By Kristina Gabalski, Correspondent Posted 22 October 2015 at 12:00 am
District also approves buying produce from Partyka Farms
KENDALL – Board of Education Recognition Week is Oct. 26-30 and members of the Kendall BOE were honored at the board’s October meeting on Wednesday.
The five members of the board were presented with certificates recognizing their service. District Superintendent Julie Christensen said the district also had a gift for board members which they would receive in the near future and also read a proclamation from Governor Andrew Cuomo designating the last week in October as a time, “…acknowledging the commitment and contributions of members of local school boards.”
“They are volunteers, they receive no compensation,” Christensen said, noting Board of Education members work to support students and are rewarded by seeing students flourish. Their job involves “countless hours” of work.
“We appreciate your support,” Christensen told the board that includes President Nadine Hanlon, VP Chris Gerken, Charles Patt, Martin Goodenbery, and Chaley Swift.
In other business, board members awarded a bid to Partyka Farms in Kendall to provide fresh local vegetables and fruit to the school.
“We will be getting apples, cabbage and tomatoes from our local farmer,” Hanlon said.
Board members also approved a proposal for new elective courses which may be offered at the Jr./Sr. High School next year. Principal Carol D’Agostino said students were surveyed regarding what courses they would like to see offered and teacher input was also collected. She explained that good electives “energize the staff, and are courses students want to take.”
Potential new course offerings include robotics, world history on film, cooking around the world, fish and wildlife conservation biology, computer skills/keyboarding, statistics, AP physics and video game design.
During the visitors’ comments portion of the meeting, two members of the Kendall Sr. Class, who are also part of the school’s video game design club, spoke in favor of offering the game design elective.
Both Jake Richardson and Austin Clay told board members the elective should “be approved for a class.” Clay noted the course would fit well with the STEM curriculum. They told the board the game design club currently has 21 members.
Principal D’Agostino explained that decisions are still pending on exactly which courses will be offered. “Just because you approve them doesn’t mean they will run,” she said.
She noted there currently are staff members available to teach the courses. “We want to provide Kendall students with every opportunity,” D’Agostino said.
Christensen said the innovative electives would “help keep students here as well as prepare them for life after high school.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 October 2015 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
CLARENDON – A row of trees with changing leaves runs along Brown Schoolhouse Road, a dirt road in Clarendon, on Tuesday.
Today is forecast for a high of 60 with showers likely, followed by a high of 61 with more rain likely on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service in Buffalo.
Friday will be sunny with a high of 48, followed by a high of 59 on a mostly cloudy Saturday, and a high of 56 on Sunday with a chance of showers.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 October 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Medina Memorial Hospital had many health professionals available to take questions and provide information during a health fair on Tuesday at the hospital.
This group provides physical, speech and occupational therapy. The group includes, front row, from left: Brenda Zimmerman, occupational therapist; and Nancy Fallon, director of rehab and a speech therapist/language pathologist.
Back row: Sheryl Bates, physical therapist; Cory Lewis, physical therapist; and Caroline Lewandowski, speech therapist.
Two staff members for the Urgent Care site in Albion, which now has Netflix available in rooms while patients wait for the doctor, talk about services for the site.
Nikki Helsdon, seated with an episode on House playing on her laptop, is the registration supervisor for the Urgent Care site. Joanna Miller, in back, is director of the Albion health care site, which opened in November 2012 by Orleans Community Health, parent organization of Medina Memorial Hospital.
Nick Callara of Medina took questions at a pharmacy station. Callara is a pharmacy intern at the hospital and a senior at St. John Fisher College.
The health fair also included a chance for a massage from either Katie Crooks or Gary Condoluci.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 October 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The Arc of Orleans County celebrated the opening of the “Snack Shack” today with a ribbon-cutting at the Arnold Gregory Memorial Complex at 243 South Main St.
The Snack Shack had a quiet opening last month, with people served by The Arc selling snacks, baked goods, soda, coffee, ice cream, fruit and candy. The site has added breakfast and lunch sandwiches.
Robert Gallagher mans the cashier and accepts money from Darlene Golson after she bought a beverage and a snack.
Karen Appleman, an Arc employee, is pictured in back left. Arc staff provide some oversight and assistance for the Snack Shack, but the goal is to have the site be run by people served by The Arc, giving them work experience and job training so they could transition to other employment in the community, said Melissa Cotter, employment services coordinator for The Arc.
She estmated 5 to 10 people served by the Arc would work regularly at the site, which is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. this month and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. beginning in November.
Robert Greer makes his coffee at the Snack Shack. He is president of the Self-Advocacy All-Stars at The Arc.
Ben DeGeorge and his father Joe purchased the Arnold Gregory site in December from Ray Lissow. Ben DeGeorge asked The Arc to consider running a snack shop in the spot near the front entrance of the facility.
DeGeorge added furniture for people to hang out and relax. He said about 250 people are in the building each day.
The site is used by The Arc for Rainbow Preschool, and offices for the agency’s family services and community living staff. Other doctors and professional staff also use space at Arnold Gregory, a former hospital.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 October 2015 at 12:00 am
Candidates asked about adding school resource officers, body cams, and boosting diversity among officers
Photos by Tom Rivers – Steven Aldstadt, president of SCOPE in New York, serves as moderator of a candidate forum on Wednesday evening for the three people running for sheriff, including from left in back: Tom Drennan, Don Organisciak, and Randy Bower.
ALBION – In a candidate forum organized by the New York Revolution and the Orleans County chapter of SCOPE, two groups staunchly opposed to the SAFE Act, the first question for three candidates for sheriff didn’t waste any time on the controversial gun control law.
Candidates Randy Bower, Don Organisciak and Tom Drennan were all asked if they would enforce the SAFE Act.
Bower and Drennan said they wouldn’t. Organisciak said he would.
Most of the law, passed by the State Legislature in January 2013 after a mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, was just upheld by a federal court.
Drennan, the chief deputy for the Sheriff’s Office, said the law “needs to be repealed.” He told 200 people at the candidate forum that he wouldn’t push officers to enforce that law if he is sheriff.
“We won’t be knocking on anybody’s door, checking their guns and ammunition,” he said.
Bower, a public safety dispatcher who won the Republican primary over Drennan last month, noted that every Orleans County town and village board, as well as the county Legislature, opposed the SAFE Act and have called on its repeal.
“As sheriff I work for the people,” Bower said at the forum at the Elk’s Club. “If you don’t want it enforced, I won’t enforce it. The sheriff works for you, the people.”
Don Organisciak speaks during a sheriff candidate forum.
Organisciak, a retired Medina police officer and investigator, said he would be obligated to enforce the SAFE Act as sheriff. He is endorsed by the Democratic Party.
“It’s a big issue,” he said about the SAFE Act. “The SAFE Act is a law and I have to enforce the law as sheriff.”
The candidates were asked numerous questions in the forum that lasted about 80 minutes. They were also allowed to make opening and closing statements.
Bower said he would push for a drug treatment program in the county jail, and more community policing, especially in the rural areas. He wants the Sheriff’s Office to have a stronger relationship with local school districts. Ideally, he said two officers would be assigned to work in each school district.
“We spend a lot of money protecting everything else but our children,” Bower said. “We need to be in our schools.”
Randy Bower answers a question during the candidate forum.
After a 30-year career in Medina, Organisciak worked two years as a school resource officer in Lyndonville. The school district had several bomb threats before Organisciak was brought in and he said those issues went away by the end of his two years.
He also developed a rapport with students, and that helped solve other crimes. He would favor a school resource officer in each district. Only Medina has an officer now in the schools with the school district paying towards an officer’s salary from the Medina Police Department.
Organisciak said the county should pay for a school resource officer for Kendall because that district doesn’t have a village police force. The other communities might work out paying for an officer through the school district or the village police department, he said.
Drennan said he meets regularly with the school superintendents and there is talk about the schools making an office available for officers, who could also stay for lunch and get to know students.
Organisciak said he is running for sheriff to give residents a choice in the election, and to also put his 30-plus years of experience to work for the county. He would make professionalism his main mission for the Sheriff’s Office, making training and proper equipment a priority for the officers and staff.
“I want to bring back the professionalism,” he said.
Tom Drennan, a 23-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, has worked his way up through the ranks, including the past nine years as chief deputy.
Drennan lost a close Republican primary by 21 votes. He remains a candidate through the Reform and Independence parties.
He said he has the experience and commitment to take the Sheriff’s Office to a higher level of professionalism. He wants to make the Sheriff’s Office an accredited agency through the state. That would establish procedures and standardization for deputies and staff, Drennan said.
Organisciak also said he would support accreditation because it would make the Sheriff’s Office more efficient and reduce insurance costs. Bower said he wasn’t convinced about the accreditation because he doesn’t want the state dictating how the Sheriff’s Office is run.
Both Drennan and Bower have said who would serve as their undersheriff. Bower named Chris Bourke, a lieutenant with the Sheriff’s Office with three decades of experience. Drennan on Monday announced Brett Sobieraski, a sergeant with the Rochester Police Department and a Kent resident, would serve in the role if Drennan is elected.
Organisciak said he is interviewing people for undersheriff and may make an annoucement next week. His choice as undersheriff will have law enforcement experience, he said.
Organisciak and Drennan said the election is for the sheriff.
“You’re not voting for the undersheriff,” Organisciak said. “You need to lead by example.You’re the sheriff.”
Mattie Zarpentine, a leader of New York Revolution, said the group wants to help educate voters about the candidates and encourage people to vote on Nov. 3.
Drennan reluctantly named an undersheriff because he said the issue was becoming a distraction. Sobieraski has a 27-year career in law enforcement, starting with the Lockport Police Departmentand then the past 23 years with the Rochester Police Department, including the past 15 as a supervising sergeant with the Greater Rochester Area Narcotics Enforcement Team.
Sobieraski also has been a training officer, and Drennan said the Sheriff’s Office has several new deputies who would benefit from training and mentoring from Sobieraski.
Drennan said he would be an active leader for the Sheriff’s Office, and would be capable of helping with investigations and other issues.
“This whole race should be about the sheriff,” Drennan said. “The sheriff can’t rely on the undersheriff doing the work for him.”
Bower said Bourke is well known among residents, business owners and highway workers. Bourke is accessible and would be a leader with community policing, Bower said.
Bower said he is striving to build a team in the Sheriff’s Office that would serve the community from law enforcement, emergency communications, the jail, animal control, and the civil division.
The candidates were asked about turnover in the Sheriff’s Office, with some deputies leaving to work for other departments.
Organisciak said the Sheriff’s Department used to be the top destination for law enforcement in the county, but that started to change about 15 to 20 years ago. Some deputies left the Sheriff’s Department to work for either the Albion or Medina Police Departments. Others left to work in neighboring counties.
Organisciak said the county needs to be committed to training and the proper equipment to keep deputies.
“I would bring professionalism, integrity and loyalty back so it is a place men and women want to come to work,” he said.
Don Organisciak answers a question in the debate. Mattie Zarpentine, front left, and Steve Aldstadt are in the front table with a crowd of about 200 behind them.
Drennan said the county hasn’t been as competiive with pay, not only with surrounding counties but also with Albion and Medina police. That gap has narrowed in recent years, he said. The Sheriff’s Office should at least be able to match the pay of the local village police departments, he said.
However, some nearby counties pay a third more to double the pay offered by the county.
“We’ve made some adjustments with pay,” Drennan said. “We’ll never meet Monroe, Niagara or even Genesee, but we have to at least pay what the villages do.”
Bower said boosting morale for the employees will be a top priority.
“We will make it a place where the men and women really want to work,” he said.
The candidates were also asked about increasing diversity among deputies and staff, and the possibility of the Sheriff’s Office taking over all local law enforcement or perhaps more shared services with the village police departments.
The candidates all said they favor a diverse staff. Drennan said there are several deputies who are women. He would welcome officers who are black, and urged them to take the Civil Service exam and apply.
The county is pursuing a grant that would study shared services among existing police departments and the Sheriff’s Office, with the possibility of dissolving the village police and having the Sheriff’s Office expand its work.
Bower and Organisciak said they worry the village residents would get less service in such a scenario. They would only back it with village approval.
Drennan said the Sheriff’s Office could handle the added work with more deputies and staff. He said the Sheriff’s Office would have to add police substations outside Albion in such a scenario, which he said might make the most sense for the county’s policing services.
The three canddiates all said they were open to body cameras on officers because they cameras can help prove cases or make cases stronger when evidence is presented to the district attorney. The cameras also would raise the level of professionalism.
“It’s a good tool to help officers get up to another level,” Organisciak said.
All three candidates also said they would work to uphold the Constitution and would bring a strong work ethic to the job.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 October 2015 at 12:00 am
Tyler Rotoli has a passion for football, mentoring young players
Photos by Tom Rivers – Tyler Rotoli greets members of the Albion JV youth football team when they are introduced before a Sept. 19 game versus Medina.
ALBION – Last Friday, Tyler Rotoli ran for 142 yards in leading the Albion varsity football team to a 27-14 win over rival Medina.
Early the next morning, Rotoli was at his job at Burger King at 5:30, getting the Main Street location ready for the day. He worked till lunch and then hustled to Oakfield to join a team of 10- and 11-year-olds from Albion. That team had a big playoff game against Medina.
Rotoli is one of the coaches of the youth team, the offensive coordinator for a group that likes to throw the football and break off long runs. Rotoli has taught the team more than 70 plays, many of the formations and techniques from the varsity team.
Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Tyler Rotoli fights for yardage in a 14-12 loss on Sept. 25 to East Aurora/Holland.
This year was the first time the JV youth squad made the playoffs in years.
Rotoli has juggled his varsity schedule, his work at Burger King, and his homework with a devotion to practices and games with the youth team.
“He’s a natural born leader,” said head coach Geno Allport, who coached Rotoli when he played on the youth teams. “He has the passion and he has the heart.”
Allport said it’s unusual to see a high school player anywhere in the region be so committed to working with a youth program. Besides Rotoli, Jared Hollinger also has been working with the Albion youth program. Hollinger is a junior lineman for the varsity team.
Rotoli is running back, quarterback, linebacker, whatever position the teams needs him. He preaches unselfishness and a “Team First” attitude for the youth players. He fires them up before the game, and shouts encouragement and instruction throughout the contests.
After a tough loss to Medina on Sept. 19, Rotoli gathered the group on the sideline, reminding them to keep working hard in practices. The team would close out the regular season with several victories.
After a tough loss to Medina on Sept. 19, Tyler Rotoli gathered the youth JV team, offering encouragement and motivation to keep working hard in practice and the rest of the season.
“I just want to give back to the next generation and be a positive role model,” Rotoli said. “You don’t really remember the wins and losses. You remember the coaches.”
Rotoli, 17, said Allport has been a steady and positive influence in his life for many years.
“He’s been there through the ups and downs,” Rotoli said.
He knows some of the players need male role models. That is part of his drive to be at the practices and games, even when he is fighting exhaustion.
“All I want to do is touch another life,” Rotoli said. “I want to be that big brother to somebody else and motivate them.”
Rotoli aged out of youth football after seventh grade. In eighth grade, he offered to help with some of the youth teams. His younger brother Junior plays on this year’s JV team. Two of Rotoli’s cousins, Amari and Javon Jones, also are on the team.
Rotoli found as an eighth-grader that the kids responded to his instruction. The following year he took an on-line program and became a certified coach. That program makes sure coaches know proper techniques for tackling. (Click here for more information.)
Rotoli impressed Allport and the other coaches with his grasp for the game, his analysis of the players’ strengths and how to devise plays to best use those talents.
Allport said Rotoli typically calls the plays on offense, and the team usually finds the end zone several times a game.
“I gave him freedom to run the offense because he knows what he’s doing,” Allport said.
Most of the JV youth players would watch Rotoli during Friday home games at the varsity field. The next day, Rotoli would join them for their game. Allport said Rotoli inspires the kids “to see where they can go” as a varsity player.
Rotoli is considering majoring in criminal justice in college so he can work as a police officer. Allport is hopeful Rotoli will stay in the area after college, and continue to coach and work with the youth football players.
Allport also said Hollinger has been a big help with the youth football program. He and Rotoli help set up the field and with clean up after the games.
“You’re not going to find kids that busted their butts more than those two,” Allport said.
Tyler Rotoli and Geno Allport, head coach of the Albion JV youth team, talk strategy before Saturday’s playoff game versus Medina.
Rotoli said he would like to be a coach in the future. He enjoys the life lessons with the game, and often gives fiery speeches to the players.
“If you work hard, you get good outcomes,” he tells the players when they’re doing push-ups or finishing sprints.
“You got to be disciplined,” he bellows.
Rotoli said spewing those words has been good for him. It reminds him he needs to keep working hard, too, including the early morning shifts at Burger King following an away game on Friday.
“I’m preaching you need discipline and perseverance,” he said. “It motivates me, too.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 October 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Rae Kwon Riley, an Albion third-grader, paints a pumpkin today in the high school ag shop.
He is one of about 700 elementary students who are enjoying a fall festival through the FFA this week.
FFA students spent a few hours on Saturday picking about 800 pumpkins from Panek’s for the festival.
Jayden Lewis gives his pumpkin a personal touch. Jayden and Rae Kwon are both in Kelly Robbins’ class.
Here are some of the painted pumpkins by elementary kids. The Fall Festival will continue on Wednesday, with more students painting pumpkins and trying other stations.
FFA member Ellen Narburgh slices apples, and Dylan Sherman, center, and Nick Calkins provide some muscle with an old-fashioned cider press.
The Albion FFA is one of the oldest chapters in the state, dating back to 1927.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 October 2015 at 12:00 am
ALBION – A Medina resident pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated and could face a 1 to 3 year sentence in state prison.
Justin R. Carpenter, 31, of Medina was charged with felony DWI and aggravated unlicensed operation after he was stopped Aug. 22 by state police.
Carpenter admitted in Orleans County Court on Monday that he had been drinking on Aug. 22. He registered a 0.20 Blood Alcohol Content, 2 ½ times the legal limit.
He has a prior misdemeanor DWI from November 2006 in the Town of Shelby.
Carpenter could have faced a maximum of 1 1/3 to 4 years in state prison, but as part of a plea deal on Monday the sentence will be a maximum 1 to 3 years. He will be sentenced on Feb. 1.
In other cases in County Court, the following were arraigned:
Stacy Hamilton, 31, of Yates-Carlton Townline Road, Carlton. She is charged with grand larceny in the third degree, and endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person in the first degree. She allegedly took about $15,000 from an elderly person, who she was managing the finances for, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Stuart J. Rodden, 25, of Medina was arraigned for violating probation. He was previously arraigned on Oct. 5 for driving while intoxicated and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the third degree.
Rodden was charged on Aug. 7 following the investigation of a motor vehicle accident with an unregistered dirtbike on South Lyndonville Road (Route 63) in the Town of Ridgeway. The DWI and AUO represent a violation of his probation.
Jeddida Manning, 19, who was an inmate at the Orleans Correctional Facility before being moved to the Lakeview Correctional Facility in Oswego County.
Manning has been charged with aggravated harassment of an employee by an inmate after he allegedly bit a corrections officer, and exposed the officer to Manning’s blood. Manning is currently serving a sentence of 2 to 6 years for attempted arson and criminal possession of stolen property.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 October 2015 at 12:00 am
Not quite a bumper crop in 2015
Photos by Tom Rivers – This photo shows an apple in an orchard on East State Street near the Butts Road intersection in Albion.
Local apple growers say the weather for the harvest season has been ideal for picking and packing the fruit.
New York is the country’s second-leading apple growing state, behind only Washington State. In a big year, NY will harvest 30 million bushels or boxes of apples. This year, the crop is expected at 26 to 27 million bushels. A frost over Memorial Day weekend damaged some of the buds and blossoms, taking a chunk out of this year’s crop.
“We are the second-largest apple growing state in the nation, so apple fans don’t have to look any further for great apples,” said Jim Allen, president of the NY Apple Association. “They will be glad they did, because closer means fresher, more flavorful apples.”
This photo shows a bin of apples at Excelsior Farms in Point Breeze.
Orleans County is NY’s second biggest apple producing county, behind Wayne County.
By Kristina Gabalski, Correspondent Posted 20 October 2015 at 12:00 am
HOLLEY – What began as a snag in late August has now become an impasse in talks between the Village of Holley Development Corporation (VHDC) and the EPA over the turn-over of eight “Diaz homes” in the village.
“This LDC is not a dumping ground,” VHDC President Daniel Schiavone said during the board’s meeting Monday evening. Schiavone reported details regarding a conference call he was on with the Village of Holley attorney and EPA officials over the EPA’s insistence that lead abatement in the homes be completed by a certified lead abatement contractor rather than by the property owner.
“The news is grim,” Schiavone said. “We are at an impasse.”
The VHDC has not signed the most recent agreement to take ownership of the homes due to wording in the agreement requiring the certified lead abatement.
Schiavone has said the cost of the abatement threatens the future ability of the VHDC to sell the homes. Additionally, the VHDC Board has learned that lead abatement contractors will not provide an estimate of the cost of the work until a survey of the properties is done to access the situation. That cost will be approximately $5,500, Schiavone says, money neither the VHDC nor the EPA has budgeted.
“As the president of the LDC, the last thing I’m going to do is get us into a position where we own the homes and can’t afford to get them cleaned up so we can sell them,” Schiavone said during the meeting.
Several of the homes are valued at less than $25,000 and with the cost of lead abatement potentially reaching $10,000-$15,000, Shiavone said he has told the EPA, “… the bottom line is that this (lead abatement) costs a lot of money, we are not going to be able to sell the homes.”
He explained that officials at the EPA are working to find a federal agency that might be able to fund the lead survey, but noted he has been surprised by, “…how uniformed EPA people are about lead clean-up. I think they are learning as they go along.”
Schiavone said eventually tearing down the homes is not out of the realm of possibility, noting the EPA is currently working to tear down the former Diaz facility in the village.
“The EPA still wants us to take these homes,” he said, and added that he understands the desire of the EPA to, “leave a trail clean for people who are going to live in these homes… but we have to reach the middle ground of reasonableness (regarding the lead issue).”
Schiavone noted that EPA officials are concerned about code violations which could become an issue the longer the properties sit vacant. Members of the board suggested that they try to contact the office of U.S. Senator Charles Schumer to see if he could be of assistance in resolving the lead abatement issue.
“Right now, everything is on hold,” Schiavone said.
Board members do no plan to meet again until January.
