Published: January 03, 2009 11:25 pm      

GLYNN: Planning to March for Life

Some 400 people from the Buffalo Catholic Diocese will be bound for Washington, D.C., later this month to participate in the March for Life, a tradition traced to 1974.

The first-year attendance was reported at nearly 20,000, while last year, the figure hovered at the 200,000 mark.

Plans call for the Buffalo-Niagara group to travel by bus Jan. 21 to the Washington Plaza Hotel in the capital. The following day includes an early morning Mass celebrated by Bishop Edward U. Kmiec of the eight-county Western New York diocese, a noon rally at the National Mall and then the march down Constitution Avenue.

This year could be different from any in the past, according to Dawn Iacono, director of the office of Pro-Life Activities for the diocese. She noted the march is planned just two days after Barack Obama is inaugurated as the nation’s president.

For the past three years, Iacono notes, the marchers have gone virtually unchallenged.

In a recent interview with the Western New York Catholic, the diocesan monthly newspaper, Iacono told the reporter: “We need to deliver a visible message to the Democratic Congress and to our newly elected president that we, as Catholics and pro-life people, are alive and well and advocates for the dignity of human life on a very large scale. We need to be recognized as a contingent who will always defend the rights of the unborn....”

Dorothy Nortz of Youngstown, a parishioner at St. Bernard’s Church, has made the trip to Washington several times. “What strikes you about the march is the number of young people who now take part in this crusade. They’re very excited to be there.”

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TONGUE TIED? People who find fault with Caroline Kennedy’s overuse of “you know” should take a collective breath and listen to how many times “like” is heard every day. Admittedly, it seems more prevalent among teenagers.

An example overheard in a fast food line the other day: “I was so excited, like, I didn’t think it was like for real. So, like, I said to my friend, like, you can’t be for real. And he said, like ...”

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ON THE AIR: Two one-hour local radio station talk shows will be back Monday after some roof repairs to The Summit mall off Williams Road, Wheatfield.

“Viewpoint,” with host Tom Darro, and “The John Restaino Show” are scheduled to return at 9 and 10 a.m. on radio station WJJL (1440).

The programs broadcast daily from the satellite studio at the mall have been off the air since the Dec. 26 snow storm and high winds disrupted a number of area businesses and properties.

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NEW VENTURE: Sandy Hays Mies, consulting director of the Lewiston-based Lower Niagara River Region Chamber of Commerce, is looking forward to 2009 with the launching of her new company, Limelight WNY, LLC, focusing on event management, marketing and consulting.

Before she helped revitalize the Lewiston chamber, Mies was the commercial marketing manager for the Pine Avenue Business Association for a number of years.

Contact reporter Don Glynn at 282-2311, ext. 2246.