Photos by Sue Cook – Dave Viterna leads the band as guitarist and singer.
By Sue Cook, staff reporter
MEDINA – To end a busy day of events in Medina on Saturday, the canal basin hosted two bands. The Dave Viterna Group started in the late afternoon and was followed by the Creek Bend Band. About 100 people attended the concert along the canal.
The group played classic rock music from Henry Glover, The Byrds and Johnny Rivers.
Photos by Sue Cook – Robert Stilwell took photographs of pets in funny poses and costumes for the event. Dilly was made to look like a ’20s swinger with the props on hand.
By Sue Cook, staff reporter
GAINES – The Olde Dogge Inn held a Pet Festival on Saturday and welcomed more than 100 visitors in the first hour. People were welcome to bring their pets for sales, demonstrations, services, portraits and psychic readings.
“People are really excited about this and having a lot of fun,” said Olde Dogge Inn owner Jennifer Stilwell. “All the animals are happy, all the people are happy. It’s just a great event and it’s getting a lot of positive response. This only reinforces our decision to bring the festival back because it definitely is drawing a lot of attention.”
Eveline Burdick attended the festival with her dog Sasha in tow.
“It’s a good way for the dogs to socialize with people and I’ve never been here and I wanted to see what they had to offer,” she said. “We always do all the pet festivals and I saw this one online.”
Festival goers could check out tents selling pet merchandise or talk to vendors about food choices. Pet rescuers were also there accepting donations and educating the public on their services.
Pet ID tags were offered at a discount price to give lost pets a better chance of getting home.
Lieutenant Christopher Bourke with the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department was there to do a demonstration with Cim, a dog that works for the department. He was contacted by Stilwell to do a demonstration.
Cim was trained in Germany and imported by the department. Bourke gives Cim her commands in German. Because the dog and trainer are so close, Cim works the same hours as Bourke and returns home with him each night.
“We’re going to talk about the dog and how we use the dog and the training the dog has,” Bourke said. “We’ll demonstrate some obedience, some drug-detection work and let the dog apprehend a pretend bad guy.”
Bourke plays with Cim for a moment because she found the drugs that were hidden.
Drug detection is turned into a game for training to make it more exciting for the dog.
Bourke demonstrated how Cim follows commands by having her sit and heel on command.
He also had her break into a full run and then had her drop into a laying position instantly. He explained that having her obey commands so quickly from a distance could potentially save her life. It could prevent her from being in harm’s way in a variety of dangerous situations.
Bourke and Deputy Jeff Cole show how Cim is used to apprehend criminals.
The Orleans County Dog Heelers 4-H club also did a demonstration at the event. The group showed off their dogs’ agility and obedience. They also performed tricks and played flyball. The club is led by Jackie Gingerich and Lindsay Moore.
Club member Abby Allen brought her chocolate lab Cody to show off his abilities.
“He’s really well trained,” she said. “He’s really good at obedience. If you tell him to sit and stay, he’ll stay there forever.”
The Dog Heelers ran their dogs through the obstacle course.
P.A.W.S. Animal Shelter also brought some pets and information about adoptions. Olde Dogge Inn helps the shelter with adoptions by having kittens in the store.
“We’re just spreading the word that we’re open. We’re in a pretty slow spot. We’re on Gaines Basin Road and there’s not a lot of traffic through there. We’re also a no-kill shelter,” said volunteer Morgan Tinkous. “We’ve had birds, ferrets, rabbits, guinea pigs. We’ve taken small animals. We don’t take in anything we’re not comfortable with.”
These cats are among the ones up for adoption. Throughout the festival, several kids came up to play with the cats.
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – A full moon is out in its glory tonight. In the top photo, the moon appears over the Orleans County Clerk’s Building.
In this picture, the moon appears between two of the columns in the front of the Orleans County Courthouse.
This picture also shows the moon peaking through the columns at the courthouse.
This one has the moon looming over the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church.
The lights cast a nice glow on the front door of Christ Church.
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Kit Lyman was back in her hometown today signing copies of her debut novel at Bindings Bookstore.
Here she greets Pat and Brad Shelp of Albion during a book-signing today at Bindings Bookstore. Lyman attended the First Presbyterian Church with the Shelps. In back, Pete Toenniessen of Albion waits to have his book signed. He was a Girl Scout volunteer when Lyman was active in Girl Scouts.
Several of Lyman’s friends and former teachers stopped by the book-signing to reconnect with Lyman, who lives in Texas.
Lyman has sold more than 1,000 copies so far of her psychological thriller, “Satan’s Garden.” She also was in Albion on Monday to lead a writing workshop at Hoag Library.
ALBION – The Orleans County Chamber of Commerce invites its members to nominate businesses, organizations and individuals who have helped the local business community.
The Chamber has set a Friday deadline for nominations for awards in the following categories:
Business of the Year: This award is presented to a business that has experienced significant overall achievements/success throughout the year. (Must be a Chamber member)
Lifetime Achievement: This award is presented to an individual with a long-term record of outstanding business achievements. (Must be a Chamber member)
Entrepreneurial Excellence: This award is presented to a company demonstrating a unique approach to business that has resulted in a strategic advantage in the marketplace through the use of cutting edge technology or other innovative methods. (Must be a Chamber member)
Phoenix Award: This award is presented to an organization or business that has successfully adapted or re-used an existing facility. (Must be a Chamber member)
New Business of the Year: This award is presented to a business or organization that has opened in the past year. (Does not need to be a Chamber member)
Community Service: This award is presented to a business, organization or individual that has provided meaningful contributions to the community in either professional or non-professional spheres. (Does not need to be a Chamber member)
The honorees will be recognized during an awards program in September. For more on the Chamber, click here.
Last year’s winners include:
Baxter Healthcare Corp. in Medina as Business of the Year, Hojack’s Bar & Grille in Carlton as New Business of the Year, OrleansHub.com for Entrepreneurial Excellence, Roger Andrews of Evans Ace Hardware with the Phoenix Award, GLOW YMCA in Medina for Community Service, Genesee-Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse for Community Service, Jodi Gaines of Claims Recovery Financial Services for Lifetime Achievement, the late Judy Christopher of Albion for Lifetime Achievement, and Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension for Agricultural Business of the Year.
Photo by Tom Rivers – The St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Fillmore is one of many church buildings in the region built more than a century ago from Medina sandstone. This church is at 109 West Main St. in northwest Allegany County.
MEDINA – Today is your last chance to nominate a Medina sandstone structure for the second class of the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame.
The Medina Sandstone Society last December inducted its first Hall of Fame class with six members.
Nominations are being sought for buildings to qualify for the second annual honor class. People far and wide can send their choices and seek recognition.
“Any building in the world constructed of that great Orleans County stone which we call ‘Medina’ is eligible and can be nominated if it is still standing and is an outstanding piece of work,” said Jim Hancock, chairman of the Hall of Fame committee.
He said typical examples might be churches, homes, monuments and public buildings but could also include special structures like the Brooklyn Bridge and Buckingham Palace.
Medina sandstone has proved durable for St. Patrick’s in Fillmore and many other churches.
“The sky’s the limit, just make ’em good choices,” he said.
The current chairman joined with David Miller and John Slack as the founding committee of the Hall of Fame. They worked for months in late 2013 to make one wall of the Medina City Hall conference chamber into an exhibit space.
In seeking nominations for 2014 the three men still follow the simple formula for proposed sandstone structures. (1) They should be outstanding or unique and significant. (2) They should have beauty. (3) They should be impressive through age and longevity and whether they are still in use. (4) They should be architecturally unique.
Nominations can be emailed to Hancock at hancock_jim@verizon.net or they can be sent to the Medina Sandstone Society, P.O. Box 25, Medina, NY 14103. The committee would like contact information for the nominated site.
Editor’s Note: The Sandstone Society will lead a walking tour today from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in downtown Medina. The tour starts at City Hall.
Orleans County will have its flags at half mast today in honor of Marcia Tuohey, a former county legislator who served 10 years as chairwoman of the Legislature. Tuohey died on Thursday.
She was committed to public service following her retirement from the Legislature on Dec. 31, 2005. She was a member of Medina’s Planning Board and was the county’s representative on the board of directors for Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.
She was the first woman elected as Medina mayor and also the first woman to serve on the County Legislature.
Photos by Sue Cook
MEDINA – Todd Bensley, the village of Medina historian, talks about the cold storage building on Main Street and why its stone is gray. Bensley was one of the speakers of the downtown historical walk today set up by the Medina Sandstone Society.
Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin explains the cornerstone location on the Medina City Hall.
Todd Bensley discusses some of the downtown buildings, including O’Brien’s Tavern. Today’s tour followed 11 interpretive panels about Medina history that were recently installed as part of a project by the Orleans Renaissance Group.
Bill Lattin tells the group about the hose-drying tower used by the firemen.
Bensley talks about the variety of downtown buildings and why so many are made of different materials.
Photos by Sue Cook
LYNDONVILLE – A team of volunteers installed a playground by the Lyndonville school campus on Housel Avenue today. The playground used to be used by the elementary school on Main Street, but that building was closed about two years ago.
About 30 volunteers worked with the school district, PTA, town and village to move the playground. The district also worked with Parkitects on the project. Ben Frasier, a Lyndonville graduate, headed up the effort for Parkitects.
“We do community builds like this all the time, but normally the stuff is new,” he said. “This is the first time where we had to rip out the equipment like yesterday.”
A team of volunteers spent today assembling a playground.
“What was great was the village, the town, the county, the school district all helped out,” he said. “Everybody pitched in to make this happen, and then seeing all the community volunteers was great. It’s great to have everybody involved in my hometown.”
Volunteers spread out wood chips on a finished portion of the playground. They finished putting up the equipment by 2 p.m. and spent the afternoon moving stone and woodchips.
Provided photo – Lee-Whedon Memorial Library welcomes artists to submit proposals for a book-shaped entrance to the children’s library.
Press release
Lee-Whedon Memorial Library
MEDINA – Lee-Whedon Memorial Library is soliciting proposals from artists for a unique project. One of the design elements envisioned in the interior renovation project was a book-shaped entrance to the children’s section.
This structure is now in place ready to be transformed and embellished by an imaginative artist.
“The interior of the library has been completely redesigned in the past year,” said Board President Maryellen Dale. “However, we still have a few visual elements to complete. We are very excited about the Storybook Entrance. We foresee it becoming an iconic part of every child’s experience at Lee-Whedon. The design should be imaginative and bring the entrance to life.”
Artists are invited to submit a detailed color rendering of the proposed vision for this feature element by Sept. 15. Submissions should include a resume/artist bio, information about past artistic projects, and photographic examples of artwork. A listing of materials to be used, a project timeline and the estimated cost should also be indicated.
For more specific information, including a budget range, please contact Catherine Cooper, the library director, at 585 798-3430.
“We expect that some of the work will be done while the library is open to the public, so that this can be a true community project,” Cooper said.
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The Albion Merchants Association put on its first wine-tasting event this afternoon and about 200 people tried wines at several spots on Main Street and in the downtown.
In the top photo, Jim Knights is dressed in a toga while sipping wine and serving as the greeter outside the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church in Albion, one of the stops on the wine tasting.
Each person on the tour received a souvenir glass with a picture of the Orleans County Courthouse. Some extras of the glass will be for sale at select Albion businesses.
Dave Licata of the Winery at Marjim Manor in Appleton serves up wine tastings to Jessica Downey, right, and her friends, Wilian and Elizabeth Penafiel, and Meghan Doherty. They are inside the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church.
Wesley Bedford drinks some wine inside Morrison Realty while attending the “Sip and Stroll Through History” event today. He is standing next to his brother-in-law Zack Burgess. Peggy Theodorakos serves as host for the event at Morrison, which is owned by her husband Jim.
Ryan Smith serves some watermelon beer at Krantz Furniture to from left: Molly Moyle, Arica Burns and Lindsey Colonna.
Fischer’s News Room served wine freeze pops made by Lake Effect Artisan Ice Cream in Lockport. These Albionites gave the wine freeze pops a good review. They include, from left: Tom O’Hearn, Dusty DeCarlo, Theresa O’Hearn and Nicole DeCarlo.
Scott Sackett of Batavia, one of the vendors at the Downtown Browsery, pours Blanc d’Orleans from Leonard Oakes Estate Winery.
Photo by Tom Rivers – Albion firefighter Carmen Quatro is pictured on top of a fire truck while watching the fireworks on July 5 at Bullard Park.
Orleans Hub set a new record for overall pageviews in July with 444,389. That topped the previous record of set in June when there was 438,579.
The on-line news site started on April 2, 2013 and keeps growing. When we launched, my personal goal was to reach an average of 3,000 unique visitors each day. That was about the combined Orleans County circulation of the Medina Journal-Register and The Daily News.
But we’re well past 3,000. In July we averaged 4,641 unique visitors each day. That was down slightly from the June record 4,757, but a little drop-off was expected with less school news and high school sports. (Mike Wertman still finds a lot of local sports to write about even in the summer.)
Here are our Top 5 stories for July in terms of “clicks,” people who clicked on the headline or followed the story through Facebook or Twitter.
1. Man arrested after manhunt in Holley (July 14)
Photo by Tom Rivers – Emmeritt Massey sits in a chair in front of her garden on South Main Street on July 18 after a bullet just missed her earlier that day while she was tending to her flowers and vegetables.
2. Handgun recovered after shot fired in Medina (July 18)
3. Holley mourns Carmelo Rivera, who starred on the football team (July 8)
4. Medina police looking for assailant (July 19)
5. Police make arrest in July 18 gunshot in Medina (July 28)
Photo by Tom Rivers – The sun is close to setting last evening over Lake Ontario in Barker.
There is a new leader of the Orleans County Fishing Derby after a 26-pound, 13-ounce Chinook was caught on Thursday.
Bill Magee of Northwood, Ohio, is the new leader of the derby and its $4,000 prize for the biggest fish.
Edward Kowalski of Scottsville leads the Salmon Division with a 26-pound, 1-ounce Chinook.
Other leaders include Destiny Bickel of Burt with an 18-pound, 11-ounce brown trout; Mike Schaeffer of Sligo, Pa., with a 14-pound, 1-ounce rainbow trout; and April Johnson of Rochester with a 16-pound, 4-ounce lake trout.
Heather Saeva of Albion is in the lead for the bonus prize given to the Orleans County resident who catches the biggest fish. She caught a 23-pound, 15-ounce Chinook.
The Albion Rotary Club will give away $8,800 in prizes with the derby, which continues until Aug. 17.
LYNDONVILLE – The playground from the now-closed elementary school on Main Street will be moved today and reinstalled by the school playground on Housel Avenue on Saturday.
The school district, re-established Lyndonville PTA and other community members will dissemble the playground beginning at 8:30 a.m. today. The volunteers expect they will be reassemble the playground from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Lyndonville is working with Parkitects, Inc. on the project. The project manager for that company is Ben Frasier, a Lyndonville graduate. The Lyndonville Area Foundation provided $7,500 for the project.
Construction materials were donated by local businesses, including Orleans Construction Company (geo-textile fabric), Shelby Crushed Stone (stone), Evan’s Ace Hardware (concrete) and Medina Hardware and Lumber (concrete). The Village of Lyndonville and Town of Yates also will provide manpower and equipment.
Photos by Tom Rivers
YATES – I’ve been on the lookout for dirt roads in Orleans County and noticed Hall Road in the town of Yates. This one isn’t too far from the village of Lyndonville. It’s a north-south road about a mile east of Route 63. It cuts across Route 18.
