By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 November 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
WEST BARRE – Church members say it’s an Election Day tradition that goes back at least 50 years. Every November election the church serves turkey dinners and has a church bazaar.
The West Barre United Methodist served up 100 roast beef and wick lunches today and then had 350 turkey dinners ready. In the top photo, church member Lee Preston serves Larry Wolfe, who drove from Waterport with his wife Shirley for the dinner.
“You can’t beat it for the money and the companionship,” Mr. Wolfe said about the $9 dinners. “It’s a homey feeling.”
Church members, including Roger Chandler (shown cooking potatoes), arrived early to prepare the food.
“We all enjoy working together,” said Jean Peglow, the event chairwoman. “We all do a bit of this and a bit of that.”
The church at 5377 Eagle Harbor Rd. was once a polling place for the Town of Barre, but that ended about 15 years ago when the polls were consolidated at the Town Hall.
That shift hasn’t hurt attendance for the annual event, Peglow said.
“They love the turkey dinner,” she said.
The bazaar included many crafts, baked goods and other items. Louise Henderson, an assistant with the Adventurers 4-H Club, sells wreaths, treats in a jar and other gifts made by 4-H’ers for the church bazaar.
By Nola Goodrich-Kresse, Public Health Educator for Orleans County Health Department
If you noticed you are exceptionally early for things, you may need to double check your clock. This past Sunday everyone should have been setting their clocks back one hour for daylight savings time.
This is also a great time to look at protecting your family and your home. Check your smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm batteries and clean them out according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Never remove batteries from either of these alarms other than to put in fresh batteries in the fall and spring when you change your clocks. If your alarms are more than 10 years old, or you don’t know how old they are, consider replacing them with new alarms.
Take time to go through your emergency supplies. Make sure they haven’t expired. Changing these items twice a year helps you know what you have and makes sure you don’t have expired foods or water in your emergency kits. You might also want to freshen up any clothes or blankets you have packed and make sure they are appropriate for the winter season.
If you haven’t already made one, make an emergency kit for your pets. Make sure you have at least a 3-day supply of water and food for your furry friends. Double check their vaccinations to make sure they are current and keep copies of them in their supply kit in case you have to leave your home in an emergency. Most public shelters do not allow pets, so plan ahead for your pets.
File photo by Tom Rivers – Much of Orleans County had its electricity knocked out in an ice storm last December, just before Christmas.
Contact your out-of-town/state buddies you have listed for your family to contact in the event you are separated in an emergency. Touch base with them to make sure you have their current information and remind them how important they are as a contact for your family. Offer to be their contact as well if you are able.
Make sure your emergency supply kits have fresh batteries, chargers, flashlights that work and other comfort items for sheltering in place or if you have to leave in a hurry. Keeping copies of current medical information for each family member, insurance forms, licenses, etc. will go a long way in helping during recovery efforts.
Make sure your house and vehicles are in good repair for the upcoming winter and keep emergency kits in your car and your workplace because you may get stuck someplace other than home.
Remember, when you turn your clocks back in the fall and forward in the spring, it is always a good time to plan ahead for safety. Have a great Fall season!
If you would like to ask the Public Health Educator a health related question to be answered in a future column, e-mail her at Nola.Goodrich-Kresse@orleansny.com. The Health Department reserves the right not to answer any questions deemed unsuitable.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 November 2014 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
WATERPORT – Brown’s Berry Patch has hosted a 5-kilometer run and walk at its farm since 1996. The Oct. 11 event raised $3,615 for Hospice of Orleans, one of the highest totals in the race’s history.
Margy Brown, right, director of the race stopped by Hospice on Monday and presented a check to Bonnie Reigle, administrative assistant for the agency. They are pictured in the new garden next to the Martin-Linsin Residence.
The residence opened almost two years ago and includes eight residential suites for Hospice patients.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 November 2014 at 12:00 am
File photo by Tom Rivers – In this photo from February, State Sen. George Maziarz answers a question in a quiz about New York State history and facts with Holley third-graders. Maziarz directed $67,800 in funding to Holley to purchase 30 SMART Boards. A state-wide proposition on Tuesday seeks to expand technology in school districts throughout the state.
Voters Tuesday will decide the fate of a $2 billion proposal to expand technology in school districts throughout the state.
Proposal Number 3, The Smart Schools Bond Act of 2014, will be on the back of ballots. The referendum, if approved, would give students and teachers greater access to laptops, tablets, interactive whiteboards and iPads and also boost high-speed broadband connectivity.
In Orleans County, the five school districts would receive about $7 million combined in technology aid. The state breaks that down to $2,238,441 for Albion; $1,311,463 for Holley; $967,959 for Kendall; $733,151 for Lyndonville; and $2,000,222 for Medina.
Robert D’Angelo, superintendent at Holley Central School, said he supports the bond act. The technology would help Holley students better “compete in our fast-paced global economy,” he said.
Holley has worked to implement new SMART Boards in the classroom as well as other technology improvements.
“I personally support the Bond Act as it incorporates what current research and best practices define as instrumental on how to invest the funds: to enhance teaching and learning through the use of technology,” D’Angelo said.
The district would use a long-range planning process to determine how to best use the funds.
“It has the potential to reinvent teaching and learning for the demands of the present and near future,” he said about the technology.
The funding will also help create pre-kindergarten classrooms and help districts upgrade security and surveillance systems.
Julie Christensen, superintendent at Kendall Central School, said Kendall struggles with inadequate broadband access for the Internet. However, she would prefer to see the state reinstate $5.5 million lost to the district through the Gap Elimination Adjustment over the last four years.
She testified about Kendall’s high-speed Internet woes during a Congressional hearing last spring.
“Kendall Schools can purchase more technology for our students to prepare them for 21st Century learning, but if our bandwidth is inadequate, which it is, and then all these systems will not run efficiently,” she said.
She worries the technology funds from the state could come with additional strings and mandates that could prove costly to the local district.
“Certainly, the additional funds would provide resources for our students and community, but I would prefer these funds in state aid, or better yet full restoration of Gap Elimination Adjustment,” she said.
Christensen would also like to see districts have flexibility “to support our instructional programs for our students based on our needs.”
If bond act passes, Medina would get $2 million. The district would use the money to upgrade infrastructure, said Jeff Evoy, district superintendent.
Possible projects include:
District-wide network and fiber optic wiring
Network upgrades – 10 gigabit and beyond
Security cameras and systems
Voice Over IP (VoIP) phone system upgrades
Additional wireless (one access point per room)
Additional storage
Lyndonville welcomes more technology in the school district, said Superintendent Jason Smith. Many of the district’s computers and SMART Boards in the classroom are eight to 10 years old and should be replaced, he said.
“Should the voters pass the Bond Act, the District intends to work closely with our Technology Committee to increase access to devices for our students and improve the network infrastructure,” Smith said. “Our Technology Committee would come up with a plan to update and expand our existing use of technology in classrooms.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 November 2014 at 12:00 am
ALBION – When residents in the Town of Albion go to the polls on Tuesday, they will be voting in a new spot at 134 South Main St. Hoag Library is the town’s new designated polling place.
It had been at the Elk’s Club on West State Street. Prior to that it was at the Town Hall.
Orleans County election commissioners suggested the move to Hoag Library, where there is better lighting and privacy for voters.
Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Other polling places on Tuesday include Barre Town Hall, Carlton Town Hall, Clarendon Town Hall, Gaines Town Hall, Kendall Town Hall, Holley Junior-Senior High School for Murray voters, Ridgeway Town Hall and Ridgeway Volunteer Fire Company, Shelby Town Hall and Yates Town Hall.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 November 2014 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Amy Sidari, owner of Gotta Dance by Miss Amy and coordinator of the Hometown Christmas production, meets with performers and support staff on Sunday for the 5th annual Nicholas Kovaleski Hometown Christmas.
About 50 performers will be on the stage for three shows on Dec. 13 at Holy Family Parish Lyceum. Some new performers for this year’s show include Josie Waverly and Rachel Curtin, the Albion Elementary School principal. Waverly for the first time will also sing publicly with Marcy Downey, an Albion native and professional singer.
Hometown Christmas also serves as memorial for Nicholas Kovaleski. He inspired the Albion community with his valiant fight against leukemia. He died at age 15 on June 29, 2011. He was a popular student at Albion, excelling at football, swimming and tennis. He would have graduated last June and likely would be a college freshman.
His mother Kelly and his sister Michayla will also perform during the show on Dec. 13.
During his fight with leukemia, Nick urged the community to “Live with Purpose.” His classmates and the school staff and teachers continue to keep Nick’s memory and his message alive. Proceeds from the show are used for a scholarship in Nicholas Kovaleski’s name. It is given to a senior who lives with purpose.
File photo – Catherine Thom and other dancers in Gotta Dance by Miss Amy perform Snowflakes, an excerpt from the Nutcracker during last year’s Hometown Christmas. The row in the back includes, from left: Laiken Ricker, Rylie Lear and Lauren Thomas.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 November 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Zach Moore, a member of the Kids Only Work Zone or KOWZ, finds an attachment for the team’s Lego robot during a practice on Saturday. Zach, 13, of Albion has been with the program each of its three years. Jayden Neal works on the computer.
ALBION – It started two years ago with a team of about a dozen kids, ages 8 to 14. The First Lego League expanded to three teams last year and now there are four teams with about 40 kids altogether in the program through 4-H in Orleans County.
The teams have been meeting three times a week since mid September. They have a regional competition on Nov. 15 in Churchville, vying against teams that are typically affiliated with schools with paid staff.
In Orleans County, the FLL program is under the 4-H umbrella with Erik and Marlene Seielstad as the volunteer mentors with help from their son Morgan and some other adults.
Anna Reese, 10, of Medina uses a laptop to research Alzheimer’s. Her team is studying ways to help people with Alzheimer’s preserve their memory skills. In addition to working with a Lego robot, the teams need to research a topic and present that information before judges.
The mentors provide some supervision and advice, but the kids are driving the action. They meet at an onion packing house, the former Remley Printing Company in Albion. Signs taped to the wall say, “Kids do the work.” (Panek Farms donates use of the space for the teams.)
The teams have their own workspaces. They use WiFi on their laptops to research topics. This year’s theme is “FLL World Class: Learning Unleashed.”
Teams have discretion in researching their topics. One is studying how to better communicate, advocating for interpersonal skills over email. Another team is developing a new method for teaching typing skills and another team is researching how to preserve memory skills for Alzheimer’s patients.
Most of the focus is on the robot, which needs to be designed and programmed to conquer challenges, including retrieving rings on a course, throwing a ball through a hoop, opening doors and clicking on a switch.
“The kids get the opportunity to work together and accomplish things,” said Mr. Seielstad, who works as a systems engineer in Rochester.
Erik Seielstad has volunteered as mentor in the Lego program since it started in 2012. He is pictured with Dan Squire, 13, of Medina.
Seielstad and his wife also are mentors for the robotics team, which includes high school kids. That program starts in January.
The Seielstads and their son Morgan, now a senior at Albion, have been champions of the robotics and Lego program in the county. It now draws participants from throughout the county, as well as from Elba and Brockport, which are outside Orleans.
“I find it overwhelming that this has occurred,” said Mrs. Seielstad, a member of the Albion Board of Education. “Our uniqueness is we have people from all over our county, as well as kids from other counties.”
Jason Foote, an engineer, provides some supervision for one of the Lego teams, which includes his son Jacob. Jody Neal and Mike Beach are also active adult volunteers with the program.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 November 2014 at 12:00 am
Jim O’Donnell
BUFFALO – The Erie County Democratic Party has endorsed a Buffalo police officer to challenge incumbent Chris Collins for the 27th Congressional District, which includes Orleans and seven other WNY counties.
Collins was elected in November 2012 after winning a close race against Kathy Hochul. Jim O’Donnell, an Orchard Park resident, was endorsed on Saturday by the Erie County Democratic Party.
“Jim O’Donnell knows firsthand the hard work and sacrifice it takes to achieve the American Dream,” Jeremy Zellner, Democratic Party chairman, said in a statement. “As the son of a Marine and nurse, Jim has been working hard his entire life. He is a Buffalo Police officer with a Masters in Economics who has put his life on the line to serve our community. He’s also an attorney who will fight for the district and to end partisan gridlock in Washington.”
O’Donnell is critical of the partisan gridlock in Washington, D.C. On his Facebook page, he said the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is “a well meaning but flawed bill.” Collins has called for its repeal. O’Donnell believes the new healthcare law can be improved rather than outright rejected.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 November 2014 at 12:00 am
Judge says the crime ‘one of the most painful deaths I’ve seen’
Frederick Miller
ALBION – Frederick Miller will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing his girlfriend, Rachel Miller on March 4, 2013.
Orleans County Court Judge James Punch gave Miller, 63, the maximum sentence today. The judge called the murder “one of the most tortuous, bloody, painful deaths I’ve seen.”
Miller was convicted of second-degree murder by a jury on Sept. 17, following a trial when he admitted to stabbing her with scissors. Rachel was still alive after being stabbed nine times with scissors.
She fled their house on Oak Orchard Road in Carlton and Miller broke off a metal Posted sign. Miller struck her three times in the head. Her body was discovered the morning of March 4, 2013 by a passing school bus driver.
“Imagine the pain and anguish that woman experienced as she left the earth,” Punch said during sentencing this afternoon.
Punch said he has been part of 20 to 25 murder cases as county judge and district attorney. Punch said Rachel’s death “was the cruelest and most protracted” murder in his career.
Frederick Miller’s attorney Robert King asked for mercy, saying the court should save the maximum sentences for people who commit “cold and calculated murders.” King said Miller “snapped” the day he killed his live-in girlfriend. King said it was “a great tragedy.”
“It was horrible, it was inexplicable and it was violent,” King said. “We don’t contest that.”
Miller, wearing the orange jumpsuit issued for county jail inmates, declined to speak during the sentencing. During his trial, he said he was depressed. He had lost a high-paying job at Kodak and was driving a bus for a fraction of his former pay.
His attorney offered a defense of “extreme emotional disturbance.” King said Miller wasn’t himself in the months leading up the crime due to a job loss, his mother’s serious illness and a deteriorating relationship with Rachel.
Rachel Miller
The judge didn’t believe that Miller snapped.
Rachel was stabbed with scissors in the bathroom, then the bedroom and then on the way out of the house. Miller then followed her outside and struck her with the sign post three times.
“You had plenty of time to stop and think,” Punch said.
District Attorney Joe Cardone said Miller’s selfishness and narcissism pushed him to commit “one of the most senseless killings” that Cardone has experienced in his two decades as DA.
Rachel Miller’s son addressed the court and asked the judge to sentence his mother’s killer to the rest of life in prison.
“We haven’t asked for anything,” Cody said on behalf of Rachel’s family and friends. “But you make sure we never have to see him again.”
Cody turned to Miller and used several expletives in telling him to die in prison. The judge said he wouldn’t hold Cody Miller in contempt of court.
“Fred, could you imagine your mother lying in the snow bleeding to death?” the judge said.
Cody said his mother was a loving person to her family, friends, students at Rainbow Preschool and also to animals. His mother was a speech therapist at Rainbow Preschool, which is run by The Arc of Orleans County. She was the mother of four children and grandmother to 14. Cody listed all of their names.
He fought back tears and had to pause and collect himself several times while he spoke during the sentencing.
“She lived a life of giving,” Cody Miller said at sentencing. “She never wanted anything but happiness. The world kept taking from her but she fought back by giving.”
The Arc and Rainbow Preschool last Dec. 6 dedicated the “Socio-Dramatic Play Center” in memory of Rachel, who was 53 when she was killed.
She worked with children ages 3 to 5 who had significant developmental delays. Many of the children have autism and some of them have not spoken a word by the time they enroll in Rainbow Preschool.
Cody Miller spoke of the dedication program for his mother last Dec. 6, when one student talked to a large group, thanking Rachel Miller for helping him to say his first words.
Three of Rachel Miller’s children – Amanda, Roy and Cody – attended the dedication for a play room in their mother’s memory on Dec. 6.
Cody said his mother was a positive influence on so many people, especially her family.
“She was there to pick us up when we fell and to hold us in a warm embrace and tell us it’s OK,” he said.
Cody thanked the local judicial system for working to bring justice in the case, even when the trial was delayed several times. Miller switched attorneys and his lawyer requested a psychological exam, only to have Miller refuse to meet with a psychiatrist.
Punch said he has tried to understand what provoked Miller in the attack. During the trial, Miller’s attorney said Miller became enraged when Rachel brought home baby chickens without consulting Miller.
Punch said bringing home chickens to nurture was in line with Rachel’s character.
“She was full of life, a ray of sunshine in that house,” Punch said.
He contrasted that with Miller, who felt he was a victim of life’s circumstances. He was envious of Rachel and her positive energy, the judge said.
“Rather than get off the couch you snuffed out this bright light,” the judge said.
King asked for mercy on behalf of Miller. The judge that will have to come from a higher power.
“It’s not up to me to show you mercy, Fred,” the judge said. “It’s up to God.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 November 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin shared photos of people dressed in Halloween costumes, with some pictures dating back a nearly century, during a presentation Saturday at the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church.
The top photo shows a group of Albion residents dressed as hobos in 1943 and includes, from left: Sanford B. Church, Albert Mason, Ruth Mason and Dr. John Jackson.
About 100 people attended “Halloween is Going to Hell: From Saints to Spooks.” The event, which traced Halloween’s sacred roots to its modern day pagan holiday, was a fundraiser for the restoration efforts at the Pullman Church, 10 East Bank St.
Lattin is working on a book to be released for Halloween 2015 that will include photos of people in costume as well as stories of pranks. He is seeking photos and stories from before 2000. Proceeds from that book will go to the church restoration.
Father George Heyman also spoke at the event. He is pictured with some of the 19th Century prints on display of saints. Lattin is sharing the Victorian images for an exhibit that will be on display inside the church until Valentine’s Day.
Heyman has been a priest in the Diocese of Rochester for 33 years. He was an associate professor of Biblical studies at St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry in Pittsford. He was recently named new president of St. Bernard’s School.
The event also included Rich Della Costa playing the piano, Harriette Greaser on the Johnson pipe organ and Al Capurso and his son Dan playing their guitars.
Two of the attendees at the event look over some of the prints of saints.
