By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 24 March 2015 at 12:00 am
KNOWLESVILLE – Orleans County officials and residents can hear about a $500 million state proposal to expand broadband Internet throughout the state, including in rural pockets that do not have reliable service.
David Salway, director of NYS Broadband Program Office, will be at the 4-H Fairgrounds today at 10 a.m. to discuss the initiative. He will be at the Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension on Route 31.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is pushing for $500 million in state funds for internet service providers willing to match the state dollar-for-dollar. The companies will be required to offer 100 megabits per second download speeds for the expansion, however “in certain limited cases, providers may offer 25 Mbps speeds to the most remote unserved and underserved areas of the state,” Cuomo said in January.
Orleans and Niagara counties have been working together to improve broadband service in the two counties, especially in the sparsely populated rural areas.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 24 March 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Four teams competed in the semifinals of the GLOW region mock trials on Monday at the Orleans County Courthouse.
In the top photo, Dylan Beckman serves as an attorney for the team from Batavia and questions a witness.
Amanda Conrad, a witness for Attica, responds to questioning from Becca Canale, an attorney for Batavia.
The fictional case centered on the treasurer of a Booster Club who was accused of stealing $45,200 to feed a gambling addiction.
Albion and Medina both have mock trial teams but they did not advance to the semifinals. The competitions are held at courthouses in Batavia, Warsaw and Albion.
Monday was Orleans County’s turn to host the event inside its historic courthouse, built in 1858.
Becca Canale was one of the attorneys for Batavia. She presents her closing argument to Chad Murray, the judge for the competition.
Madhu Vihani, a lawyer for the Attica team, presents documents to the team from Batavia.
The smaller courtroom on the first floor was used for the competition between teams from Avon, on left, and Notre Dame in Batavia.
Nic Culver of Medina, a freshman at Notre Dame, was a witness for his team.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 March 2015 at 2:05 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers – Firefighters work to put out a fire in a garage on Fancher Road in Clarendon at about 1 p.m. today.
CLARENDON – Joe Blair leaned on a pickup truck and watched a life’s collection of tools and a restored 1938 Chevy owned by his father go up in flames.
“At least it’s not a life,” Blair said at about 1 p.m. today while firefighters brought a garage fire under control.
Holley firefighter Rick Cary sprays water on the fire.
Blair was welding in his garage, behind his mother Rose Blair’s home at 4244 Fancher Rd. The car he was working on quickly was engulfed in flames. Blair was surprised how fast the fire spread.
“I’m lucky I got out,” he said. “It went up so quick.”
The dispatch call went out at 12:31 p.m. Dark smoke spewed from the scene.
Several fire companies responded to the blaze and kept it from spreading to the house next door.
A Fancher-Hulberton-Murray firefighter enters the garage after the flames were put out.
This provided photo shows flames shooting out of the garage.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 March 2015 at 12:00 am
BARKER – A company looking to build 60 to 68 wind turbines in the towns of Yates and Somerset will have a public meeting April 1 about the project.
The open house style meeting will be from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Barker Fire Hall, 1660 Quaker Rd.
Apex Clean Energy will discuss areas being considered for the project – “Lighthouse Wind.” The turbines collectively would generate about 200 megawatts of power, enough to power 59,000 homes, Apex officials said.
Each turbine would generate about 3 megawatts of power, up from the 1.5 to 1.8 megawatts with turbines about a decade ago. The Apex turbines would also be more than 100 feet taller than the ones in Wyoming County. The Apex turbines would be about 550 feet high from the ground to the top of the turbine blade.
The projects would bring the prospect of significant revenue to the towns, school districts and Orleans and Niagara counties, while also paying landowners to have the turbines on their land.
“Both the landowners and towns stand to profit,” Taylor Quarles, development manager for Apex, said during a public meeting Dec. 9 at Yates Town Hall.
Many residents in the two towns have formed an opposition group, Save Ontario Shores. That group believes the turbines pose many negative impacts, including reduced property values of nearby residents, noise and shadow flicker, disrupted wildlife and other issues.
“We are concerned about the wellbeing of all the residents, including the wildlife,” wrote Save Ontario Shores President John Riggi and Director Roger Barth in a Feb. 20 letter to the editor on the Orleans Hub. “We want to ensure that landowners are protected and that our towns clearly understand the health risks, lifestyle changes, and transformation of the character and ecology of the entire area prior to making decisions and signing contracts.”
For more information about the project, click here.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 March 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Julie Wantuck, president of the Holley Teachers Association, has attended rallies and forums against Gov. Cuomo’s plans and actions about education. She is pictured last week in a hallway at Holley Middle/High School.
HOLLEY – At this time of the year, school officials are usually close to ironing out the final details for school budgets that will go before residents in a public vote in May.
State legislators and the governor are also in the final week before a deadline to pass the state budget. Normally, an unclear fiscal picture comes into focus for school officials by the end of March.
But this year, school officials still feel very much in the dark about their budgets and that’s because their biggest source of revenue, state aid, is an unknown from Albany.
“The main thing right now is the governor is holding our school districts hostage,” said Julie Wantuck, president of the Holley Teachers Association.
Gov. Cuomo refused to provide aid projections for about 700 school districts in January as part of the governor’s budget, an unprecedented move. He is trying to pressure state legislators to approve educational reforms, including a new system for evaluating teachers.
The governor wants 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation to be based on student scores on standardized tests. Right now 20 percent of the score is based on those assessments.
Wantuck, a high school English teacher, said it’s wrong to put so much emphasis on one test.
“If the governor’s job performance was evaluated on one day, whether all the state legislators were in for a vote, what would his evaluation look like?” Wantuck said.
The current system for evaluating teachers puts much of the weight on local control and subjective factors, such as evaluations from principals, Cuomo said.
Julie Wantuck wears this button.
He calls the current evaluations “baloney” because 99 percent of teachers state-wide are rated effective even though he said only 38 percent of high school graduates are considered ready for college or careers.
Wantuck said other factors play a role in student performance, in particular poverty. She said the governor should focus on those issues if he wants to elevate student scores.
“Why is he going after the teachers and vilifying them?” Wantuck said. “I think he’s hitting on sound bites to sway public opinion.”
A poll last week from Quinnipiac University showed the public disapproved of the way the governor is handling public education by a 63-28 margin. In a nearly 3-to-1 margin, New Yorkers oppose using state test scores for making high-stakes decisions about teachers.
Wantuck said the governor is trying to build support for charter schools, at the expense of public school districts. She worries districts like Holley will see an exodus of state funding and students as the governor tries to direct more resources to charter schools.
“They’re creating a two-tiered system,” she said.
She attended a rally in Spencerport about education issues last week. Teachers have been holding rallies and forums around the state, trying to push back against Cuomo.
She is critical of Cuomo’s withholding of aid numbers, using that tactic to sway the State Legislature to fall in line with his proposals.
“There are rules for preparing budgets and the School Boards have to follow them,” Wantuck said. “But the governor isn’t following his own rules. Where is the integrity in that?”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 March 2015 at 12:00 am
Mark Irwin, a village official the past 18 years, attends his last Village Board meeting tonight after opting against re-election on March 18. Irwin has been a village trustee the past six years, and was on the Village Board for 12 years before that. Trustee Mike Sidari is at right.
MEDINA – Two Village Board members were praised for their service tonight, the final meeting of their terms as village trustees.
Both Mark Irwin and Mark Kruzynski opted against re-election on March 18, when Todd Bensley and Owen Toale were elected.
Irwin served three terms over six years. He favored the dissolution of the village government, seeing it as an effective way to lower the tax burden on village residents. A referendum to dissolve the village failed, 949-527 on Jan. 20.
“The dissolution vote was good for the community,” Irwin said during tonight’s Village Board meeting. “It was a good airing out.”
He regretted the Medina community continues to have the highest combined tax rate – village, town, county and school district – in the Finger Lakes region at $57.27 per $1,000 of assessed property. Irwin said that high tax rate devalues homes and drives away potential residents and businesses.
Mark Kruzynski
“Sadly, Medina is still the highest,” Irwin said about the tax rate. “I don’t think that’s anything any one of us can be proud of.”
He wished the incoming board success in bringing down the tax rate. The Village Board will meet with officials from the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway at 7 p.m. on April 15 to discuss shared services. The session will be at the Shelby Town Hall.
“There’s been much talk about shared services,” Irwin said. “I hope it comes to be. So far those talks haven’t been too fruitful.”
Irwin is a retired corrections officer. In his outgoing remarks tonight he mentioned the late Ernie Orgar, Tom White and Marcia Tuohey as dedicated village officials who influenced him, offering encouragement even when they differed on issues.
Kruzynski, Medina’s high school principal, has been on the board for four years, following two years as an alternate on the Planning Board. Kruzynski thanked the village employees and the board members for their dedicated service to the community.
Trustees Marguerite Sherman and Mike Sidari thanked Irwin and Kruzynski for their countless hours on the community’s behalf the past several years.
ALBANY – Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he won’t sign a new state budget without ethics reform in Albany. The governor also is insisting other reforms, including teacher evaluations, be approved as part of the budget.
Cuomo’s communications director, Melissa DeRosa, issued this statement on behalf of Cuomo this afternoon:
“The governor and the legislative leaders are in the midst of ongoing budget discussions which have intensified as we have gotten closer to the budget deadline. As rumors swirl in the Capitol, several issues should be clarified.
“The governor has stated repeatedly and clearly that ethics reform was a top priority and that he wouldn’t sign a budget without ethics reform. Nothing has changed. A budget done with both houses must include ethics reform. The governor believes that the concerns of legislators who have outside employment such as a law practice have been addressed consistent with his program for increased ethics disclosure and transparency. The Assembly obviously has already agreed with the governor’s ethics package and has numerous members with outside employment. The governor said he would not sign off on a budget that doesn’t include the ethics reforms he outlined, and he meant it.
“Education reform is another top priority in this budget. The key education reforms are dealing with the epidemic of failing schools, improvement to the teacher evaluation system, tenure reform, teacher performance bonuses and scholarships to attract new teachers. If those reforms are passed, the governor will support a significant funding increase. The governor believes these changes will be transformative to our education system.
“The DREAM Act is supported by the Assembly and the Education Tax Credit is supported by the Senate. Last year, neither initiative was passed. The governor believes at this point, that either both will pass or neither. The governor supports passage of both and included them in his budget. If they don’t pass in the budget, they could still pass in regular session.
“The governor supports a pay commission and included it in his original budget. The charter cap and mayoral control for New York City are issues that can be addressed in the budget, or more likely in the remainder of the session. Regardless, both should be addressed before the conclusion of the session.
“Other top priorities in the budget include raising the minimum wage, a small business tax cut and real property tax relief, the governor’s $1.5 billion Upstate Revitalization Initiative, statewide broadband, a Thruway stabilization fund and a substantial increase in funding for affordable housing.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 March 2015 at 12:00 am
MEDINA – The Village Board has been told it has violated Civil Service rules by having temporary paid firefighters for an extended period.
Jack Welch, the Orleans County director of personnel, advised the Village Board members last week that the village needs to address the situation.
The village created a temporary paid firefighter position 18 months ago. It was first created for a year and then was extended another six months. The Village Board created a second temporary paid position about six months ago.
Fire Chief Todd Zinkievich asked the Village Board tonight to make the two positions permanent. He estimated the two positions, as permanent full-time jobs, would cost about $4,000 to $4,500 more each annually than the temporary positions. That doesn’t include health insurance costs.
Zinkievich said the two positions have helped reduce overall overtime costs for the department, and also allows the department to answer nearly every call on a speedy basis. He said revenue increases in the ambulance service – higher mileage reimbursement rates and increased out-of-district charges – should more than cover the added expense for the two full-time permanent positions.
Village Trustee Marguerite Sherman said the board would likely request a little more time from Welch to resolve the issue. The board briefly discussed the matter during its meeting tonight, before going into executive session behind closed doors.
Zinkievich urged the board to reach a decision soon.
“We need to have serious dialogue,” he said. “We can’t let this drag out.”
The fire chief said the union for firefighters is willing to make concessions in its new contract if the village would make the two positions permanent.
Zinkievich also reported that firefighter Ashton Lang passed the test to serve as a paramedic.
“We have another paramedic on staff so that is excellent,” Zinkievich said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 March 2015 at 12:00 am
ALBION – A Buffalo man with a previous criminal history was sentenced to 3 years in state prison for selling drugs in Albion.
Timothy Cobb, 31, of 1015 Lafayette Ave., Buffalo, was arrested on June 4, 2014 and charged with numerous drug crimes. He pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree.
Cobb has multiple felonies and misdemeanors in his past, Orleans County Court Judge James Punch said during sentencing this afternoon. He sentenced Cobb to 3 years in state prison and 3 years of post-release supervision.
In other cases:
A Rochester man admitted he sold cocaine from a vehicle on McKinstry Street in Albion on Oct. 6, 2013.
Timothy J. Turner, 33, of 451 Mount Read Blvd., in Rochester, pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree. As part of a plea deal, he will face a maximum of 3 years in state prison when he is sentenced on June 29.
If the sentence exceeds 3 years, Turner can withdraw his plea and go to trial.
A Holley woman admitted she had oxycodone, a prescription narcotic, with the intent to sell it on Dec. 6.
Lauren A. Hennekey, 19, pleaded guilty to CPCS in the 5th degree and CPCS in the 7th degree.
Judge Punch accepted her into Drug Court. If she is successful in the program, the more serious CPCS charge will be dismissed and she will be sentenced to the misdemeanor charge of CPCS in the 7th degree.
