By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 May 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos courtesy of Chris Busch – The former Baughn’s Shoe Store is getting a makeover as “a lily and a sparrow.”
MEDINA – A storefront that was a shoe store since 1960 on Main Street in Medina is getting a new look. The former Baughn’s Shoe Store is getting a new façade.
Baughn’s closed last year after being a downtown mainstay for more than a half century.
Laura Gardner bought the building at 438 Main St. and moved her shop there. Gardner is owner of “a lily and a sparrow,” a women’s clothing, jewelry and fragrance store.
Gardner opened the store in 2010 at 510 Main St. The former shoe store gives her more room for the business.
Chris Busch, chairman of Medina’s Planning Board, said the new look will give the downtown a boost.
“That whole job will be transformative for the building,” Busch said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 May 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
GAINES – An apple orchard on Route 98 in Gaines is full of apple blossoms in this photo taken at about noon today.
New York, the country’s second-leading apple state behind Washington, is out in bloom with white blossoms dotting the landscape in fruit country.
“Grab your cameras and take a drive this weekend,” Jim Allen, president of the New York Apple Association, said in a news release. “We’ve got more than 11 million trees across the state and they are putting on a gorgeous show right now.”
The state’s apple trees generally didn’t mind last winter’s cold temperatures and snow, Allen said. The apple trees actually need a certain number of “chilling hours” before they can develop next year’s buds, he said.
This year’s bloom is actually slightly ahead of the 2014 bloom, which was two weeks behind the perennial schedule. A late spring means less chance of crop-damaging frost such as New York saw statewide in 2012. Apple buds progress from dormant brown tips to green tips, to bright pink clusters as the buds start to open, to full white flowers.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 May 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Marsha Rivers – The Orleans County Youth Board honored these adults – Jeannine Larkin, Kathie Valley and Dr. Clark Godshall – during the 33rd Annual Youth Recognition Banquet at Hickory Ridge Golf and Country Club.
HOLLEY – The Orleans County Youth Board honored 20 youths for community service and, in some cases, for extraordinary efforts in their families.
The students and three adults with a long record of commitment to youths were all recognized on Thursday evening during the 33rd Annual Youth Recognition Banquet.
The Youth Board chose two honorees for the Helen Brinsmaid Professional Award, given to a paid professional “whose work exceeds normal expectations.”
Dr. Clark Godshall has been superintendent the past 16 years at the Orleans/Niagara BOCES. He has been a role model to school administrators and a strong advocate for Orleans County youths. Godshall expanded services for students with disabilities, added electives for students and boosted adult programming at BOCES.
Godshall has pushed for student achievement and academic rigor with a leadership style that is thoughtful, compassionate, empathetic and serious, the Youth Board said.
Jeannine Larkin has worked for the Orleans County Child and Family Services since 1992. For the past decade she has been a supervisor of foster care/preventive services after working as a caseworker in child protective, preventive and youth diversion services.
She oversees a staff that usually is working with 150 children receiving services in the foster care/preventive unit.
“In Jeannine’s line of work, there are no easy answers, no quick fixes, many sleepness nights, countless hours away from her own family and very few win-win situations,” the Youth Board said.
Larkin remains passionate about her job and is committed to local children.
“She is often putting the pieces together for families broken by all manner of social problems of social problems or finding a forever family for children who have suffered neglect or abuse,” the Youth Board said.
Todd Draper, a sergeant with the Medina Police Department, was the event’s keynote speaker. He is pictured with Kathie Valley, who was his fourth grade teacher.
Kathie Valley of Medina was presented with the Eileen Heye Adult Volunteer Award. Valley is a retired elementary teacher from Medina who continues to tutor students who need extra one-on-one attention.
She helps on parent conference days and evening events at the school. She looks for ways to boost parent involvement. She advocates for children by facilitating the United Way campaign at the school district. She volunteers with Habitat for Humanity, a Medina food pantry, the Festival of Lights, and at her church as a Sunday School teacher.
The Youth Board also recognized the following students for their outstanding service:
Albion: Kevin Alvarado-Rosario, Adryan Cheeseboro, Jordan Deskins and Morgan Seielstad.
Holley: Samantha Barniak, Cameron Bennage, Claudia Drechsel, Zachary Farruggia and Lucas Silvis.
Kendall: Tania Arellano, Marisa Hanlon, Taylor Kingsbury and Kellie Moore.
Lyndonville: Trevor Bentley, Rachael Kiefe and Keighlin O’Connor.
Medina: Aracely Hernandez, Abigail Maines, Jonathon Thomas and Emma Wilson.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 May 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – The 9-inch-wide lockers in the high school, which are about 40 years old, will be replaced with ones that are a foot wide as part of a capital project at the three school buildings as well as the bus garage. The high school would go from 1,200 lockers to 800 because of the wider lockers.
ALBION – The school district is proposing a $14.3 million capitol project on Tuesday that will address numerous maintenance issues and infrastructure upgrades.
The project includes work in the elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as the bus garage and athletic facilities.
The $14,370,548 project for building reconstruction, energy and safety improvements will be 91 percent covered by state funds. The district has its 9 percent share, $1,286,000, already in a local reserve fund, school officials said.
The capital project was discussed during a public hearing on the budget Tuesday at the LGI Room at the high school. Kirk Narburgh, a partner at King & King Architects in Syracuse, detailed the scope of the work. Narburgh is an Albion graduate.
The project would replace half of the roofs, upgrade parking lots, improve drainage on athletic fields, resurface the track, and add some exterior lighting and utilize more LED lights.
The District Office, currently housed in what was intended to be a temporary metal building in the 1964, would be demolished and those offices would shift to existing space at the middle school.
“The district office has exceeded its useful life,” Narburgh said at the hearing.
Kirk Narburgh outlines the proposed capital project at Albion Central School.
The capital project would also include stronger doors at school entrances and card access controls.
“We’re going to solidify the entrances more,” Narburgh said.
The fire alarm would be replaced with a new system at the elementary school, which would also see a relocated flag pole to the front of the building, HVAC upgrades, additional exterior lighting, and a new playground on west side.
The elementary school would also receive a shading system on the south side to reduce solar heat gain in the warmer months.
The work at the elementary school adds up to $5,249,261.
The capital project also will replace some single-pane windows in the middle school with more energy-efficient windows, upgrade the sound booth, improve the boiler and heating system, add exterior lights to northeast side of the school, widen the sidewalk by bus loading zone and replace decaying steel hand railing with aluminum ones.
The middle school work would cost an estimated $5,730,265.
At the high school, the 1,200 high school lockers that are less than 9 inches wide would be replaced with 800 lockers that are a foot wide. The bigger lockers would allow students to better store their thick backpacks and winter coats.
The high school library would also be repurposed with new technology to meet the needs of the 21st Century.
The high school track would also be resurfaced and better drainage would be added to the football field.
The high school improvements would cost an estimated $2,851,885.
The capital project would also include work on the bus garage, adding an emergency generator, and new doors and lighting at an estimated $539,137.
Voting for the project, budget and other propositions will be Tuesday from noon to 8 p.m. in the elementary school’s Conference Room A near the community entrance in the back of the school.
Shawn Liddle, the district’s assistant superintedent for business, discusses factors in the budget that will reduce taxes.
Residents will also vote on a proposed $33,240,940 budget reduces spending by $310,111 or 0.92 percent. The tax levy would drop by 1 percent to $8,355,939.
This is the eighth budget in the past nine years where the district has either kept the tax levy the same or cut it.
Shawn Liddle, the district’s assistant superintendent of business, said the district runs a cost-effective operation while maintaining many programs and opportunities for students.
Albion has a per pupil cost of $17,705, which compares to the state average of $23,218, and an Orleans County average of $20,213, Liddle said.
Albion will see payments to the retirement system drop by $398,000 in 2015-16. The district also expects to save about $145,000 with staff retirements. The district will maintain staffing and all of its programs in the new budget, but retirees will be replaced by less experienced staff with smaller paychecks.
The district also budgeted a $133,000 decrease in tuition through the Orleans-Niagara BOCES and $72,000 less in debt service payments.
Rising salaries for district staff is the biggest increase in the budget at an additional $478,000.
The budget vote on May 19 also includes propositions to spend $460,000 for buses and $680,411 to be collected for Hoag Library.
Two candidates are unopposed for five-year terms on the Board of Education, including incumbent Marie Snyder and Chantelle Sacco. Snyder works as a welfare fraud investigator and Sacco is an engineer. Incumbent John King decided not to seek re-election to the volunteer position.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 May 2015 at 12:00 am
Employees get no raises in 2015, 2 percent for each of following 4 years
ALBION – The County Legislature and about 200 county employees have reached a new 5-year labor deal where employees won’t get a raise in 2015, but will get 2 percent raises each year from 2016 to 2019.
The CSEA membership approved the pact on Friday with the Legislature giving it an OK on Wednesday.
“I am very proud of our negotiating team for putting together a creative, fair and very practical deal,” said David Callard, Legislature chairman. “I am very appreciative of the CSEA team for being open minded and being respectful to the needs of the taxpayer. We worked together and came up with what I believe is a win-win contract.”
The agreement calls for all employees to pay towards their healthcare costs. Some employees had been excluded, but starting in 2017 all will pay towards health insurance costs.
All employees will also begin migrating to a high deductible healthcare plan with a health savings account. Deductibles will be $1,500 for singles and $3,000 for family plans, with the county continuing to pay 50 percent of the annual deductible.
The deal should save the county about $75,000, “conservatively,” in overall costs when the healthcare savings are factored in with the pay raises over the five years, said Chuck Nesbitt, the county’s chief administrative officer.
“This has been another successful step in a long-term strategic plan to work closely with our bargaining units to make cost-effective benefit changes to employee healthcare,” Nesbitt said.
As a young boy I had several pet crows over the years. This of course is illegal now. Although they eventually returned back to the wild (I allowed them to roam free) they were very interesting to study and have as pets.
I always named a young crow “Joe” because they could learn to say “Hello Joe” quite easily if they hear it repeated enough. This would happen without splitting their tongues as old myths claim you had to do to get them to imitate the human voice.
A pet crow is always getting into trouble stealing some item from people and then hiding it. One of my crows loved to take coins or a pair of sunglasses and hide them behind the wheel of the car. When I worked at the golf course someone nearby had a pet crow and it would fly over to the greens and steal golf balls.
One of my pet crows would either ride on the handlebars of my bike or fly above me when I went over to my girlfriend’s house. He would sit on the roof for about a half an hour and then start a ruckus, calling to let me know it was time to go home.
Another would occasionally follow Dad and me when we went pheasant hunting and we always had to be alert of where he was as not to accidentally shoot him. Gunfire didn’t bother him and he would perch on the barrel of my .22 and not fly off when I shot. That one was a character as he would hold a lit cigarette in his beak until it burned down enough that the smoke bothered him. I brought a miniature smoking pipe one time and when I offered it to him he would grab it and sit there holding it in his beak like he was smoking!
All these pet crows made good watchdogs and nothing entered the area around our house that they didn’t see and would alert you with loud calling. This of course alerted the dog that would then join in with her barking.
Crows in large numbers can be a serious threat to crops or nesting birds such as ducks. They especially like corn that is just sprouting. They also can be a problem with their droppings and noise when they gather in huge roosts at night, as was the case in the town of Auburn a few years back.
However, overall crows can be beneficial because of the great amount of destructive insects, such as grasshoppers and cutworms, that they eat. They will eat about anything including road kill, garbage, fruit, mice, small birds and even dead fish washed up on shore.
They were hunted heavily in the past because of the damage they caused but this never seemed to effect their numbers. I believe that DDT caused them a lot of problems in the past as it did with other birds such as our Bald Eagle. No one ever worried about the crow though like they did about the eagles. When I think back on it now, many of the nests we checked for baby crows as kids had broken eggs just like the problem the eagles were having. Of course little was known about the negative effects of chemicals on our wildlife at that time.
It seemed that for a long time you just didn’t see many crows in the fields. In more recent times, with the wiser use of our chemicals, they seem to be on the upswing again.
An interesting thing about crows is that they tend to remain in a family groups. In fact, sometimes the younger family members that are not paired up may help build a nest or feed the young.
They build nests of sticks and line them with soft things like grass or feathers. They will use hardwood trees for a nesting site but prefer evergreen trees. The eggs, usually four, are greenish with brown spots. After hatching, the young leave the nest in about three weeks but travel as a family for a considerable time.
Crows are known for their “caw, caw, caw” calls but they also make a great many other noises which sometimes do not even seem to be of bird origin. Their loud and aggressive calling is often heard when they gang up and decide to harass a hawk or owl. The chase will build in intensity and all the crows in the area will join in. They will repeatedly chase, dive-bomb and harass any hawk or owl that enters their area in hopes of driving them off.
Crows are interesting birds and very intelligent. You may want to take the time to notice their lifestyles sometime. Heck, you may learn something from them, but don’t start smoking!
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 May 2015 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Gary Sicurella, a firefighter with the Fancher-Hulberton-Murray Fire Company, is pictured on May 4 when a brush fire spread to a wooded area in Murray at Red Rock Ponds.
Press Release
Governor’s Office
Gov. Andrew Cuomo today announced that New York State has extended the ban on residential brush burning until May 21 due to continued dry conditions across the state. Open burning of debris is the largest single cause of spring wildfires in the state.
“State officials have worked hand-in-hand with local firefighters to help contain a rash of wildfires that have broken out across New York in recent weeks,” Cuomo said. “With dry weather conditions persisting, I am extending this burning ban to better protect the health and wellbeing of New Yorkers who may find themselves and their property in harm’s way. I urge everyone to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves, their neighbors and the first responders.”
The eastern, central, southern and far northern regions of the state are rated as having a high risk of fire danger, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation. The Southern Tier, Lake Ontario, and Adirondack regions are rated as having a moderate risk of fire danger. Additionally, the red flag warning is a short-term, temporary warning, indicating the presence of a dangerous combination of temperature, wind, relative humidity, fuel or drought conditions which can contribute to new fires or rapid spread of existing fires. This year, 110 fires have burned nearly 3,600 acres.
While all wildfires in New York are now contained, numerous state agencies deployed resources over the past two weeks to help battle wildfires in the eastern New York.
On May 5, Governor Cuomo activated the Fire Operations Center at the New York State Emergency Operations Center in Albany to monitor and assist with a large brush fire in Ulster and Sullivan counties.
The Roosa Gap Fire in Sullivan and Ulster counties was caused by debris burning and consumed more than 2,700 acres. The fire is now contained. Patrols continue to monitor the site to ensure there are no flare ups.
All trails in the Hunter-West Kill Wilderness area in the town of Hunter, Greene County, are now reopened. The Department of Environmental Conservation closed these trails on May 8 while the Heavenly Valley Road Fire burned over 110 acres.
“We are urging the public to be mindful that during periods of dry weather and gusty winds, brush fires can ignite from anything that can create a small spark,” said Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner John P. Melville. “A lightning strike, a discarded match, or even a car backfiring, could cause a dangerous fire. It is important to take precautions to protect our neighbors and our property from situations that can quickly go from bad to worse.”
Since 2009, New York State has enforced a residential brush burning ban for towns with less than 20,000 residents from March 16 through May 14, the period when most wildfires occur. Some towns, primarily in and around the Adirondack Park and Catskill Park, are designated “fire towns,” and open burning is prohibited year-round in these municipalities unless an individual or group has a written permit from the Department of Environmental Conservation.
Burning garbage is prohibited year-round. Violators of the open burning regulation are subject to both criminal and civil enforcement actions, with a minimum fine of $500 for a first offense.
Campfires using charcoal or untreated wood are allowed except in the Catskill Forest Preserve. All campfires in the Catskill Forest Preserve continue to be banned through May 21 due to the continued high fire danger as a result of the dry weather conditions. Campfires should never be left unattended and must be extinguished.
Since the ban was enacted, the average number of spring fires per year has decreased from 3,297 to 1,425 or 43.2 percent. To view an updated map of fire danger ratings in New York, click here.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 May 2015 at 12:00 am
Chris Bourke, long-time lieutenant at Sheriff’s Department, would be Bower’s undersheriff
Photo by Tom Rivers – Randy Bower, right, and Chris Bourke want to lead the Sheriff’s Department. Bower is running for Orleans County sheriff.
HOLLEY – Randy Bower is staying in the race to be Orleans County’s next sheriff. Bower has the Conservative Party endorsement and will appear on the November ballot.
Last Thursday, the Orleans County Republican Party Committee endorsed Tom Drennan, the current chief deputy, to be sheriff. Drennan secured just over 60 percent of the GOP Committee’s support, getting 6,151 votes to 3,951 for Bower, a long-time dispatcher for the county. The committee has 75 voting members and uses a weighted voting system.
Bower said on Tuesday he hasn’t decided if he will force a Republican Primary. But he said he isn’t withdrawing from the race.
He will be campaigning with Chris Bourke, a lieutenant in the Sheriff’s Department. Bourke started his 31-year career as a corrections officer in the county jail and has worked as a deputy on road patrol. He has been a lieutenant the past 18 years and is the department’s K-9 handler.
Burke and the Deputy Sheriff’s Association support Bower for sheriff.
“Randy is an organizer,” Bourke said. “I have no doubt he can do the job.”
Bower, 50, has worked with Bourke for nearly three decades. Bower has been a dispatcher, relaying information to Bourke and other officers in the field. Bower has been active in the community in numerous other ways, running a custom apparel company with John Cole, coaching youth soccer, basketball and baseball.
He was also the Holley girls varsity basketball coach for four years. That team lost every game its first two years with Bower, but it became a playoff team his third season. Bower was Genesee-Region coach of the year that year in 2010.
He also has been chairman of a bocce tournament the past 15 years in Hulberton, part of the St. Rocco’s Festival the Sunday before Labor Day. That tournament draws teams from throughout Western New York and Ontario, Canada.
Bower is in a wheelchair. He has been paralyzed from the waist down since a car accident when he was 18.
“I’m challenge-driven,” he said. “I love a challenge. I’m self-motivated and I have the ability to motivate others.”
Bower said very supportive friends and family helped him recover quickly from his accident 32 years ago. He said he lives a blessed life with his wife Robin and their children: Jessica, 23; and Jacob, 20.
The accident hasn’t prevented him from an active and athletic life. He said he loves his job as dispatcher. (He also was a member of the Sheriff’s Department’s Off-Road Patrol from 1992-1998, riding all-terrain vehicles to help locate missing persons, stolen property and respond to other situations.)
Bower wants to be sheriff because he said he has the leadership skills, vision and communication skills to run the department and serve the public.
“I’m seeking the endorsement of the people of Orleans County,” Bower said at his home on Route 31 in Holley. “I know how to treat people.”
Randy Bower
Bower was 18 when he worked for the Group W Cable company in Brockport, a company that was precursor to Time Warner. He installed cables on the telephone poles.
After his car accident in October 1983, Bower was hospitalized for three months. He returned to work at Group W, this time as a dispatcher.
He was hired as an Orleans County dispatcher in 1986 by former sheriff David Green.
Bower has worked 29 years as a county dispatcher, teaming with law enforcement and other emergency responders, including firefighters and ambulance staff. The dispatcher position has evolved over the years with more technology and training, working with members of the public in crisis situations.
It’s a job that Bower says requires “strict composure” and the ability extract vital information while remaining diplomatic and compassionate with the callers.
Before a big upgrade in 1998, when dispatch moved from the jail to the Public Safety Building, Bower and the dispatchers also ran the jail control room, a key part of the facility’s security.
Bower’s campaign for sheriff has picked up support from many Republican Committee members, the Deputy Sheriff’s Association and the Conservative Party leaders. He presented to them a plan for the five divisions of the Sheriff’s Department, a plan that he said would make for a more efficient department, better service to the community and more revenue for the county.
The jail is the largest division of the Sheriff’s Department with 33 corrections officers, two cooks, a superintendent and eight other part-time COs.
The jail has a capacity for about 80 inmates. Bower said many of the inmates are “chemically dependent,” suffering from heroin, opiate and other addictions. He would like to see more services in the jail for those inmates to help them break the cycle of addiction.
“There is a revolving door right now,” he said.
He said he would pursue state funding to finance the drug addiction programs.
“There would be 0 tax increase to the county,” he said.
He would also push to have the county’s K-9 team regularly visit the jail to ensure no drugs are being brought in.
The county currently has two welfare fraud investigators through the Department of Social Services. Bower would like to add a fraud investigator to the Sheriff’s Department, a position that could ultimately save taxpayers’ money.
Bower and Bouke want to see more community policing with more police visibility, especially in the Lyndonville and Kendall communities.
The Sheriff’s Department Civil Division handles papers for evictions, orders of protection, summons and executions, and income and property executions. Those duties are currently handled by deputies while on patrol. But emergency calls often prevent deputies from delivering the paperwork in a timely manner.
Bower would like to have an officer assigned to that function to ensure the papers are delivered without delays. It would also free up deputies to focus on their other work. The civil work can generate revenue. Some attorneys have hired private contractors to do the work because the Sheriff’s Department often didn’t deliver the papers on time, Bower said.
The dispatchers also work with Kathy Smith, the county’s animal control officer. Bower said she handles about 2,000 calls a year, and also cleans the animal shelter and feeds the animals. It’s a big job. Bower would like to see a deputy on staff who would assist with the animal control calls and also be deployed for other police calls.
With dispatch, the county about six months ago started handling calls for the State Police. However, Bower said the state police cars aren’t tracked by the dispatch center, meaning dispatchers don’t know where the closest car is for a call. He would push to have the state troopers be full participants in the county dispatch system, and he also said the state should pay the county some money for the dispatching work.
Bower also wants dispatchers to have the capability of getting video links to the five school districts in case there was an incident in the schools needing a police or emergency response. If the schools allowed dispatch the video links, Bower said school officials would be notified if dispatch was in the school system’s video system.
“We want the public school video links,” Bower said. “We could see if there was an active shooter or other problems.”
Bourke said he supports Bower’s goals. He also has worked closely with Bower for 29 years, and witnessed his impact on others on a daily basis.
“It’s a leadership thing and Randy is the person,” Bourke said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 May 2015 at 12:00 am
MEDINA – The proposed STAMP site across the Orleans County line in Alabama could become the Village of Medina’s largest sewer customer, using up to 3 million gallons a day at the village treatment plant.
The Village Board agreed on Monday to a memorandum of understanding with the Genesee County Economic Development Corporation. The village would provide sewer for the Science Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park, with GCEDC paying for running sewer lines to the 1,250-acre STAMP site.
GCEDC would pay the current village rates, although a deal could be made for a break in sewer charges in exchange for a host community agreement with money going to the village’s general fund.
“This will help stabilize the sewer fund for years to come,” said Medina Mayor Andrew Meier.
There isn’t an immediate impact because a tenant hasn’t committed to the STAMP site yet. GCEDC is lining up service providers for infrastructure.
The Medina sewer plant is currently permitted for 4.5 million gallons a day. Medina typically treats 1 to 2 million gallons a day, depending on the weather. If there is a big storm or snow melt, the plant sees more use.
Although the plant has a 4.5 million gallon permit capacity, it could treat least 7 million gallons a day, Meier said. The village is tackling some improvements at the plant to increase the capacity to about 10 million gallons.
Even with the agreement for STAMP, Medina still has plenty of excess capacity to serve development projects in the village and Medina area, Meier said. The final agreement still needs to be approved with GCEDC, and Meier said the deal will allow reserve capacities for Medina to serve businesses in the Medina community.
The final agreement could also include a provision for money for the village’s general fund through a host community agreement. That would generate money for the village’s general fund, and ease some pressure on Medina taxpayers.
If the host community agreement is in place, GCEDC could get a break in the sewer rate.
“We’re still working on the details,” Meier said.
The Village Board wants to support the STAMP project, which could bring an estimated 10,000 jobs to the site in full build out over an estimated 15 years or more, GCEDC officials said. They anticipate another 50,000 jobs from STAMP in the region. Meier said Medina is ideally situated for “feeder industries” that would work with companies at STAMP.
The sewer plant with all of its unused capacity is a major asset for Medina, Meier said.
“It’s a huge economic development resource we have in Medina,” he said.
The route from Medina to Alabama for the sewer lies hasn’t been determined yet. That is being studied by engineers.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 May 2015 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Walter Jakubowski of Albion is pictured with some of the photographs he has featured in an exhibit about the Pratt Opera House and the restorative efforts from 2013 to 2015.
ALBION – One photo from 10 years ago shows former Congressman John LaFalce and former Albion Mayor Ed Salvatore in the Pratt Opera House. The floor is covered in pigeon droppings and pigeon carcasses.
More recent photos show the same stage in the Pratt Opera House cleaned, sanded and refinished.
Walter Jakubowski, an Albion photographer, has been taking photos in the Pratt since 2013. He documented some of the restorative efforts by Michael Bonafede and his wife Judith Koehler.
About 20 of those photos will be on display in an exhibit opening Saturday at Salih Studio at 24 East Bank St. There will be an opening reception from 2 to 5 p.m. The exhibit runs until June 20, and will be open from 2 to 6 p.m. on Thursdays through Saturdays.
One of Jakubowski’s photos shows a ticket from a performance at the Pratt Theatre.
The exhibit also includes old seating charts and some historic photos of the Pratt, where construction on the third floor building started in 1890.
The opera house seated 400 and hosted numerous plays, theater events and other live performances. By World War II, the opera house was largely dormant and its chairs removed so the steel could be salvaged during the scrap metal drives.
The opera house would spend about 70 years pretty much out of the public eye. The site was falling in disrepair when Bonafede and Koehler purchased it in 2005.
The couple was on the tour with LaFalce and Salvatore. The former mayor asked the Bonafede family to take on the project, seeing a restored opera house as a major draw for Albion.
The family has done extensive work on the opera house and the entire building. The opera house has more work to be done. It doesn’t yet have a certificate of occupancy.
Jakubowski has many photos of the interior of the Pratt following an extensive cleanup effort and restorative work.
The first and second floors on the building on North Main Street are home to 11 tenants, up from two when the Bonafede family acquired the property.
“We feel like we’ve salvaged the building,” Michael Bonafede said today. “We didn’t achieve our dreams but we’re ready for someone to take it to the next level.”
Bonafede and Koehler said they would consider an offer for the property from “someone with the right vision.”
Jakubowski wanted to document the efforts by Bonafede and Koehler, and also highlight an important building in Albion’s history.
“People used to have rocking times up there,” he said. “It’s part of the cultural history of the area.”
Jakubowski said generations of people have been driving by the building without seeing or appreciating the opera house. He wanted them to get a glimpse of the grandeur.
“I think a lot of people aren’t aware of what’s up there,” he said today while hanging his photos at Salih Studio. “It’s tucked up on the third floor and people don’t see it or think about it.”
