ErieBlogs.com: Erie PA News and Events for Wednesday November 30, 2005

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Erie PA News and Events for Wednesday November 30, 2005

Posted by Dennis on November 30, 2005

The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) will be coming to Erie PA on December 5th to ask refugees from Bosnia to donate a couple of drops of blood for DNA testing in an effort to identify some of the more than 26,000 victims found in mass graves or dumped in forests. Since November 2001, the ICMP has made 8,652 matches between victims and surviving relatives. Hundreds of Bosnian refugees have settled in the Erie area with the help of the excellent work of the International Institute of Erie.

Union workers at Haysite Reinforced Plastics ratified a new contract. The exact same contract they rejected in September when the weather was nice. They aren’t on strike anymore but they are unemployed. Permament replacement workers were hired. Union members that struck were placed on a preferential hiring list.

Erie PA based Strategy Solutions owner Debbie Thompson and her company were mentioned in a Business Week article on retirement plans. Strategy Solutions Inc (SSI) is a business development firm that provides strategic planning and market research services to organizations and communities. Her company set up a Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) IRA which helped Thompson recruit a new associate. Employee contributions to SIMPLE IRAs are capped at $10,000, or $12,500 for workers over 50. Employers must either match the amount each employee contributes up to 3 percent of their annual compensation or contribute 2 percent of compensation for all employees eligible for the plan, regardless of whether they participate.

Penn State Dickinson School of Law student Timothy Wachter of Erie was appointed as a student ambassador to Carlisle Borough Council. Each year, one student each from the Carlisle college and the law school is appointed to the council as nonvoting members. What a great idea.

Jose Mathieu, a former vice president of Bombardier Transportation, has been appointed as President and CEO of Railpower Technologies. Railpower (TSX: P), a leader in specialized energy technology systems for the transportation and power generation industries, is headquartered in North Vancouver, BC. Its US engineering office is in Erie, Pennsylvania.

The Saint Vincent Health Center Auxiliary Festival of Trees is taking place now through December 4 at the Avalon Hotel. The cost is $5 for adults, $2.50 for kids and children 3 and under are free.

The legacy of the Rev Martin Luther King Jr will be the subject of a Nov 30 guest lecture at Gannon University. The lecture, to be given by attorney Cornell L Moore, is titled “Dr King’s Legacy: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow… Maybe.” Moore, a partner with the Minneapolis, Minn, law firm of Dorsey and Whitney, also will discuss the Civil Rights movement and how it impacted him personally. Moore participated in the 1963 March on Washington. Moore’s lecture is free and open to the public and will begin at 7:30 pm in the Yehl Room of Gannon’s Waldron Center, 124 West Seventh Street.

Come celebrate downtown Erie as it sparkles this holiday season with thousands of lights and displays at this year’s Downtown d’Lights on Friday Dec 2 from 6 to 8 pm. Stroll among the dazzling exhibit of lights, enjoy horse drawn carriage rides, visit with Santa Claus and his elves, enjoy live performances by the Lake Erie Ballet, the Erie Philharmonic Choir, Villa Maria Acedemy Vocal Ensemble and more.

Gannon University’s Erie Chamber Orchestra annual Christmas sing along concert with the St Paul Episcopal Children’s Choir will be held Friday December 2 at St Patrick’s Church, 130 East 4th Street, at 7:30 pm. The concert is free and the public is encouraged to attend.

The Allegheny College Choirs will present their annual Christmas concert on Sunday, Dec 4 at 4 pm in Shafer Auditorium. The concert celebrates the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Allegheny Singers under Morten J Luvaas. The event is free and open to the public.

A Richard Norton, a world-renowned speaker on Muslim policy in the Middle East, will visit Mercyhurst College Dec 6-9, to speak at the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center, and to meet during the week with students and faculty. His lecture at the Performing Arts Center is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec 6, at 8:15 pm. His topic that night will be “Between Fascination and Fanaticism: America in the Minds of Muslims.” The lecture is free and open to the public.

Handel’s venerated masterpiece, “Messiah,” will be presented with the contemporary “A Ceremony of Carols” by Benjamin Britten when Mercyhurst College choirs perform the annual holiday concert on Sunday, Dec 11, at 7:30 pm in the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center. The choirs will perform again Wednesday, Dec 14, at St Maryu’s Chapel at Mercyhurst North East. The concerts are free and open to the public, although donations toward the choir’s Poland Tour 2006 would be appreciated.

Mashea Williams (Erie Mercyhurst Prep) went down in the second minute in the Lady LIons game vs Old Dominion with a right knee injury and did not return. Williams will undergo further evaluation when the team returns home to State College. Williams was averaging 10.7 points, 4 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game for Penn State. She has having a great freshamn year. Hope it isn’t serious.