hills Restaurant & Banquet Facility -- 5122 Clinton St. Road, Batavia

• T.F. Brown's -- 214 E. Main St., Batavia

• D&R Depot -- 63 Lake St., Le Roy

• Scooters of Le Roy -- 140 W. Main St., Le Roy

• McDonald's -- 67 Main St., Le Roy

• The Ganson Inn -- 65 Lake St., Le Roy

• Le Roy Country Club and Golf Course -- 7759 E. Main Road, Le Roy

• Pizza Land -- 131 W. Main St., Le Roy

• Caryville Inn -- 25 Main St., Oakfield

• Oakfield Hotel / Scopano Lanes -- 49 S. Pearl St., Oakfield

• Red Osier Landmark Restaurant --  6492 Main Road, Stafford

Participants are encouraged to tell their server or host they are dining there because of their support of Dine-Out Days to benefit Genesee Community College.

For updated information about Dine-Out Days, visit www.genesee.edu/gcc/dineoutdays/  or contact the foundation office at foundation@genesee.edu or call 345-6809.

Genesee Community College announced today that it has selected Shirley Verrico as the new full-time Roz Steiner Art Gallery director. She comes to the job with a wealth of gallery management experience. In addition to her gallery management duties, she will also instruct classes in art history, gallery management and other fine arts courses.

Verrico will focus on organizing calls for art submissions and managing the exhibition calendar, communicating with artists to plan professional exhibits and with faculty and staff to schedule student exhibitions. In addition, she will work with students and artists to hang and take down gallery shows, prepare for art receptions, and integrate gallery experiences into college coursework.

Previously, Verrico was the director of the Carnegie Art Center in North Tonawanda for two years and left that position to work for Young Audiences of WNY, Inc., an arts-in-education organization that serves the eight counties of Western New York.

During that time, she also began teaching Art History for Medaille College's Accelerated Learning Program. Shirley has also worked for Niagara County Community College where she taught Art History and eventually became director of the campus art gallery. Most recently, she  taught for Medaille College and served as an instructional design consultant as the college converted traditional courses for the online format.

"I saw an advertisement for a gallery director in the Buffalo News and immediately recognized the description for my 'dream job.' I researched the gallery and campus and was very impressed with the college's vision and growth," Verrico said.

"I am looking forward to sharing this amazing space with the regional arts community who will in-turn share their work and talent with our GCC community.  I am certain we will have many wonderful exhibition proposals when artists see the potential of this space."

The new director grew up in Grand Island and stayed local for her college education. She holds a bachelor's of Fine Arts from the University of Buffalo (UB), a master's of Arts and Humanities in Art History and English from UB and a post-baccalaureate certification in K-12 Art Education from Buffalo State College.

Outside of work, she enjoys gardening and cooking as well as spending time with her husband of 15 years, Jamie, and their three children Maggie, 12, Michaela, 10, and James, 5. They currently reside in Clarence.

Press release:

"Self-Therapy for the Stutterer" is a classic self-help guide by the founder of The Stuttering Foundation, Malcolm Fraser. It is now available at most public libraries, including the Corfu Free Library and the Haxton Memorial Library in Oakfield.

The 192-page book is written to and for the many adults and teens who stutter. If you stutter, you do not need to surrender helplessly to your speech difficulty because you can change the way you talk. You can learn to communicate with ease rather than with effort. There is no quick and easy way to tackle the problem, but with the right approach, self-therapy can be effective.

This book outlines a self-therapy program which describes what the person who stutters can do to work toward better communication. It is often used as a supplement to speech therapy.

A timely feature on page 164 is information about King George VI and how inspirational his speeches were during WWII as depicted in the Academy Award-winning movie "The King’s Speech."

Writes Charles Van Riper, Ph.D., about this book: “There are always some who stutter who are unable to get professional help and others who do not seem to be able to profit from it. There are some who prefer to be their own therapist. In this book, Malcolm Fraser has provided guidance for those who must help themselves.

"Knowing well from his own experience as a stutterer the difficulties of self-therapy, he outlines a series of objectives and challenges that should serve as a map for the person who is lost in the dismal swamp of stuttering and wants to find a way out.”

The book is available free to all public libraries. If your library doesn’t have it, ask them to contact the Stuttering Foundation toll-free at 800-992-9392 for a copy.