Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – I missed these projects when they were happening, but three initiatives have changed the looks of the Albion landscape.

Roger Hungerford, owner of the former JPMorgan Chase site on Route 31, already has the building repainted. It will become the home of CRFS, which is consolidating its Albion and Medina locations into the Chase site.

CRFS is adding 150 workers to its current 600 employees in Orleans County as part of the shift to Chase, which is expected to happen by March.

Two other projects aren’t as dramatic, but make an impact nonetheless. Freeze-Dry Foods on West Avenue put up a new stone sign last week. Freeze-Dry operates out of the former Lipton’s building across from McDonalds.

The Holy Family Parish on South Main Street has been around for more than a century, but it didn’t have a sign along Main Street for St. Joseph’s Catholic Church until last week.

This article has been updated from an earlier version that reported Trustee Kevin Sheehan called the police to pursue possible criminal charges against AMSA. Sheehan said he never contacted the police or suggested they be involved.

ALBION – On Tuesday morning members of the Albion Main Street Alliance removed Christmas decorations from Village Hall to do an inventory and fix the items.

The group wanted to replace bulbs and have the decorations looking good for the holiday season.

But in a misunderstanding over who owned the decorations, the situation soon grew tense, with at least one village official asking the police to investigate and to possibly lodge a formal criminal complaint against AMSA. Village officials say they were surprised when the decorations were removed from the premises.

The decorations were returned at 7:15 this morning.

The Village Board held an emergency meeting at 6:30 this morning. Police Chief Rollie Nenni researched who actually owned the decorations, whether it was the village or AMSA, because of the uncertainty.

Nenni found that former State Assemblyman Charles Nesbitt used a $30,000 state member-item grant to buy them in 2005. The money went to the village with the former Albion Business Association purchasing the decorations on behalf of the village. The village then bought the decorations from the ABA with the grant, Nenni said.

Village Trustee Fred Miller said the situation over the past three days “got blown way out of proportion.” He said the village needs to establish procedures for when village property is removed.

“This wasn’t really anyone’s fault,” he said.

Nenni said it was a “gray area” that should have been handled with diplomacy.

Village attorney John Gavenda said he was negotiating the return of the decorations. But a village official hinted that criminal charges could be brought against AMSA. That put AMSA on the defensive, including a shutdown in communication with Village Board members.

Dale Brooks, the DPW superintendent, said the decorations will be up before Thanksgiving.

Two local artists also highlighted in Albion gallery

The late Charles Werberig, who created metal sculptures in an avant garde style, is featured at Marti’s on Main in Albion.

ALBION – Charles Werberig of Rochester was a prolific artist, as well as a professor of photography and film at Rochester Institute of Technology.

He created sculptures from metal, wood and also two-dimensional sculptures on walls. He created more than 1,000 pieces of artwork with many in an avant garde style.

Werberig died in 2004 and his family has been keeping his collection. Tonight it was featured in a gallery for the first time since his death. Kim Muscarella, owner of Marti’s on Main, met Werberig’s son David through a mutual artist friend, Peter Monacelli, a former Albion resident.

Muscarella saw some of Charles Werberig’s pieces and wanted to bring them to Albion. The artwork is very unusual and it stopped me when I visited the gallery at 229 North Main St.

Tonight was an opening reception at Marti’s and it seemed most of the Orleans County artist community was there. David Werberig also attended. He said his father created most of the work during the 1960s and 1970s. David also has collages and digital artwork on display in Albion.

Chris VerSteeg created this image as well as several others at Marti’s on Main.

Two local artists, Chris VerSteeg and Laurie Groth, both have artwork in the upstairs exhibit area. Muscarella said she welcomes people to stop by the gallery for a tour. For more information, give her a call at 589-6715.

Laurie Groth painted this cobblestone building. She has other paintings at the Albion gallery.

Organization insists it owns decorations, and wanted to spruce them up for holidays

Editor’s note: This article was updated to clarify a comment attributed to AMSA President Maarit Vaga, who says the village did not request to have the decorations returned.)

ALBION – The decorations are back at the village, but a dispute continues over which entity actually owns the wreaths, garland and lights.

The Albion Main Street Alliance believes it owns the decorations, and took them from the Village Hall on Tuesday morning to make an inventory of what needed to be fixed before they were hung up in the downtown later in November.

Some village officials saw the removal of the decorations as possible theft of village property.

AMSA says it has paid insurance on the decorations and has operated on the understanding for several years that they owned them. Even Mayor Dean Theodorakos said during an emergency meeting this morning that he thought AMSA owned the decorations.

AMSA representatives handed the decorations to village officials this morning. This after AMSA said it was threatened with criminal and civil litigation.

“This has been very upsetting because it’s so stupid,” Katelin Olson, the organization’s interim director, said. “It’s been a lot of wasted energy that could have gone into bettering the community.”

Village officials accused the organization of wrongdoing Tuesday when the decorations were removed. The village thought AMSA was doing an on-site inspection. But when the decorations were taken off-site, the village worried the decorations might not be available to display for the holiday season.

Village representatives said they tried to reach out to AMSA about the decorations. AMSA President Maarit Vaga said she heard from the village, but the village didn’t make a request to have the items returned.

Olson said AMSA never would have hidden the decorations or prevented them from being displayed out of spite, as was insinuated.

“There’s nothing to ever suggest we’ve done that kind of behavior,” she said. “We proceeded from a good-faith understanding that these were ours.”

Olson believes AMSA owns the decorations. Its predecessor, the Albion Business Association, rallied the community for donations and also secured a member-item grant from former State Assemblyman Charles Nesbitt to buy the decorations in 2005. The village today said the ABA was a pass through for the money and the village owns the decorations.

AMSA and the ABA stored the decorations from 2005 until the village agreed to store them in 2010, Olson said.

Photos by Tom Rivers

The high winds that are whipping through the area are knocking down some trees. I drove around Albion and saw one tree down in Mount Albion Cemetery and another one on West Academy Street near the grain facility by the railroad tracks.

There are lots of fallen limbs. But, for the most part, the trees are holding their ground against the gusts that have are up to 60 miles per hour.

‘Just Another High School Music’ features improv and comedy

Photos by Tom Rivers – Elijah Van Epps does a Tom Jones routine while Zach Shaffer is the magician David Copperfield, two characters in Albion High School’s latest drama production, “Just Another High School Musical.”

ALBION – The annual fall musical at Albion High School will keep the audience in stitches.

“We wanted to do a farce,” said Gary Simboli, the musical’s director.

Twenty-two students are in the cast and 12 are in stage crew. They created their own blocking and choreography for “Just Another High School Musical,” a show where students are forced to improv because their director abandons the show, leaving students to perform in front of live audience without a director.

Jenna Reigle, left, and Char Olick lead the cast in one of the numbers.

Albion students take the lead with parts of the show, but Simboli provides plenty of guidance and instruction.

“I like the challenge and the fast pace,” Simboli said today during the final rehearsal before the show on Friday and Saturday. There are shows at 7 p.m. both days, plus a noon performance on Saturday at the middle school auditorium.

“Every single student gets their moment when they are genuinely funny,” Simboli said.

At the close of the first act, David Stilwell, left, and Kyle Thaine sing “Intermission.”

Students get to play contemporary high schoolers, and work on their acting and choregraphy.

Simboli says he likes to try more contemporary shows for the fall musical. In the spring, he picks many Broadway classics. The school this spring will perform “The Wiz.”

In one of the sillier scenes, three boys — William Pecorella, Zach Shaffer and Elijah Van Epps — do a spoof on “Little Women.”