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Orleans Pallet owner praises firefighters for containing blaze

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 October 2013 at 12:00 am

“I owe these guys a huge amount of gratitude. If this had spread it could have been tragic for the community.” – Shawn Malark, owner of Orleans Pallet

Photos by Tom Rivers – Shawn Malark said he is thankful the massive fire at his warehouse last Thursday didn’t cause more damage to neighboring structures. A demolition crew continues to work on taking down two remaining walls in the warehouse.

ALBION – Shawn Malark watched the fire take off on Thursday afternoon, a blaze that destroyed a 16,000-square-foot warehouse and threatened his business, Orleans Pallet.

Malark worried the fire might be unstoppable, and could consume his neighbors, Empire Coating Inc. and a grain storage facility on West Academy Street. He envisioned major disruptions for residents if there was a big explosion.

But about 150 firefighters contained the blaze to the stone warehouse that was built in 1901.

“The firefighters were huge,” Malark said at Orleans Pallet today, where the business continues to make pallets and ship them to customers. “I owe these guys a huge amount of gratitude. If this had spread it could have been tragic for the community.”

Orleans Pallet continues in a manufacturing site, in an adjacent building to the warehouse. The surviving building suffered water and smoke damage, but Malark and his six employees have worked long hours to keep the operation going.

“There have been no service interruptions,” Malark said. “We’ve been trying to assure our customers that we’re fully operational and we have inventory for every customer.”

Malark and Orleans Pallet have a larger site in Rochester on Lee Road. He lost the main warehouse in Albion due to the fire, but the manufacturing site has about 11,000 square feet. His equipment for breaking down old or damaged pallets and rebuilding them with fresh wood all survived the fire.

The office with his computers also was spared, and so were his forklifts and a lineup of about 10 tractor trailer trucks. Most of them were parked by the loading dock of the fire and they all escaped unscathed.

Orleans Pallet employees Andrew Steffen, left, and Robert Morehouse use a saw to break down some pallets that will be rebuilt with fresh pieces.

Malark is thankful so many critical components of the business survived, especially when they were only a few feet away from the fire. A building across the street had its siding melt because of the heat from the fire.

“Not losing any trailers was a huge blessing,” Malark said.

Some of those trailers were full of 500 to 600 pallets. A smaller sandstone building next to the warehouse also was spared from the fire. That building is used for storage.

Malark opened Orleans Pallet in Albion at the corner of Hamilton Street and Route 31 in 2006. He had worked from three buildings at the site and had plans to put a new roof on the big warehouse.

“We had big plans for the building,” Malark said. “It’s just devastating, but it’s one day at a time. It’s nothing you can conquer in one day.”

Demolition crews continue to dismantle two remaining walls from the warehouse. That building could be down this weekend or next week, Malark said.

Once the site is safe, he will work on cleaning it up. He wants to salvage the sandstone from the building. He said many people have already expressed an interest in buying the stone.

On Wednesday morning, he signed off on donating the Albion Cold Storage Company sign to the village. The stone sign from the building’s original owner split in half but survived the fire and demolition.

Malark thanked Albion Fire Chief Rocky Sidari, Police Chief Rollie Nenni, Dale Brooks from the DPW, Ron Vendetti in code enforcement and Mayor Dean Theodorakos. They have all been cooperative in coping with the fire and its aftermath. (Malark had to put up $35,000 for the demolition.)

“We had to take the building down because it was a threat to the community,” Malark said.

He remains very impressed with the teamwork from the firefighters. More than a dozen fire companies from four counties responded to the fire and Sidari, the Albion chief, led the effort.

“Had Rocky not got everyone going where they needed to be the other buildings would not have been saved,” Malark said. “These were volunteer people risking their lives to not only save this business but to look out for the community. The heart and soul of the community was present at this fire.”

NY caps ag assessment hikes at 2%

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 October 2013 at 12:00 am

Photo by Tom Rivers – Hay bales sit in a farm field on Route 279 in the town of Gaines.

The farm community is cheering legislation signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday that caps assessments for agricultural land to no more than 2 percent increases annually.

Farmers have been vocal in recent years about their property taxes, which are the second highest in the country and more than triple the national average, according to New York Farm Bureau.

“The 2 percent agricultural assessment cap has long been a priority for New York Farm Bureau,” said Dean Norton, NYFB president. “It is a big step forward in reducing the increasing property tax burden that has limited our farmers’ ability to grow.”

Several agricultural groups pushed the state to enact a cap on ag assessments, including Farm Credit East, the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, the New York Apple Association, the New York Corn and Soybean Growers Association and the Northeast Dairy Producers Association.

“The 2 percent agricultural assessment cap is vital to preserving New York’s family farms,” said Dale Stein of Le Roy, a board member for the Dairy Producers. “Without this cap, tax costs will escalate to an unaffordable level for the farms and force many family farms out of business.”

State Sen. George Maziarz supported a cap on ag assessments. The Senate and Assembly both approved the legislation.

“We are striving to make it easier to keep farms in operation, and we can do that by preventing them from drowning in a tidal wave of new taxes,” Maziarz said.

Bed bugs called ‘huge problem’ in Albion and Orleans County

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 October 2013 at 12:00 am

Photo from Wikipedia – Bed bugs are typically active at night when people are sleeping. They feed on blood.

ALBION – They first attracted major notice a few years ago in New York City when bed bugs bit people at night, and infested many city hotels.

The tiny insects, about a quarter inch long, have spread throughout the state, including to Orleans County. A County Health Department official has told village trustee Eileen Banker there is a “huge problem” with bed bugs in the county, Banker said at tonight’s Village Board meeting.

The Health Department has offered to meet with village officials to discuss strategies for combating the pest. The bed bugs are active at night, biting people to feed on their blood.

Village officials and local landlords have been meeting with the Health Department for more than a year, advising tenants and residents on precautions to reduce their risk.

Code Enforcement Officer Ron Vendetti said he currently has 15 reported cases of bed bugs in the village. If an rental is infested and it’s vacant, landlords are responsible for treating the problem, Vendetti said.

He cautioned against putting the blame on landlords. Many of tenants and home owners bring bed bugs into their residences, Vendetti said. Children can bring them home from school or from a friend’s house. Adults can unknowingly bring them in after they return home.

Vendetti suspects some people introduce bed bugs to their homes when they pick up discarded furniture from along the road.

“It’s definitely an issue but it’s not something you want to start knee-jerking and passing things,” Vendetti told the Village Board.

Mayor Dean Theodorakos said he would invite a public health official to a village board meeting. Vendetti said he welcomes a partnership with the public health department on the problem, but he said it can’t be a village code enforcement issue primarily.

“I want to help, but I don’t want the whole ball of wax,” he said.

In Waterport wilderness, signs from a different era

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 October 2013 at 12:00 am

“This is a great place to go exploring.”
– Brandon Blount

Photos by Tom Rivers – Brandon Blount stands by one of the stone walls that once propped up a bridge in Waterport by the Oak Orchard River.

WATERPORT – The former Waterport Trestle is famous locally. Mention the trestle around these parts, and many people will talk about riding their bikes and snowmobiles on the elevated bridge that used to carry trains over the Oak Orchard River. The trestle has been gone for 20 years.

The stone pillars and support bases for the trestle still remain. The stone is massive.

Every fall, hundreds of fishermen pass by the trestle bases along the Oak Orchard River. Stray from the fishing path along the creek and more of Waterport’s history remains in the woods.

The stone supports for a bridge that may have been built in the mid-1800s remain next to the Oak Orchard River, about a 100-yard walk from the Waterport Dam.

Brandon Blount doubts many people venture off the worn dirt paths in one of the area’s most popular fishing spots. Locals and out-of-state anglers will crowd the area by the Waterport Dam trying to hook Chinook salmon. They may venture down a path on the east side of the river to see how the fish how are biting.

Blount, 35, grew up taking many walks in the woods with his grandfather, the late Don “Cookie” Cook, a well-known local wildlife photographer. Cookie also liked the area’s history. He found an eager ear in Blount.

Fishermen seem oblivious to all of the old stone pieces near the Oak Orchard River and their past role in holding up bridges.

About two weeks ago Blount showed me the remnants of two pieces of Waterport history. The Medina sandstone walls remain on the west side of the Oak Orchard River just north of the trestle. The walls were part of a bridge that Blount thinks may date back to the 1850s.

It doesn’t have any steel supports. One of the wooden beams remains. Blount said the old bridges were typically abandoned and left to rot while something new may have been built close by. That’s what happened in Waterport.

Brandon Blount created this map of the area just north of the Waterport Dam. He highlighted the spot of the former Waterport Trestle and two bridges that once spanned the Oak Orchard River. The trestle is the bigger red box on the bottom. An older bridge was north of the trestle and then it was replaced with one farther to the north. Blount used an image from Google Maps to create the map.

The first bridge still has a wall and a beam and a few cast iron pins that helped hold things together. There isn’t a well worn path by this. You have to battle the weeds and dodge the trees.

One of the wooden beams still sticks up. But it looks like the bugs and nature have taken a toll on the wood. This stone wall can be seen on the other side of the river. In fact, several fishermen were wading in the water not too far away, oblivious to the area’s former industrial and railroad mite.

Blount is pictured by one of the support beams that remains from a bridge that was removed long ago from Waterport.

Blount knows some people know about the bridge with the wooden beams. If you have an imagination and wander down the river, you’ll see the stone wall and the beam and you might wonder.

The second bridge is harder to find. A stone wall doesn’t stand right next to the river in plain view. Blount walked through the woods, high-stepping weeds and fallen limbs. It took a couple tries, but then he found a steel girder sticking up in the dirt. Then there were two more of them. A 5-foot-high stone wall, nearly camouflaged by the wilderness, then appeared.

A wall of sandstone is set back in the woods by the Oak Orchard River. Blount thinks it was used to hold up a bridge about a century ago.

Blount suspects this one dates from the late 1800s to early 1900s. There are other stone walls nearby that once held up this bridge that connected Park Avenue to Clark Mills Road. The walls, which tower about 12 feet high and remain solid sandstone structures, are off the beaten path.

“I’ve brought people down here who have lived here their whole life and they didn’t know this was here,” Blount said.

Blount used to venture along the river, trying to catch fish. Now he prefers to go with his camera and very little modern technology.

Nature has reclaimed much of the area around a former bridge in the woods of Waterport.

“This is a great place to go exploring,” Blount said.

Orleans Hub plans to post historical photos of the trestle and the bridges in the future. We get a lot of feedback on the “Vintage Orleans” photos. However, history is more fun to discover on foot. The Hub hopes to share more adventures about local history.

Prison for man who stole from church

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 October 2013 at 12:00 am

ALBION – An Albion man who broke into a church last January was sentenced to 1 to 3 years in state prison for attempted robbery in the third degree.

Michael G. Andre, 23, of West Park Street broke into the Presbyterian Church in Albion on Jan. 14. He broke a window in a locked church office and stole a laptop.

Andre was ordered to pay restitution over the next 18 months. He has several prior criminal offenses, District Attorney Joe Cardone said during the sentencing on Monday.

“Drugs have ruined your life,” County Court Judge James Punch told Andre. “You’re leaving a trail of victims.”

In another case in Albion, Judge Punch sentenced a woman who violated probation by using cocaine to a year in county jail.

Dawn M. Stachewicz, 41, of Albion pleaded guilty to the crime in August, when she also confessed to possessing drug paraphernalia, which also violated her probation.

Albion man gets 4 years in prison for brutal beating

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 October 2013 at 12:00 am

ALBION – An Albion man who went to a home late on night on Feb. 1 and brutally beat up a 59-year-old resident, causing severe injuries, was sentenced to four years in state prison on Monday.

Domingo E. Candelaria, 22, of 175 North Main St., was sentenced to four years in state prison and three years of post supervision. That was the maximum sentence possible as part of a plea deal in August.

Candelaria pleaded guilty to second-degree assault. Candelaria said he was heavily intoxicated when he “overreacted” on Feb. 1. He went to the victim’s home at 2 a.m. He was looking for the man’s son. Candelaria said the man’s father, Ronald Hubbard, answered the door.

Candelaria then punched him many times, including several blows when Hubbard was already down.

“You beat the heck out of this guy,” County Court Judge James Punch said during the sentencing. “He was doing nothing to deserve the beating you gave him.”

Hubbard was in the hospital for three weeks and has mild brain damage from the incident, District Attorney Joe Cardone said. Hubbard also continues to be plagued by headaches and is lethargic, Cardone said.

Candelaria and the man’s son had a dispute over a woman, police have said.

Medina man gets state prison for break-in, leading police on chase

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 October 2013 at 12:00 am

George Brown committed crimes with his children in truck

ALBION – A Medina resident was sentenced to 2 1/3 to 7 years in state prison on Monday after he stole a truck, threatened a gas station clerk and led police on a multi-county chase.

George Brown, 36, committed the crimes last December while his children were with him.

Orleans County Court Judge James Punch said Brown’s actions in front of his children likely traumatized them. The judge said the crimes were abusive to the children.

“I’m just really sorry for what I’ve done,” Brown said in court during his sentencing.

He broke into the Orleans Ford dealership on Dec. 15, stealing a truck and then threatening a clerk at a gas station. Brown then led Medina Police and state troopers on a multi-county pursuit with his two children. He was stopped after driving over spikes deployed by the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office.

He pleaded guilty in August to third-degree burglary and third-degree attempted robbery. He received 2 1/3 to 7 years for the burglary and 1 1/3 to 4 years for the attempted robbery. The sentences will run concurrently or at the same time.

The judge said Brown had been “snorting bath salts,” but that didn’t excuse his conduct.

“This is a crime that cries out for punishment,” Punch said.

Walk at Watt’s raises nearly $50K

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 October 2013 at 12:00 am

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The 9th annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk at Watt Farms raised about $47,000 with more donations expected to be tabulated.

About 800 participants walked through the orchards at Watt Farms on Sunday. The event has now raised about $275,000 over nine years for the American Cancer Society in Western New York.

New bus shelter gets formal welcome from officials

Posted 22 October 2013 at 12:00 am

Press release, RGRTA

ALBION – The Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority and Orleans Transportation Service celebrated the installation of a new bus shelter on Monday at the corner of South Main Street and West Avenue in the village of Albion.

RGRTA CEO Bill Carpenter was joined by RGRTA Commissioner Henry Smith, Jr., Orleans County Legislature Chairman David Callard, OTS Manager Mike Patterson and Jake Olles, the Albion deputy town supervisor.

Other RGRTA executives include Director of Regional Operations Ray LeChase and Chief Operating Officer Daniele Coll-Gonzalez also attended the ribbon-cutting. RGRTA installed its first bus shelter for the county in August by the County Administration Building.

“OTS provides quality, convenient and affordable transportation to over 35,500 customers annually,” said Carpenter, the RGRTA leader. “By adding this new shelter and the one installed in August, we are reinforcing our commitment to modernize our infrastructure to ensure our customers will no longer have to wait for the bus in the rain and snow.”

The OTS bus stop serves the shelter on a fixed route 11 times per day.

Funding for the bus shelter in Orleans County totaled $15,000, and was provided by the Federal Transit Administration.

Mural celebrating canal’s widening unveiled in Brockport

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 October 2013 at 12:00 am

Albion native Stacey Kirby created the artwork

Photo courtesy of Stacey Kirby – The Brockport community on Saturday celebrated the installation and unveiling of a new 20- by 8-foot mural highlighting the Brockport community in 1914-1916 when the canal was widened. The mural is on the DPW Building at 38 East Ave.

BROCKPORT – A former nondescript building on East Avenue, the village of Brockport’s DPW garage, now displays a striking painting that highlights one of Brockport’s most ambitious public works projects: the widening the Erie Canal in 1914-1916.

Albion native Stacey Kirby created the mural that is 20 feet wide and 8 feet high. On Saturday, the artwork was dedicated.

Kirby referenced historic photos from the massive project in creating the mural. She incorporated the old technology of moving freight along the canal with mule-drawn boats with the new technology of the day, steam engines that powered the steam shovel in the painting.

She has a worker in the foreground holding a shovel. (Kirby took a photo of a barista at a coffee shop in Rochester as a model for the worker. She usually picks family and friends as her models in the murals.)

Kirby has two murals in Albion inside the Lyceum for the Catholic Church on Main Street.

Judge says no deal for bank robber

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 October 2013 at 12:00 am

Punch wants psychiatric evaluation for Rothmund

Jeremy Rothmund

Rothmund in his July mugshot

ALBION – A Rochester man confessed in court today that he robbed the Bank of America in Albion on July 2, showing up at the bank wearing a mask and threatening a clerk with a bomb that later was discovered to be fake.

Jeremy Rothmund, 30, admitted the crime as part of a plea deal that would reduce his sentence from a maximum of 20 years in state prison to no more than 15 years.

However, County Court Judge James Punch, after listening to Rothmund, said he couldn’t accept the plea without a psychiatric evaluation for Rothmund, who also confessed in court to robbing two banks in the town of Greece.

Rothmund is being held in a psychiatric facility after attempting suicide in the Orleans County Jail earlier this month. Rothmund on Oct. 16 also injured a corrections officer in the county jail. He hasn’t been charged yet with that crime.

Punch told Rothmund a plea deal for the bank robbery wouldn’t include all of Rothmund’s other crimes.

“You’re not getting a blank check for everything you ever did,” Punch told him.

Rothmund hasn’t been diagnosed with mental health issues, nor is he taking any medications, he told Judge Punch in court today. But Rothmund said he feels stress from the “proceedings” – being in jail and facing a lengthy prison sentence.

In court, he said his girlfriend, Elyse A. Hoffer, didn’t know he was robbing banks. Rothmund said he told her to park behind the Freeze-Dry building on Route 31 near the railroad tracks while he went to buy drugs.

Rothmund returned with a bag full of $18,000. He said he told Huffer to drive fast out of town. (The two were later stopped and arrested in Holley after a resident identified them in Albion and called the police.)

Punch questioned Rothmund about the claim that Huffer didn’t know she was driving the getaway car from a robbery. Rothmund told the judge she didn’t know beforehand if he was robbing a bank, but she later realized it.

Punch said the plea offer was made with the premise that Rothmund was unaided in the robberies. But the judge said Huffer clearly assisted Rothmund, even if she was “tricked.”

Punch ordered the psychiatric evaluation for Rothmund, who is due back in court at 2 p.m. on Nov. 18.

DA says he won’t use SAFE Act against ‘John Q Public’

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 October 2013 at 12:00 am

Hawley leads SAFE Act forum attended by 200 in Albion

102113_safecardone

Photos by Tom Rivers – Orleans County District Attorney Joe Cardone, second from left, answers a question about the SAFE Act during a forum in Albion on Monday. He is joined by Chief Deputy Tom Drennan, left, and State Assemblyman Steve Hawley, and Steve Aldstadt, state president of the Shooters Committee on Political Education or SCOPE.

ALBION – If someone in Orleans County is violating New York’s new gun law, the SAFE Act, law enforcement officials told them not to worry unless they are using the gun to commit a crime.

If law-abiding citizens and sportsmen have guns that cosmetically could soon be considered illegal or if they have a gun with 10 bullets instead of the limit of seven, they don’t need to worry that their guns will be seized or that they will be arrested or fined.

That was the message from District Attorney Joe Cardone and Tom Drennan, chief deputy of the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department.

“We won’t be there knocking on your door, I can tell you that,” Drennan told 200 people during a SAFE Act forum Monday night in Albion at the middle school.

Cardone said Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the majority of the State Legislature, in a “knee-jerk reaction,” approved the SAFE Act without thinking through its ramifications, particularly on law-abiding gun owners.

As DA, he is sworn to uphold New York laws, but he is also bound to support the Constitution. Many gun owners believe the SAFE Act violates their Second Amendment rights.

“We’re put in a very difficult position,” Cardone said tonight during a forum.

102113_safezarpentine

Mattie Zarpentine, Western NY regional coordinator for New York Revolution, urges gun owners to be more active politically by registering to vote and casting their ballots on election day.

State Assemblyman Steve Hawley coordinated the forum. Hawley opposed the SAFE Act and he has introduced legislation to repeal it. New York should start over in looking for solutions to curb violence in communities by using a legislative process that is open to the public and welcomes input from sportsmen, law enforcement agencies, veterans, businesses and gun owners, Hawley said.

Cuomo pushed through the SAFE Act in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Connecticut. The law, which restricts access to guns and ammunition, was passed without a public hearing.

“I say shame on the governor for using people’s emotions to pass his own agenda,” Hawley said.

Steve Aldstadt, state president of the Shooters Committee on Political Education or SCOPE, said at least five lawsuits are trying to block the SAFE Act. Those judicial battles could wage for years.

The best way to combat the SAFE Act is to vote Cuomo out of office during the November 2014 election, said several speakers, including Steve Aldstadt, state president of SCOPE. State Assemblyman Steve Hawley said he is working for a repeal of the SAFE Act. Hawley also said the election next November is likely gun owners’ best hope for changing the law.

Mattie Zarpentine of Holley, the Western NY regional director for New York Revolution, urged all gun owners to register to vote and then cast a ballot in the state-wide elections. NY Revolution formed after the SAFE Act’s passage. It worked to secure formal resolutions from the county, and 10 town and four village government boards in Orleans County, the only county in the state where all levels of local government opposed the SAFE Act.

Zarpentine said gun owners, if they turned out in force in the state-wide election, could oust Cuomo from office.

Hawley organized the forum so gun owners could have information about the SAFE Act and its impact on them. But the assemblyman said the law is often vague, creating anxiety and uncertainty for gun owners as well as law enforcement.

“Bad process leads to bad policy and that’s what we have here,” he said.

The law forbids certain features on guns, forces doctors or counselors to report mentally ill patients who own guns, and creates a $500 incentive for people to report SAFE Act law-breakers. Gun owners can also have their names and addresses obtained through public records unless they chose to opt out. Some newspapers have published lists of gun owners and their addresses.

102113_safejmoore

Jim Moore of Clarendon said he opposes the SAFE Act but thinks something needs to be done to reduce gun violence.

Gun owners will have to re-register every five years. It will be harder to pass down guns through the family, and it will be much more difficult to buy ammunition.

“It’s hard to believe they passed this,” said Aldstadt, the SCOPE leader. “There are so many onerous provisions out there that will effect law-abiding citizens.”

Drennan, the chief deputy, said the SAFE Act unfortunately targets sportsmen and citizens who follow the law.

“A lot of this is ridiculous and doesn’t make any sense,” he said about the SAFE Act.

Cardone said some of the SAFE Act provisions stiffen the penalties for criminals who break the law while using a gun. In those cases the law will help put criminals in jail or prison. In those cases, Cardone said, he would use the SAFE Act to prosecute criminals.

But he won’t use it for standalone crimes that involve only the SAFE Act. So far no one in Orleans County has been arrested under the SAFE Act.

“If someone faces other charges they could be charged with the SAFE Act,” Cardone said. “But John Q Public, I’m not going out of my way to make a problem for them.”

Bidders submit proposals for Orleans nursing home

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 October 2013 at 12:00 am

ALBION – The Orleans County Health Facilities Corporation, the organization that is working with county officials to find a buyer for the nursing home, said bidders have submitted proposals that would pay off the county debt on the Route 31 site.

That’s all the details the local development corporation will release after meeting Friday to review the offers for The Villages of Orleans, the 120-bed nursing home.

The LDC and county attorneys said specific details of the proposals will not be made public right now because doing so could impact negotiations as well as the purchase price.

“We can say that we have some very strong proposals from highly qualified nursing home operators with successful track records in the long-term care industry and with the New York State Department of Health,” said Russell Martino, chairman of the LDC board. “All proposals submitted satisfy the financial needs of the county relative to the outstanding debt. Based on what we’re seeing, we have some really positive choices to make.”

The county still owes $8 million on a 2006 renovation and expansion project that cost $10 million. Orleans also owes $300,000 from a renovation in 1994. The county is scheduled to be paying on the $8 million in debt until 2026.

The LDC board will interview the potential operators and visit homes they are currently own and operate. The LDC will also study data about the operators provided by state and federal agencies.

The LDC won’t necessarily take the highest bid for the nursing home. Martino has said other factors will be part of the decision, incuding maintaining a partnership with Albion Central School to continue a classroom for high school students at the site.

Completion of the transaction will allow the new provider to begin the process of obtaining a certificate of need from the state Department of Health, a process that can take 12 to 18 months. The county could own The Villages until at least 2015.

Dunkin’s Medina plan goes before planners on Thursday

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 October 2013 at 12:00 am

MEDINA – The plan for a new Dunkin’ Donuts in Medina will go before the Orleans County Planning Board on Thursday.

The board will review the site plan at 7 p.m. in the County Administration Building, and planners will make a recommendation whether Shelby town officials should approve a special use permit and variance for the project at 11378 Maple Ridge Rd.

The review by the county is needed before the Shelby Town Planning Board and also the Zoning Board of Appeals can give a final vote on the project.

JFJ Holdings of North Andover, Mass., is the developer for the project. The company is also working to build a Dunkin’ Donuts in Albion, right next to the Tim Hortons on Main Street.

County planners will look at two other projects on Thursday: an amendment to the Ridgeway zoning map to reclassify 11 Parcels on Ridge Road near Oregon Road from the Rural Residential District to Hamlet District, and an area variance, site plan review and special use permit for kennel in Kendall at 15705 Carr Rd.

After sentence to state prison, Tetrault damages court door

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 October 2013 at 12:00 am

ALBION – Robert W. Tetrault received a maximum sentence to 2 to 4 years in state prison today. He didn’t like the punishment.

He turned his back on Orleans County Court Judge James Punch when the sentencing was announced. Then when Tetrault was led out of court he kicked a door open, cracking the glass in a small window in the door. He will likely face criminal mischief charges for that, Punch said.

Tetrault, 32, of Albion was sentenced for attempted second-degree assault and third-degree attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He pleaded guilty to the crime on Aug. 19, and faced the possibility of a minimum sentence of 1 ½ to 3 years in state prison.

But Punch opted for the maximum sentence, citing “a random act of violence that makes no sense.”

Tetrault had a knife when he was fighting with his brother Chris Tetrault on May 23. Chris’s wife Wendy attempted to intervene in the fight and suffered “a severe laceration across her hand” from the knife, District Attorney Joe Cardone said in August when Tetrault pleaded guilty.

Tetrault’s attorney Nathan Pace said his client has worked through drug and alcohol counseling and had not been in trouble with the law since 2005.

Punch said the recklessness of the assault and Tetrault’s criminal history prompted the maximum sentence.

“You’re living by the craze year after year,” Punch said during the sentencing.