By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 26 September 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – A construction crew was at the Bent’s Opera House today, pouring cement for a first floor wall below ground. Catenary Construction Corporation of Rochester was hired for the stabilization project for the building, which was built 150 years ago during the Civil War.
The non-profit Orleans Renaissance Group is owner of the site. It is working to restore the building. The immediate task involves stabilizing the southeast corner of the Main Street structure.
Tim Turner, an employee with Catenary, adds fresh cement as the construction company works to rebuild the front wall on the first floor, which is underground.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 26 September 2014 at 12:00 am
Gia Arnold worked hard for several months to secure the Republican line for the State Senate, but lost a Sept. 9 primary to Robert Ortt, the mayor of North Tonawanda.
Today, she is coming out in support of Johnny Destino, a lawyer in Niagara Falls who is running under the Democratic Party line. Destino ran as a Republican two years ago in an unsuccessful attempt to get the GOP line from George Maziarz.
Maziarz announced in late July he wasn’t seeking re-election. Ortt was picked by Republican Party leaders to be a last-second switch for Maziarz.
Arnold, 24, had already been working on a campaign against Maziarz. She said the party leaders picked an establishment candidate rather than backing her. She would later withdraw from the race after admitting an affair, but jumped back in after support from residents in the district, she said.
Ortt won the primary on Sept. 9, getting 71 percent of the vote.
Arnold still had a shot to appear on the November ballot, but her petitions for the Libertarian Party were challenged in court. She lost the court fight and won’t appear on the ballot.
She is still determined to have an impact in the race. Today on her Facebook page she said she is backing Destino, and urged people to back Destino who she said is “anti-establishment.”
Destino will fight for Constitutional rights and personal freedom, Arnold said.
“Not only has he vowed to stop corruption and increase transparency, but he has also been fighting against the two-party elitists longer than I,” she said. “You can trust that Johnny will not cater to the pressures of party power, and will only work for the best interests of the people.”
Destino on Thursday also picked up the endorsements of Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster and Congressman Brian Higgins.
Ortt on Wednesday announced he had the endorsement of National Federation of Independent Business. Ortt is the endorsed Republican, Conservative and Independence party candidate.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 26 September 2014 at 12:00 am
Meggie Moo’s offers a slower pace, step back in time
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – A new business celebrated its grand-opening today in downtown Medina. Meggie Moo’s may be new, but it feels like an old-fashioned ice cream parlor from the 1950s.
The servers wear poodle skirts, Elvis is on the wall and ’50s music fills the site at 114 East Center St.
“This is a chance to go back in time and slow down,” said Kathy Blackburn, who opened the business with her family.
Blackburn is pictured in the top photo at left with her daughter-in-law Kelly, granddaughter Megan and Blackburn’s son Jim in back.
Blackburn operated the 31 Club from the location until closing that bar about 2 ½ years ago. She wanted to use the historic building, and her granddaughter suggested it as a soda shop.
Megan Blackburn, 15, makes a strawberry milkshake during the grand opening of Meggie Moo’s today. Her brother Zack, 18, also will be working at Meggie’s.
Jim and Kelly Blackburn both welcomed the endeavor as long as it had a family friendly focus. The site will be available for birthday parties. Meggie’s will host its first one on Saturday with a theme from the popular children’s movie, Frozen.
Jim was pleased to see a father and son come in for dessert, enjoying conservation while the boy worked on homework.
“This is about being able to enjoy yourself,” Blackburn said. “Everything is so fast. People need to slow down.”
The front counter was decorated for the grand opening today.
Kathy Blackburn is the executive director of the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce. She also is vice president of the Medina Business Association. She has been encouraged by the renaissance in downtown Medina, with many new shops and businesses opening.
The new ice cream parlor complements the other businesses, and should draw more visitors and foot traffic to the downtown, Blackburn said.
She is retired from Birdseye Foods, where she was international sales manager. Her son works as buildings and grounds superintendent for the Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension in Knowlesville. His wife is a 4-H leader for the Paw Praisers Club.
“This all about the kids,” Kelly Blackburn said.
Photo by Tom Rivers
The outside and inside of the building were painted. The interior floor was also raised. Blackburn said the family would like to add fryers and a grill for an expanded menu, as well as opening a back porch.
“We want to make it a fun place for people to come,” she said.
Staff Reports Posted 26 September 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Cheryl Wertman
MEDINA – The school district celebrated homecoming this week, and the celebration poured out to the football field, even in a 36-6 loss to Burgard tonight.
In the top photo Homecoming King Adam Cotter and Queen Madeline Bilicki are introduced at halftime.
Ty Hrovat leads the team on to the field.
Coaches and players are on sideline for the national anthem.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 26 September 2014 at 12:00 am
Environmental groups push to have plan accepted
Photo by Tom Rivers – This sign on the shore of the Golden Hill State Park in Barker warns of an eroding shoreline.
Officials from Orleans and Niagara counties continue to fight a new plan for regulating Lake Ontario water levels, fearing the lake would see more extremes in water levels, leading to an eroded shoreline during high water and parched marinas during low levels.
The two local counties were represented in a meeting on Thursday in Buffalo with board members from the International Joint Commission. That group includes representatives from the United States and Canada.
It has endorsed a plan that calls for the biggest changes in regulating water levels in the lake and St. Lawrence Seaway since 1958. Orleans and Niagara officials fear hundreds of millions of dollars of valuable property will be lost from erosion, which will force taxes to rise on every resident in the southshore counties.
Orleans County Legislator Lynne Johnson and Niagara County Legislator Dave Godfrey met with several IJC officials to again state their strong opposition to the proposal, Plan 2014. Johnson said the meeting was attended by Gordon Walker, acting chairman, Canadian Section; Dereth Glance, commissioner of U.S. Section; and Frank Bevacqua, public information officer, U.S. Section.
U.S. Rep. Chris Collins helped to set up the meeting, Johnson said. Collins issued this statement after the meeting.
“Plan 2014 is unacceptable,” he said. “It has been plagued by public backlash and flawed economic analyses from the onset. Most disturbing is that Plan 2014 shows no concern for the negative economic impact its implementation will have on the thousands of individuals, families, and businesses along the south shore of Lake
Ontario.”
Johnson and Godfrey went to Washington, D.C. in early August to meet with federal officials, including the State Department, to rail against the plan.
The six southshore counties from Niagara to Oswego have 10,025 parcels of lakefront land with a total assessed value of $3.7 billion. If they suffer a 10 percent loss, those communities would lose $370 million in value, with the difference to be made up by other taxpayers in the counties, Johnson said
Besides the potential loss of valuable shoreline, the plan could cripple fishing and recreational industries on the south shore of the lake, Johnson and Godfrey said.
Plan 2014 has a lot of support from environmental organizations. Representatives from 41 organizations signed a letter, urging U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and elected officials and representatives of federal agencies in the two countries to back the new Lake Ontario plan.
Supporters say Plan 2014 will protect against extreme water levels, restore tens of thousands of acres of wetlands, boost hydropower production, and enhance outdoor recreation and increase the resilience of 712 miles of Lake Ontario shoreline in the U.S. and Canada.
“This is a once-in-a-generation chance to restore a Great Lake, invest in New York’s recreation-based economy and prepare for climate change,” said Jim Howe, The Nature Conservancy’s Central and Western New York Chapter executive director. “We hope everyone will explore the facts about this plan, and express their support for its adoption.”
Signatories for the letter included the New York League of Conservation Voters, Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, Save The River, New York State Conservation Council, Clarkson University, Natural Resources Defense Council, World Wildlife Fund Canada, Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, Nature Quebec, the National Wildlife Federation, The Nature Conservancy and several others.
Plan 2014 follows 13 years of exhaustive study and bi-national consultation with stakeholders and the general public, supported by state-of-the-art simulation of the impacts of alternative regulation plans, according to The Nature Conservancy.
The environmental groups say the plan is an “economic winner” for the Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River region by providing increased hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing opportunities.
Collins spoke against the IJC plan during a news conference at Oak Orchard Harbor on July 2. He has urged Gov. Andrew Cuomo to reject the plan due to its potential harm to the southshore. Collins and the local officials say they will continue to voice their concerns.
“Today’s meeting offered my colleagues and me another opportunity to reiterate our strong and continued opposition to this plan, and reaffirm our steadfast commitment to preventing its implementation,” Collins said on Thursday.
Staff Reports Posted 26 September 2014 at 12:00 am
Gerardo Quiros
ALBION – A man wanted by State Police after a domestic incident on Wednesday turned himself in at about 9 a.m. today at the State Police barracks in Albion.
Gerardo Quiros, 28, was wanted for menacing and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree. Quiros was processed and arraigned in the Town of Ridgeway Court. He was remanded to the Orleans County Jail on $5,000 bail. He is scheduled to return to Ridgeway Court on Oct. 6.
Quiros allegedly threatened his mother with a gun on Wednesday afternoon. Police then believed he barricaded himself inside a house on Ridge Road, just west of the Route 63 intersection, going north.
Numerous law enforcement officers, including the Orleans County Swat team, were on scene for several hours on Wednesday, and a portion of Ridge Road was closed.
Officers thought they heard a possible gun shot within the residence. The New York State Police robot was deployed in an attempt to contact Quiros. The robot then gained entry to the residence and a search was conducted with the assistance of the Swat Team.
Quiros was not located in the residence. Police searched the surrounding area but were unable to find Quiros. A warrant was issued for arrest.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 26 September 2014 at 12:00 am
6th Annual Ghost Walk is Saturday at Mount Albion
File photo by Tom Rivers – In this photo from last year’s Ghost Walk, student Chey-Rain Eagle depicts Elizabeth Proctor, the third wife of John Proctor. He is considered the “Paul Revere of Gaines” for riding his horse and alerting residents all the way to Lewiston that the British were coming.
ALBION – Students will again bring famous and not-so-famous Albion residents back to life on Saturday for the sixth annual Ghost Walk at Mount Albion Cemetery.
The event typically is a sell-out, and 400 of the 500 spots have already been claimed. Susan Starkweather Miller, one of the coordinators of the project, said there are still spots available between 5 and 6:30 p.m. Residents can call up to 11 a.m. on Saturday to RSVP. Call Starkweather Miller at 589-2087 to reserve a spot.
Attendees are encouraged to park at the elementary school, and a bus will shuttle every 15 minutes between the school and cemetery.
“We still have spots open,” Starkweather Miller said this afternoon. “It makes the kids so happy when we fill up.”
Tickets are $5 each and proceeds are used for community projects. The student participants will meet to decide how to spend the money.
Some of the Albionites featured on the Ghost Walk include the following:
Rufus Brown Bullock, Governor of Georgia after the Civil War;
Dr. Elizabeth Harriet Denio, University of Rochester professor of Art History and German, who helped establish Memorial Art Gallery, and wrote definitive work on painter Nicholas Poussin;
Judge Noah Davis, presided at the trial of Boss Tweed and law partner of Sanford Church;
David Hardie, first to form a volunteer company from Orleans County to fight in Civil War;
Nehemiah Ingersoll, instrumental in Albion’s development and its selection as county seat;
Starr Chester, owner of shoe-making building that is part of Cobblestone Museum;
Dr. Elizabeth Vaile, Orleans County physician who visited soldiers during Civil War;
James Lewis and Emily Pullman, whose famous son, George, provided funds to build the Pullman Universalist Church in their memory;
Alexis Ward, Orleans County judge who was instrumental in securing Niagara Falls-Lockport-Rochester Railroad and Niagara Falls Suspension bridge;
Hiram Curtis, ran a successful foundry and built agricultural implements;
Jennie Curtis, first woman prisoner of the Civil War, an accused spy;
Caroline Phipps Achilles, opened the Phipps Union Seminary for girls;
Judge Arad Thomas, in 1871 published The Pioneer History of Orleans County.
RIDGEWAY – The New York State Police, with the assistance of the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department, on Wednesday responded to a report from a woman, who stopped a passing Trooper to report her son had pointed a gun at her.
The woman was attempting to retrieve car keys in a residence on Route 104 in the Town of Ridgeway.
As additional patrols responded to the residence, officers heard what they believed to be a possible gun shot within the residence, and began to establish a perimeter around the property.
The New York State Police robot was deployed in an attempt to contact the individual, identified as 28-year-old Gerardo Quiros, with negative results. The robot then gained entry to the residence and a search was conducted with the assistance of the Orleans County Swat Team, which is comprised of officers from the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office, Medina PD and the Albion PD.
Quiros was not located in the residence. A search of the property and surrounding area was also conducted by SWAT and members of the State Police also with negative results.
A warrant has been issued for Gerardo Quiros by the Town of Ridgeway Court for Menacing and Criminal Possession of a Weapon. Quiros who may be armed, is described as a 5′ 08″ tall, Hispanic male, brown eyes, black hair, 150 pounds.
Anyone with knowledge of the whereabouts of Quiros is asked to call the State Police at (585) 344-2200.
RIDGEWAY Route 104 is fully open in Orleans County this morning after a standoff ended around midnight in Ridgeway last night.
A section of 104, between the two points for Route 63, was closed for about eight hours after a man barricaded himself inside a house. Police initially responded at about 4 p.m. for a call of menacing.
The Orleans County SWAT Team, State Police and other law enforcement personnel were on the scene for several hours.
State Police haven’t released information this morning about whether the suspect is in custody.
ALBION – Charles W. Fairbanks took this picture in the early 1930s of Russell Braley and Dr. Ben Howes on East Bank Street in Albion.
Fairbanks entitled this unposed moment in time: “That ain’t the way I heer’d it.” The photo was entered into the Amateur Snapshot Contest sponsored by a Rochester newspaper and appeared as we see it in a supplement.
