New York state briefs
Gold Star Mothers hold concert
GREECE - When the military came to Mary Ellen Schramm's door to tell her her 22-year-old son, Brian, had been killed in Iraq, she remembers thinking it was time for her to get a gold star.
The group Gold Star Mothers began during the world wars, using a star on the house as a sign a loved one had been killed in action.
Now, some local families who are part of the organizaiton was to help surviving veterans. The Schramm family - along with the families of Michael Pernaselli, 27, a Brighton native killed in Iraq in 2004, and Jason Hasenauer, 21, a Hilton native killed in Afghanistan in 2006 - will sponsor an all-day concert Nov. 11 at the Main Street Armory in Rochester to benefit the Veterans Outreach Center.
County music acts including Jen Cass, Tracy DeLucia, Jenae Johnson and Sherri Mullen will perform. Doors open at noon and the performances start at 1 p.m. Tickets cost $15. Organizer hope it becomes an annual event.
Conference focuses on family relationships
ROCHESTER - More than 1,500 youth and adults from every state in the country and from seven other countries will be in Rochester this weekend to learn more about promoting family support, youth programs, integrity and responsibility.
The Search Institute's 2007 conference "Transforming Relationships For the Common Good," will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Convention Center in Rochester Thursday, Nov. 8 through Saturday, Nov. 10.
Unique bridge reopens
IRONDEQUOIT - The Irondequoit Bay Outlet Bridge is now open to drivers again.
The swing bridge is connected for drivers only from November to April each year. The "swing" takes three to four hours. When the bridge is closed, it is swung to the Irondequoit shore and rests there, where it is used as a kind of walking and fishing pier.
The channel under the bridge, the lone waterway that connects Irondequoit Bay with Lake Ontario, is open for boaters when the span is not open to drivers.
While Monroe County operates the bridge, its season is determined through input from the U.S. Coast Guard.
The seasonal span, built at a cost of just under $5 million, has been in place since 1998, and was created as a compromise between those who believed the channel should open year-round and those who argued in favor of a permanent bridge. A deteriorating fixed bridge on the site was removed in 1985.