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Erie PA News and Events for Saturday February 2, 2008

The School District of the City of Erie has of budget of over $122,000,000 and has about 12,500 students. You have to wonder about the intelligence of the people running the school district and therefor the quality of education the children are receiving if you read the article Hidden Swap Fees by JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley Hit School Boards published on Bloomberg. A normal person with some brain function usually has the common sense to ask How much is this going to cost? That doesn’t apply to the Erie School District. It’s not their money. It’s just taxpayer money and they can alway just raise taxes.
In 2003, the district needed money to balance the budget. The district received $785,000 at a cost of over $1 million. The district then paid $2.9 million to get out of the deal. They were talked into the deal by David DiCarlo of PMorgan Chase in Erie. DiCarlo was a state representative that served as a Democrat from 1973 to 1980. All members of the Erie School Board are Democrats.
Slimy snake oil salesman district superintendent James Barker said he thought the deal would be good for the district. Everything that goes wrong in the district is always someone else’s fault but his. Earlier this year Barker got a 5 year contract extension that will pay him about a quarter million dollars a year at the end of the contract.

Penn Traffic is closing five of their grocery stores including the Quality Markets at 3712 West 12th St. The final day of operations will be 5 pm on Feb 23. The company just leases the building. It was a bit surprising that they didn’t close the Quality Markets on East Grandview.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the US Justice Department is looking into whether closing the Cleveland Free Times would be a violation of antitrust laws. The Cleveland Free Times is owned by a group led by the Erie Times-News. The ETN also is an owner of another weekly, the Louisville Eccentric Observer.

U S Representative Phil English formally announced his run for reelection yesterday at the Avalon Hotel in Erie. English will face John Drescher of Butler County in the primary. For Erie Democrats are running in the primary - Mike Walter, Kathy Dahlkemper, Kyle Foust and Tom Myers. Steven Porter will run as an independent in the general election.

The buzz in North East, PA isn’t coming from wine, it’s coming from a new winery. Lakeview Wine Cellars will be opening this Spring. They’ve had a web site since September that they keep updated. It even has RSS feeds. The latest construction photos can be seen here.

Erie PA native Kathleen H Douglas, now living in Yuma AZ, has written a book called “Johnny the Unaware Angel”. The book, greared for children from 8 to 12, includes four stories about a 9 year old angel named Johnny.God assigns Johnny four different missions to accomplish on earth, but God does not give him any advice on how to accomplish them.

Now is the time to register to participate with the Mental Health Association of Northwestern PA in the Walk for a Healthy Community presented by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield on Saturday, June 14 at Presque Isle State Park, Erie, PA. The Walk for a Healthy Community is a fundraiser that benefits 21 local nonprofit health and human service agencies in Northwestern Pennylvania including MHANP. Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield underwrites the cost of the walk so that 100 percent of the money raised by walkers goes directly to support our goal. Register now to join the 5K or One-mile Fun Walk, and then raise funds to support the MHANP. For more information, call MHANP at 814 452-4462 or 866 620-WALK.

Mercyhurst erupted for four second-period goals, to erase a 2-1 deficit, and went on from there to defeat Holy Cross 6-3 Friday night. The Lakers improved to 8-14-5 overall and, more importantly, to 8-6-5 in the tightly-packed Atlantic Hockey Association. The Crusaders, who went 1-0-1 in Erie in late October, dropped to 8-11-6 and 7-9-3 respectively.

Things haven’t slowed down a bit for Christina Jackson. The former Gannon University women’s basketball standout is in the midst of her first professional season, playing for the Perik Jumpers in Holland. Jackson has averaged 17 points and 8.5 rebounds in 11 games, leading Perik to a 5-6 record. The Jumpers sit in fifth place in the nine-team league.

The Erie Playhouse production of Crowns will be performed Sat Feb 2 at 7:30 pm, Sun Feb 3 at 2 pm, Wed Feb 6 at 7:30 pm, Thu Feb 7 at 7:30 pm, Fri Feb 8 at 7:30 pm, Sat Feb 9 at 7:30 pm and Sun Feb 10 at 2 pm.

The Experience Erie Children’s Museum is holding a Valentine’s workshop today, Saturday, February 2, 11 am - 3 pm. Children are invited to design a special Valentine for a loved one as well as special Valentine crafts. Plus, learn a little history about why we celebrate Valentine’s Day. This event is free with Museum admission of $5 per person, free to members and children under two.

Cross-Country Skiing 101 will be held Saturdays at 10 am at Presque Isle State Park. Weather permitting, meet at the cross-country ski concession (located at the picnic shelter area) to check out cross-country skiing. Get basic technique and skills for this exhilarating sport. Bring your own skis or rent. FREE. Rental fee only. Registration appreciated, (814) 833-7424.

For beginners and more experienced skiers wanting to know more about the winter world around them, enjoy Guided Cross-Country Skiing on Saturdays at 1 pm at Presque Isle State Park. If there is no sufficient snow, a hike will take place instead. Bring your own skis or rent. FREE, rental fee only. Meet at the cross-country ski concession located at the picnic shelter area. For more info call (814) 833-7424.

Darkwood Consort, the world’s only touring viola and bass clarinet duo, brings an impressive repertoire spanning 10 centuries of music to its February performance at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. Darkwood’s concert takes place at noon on Thursday, February 7, in the McGarvey Commons of the college’s Reed Union Building. The performance is sponsored by Music at Noon: The Logan Series and admission is FREE to the public.

The 14th annual Sarah Backstrom Memorial Women’s and Girl’s Hockey Tournament will be held in Erie February 8-10, 2008. Admission is FREE to all games. About 1,000 young ladies plus family and friends will be in town for the weekend. Hotel rooms will be hard to come by and expect delays at restaurants. Who was Sarah Backstrom? She was a feisty red headed defensewoman who gave all off her love of the game and passion to play it to the Erie Lady Lions. Sarah fought every battle to the end, with passion and determination. The Erie Lady Lions lost Sarah to Leukemia but have never lost her spirit.

The Chautauqua-Lake Erie Wine Trail Wine and Chocolate Weekend will take place 10 am to 5 pm, Feb 9-10. Tickets, which can be purchased online or by phone, are $21 a person. None will be sold after Friday Feb 8. If you are unable to get tickets to the event, you can still visit the wineries for wine tastings, but you won’t get to sample the goodies and get the recipe cards.

The 6th annual “Spirit Against Cancer” Dance and Cheerleading Competition is scheduled for February 9 at 10 am in the Junker Center. “Spirit Against Cancer” was created in memory of Becky Hubler Decker. Her commitment to the community included serving as dance coach at Penn State Behrend, cheerleading coach at Edinboro University, she was captain of the Invaderettes dance team, and a member of the Buffalo Bills (Jills) dance team. All proceeds from this special event will benefit the American Cancer Society. For more information, please contact Assistant to the Director of Athletics, Stacy Pondo at (814) 898-6240 or by email at slp15@psu.edu.

The Association of Program Members (APM) of General Electric Transportation in Erie PA announced that it will be sponsoring the 13th Annual Winter Wishes Benefit Gala for the Foundation of Western Pennsylvania on February 16, 2008. Each year, the members of APM reach out to the community to collect donations for the silent auctions, live auctions and raffles that are held at the event. They also solicit “table sponsors” from local businesses. As a table sponsor, the business’ name appears on the centerpiece showing their support for this wonderful event as well as in any promotional materials that they put together for the function. The money raised with the auctioned items donated by local businesses will help provide funding for Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes for children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy. Community support of this event is recognition of the importance of this cause are greatly appreciated. Along with your assistance, GE will be able to make an impact on the day-to-day life of children whose lives are threatened.

Mark your calendars for Sunday, February 17 from 12:30-3:30 pm and/or 8-11 pm and get ready to “rock and bowl” with the Erie Playhouse Family at Eastway Lanes, 4110 Buffalo Road. The cost for a Family/Team (4 or 5 bowlers) for one session is $80. Individual bowlers are welcome - Adults $20 and $15 for children 12 and under. Teams registering by Feb 14 will recieve a $10 discount. The cost includes 3 games, shoes (no discount if you bring your own) and unlimited pop and pizza. A cash bar and additional food will be available. Contests and games of chance throughout each bowling session.

The 2008 Erie Home and Garden Expo will be held February 21-24 at the Erie Bayfront Convention Center. Hours: Thursday 4-9 pm, Friday 2-9 pm, Sat 10 am - 8:30 pm and Sun 11 am to 5 pm.

On Friday, February 22, the Penn State Behrend RFID Center of Excellence and the RFID Project of the NWPA Technology Industry Partnership will host Eric Domski for a talk on Auto ID Technologies with SAP. Eric is the Auto ID Solution Director for SAP Labs. Eric will speak from 10-11am at the Research and Economic Development Center, Room 180 on the campus of Penn State Behrend in the new Black School of Business Auditorium. Although the talk with be centered around SAP, the concepts will also apply to other ERP and enterprise applications and will be a great source for solution ideas to anyone using, or considering use of AutoID. Eric will be available for questions after the talk. An early lunch is planned, so attendees must RSVP email Brian Zentis or call him at (814) 898-6704. This event counts as participation in the Technology Industry Partnership of Northwest PA, a partnership of the Technology Council, eBizITPA, Ben Franklin Partners CNP and Penn State Behrend’s RFID Center of Excellence. Why is that important? Participation allows your business access to grant dollars to offset training costs. The training dollars come from the PA Department of Labor and Industry in conjunction with the Workforce Investment Board of Northwest PA.

The 10th annual MECA Bar Stool Open will be held on Saturday February 23, 2008 in downtown Erie, PA. Entry fee is $100 per team of 4 golfers, $25 per person. Must be 21 years of age or older to participate. Click here to for the registration form.

Want a cure for the winter blahs? Got cabin fever? Come to the Community Board Game Night at Community United Church on Saturday Feb 23. Doors open at 7 pm, Games begin at 7:30 and end at 10 PM. Admission Donation: $2. Snacks and beverages will be provided. Under 18 years old must have guardian. This is an alcohol and smoke free event. Open to the public. We will play board games for groups such as Scruples, Pictionary, etc. Want to save on the admission? Bring grocery bags of empty recyclable aluminum beverage cans. For each bag, the admission will be reduced by 25 cents.

There will a fund raiser for Marine Sergeant Art Fuller on Saturday Feb 23 from 6 pm to 1 am at the North East Vet’s Club at 28 Vine Street in North East, PA. SGT Fuller suffered a stroke and is unable to return to work. The cost is $6 at the door which will cover food (chili, hot dogs and macaroni salad) from 6-9 pm. There will be a Chinese auction and cash bar available and the band Black Diamond will be playing from 9 pm - 1 am. SGT Fuller, an Iraq veteran, is from Corry Pa.

The 2008 Erie Outdoor Sport and Travel Expo will be held February 29 - March 2 at the Erie Bayfront Convention Center. Hours: Noon-9 pm Friday, 10 am-8 pm Saturday and 10 am-5 pm Sunday.

Erie CareerLink is hosting Crystal Reports Training in both introductory and advanced sessions on March 3-6. Info and Registration form. Crystal Reports is a business intelligence application used to design and generate reports from a wide range of data sources. Several other applications, such as Microsoft Visual Studio, bundle an OEM version of Crystal Reports as a general purpose reporting tool. Crystal Reports became THE report writer when Microsoft released it with Visual Basic.

Pennsylvania Sea Grant is sponsoring a FREE one and a half day workshop March 13-14 at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center in Erie. The workshop will provide an update and overview of current ballast water policy, legislation and research as it applies to the Great Lakes. Scientists, legal experts, legislators, industry personnel and agency staff will discuss the current state of ballast water policy, pending legislation, proposed ballast water treatment methods and evaluating the current risk of introduction and spread of AIS to Great Lakes ports by foreign and domestic ships. For Registration form email Karla Kaczmarek, or Marti Martz.

As the signature event for Young Erie Professionals (yep!), the Generation-E Leadership Awards recognize young professionals who are paving the way to the future of Erie, Pennsylvania. Yep! has honored 34 individuals over the past three years who not only have chosen to live, work, and play in the Erie area, but who have made a lasting impact on our region. The 2008 winners will be recognized the evening of Friday, March 28 at the Ambassador Banquet and Conference Center.

The GE (NYSE: GE) 2008 Annual Meeting of Shareholders will be held on April 23, 2008 in Erie, Pennsylvania at the Erie Bayfront Convention Center.

There will be a Rust Belt Bloggers Summit on July 11-12 in Erie. People from Youngstown, Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and other area cities will be attendance to discuss economic development issues in the region.

The Manufacturers’ Association and Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority annual Roar on the Shore motorcycle rally will be held July 17-20, 2008. While downtown Erie serves as the hub of the rally, related events take place throughout the city and region. Most notably, two outdoor concerts featuring major artists will be held Friday and Saturday, July 18 and 19, at Liberty Park along Presque Isle Bay.

Posted by Dennis at February 2, 2008 8:08 AM

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