Genesee Sun

Stay Safe This Holiday Season, Drink Responsibly

GENESEO — As finals approach and the holidays near for SUNY Geneseo students, the need for celebration grows. Unfortunately, these celebrations can lead to tragedy.

Since the 2009 alcohol-related death of college student Arman Partamian at a Lower Court Street residence, the dangers of binge drinking have been on the minds of Geneseo and SUNY Geneseo community members.

Last weekend, the Geneseo Fire Department received 24 ambulance calls, 17 of which were for SUNY Geneseo students, according to Deputy Mayor John Fox, Jr. at a Dec. 5 Village Board of Trustees meeting. Out of those 17 calls, 10 were for transports, with 4 calls on campus and 6 taking place off campus.

While Fox said students calling the department in order to help friends in need is a positive thing, the frequent calls can be trying on the fire departments small staff. Fox said even though the department has volunteers from the college, not all of them have completed the necessary training to help out in an emergency.

In order to cut down on ambulance calls, students should look out for each other. If a student notices someone drinking too much, they should try to get the student to stop drinking so they don’t reach the point of needing an ambulance.

Information and resources about alcohol can be found at the “Stand Up! Geneseo” section of the SUNY Geneseo website. For instance, the site says the human body processes alcohol at a constant rate of .5 oz. per hour, regardless of how many ounces a person consumes. The site also provides a chart breaking down blood alcohol levels (BAL) by gender, weight and amount of drinks consumed in one hour. The site also breaks down the effects and dangers of different BAL levels.

The Stand Up! Geneseo website also offers information on the Red Watch Band movement, which is a bystander intervention program attempting to end alcohol overdose deaths by teaching students how to handle alcohol emergencies and get professional help. For more information on how to join the movement, visit www.geneseo.edu/health/red-watch-band.

SUNY Students, Staff and Community Members Occupy Geneseo

GENESEO — Students, faculty members and community members gathered on the SUNY Geneseo College Green today as part of National Student Strike Day, protesting rising college tuition and budget cuts.

The campus’s Occupy Geneseo General Assembly put today’s “Occupy the Green” event into motion in coordination with the national college movement, as well as with the other “occupy” movements happening in cities across the country. Though the event took place on campus, its focus was not just on high tuition and program cuts, but also the unemployment and poverty issues in the Geneseo community.

“It’s not, at all, simply a student movement,” said Nick Marrone, an organizer of the event. “We’ve gone to businesses, we’ve put up fliers in town and we’ve made phone calls to community members. I think that’s the key. A student movement is important, but if you can involve the community, I think that’s even better.”

Several community members from the area heard about the movement and showed up to show their support and get involved. 

“There’s a greatly inequitable society growing and growing and it’s good that people are speaking up and taking a stand,” said Livonia resident Jay Lubert, who came with his wife. “We need to change things, and I think a good place to start is a college campus.”

Springwater resident Gloria Osborne wore a handmade sign around her neck with “Occupy everywhere; Occupy everyone” written on it to show her support.

“When I heard about this, I decided to come and show my support,” she said. “I wanted to be here and say ‘Yeah, we need to do it, we need to grow it. We need this to go everywhere.’”

Occupy Geneseo members set up tables topped with cookies, hot chocolate and informational pamphlets on Occupy Geneseo in general, as well pamphlets on why students should support the movement. 

Activities at the event included sign making, screen printing and teach-ins by SUNY Geneseo professors. Anyone at the event was encouraged to talk about their concerns and opinions on economical, political and environmental issues during the event.

Though many people support Occupy Geneseo, the group has faced some issues with the community about their message and purpose.

“People have criticized us in terms of our target and I think there’s been some confusion,” Marrone said. “We’re not protesting SUNY Geneseo. We think that the government should fund SUNY Geneseo. This is a movement in coordination with the state university system. Basically, we’re trying to encourage legislators to fund public education. We’re really standing in solidarity with SUNY Geneseo.”

The Occupy the Green movement occurs until 5 p.m. and is followed by more teach-ins and presentations starting at 5:30. For more information and a full schedule of events, visit http://occupygeneseo.org.

LeRoy Man Promoted to Senior Vice President of Bank of Castile

BATAVIA — The Bank of Castile announced that LeRoy’s Thomas Dambra has been promoted to senior vice president of community banking. 

Dambra is responsible for operational and financial performance of the bank’s 15 Western New York branches.

“Tom is really an outstanding asset to The Bank of Castile and both our employees and customers benefit from his talents and contributions,” said James W. Fulmer, bank president and CEO of The Bank of Castile.

Dambra has been with The Bank of Castile for nine years, and most recently served as the Vice President of Branch Administration. He and his wife Molly live in LeRoy with their three daughters, Abby, Ellie, and Maura. Dambra serves on the LeRoy Central School Board, is a board member of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce and is involved in LeRoy Youth Soccer.