By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 June 2016 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
GAINES – No one was injured in a two-car accident this morning after 9 a.m. at the 5 corners on Route 98, north of the Village of Albion.
The driver of the car pictured above drove from East Bacon Road onto Route 98, and was struck by a car headed north, an Albion police officer said at the scene.
The air bags in this car deployed in the accident. The police officer said a boy in this car bit his tongue in the accident, but was doing fine.
Albion firefighters, Albion police and Orleans County deputies were at the scene, as well as Central Orleans Volunteer Ambulance, although COVA wasn’t needed for transport.
Dan Morrow, a member of the Albion Fire Department, directs traffic near the accident. Debris was strewn onto 98 on the east bound lane near Bacon Road.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 June 2016 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The 30th anniversary of the Albion Strawberry Festival, set for next week on June 10-11, will again have royalty. The festival committee picked student ambassadors to represent the festival.
The group includes, from left: Prince Garric Winterkorn, King DeClan McCue, Queen Melissa Barnosky, and Princess Ashleigh Mowatt.
To be considered for the royalty, Albion students had to write an essay about this year’s festival theme which celebrates the historic Erie Canal. The students wrote how the canal gave birth to many canal towns, including Albion, which was originally called Newport. The canal was built from 1817-1825 in one of the country’s biggest public works projects ever. The ease of transporting goods turned New York into the Empire State, Barnosky wrote in her essay.
The royalty will be included in the parade at 10 a.m. on June 11. They will also help drop the plastic turtles into the canal during the Turtle Race at 2 p.m. on June 11.
ALBION – Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R-Batavia) today announced new summer hours for his district office in Albion. The office will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday from June 1 to Labor Day (Monday, September 5). Hawley’s office is located at 121 N. Main Street, Suite 100 in Albion.
“With summer on its way I have made the decision to change my district office hours slightly,” Hawley said. “I will still remain very accessible as your representative and encourage my constituents to stop by my office or my bi-weekly office hours to discuss issues or questions they may have about state government. The summer is an important period for legislators to spend time in their home districts gathering input, talking with residents and bringing those experiences back to Albany when the legislative session reconvenes.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 June 2016 at 12:00 am
Photos by Elizabeth Carpenter
LYNDONVILLE – This swan was out early on Memorial Day, enjoying the water by the dam on Johnson Creek. Elizabeth Carpenter was up just after sunrise to get these photos that include the patriotic display of flags on the grounds of Lyndonville Central School. “Small town with big heart!” Carpenter said in an email.
The forecast calls for sunshine and 70s the next few days. The National Weather Service in Buffalo is forecasting a high near 79 on Thursday with showers and possibly a thunderstorm before 2 p.m.
Friday is forecast to be mostly sunny with a high near 77, followed by sunny and a high near 79 on Saturday. Sunday will be a high near 75 with showers likely, according to the NWS in Buffalo.
Provided photos
MEDINA – About 20 men, including Medina police officer Jason Barnum, participated in the “Real Men Read” event at the Head Start in Medina on April 28.
The Head Start program promotes literacy, with the emphasis that parents are their children’s first and primary teacher.
Ryan and Jackson Lucas read a book together as part of “Real Men Read” at the Head Start center on Ensign Avenue.
Joe and Chloe Luxon read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle.
Medina firefighters Ashton Lang, left, and Dillon Parker were among the volunteer readers from the community.
Kyle McMullen reads to his daughter, Kylee, during the event on April 28 at Head Start.
Provided photos – Medina’s Destination Imagination teams includes, from left: Margaret Klotzbach, Elle Gross, Jack Masse, Mary Flores, Nathan Sherman, Layna Valoria and Abigail Neuman.
Press Release, Medina Central School
MEDINA – Students from all around the world, including Medina, participated in a three-day event known as Destination Imagination in Knoxville, Tenn. More than 17,000 people attended the competition, which is billed as the largest creativity gathering of its kind.
Destination Imagination works with educators and industry experts to develop seven new academic challenges in the fields of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). Students work in teams to research, design and build a solution to their challenge.
Students had the opportunity to compete, attend workshops, and develop science and space-related skills. Destination Imagination organizers say the participants are some of the most creative and innovative students in the world.
“We have students from China, we have students from Turkey, we have students from Qatar, they’re from all over the world. In fact our international participation has been growing phenomenally over the past few years and we’re really excited to give our students here in the United States a chance to interact with global participants,” says Andrew Whitmire, Associate Program Director.
Whitmire says each team spends two to four months coming up with a solution to a problem. They later present their solution at local tournaments. The teams with the highest scores compete at the state and country level. The Global Finals event is the international competition.
Medina team members are pictured in their ’60s style outfits. They include, from left: Jack Masse, Mary Flores, Layna Valoria, Elle Gross, Nathan Sherman, Margaret Klotzbach and in front: Abigail Neuman.
Seven 8th grade students from Medina High School comprised The ’60s Team. They competed in the long-term challenge, Get a Clue. The team had a few months to solve and prepare a solution where they had to present a mystery story, which was set on Earth, and chose a time period before 1990.
While on a live on stage, they discovered which of the three suspects is responsible for the mystery, and they had to quickly come up with an ending on the spot. The performance, which was presented in traverse staging, also had to include a TechniClue that helped to solve the mystery.
Luckily the team had the help of the Medina Village Police before they left for competition to learn the art of fingerprinting to crack their case in the eight-minute solution. The team also competed in the instant challenge portion of the competition that involved walking into a room where they are presented with a handful of materials. They were given about five to seven minutes to solve the problem given to them.
The Medina team is pictured with members of a team from Korea.
In addition to the competition, the students also enjoyed fabulous events hosted by the University at Tennessee. They attended an expo with hands-on exhibits from NASA and other leaders in the scientific world, a workshop on scriptwriting and had fun attending a Duct tape costume ball with the band The Exchange. They also attended a passport party, outdoor recreational activities, and met students from all over the world while pin trading.
“The experience was very rewarding,” said Medina coach Marguerite Sherman. “The enrichment the students received is something that they will grow from and treasure for the rest of their lives.”
The students and coaches would like to thank everyone who supported and helped them to have this experience.
Provided photo – Tim Moriarity, left, of Roy-Hart and and Jon Lambert of Newfane helped get the popper working at Lee-Whedon Memorial Library in Medina.
Press Release, Orleans/Niagara BOCES
MEDINA – When the popcorn machine at Medina’s Lee-Whedon Memorial Library stopped working, one of the employees suggested calling Orleans/Niagara BOCES to see if students could fix it.
“I guess her husband went to the Orleans Career and Technical Education Center to the Electricity program and thought we could help out,” said teacher Bill Leggett.
The students learn electronics and PLC programming their junior year and then residential and electrical construction their senior year so they were able to use their skills to fix the problem.
Luckily the students found the problem quickly and were able to get it back into operation that day.
“Of course we had to test it to make sure it worked properly,” laughed Mr. Leggett.
CALEDONIA – Adam Eick, an agricultural business development major at Morrisville State College, is a participant in this year’s Growmark summer internship program. Eick is the son of Ken and Kelly Eick of Medina.
As an intern, Eick will spend 12 weeks working for Growmark FS in Caledonia. He will complete a special project coordinated through the company. Eick and 60 other interns will meet in August at Growmark headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois to discuss their experiences and present a summary of their projects.
“Our internship program prepares students for real-world experiences in the workforce,” said Amie Hasselbring, Growmark university relations manager. “We provide them hands-on experience working on projects with professionals in their career field of interest. It also allows them to gain professional skills and gives them networking opportunities to prepare them for their future career.”
The Growmark internship program began in 1959 with three interns. Since then, over 1,000 students have been involved in the program. This year’s interns represent 22 universities and will work at FS member cooperatives in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Ontario, Canada; as well as Growmark FS, MID-CO Commodities, and the Growmark corporate office in Bloomington, Illinois.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 June 2016 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Della Morales, library media specialist at Albion High School, helps first-grader Drayson Shonerd put on a hat he made in the Popcorn and Paperbacks program at Hoag Library.
Morales and students in the middle and high school multicultural clubs have been reading and doing craft projects on Wednesday afternoons the past eight weeks. The program concluded its first series today, but Morales said it will return in the fall with a Popcorn, Paperbacks and Pumpkins theme.
There were about 15 regular elementary student attendees in the program. Students in the multicultural clubs would read books to the younger kids and help them with weekly craft projects.
Morales said the idea for the program popped into her head. She thanked Hoag Library and the school district for backing the effort. Tina Burgett, multicultural club advisor in the middle school and an art teacher, also was a big help, Morales said.
“It’s been a real cool program,” she said.
Participants in the program hold a banner they created that says Popcorn and Paperbacks. They are pictured by a garden outside the children’s library, where students planted flowers this afternoon.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 31 May 2016 at 12:00 am
Judge orders defendant to repay $19,317.87
Press Release, U.S. Attorney William Hochul’s Office
BUFFALO – U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. announced today that Heather Brooks, 33, of Medina, who was convicted of theft of public money, was sentenced to two years probation by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott S. Allen, Jr., who handled the case, stated that between June 1, 2010 and May 1, 2013, the defendant willfully stole Social Security Income benefits from the United States Social Security Administration by purposely under reporting income she received from two separate employers.
Brooks was asked to recertify her income on two occasions, and on both occasions, she purposely under reported, Hochul’s office stated. In total, the defendant received $19,317.87 that she was not entitled to receive. In addition to her period of probation, the defendant was ordered to pay restitution totaling $19,317 to the Social Security Administration.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Edward J. Ryan.
