Photo courtesy of Eileen Banker

Photo by Tom Rivers – Allen Sanford is pictured with his friends and Scouts in this photo from June when they were working to build a mobile stage.

Mayor Dean Theodorakos congratulates Allen Sanford for making a mobile performing arts stage for his Eagle Scout project. Sanford gave the stage to the village, which will use it community concerts and community events. (Village Trustee Kevin Sheehan is pictured in back.)

Theodorakos presented Sanford with a certificate of appreciation during Wednesday’s Village Board meeting.

Sanford turned an old hay wagon into a stage with wheels.  The stage is 28 feet long. Sanford, an engineering student at the Rochester Institute of Technology, used a CAD program to design the stage.

“It’s to advance music in the community,” Sanford said during a June interview.

He has played in local bands and often had to perform on lawns or pavement because there wasn’t a stage.

He worked with local Scouts and businesses to make the project a reality.

Photos courtesy of Thom Jennings – Trevor Jennings, center, plays the drums with Rusted Root after the Pittsburgh band played an encore last night in North Tonawanda.

NORTH TONAWANDA – After Rusted Root played a concert before 10,000 fans at Gratwick Park in North Tonawanda last night, the band agreed to an encore.

But before the band would return to stage, they made Trevor Jennings come out and perform with them. Trevor, 19, was backstage with his father Thom Jennings, who helped promote the concert.

Thom and his son have known Rusted Root’s drummer Preach Freedom for a few years. He has encouraged Trevor, a former member of the Albion marching band, to keep drumming. Trevor is a student at Buffalo State College and he plays with the African Drum Ensemble at the college.

Last night he joined the band for the encore, and then was invited to take a final bow with the group.

ALBION – Two photographs by Bruce Landis have been accepted into the General Collection of Professional Photographers of America’s 2013 International Photographic Competition, with one additionally accepted into the Loan Collection.

Landis, an Albion photographer since 1974, took a photo of a Mandarin duck while on a nature walk in California.

“This male duck happened to be at the right place at the right time and I had my camera ready to go,” Landis said. “With wildlife photography, there is always a degree of planning, and a degree of luck. It is so exciting when everything goes together perfectly, especially when the window of opportunity is so short.”

The duck photo is now part of the Professional Photographers of America, international permanent loan collection.

The PPA also picked a photo that Landis took of an airplane for the PPA’s general collection. The airplane is a Fairchild PT – 26, owned by The Vintage Aircraft Group, a volunteer, not-for-profit organization that specializes in the restoration of World War II liaison and trainer aircraft. The group is based out of Pine Hill Airport in Barre.

This type of aircraft was used as a flight trainer during World War II, in the United States, Canada, Norway and other countries. Built in 1943, there are approximately 100 still able to fly. Tony Rubiano, a flight instructor, is in the front pilot seat and instructor pilot Gene Haines is in the back seat.

“We have been talking for years about doing an air-to-air photo session, and timing just never worked out until now,” Landis said.

The two photos – “Drake on the Rocks” and “The Old PT” – will be on display at the Phoenix Convention Center in Arizona from Jan. 12-14, 2014. This International Photographic Exhibition is held in conjunction with Imaging USA, an annual convention and expo for professional photographers and several photographic associations.

A panel of 43 eminent jurors from across the United States selected the top photographs from nearly 5,000 total submitted entries at Gwinnett Technical College in Georgia.

Judged against a standard of excellence, just over 1,800 images were selected for the General Collection and just 682 (about 7 percent) were selected for the esteemed Loan Collectionthe best of the best.

The Loan Collection images will all be published in the much-anticipated “Loan Collection” book, and more than 200 selected General Collection images will be published in the “Showcase” book by Marathon Press.

Landis started his photography career in 1974 and has been working out of a studio since 1978 at 13382 Ridge Rd.

Landis is currently taking many senior portraits and he said he took the photos of many of the seniors’ parents at their weddings and also for their senior portraits a generation ago.

“Preserving memories is our main mission and it is so rewarding to have clients remembering and sharing those with me after so many years,” Landis said.

Vietnam vet honored for heroism with rescue in enemy zone

Photo by Tom Rivers

BATAVIA – On Nov. 14, 1968, Charlie Nesbitt and his crew members were told an American soldier was stranded in enemy territory in the jungles of Laos, across the border from Vietnam.

Another helicopter had been hit with a rocket and crashed. The crew needed to be rescued. Nesbitt flew a helicopter in and got out everyone, except one gunman, John Grimaldi, who was separated from his crew.

Nesbitt was a pilot in the Vietnam War and an aircraft commander of a helicopter.  On Nov. 14, he took the recovered crew members back to safety, and then returned to enemy territory to find Grimaldi.

“Charlie took it upon himself to say, ‘We’re gonna go back and get him,’” said Jim McKenzie, Nesbitt’s copilot.

The crew spent 9.2 hours in the air, including 3.5 hours exposed to enemy fire.

“He was in the jungle and we could see him, but we couldn’t get down to get him,” Nesbitt said Saturday night.

An onslaught of enemy fire and tiny landing areas made the task difficult. Nesbitt and his crew refueled twice, and the group finally was able to rescue Grimaldi.

Photos by Tom Rivers – Bob Williams, left, pins the “Distinguished Flying Cross” on Charles Nesbitt during a ceremony Saturday night in Batavia, when Nesbitt received the award during a reunion of the 57th Assault Helicopter Company, a group of Vietnam veterans from throughout the country.

McKenzie nominated Nesbitt for the Silver Star. McKenzie obtained the witness statements from the crew and submitted all the paperwork. But Nesbitt never got the medal.

Nesbitt served in Vietnam from May 1968 to May 1969. He flew helicopters that teamed with special forces soldiers. The pilots flew in those teams, often dropping them in the enemy zones where the helicopters were vulnerable. The special forces typically worked for about a week on secret missions to study the enemy. Then the helicopters would swoop in and pull the teams out of dangerous zones.

In 1999, McKenzie, who now lives in Texas near Dallas, was in Albany and met with Nesbitt for lunch. Nesbitt was a state assemblyman at the time.

McKenzie discovered then that Nesbitt never received his medal for rescuing Grimaldi. McKenzie made it a mission to get Nesbitt the long overdue award.

It wasn’t easy. McKenzie had to resubmit the nomination package, obtaining witness reports from the crew. He met with three congressmen and numerous congressional staffers. The process seemed stuck until 18 months ago.

McKenzie taught at West Point, and one of his former students was a district director for Congressman Randy Forbes of Virginia. Forbes took up the issue. On Aug. 9, Nesbitt was notified by mail that he would be receiving the “Distinguished Flying Cross” medal. On Saturday, his commander Bob Williams pinned the medal on Nesbitt’s chest. Richard Kleint, the crew chief on the helicopter, attended the ceremony, flying in from Salem, Oregon.

The medal citation notes that Nesbitt “flew aircraft in hostile enemy territory on three separate occasions while drawing enemy fire to accomplish the rescue of soldiers and crew members downed by enemy fire. His valorous actions were an inspiration to the officers and men of his unit.”

Nesbitt received the award in front of about 160 people at the Clarion in Batavia. It was part of a four-day reunion for the 57^th Assault Helicopter Company, a group of pilots, crew chiefs, mechanics, gunners, cooks and other soldiers, including generals.

After the war, Grimaldi returned to Maine, where he has lived for 45 years.

“There is no greater reward than to find out two years ago that John Grimaldi is still alive in Maine,” Nesbitt told the group at the Clarion. “There is no greater reward for us. He’s had 45 years of life he wouldn’t have had.”

Nesbitt was chairman of the reunion for the 57^th Assault Helicopter Company from Aug. 22-25. The group meets every two years for a gathering.

“Everyone of you could be up here,” Nesbitt told them. “I know all about you. Each and every one of you could be up here. I thank you for being my friends.”

Nesbitt thanked McKenzie for his “dogged determination” in securing the “Distinguished Flying Cross.” Nesbitt received the honor in front of his six grown children.

McKenzie said Nesbitt deserved the recognition.

“I was shocked he never got the medal,” McKenzie said. “He was the pilot and he said we had one of our men down and we had to go get him.”

Walter Jakubowski of Albion is highlighted at MAG

Photos courtesy of Walter Jakubowski
Walter Jakubowski took these photos last year of the interior of the Pratt Opera House on the third floor of a building in downtown Albion.

ROCHESTER – It happens every two years, one of the region’s most prestigious art shows, featuring the 100 finest pieces of new art work in the Finger Lakes region.

The new show opens tomorrow and features three photographs of the Pratt Opera House taken by Albion photographer Walter Jakubowski.

One of the photos of the box seating area in the theater is being used to promote the

64th Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition at the Memorial Art Gallery.

The MAG only accepts art created within the past two years for the show. Jakubowski, a former CAD specialist at Kodak in industrial design, took the Pratt photos last year for building owners Michael Bonafede and Judith Koehler.

“I thought of everything I’ve done in the past two years and the Pratt photographs stood out,” Jakubowski said. “They are important because they highlight Albion’s heritage. The Pratt is a wonderful old structure that a lot of people aren’t familiar with.”

Bonafede and Koehler are working to restore the site, and expect of have a certificate of occupancy for a “theater in the rough” this fall.

Jakubowski lives in a cobblestone home in Albion with his wife of three decades, Gretchen Murray Sepik.

Jakubowski has been featured in the MAG show before. He hopes his selection this time will help promote his photography career.

The MAG is located at 500 University Ave. The show features 100 works by 81 artists from a 27-county region of western and central New York. Jakubowski is the only artist from Orleans County picked for the show. There were 623 entries by 230 artists.

There will be an opening reception Saturday at the MAG beginning at 8 p.m. The exhibit runs until Sept. 8.

Provided photo – Ashleigh Cheverie is pictured with her parents Jan and Al after the Penn State-bound student was awarded a $6,000 scholarship from the Batavia Rotary Club last month.

ALBION – The Batavia Rotary Club recently awarded a $6,000 scholarship to an Albion girl who is headed to Penn State University to major in mechanical engineering.

Ashleigh Cheverie graduated from Notre Dame High School in Batavia last month. She was salutatorian of the Class of 2013.

The Rotary scholarship will provide $1,500 for each year she is at Penn State.

Press Release: Alfred State

ALFRED, NY – Nearly 900 two- and four-year degree candidates received diplomas from Alfred State this spring. Associate and baccalaureate degrees were awarded in fields of agriculture, health, business, vocational, and engineering technology, as well as the arts and sciences. The following students from Orleans County were among the students receiving degrees in the Class of 2013:

Everett Buck of Holley – Electrical Engineering Tech, AAS

Alexandria Frasier of Medina – Individual Studies, AS

Matthew Gross of Medina – Elec Cons & Maint Electrician, AOS

Derek Howes of Lyndonville – Elec Cons & Maint Electrician, AOS

Andrew Hydock of Lyndonville – Construction Engineering Tech AAS

Dj Javier of Albion – Bldg Trades-Building Construct, AOS

Michael Levandowski of Kent – Electrical Engineering Tech, BS

Noah O’Kussick of Kent – Bldg Trades-Building Construct, AOS

Kenneth Rush of Albion – Mechanical Engineering Tech, BS

Shelly Schepis of Medina – Veterinary Technology, AAS

Evan Sheffer of Albion – Air Conditioning & Heating Tech, AOS

Bradley Zacher of Medina – Bldg Trades-Building Construct, AOS

She set world best for 2013 the previous week in Lyndonville

Tom Rivers, file photo – Jenn Suhr of Kendall is shown May 31 in the first of three New York Invite Series at the White Birch Golf Course.

DES MOINES – Jenn Suhr is the U.S. national champ in pole vaulting. Again. Make that 14 times.

Suhr topped the American field Sunday during the 2013 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. She cleared 15 feet, 5 inches on a hot and humid night.

She qualified for the world championships in August. She will compete on the home turf of two-time Olympic gold medalist Yelena Isinbayeva.

Suhr, a resident of Kendall, in the previous three weeks competed in Lyndonville at the White Birch Golf Course, which is owned by her brother-in-law Harold Suhr. He turned a fairway into a runway for the vaulters.

Those sanctioned events were part of the New York Invite Series. Suhr on June 14 established the world outdoor best for the year with a 16-1 jump at the White Birch.