Editor:

Legislature Chairman Dave Callard has been quoted in the paper recently attempting to use an August 2013 report by the Center for Governmental Research (CGR) as an indication that what he has been saying about the Nursing Home needing to be sold is true.

The report, Callard said, “confirms what we’ve been saying all along” about the financial plight of the nursing home. He said the report confirms that things will only get worse, and “the costs will continue to grow and the study says it’s impossible for us to make money” He also is quoted as having said, “Plus, there’s the philosophical question of whether government should run a business other than itself.”

If you actually read the entire report, what Mr. Callard’s statements strongly suggest is that he didn’t read the report. He didn’t think he needed a CGR study of “The Villages,” either.

The CGR report actually states that they believe that some counties are opting to sell their nursing homes without due diligence and for reasons of convenience, so they do not have to be bothered with making their homes viable. The report states, “counties need to be careful in doing due diligence in deciding whether or not to sell their nursing homes. Most counties have not considered other options for increasing revenue and reducing expenses and have not created a long-term plan. With the population getting older and having increased future needs, this is critical.”

Chairman Callard’s personal belief that the Legislature should not have to manage the nursing home is not an adequate reason to sell it, given all the risks involved, as well as the community’s investment in it.

The CGR study cautioned communities that a nursing home only be sold after some critical steps have first been taken.It recognizes that a nursing home is a valuable asset to a community, necessary to make sure that the vulnerable elderly are secure and cared for properly. So the report is actually being critical of counties that just are jumping on the bandwagon to sell when they saw that several other nursing homes have been sold. The climate for nursing homes has been difficult lately, but the CGR report suggests there are many ways for a county to try to deal with this. CGR suggests that selling should be the last resort.

Other areas in the state have sold their nursing homes, and each situation is unique, but some of the better reasons for selling included a lack of need in the area, higher income levels, declining populations of seniors, or facilities that weren’t kept up or managed properly. None of these is the case in Orleans County.Orleans has the fifth fastest projected growth rate of people 85 and above of any county listed in the report.

The report cautions legislators to be very careful when deciding to sell, because some counties that didn’t do due diligence have caused considerable trauma to their elderly and the community when the sale was conducted unnecessarily, too hastily, unwisely, or when the nursing home later closed.

Delaware County was cited in the report as a “cautionary tale to legislators.” It sold its nursing home without much thoughtful consideration or planning. This resulted in the private facility being closed down six years later. Residents were hastily placed elsewhere and their families scrambled to find their loved ones. This debacle caused years of trauma to the community. The path to the Delaware debacle is one too often traveled.

The report suggests several steps to take before even considering selling a nursing home.These include making a long-term care plan, putting together a future needs assessment (see Appendix, pp150-152), making every effort to reduce unnecessary expenses and increase revenue (such as using “The Villages’ ” A and B wings to provide respite and adult day care programs to reduce the strain on the community’s primary care givers), marketing services aggressively, converting underutilized beds to a better use (such as changing underutilized rehab beds to long-term beds), expanding community-based lower levels of care, and so on. The CGR report also urges state officials to help county leaders lobby the state and federal governments to help ensure that the IGT (Intergovernmental Transfer) program continues and payments are made available sooner, among several other things.

We currently have a Four Star nursing home in this community that serves the needs here well. It is a beautiful facility with a good staff. This is an area with a large population of seniors and generally lower income levels. The trend here is that the senior population is growing and living longer, suggesting that, if anything, the need for long-term care in Orleans County is likely to grow and continue to be essential. In a lower income area, there is a greater need to ensure that residents that are hard to place will continue to receive good care.

Currently, the cost to the taxpayers per year for our seniors to be cared for well is about the same as the cost of a tank of gas. That doesn’t constitute a burden in my mind. Many people have said they would be willing to pay more for this important safety net. We continue to be told that we face deficits of over $2 million, but in 2011 and 2012 the numbers were greatly exaggerated (see The Daily News, 8/23/13). Privatizing, according to the report, might result in a few years of modest savings to the taxpayer, but then the costs typically will even out or go up again.

What is missing here is an absence of due diligence on the part of Orleans County. The nursing home is a valuable asset to this community. The Orleans County Legislature, contrary to the recommendations of the entire CGR report, has not taken a businesslike approach before deciding that “The Villages of Orleans” must be sold.

Chris Loss
Albion

To Whoever “Borrowed” Our Urn from Millville Cemetery:

We know we are not the first and, thanks to people like you, we know we will not be the last to have something “borrowed” from a family cemetery plot.

The urn means nothing to you. It means everything to us. That urn has decorated the graves of our ancestors every summer for almost 90 years. Three generations have cared for the urn. We were just beginning to teach the next generation how to care for it so that they too could continue the tradition, hopefully, for the next 90 years. Again, thanks to you, that will not happen.

I just have one question. Why did you take the time to remove the flowers from the urn and carefully place them over the exact spot where the urn used to rest? You wanted it so bad. Why not just dump the flowers all over the ground? Was your conscience beginning to bother you? Oh, that’s right. You obviously have no conscience or you would not have taken it in the first place.

What would be wonderful is to go to the cemetery next week and see the urn sitting in its usual summer spot. Will that happen? Probably not – thanks to people like you. Someday we will accept that fact. In the meantime, you could never begin to possibly understand the shock, anger and profound sorrow that have overwhelmed our entire family due to this incomprehensible act.

Anyone with any information, please contact the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office at (585) 589-5527.

The Rhodey family of Albion and Oakfield

Editor:

The Second Amendment guarantees our right to own guns by stating, “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”  This has nothing to do with hunting and everything to do with self-defense. It is our God-given right to defend our families, our property and ourselves anywhere, anytime.

The logic and reasoning of the anti-gun movement is completely flawed. The notion that if laws are passed banning guns then the crimes associated with guns will disappear. There is no data to back up this premise, just the opposite.  You cannot dictate human behavior by laws. If you could, then murder, rape, assault, robbery and child abuse would not exist since laws against these crimes have been around in civilization for thousands of years. Unfortunately, these crimes still exist today. Since this shows how flawed their anti-gun reasoning is, then one must ask what the real agenda is behind getting rid of law abiding citizens’ guns?

The Second Amendment is about citizens being allowed to protect their families and their property from criminals and from an overbearing government. It exists so people can protect the First Amendment rights from this type of government, which is why it is the Second Amendment. The only logical conclusion to the anti-gun laws is to disarm the citizens, making us more reliant on a big centralized government for protection and leaving us defenseless against the government and those who don’t obey the law – the criminals.

All gun laws are unconstitutional. We don’t need laws infringing on our rights, what we need is a Justice System that actually punishes criminals. We need a society that is more concerned about victims of crimes and not about why a poor criminal commits a crime. What happened to people taking responsibility for their actions? I don’t care why someone commits a crime, just the fact they will be punished for their offense against a civilized society.  How about this for a law, if someone uses a weapon in a crime, they not only get punished for the crime but they get a mandatory five years in jail on top of their sentence for using a weapon.

Considering, per the FBI, that only 50 percent of murders are committed with guns, then my law proposed would also cover the other 50 percent of murders, in which their anti-gun laws do not, while not leaving law-abiding citizens defenseless. According to the FBI, 2,500,000 crimes were stopped by law-abiding citizens arms with a gun, crimes that otherwise would have happened. Why does the media never discuss that fact? Could they be part of the agenda too?

Orleans County is leading the fight opposing the NY S.A.F.E ACT. When the Legislature passed its resolution opposing this law, it was forwarded to the towns and villages in our county as well as to other counties in the state.  Today, the county, all 10 towns and two of the four villages in Orleans County have passed resolutions opposing The NY S.A.F.E Act. The goal is to have all county, town, city and village governments in the state pass opposition to this law, sending a clear message to Albany:  quit taking away our rights and start punishing those that commit crimes against society. The government is not here to take away our guaranteed rights but it is supposed to be here to protect them.

I see more and more signs in yards to “Repeal the NY S.A.F.E. Act”  and it makes me proud to be an American.  It shows that people are not only aware but obviously as afraid as I am regarding the course in which our state and country are taking. Thank you for exercising your First Amendment Constitutional right to protect your Second Amendment right.

Donald Allport
Gaines

(Allport is a member of the Orleans County Legislature serving in a county-wide legislator position.)

Editor:

I have been attending Orleans County Legislature meetings. Toward the end of the meeting on Aug. 28, Chairman David Callard held up a copy of the newspaper and showed it to the whole chamber. He stated he wanted to bring attention to the fact that our county nursing home is losing money. He said it supports the decision to sell the nursing home.

Not so fast. Here are some of my thoughts. Treating something like gospel because it’s in the paper is insanity.

Granted, the nursing home is losing money. How much is debatable.The CGR study says it is impossible to know. Just last Friday, the county said $2.1 million in 2012. Its own realtor said $295,000. But is it the money? Have you driven through Orleans County and seen the multitude of signs and heard the buzz?

We as citizens and taxpayers of this county have always looked out for our most indigent, frail and elderly. Perhaps the desire to save their seats on our Legislature board has distracted their attention from this obligation.

We should focus on rehab care, concentrate on behavioral patients, or specialize on those hard-to-place patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia. These are called “hard-to-place” in the CGR report. Taking them, however, requires more staff and reduces reimbursement. What is at stake are some really sick and vulnerable residents of our county who will be left outside with nowhere to go!

I also think there would be some advantage to sitting down with members of the C.S.E.A. to start negotiations to see how they can help assist and negotiate as it relates to the multiple employees who are currently employed there before they are forced out of their jobs with a proactive approach.

I would like to make this clear.If the county chooses to sell the nursing home, there is no obligation to sell it to the highest bidder. The amount of monies we currently pay out for the Medicaid eligible nursing home residents stays the same. There are also bonds against the renovations that we as taxpayers will continue to be responsible for.

What makes anyone think a private operator can make a profit and still accept all the hard-to place residents our county nursing home must take? In one case a county home that was sold was later closed by the state. The displaced residents were sent wherever the state could find room for them.

In closing I would ask everyone to take a very close look at this. Try to impose on your local legislators to not sell the nursing home. Educate yourselves deeper into the tragedy of selling this facility.Look at the real economic impact on our community. Say hello to our anxious seniors with a sincere trust you will not let something happen to them. We need to find a way to operate this facility that will result in a reasonable commitment on the part of taxpayers.

Respectfully submitted,

David C. Schult
Waterport

(Schult is endorsed by the Democratic Party as a candidate for Orleans County Legislature for District 4 – the towns of Carlton, Kendall and Murray.)

To the Editor:

While Congressman Collins seems to enjoy meeting with select groups of people (primarily business groups), I have yet to see an opportunity for the general public to address their concerns to him in a public setting.

That he spoke to the Albion Rotary Club on Thursday (click here to see article) does not really count as meeting voters in Orleans County, it only means that he spoke to the Rotary Club members who got an invitation.

Congressman Collins should offer opportunities for all voters to speak to him, not just invited groups.

James Renfrew
Clarendon

Dear Editor:

The Center for Governmental Research (CGR) issued “The Future of County Nursing Homes in New York State ” last week. (Report: Future of county-owned nursing homes in jeopardy) I have actually read it. It does not address the operations of specific county-owned nursing homes. Its conclusions combine, or average, the statistics, practices and losses of all county-owned nursing homes.

The bestlike Orleans County’sare averaged in with the worst and lost in the process. Specific county-owned nursing homes are not separated out as being among those using best practices. What it makes plain is that each county nursing home has to be evaluated in its own context.

For an Orleans County leader to call attention to this study as though it excuses a serious absence of due diligence (doing one’s ‘homework’) by Orleans County is stunning. (See an Aug. 28 article from The Daily News “CGR report confirms county-owned nursing homes a losing proposition.”) Not only is it no substitute for due diligence, “The Future of County Nursing Homes in New York State” was published six months after the Orleans County Legislature decided to create an LDC to sell “The Villages of Orleans.”

County leaders didn’t conduct an impartial study before deciding to act. CGR has done specific studies for Murray/Holley, the Village of Medina , Shelby/Ridgeway and Genesee County, among others.

It isn’t as if Orleans County leaders are unaware of the Rochester-based non-profit’s existence, but Orleans County leaders never even contacted CGR about analyzing the operations of “The Villages of Orleans.” In fact, CGR offered its services to the LDC Board about a month ago. The Board, which answers only to the Legislature Chairman, rejected CGR’s services in favor of a firm whose services would cost much more.

The decision to sell our Orleans County Nursing Home was made against the advice of the one county legislator, George Bower, who knows the home best. At least four decisions that could improve the Nursing Home’s bottom line have not been made.

We have made it a very attractive facility to any potential buyer, especially when the means for improving the bottom line are so obvious. That is why the LDC Board’s agent is assuring potential buyers that a profit can be expected in 2015!

The decision to risk the quality care our frail elderly receive from the Four-Star “Villages of Orleans” without serious analysis by experts is shockingly irresponsible.

Sincerely yours,

Gary F. Kent
Albion

(Kent is a candidate for Orleans County legislator.)

To the Editor:

With all due respect to one Mr. Vosburgh (Sunday farmers’ market with Holley vendor didn’t benefit village ), the intent of my previous letter was to draw attention to how a few bad apples can inhibit the growth of a good idea in our town, and we should not allow this to happen.

I have often visited the farm market on Route 31 (when I travel that way). But coming home from church on Sunday and stopping at a downtown farm market seemed to make sense. If the market had grown and attracted customers (canal traffic, sightseers, tourists, passersby on their way to our fishing and historic districts), they would have seen the businesses that downtown Albion has to offer and hopefully return.

If downtown business owners see a benefit to staying open on a Sunday, that would help as well. Yes, Mr. Vosburgh, some do work on a Sunday. Many tourist towns encourage Sunday business and find another day during the week to rest. I don’t care which Orleans County farm sells in Albion. All are fine establishments and work hard at what they do. This is an opportunity for family-owned farms to bring their produce to a population center, while keeping overhead down.

Keeping family-owned farms viable is a worthwhile effort. Pedestrian traffic in the village (some 5,000 people) could easily walk to the market to buy healthy produce. A nice alternative to the junk food available on a Sunday from the quick marts. And, Mr. Vosburgh, the last time I checked with the laws of New York State, home-grown produce is not taxable.

Again, setting petty differences aside, we need to work hand in hand to promote downtown, even if doing so on a Sunday.

Al Capurso
Albion

Editor:

In response to the letter from Al Capurso, with all due respect, Albion has a very good farmers’ market on Saturdays (at the Save-A-Lot parking lot). The access is much easier (no blocked off street access and no on-street parking needed).

The argument is made that this will help revitalize downtown. I ask, “How?”

Nearly all of the stores are closed on Sundays downtown, for a very good reason. They are locally owned and the proprietors like their Sundays off. How is bringing a farmers’ market to the downtown area going to help increase business for them? If they were open, it would create hardships for them by upsetting traffic/parking patterns and offering potential competition for limited spending available.

This is a problem because none of the money spent at the market will stay in the village. None of the farms are in the village, so virtually all the money spent would go out of the village.

While it seemed to be a pleasant experience for Mr. Capurso to buy vegetables from the Vendettis, he could just as easily had a pleasant experience buying his goods from the farmers’ market the village already has in the Save-A-Lot parking lot on Saturdays.

One needs to ask themselves why the Vendetti Farms are not offering their wares at the Saturday market?

A better way of revitalizing downtown would be to encourage a fresh fruit and vegetable market that bought its produce locally and sold it from a store, where village taxes and fees would be collected on a regular basis, rather than allowing a farmer from the Holley area to come in to the village and syphon off money that might otherwise be spent in the village with village businesses.

Mark Vosburgh
Albion

To the Editor:

What a statement about Albion. Here we are trying to revitalize downtown, make Albion an attractive place for people to visit, shop, appreciate our heritage (agricultural, historic and cultural), and a farm market has to close due to worries about potential “bad behavior.”

I am currently on vacation in the Adirondacks, but could not resist keeping up on happenings back home. Reading the article in The Hub was disturbing to say the least.

I stopped at Vendetti Farms at the Bank Street site two Sundays ago. I thought it was a good start to what should have grown to be a regular feature for downtown, a farmers market. The Vendettis were polite and my family enjoyed the produce I brought home.

My older brother Jack and his wife Karen who live in Virginia had suggested such a feature about five years ago in letters to Albion officials. Now it has to close for the season. Let’s hope next summer brings renewed hope that differences can be set aside for the good of our village and we cooperate for the benefit of all.

Al Capurso
Albion

Editor:

In regard to the post card view of the canning plant in Albion, the peas are not going up the conveyor but are sliding down, probably being helped by people on the ground with pitchforks. The ramp was probably a simple chute instead of an actual conveyor.

A person would sit by one of the small dormer-like structures and pick the pods off the vine. The remains would then be sent down the chute to be sold as cattle feed. I remember there were several “pea vineries” located in northern Genesee County, which were barn-like structures and not part of plants as in Albion.

By the 1950s they were worked by migrant labor and were active during the pea season, surrounded by farm trucks, people, a migrant bus, and vines sliding down the chute. Then they would sit idle the rest of the year. By the late ’60s or early ’70s, they had all collapsed or been torn down.

Vern Kelly
Oakfield