By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 3 October 2025 at 10:12 pm
Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Medina’s Decklan Meiers kicks the ball away from Pembroke’s Austin Post during the Mustangs non league win at Vets Park this evening.
Celebrating Senior Night, Medina posted a 3-0 non league victory over Pembroke this evening at Vets Park.
Caden Kingsbury scored all three goals for the Mustangs as Aleks Seefeldt had two assists and Owen Sargent one.
River Jones earned the shutout in goal as the quartet of Sargent, Ryan Pegelow, Jimmy Dieter and Luke Duffina anchored the defense.
By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 3 October 2025 at 9:59 pm
Moving into the top 10, Medina’s Melanie Green registered her second straight 4 under par round of 68 today at the Epson Tour’s Championship Tournament being played at Indian Wells, California.
Green notched five birdies on the day on 11, 16, 18, 3 and 4 and had only one bogey on 5.
Her two day total of 136 puts her in a tie for 8th place four shots back of the leader.
The tournament continues on Saturday and concludes on Sunday. She is scheduled to tee off at 2″05 p.m. Saturday our time.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 October 2025 at 5:19 pm
Photos courtesy of ABATE in Orleans County
KENDALL – The Orleans County chapter of ABATE (Americans Bikers Aimed Toward Education) recently resented $500 checks to three fire departments in eastern Orleans County.
The top photo shows Chuck Persons, second from right, and Becky Persons, right, of ABATE presenting a $500 check to the Kendall Fire Department. They are joined by Fire Chief Randy Davis, second from right, and Mike Schultz, president of the Kendall FD.
Last year ABATE presented similar checks to the central battalion departments, and they donated to the western battalion in 2023.
The donations to the eastern battalion are the result of a fundraising ride and a basket raffle this summer.
Becky Persons of ABATE presents a $500 check to Bob Freida, fire chief of the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Company.
ABATE also donated $500 to the Murray Joint Fire District.
ABATE leaders said firefighters are often the first on the scene if a motorcyclist is an accident.
Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C-Batavia) is hosting three town hall events in Monroe and Genesee Counties on Saturday, Oct. 11.
Hawley will take the time to meet with constituents and discuss the issues that matter to them the most. These events will give the community the opportunity to let their voices be heard and share their thoughts and concerns about where the state is headed.
“Speaking directly with my constituents is one of the most important parts of my job,” said Hawley. “I hope people show up to share their thoughts and opinions on how we can make New York a better place to live, work and raise a family.”
The schedule includes:
• Town of Wheatland, Village of Scottsville and Hamlet of Mumford on Oct. 11 from 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. at Genesee Country Village & Museum in the Meeting Center Lounge, 1410 Flint Hill Rd., Mumford, NY 14511
• Town of LeRoy and Village of LeRoy on Oct. 11 from 11 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. at Woodward Memorial Library, The Mystery Room, 7 Wolcott St., LeRoy, NY 14482
• Town of Batavia and City of Batavia on Oct. 11 from 12 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. at Batavia City Centre, Council Room on 2nd Floor, 102 Main St., Batavia, NY 14020
Assemblyman Steve Hawley represents the 139th Assembly District, which includes parts of Erie, Genesee, Monroe and Orleans counties.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 October 2025 at 3:58 pm
Photo by Tom Rivers: Some leaves on these trees are still green and others have changed to bright colors. This is a spot on the Erie Canal Towpath in Albion, east of the Ingersoll Street lift bridge.
Some parts of the state are seeing peak fall foliage colors, while locally it is about at midpoint with lots of green leaves still on the trees.
“Beautiful peak fall colors will continue to spread through the Adirondacks and Catskills, and are expected to arrive in some parts of the Chautauqua-Allegheny and Finger Lakes regions this weekend,” I Love NY posted on Wednesday.
A spotter in Albion reports that there is less than 15% change in Albion “with average to bright red, orange and yellow leaves.”
A spotter in Buffalo reports a 25 percent change while one in East Aurora puts it at 55 percent.
In Niagara County, there is 50 percent change in Lewiston and 25 percent transition in Niagara Falls.
In Wyoming County, Letchworth State Park is seeing 50 percent change in Castile and 60 percent change in Warsaw.
Map courtesy of I Love NY: Some parts of the state are in peak fall foliage conditions, while Orleans County still has a ways to go towards peak.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 October 2025 at 3:06 pm
ALBION – A former Albion man pleaded guilty in Orleans County Court to attempted course of sexual conduct in third degree and could get up to five years in state prison when he is sentenced on Dec. 3.
Joel Prouty, 39, now lives in Bethany. He admitted in County Court on Wednesday to having anal sexual contact at least twice with a victim between June 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019. The victim was the ages of 9 and 10 when this happened, the Orleans County District Attorney’s Office said.
Prouty was charged on May 21 by the Albion Police Department with course of sex conduct against a child in the 1st degree and endangering the welfare of a child.
In other cases in County Court:
Allan Bieber, 22, pleaded guilty to third-degree rape for having sex with a 15-year-old girl at St. Joseph’s Park on South Clinton Street on April 25. It was dark at the park at about 9 p.m. when the alleged rape occurred.
Bieber will face probation and no incarceration as part of a plea agreement. He could be a registered sex offender for 10 years. That will be determined at a hearing before Judge Sanford Church.
Jamar Daniel, 41, of the Bronx pleaded guilty last week to attempted promoting prison contraband in the first degree.
Daniel admitted to bringing a folding ceramic blade into the Orleans Correctional Facility on Nov. 17, 2024.
He faces up to 364 days in the county jail when he is sentenced.
‘This global experience had to be one of the most impactful things that ever happened to me on a personal level, spiritually and educationally’ – Todd Eick
Photos courtesy of Orleans/Niagara BOCES: (Left) Todd Eick, former Medina teacher now an animal science teacher for Orleans/Niagara BOCES, holds a pig in Uganda. (Right) This group builds a structure.
Press Release, Orleans/Niagara BOCES
Todd Eick, the Animal Science teacher at the Niagara Career and Technical Education Center, recently spent a month over the summer in Uganda with fellow educators to support education initiatives in a small village at the Lira Secondary School.
“It is without a doubt the best professional development and experience I have ever had,” said Eick, who previously worked in Medina for 14 years as FFA advisor and animal science teacher. “There are not enough adjectives to describe that trip.”
The Global Teach Ag Network sent 12 educators, across the United States, to work with local schools in East Africa on global issues like agriculture and food security. The Teach Ag Uganda project is funded by the USDE (United States Department of Education) Fulbright-Hays Program and partners with Field of Hope.
The teachers had the opportunity to work one-on-one with peer educator colleagues in Uganda to advance agriculture projects in local schools. Eick was assigned to work on a team with the students on building a piggery for pig farming. He worked directly with two US teachers, one from Indiana and the other from Washington state, and three Uganda educators.
“We are all still in a group chat all the time” says Eick. “We built great friendships and had so much fun together. Such amazing memories and knowledge to share. I love telling people I know someone who knows something about this and that. I had such a wonderful time there.”
The staff at a school joins for a group photo.
Eick had applied for the grant opportunity to take part in the program last October and was thrilled to find out that he was selected to be part of the project.
“I was kind of the elder statesman since I had more time in education than anyone else on the team, but I learned a lot from everyone I worked with,” he said. “We helped the school build the piggery and showed them how to select the pigs and care for them. We left educational artifacts for them to use after we returned home to help them run the farm.”
The visiting teachers were fascinated on how the Lira Secondary school was run. A boarding school, there are 20-80 students in a classroom and the teachers rotate through each classroom.
Classes ran three weeks on and then three weeks off to allow the students to go home and help their families, many of them using the skills they learned in school to help their families generate extra money.
The students would be considered sophomores, juniors and seniors here. “Most of the seniors were learning so they could take the state test and had a lot of project-based learning as part of their education as well,” Eick said. “The students were shy at first, but they warmed up pretty quickly to us. They were so eager to learn. How they implemented their curriculum was cool. For one hands-on learning project, we worked together to string a barbed wire fence. The students caught on very fast.”
There was no cafeteria, but everyone ate together. “We stood in line with the students with our bowls and we usually had some sort of stew made with beans, maize and rice,” explained Eick. “It was fascinating. It is a very poor country, but they were rich in hospitality. They are truly the kindest, warmest people I have ever met.”
Eick, along with his fellow educators, also enjoyed a morning and evening safari to see the wildlife.
“It was magical,” he said. “We went to the Nile River. I must have taken hundreds of photos. We visited several villages and a dairy farm and that was eye-opening on how varied milk production is there than it is here.”
He brought back a Uganda hoe as a souvenir. “It cost me $3.75 and I had no idea how to use it, so the students had to show me. They thought it was hysterical. I have to say I learned as much from them as they did from me. I love this kind of teaching. It is a hand up not a handout. This global experience had to be one of the most impactful things that ever happened to me on a personal level, spiritually and educationally. I am enjoying bringing these lessons into my classroom, especially doing more with less and embracing a worldwide perspective on things. My students here have really embraced this and we now share things in class from art to the practical from different countries. I am really looking forward to taking some of the students to Belgium and the Netherlands next year to learn about their agriculture and way of life. I really want them to have the same experience I did with seeing a different culture.”
Site includes climbing tower, a zipline, We-Go-Round, We-Saws, swings, climbing mounds, chill spinners and shaded seating areas
Photos and information courtesy of Kendall Central School
KENDALL – It was a special time on Wednesday evening at the Kendall Elementary School when the community celebrated the opening of a new school playground.
This is Kendall’s first community-accessible playground, a one-of-a-kind facility in the Northeast that will serve both students and families for years to come.
This playground is designed to be accessible to people with disabilities. The playground includes ground-level entry points, durable turf surfacing, and equipment designed to accommodate children with limited mobility.
“Our early vision was to ensure that our students and residents had a space to come and spend time with family and friends right in our community,” said Nick Picardo, the school district superintendent. “I believe this playground will become a central place for families to gather, play, and enjoy the outdoors right here in Kendall.”
The playground was funded as a part of $12,680,000 capital project that was approved in December 2023.
That project was nearly entirely focused on the elementary school. The work included:
An estimated $11,122,076 at the elementary school with site improvements and new paving, and a new playground with age-appropriate equipment. Inside the elementary school, projects include safety and security upgrades to interior doors, entryways, and alarm systems, as well as energy- efficient classroom lighting, corridor enhancements and auditorium upgrades, according to the district.
The project includes $153,089 in work at the junior-senior high school for common area improvements with new flooring and lighting.
In the transportation building, the capitol project includes two bus lifts at a cost of $1,065,278.
A new roof for the Buildings & Grounds facility at a estimated cost of $339,557.
The new playground features cutting-edge structures including the Volo Aire, a multi-level climbing tower with covered slides that is the first of its kind on the East Coast. Other highlights include a zipline, We-Go-Round, We-Saws, swings, climbing mounds, chill spinners, and shaded seating areas.
Designed with accessibility at its core, the playground includes ground-level entry points, durable turf surfacing, and equipment designed to accommodate children with limited mobility. Dedicated areas for both younger and older elementary students ensure that children of all ages can play safely and comfortably.
Kendall school officials, including Board of Education President Rachel Fisken with scissors, celebrate the new playground on Wednesday.
This new addition is a major milestone not just for the district, but for the region: a protected design radius has been placed around Kendall, ensuring that no other nearby playgrounds will feature the same exclusive components, the school district stated in a news release.
“In early January 2025, with a completed design in hand, the superintendent received a frantic call from me thanks to a brand-new, never-before-seen structure having just been released to the market,” said Andy Walsh, Genesee Regional Manager of Parkitects. “Under Nick Picardo’s leadership and with the support of the Kendall team, the decision was made to pivot and include the first Volo Aire in New York State. That bold move brought one of the most inclusive and accessible tower structures ever built to the Kendall community.”
Planning for the playground began with a unique focus on student voice and research. A student-led committee worked alongside staff and design experts to test playgrounds across Western New York and cast votes on preferred features—including the curly slide, which won by a landslide during Kendall’s own “Voting Day” in November 2023.
“This vibrant new space is more than just a place to play, it’s a reflection of our community’s creativity, collaboration, and commitment to joyful learning,” said Elementary Principal Kevin Watson. “From the first sketch to the final bolt, this playground was designed with our students in mind. I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve built together.”
By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 3 October 2025 at 9:25 am
Contributed Photo – Kendall High has inducted two new members into the Eagles Athletic Gall of Fame – Elisa Miller, Class of 1996 and Jeff Cole, Class of 2001. Miller was a three sport star in soccer, basketball and softball. She earned All State honors in soccer and was named Kendall’s Female Athlete of the Year her senior year. She went on to earn soccer All American honors at both Monroe Community College and Roberts Wesleyan. She has continued to serve Kendall athletes by serving as President of the Sports Boosters. Cole was a three sport star in soccer, basketball and baseball. He earned All State honors in soccer and was named to the sectional basketball All Tournament team. He now serves the community as a deputy with the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department’s K-9 unit.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 October 2025 at 8:41 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The Orleans County Courthouse dome is shown Thursday night lighted up in purple this month in observance of Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October.
County legislators last week issued a proclamation in support of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Legislators said that while 90 percent of domestic violence cases go unreported, 265 cases were reported to the Orleans County Domestic Violence Unit in 2024, and 165 cases have been reported to the unit from Jan. 1, 2025 to Aug. 31, 2025.
County Legislator Fred Miller last week presented a proclamation to Judianne Gearing, Domestic Violence Supervisor (left), and Kelley Ortiz, Domestic Violence Services Coordinator.
“Domestic violence is a pattern of coercive behavior that may include physical, emotional, psychological, economic, or sexual abuse, perpetrated by an intimate partner over another, to establish and maintain power and control,” according to the proclamation from the county. “Domestic violence is the major cause of injury to women, resulting in more injuries to women then auto accidents, muggings and rapes combined.”
The courthouse dome is lighted up in purple for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 2 October 2025 at 9:39 pm
Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Medina’s Aidan Papaj goes high to score on a header during the Mustangs win at Albion this evening. He is between Medina’s Luke Duffina and Albion’s Adam Burgio.
Exploding for seven unanswered goals in the first half, Medina went on to down host Albion 8-0 in a Niagara-Orleans League boys soccer game this evening.
Vinny Gray opened the scoring for Medina with a pair of goals, the first off a corner by Aleks Seefeldt and the second on a rebound.
Aidan Papaj then scored three goals, the first on a nifty header, and Caden Kingsbury netted two to round out the Mustangs big first half scoring barrage.
Bryson Ford scored the Mustangs lone second half goal.
Seefeldt had a total of 4 assists and Luke Duffina 2.
Medina is now 6-1 and Albion 1-5-1 in N-O competition.
Medina’s Vinny Gray puts a shot on goal as Albion’s Alakai Colmenero slides to try and stop the shot.
Akron 1, Newfane 0
Akron (4-3) nipped Newfane (3-4-1) on a goal by Luke Piscitelli.
Wilson 14, Roy-Hart 0
Aidan Neumann scored six goals and Trenton Kaminski three to lead defending champion Wilson (7-0) to a 14-0 win over Roy-Hart (0-8).
N-O Girls Soccer
League leading Wilson (8-0) downed runner-up Roy-Hart (5-2-1) 3-0 on goals by Addison Elia, Lilly Gurski and Grace Smith.
Albion (0-4-3) battled to a 0-0 tie in double overtime with Barker/Lyndonville (4-2-3) at Barker.
In the other game, Akron (4-3-1) downed Newfane (2-6) 3-0.
Medina’s Caden Kingsbury works to get the ball from Albion’s Renzo Tomasi.
By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 2 October 2025 at 9:12 pm
Kendall improved to 10-0 in the league and 13-0 overall with a 4-1 victory over host Pembroke in a Genesee Region boys soccer game this evening.
Pablo Rosario-Reyes scored three goals and Jonathan Esposito one for the Eagles.
Attica 2, Lyndonville 1
Maddox Smith scored Lyndonville’s goal off an assist from Jesus Reyes in a 2-1 G-R loss at Attica.
Holley 5, Wheatland-Chili 0
Chase Kempa, Cooper Wolf, Avanti Walker, Blake Coleman and Josh Silpoch took turns scoring goals as Holley downed Wheatland-Chili 5-0 to improve to 5-4 in G-R action.
Cam Mosier had two assists as Wolf, Coleman and Gage Yockel each had one.
By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 2 October 2025 at 8:06 pm
Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Roy-Hart’s Adella Dukes works to advance the ball against Barker’s Hailey Dodge during this afternoon’s field hockey game at Middleport which was won by Barker.
It went to a shootout as Barker earned a 1-0 win over host Roy-Hart in a Niagara-Orleans League field hockey game this afternoon.
Kaylee Stoll scored the winning goal for Barker which improves to 7-1 as Roy-Hart slips to 3-5.
Medina 7, Kenmore 1
Penelope Schalck scored five goals and Jennelle Stalker and Savannah Jo Thompson one each as Medina rolled to a 7-1 win over Kenmore at Vets Park.
Medina is now 4-4 and Kenmore 3-4 in N-O action.
Wilson 3, Newfane 1
Wilson (3-5) downed rival Newfane (0-7) 3-1 as Taylor Ernest scored two goals and Brynn Lepsch one.
