Erie Times-News (Erie, PA) articles from September 2007

Erie Times-News (Erie, PA) archives from September 2007

And ... they're off!
September 1, 2007... Byline: John Guerriero Sep. 1--Hollywood brought the uplifting story of Depression-era Seabiscuit to the big screen in 2003. Pennsylvania-born Smarty Jones captured the imagination of state racing fans when the horse won the 2004...

Final shift at Steris.
September 1, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 1--The end came quietly for a dozen of Steris Corp.'s last union employees who walked out of the plant one final time Friday morning. There was no final rush of workers pouring out of the building at 2424 W....

President's plan receives mixed local reaction.
September 1, 2007... Byline: Kevin Flowers Sep. 1--Dave Pesch likes much of what he heard from President Bush when it comes to helping millions of Americans caught up in the subprime-mortgage crisis. "I think what he's saying is a good thing. There are too...

Bridges too far gone?
September 2, 2007... Byline: Jim Carroll Sep. 2--The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has already given the public an online look at the condition of its own bridges. Now it is ready to report the condition of county and municipally owned bridges,...

At racing's first day, a family affair.
September 2, 2007... Byline: John Guerriero Sep. 2--Toddlers sat on their father's shoulders. Infants rested in strollers. And pre-teens and teenagers cheered on the favorite horses from the railing on opening day at Presque Isle Downs & Casino. ...

Erie's back on track.
September 2, 2007... Byline: John Guerriero Sep. 2--Eighteen years ago, then-novice racing fan James Herten met his future wife at the betting window at Thistledown Race Track near Cleveland. On Saturday, Ohio residents James and Heidi Herten renewed their...

Housing fraud a growing national problem.
September 2, 2007... Byline: Kevin Flowers Sep. 2--The FBI calls it the fastest growing white-collar crime in America. A national banking group says it cost the lending industry more than $1 billion in 2006. A local housing counselor is convinced that...

Now, it's just memories.
September 2, 2007... Byline: Kara Rhodes Sep. 2--Mary Ellen Smith and Virginia Smith often rose before the sun to start the five-hour process of creating the secret recipe spaghetti sauce that made their restaurant famous in Erie. Their mother had done the...

Bayfront development planned.
September 3, 2007... Byline: George Miller Sep. 3--The residential area on the bluff across from the GAF Materials Corp. building is about to see some major improvements. Plans are expected to be unveiled this week for a proposed 16-unit...

Familiar job, unfamiliar land.
September 3, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 3--MONTERREY, Mexico -- Shutting down one plant and moving it 1,600 miles away was a logistical nightmare. But that wasn't Dave Gotchy's only concern when he learned Steris Corp. wanted to move its manufacturing...

Hallman to drive into Koehler location.
September 4, 2007... Byline: Steven M. Sweeney Sep. 4--A gleaming expansion to an Erie car dealership is now on tap to fill the vacant land on State Street where the Koehler Brewery once stood. John Knox, newly installed president of Koehler Brewery Square...

Monterrey carefully calculates how to recruit U.S. companies.
September 4, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 4--MONTERREY, Mexico -- Carlos Alvarado is possibly the last person you'd want to see heading into town for a visit with your company's CEO. He's urbane and friendly, well educated and, by all appearances, a...

Foust to fight pay hike for finance director.
September 4, 2007... Byline: Kevin Flowers Sep. 4--Erie County Executive Mark DiVecchio wants his new finance director to earn $8,608 more a year than his former one did. Erie County Councilman Kyle Foust doesn't agree with that -- and plans to make it an...

U.S. not alone.
September 4, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 4--For hundreds, even thousands of displaced workers in Erie, globalization is a 13-letter word for what went wrong. Jim Kurre, associate professor of economics at Penn State Behrend, offers his students a...

Meet Steris' new landlord: Roberto Alanis.
September 4, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 4--MONTERREY, Mexico -- Adapting is what kept Roberto Alanis and the Avante group afloat during one crisis after another in the Mexican economy. The ability to adapt and to do it quickly is also how his company...

Port business heats up.
September 4, 2007... Byline: Jim Carroll Sep. 4--The tug W.N. Twolan and barge McAllister 132 were scheduled to have arrived at the Port of Erie on Saturday with a load of new business. The tug and barge were to bring almost 5,000 tons of paper pulp and...

Mayor at odds with panel's LERTA plan.
September 4, 2007... Byline: George Miller Sep. 4--Mayor Joe Sinnott is critical of a plan to revamp the city's tax abatement program, calling it "exorbitant." The plan, which is still being tweaked, has been proposed by a joint committee of members of the...

Move to open maquiladora made sense.
September 4, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 4--SANTA CATARINA -- He's not so different from other employees of Erisco Industries Inc., an Erie-based company that cuts and forms metal wire for the toy industry. He loves Presque Isle State Park, Lake Erie...

Now departing: Delta.
September 5, 2007... Byline: Jim Carroll Sep. 5--The last Delta Air Lines' flight out of Erie will be packed. And that's no surprise. Delta is pulling out of the local market on Thursday despite the fact that its two-a-day flights to Atlanta were...

Shored Up.
September 5, 2007... Byline: John Guerriero Sep. 5--The swimming season is winding down at Presque Isle State Park. But the sand replenishment season is gearing back up. A local contractor expects a shipment of new sand -- 14,000 to 17,000 tons -- to...

Presque Isle Downs bettors wager $268,148 on horses.
September 5, 2007... Byline: John Guerriero Sep. 5--Presque Isle Downs & Casino wrapped up its first weekend of racing with on-site gamblers wagering a total of $268,148 at the track during the three-day Labor Day weekend. Horse racing fans also bet on the...

Council rejects official's raise.
September 5, 2007... Byline: Kevin Flowers Sep. 5--James Sparber has a job with Erie County government if he wants it -- albeit at a salary that's $8,608 less than what Erie County Executive Mark DiVecchio offered him. Erie County Council on Tuesday...

Education lifts city.
September 5, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 5--MONTERREY, Mexico -- Low-cost labor might have been the driving force that brought Steris Corp. to Monterrey, but the availability of engineers wasn't far behind. It's hard to say if it's a marketplace that...

Surgery south of the border? Mexico sees the promise.
September 5, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 5--MONTERREY, Mexico -- When Constantino Padilla left Mexico more than 30 years ago to train at a hospital in Texas, 10 of his classmates went with him. Of the 11 who left the country, only Padilla came back,...

'We grow up ... little by little'.
September 5, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 5--MONTERREY, Mexico -- This land of searing desert heat, towering skyscrapers and lingering poverty is more than just the beneficiary of Erie's lost Steris Corp. jobs. In a world of global competition, it is...

OEM files for bankruptcy.
September 5, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 5--OEM/Erie, a plastics injection molder that's been in Erie for more than 20 years, has closed its doors and filed for bankruptcy. The closing was expected. On July 17, company officials confirmed they...

Wattsburg Area School District seeks mediation in teacher dispute.
September 5, 2007... Byline: Erica Erwin Sep. 5--WATTSBURG -- A state mediator has stepped in to help the Wattsburg Area School District and its teachers find common ground. The 106-member Wattsburg Education Association and the Wattsburg Area School Board...

City Council votes against Airport Authority overhaul.
September 6, 2007... Byline: George Miller Sep. 6--Erie City Council on Wednesday opposed state Sen. Jane's Earll's proposal to revamp the Erie Municipal Airport Authority. But council members, saying they support regionalization, asked the administration...

Will trip to Zibo pay off?
September 6, 2007... Byline: George Miller Sep. 6--Mayor Joe Sinnott wants Erie's sister-city relationships to start paying off. Sinnott, who is embarking today on a trip to Zibo, China, said he will emphasize the need for economic ties, not just...

City's cash woes lighten up.
September 6, 2007... Byline: George Miller Sep. 6--Erie might be a step closer to turning the corner on its financial woes. Mayor Joe Sinnott presented Erie City Council on Wednesday with a midyear financial report projecting the city will have a year-end...

Funding floated for $6M Splash expansion.
September 6, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 6--Erie-based Scott Enterprises Inc. might be moving ahead with plans to expand Splash Lagoon. A report in Wednesday's edition of GlobeSt.com, an online source of commercial real estate news, reports that Scott...

Sparber accepts county finance job.
September 6, 2007... Byline: Kevin Flowers Sep. 6--James Sparber starts work as Erie County's finance director this morning. Sparber on Wednesday accepted Erie County Executive Mark DiVecchio's offer to become the county's new finance director -- even...

Public funds, private plan.
September 6, 2007... Byline: Kevin Flowers Sep. 6--The revamped Koehler Brewery Square project is banking on being able to employ a type of financing rarely used on local public projects. Erie City Council will get details of that financing -- and a look...

'We ... have a huge problem'.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Jim Carroll Sep. 7--No one has to tell Erie County farmer Terry Skelton there's a problem with locally owned bridges in Pennsylvania. He lives with it every day. Part of his 300-acre farm is on one side of the closed...

Casino to seek subsidy.
September 7, 2007... Byline: John Guerriero Sep. 7--Presque Isle Downs & Casino has received more than $42 million in gross revenue in its first six months. The company wants nearly another $14.4 million from the local share of gaming revenues to pay for...

Presque Isle Downs goes after lost revenue.
September 7, 2007... Byline: John Guerriero Sep. 7--After Presque Isle Downs & Casino cleared its last legal hurdle before opening Feb. 28, Ted Arneault said the company would sue to recover its financial damages. What Arneault said then in a news release...

Erie Heritage Festival set for Saturday.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Robb Frederick Sep. 7--Erie does love a freebie. But please: Dixieland jazz, Zem Zem drummers and a cannon-shot "1812 Overture"? And a free pass to 19 area museums and historic sites? That's the plan for the Erie Heritage...

92 degrees in 1881; 93 degrees Thursday.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Steven M. Sweeney Sep. 7--Erie officially burned up a 126-year-old heat record Thursday. At 3:20 p.m., the National Weather Service recorded the temperature at Erie International Airport as 93 degrees, besting the 1881 record...

Honduran cardinal to speak in Erie tonight.
September 7, 2007... Byline: Dana Massing Sep. 7--Andrea Villela comes from a land of warmth, where the rain doesn't freeze, even in winter, and the sun shines, a lot. Yet, the native of Honduras chose Mercyhurst College, in Erie, where snowfall is...

Council eyes Koehler plan.
September 7, 2007... Byline: George Miller Sep. 7--The Erie Redevelopment Authority is proposing a $1.8 million state loan to assist in the new Koehler Brewery Square project. The authority and the developers said the financing -- which would be repaid...

Erie Times-News, Pa., business buzz column.(Column)
September 9, 2007... Byline: Michael Regal Sep. 9--Erie International Airport is getting ready to tell the region that other air carriers have stepped up local service to offset the loss of Delta Air Lines. Delta ended its Erie-to-Atlanta Service on...

Public to have say in park plans.
September 9, 2007... Byline: John Guerriero Sep. 9--You can have a voice in how Millcreek develops a new park along Walnut Creek. The township will seek comments during a public meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the assembly room at the Millcreek Municipal...

Plastics people.
September 9, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 9--Long before most people in the plastics industry knew what the problem was, Penn State Behrend plastics professor John Beaumont was working on a solution. Today, that solution is the basis of a high-tech Erie...

'I'll believe it when I see it,' says owner of property airport plans to buy.
September 10, 2007... Byline: Jim Carroll Sep. 10--Carl Gehrlein has been waiting for years to hear when Erie International Airport would buy his Linden Avenue home. Airport officials have now given that word to Gehrlein and some of his neighbors, but...

Project developers may ask city to have stake.
September 10, 2007... Byline: George Miller Sep. 10--Koehler Brewery Square LLC could ask the city of Erie to become a partner in its long-delayed project. President W. John Knox III said the city might be asked to take an equity stake in exchange for...

Sweet season.
September 10, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 10--NORTH EAST -- Nick Mobilia needs few words to describe this year's grape crop that's just a week or two away from being harvested. "It's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful, and there's nothing else you can say...

Debt, delays shift mixed-use project focus.
September 10, 2007... Byline: Kevin Flowers Sep. 10--The strategy had to change. Six years into the planning of Koehler Brewery Square, developers saw their project-- a multimillion dollar mix of office space, shops, a restaurant and an outdoor market --...

2 tackle terminal situation.
September 11, 2007... Byline: Jim Carroll Sep. 11--Kathy Eisenman hopes she can find the recipe for running a successful restaurant at Erie International Airport. So do the airport's administrators, who recognize that she is the fifth restaurant operator in...

Fall tourism stretches season.
September 12, 2007... Byline: John Guerriero Sep. 12--The peninsula's lifeguards stacked their chairs, put away their uniforms and pulled out the Lake Erie swimming boundary markers. The final day for swimming at Presque Isle State Park on Sunday signaled...

Smoldering debate in Erie.
September 12, 2007... Byline: Kara Rhodes Sep. 12--Erie Fire Chief Tony Pol and Mayor Joe Sinnott spent hours talking about the future of the Erie Bureau of Fire in late 2006. "We had some very long discussions," Pol said recently. They talked about...

Rendell to retract letter.
September 12, 2007... Byline: Lisa Thompson Sep. 12--Gov. Ed Rendell plans to retract the letter in which he asked an Erie federal judge for a specific ruling in a case that could cost the state millions of dollars in sidewalk repairs for the disabled. ...

Parking ramp repair costs rise.
September 12, 2007... Byline: George Miller Sep. 12--The cost of repairs to a parking ramp near Saint Vincent Health Center has soared. A contract for $423,000 might grow to as much as $1.6 million because of additional work that is needed, the Erie Parking...

Roosevelt school generates debate.
September 12, 2007... Byline: Erica Erwin Sep. 12--Don't rebuild -- renovate. That's the message from local preservationists and conservationists who are asking the public to rally at tonight's Erie School Board meeting against the demolition of Roosevelt...

County officials cool to subsidy.
September 13, 2007... Byline: John Guerriero Sep. 13--Nearly $13.8 million sought for Presque Isle Downs & Casino has virtually no support among Erie County Council members and County Executive Mark DiVecchio, who have the final say on the request. ...

Who we are.
September 13, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 13--Erie is still fourth and shows no signs of bouncing back to third. Allentown gets to keep the white ribbon and its status as Pennsylvania's third largest city -- at least for now. That's just one of the...

Residents plead for preservation of Erie school.
September 13, 2007... Byline: Erica Erwin Sep. 13--To Carole Kaczmarek, Roosevelt Middle School is much more than a rundown, 83-year-old building. It's the place where her three sons learned and laughed in the '70s. It's the place that her oldest son...

Summit supervisor eyes township tax rebate.
September 13, 2007... Byline: John Guerriero Sep. 13--Summit Township homeowners could get a $200 rebate in the mail by the end of this year. Supervisor Marlin Coon said he plans to propose the rebate for an estimated 2,300 households, probably in October....

Health officials tout E. coli alerts.
September 14, 2007... Byline: David Bruce Sep. 14--Sunny weather and a new advisory system kept swimmers splashing at Presque Isle State Park much more often this year. Park officials banned swimming at only three beaches over two days this summer, compared...

Mayor returns from China trade mission.
September 14, 2007... Byline: Steven M. Sweeney Sep. 14--Mayor Joe Sinnott's economic development trip to Zibo, China, ended Thursday with his late-afternoon return to Erie International Airport and a hug from his mother. Gloria Sinnott stood waiting near...

Continental Airlines plans expansion at Cleveland airport.
September 14, 2007... Byline: Jim Carroll Sep. 14--Erie International Airport officials are waiting for word of a new airport expansion project. But this expansion project isn't in Erie -- it is 110 miles away, in Cleveland. Continental Airlines is...

Hotel boom finds room in Erie area.
September 14, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 14--Nick Scott Sr. remembers wondering decades ago if his family hadn't built more hotel rooms than Erie would ever need. On Thursday, the day he would break ground for a new Hilton Garden Inn on Peach Street,...

Times-News CEO to retire.(Company overview)
September 14, 2007... Byline: Ed Palattella Sep. 14--In his 11 years at the Times Publishing Company, Jim Dible helped expand a multimedia enterprise that focuses on local news. His successor said she plans to do the same. Dible, 64, the company's...

Taste testing satisfies guests.
September 14, 2007... Byline: Tim Hahn Sep. 14--MEADVILLE -- Agnes Folmar skipped the soup course for dessert. The cup full of steaming roasted corn and new potato chowder looked delicious, the Meadville woman admitted as Pampered Palate employee Adam...

Jammed up? Not alone.
September 14, 2007... Byline: Jim Carroll Sep. 14--Chris Ferrare doesn't really miss the two lanes that West 12th Street lost this summer -- unless she's running late. "You notice (the change)... when you are in a hurry," she said. "Before, you could speed...

Steris plant sold?
September 15, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 15--In a town full of vacant industrial buildings, Steris Corp. moved fast. Just weeks after the last steam sterilizer was built at the Ohio-based company's plant at 2424 W. 23rd St., Steris has a tentative...

Authority to review wristband program.
September 15, 2007... Byline: George Miller Sep. 15--The wristband program for Eight Great Tuesdays had some "loopholes," and it now will be reviewed. Wristbands were distributed this summer to students, allowing them to attend the concerts if they signed a...

Right to know costs $2,700.
September 16, 2007... Byline: Kevin Flowers Sep. 16--Craig Staudenmaier refuses to pay up to $2,700 for property-related public records that he believes Erie County government can easily produce. Especially when Lehigh County charged him $55.27 for the same...

Erie Times-News, Pa., business buzz column.(Column)
September 16, 2007... Byline: Michael Regal Sep. 16--THE ERIE BUSINESS COMMUNITY will pay tribute to female-owned companies this week during the fifth annual Athena awards ceremony. This year marks the eighth anniversary of Erie's Athena PowerLink...

Lawrence County track adds new player to game.
September 16, 2007... Byline: John Guerriero Sep. 16--Presque Isle Downs & Casino's main competition for slots players is about 80 miles east of Erie in Salamanca, N.Y. But another challenger is looming on undeveloped Pennsylvania land about 90 miles...

The icing on top.
September 16, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 16--WATERFORD TOWNSHIP -- Business was slow, and Debbie Devereaux wondered if it was time to get out. But then, just as sales had slowed to a wintertime crawl, the Waterford woman's tiny cheesecake business was...

World of learning.
September 16, 2007... Byline: Erica Erwin Sep. 16--Erie's high-schoolers don't need a GPS system to find their way to math class. But Erie schools Superintendent Jim Barker wants to start a new program aimed at helping them navigate something else -- the...

Where lawsuit stands in case of mortgage fraud.
September 16, 2007... Byline: Ed Palattella Sep. 16--Eloise Woodsbey's suit in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Erie represented the first public disclosure of the type of mortgage-fraud allegations the FBI and Internal Revenue Service have been investigating in the...

Mercyhurst lifts lender list.
September 17, 2007... Byline: Erica Erwin Sep. 17--Mercyhurst College has at least temporarily stopped a longstanding practice of offering a "preferred lenders" list to students in light of a New York state investigation that revealed some colleges were...

City targets zoning limbo.
September 17, 2007... Byline: George Miller Sep. 17--Four years ago Robert Masterson and his neighbors fought a zoning variance that would have allowed a rooming house to continue to operate in their neighborhood on East Lake Road. The City of Erie's Zoning...

Seneca salvo: Free money.
September 18, 2007... Byline: John Guerriero Sep. 18--Presque Isle Downs & Casino has handed out about 150,000 promotional points-earning cards to customers. Now some of those cards are being returned -- to a competing casino 80 miles east of Erie. ...

Montessori turns 100.
September 18, 2007... Byline: Erica Erwin Sep. 18--Sarah Myers could tell as soon as she walked in the door: This place was different. No rows of desks. No chalkboards. No homework assignments to be scribbled in notebooks. "This is not a regular...

Council vote expected on Koehler.
September 18, 2007... Byline: Kevin Flowers Sep. 18--A new financing plan aimed at helping the Koehler Brewery Square project move forward could get an official endorsement from Erie City Council this week. Council is expected to vote Wednesday evening on a...

Runway cost keeps soaring.
September 18, 2007... Byline: Jim Carroll Sep. 18--If you think $67.2 million is a lot to pay for an extra 1,920 feet of airport runway, consider $80.5 million. "The $67.2 million we have been talking about represents the project in 2007 dollars," said...

Airport wants $18M.
September 19, 2007... Byline: Kevin Flowers Sep. 19--Erie International Airport officials want an $18 million funding commitment from Erie County government for the airport's runway extension project. And they want it soon. Airport officials told Erie...

Jobs gone; hope restored?
September 19, 2007... Byline: Jim Martin Sep. 19--Stuart Lichter can't bring back the 450 Steris Corp. jobs lost to Mexico. But the founder and president of Industrial Realty Group is hoping to replace hundreds of those jobs and to fill the equivalent of...

City land rush.
September 19, 2007... Byline: George Miller Sep. 19--The rush will soon be on. Erie city officials are expecting a surge in building permit applications in the weeks ahead because of the expiration of the current citywide tax-abatement program on Nov. 13....

District might tweak borders.
September 19, 2007... Byline: Tim Hahn Sep. 19--MEADVILLE -- Proponents cited the importance of keeping schools close to where the children are when they pushed for Crawford Central School District to upgrade its elementary buildings. Those efforts will...

Council tables sheriff's OT request.
September 19, 2007... Byline: Kevin Flowers Sep. 19--Erie County Sheriff Bob Merski's request for more overtime funds made it onto Erie County Council's meeting agenda. It did not stay there long. County Council, at its Tuesday night meeting, voted to...

Displaced students: Suite life.
September 19, 2007... Byline: Erica Erwin Sep. 19--Instead of a cramped dorm room, Burak Kurama lives in a spacious room with a private bathroom and his own double bed. He enjoys wireless Internet access, a 27-inch TV and free continental breakfasts. ...