ALBION – The Dye Hose firemen sat for this group photo June of 1884. In the background off Platt Street is the Albion Village Hall and Fire Department.
First row, from left: Wm Taylor, C. Dunning, P.W. Collins, secretary Warner Thompson, assistant foreman W. Stockton, E. Warner, E. Woods, F. Gould and M. Davis.
Second row: steward B. Butler, M. McLean, treasurer G. Shourds, J. Lewis, J. Bunn, John Bordwell, F. Taylor, J.C. Wilcox, J. Bradley, C.B. Lattin, B. Thurston and C. Higley.
Note the uniforms all have “DH” monograms embossed on them.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 March 2014 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Library user Donna Wolcott said the board of trustees treated former director Susan Rudnicky poorly when she was dismissed last week during regular business hours. “We wouldn’t have this library without Susan,” Wolcott said about Rudnicky.
ALBION – Supporters of Susan Rudnicky, the library director in Albion for 15 years, spoke out in her defense at tonight’s meeting of the Swan Library Association board of directors. That board on March 11 voted to dismiss Rudnicky.
One of the trustees, Mary Anne Braunbach, resigned tonight over the way Rudnicky was let go. “It could have been less public, less humiliating, and could have avoided the discomfort for all who observed,” Braunbach said while submitting her resignation.
Braunbach didn’t attend the March 11 board meeting because she is president of Friends of the Library. Rudnicky was escorted out of the library at 6:15 p.m. last Tuesday. She was walked past the group of Friends and other patrons.
“What bothers me is the way you did it,” said Donna Wolcott, a library patron. “It was very insensitive. I’m just appalled.”
The walking out of the building fed rumors in the community that Rudnicky must have done something very wrong, Wolcott said.
Rudnicky did not do anything illegal nor was there any malfeasance, said Kevin Doherty, the board president. But she didn’t follow directives from the board, an issue that had been ongoing for years, he said.
Mary Anne Braunbach, a trustee for the Swan Library Association board of directors, announces her resignation from the board tonight due to way the board dismissed library director Susan Rudnicky last week. Other board members in the photo include Dele Theodorakos, center, and Linda Smith.
Wolcott said Rudnicky was always professional with the public, and she was committed to community causes, serving as president of the Cobblestone Society Museum and a member of the Rotary Club. She also wrote grants that netted $800,000 for the construction of the new Hoag Library, which opened in July 2012.
“We wouldn’t have this library without Susan,” Wolcott said.
Another library user Judy Manley, a member of the Friends, also spoke in support of Rudnicky. Rudnicky’s long-time assistant Susie Gaylard said the board should have celebrated Rudnicky, and her tireless work to get the new library built. The board should have let Rudnicky retire. She turns 62 later this year, Gaylard said.
“I was at the Friends meeting and it was very unfriendly,” Gaylard said. “She wasn’t shown the respect she was due.”
Doherty said the timing of the dismissal wasn’t intended to fall during the Friends meeting. The Friends usually meet at 7 p.m. on a Wednesday but the time was moved to 6 p.m. on a Tuesday.
Ken Braunbach, a library supporter who is married to Mary Anne, challenged Doherty and the board to let the community know that Rudnicky didn’t do anything illegal.
“You have to get that stigma off her,” Braunbach said. “It’s unfair to Susan.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 March 2014 at 9:45 pm
ALBION – Dean London has been elected mayor in the Village of Albion with 233 votes. He had both the Republican and Democratic Party endorsements.
London’s fellow Republicans also secured three trustee positions. Eileen Banker received 170 votes and Stan Farone had 147. Both will serve four-year terms as trustee. They were up against Democratic candidates Terry Wilbert and Patricia Cammarata. Wilbert received 93 votes; Cammarata had 87.
Gary Katsanis was elected for a two-year term as trustee with 148 votes. He beat out the Democrat Sandra Walter, who received 94 votes.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 March 2014 at 12:00 am
Albion woman faces charge of second-degree arson
ALBION – A Medina man was arraigned in Orleans County Court on Monday for first-degree sexual abuse. Patrick E. Sewar, 22, of Knowlesville Road was arrested Dec. 13 for sexually abusing a child under the age of 11 in the town of Shelby.
He also is accused of molesting another child at Darien Lake on June 24. He has pending sexual misconduct charges stemming from a third incident in Ridgeway.
Sewar was arraigned by County Court Judge James Punch and sent to jail on $5,000 bail. The judge assigned the public defender to represent Sewar, who is due back in court on May 31.
In other cases in county court:
An Albion woman was arraigned on charges of second-degree arson and fourth-degree criminal mischief after allegedly setting a fire at a Beaver Street house in the village on Aug. 16.
Crystal McGuire, 21, lives on West Lee Road. She was placed in jail on $10,000 bail.
Cody Gillette, 24, of East State Street pleaded guilty to driving while ability impaired by drugs, attempted forgery in the second degree and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. He faces a maximum of 1 to 3 years in state prison when he is sentenced on June 9.
Gillette, who has a prior DWI, said in court he was driving on June 16 after consuming opiates and using marijuana. He also admitted to forging a check on June 26.
Lidio Ramirez-Figueroa, 35, of 14691 Zig Zag Rd. in Albion was sentenced to a year in state prison. He pleaded guilty to fifth degree criminal sale of a controlled substance. He admitted to selling cocaine on Nov. 9, 2012 at a house on Densmore Road.
Jose Guitierrez-Ramirez, 53, of Batavia was sentenced to a year in county jail. He pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. He was charged on Sept. 14 after being stopped in Albion.
Beau Bettilyon, 28, of Hamlin was sentenced to three months in county jail, five years of probation and also had his driver’s license revoked for a year. Bettilyon pleaded guilty to DWI on June 2, when he was stopped on Oak Orchard Road in the town of Gaines. He has a prior DWI.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 March 2014 at 12:00 am
Residents at three villages in Orleans County will go to the polls today from noon to 9 p.m. to elect members to the Village Board. Two villages have mayor positions on the ballot and in both cases the top elected official is unopposed.
In Albion, Dean London has both the Republican and Democratic Party endorsements for mayor. London, Albion’s retired police chief, has been campaigning with a Republican team that includes Eileen Banker and Stan Farone for four-year trustee positions, and Gary Katsanis for a two-year term.
Democrats are running Terry Wilbert and Patricia Cammarata for four-year trustee positions, and Sandra Walter for the two-year term.
Polls are open from noon to 9 p.m. at the Village Hall on East Bank Street.
In Medina, three incumbents appeared to be unopposed. Andrew Meier is running for mayor with David Barhite and Patricia Crowley seeking re-election as village trustees. They are seeking two-year terms under the Village Party.
Michael Sidari and Marguerite Sherman are mounting a write-in campaign for village trustees.
Polls are open from noon to 9 p.m. at the senior center, 615 West Ave.
In Lyndonville, Charles Covell is seeking a one-year as village trustee. Covell, the owner of Creekside Laundromat in Lyndonville, was appointed to the Village Board on Oct. 14, filling a vacancy created when Jim Whipple resigned after moving outside the village. Covell was appointed by Mayor Stephen McAvoy.
Polls are open from noon to 9 p.m. at Village Hall, 2 South Main St.
Holley, the other village in Orleans County, has its election in June.
In this picture taken in April of 1943, we see Eugene Mahoney and Theresa Peck. He was the chairman and she was the secretary for the Red Cross War Fund Drive in Albion.
They are adding up the totals, which exceeded the quota of $14,500 by $1,150.51. Notice she is using the Burroughs adding machine with roll of paper. This looks pretty antiquated compared to today’s calculators.
HOLLEY – Megan Gotte, a registered nurse who lives in Kent, didn’t let a blizzard stop her from providing care last Wednesday. Gotte rode her snowmobile to see a patient in Holley, who had to be seen that night.
Gotte works as an evening nurse for HCR Home Care, which serves patients and families in 19 counties in New York, including 17 rural counties. Gotte works with patients in Orleans and Genesee counties.
“HCR’s rural health care nurses routinely overcome the unique challenges of providing home care to rural residents,” the company said in a statement. “The latest evidence was during the March 12 blizzard.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 March 2014 at 12:00 am
The photo above shows what I think are cattails by the parking lot at the Holley Elementary School. It only reached about 20 degrees on Monday, but is forecast to peak at 44 today.
The National Weather Service says it will hit 50 on Wednesday. The Weather Service warns the warmer weather could have ice on the move in creeks and rivers in western and central New York, leading to flooding.
The highs will stay above freezing later in the week with 35 forecast for Thursday, 39 for Friday and 38 for Saturday.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 March 2014 at 12:00 am
MEDINA – Two write-in candidates, who announced their candidacies last week, pulled off an upset and beat the incumbent trustees for the Village Board.
Marguerite Sherman received 229 votes and Michael Sidari, 207. That topped David Barhite, 175; and Patricia Crowley, 171.
Barhite and Crowley ran under the Village Party with Mayor Andrew Meier, who was re-elected with 227 votes. There wasn’t a write-in candidate to challenge Meier. However, he did not receive the vote from 180 of the 407 voters in the election.
The terms for the elected officials are for two years and begin on April 1.
Orleans Hub readers have sent in photos of the changing seasons. Rich Miller of Kendall took this photo of the sunrise over Lake Ontario this morning at Cleng Peerson’s Point at the north end of Kendall Road.
Another Kendall resident, Mike Campbell, took a picture of the ice on Bald Eagle Creek in Kendall. The warmer temperatures today snapped some of the ice in local creeks.
Heather Kuepper of Medina took a picture of a full moon over the weekend from Martin Road in Shelby. Thursday is the first day of spring.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 March 2014 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Medina voters on Tuesday elected the following, from left: Marguerite Sherman for village trustee, Andrew Meier for mayor, and Michael Sidari for trustee.
MEDINA – Two candidates who last week announced a write-in bid for Village Board pulled off the upset victory, saying their campaign struck a chord with village residents who have wanted more information about a possible village dissolution.
“We want some transparency in village government,” said Marguerite Sherman, who won a trustee position along with Michael Sidari.
Sherman was the top vote-getter on the day with 229 votes followed by 207 for Sidari. They won two-year terms to the Village Board, outpolling incumbents David Barhite, 175; and Patricia Crowley, 171.
Barhite said a mailer to village residents from the towns of Ridgeway and Shelby on Friday played a factor in the victory for the write-in candidates. Town officials offered their opinions on scenarios should the village dissolve, saying Medina would see a reduction in services.
The taxpayer-funded letter, and its timing right before the village election, infuriated the Village Board, which fired off its own news release on Saturday.
The letter from the towns created some fear in residents, village officials said, and the voters responded at the polls. Barhite said a dissolution plan isn’t finished yet. He didn’t think the village should have commented on the plan until it was complete.
Once the document is accepted by a Dissolution Committee, public hearings will be set and residents can weigh in on the proposal, Barhite said.
Sherman and Sidari said the village should have shared more about possible dissolution scenarios, and looked at the pros and cons of dissolving the village, rather than focusing on possible tax savings. Sherman, a special education teacher at Medina and member of the Village Planning Board, worries dissolution will result in a reduction in services to village residents.
“I want to preserve our village and the services,” she said tonight after the election results were announced. “But we have to keep an open mind.”
Sherman said the write-in campaign quickly picked up momentum after last week.
“It raised an awareness with the public,” she said. “I feel like they’ve only been presented with one side of the issue.”
Sidari is an active member of the Medina Fire Department. He works as the food service administrator for the Orleans Correctional Facility. He will retire from that job next week.
Sidari said he is leaning against dissolution, but he wants to see the final plan and hear from the public about the issue.
“I want to make sure the facts being put forward are true,” he said.
The Dissolution Committee has identified about $1 million in tax savings to the Medina community through a dissolution. The village services would be folded into the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway, with special districts or other entities as possibilities for fire protection, debt, water, sewer and lighting.
Meier was re-elected to another two-year term as mayor. He sees dissolution as a way to reduce the village’s “crushing tax burden” while maintaining current services.
Officials from the two towns see the village dissolution as a cost shift to Shelby and Ridgeway. Meier said there is a great disparity in tax rates between the village and towns, and that difference is unfair to the village and is a disincentive to investment in Medina.
The village’s assessments have been shrinking in recent years while the tax rate goes up. That is a big problem to solve, he said.
The community has assets: a vibrant downtown business district and a community of wonderful people, Meier said.
“I look forward to working with them,” he said about Sherman and Sidari. “I think they are fair-minded people.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 March 2014 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – The Holley Board of Education met on Monday evening. A petition seeks to reduce the size of the board from seven to five members. Pictured, from clockwise at lower left: school attorney Jeff Martin, BOE member Jack Welch, district clerk Connie Nenni, BOE President Brenda Swanger and BOE member Sal DeLuca.
HOLLEY – For the third straight school election, Holley voters will be asked to vote on a referendum about the size of the Board of Education.
Two years ago, voters approved shrinking the board size from nine to five members, a process that would have been phased in over three years. The measure barely passed in May 2012 in 395-to-392 vote.
Last year a new petition sought to stop the reduction at seven members, not going all the way down to five. Residents approved that referendum with a 350-to-257 vote last May.
Board member Jack Welch pushed the petition two years ago to reduce the board to five members. He again circulated a petition to shrink the board to five members. The petition had enough signatures and was filed by the deadline for the May 20 election, said Jeff Martin, the school district attorney.
“I just hope when this one is done we’re done for a while,” Brenda Swanger, the Board of Education president, said during Monday’s board meeting when the petition was accepted for the May 20 ballot. “We’re looking foolish in the community.”
Welch has noted many other similar-size schools, such as Kendall, function with five BOE members.
The BOE members are volunteers, and supporters of a bigger school board say more members bring more viewpoints and representation from the community.
Kellie Spychalski, a BOE member, said she didn’t like how Welch sought support for the petition by using what appeared to be district letterhead, which may have given residents the impression the district was behind the push for a board reduction.
“I’m very disappointed in the way this was brought to the board,” she said.
Spychalski also said last year’s vote showed strong support for keeping the board at seven members. But Welch said the vote two years ago actually had more yes votes, at 395, than the 350 who supported capping the board at seven members last May.
“This is just a continuation from two years ago,” Welch responded to Spychalski.
MEDINA – In this post card shot of Medina High School from around 1910 we see students leaving for the day.
The school was built in 1897 at a cost of $10,000 using Medina sandstone. In 1921, while classes were in session, the school was moved just a short distance farther west on South Academy Street.
That’s when a new high school facing east as the end of Pearl Street was built, using brick. The old sandstone school was used as an elementary building from 1923 to 1955 and later as the district offices.
In February 1967, a fire destroyed the interior and in the fall of 1967 the building was torn down to expand the parking lot.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 March 2014 at 12:00 am
Photo by Rich Miller
The bright full moon has the photographers out in force the past two nights. Last evening Rich Miller of Kendall took this photo of the moon rising over Lake Ontario at Cleng Peerson’s Point at the north end of Kendall Road where it meets Lake Ontario. Norwegian immigrants settled in this area of Kendall.
Photo by Tom Rivers
I didn’t want to miss out in the fun. I took a picture of the moon over the lift bridge tower on Main Street in Albion. The bridge and the tower are iconic local landmarks.
Photo by Tom Rivers
I also took a picture of the moon over the frozen Erie Canal in Albion. The state Canal Corporation keeps a dredger, tugboats and other equipment in Albion over the winter with the vessels between the Main Street and Ingersoll Street lift bridges.
Photo by Rich Miller
This photo doesn’t include the moon, but it was a nice sunset at the lake on Sunday.
