Grand Island High School alumni from the 1960s to the present took the field one last time at their alma mater Saturday.

The Huth Road Elementary School PTA presented Honorary Life Membership to Carolyn Thompson and Tracey Shickluna at a recent PTA meeting. Honorary life memberships are presented to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding effort on behalf of the welfare of children and youth.

The members of the Grand Island chapter of DECA, a business and marketing club, were present to be inducted into the state and national level of DECA at Salvatore's Italian Gardens.

The penalties for driving while distracted in New York state are finally catching up with a problem that seems to grow more serious each day.

We have all seen motorists talking on their cellphones as they navigate busy thoroughfares and small neighborhood streets alike. Do drivers who try to conceal their smartphones by pressing their entire device between their ear and the palm of their hand actually think the ruse is working?

Participants had a great time recently playing two rounds of laser tag and enjoying some pizza and soda during a get-acquainted event for Grand Island High School's Interact Club.

Two proclamations at the Grand Island Town Board meeting involved an Islander to whom "the world's children have been a priority."

In honor of School Board Recognition Week Grand Island PTA Council hosted a reception for school board members prior to Monday night's meeting.

The Mary Star of the Sea Council No. 4752 celebrated its annual Past Grand Knight's Dinner honoring Paul Minton on Saturday, Oct. 19. This was Minton's second term as Grand Knight.

The big prize is a golden sneaker mounted on a board. The sneaker was once the Rev. Earle King's running shoe. Running shoes get retired more quickly than walking shoes, and the pastor of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, 2587 Baseline Road, transformed his shoe into the most coveted prize of Grand Island's annual CROP Walk, held on Oct. 13 in Beaver Island State Park.

More than 2,000 Sidway Elementary School students and Fire Prevention Open House visitors came to fire headquarters on Thursday, Oct. 10, to learn more about their Grand Island Fire Co. volunteers, equipment, and operational capabilities.

The Town of Grand Island will honor veterans of past military campaigns during the annual Veterans Day program. This year, the town will honor veterans of the Cold War, Iraq War and Afghanistan War.

Veterans, family members, and friends are invited to attend the program on Monday, Nov. 11, at 11 a.m. at Veterans Park, located at 1717 Bedell Road. Each Veteran will receive a memento.

Grand Island veterans are asked to notify the Recreation Department if they will attend the program on Nov. 11, or if a veteran will be represented by a family member.

The Grand Island High School Art Club brings Halloween this year to the Island's Nike Base on Whitehaven Road. On Oct. 25 and 26, the students from the Art Club will treat young families, teens, and adults to a fun-filled spooktacular event.

Grand Island Fire Co. Lt. Tom Dewey and firefighter Chuck Piccone, with the help of a volunteer, teach students at St. Stephen School how to use a fire extinguisher during a fire prevention assembly.

Nearly a dozen dogs and one cat attended a pet blessing Saturday at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church on Baseline Road.

Connor Middle School students have known all summer that they would stage "The Wizard of Oz" for their autumn musical this year.

A celebration of 50 years at Gene Masters Field will be held Saturday, Oct. 19, at 11:30 a.m. before the 1 p.m. Grand Island Vikings home football game vs. Williamsville North.

Islanders are mourning the passing of a longtime teacher who put students at the center of her work.

Retired teacher and current school board trustee Joan Droit died Saturday. She was elected to the Board of Education on May 17, 2011.

"The Grand Island Central School District wishes to acknowledge the contribution Joan Droit made on behalf of students, faculty and the school community at large," the district said in a statement.

The Grand Island Chamber of Commerce is holding 30 Days of Giveaways from Oct. 1 to 30.

At the Grand Island Chamber Website Launch Party, Fahim Mojawalla, the chamber's media director, introduced 30 Days of Giveaways as a way for local businesses to increase their exposure with clients. Log on to the chamber website and register for a chance to win the giveaway of the day.

The second annual Taste of Grand Island Fall Festival presented by The M.O.G. took place Saturday, Sept. 28, on Grand Island Boulevard between Baseline and Whitehaven roads. The sun shined down all day for the event, which took place from noon to 8 p.m.

Navy veteran Peter Xanthos of East River Road (pictured at center) recently hosted visitors, including his shipmate from World War II, Walter Frey.

State Sen. Mark Grisanti, who represents the Island in the New York State Senate, recently visited Grand Island Memorial Library. Lynn Alan Konovitz, director, said Grisanti gave libraries like Grand Island's extra funding aid, which Memorial Library used for computer hardware.

Kindergarteners and first-graders at Sidway Elementary School underwent bus safety training as part of Bus Safety Week in the district Sept. 23 to 27.

Tuesday was Apple Day at Kaegebein Elementary School.

Veronica Connor Middle School Assistant Principal Eleanor Payne was honored this week by Erie County Legislator Kevin Hardwick for her part in helping save the life of one of her students.

With the Grand Island school year well underway, and with the capital project expanding the high school terrain a few feet further every day, the high school building foundations formed in the past are being restructured in the present with the intent to revolutionize the Island's future. In effort to preserve today's customs for the future, the Grand Island High School DECA business and marketing organization has coined a time capsule project to embody the atmosphere of the current school and community's culture.

The Grand Island Rotary Club reminds Western New Yorkers the club will once again hold a Document Destruction Day on Saturday, Oct. 5, in the KeyBank parking lot of the Tops Plaza on Grand Island Boulevard. For $10 per box, patrons will get assured, confidential shredding of all papers.

The Grand Island Fire Co. will host its annual open house on Thursday, Oct. 10, at GIFC headquarters, 2275 Baseline Road. Check out photos of last year's live fire demo.

On Friday, family, friends and first responders paid tribute to Russell M. Pecoraro, who recently passed away. An elaborate procession - complete with helicopter escort - took place across Whitehaven Road.

The feeling of a red carpet beneath the feet of a Grand Islander is simply as foreign as the feeling of the lunar surface. To put it bluntly, the limelight does not shine on the Island; it would rather shine on the international music centers of the nation - like Nashville or Los Angeles - to find the next big music star.

When Chris Jacobs took office as Erie County Clerk last year, he inherited a veterans program in name only. The discount program had but 27 participating businesses and very few veterans were issued the complimentary card.

"I pledged to make this program a real benefit to the over 60,000 veterans in Erie County and vowed to have 250 businesses signed-on by the end of my first term in office," Jacobs said. He has doubled his goal, recently hitting the 500th mark of participating Erie County businesses offering discounts to enrolled veterans.

Veronica Conner Middle School Assistant Principal Eleanor Payne stepped in Monday, Sept. 9, to do CPR on a 10-year-old student who had collapsed in the school hallway.

Shortly before 4 p.m., the Grand Island Fire Co. responded to a report of a "student down" at the Ransom Road school.

According to the GIFC report, the student had left the school earlier in the day with an unspecified illness, but had returned with her mother to pick up some items when she collapsed near her locker.

Sisters Sarah Mallare and Christine Carr of Grand Island have opened a new bakery in the City of Tonawanda. Magpie's Bake Shop & Café, named after their mother, Christine "Maggie" Smith, recently celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting. Located at 38 Niagara St., they offer soups, pizza, cakes, pastries, many other baked goods.

Everybody remembers their first day of school on a school bus, said Jack Burns, the director of transportation in the Grand Island Central School District.

The Erie County Conservative Party recently sponsored a family picnic at VFW Post No. 8113 in West Seneca. Party members and endorsed candidates wished to meet and thank supporters and especially those who worked to obtain signatures on petitions for those seeking office this fall.

At its monthly meeting on Aug. 19, the Grand Island Town Board issued a proclamation thanking the members of the Cinderella Isle Garden Club "for their continuing dedication to serving" the Grand Island community.

Grand Island town justice candidate Mark J. Frentzel took every party line in Tuesday's primary election, outpacing Joy M. Carrier LaMarca.

Christopher K. Aronica (81 votes) and Beverly A. Kinney (77) took the two town council spots, outdrawing Raymond A. Billica (54).

Superintendent of highways candidate William M. Stanley defeated James B. Tomkins by a 10-vote margin, 76-66.

Officials at the University at Buffalo are elated by the performance of an Islander who was chosen to introduce the president of the United States for his policy speech.

On Wednesday, Aug. 28, more than a dozen people underwent training for the 2013 CROP Walk in preparation for this year's event on Oct. 13.

Grand Islander Silvana D'Ettorre had the honor of introducing President Barack Obama before his speech Aug. 22 at the University at Buffalo.

The Miracle League of Grand Island and Western New York welcomed units from Sheridan Park, Niagara Falls and Grand Island for the league's second annual firefighters day at the ball diamond in Veterans Park.