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Gas prices up another 2 cents in past week in Orleans
$4.30 price is highest among WNY counties
Gas prices climbed another 2 cents in Orleans County in the past week to from $4.285 to $4.303 a gallon for regular unleaded, AAA reported today. The average price nationally is up 4 cents to $4.10 while the state-wide average is up 3.5 cents to $4.165 a gallon. A year ago, the average price in NYS was $3.16 a gallon.
AAA also reported the average diesel price in the state is at $5.70 a gallon today, up from $5.62 a week ago and $3.91 a year ago.
The average prices among Western New York counties includes:
- Orleans, $4.303
- Genesee, $4.179
- Monroe, $4.205
- Niagara, $4.201
- Erie, $4.206
- Wyoming, $4.252
- Livingston, $4.271
- Chautauqua, $4.275
- Cattaraugus, $4.073
- Allegany, $4.224
Hamilton County in the Adirondacks is the highest in the state at $4.63 a gallon, while Chemung has the lowest average at $4.00.
Ortt presses governor to extend big game hunting with rifle in Niagara County
Provided photo: State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, Assemblyman Angelo Morinello, Niagara County Legislator Shawn Foti and Escarpment Arms CEO Joe Olscamp called on Governor Hochul to sign an extension for hunting big game by rifle in Niagara County.
Press Release, State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt
LOCKPORT – Today, New York State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, Assemblyman Angelo Morrinello, Niagara County Legislator Shawn Foti, and Escarpment Arms CEO Joe Olscamp called on Governor Kathy Hochul to sign Senate Bill S.9302 which would extend big game hunting by rifle in Niagara County.
In 2024, Senator Ortt sponsored Senate Bill S.8382B to allow big game hunting by rifle in Niagara County. At the time, Niagara County was one of only a handful of counties that did not allow rifle hunting. This legislation is set to expire on Oct. 1, 2026.
“Over the past two years, hunters have shown remarkable responsibility while harvesting big game with rifles here in Niagara County,” Ortt said. “This is a common sense, non-partisan bill with no financial impact to taxpayers – and it helps curb the ever-expanding deer and bear populations here in Western New York. Hunters have asked for the continuation of rifle hunting, and I encourage Governor Hochul to sign this bill into law so that sportsmen can carry on with this new tradition.”
The original bill, and the current extension, excludes the City of Lockport, the City of North Tonawanda, and the City of Niagara Falls from rifle hunting. The bill also allows municipalities to opt out of rifle hunting.
Senate Bill S.9302 passed both houses during this year’s legislative session with wide, bi-partisan support and would take effect immediately after the governor signs it.
“Niagara County was one of the last counties to request authorization to use rifles for big game hunting,” said Escarpment Arms CEO Joe Olscamp of Lockport. “As a gun shop owner, former Niagara County Coordinator of Hunter Education for the DEC, and member of multiple firearms advisory panels, I have not been made aware of a single incident resulting from this change. Responsible sportsmen have proven there is no logical reason not to renew this. The deer population has grown so much that the DEC offers near unlimited tags in Wildlife Management Unit (WMU) 9A, which covers Niagara County. We should not impede responsible wildlife management.”
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Entries sought in annual Erie Canal photo contest
Photo by Tom Rivers: A blue heron takes off over the Medina Waterfalls after rain stopped on the afternoon of June 25, 2026. This photo was taken from the high wall on the north side of the Erie Canal. This is by the spot where the Oak Orchard Creek runs under the Erie Canal.
The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor is seeking entries for its 21st annual contest highlighting the Erie Canal. The entries are due on Friday.
Last year there were 334 entries for the contest. There was one Orleans County scene that was a winner in the 2025 contest. Peggy Barringer of Albion received an honorable mention for a wintry scene along the canal in Medina.
Entries are judged by a team of professional photographers, designers, and canal experts. They evaluate each image on the basis of creativity, photographic quality, and effectiveness in conveying the beauty and unique character of the canalway.
Judges select first, second, and third place winning images in each contest category, as well as 12 honorable mentions
Winning images will be featured in the 2027 Erie Canalway Calendar, which will be available at no cost in libraries, visitor centers, and by request. Funding support for the calendar is provided by the NYS Canal Corporation and the National Park Service.
Images must be taken within the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, which spans 524 miles. It encompasses the Erie, Cayuga-Seneca, Oswego and Champlain canals and their historic alignments, as well as more than 230 canal communities.
This year’s contest categories include: A Vibrant Connector: Waterways, Parks, and Trails; Past Meets Present; The Canal at Work; and Scenic Beauty.
For more information on the contest, click here.
Albion working on comprehensive plan to address housing, economic development
Village last adopted plan 13 years ago; needs to address changes in community
Photos by Tom Rivers: Albion Mayor Tim McMurray speaks during a meeting last week about an updated comprehensive plan for the Village of Albion. The plan was last updated in 2013 in a joint project with the town of Albion. The new plan will be specific to the village. McMurray said a comprehensive plan should be updated every five years.
ALBION – The Village of Albion is working to update a comprehensive plan that will guide land use and help set policies for addressing needs in the community for housing, economic development, recreation, public safety, infrastructure and historic preservation.
The village last adopted a comprehensive plan in 2013 in a joint effort with the town of Albion. The new plan will be focused on the village and overdue in addressing changes in the community, Mayor Tim McMurray said.
He welcomed about 30 people last week to an informational meeting on the initiative to update the plan. He wants to hear from more residents and Albion stakeholders on how the village should be planning for its future.
Albion has changed since the 2013 plan. The population is down 6.9 percent from 2010 census to 5,637 in 2020. The largest private employer was at the former call center on east Avenue used by Chase and CRFS. That site is now vacant.
The Erie Canalway Trail that passes through Albion is now part of the Empire State Trail, creating strong opportunities for tourism and the downtown.
There have also been changes with bridges closures/reconstruction, emergency service restructuring (Albion Fire Department now in Albion Joint Fire District and COVA Ambulance closed with area served by Mercy Flight EMS). There is a renewed discussion of village dissolution.
There are also new state policies and funding programs to address broadband, climate resilience, wetlands, housing and historic preservation.
Albion is working with G&G Municipal Consulting and Grant Writing on the updated plan. G&G shared the following data about the village:
- Median household income is at $41,581 in village compared to $65,969 countywide
- Renters are severely cost-burdened with 37.4 percent paying at least 50 percent of income on rent
- 312 housing units are considered distressed, abandoned or off market.
- 40.7 percent of housing is built in 1939 or older
- 16.0 percent of workers are doing their jobs from home
Village officials want to hear ideas on developing a clear identity for Albion, McMurray said. Albion has several authentic stories to build on, but what story best reflects the community as a whole, he asked the group gathered at Hoag Library.
He said some possible themes or brands include Christmas Town, a sports and youth-focused community, a creative and artistic community, a historic Erie Canal community with landmark architecture, and “a community of caring and connection” where neighbors look out for one another. Or perhaps, McMurray said, Albion should look at a different brand entirely.
“What is our 5, 10, 15 and 20-year plan, rather than going day by day,” he asked the group.
Jay Grasso, owner of G&G Municipal Consulting and Grant Writing, is working with the village on the updated comprehensive plan. Not only will the plan help guide future development and land use in the village, Grasso said an updated plan is imperative for Albion to secure larger grants for housing, economic development and other community needs.
Some of the categories and ideas identified so far include:
Downtown and economic development
- Continue building renovation and downtown revitalization, and connect heritage tourism to the Empire State Trail.
- Diversify the economy away from a dependence on any single large employer and create an “Underutilized Sites Redevelopment Program” with the initial focus on the vacation former CRFS and Chase building.
Housing and Neighborhoods
- Make housing affordability and cost burden an explicit priority
- Create a village-specific housing needs assessment to better target programs
- Establish a vacant property registry and annual inspection program
- Pursue CDBG housing rehabilitation and demolition/clearance funding
- Allow carefully regulated ADUs (accessory dwelling units) to expand smaller-unit housing options
Transportation & Infrastructure
- Continue phased improvements to sewer plant, water plant and distribution system
- Develop a coordinated street and stormwater capital improvement plan
- Continue sidewalk repair and complete a current sidewalk condition survey
- Add a “complete streets” focus for pedestrians and bicyclists
- Study circulation and emergency-response impacts from the permanent Clarendon Street and Brown Street crossing closures
- Treat broadband as essential infrastructure; coordinate mapping/expansion and consider a “dig-once” policy
Government, Parks & Community Service
- Institutional future: acknowledge village dissolution/consolidation question while writing comprehensive plan and make recommendations that are useful under either outcome
- Shared Services: Build on existing intermunicipal cooperation. Monitor Mercy Flight EMS arrangement and joint fire district, and evaluate additional service-sharing opportunities.
- Community Assets: Continue park maintenance, seek funding for Bullard Park improvements, and address Village Hall records-storage conditions
Historic & Natural Resources
- Albion is a certified local government and the village should leverage that designation to pursue grants. Albion should also connect historic sites to the Canal/Empire State Trail, and promote historic tax credits and NY Main Street funding
- The village should consider pursing the Climate Smart Communities registration, and should pursue a village street-tree program
Public Safety
- Continue safe neighborhoods, downtown, parks and public spaces through strong local police services, including coordinating police, code enforcement and housing initiatives to address vacant, distressed and problem properties.
Some needed updates for land use and zoning:
- Modernize the Canal Overlay for completed Empire State Trail; finish updates for signage, awnings, outdoor dining, and planned unit development
- Village should consider accessory dwelling units (ADUs), re-evaluate earlier R2 to R1 rezoning recommendations, energy efficiency and equity considerations to site planning.
McMurray, the village mayor, welcomed residents to be part of subcommittees working on different parts of the comprehensive plan.
“If you want things to change get involved,” he said.
Jerome Pawlak, a resident, attended the meeting and urged the village leaders to collaborate more with the towns of Albion and Gaines, as well as officials with the county and the local agencies.
County Legislator John Fitzak said the grants shouldn’t be viewed as “free money” because municipalities and businesses often need to provide some of their own money and may have to front the costs before getting reimbursed the grant amount.
“We still have to do most of the work ourselves,” Fitzak said about funding projects. “The grant is the cherry on top.”
Scott Burto, grants manager for G&G Municipal Consulting and Grant Writing, speaks during last Wednesday’s meeting about the comprehensive plan. Burto previously served 23 years as mayor of West Carthage in Jefferson County in northern New York. Burto said it is a very competitive environment with many municipalities seeking grant funding.
Fall high school practice begins for six sports
Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Fall high school preseason practice got underway today for boys and girls soccer, field hockey, volleyball, cross-country and golf. Here Medina goalie Cam Fike dives to make a save during the Mustangs openng practice at Vets Park this morning.
Barker goalie Adeline Atwater makes a save during the Lady Bulldogs first field hockey practice session this morning.
Tour highlighted Otter Creek Cemetery on Route 104
Cobblestone mason, infant child, social butterfly and prominent residents featured
Photos by Tom Rivers
GAINES – Gaines Town Historian Adrienne Kirby leads a tour on Sunday evening of the Otter Creek Cemetery. Her husband Justin holds an umbrella during a rainy evening.
The tour was part of a Sunday evening cemetery tour during the month of August. The Orleans County Historical Association plans the tours. The final one will be this Sunday at Mount Albion Cemetery led by retired County Historian Bill Lattin (Adrienne Kirby’s father) and Village of Albion Historian Susan Starkweather Miller.
Adrienne Kirby is shown by the rave of Alma Lovewelll, the first woman to serve as president of the Otter Creek Cemetery Association in 1909. She helped grow the cemetery’s resources for upkeep and maintenance.
The cemetery is also known as the Anderson Cemetery. It was managed by the Anderson family until it was sold to the newly formed Otter Creek Cemetery Association in 1888. The cemetery is 3.17 acres and has about 850 graves. The Town of Gaines now is the caretaker of the cemetery, which is just east of Allens Bridge Road on the south side of Route 104.
The Anderson site is on top of a mausoleum, which was dug into the side of a ravine. There are 12 slots.
John Anderson is a Revolutionary soldier buried in the Gaines cemetery behind the Congregational Church. He has 12 children, and 11 moved to Gaines in the 1810s and 1820s. Matthew and his brother Alva sold lots for the cemetery.
These clasped hands are on a monument for Henry and Elizabeth Callard, who raised three sons who were laborers.
Bill Lattin holds casket handles that were taken from a casket by “grave robbers” – wood chunks. Former Gaines Highway Superintendent Ron Mannella found these handles about 25 years ago while doing maintenance at the cemetery.
Adrienne Kirby, next to her son Graham Kirby, highlights Mary Bennett who was an active person featured in the social columns of the Lyndonville Enterprise.
Mary Bennett died at age 28 in November 1918. Her cause of death is unknown, but Kirby said it may have been from the influenza pandemic of 1918, where there were over 2,000 documented cases in Orleans County between October and December 1918.
The tour also highlighted the following:
- Cyrus Witheral, a local stone mason, who built cobblestone houses in a herring bone pattern, including several in the 1840s and 1850s along Ridge Road in Gaines.
- Joseph and Nellie Vagg, who lived in Vagg House at corner of routes 98 and 104. Mr. Vagg was the last working blacksmith on Ridge Road. His shop was donated to the Cobblestone Museum. His wife was very active in the Women’s Temperance Union, the Grange, Red Cross and the Congregational Church.
- Issac Saunders, who was born in Rhode Island and came to Gaines in 1838 at age 43. He had a striking cobblestone home built just west of Otter Creek Cemetery in the 1840s.
- Peleg Saunders, Isaac’s father, was a Revolutionary War solider in the Rhode Island militia. He had a farm in the town of Sweden and was taking provisions to American soldiers in the War of 1812 when he died in Fort Erie, Canada, on Oct. 28, 1814.
- S. Seymour Phelps, whose grave includes a logo for Woodman of the World, a life insurance society that is still in business. The group picked a symbol that was inspired by pioneer woodsmen clearing away the forest to provide for their families. This life insurance society wanted to clear away problems of financial security for its members, Kirby said.
- Dr. Isaac Cochran who lived in Knowlesville and was a doctor, surgeon and farmer.
- Colonel Ball, who served with the Canadian forces in 1914, moved to Gaines with his wife Sylvia in 1937. Mrs. Ball was a columnist for many years for the Albion Advertiser and a member of the International Press Association.
- Johnnie Hill, an infant who died at 7 months, and his mother Laura, who died a few days after giving birth. Their lives are noted on a zinc monument.
- Charles E. House, who served as a soldier in the Civil War in Company L of the 2nd Regiment of Mounted Rifles. They were part of the Overlord Campaign in the spring of 1864 under General Ulysses S. Grant, tasked with disrupting Confederate supply lines that summer in Virginia. House would die in late November 1864 when the regiment headed north towards the Weldon Railroad before the Hickford Raid.
Yates Baptist welcomes community for events, including carnival this Saturday
Photos courtesy of Andrea Farwell: Adults have fun at a beanbag toss earlier this year, just one of many events the church sponsors for young and old. A free Family Carnival for the community is planned next Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
YATES – Fun-filled family-oriented events for members and the community are a top priority for the Yates Baptist Church.
Earlier this summer their members decided they wanted to host a free event for the community where the Gospel could be presented, and they decided to host a Family Carnival, with events for the entire family.
A committee was set up, with Corrine Mt. Pleasant as chair.
The event is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 29 at the church on Yates Center Road.
The afternoon will feature games, crafts, animals, prizes, caricatures, face painting, food and archery by Merle Fredericks, a member of the church.
Andrea Farwell, one of the members of the carnival committee, said they had a similar event when they celebrated the church’s bicentennial in 2022 and they are hoping for a large turnout on Saturday as well.
Programs for youth are popular at Yates Baptist Church. Here the youth and leaders pose after a creek float, which was followed by a bonfire.
Yates Baptist Church was founded 204 years ago. She has been a member for nine years, while her husband has attended there his entire life. They are now raising their three children there, Farwell said.
She said it was almost two years ago when Pastor Lyell Drake retired and Pastor Eric Wolbert took the role of lead pastor.
“He has been an answer to our prayers,” she said. “The transition was seamless. The Bible, as God’s inerrant Word, is the foundation of our church and is preached weekly.”
The church has a thriving Wednesday night Family Night program which meets throughout the school year. Many families join in for dinner, worship, games and Bible study, Farwell said. This year’s Family Night starts Sept. 16 and runs from 5:15 to 7:30 p.m.
The Youth Group at YBC is also very active and gathered throughout the summer for bonfires, pool nights, kickball, bowling and floating down the creek.
The community is also invited to attend worship at 9:45 a.m. Sundays, followed by Sunday School and a family hour at 11:15 a.m.
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More than 100 baskets raffled off, raising $4K for Santa School Museum in Albion
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Anita McCarthy places tickets in baskets up for raffle this afternoon at the Lockstone in a fundraiser for a new Santa School Museum.
There were just over 100 baskets in the raffle. The Albion Betterment Committee put on the benefit to help raise money for a new roof for the museum at 128 North Main St. Organizers say just over $4,000 was raised at the benefit today.
The group has secured a $10,000 grant from the Rochester Area Community Foundation, but the cost is expected to top $70,000 for the roof.
The Betterment Committee will be seeking a grant from Preserve New York for the roof and a grant from the Ralph C. Wilson for arts space and programming on the second floor.
People gather inside the Lockstone for today’s fundraiser.
The Betterment Committee purchased the building at 128 North Main last November from the estate of Henri Pulley. The site is 6,600 square feet. The Betterment Committee said the roof needs to be replaced before a museum opens.
The winning numbers for the basket raffle are called off. From left include Gail Ebbs, Lori Laine and Maureen Bennett. Laine helped secure many of the baskets for the raffle.
She said the museum on Main Street will be a boost for the community and the downtown business district.
“I believe in Albion and Albion needs to be branded,” Laine said. “What is a better brand than Santa Claus?”
The museum will pay homage to the late Charles W. Howard, who created the first Santa School in the world. He ran it on Phipps Road in Albion from 1937 until his death in 1966.
The group wants to develop an interactive tourism center with displays about the Charles W. Howard Santa School and Christmas Park, which Howard ran for many years near his farmhouse on Phipps Road.
Laine said many people still have strong memories of visiting Christmas Park as kids and meeting Santa.
“They hold that place as very special in their hearts,” Laine said.
Nolan Blake, grandson of Betterment Committee member Valerie Rush, served as an elf and took gift baskets to the winners. Rush has long portrayed Mrs. Claus during community events.
Betterment Committee leaders Joe Martilotta, Joe Gehl and Gary Kent have worked for years to promote Charles Howard’s legacy in Albion. Gehl, center, pulled the winning 50/50 ticket. Peter Turkow, the winner, donated the money back to the Betterment Committee.
Gary Simboli played Christmas music from his keyboard during the benefit.
Jesse Colmenero took photos of people and families in a holiday backdrop.
These Santa-themed rocks were painted during the event.
