By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 September 2016 at 1:47 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers
BARKER – A boy enjoys the waning days of summer vacation by fishing from rocks on Lake Ontario at Lighthouse Christian Camp at sunset on Sunday evening in Barker.
This week will be hot as local children return to school. Kendall and Lyndonville start school on Tuesday, while Wednesday is the first day of school for Albion, Holley and Medina.
Tuesday will be sunny with a high of 85, followed by mostly sunny with a high near 90 on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. Thursday there is a chance for showers and thunderstorms with a high near 88, while Friday is forecast to be sunny with a high near 83.
This Jet Ski rider enjoys a trip on Lake Ontario on Sunday evening.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 28 August 2016 at 9:13 pm
Photo courtesy of Katelyn Moore
BARRE – Katelyn Moore took this photo at about 5 p.m. today when a double rainbow emerged in the sky after a brief rainstorm hit the area. Moore took the photo on Gillette Road in Barre.
After a hot weekend with temperatures near 90 degrees, it will cool off a little early this week with highs locally of 80 on Monday, 82 on Tuesday and 80 on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service in Buffalo.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 28 August 2016 at 2:08 am
BUFFALO – A giant rubber duck visited Buffalo from Friday until later tonight. The 61-foot-high duck proved a phenomenon, drawing huge crowds to Buffalo’s waterfront.
I went to see “Mama Duck” this afternoon with two of my kids. Numerous selfies were taken by people of all ages.
Mama Duck visited Buffalo for the three-day Buffalo Maritime Festival. The duck, which visited Syracuse earlier this year, is now headed to Erie, Pa.
Maybe Mama Duck could come to Medina and the Canal Basin as part of the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal construction.
Next year is the beginning of an eight-year bicentennial for the canal. Construction of the 363-mile canal started in 1817 and was complete in 1825.
New York State and the canal communities should be thinking of ways to celebrate the birth of the canal. The historic waterway brought prosperity and people to these canal towns, which retain much of the architectural splendor from the canal boom days.
Mama Duck would be welcome to join the celebration.
There is a lot that we could do as a community, without waiting for the state’s commemoration plans.
We might consider a public art project with fiberglass mules and oxen, animals that were instrumental in building the canal and moving freight.
Every year from 2017 to 2025 we could introduce one or two mules or oxen that would be placed in the canal towns to celebrate our canal history.
I like the idea of a bronze memorial to the quarrymen who worked in the Medina sandstone quarries. That was a massive industry in Orleans County for about a century, employing thousands. It brought immigrants from Italy, Poland, Britain and Ireland, and many of their descendants are residents and community leaders today.
Buffalo – with its rebirth on the waterfront with the original canal terminus – has proven the public enjoys history with some whimsy.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 August 2016 at 2:37 pm
CARLTON – Julie Schaeffer and her husband Mike hold the 30-pound, 14-ounce Chinook salmon that Julie caught to win to the $4,000 grand prize in the Orleans County Fishing Derby. They are pictured Sunday at an awards program at the Carlton Recreation Hall.
The Schaeffers travelled 200 miles from Sligo, Pa. to fish in the derby. They have been coming to Orleans County to fish since the early 1980s. Mr. Schaeffer’s father Henry was a charter boat captain locally for 16 years. He also fished in the derby that ended Sunday and was on the leaderboard before being knocked out by a bigger fish.
In addition the grand prize, Julie Schaeffer, 58, took three other spots on the leaderboard with fifth place finishes for Chinook salmon, brown trout and rainbow trout. (Fifth place is good for $50 awards.)
The grand prize fish is the biggest she’s ever caught. She hooked the fish with a Dreamweaver spoon. She and her husband, who are both retired from a glass factory after more than three decades of work, were about 8 miles out in the lake in an area known as the “30 bar.”
The Schaeffers time their visit to Orleans County to coincide with the annual fishing derby, which started Aug. 6 and ended at 1 p.m. on Sunday. They also enjoy fishing trips to the Florida Keys.
“It’s relaxing being out on the water,” Mrs. Schaeffer said. “You never know what you’re going to catch.”
Her husband called her, “a fishing machine.”
Mike Waterhouse, the county’s sportsfishing promotion coordinator, serves as emcee at the awards program. Ed Fancher (left) is the derby’s treasurer. He is writing checks for the $8,800 in prize money that was given away.
There were 426 entries in the derby, which was down from 644 last year. Some bad weather, especially on the weekends, kept some anglers away. The derby is run by the Albion Rotary Club. It has been ongoing for about 35 years, making it one of the longest-lasting derbies on Lake Ontario.
The derby awards prizes in four divisions: Chinook salon, brown trout, rainbow trout and lake trout. The prizes include $500 for first, $300 for second, $200 for third, $100 for fourth and $50 for fifth. In addition, $200 goes to the Orleans County resident that catches the biggest fish.
Patrick Pullinzi of Hamlin holds the first place brown trout at 15 pounds, 7 ounces.
Other division leaders include: 30 pounds, 2 ounces for a Chinook caught by Tom Shatzer of Chambersburg, Pa.; Rainbow trout – 14 pounds, 1 ounce by Robert Griffith of Akron, Ohio; and Lake trout – 21 pounds, 1 ounce by Scott Bengsch of Webster.
Brian Snook (right) of Holley won biggest fish caught by an Orleans County resident (a $200 prize) with a 28-pound, 8-ounce Chinook, which was also third biggest Chinook overall. He is pictured with his brother Bill Silpoch of Holley who won the Orleans prize last year. Bill is holding Brian’s son, Jack Snook, 2.
Photo by Tom Rivers – Lake Ontario is pictured at sunset in this photo last week at Lighthouse Christian Camp in Barker.
A Pennsylvania woman is back in the lead for the $4,000 grand prize in the Orleans County Fishing Derby, which continues until Aug. 21.
Julie Schaeffer is atop the leaderboard with a Chinook salmon weighing 30 pounds, 14 ounces. Schaeffer of Sligo, Pa., led the derby briefly with a 27-pound, 4-ounce salmon. But she was passed by Tom Shatzer of Chambersburg, Pa., who caught a 30-pound, 2-ounce Chinook.
But Schaeffer on Friday became the second person in the derby to reel in a 30-pounder.
There are $8,800 in prizes up for grabs in the derby, which is organized by the Albion Rotary Club.
Divisions leaders earn $500 prizes. Shatzer was bumped from the grand prize of $4,000, but he now leads the Salmon Division and is in line for the $500 prize.
Other division leaders include: Rainbow Trout/Steelhead – 13 pounds, 5 ounces, caught by Donna Kaylor of Elmore, Ohio; Brown Trout – 15 pounds, 7 ounces, caught by Patrick Pullinzi of Hamlin; and Lake Trout – 14 pounds, 3 ounces, caught by Hunter Westcott of Hamlin.
The derby also includes a $200 bonus award for biggest fish caught by an Orleans County resident. Gerald Slack of Medina leads with a Chinook at 26 pounds, 13 ounces.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 August 2016 at 5:52 pm
BARKER – The lighthouse at Golden Hill State Park, known as the Thirty Mile Point Light, was built in 1875, less than a mile west of the Orleans County line. Is it pictured Sunday evening during sunset.
By Kristina Gabalski, Correspondent Posted 19 July 2016 at 8:23 pm
Photos by Kristina Gabalski These 15 chicks were gathered up from their temporary quarters on the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds on Monday and transported to state Department of Environmental Conservation property in the swamps of northern Genesee County. Here they await their journey in a carrier.
KNOWLESVILLE – Orleans County 4-H’ers successfully raise and release pheasants as part of a program through the State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Fifteen young pheasants were released into the wild Monday afternoon by members of the Outback Orleans 4-H Club. The club participated for the first time this year in the DEC’s Cooperative Day-old Pheasant Chick Program.
Club leader Adam Hazel says the club received the chicks the first week of June and the young birds were cared for by 4-Hers and 4-H staff on the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds.
“At first they had to be incubated with a heat lamp,” Hazel says. As the birds grew, “we had to build cages and stalls.”
The birds began flying by June 15 and most recently were kept in a large stall in the Knight’s Building on the fairgrounds. Hazel and club members gathered the 15, eight-week old chicks Monday evening and transported them to the DEC’s Wildlife Management Area on Albion Road in Oakfield, where they were released into the wild.
Hazel says the program helps to build the pheasant population. The young birds will eat insects now that they are in the wild. They were fed a high-protein chicken feed while being cared for by Outback Orleans.
According to the DEC, about 60,000 day-old chicks are hatched and distributed to cooperators through the chick program each year, including 30 Cooperative Extension 4-H programs. The birds must be released on lands open to public hunting.
Orleans County 4-H Outback Orleans club leader Adam Hazel removes the pheasant carrier from his vehicle just prior to release while club members look on.
Members of the Outback Orleans 4-H club released the young pheasants in a meadow area near woods on DEC property.
The pheasants were slow to leave the security of their carrier. Most walked into the tall grass while a few of the birds took flight upon leaving the carrier.
The area where the pheasant chicks were released is off Albion Road in Oakfield is part of a DEC Wildlife Management Area.
Residents asked to conserve water ‘whenever possible’
Photo by Tom Rivers Even the Courthouse Lawn in Albion, one of the most recognizable front yards in Orleans County, hasn’t escaped the effects of too little rain. The grass has turned yellow.
Press Release, DEC
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos today issued a drought watch for the entire state of New York following consultation with the State Drought Management Task Force and Federal partner agencies.
“While most public water supplies are still generally normal throughout the state, below normal precipitation over the last 9 months, low stream flows, and reduced groundwater levels have prompted the need for this action,” Commissioner Seggos said. “We are encouraging residents throughout the state to conserve water whenever possible during the coming months.”
A watch is the first of four levels of state drought advisories (“watch,” “warning,” “emergency” and “disaster”). There are no statewide mandatory water use restrictions in place under a drought watch.
However, local public water suppliers may require such measures depending upon local needs and conditions. The last drought watch in New York State was issued in 2002.
The drought watch is triggered by the State Drought Index, which reflects precipitation levels, reservoir/lake levels, and stream flow and groundwater levels in nine designated drought regions throughout New York. Each of these indicators is assigned a weighted value based on its significance to various uses in a region.
Observed precipitation has been less than normal with shortfalls of 4 to 8 inches common over the last 90 days. The dry weather dates back to the Oct. 1 start of the “water year” and is beginning to significantly affect other water metrics. Stream flows and groundwater levels are well below normal throughout much of the state.
Groundwater levels were seasonally worse in June compared to May and they are not expected to improve in the immediate future due to the existing precipitation deficit.
The following are some conservation tips that homeowners can take to voluntarily reduce their water usage:
• Fix dripping and leaking faucets and toilets. A faucet leaking 30 drops per minute wastes 54 gallons a month.
• Raise your lawn mower cutting height. Longer grass needs less water.
• If your community allows watering, water lawns and gardens on alternate mornings instead of every day. Less frequent watering will develop grass with deeper roots, and early morning watering minimizes evaporation.
• When using automatic lawn watering systems, override the system in wet weather or use a rain gauge to control when and how much water to use. A fixed watering schedule wastes water. Irrigate only when needed.
• Sweep sidewalks and steps rather than hosing them. Eliminating a weekly 5-minute pavement hose-down could save between 625 and 2500 gallons of water per year depending on the flow rate.
“Conserving water is important all year long, but particularly during extended dry periods,” Commissioner Seggos said. “By voluntarily reducing water usage, and being extra careful with fire and outdoor flames, New Yorkers can help conserve our natural resources during these dry days of summer.”
YATES – A juvenile bald eagle was photographed this morning by Paul Salmons from his home at the end of North Lyndonville Road on Wescott Lane, an area near the Shadigee by Lake Ontario.
Photo courtesy of Paul Salmons
Salmons said many of his neighbors have spotted the eagle in recent months dining on fish from the lake.
Photo courtesy of Paul Salmons
“Such a beautiful bird,” Salmons wrote in an email.
