Editor:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that about 73% of farm workers are migrants and that half of those are undocumented.

Our immigration system is broken and has been for many years. In 2014 a bipartisan immigration bill, supported by John McCain and Lindsay Graham, failed because Republicans in the House refused to bring up the bill for a vote.

President Biden has proposed an immigration legislation on his first day in office but Republicans, like Lee Zeldin and Claudia Tenney, refuse to work with Democrats to fix our immigration system. If voters are truly concerned about our immigration system and the need for farm workers then vote for Democrats this election.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

The next few days will decide the fate of U.S. democracy. Our nation is at a critical point. We must come together to save democracy as we have known it for the past 250 years or succumb to the hell of dictatorship.

“We The People” must be strong, see past our wallets, rise above our own needs and selfish concerns. Inflation is worldwide, much worse in most other countries.

Basing votes on immediate kitchen table issues like gas and food prices will be more costly in the long run. I would rather pay more at the pump now than lose my right to free and fair elections or bodily autonomy. We can tighten spending; inflation shall pass. The loss of democracy will not fade away.

“If you care about democracy and you care about the survival of our republic, then you need to understand – we all have to understand – that we cannot give people power who have told us that they will not honor elections.” Liz Cheney (R-WY) 10/06/22.

“We The People” can’t take democracy for granted any longer. Democracy itself is at stake. The fate of our nation is in our hands… vote thoughtfully.

Carol Nochajski

Wilson

Editor:

This is an open letter congratulating Congressman Chris Jacobs on his stance with automatic weapons.

Recently we watched a 1970s Gunsmoke episode that depicted the difficult to impossible situations in which we put police: The citizens of a small community passed some regulation that made an influential cattleman angry. He threatened violence with his 30 cowboys, unless it was rescinded.

The banker and big businessmen in town, equally influential, demanded the sheriff protect them. “That’s what we hired you for!”

The sheriff pointed out that he and his one deputy couldn’t prevail against 30 armed cowboys.   Matt Dillon was a visiting marshal. Dillon intervened, recruited help, managed a truce.

But that’s what we do when we ask the police to stop madmen with automatic weapons. Our police can’t arm with automatic weapons. Victims would likely die with the assaulter, and neighbors and fellow policemen. There’s been 417 mass killings thus far this year.

Thank you Congressman Jacobs for your politically courageous stand on what we and many see as sensible precautions on rapid-fire assault weapons. FBI background checks on those applying for licenses, a 5 year term, and allowing for those deemed a danger to themselves and others to lose the privilege.

It’s a start. It should help save lives. It possibly would have stopped the Buffalo Tops murders.

Also, it has the added benefit of protecting our police. They found themselves outgunned in the

Buffalo store and in many other instances.

To us, this is another Life issue.

Robert E. Golden

Waterport

Editor:

I attended the most recent village board meeting, Oct. 26, in the village of Albion. I asked a few questions, mostly directed towards the mayor.

The mayor definitely mislead board members and the taxpayers into believing that it was necessary to hire a firm to do an “audit” of the last police contract signed by both parties. The contract was negotiated in good faith. There was no intentional misleading involved at all.

The mayor spent thousands of dollars hiring an agency to conduct, what he calls, an audit. Then, he spent more money on attorney fees? The report came back that the village overpaid the police by over $200,000 over the past five years.

However, it turns out that this was not an audit at all, but only a report based on information given only by the mayor. And to make things worse, the mayor went to the press before even talking with the police union, current and past board members to possibly figure out a solution to a so-called problem. Huge mistake.

As I said back a few months ago, “the mayor will have egg on his face.” And that is coming to fruition as we speak. The village attorney admitted that the counsel for both the police union and the village were currently negotiating a settlement agreement.

Mr. Mayor, make sure you have all the facts before you jump to conclusions.

To the Village Board, please don’t ever mess with public safety. We are the public and we want to feel safe.

Thomas K. O’Hearn, retired lieutenant Albion Police Department

Albion

Editor:

A recent letter to the Hub conflated illegal drug smuggling with migrants crossing our southern border.

Let’s be clear; the amount of drugs entering the country by migrants is very small. The vast majority of illegal drugs enters the border at ports of entry. Brian Sulc, executive director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Transnational Organized Crime Mission Center, testified to a congressional committee in May that it is very rare for migrants or undocumented immigrants to bring in illegal drugs.

Furthermore, he testified that most fentanyl smuggling is done by U.S. citizens at ports of entry. Conflating migrants with the illegal drug trade is both ignorant and racist.

William Fine

Brockport

Editor:

Last week Rep. Katie Porter (D), a first-rate cross examiner, showed why witnesses shake in their boots at the prospect of her precise questioning. But did you hear about it? She exposed how some think freedom is meant to serve their own needs and wants.

She extracted admissions in Congressional testimony that half of all inflation is due to increased corporate profits by Republican donors. They are picking voters pockets.

In fact some inflation is due to Ukraine and Russia cutting off gas and grain supplies, some is Chinese factory shut downs, and some is our historically low unemployment, and some is the War in Ukraine. But half is greed and none due to Biden’s budgets.

Some of the numbers on total price increases feeding corporate profit are:

1. Medical insurance – $69 billion more profit despite COVID;

2. Gas – the biggest five oil companies at $59 billion dollars with another $89 billion in stock repurchase to increase stockholders’ equity;

3. Food – agribusiness an extra $389 billion.

In fact polls which show that  Republicans are more trusted with the economy reflect 50 years of repeating out-of-date data and political dogma. Democrats have to find a way to strip these lies bare in less time than it takes Republicans to tell them. None of the following facts seems to be enough.

Fact: The country’s deficits have only increased under every Republican president since 1982.  They have  gone down under every Democratic president since 1990.

Fact:  Three people have more wealth than the bottom half of our nation.

Fact: Republicans have three proposals to cut or eliminate social security.

Fact: Before it goes into effect in January, Sen. Rubio has now sponsored a bill to reimpose price fixing for our medicines which will cost us the trillion dollar savings on drugs Biden pushed through.

Faced with facts like these it’s legitimate to ask if voters stuck in the ’80s have any savvy. Or is it a case of CPAC and MAGA adapting Russian, Brazilian, Turkey, and Hungarian economic and racist propaganda? They do support each other’s conventions and rallies.

In our best, most prosperous times, both Democrats and Republicans understood that economic prosperity depends on is keeping democracy healthy. MAGA types and CPAC were simply not allowed in the Republican Party.

There is extensive history from the ’40s to ’70s detailing how conservative Republicans kept them in their place – on the margins as mere nuisances spouting unhinged, unworkable, wild-eyed, fact-free conspiracy theories.

In a serious world Rep. Porter’s dissection disclosing corporate greed would put Democrats in the lead in this election.

I’ll keep saying it but the Republican Party will only be cleaned up and democracy preserved if it loses and is forced to again respect facts and the lessons of history. America was founded on an idea they do not understand. Time has not changed that. Being persuaded by self interest and heavy-handed anti-democratic foreigners and economics geared to profit cronies is too dangerous to tolerate. MAGA and CPAC dogma is antidemocratic and hurting peoples’ wallets.

K. Porter just gave a Master’s Class in keeping your money in your wallet and everyone was too wound up to notice it. She understands democracy is selfless and wages of idealism are universally tangible.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion

Editor:

In response to Mr. Mundy, I will not disagree completely with your letter. I do wish to direct you to a DEA report (click here) about fentanyl flow to the United States that show Mexico and China are primary sources of fentanyl trafficking with India an emerging source.

If you read that report and “China Primer: Illicit Fentanyl and China’s Role,” you see fentanyl is coming from China and India! The Biden administration is taking a hard stance on China.

The flow is across both borders and has been since 2014. The current Administration has taken efforts to control this flow. Making assertions to impeach a President and adjudicate for accessory to murder are very serious statements.

The border issue is serious. It has not been controlled for many years. Multiple administrations have tried various attempts and no one has been entirely successful.

I do agree that something needs to be done. It needs to start by immigrants remaining in their counties and applying for entry from there. It needs Mexican intervention at entry points to Mexico and on the US southern border. Walls and closing legal crossings will increase other methods of illegal entry.

People fleeing bad living situations will continue to try any method of entry to what they perceive to be a utopia. The US also needs to not have use for illegals in the labor force. Unfortunately, cheap labor and jobs that are seemingly beneath current US citizens make this impossible to control. A recession coming, war in Europe and the possibility or war in the Far East also will increase illegal entry on all borders!

While there is much rhetoric, neither party seems to give us an answer to solving immigration or illegal transportation of drugs. Opioids are a serious problem, being tough on crime does not solve the opioid problem.

Closing the border does not stop the demand for the drugs. We have a crisis that needs leadership, not words. I do not see that leader in the many candidates for office now, currently in office or future candidates front running for 2024.

I do thank you for speaking out.  We as citizens need to be vocal for change in a positive direction to allow our democracy to survive and be a beacon of light in the world.

I remind all to remember Emma Lazarus’ poem beneath the Statue of Liberty and the fact that the majority of Americans are descendant of immigrants.

Thank you.

Dayton Hausman

Medina

Editor:

Note: Monday, April 8, 2024 is a total solar eclipse crossing Orleans County and much of Lake Ontario.

Preparations should be better publicized (how about an Orleans Hub special section?).  Will State and local campgrounds be open? Can our marinas handle the demand? Can spots in the Erie Canal be rented to boats for this?

I am sure there are plans but the community needs to be better informed.

Gerard M. Morrisey

Albion

Editor:

This letter is directed to Governor Hochul.

I write to express my ongoing concerns about the flawed and failed bail reform laws which were passed in this state and signed into law by your predecessor in January 2020. Violent crime committed by repeat offenders in New York State is at now epidemic proportions, especially with such crimes as domestic abuse, that put women and children in our communities at grave risk.

I implore you to immediately call the legislature into emergency session to make the necessary reforms to this failed law to ensure public safety for all New Yorkers.

Just last week in Buffalo, NY – our shared hometown – a mother of three children was murdered by her estranged husband who was released on his own recognizance without bail, despite being brought in on domestic violence-related charges. This murder is yet another case of preventable death in our state.

It is unacceptable that a man with a record of violence and domestic abuse, one who had been recorded just days before beating his wife in their home and who was arrested on multiple domestic violence-related charges, could be released on his own recognizance because his charges were deemed “bail ineligible.”

Numerous studies have shown domestic violence incidents are not isolated, and escalation is highly probable. According to a 2016 study, 10 to 18 percent of those arrested for domestic violence are arrested again within six months, 15 to 30 percent face a second arrest within 28 months, and up to 60 percent are rearrested within 10 years. Had the judge been afforded judicial discretion in this case, this man would have not been released, and a life may have been saved.

This is one of many instances of a police officer making an arrest for a serious crime only to have that offender back in the community committing more violence. In August 2022, New York City Mayor Eric Adams released a study detailing how a group of career criminals has accumulated hundreds of arrests yet are still roaming the streets, free to commit additional crimes, due to our failed “bail reform” laws.

Your office’s defense that this problem was fixed or that these incidents are not data, but rather anecdotal evidence, disregards the countless families whose lives have been upended by violent crime committed by offenders who would otherwise be behind bars.

Our Erie County Democratic District Attorney John J. Flynn said after this needless murder, “This could easily be solved with one sentence in the bail law.” That one sentence would provide judges with discretion to consider “dangerousness” when determining bail.

We have a serious problem in New York State, and there is an immediate need for reform to our failed bail laws. I implore you to call an immediate special session of our legislature to first address the need for increased judicial discretion to limit the release of individuals who are arrested with domestic violence charges; and second, to reform the entire law to give judges the authority they previously had, and now desperately need, to keep dangerous individuals in custody. No family should have to suffer the pain of losing a loved one to a violent criminal who was set free under your failed system.

Congressman Chris Jacobs

Orchard Park

Editor:

I drive down various roads and I see signs using profanity to express a resident’s thoughts about Joe Biden. Instead of using profanity to express your thoughts use an active verb like “impeach” in reference to Joe Biden.

I will give one example of why he should be impeached and then be tried for accessory to murder.

Drug overdose deaths have increased to over 100,000 in the 12-month period ending February of this year. A large portion of these deaths are due to fentanyl coming across our southern border.

Although Biden and his minions keep telling us the southern border is secure it is clear to anyone with eyes and a brain this is not true. The latest is fentanyl-laced rainbow pills to tempt and deceive our young people.

The Constitution says a President can be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. Dereliction of his duties to defend the United States by not securing the southern border and allowing fentanyl into the United States and accessory to murder for the resulting overdose deaths fit the definition of high crimes.

Considering this he must be impeached and removed from office. Once removed from office he must be tried for multiple counts of accessory to murder.

In this country we are seeing 300 unnecessary drug overdose deaths per day so every ten days we are killing as many people as died in 9/11. The New York Post published an interesting opinion article on this topic (click here). Governor Greg Abbott of Texas has taken up this issue by deeming the Mexican cartels terrorist organizations.

Forget “cruelty” of Martha’s Vineyard: Biden’s open border has let cartels kill more Americans from fentanyl than any terror org.

Voting for the status quo will only perpetuate the crimes and make you an enabler of the crimes.

Harold E. Mundy

Clarkson

Editor:

The goals and objectives of the New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (The Act) passed in 2020, and subsequent supporting legislation needs to be reassessed, along with the parallel legislation at the Federal level.

The Act, contrary to its benevolent sounding title, offers anything but community protection. The Act is an assault on our  communities and our freedoms. The Act is having a dramatic effect on our lives, our economy and our security. The public needs the assurance that the cure is not worse than the disease and that the Climate Change Movement has not disintegrated into an elite socialist one that ignores science, damages our economy and restricts our personal freedoms.

An example of the economic damage of The Act  is the goal to make all new passenger cars and trucks sold in New York State zero emission by 2035, zero emission essentially meaning electrically driven vehicles that are no cleaner than the process by which the energy they consume is generated.

Ultimately The Act will outlaw or tax out of existence all fossil-fueled vehicles. Studies have shown that side by side in the showroom electric vehicles are more expensive to build, “dirtier” to construct and their clean benefits may show up only after many thousand miles of driving. Issues such as  range problems, lack of fueling stations, fire safety, battery recycling and disposal, excessive consumption of critical materials such as copper, and huge losses of tax revenue are not being honestly addressed.

Without heavy government subsidies, both state and federal, there is no market for electric vehicles. In order for them to be competitive with fossil-fueled vehicles a breakthrough in battery technology is necessary. That breakthrough has yet to materialize!

Realizing the legislation to ban the purchase of fossil-fueled vehicles was a “non-starter” for the public, The Act calls for the development of a marketing strategy to promote them, i.e., A government super propaganda blitz, that has already begun. Further the automobile industry and the fossil fuel industry are being relentlessly attacked placing tens of thousands of good paying jobs at risk.

Other issues abound with The Act as the public will be forced to electrify homes and forced to  give up clean burning natural gas and propane appliances. No clean energy projects should be undertaken without an in depth cost-benefit analysis. Sadly, this is not being done as the Climate Change Movement continues to drive up costs across the board.

The Act denies Home Rule to our communities as the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) created by The Act, was given the authority to overrule local law if found to be “unnecessarily burdensome.” Further the ORES is staffed by unelected officials that are not accountable to the public.

“Clean Energy” projects must be under local control, not dictated from Albany or Washington as it is the local community that bears the scars of those projects. ORES regulations are currently being challenged in court and hopefully will be significantly revised in the near future.

Solar and wind energy are being relied on to arrive at a carbon free future. They are being heavily subsided to achieve that end. Without subsidies both federal and state the solar/wind industry would disappear. Solar and wind energy are highly unreliable as they are dependent on the unpredictability of the weather. Reliable and diversified sources of energy are a must for economic and national security reasons. Nuclear energy and clean-burning natural gas must be in the mix. Research into clean-burning coal and carbon capture must be continued. Where is diversity when it is desperately needed?

In summary, a reassessment of our state energy policies as well as those on a national level must take place as neglecting to do is having a detrimental effect on our lives and our economy not to mention our national security.

New York can lead the way. Voters should insist.

James C. Hoffman

Town of Somerset

Editor:

I have been an amateur birdwatcher my entire adult life. I have birded extensively in western New York and have volunteered for various agencies and non-profits including the US Fish and Wildlife at Iroquois NWR, the DEC at Oak Orchard and Tonawanda WMA, Buffalo Ornithological Society and Buffalo Audubon Society.

The loss of bird life is widely noticeable in western New York. While I support renewable energy and reduction of greenhouse gasses, I am opposed to the Borrego wind turbines that are proposed for our township directly 4 miles north of Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge.

While renewable energy development that reduces warming of the atmosphere is critically important to our move away from fossil fuels, unfortunately it is known that wind energy development has a substantial negative impact on birds. The American Bird Conservancy has averaged the results from a trio of studies done in 2012-2014, the latest data published, and arrived at the number 366,000 birds killed by wind turbines in the US in 2012.

American Bird Conservancy looked at data from the US Wind Turbine Database and wrote that in 2021 there were 65,548 wind turbines, a 47% increase in the industry, and by projection estimates that there are 538,000 wind-turbine caused bird deaths in the US each year.

ABC then projected mortality based on energy produced by turbines, since that accounts for the size of the turbines as well as their numbers. This increases the bird mortality to 681,000 birds currently killed by wind turbines in the US each year.

A recent study of bird death detections also shows that searching with dogs detected up to 2.7 times the number of small dead songbirds than were detected by humans. This would translate into 1.17 million birds killed by wind turbines in the US each year.

If new turbines are located far from existing power grids and require constructing new powerlines, the indirect effect of those powerlines are another source of bird mortality incurred when turbines are installed.

Wind energy companies conduct their own mortality studies but are under no obligation to share this data with the public, which would provide a clearer picture of the cost to our birds. We should be asking our representatives to require this information be made public so that conservation efforts could be enhanced to mitigate the loss of bird life.

Regardless of mortality numbers, birds are already facing many threats, and should not have to also be threatened by wind turbines. In the publication Science, September 2019, we learned of the alarming warning that the US and Canada have lost 3 billion breeding birds since 1970, a loss of 1 in 4 birds. Even worse, State of the Birds.org just published their 2022 appraisal of the steep population losses in virtually all habitats. They identify 70 tipping point species that “have lost half or more of their breeding population since 1970 and are on track to lose another half or more in the next 50 years.”

Of those 70 tipping point species, fourteen have been seen and utilize Iroquois NWR, directly south of Medina. They are American Golden Plover, Bobolink, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Chimney Swift, Evening Grosbeak, Golden-winged Warbler, King Rail, Lesser Yellowlegs, Whimbrel, Stilt Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone and Pectoral Sandpiper, one-fifth of the species at a tipping point.

Mid-Atlantic Flyway species’ migratory pathways are shown on the MOTUS.org website, moving through the range of the proposed 633-foot-tall turbines proposed for Shelby. We know that birds have traveled incredible distances to rest and refuel at Iroquois NWR each spring and fall, before continuing to either their northerly breeding sites in the boreal forests of Canada or the Arctic wetlands or on their return trip to wintering grounds in central and South America.

There is no dispute that we need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, but without adequate study of the costs to wildlife or consideration for using the least disruptive renewable method to the natural world, actions like rushed installation of wind turbines in sensitive areas becomes our own loss. Birds belong to all of us. Their loss has much larger ramifications to the ecosystem.

Therefore, I ask that residents of Orleans and Genesee counties voice their opinions and reject the proposed Borrego wind turbine installation between South Gravel Road and Salt Works Road.

Respectfully submitted,

Celeste Morien

Medina

Editor:

It was about a month ago now that an alleged event occurred at a LOYAL football game in Medina that has shaken many players as parents to their cores.

When unsubstantiated accusations of a 10-11 year old player hitting an Akron cheerleader were made public and the social media world went wild which perpetuated a poorly executed news story on Channel 7, none of us could’ve predicted the events that would follow.

Instead of yielding to the facts and maintaining an environment in which children could benefit from an opportunity to demonstrate compassion and understanding towards one another with an age-old solution: an apology and even adding a one-game suspension to the suggested means of remediation, the powers at be (NOFA – Niagara Orleans Football Association) would demonstrate a divided front.

The Executive Board agreed that the aforementioned plan would be an appropriate handling of the matter, as did both Akron and Medina coaches and commissioners. According to NOFA bylaws, the conflict was resolved and required no further action.

However, in direct breach of their own bylaws and in direct conflict of interest to the party involved, the Executive Board then accepted a motion made by a commissioner, and six other “yea” votes followed to suspend Medina Broncos for the remainder of the season.

Justifiably, Medina’s parents and community were outraged and desired answers. The Chairman of NOFA, Harold Suhr, extended an invitation to his other NOFA comrades to meet with Medina parents to discuss this matter. He was the only one that came to the meeting, which can be heard here on YouTube.

The Chairman expressed a limited understanding of NOFA’s bylaws and a hesitancy to follow them. He expressed that while the LOYAL Board was currently engaged in an appeals process regarding the decision, that NOFA had no appeals process in their bylaws. The Chairman likened the value of bylaws and ability to enforce them to the southern border crisis in the United States.

The Chairman also acknowledged that the leagues within NOFA oftentimes will deal with retaliation for decisions made against other leagues in the past and that the Broncos team being number 1 in the standings was indeed part of the decision to ultimately end their season. Finally, when the parents collectively demanded that this decision be reversed, the Chairman encouraged the parents to “lawyer up.” So we did.

The following events are even more troubling than the aforementioned. Once NOFA learned that the Broncos parents were seeking legal recourse, the LOYAL Board received a letter from NOFA reminding the LOYAL league of their probation (due to issues from the previous season which had been mitigated) and stated that they need not justify the decision to suspend the remaining LOYAL teams, that is the 6-7 year olds, 8-9 year olds, and 12-13 year olds. The LOYAL Board, recognizing this threat, could not provide support to the Broncos parents, in consideration for the other children.

The Broncos’ parents, however, in an attempt to save what was left of our children’s season, urged the lawyer to pursue based simply on the verbal instruction of the NOFA Chairman himself when he stated “lawyer up”. This entire chain of events could’ve taken days and was especially exhausting for the children who had high hopes of continuing their season. However, due to literally hundreds of unanswered emails and phone calls, this occurred over the period of about 3.5 weeks.

Parents have heard time and time again “they can’t do that”, but I assure you, reader, they can- and they did. After receiving a letter from the lawyer retained to advocate for our children urging the reversal of an obviously faulty decision, NOFA simply responded that they had confirmed with the LOYAL Board that they were not objecting to the suspension (as mentioned earlier the parents took this step independent of the LOYAL Board to ensure that the other teams could continue their season) and that “NOFA will not be re-examining the situation at this time nor through the remainder of the 2022 scheduled season.”

As a parent, I have learned throughout these 3 weeks, things that I cannot un-learn. Prior to this event, I could not fathom that a group of adults would consider a football team’s standings and potential for a playoff spot, over the well-being, and best interest of children.

Prior to these three weeks, I could not imagine that members of the NOFA Board who would make such a decision, serve in leadership roles in their respective communities, including on school boards. I could not understand that people that say that they’re “in it for the kids” could so blatantly make decisions against “the kids” and demonstrate a sort of metaphorical toddler placing hands on the hips and stomping feet refusing to admit wrongdoing, in the name of what? The kids? Three weeks ago I could not imagine a grown adult telling me that she was intimidated during such meetings because voting against the majority meant that you might get “dirty looks.”

Please, parents, as you consider your children’s extracurricular and athletic pursuits in the future heed this word of caution: find out who is in charge and get a seat at that table. Not for your own personal gain or status, or to list in your obituary someday that you served “x” amount of decades on a Board.

As you can see the service in this situation was not done with integrity or “for the children” but because these kids – your kids, and those without a strong advocate at home – need a voice at that table. There needs to be a conscience in the room who, when brought to tears over a moral conundrum, recognizes that perhaps the business going on is done behind closed doors and over a couple bottles of alcohol because the business is not “for the children.”

And a final word of caution to the NOFA Board of Executives and Commissioners themselves: While you have been so bold and unfeeling as to table this discussion for the remainder of the season, so as to ensure that your wildly clever plan of gaining the coveted playoff spots that you so desire, you should know that we now know what we cannot un-know.  We are indeed in it “for the kids.”

Your refusal to make right, what could have easily been made right, will only be seen unfavorably by a judge and I would seriously consider resigning at the end of this season to allow people to serve that are actually “for the kids.”

Respectfully,

Brittany Dix, a Broncos mother

Albion, formerly of Medina

Editor:

Recently the Niagara Orleans Football Association (NOFA) approved the suspension of the Medina JV Broncos for an incident that occurred on Sept. 17 after the Medina v. Akron game. Allegedly a child on the Medina Broncos slapped Akron cheerleaders during the “Good Game” line-up. A game that the Medina Broncos won, 38-0, in their 5-0 season.

What transpired immediately after the incident is nothing short of hysteria; a woman storming the field, threatening children with juvenile detention, children sobbing, adults yelling.

There are many issues to note with this incident. The Akron cheerleaders were first in the line when, usually, they follow the football team; many had their hands behind their backs rather than ready to receive a “high-five.” Akron coaches were not in the line. Medina coaches were in the middle of the line, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. There was no reaction until the conclusion of the line, which happened to be caught on video by an Akron parent.

One thing we do know is three girls had visible marks on their arms. It cannot be confirmed how those marks got there, the intent of the child who may have caused those marks, or what child it may have been.

Akron filed a complaint against Medina. An Akron parent gave a news channel just enough information to make the story grab attention. Social media frenzied on the narrative. NOFA had a decision to make.

NOFA has bylaws that advise how to proceed in situations like this. Specifically, they guide the Chairman to ensure proper investigation and to hear the defense to decide if further action is needed; neither of which happened.

The bylaws further state that as long as an informal agreement can be met, no further action is necessary. Akron and Medina coaches and commissioners discussed and agreed to a one-game forfeit and an apology from Medina. The Chairman, and the Executive Board, agreed with the recommendation, then in quite the plot twist, allowed the Board of Commissioners (representatives of all the leagues) to vote to have Medina JV suspended for the remainder of the season.

All of this happened in 72 hours. This tells us the investigation was sparse.

Over the next three weeks, the Chairman repeatedly gave hope to the Broncos that they would be able to play: advising to send an appeal, and when that was denied, advising to have every parent sign that they agree to behave, which was also denied. All along, the Chairman had power to reverse the decision that he stated he disagreed with.

As you enjoy watching your children compete in the playoffs this weekend please remember the Medina Broncos should be there; it was NOFA who took that away from 26 children who earned their spot in the top 4. All because opportunistic Commissioners were allowed to make a biased, unfounded decision.

Think of the kids who did not commit this act, but punished with the most severe punishment by men who supposedly have their best interests in mind.

Honestly,

Andrea Skowneski, a Bronco mother

Albion, formerly of Medina

Editor:

This is an open letter to the Orleans County legislators. I was informed the NYS Department of Conservation approved the State Pollutant Elimination Discharge (SPDES) permit for the Genesee County Economic Development Center on Sept. 20 as it pertains to 1 million gallons per day of treated sanitary effluent from the STAMP site in the Town of Alabama.

It is important to note that the SPDES permit was issued for impacts up to 1 million and the full scope of GCEDC’s plan for STAMP calls up to 6 million gallons a day of treated sewage to be discharged from STAMP into Oak Orchard Creek.

The force main is currently designed and permitted for a maximum flow of 6 MGD. As developed, the STAMP sewer works project could impede our ability to service residents, businesses and the Medina Business Park.

It appears that three engineering firms were engaged by GCEDC. Project documents and correspondence suggest there are irregularities and omissions in the project design. There are also areas of concern listed in the SPDES permit that should be evaluated by a third-party consultant.

An independent evaluation should include all of the project scope and design documents including but not limited to the initial project design from one engineering firm, modeling of Oak Orchard Creek performed by another firm, and a February 2022 engineering review of the project scope in relation to hydraulic modeling of the creek in its present form.

It is incumbent upon officials to determine how the scope of the proposed project will support or erode our local waterways and/or infrastructure and either enhance or hinder our ability to deliver services across Medina, Ridgeway and Shelby in the future.

The February 2022 report provides some insight as to where the engineering firms diverge in their assessment of how STAMP’s discharge will impact soil erosion, citing flaws in the plan’s design which “shows no documentation or calculations of how the outfall was designed to avoid soil erosion.”

The review details:

• “…the outfall has not been adequately designed to avoid soil erosion.”
• “…the rip rap is too thin.”
• “The lack of proper lining thickness can lead to loss of stone protection over time.”
• “Without stone protection, the outfall will likely erode discharging sediment to Oak Orchard Creek.”
• “The outlet structure detail shown on the design drawing FM D-05R is incomplete.”
• “It is difficult to determine the outlet shape directly upstream of the outlet protection outside of the structure. This is important as it will determine the flow characteristics exiting the outlet.”
• “There is an existing ditch at the site of the force main outfall from a 24-inch stormwater culvert underneath South Gravel Road to drain into Oak Orchard Creek. Nowhere in the design drawings or design report is this flow accounted for. The design should show and/or explain how these existing stormwater flows are conveyed to Oak Orchard Creek after construction of the force main outlet structure.”
• “…the discharge from STAMP will not have an impact on the 100-year flood elevations or velocities downstream, but this discharge will likely have an impact on erosion near the force main outlet is design changes are not made.”

Medina recently invested $7.5 million to upgrade our wastewater facility. The investment was made to increase capacity to 9 million gallons a day in order to meet the current needs of residents, local businesses, and the Medina Business Park. Without these recent upgrades, there will be little or no potential for the village, Shelby, Ridgeway, county, or school district to realize future tax revenue from new businesses in Medina or the business park.

Our infrastructure does not have the capacity for an additional 6 MGD of wastewater from Genesee County. Before considering a project from outside Orleans County, that exceeds the Medina facility’s present capabilities, a thorough evaluation should take place relative to project details that exist that could compromise the existing infrastructure and require millions more in upgrades.

The Orleans Economic Development Agency has over 350 acres of certified shovel-ready land available in the Medina Business Park. Our business park has more available infrastructure than most business parks located between Niagara falls and Albany. Medina’s infrastructure capabilities play a significant role in the offerings OEDA and our regional economic development partners can promote to bring more commerce and industry to the state, region and county.

Four manufacturing plants and a hotel are now located in the MBP. Robust water, sewer, electric, gas and internet are available throughout MBP to attract more mid to large-scale operations.

The village, town, county and OEDA have spent the last 15-plus years expanding the infrastructure to better serve the community. A lot of time and money have gone into upgrades for the purpose of servicing local residents and businesses and to attract more business to Orleans County.

There is presently over $8 million in assessed value in the Medina Business Park. The OEDA and the village recently responded to multiple RFPs for new occupancy in the business park. MBP’s robust infrastructure specs have resulted in our business park being placed on a short list by site selector consultants. WNY Energy just completed a $38 million expansion. The Town of Shelby, Orleans County and Medina school district receive over $14 million in PILOT money from the ethanol plant alone, which is supplied with water and sewer from the village.

As elected officials, we are obligated to prioritize the available infrastructure for projects located within the county that support job retention and growth along with local sites that are capable of attracting new industries that will diversify the tax base, decrease the burden on our own taxpayers, and improve the quality of life for those who live and work in Orleans County.

I am requesting Orleans County officials, Orleans County Soil & Water, and an independent consultant not previously associated with the project perform a thorough evaluation of the project scope, design and discharge plan. A comprehensive assessment aimed at preserving both our waterways and infrastructure is in order given certain project details remain unclear and/or could impede our ability to provide services to residents and businesses in the future.

Sincerely,

Michael Sidari

Mayor of Medina