Former fruit grower has served many organizations

Bruce Krenning

ALBION – It started when he was about 30. Bruce Krenning joined the Lyndonville Board of Education. For the past four decades he has volunteered his time and talents, helping organizations meet challenges and prepare for the future.

After Lyndonville, Krenning joined the Albion Board of Education. He and his family moved from Lyndonville to Howlett Road in Albion so he could operate his own fruit and hog farm. His BOE colleagues picked him to serve as Albion’s president.

He was active with the Orleans County Farm Bureau and about a decade ago served as vice president of the state-wide organization with 30,000 members.

Community members also reached out to him to serve on the board for Orleans Community Health, the parent organization of Medina Memorial Hospital. He is in his third year as chairman, helping the organization through a time of change.

“He has given us the leadership that we needed,” said Patricia Fox, a hospital board member for nine years. “He is a phenomenal person when it comes to running a board. He has led us through a very difficult time.”

The hospital, like many rural health care organizations, has struggled financially. Other small towns have seen their hospitals close or downsize.

File photos by Tom Rivers – Bruce Krenning, board chairman for Orleans Community Health, is pictured in June 2013 with Diane Bradley, regional clinical coordinator, and Mike Lieb, temporary CEO. Dolores Horvath would later be named OCH’s chief executive officer.

Orleans Community Health last year changed its chief executive officer, opened a new health care center in Albion and affiliated with Catholic Health in Buffalo, giving Medina access to specialists and other medical and surgical services.

“We’ve had some extremely difficult decisions to make,” Fox said. “Bruce is up for the challenge. He listens and he is thinking all the time. He draws us all in and we’re determined.”

The Chamber of Commerce is honoring Krenning tonight during its awards banquet for “Lifetime Achievement” for his service to the community.

Krenning, 71, grew up in Lyndonville and earned an economics degree from Cornell University. He and his wife Diane have four grown children and 12 grandchildren. Their son Adam is the agriculture teacher and FFA advisor for Albion Central School.

Krenning said he has been blessed with great mentors who encouraged him. He cited George Lamont of Albion, he gave Krenning a job when he was 21. Krenning also worked for Dennis Kirby and David Kast before starting Krenning Orchards in 1987.

He grew apples and peaches and also raised hogs. Francis Kirby and Pierson Root also were great mentors, Krenning said. Root, in particular, encouraged Krenning to become involved in Farm Bureau. Root told Krenning he had “a God-given talent to get along with people,” Krenning recalled.

“People respect him and trust him.
He is not afraid of an unpopular decision if it’s the right thing to do.”
Dean Norton, president of NY Farm Bureau

Krenning was elected to the state-wide board, representing several Western New York counties in the mid to late 1990s. That was back when the fruit sector didn’t have much of a voice on the state board. Krenning impressed Farm Bureau so much that they elected him vice president.

They did that after he was forced to exit farming. A Labor Day hail storm swept through the area in 1998, and decimated Krenning’s apple crop. Krenning and several other growers in Orleans County were forced out of business.

But Krenning wouldn’t give up on the agriculture industry. He saw the weakness of insurance programs for fruit growers. He teamed with Albion fruit grower Chris Watt and Larry Meyer, head of the Farm Service Agency in Orleans County, to craft a fruit insurance program that would become federal policy. Fruit growers now have protection should another hail storm wipe out their crop.

Bruce Krenning, president of the board of directors for Orleans Community Health, attended the Treasure Island fund-raiser last November.

Dean Norton, president of the New York Farm Bureau, said Krenning was “monumental” in getting the NYFB to support the insurance protection and secure backing from the federal government.

“He took those lemons after the hail storm and used it as an educational experience to help the farming community,” Norton said. “People respect him and trust him. He is not afraid of an unpopular decision if it’s the right thing to do.”

Since he left farming, Krenning has worked as an insurance agent with the Southcott Agency in Albion. He serves farmers and homeowners. One farmer in Niagara County recently received a $900,000 check, money that kept the farmer in business.
“The Labor Day storm tested our faith and resolve,” Krenning’s wife Diane said during an interview at their home. “You can either give up or move forward. In some ways it feels predestined because Bruce has been able to help other farmers get crop insurance. It’s changed the lives of so many people since then.”

As an insurance agent, Krenning works with farmers running varied operations. He remains closely connected to the industry.

Norton, an Elba resident, often calls Krenning, looking for his opinion.

“He is one of those people I continue to talk to and pick his brain,” Norton said. “He has been a mentor to me.”

Krenning said the roles on the boards are often demanding, especially the latest effort to make sure the hospital and Orleans Community Health remain viable for years to come. He praised his fellow board members for their determination to healthcare in the county.

“I’ve been fortunate that people trusted me and with that trust I can build relationships and with those relationships you can get things done,” Krenning said.

SUNY Fredonia – A lecture hall in the new Science Complex at Fredonia State College will be named the Kelly Family Auditorium after a gift to the project from Medina native, Dr. Jeffery Kelly.

MEDINA – A Medina High School graduate who has become a prominent organic chemistry researcher is helping his alma mater, Fredonia State College, build a new science complex.

Dr. Jeffery Kelly graduated from Fredonia in 1982. He then earned his doctorate in organic chemistry at the University of North Carolina in 1986.

He heads The Kelly Laboratory at The Scripps Research Institute, one of the world’s largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences. The SRI employs about 3,000 people in La Jolla, Calif. and Jupiter, Fla. Kelly works out of the campus in La Jolla.

Kelly also owns two pharmaceutical companies, said his mother, Janice Kelly-Mack of Medina.

“He’s done very well,” she said. “He’s worked very hard.”

Dr. Jeffery Kelly

Kelly returns to Fredonia and Medina three or four times a year to visit family and friends and to attend Fredonia board meetings. He is on the college’s board of directors.

He will attend the Oct. 17 ribbon-cutting for the new 92,000-square-foot science complex, a $60 million project. Kelly donated to have the 120-seat auditorium named for his family. The Kelly Family Auditorium is among many rooms in the new science center that won support from alumni and friends of the college in Chautauqua County.

The Kelly Laboratory discovered the first regulatory agency-approved drug that slows the progression of a human amyloid disease, and has made other breakthroughs.

Kelly was recognized with a Fredonia Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award in 2000. He has won numerous awards for his research, including in 2012 when he was the winner of the Murray Goodman Memorial Prize for Biopolymers and the Ralph F. Hirschmann Award in Peptide Chemistry from the American Chemical Society.

For more on Kelly, click here.

First woman to serve as Medina mayor and Legislature chairwoman, Tuohey also ran several businesses

Provided photos – In this photo from 1985, Marcia Tuohey is out inspecting flood damage in the village of Medina.

MEDINA – When Fisher-Price left Medina about two decades ago, eliminating 700 jobs, Marcia Tuohey led the push for the community’s rebound.

She worked to establish a business park that would welcome new companies, including Trek, BMP America and American Sigma. She would later push to welcome Western New York Energy and its ethanol plant.

“When Fisher-Price closed she knew people had to step up for other industries,” said her son Craig Tuohey, a former director of the industrial development agency in Orleans County. “She was tireless.”

Tuohey was a trailblazing local leader. She was the first woman elected to serve as mayor of Medina, the first woman elected county legislator and the Legislature’s longest-serving chairwoman with 10 years as the county’s highest-ranking elected official.

She was 84 when she died at home on Aug. 7. The Orleans County Chamber of Commerce is recognizing her with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” on Saturday during the Chamber’s annual awards dinner.

State Sen. George Maziarz is pictured with Marcia Tuohey when she was celebrated as a “Woman of Distinction” last year in the state capitol.

Before she ran for public office, Tuohey ran many several business ventures, including a construction company and a mobile home park. She teamed with her twin sister Barbara Waters in some of the enterprises, including buying run-down homes, fixing them up and then reselling them.

They were active entrepreneurs beginning about 50 years ago, when it was very much a man’s world.

“She was fearless,” Craig said about his mother.

She doled out duties for her young sons, including mowing lawns and pulling weeds. When she operated the Colonial Inn, insisting on no baseball caps for staff and customers, Craig was assigned the manager.

“If you look sloppy, you act sloppy, and if you act sloppy, you think sloppy,” was one of her adages. Tuohey loved to sprinkle in sayings for the staff and her family.

“Don’t ever ask anyone to do something you wouldn’t do yourself,” Craig said, quoting his mother.

Tuohey often brought up her days working summer jobs on the muck farms with her sister.

Marcia Tuohey is pictured in July 1989 at a wedding. She was known for her stylish appearance.

“No matter what you do, even if it’s pulling a weed, do the best job you can do,” was another saying.

Tuohey was the daughter of Frank J. Balcerzak, a respected building contractor who built hundreds of public buildings in WNY. Marcia, her sister and brother Bob would form a spinoff of the family construction business, Balcerzak Incorporated. They would use their company for several business ventures, including Orchard Manor Nursing Home.

Tuohey married a mechanical engineer, Carl “Gus” Tuohey.

“He was proud of mom and didn’t stand in her way,” said their son Carl.

His mother enjoyed business, but she reveled in politics, mainly because of the relationships and the satisfaction of completing projects.

She didn’t like “phony” people. She preferred people who could get the job done and stayed true to their word.

When women interested in running for elected office would ask her for advice, Tuohey often told them to never offer to make the coffee at a meeting. The women shouldn’t go about deferential roles, catering to the men, her son Carl said.

Tuohey shattered local stereotypes about what women can and should do for much of her adult life, whether running a construction company, serving as Medina mayor and then County Legislature chairwoman.

Even after she retired as Legislature leader eight years ago, Tuohey stayed a force in local affairs. She served on Medina’s Planning Board, and attended many village meetings, urging the Village Board to trim expenses. She also was the county’s representative on the board of directors for Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.

“It wasn’t about being in charge,” Craig said. “It was about doing things right.”

Kendall resident has been involved in numerous community causes

Photos by Tom Rivers – Ken DeRoller is pictured outside his Kendall home where he lives with his wife of 46 years, Susan.

KENDALL – A Kendall resident has decades of giving back to the community, through the Fire Department, leading the local Planning Board, and serving in the Lions Club and other public offices.

Ken DeRoller, 68, is being recognized by the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce with a community service award. He will be honored on Sept. 20.

“Community service is my passion,” DeRoller said at his home on Kendall Road. “I appreciate our environment and our community.”

DeRoller grew up in Spencerport, but visited Kendall often as a kid. His parents had a cottage on Norway Heights. Just before his sophomore year in high school, the family moved to the cottage year-round. He married a Kendall native, the former Susan Preston. They raised two children in Kendall, Marc and Kelly. The DeRollers have three granddaughters.

Mr. DeRoller worked 38 years at Kodak, retiring 12 years ago in the information technology department as a business analyst. He also worked with materials handling and logistics for the company.

He joined the Fire Department and was an active firefighter for 18 years. He continues as a social member.

He served 25 years on the Town Planning Board, including 15 years as its chairman. DeRoller was particularly interested in the lakefront and making better use of the 7 miles of lakefront in Kendall.

He helped write the comprehensive plan that made it possible to turn a former Salvation Army Camp into the Cottages of Troutburg. The first cottages are being built and the infrastructure is going in for the Cottages at Troutburg, a project that could add 400 cottages to the Kendall tax rolls, adding tax base and residents to shop at local businesses, DeRoller said.

County Clerk Karen Lake-Maynard, right, administers the oath of office on Jan. 2 to the following legislators, from left: David Callard of Medina, Lynne Johnson of Lyndonville, Ken DeRoller of Kendall and Fred Miller of Albion.

DeRoller also led the Kendall-Yates-Carlton Waterfront Plan, which took nearly two decades to develop and secure approvals from state and federal officials. The plan promotes recreational opportunities along the 24 miles of shoreline in the three towns. The plan was instrumental in helping the county secure grants for the Marine Park and also for the dredging of the Oak Orchard Harbor.

DeRoller enjoys digging into the details of plans and budgets. He worked as town assessor for four years, and also has been a member of the Orleans Economic Development Agency for the past 12 years.

“He has a passion for Orleans County, for economic development and for everything he does,” said Jim Whipple, Orleans EDA director. “I couldn’t ask for a better board member or a better person.”

DeRoller gives each role in the community his full attention, Whipple said.

“He’s a real asset for Orleans County,” Whipple said.

DeRoller also has been a member of the Lions Club for 30 years and in June was named a Melvin Jones Fellow, the Lions’ top award for humanitarian service. He works with the Leos, the youth component of Lions which includes about 70 students at Kendall.

He urges the students to come back to Kendall as adults and give back to the community.

“He has been instrumental with the Leo’s Club, doing community service projects with the students,” said Terry Bliss, a past president of the Kendall Lions Club and former district governor.

He said DeRoller acts a mentor to many in the community. He also helps line up speakers for the club, bringing in local and state community leaders to address the Lions.

DeRoller joined the Orleans County Legislature in January. He is the Public Safety Committee chairman. He also has pushed the local village and town boards to press the state for more infrastructure funding. He secured formal resolutions from each village and town board about the issue.

Well-maintained roads and bridges are critical for the county’s economic development and quality of life, DeRoller said. He also helped rally residents to submit 70 letters asking the state to better maintain the Lake Ontario State Parkway.

DeRoller said he’s thankful for the Kendall community and the many ways he’s been able to contribute.

“You try to make a difference,” he said.

Photos by Sue Cook – Gerald “JJ” Heideman shows off the meat he is making to help Medina LOYAL football and cheerleaders buy new uniforms.

By Sue Cook, staff reporter

MEDINA – Gerald Heideman started his barbecue business back in May 2014. He’d been making barbecue at his own house for three years and the response to his food was enthusiastic.

“Everybody was telling me, you gotta do something with this,” he said. “You got an itch. I never thought it would ever happen. Now I bring my business to other businesses.”

He wasn’t sure if it would amount to anything or if he’d be doing it for very long, but he was injured about a year ago and was unable to return to work at his regular job.

He never earned even a GED and didn’t have much knowledge of running a business, but he wanted to be able to help support his family more. He has three kids: Makayla, 11; Mason, 2; and Kennedy, 1. He also has a fiance of 10 years, Jamie Payne.

“It’s a dream,” Heideman said. “I’ve got to keep on going forward with it. Nobody could tell me no. Once I had a set mind, I was going to do it. I live it. I sleep it. I eat it pretty much every day. I’m not your average person. I’m a rebel.”

On his own, he built his barbecue pits and sales stand. He also completed multiple classes for food safety and other regulations. The regular menu includes baby back ribs, pulled pork, pulled chicken and sometimes more. He usually purchases between $500 to $700 worth of meat for most events.

Heideman doesn’t consider himself to be a chef, but instead prefers the title of pitmaster. He cooks using his self-built old-fashioned offset stick-burner pits.

“There’s adrenaline,” he said of the excitement of his work. “I haven’t opened my pit in four or five hours today and that could be burning on there. It’s a chance I have to take.”

Now he is on call for events and businesses, which means he has no regular location or schedule. He has even booked dates for weddings and parties into 2015.

This year, the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce awarded him with their New Business of the Year Award. He will be presented with the award on Sept. 20 at Tillman’s Village Inn during their banquet as recognition of his hard work and entrepreneurial spirit.

“I never imagined I was going to win the New Business of the Year Award,” he said. “It’s a good feeling. They said I had a run for my money, but that I had such an abundance of nominations.”

Heideman and his daughter Makayla stand in front of his sales stand stamped with the tagline “So good, you’ll try to lick your elbows.”

While he does work to earn a profit, much of his work is also for charity and other good causes, such as a brain tumor removal for a woman he never even met or new uniforms for the Medina football team and cheerleaders. For charity work, Heideman has the customer pay for the meat, then donates all of the money and his time. This often includes a 10-hour cook time, about eight hours of serving and then added time for cleaning the pits after.

Heideman grew up in Lyndonville and attended school there. He has since moved to Middleport, but believes in supporting the county he came from. Aside from one benefit in Niagara County, all of his work is done in Orleans because it’s where his roots are and where he attended school.

“I’m originally from Orleans County,” he said. “That’s family, you know?”

Local businesses have teamed up with BAD-AsH-BBQ. LynOaken Farms, whose owners are old friends, allow him to cut wood from their property for his pits. Payne’s Carpet in Albion has asked him to attract extra business during special sales. Heideman buys the cornbread for his meals from The Bread Basket in Medina when he hasn’t had the time to do it himself on his smoker.

Heideman has future plans for the business if he can find an investor for his work. He would like to add a food truck and maybe expand into steamed and fried foods, plus a vegan menu.

“I’ve got so many ideas that Orleans hasn’t even seen before that I want to do,” he explained of his hopes for the future.

Heideman enjoys running his own business and helping others while also working for himself.

“I love doing it. If I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t do it,” he said.

Case manager at Community Action helps families in need

Photo by Sue Cook – Anni Skowneski stands by the Community Action sign on East State Street in Albion.

By Sue Cook, staff reporter

ALBION – Anni Skowneski, 27, will be receiving the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce’s Community Service Award. The case manager for Community of Orleans & Genesee works with many local families. She was surprised to be recognized by the Chamber.

“I got the award letter and I had to read it four times,” Skowneski said. “I was shocked and humbled. I don’t like to be in the spotlight. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do if it weren’t for all of the people behind me: my husband dealing with me coming home late at night, my director and executive director helping me with these enigmas I deal with every day, the volunteers and the staff. I feel like this award wasn’t just for me. It’s for all the people that helped me to do what I do.”

Skowneski specifically deals with emergency services at Community Action helping people in crisis who have had situations such as a loss of utilities or housing, but even going as far as to help with car repairs or insurance so that a person still has a way to go to work. Everything is dealt with on a case-by-case basis to provide the best solution. She can also provide referrals to other organizations, such as the Department of Social Services.

Provided photo – Anni Skowneski assists with backpack and school-supply drives.

Skowneski also helps with events such as the Easter egg hunt, the children’s carnival in Bullard Park, job fairs, holiday baskets, school supplies, coat giveaways and the Angels in Action program.

“When I was a kid, I wanted to feed the homeless,” she said. “I would beg my parents to let me go feed the homeless. When we would make dinner, I would want them to take me out and find a homeless person so I could give them my dinner.”

“My mom is the coordinator at Eastern Orleans Community Center (in Holley) and she’s been there 14 years,” Skowneski said. “I kind of followed in her footsteps. I’ve lived a life that has made me see poverty first hand, so it gives me that better understanding of the need no matter where you are. Seeing that need has made me want to help others. I’ve always been like that.”

“That’s the beauty of this job,” she added. ” I’ve gotten to see so many youth do such great things. It is absolutely phenomenal. The FFA here in Albion is beyond amazing. The fourth graders over at the Student Leadership Council at the Albion school, they are doing wonderful things.”

Skowneski moved from Steuben County to Orleans in 2000 after her mother came to the area. She is currently a Waterport resident. Skowneski worked at CRFS for a little while, then returned to school to further her career. She went to Genesee Community College for human services.

“Where we moved from there, there weren’t many opportunities for me there. I wasn’t going down a very good path,” she said. “I’m very honest about that. I’ve had my bad choices. I think moving out here helped me turn that around. I fear for where I would have been.”

Skowneski recalled a time after moving to the area while helping at the center in Holley that meant a lot to her and inspired her to help in this area.

File photo by Tom Rivers – Skowneski leads local Boy Scouts on a tour of the food pantry at Community Action. The Scouts helped collect food for the pantry last November. Skowneski is coordinator of the food pantry.

“Being a part of their holiday distributions really opened my eyes,” she said. “A gentleman had come in one year, very upset and emotional that he couldn’t provide Christmas for his children. We had his family adopted for the holiday. The following year he came in and handed us money to help out other families. I was only about 16 years old and I bawled my eyes out. I was so overwhelmed with how he wanted to give back.”

An internship during college brought her to Community Action. In February 2012, the previous case manager left the position and Skowneski was asked to temporarily fill in. On Oct. 9, 2012, after her graduation, she was hired permanently.

Skowneski has received two other big awards from Community Action in her two years as case manager. In April 2013, she received Rookie of the Year. In April 2014, she was given the Patti Rupnig Award for her commitment, professionalism and dedication to helping those in need and going the extra mile.

“I want to stay here in this position. I like what I do,” she said. “I’ve gained quite the rapport with my clients as well as with other agencies. There’s not many agencies out there that do this work. I don’t see myself working with any other population. Some people go into geriatrics or working with children, but this is more broad. It’s a new thing every day and a new client every hour. It’s exciting and I feel like I have so much more to do here.”

File photo by Tom Rivers – Skowneski works with several local community organizations to provide food for families, including the Albion FFA. In this photo from last December, FFA member Riley Kelly reaches for a bag of potatoes from Brian Bentley. The FFA delivered 19,000 pounds of produce to Community Action.

Skowneski is married and has a 2-year-old son named Liam. She would like to see Liam follow in her footsteps and volunteer to help his community and those who need assistance.

“I’m definitely going to instill in him the things that my parents did when I was a child,” she said. “‘Do unto others’ is my biggest one. It’s important that our youth know we have to help each other. We have to teach our youth to help people or else where are we going to be?”

Skowneski says that needs are very high in Orleans County for many assistance programs and that she is very happy to be a part of Community Action. Next year the organization will be celebrating its 50th anniversary.

“There’s a lot of different things I do to help support Community Action because they are a wonderful employer,” she said. “They stand behind me and support me in my endeavors. I will be here as long as they want to keep me.”

She added, “I appreciate the recognition, but I don’t want people to forget that it’s not just me doing this. There’s a huge team behind me helping me to do this.”

Skowneski will accept the Community Service Award on Sept. 20 at an awards banquet at Tillman’s Historic Village Inn in Childs.

Jeff Winters helped lead a turnaround at local YMCA

File photo by Tom Rivers – Jeff Winters, executive director for the Orleans County YMCA, discusses a $400,000 capital project at the Y in this photo in April 2013, when the organization kicked off the fund-raising campaign. The Y met its fund-raising goal and the project is nearly complete.

MEDINA – Four years ago the YMCA was mired in an $80,000 annual operating deficit, a building in need of significant repairs and a modest membership base.

Jeff Winters had a law degree and a good job at the time. The Medina native likes a challenge and likes people. He took on the task of leading the Orleans County YMCA.

Four years later the organization is nearly complete with $400,000 in renovations to its historic building, a former Armory on Pearl Street. The organization is profitable and has quadrupled its members to 2,200.

“I’m proud of what we’ve done here,” Winters said. “The organization is set up for the future. It’s on a good path.”

Winters, 31, is leaving the Y on Sept. 12. He will be executive director of the American Cancer Society in Albany. He has been living in the state capitol since last October, when he got married to a woman he met in law school. He commuted to Medina on Monday mornings and left for Albany on Fridays for nearly a year. Winters was committed to seeing the Y work through a capital project.

He leaves with praise and deep appreciation from the Y board of directors.

“Jeff has infused a level of energy and professionalism that has been instrumental in helping us achieve growth and renewed confidence in a key institution,” said board member Dean Bellack. “He will be missed. On behalf of the board, we wish him the success that we are sure will grow in time.”

The Y is accepting applications for the director’s positions until Aug. 29. Resumes should be sent to Scott Taylor, GLOW YMCA director, at staylor@glowymca.org. For more on the position, click here.

The Y in Orleans County now has 52 employees. Winters credited the “Y Team” for making the organization and its programs sought after in the community. Residents are drawn to Y programs that promote healthy living, social responsibility and youth development, Winters said.

The Chamber of Commerce honored Winters with a community service award last September for his efforts at improving the Y in Orleans County.

By Sue Cook, staff reporter

Holley native Jillian Hazzard is seeing success on Amazon from the sales of her recently released book, “Blood Leverage.” The title refers to the power of blood, such as familial ties, life-giving abilities or as an economic value in the world of her book.

The debut book is part of a planned trilogy called “The Bloodstone Chronicles.”

After graduating in 1995 from Holley, Hazzard attended the University of Buffalo. She completed four years of English and then completed a law doctoral. Her writing has been non-fiction and mostly legal work. However, many of her friends felt she should branch out.

“People were always telling me I should write a book,” said Hazzard. “Then one day I got stuck in a Barnes and Noble waiting for my ride.”

Hazzard said she picked up an unofficial biography of an author and was skimming through it when she reached a quote that struck a chord with her. The quote basically said that most people think they could write a novel if they had the time, but that even if they had time, they would not be capable.

She took it as a personal challenge. She began a book, which she scrapped after six months. When she fell ill with a cold and wanted to relax, she looked through her vampire novels and found herself disappointed. She felt she could do better.

“Vampires couldn’t stay a secret nowadays with social media. Everyone would want immortality and it would not end well for the humans,” she said.

The book takes place centuries in the future at a time when vampires are openly in existence. Humans had undergone an event called the Mass Conversion, which changed them into vampires because of technology discovered which meant that harming humans for food was no longer needed. The technology failed and now the remaining humans live in two factions. There are humans that trade blood for the ability to live an easier life in the cities and there are the Free Humans who live in rural areas to avoid these transactions.

The main character, Aurora “Rory” Strong, lives a hard life as a Free Human. Her own village has made her into a social outcast due to her mother’s research into how the Mass Conversion led to the failure of society. Rory seeks to rebel through the illegal private transactions of the sale of her own blood.

“I used general lore with a few tweaks,” she said of her vampires, which are a mix of traditional and modern in their powers and lifestyles.

Jillian Hazzard

“Blood Leverage” is in the Top 100 new release vampire romances on Amazon, and the top 77 of vampire novels overall. It is also available on Kindle, owned by Amazon, which offers 2.7 million books. Though it’s place on the list fluctuates due to the algorithm Amazon uses, the book is in the top 10,000. At the time of the interview, the book was in the top 6,000.

“I’m fortunate the reaction to ‘Blood Leverage’ has been so positive. I’m so grateful for the support in Orleans County,” Hazzard said. “Small-town support behind you is immensely valuable. Thank you to all the people who have supported me.”

The reviews average out to a 4.7 out of 5 stars. Reviewers have even written her fan mail. Some reviewers compare her work to international best-sellers.

“It’s weird and unexpected and wonderful,” she said.

Hazzard has also been in talks with some of the teaching staff at Holley school for a possible discussion with the students about writing and self-publishing in the fall. She also plans to offer advice that she has learned from trading works with other authors for early proofreads.

“You can write part time as a way to get your work out there. You can create your own career as an author,” she said. “The biggest asset any potential writer has are their friends. You only get a fresh set of eyes from them once. Provide your beta readers with a clean manuscript so they don’t focus on the typos and can focus on the plot. They should be helping to make the plot as good as possible.”

Though she is currently not practicing law, Hazzard continues to take classes to maintain her license, including a course she completed about publishing house contracts. It only reinforced her idea that self-publishing her novel was the best course of action.

She said the contracts make it very difficult to succeed if an author is accepted at a major publishing house. She has known writers that are ecstatic to receive the validation of a major publisher, but find that they don’t reach the success they thought they would.

To obtain a contract with a major publisher, writers must first have an agent. After getting an agent’s attention with a book blurb, the agents will then read the novel and provide further feedback.

“I had 12 agents respond,” she said. “They asked to read a draft. They gave a lot of praise and a lot of changes. They tell you what they think a book needs to succeed.”

Hazzard instead opted to self publish because it cut out the middleman and she was able to see her vision through to the end as she wanted to see it. Now that self-publishing is also made easier with modern technology, authors have fewer costs to themselves as well.

With the success of her first novel, Hazzard is already working on completing the second book in the trilogy, “Blood Loyalty.” She said the third book, which she also has outlined, will be released in the spring.

“I already know how it will end. I’ve planned an exit strategy,” she said. “Some authors or publishers are determined to milk it, but often readers complain that the series tends to deteriorate over time. I laid the foundation, now I need to build the building.”

For more information about Hazzard, visit her website at www.jshazzard.com.

Contributed Photo

MEDINA – Kyle Barna, a 2014 Medina graduate, is the initial recipient of the Dave Boice/Bill Ossont Scholar/Athlete Scholarship. The scholarship was founded by Medina High graduate Dr. Dan Terryberry in honor of Boice, whom he calls his “best teacher” and Ossont whom he calls “his best coach.”

Barna will be attending Memphis University where he will be a walk-on candidate for the football team. Shown here from left are Dr. Terryberry, Ossont, Barna and Boice. The scholarship was awarded to Barna during the Medina High Alumni Weekend this past Saturday at Shelridge prior to the golf tournament.