By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Two of the remaining walls from an Orleans Pallet warehouse in Albion are still standing after a massive fire on Thursday.
A demolition crew is shown in this photo taken from Washington Street at about noon today. The demolition specialists are bringing boom lifts to Albion so people can remove pieces of the remaining corner walls by hand.
The demolition experts worry that pushing a section of the wall could cause the whole thing to topple, said Ron Vendetti, the village’s code enforcement officer.
“They’re going to try to limit the damage,” he said about the towering walls’ impact on other buildings very close nearby. The two standing walls have “significant cracks,” Vendetti said.
The Albion Environmental Group is the lead contractor on the demolition. Vendetti said he expected the boom lifts would be on site this afternoon and the demolition would soon start on the two remaining walls.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – A worker was up high on a boom lift at about 2 p.m. today, dismantling some of the Medina sandstone in the corner of where a side wall joined the back wall of the former Albion Cold Storage Company, which burned in a massive fire on Thursday.
Two of the walls of the structure used by Orleans Pallet were removed on Friday. The remaining two walls will be a more delicate takedown, with the corner pieces removed by hand to reduce the risk of the walls toppling and damaging some of the neighboring structures.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Punch wants psychiatric evaluation for 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.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – The back wall of Orleans Pallet on Friday, soon before it was knocked down by a demolition crew.
ALBION – When the demolition crews arrived Friday afternoon to knock down the back wall of the Orleans Pallet building on Hamilton Street, I wondered if the sign way up at the top of the warehouse could be spared.
The site was originally called the Albion Cold Storage Company and the Medina sandstone sign faced the railroad tracks. This was a popular site for shipping products in the early 1900s.
The demo crews had a shovel and pushed in the wall. If the sign survived, it would be by chance.
I stopped at the site yesterday, and there was the sign, face up in a pile of rubble. It was snapped in half.
It would be great for the community if the sign could be displayed somewhere in public. I think it would be a nice heritage piece for the Albion Fire Department, which fought the blaze at the warehouse on Thursday, and prevented the fire from destroying more property.
Maybe the sign, and the other half, could be at the fire hall and displayed as part of an exhibit of notable fires in the community.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Albion Rotary Club members joined artist Nin Bogue and village of Albion trustee Eileen Banker for a ribbon-cutting Saturday morning for a new mural in downtown Albion in honor of the workers who cut stone in local quarries for about a century.
The Rotary Club is the main sponsor for the project. The mural is in Waterman Park on village-owned land on Main Street, about a half-block south of the Erie Canal.
Bogue, an artist from Lyndonville, created the mural that is 20 feet long and 5 feet high.
Rotary Club President for 2013-14 Cindy Perry, left, is pictured next to Kelly Kiebala, the club president in 2012-13. Bogue cuts the ribbon while Banker stands next to him at right.
The ceremonial ribbon includes four different colored ribbons that were interwoven to symbolize the four main countries – Ireland, Poland, Italy and Britain – where immigrants came to this area to work as quarrymen.
The project included a matching grant from the Rotary District and some support from the Orleans County Tourism Department.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Karen Watt, co-owner of Watt Farms Country Market, addresses the crowd this morning before the start of the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk at the farm on Route 98 in Albion.
Larry Montello, front center, waves while he joins other walkers at the start of the walk at Watt Farms. Montello was part of a team from Community Action that walked in memory of Kathy LaLonde.
ALBION – Karen Watt took a walk through the orchards of Watt Farms today, carrying her 1-year-old grandson Evan on her back.
Watt is thankful for the chance to be a part of his life. About a decade ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She credits breakthroughs in research for improved treatment. Otherwise, the cancer might have killed her long before Evan was born.
“It’s precious the time I have with him as a grandmother,” Watt told a big crowd of several hundred people at today’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk at Watt Farms. “I wouldn’t have it without those who went before me.”
Watt and her husband Chris have hosted the Making Strides walk for nine years now. It has become a mega-event, drawing about 800 people who raise about $50,000 for the American Cancer Society in Western New York.
Jeanne Wormuth, a breast cancer survivor from Elba, is pictured with her husband A.J.
Some of that money supports research, and some goes to patients and their families battling the disease. Watt lamented the loss of “two pillars of the community,” who recently died from cancer. Kathy LaLonde of Albion was an active community volunteer. She was 54 when she died on Oct. 6.
Judy Christopher, another Albion community volunteer and business owner, was 70 when she died on Aug. 3.
Friends and family of LaLonde and Christopher both formed groups to walk the orchard today and raise memory of the two women. LaLonde was a grant writer at Community Action before taking a job at Brockport State College.
Annette Finch, a former co-worker of Kathy LaLonde at Community Action of Orleans and Genesee, wore a shirt in memory of LaLonde during today’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk at Watt Farms Country Market in Albion. LaLonde died from cancer on Oct. 6.
Although she stopped working at Community Action about a decade ago, many of her former co-workers showed up in force today, wearing T-shirts in her honor.
“She was an integral part of Community Action,” said Annette Finch, director of community services for the agency. “We just loved her to no end.”
LaLonde was instrumental in starting the Angels in Action program, which has built a big network of volunteers and supporters for the agency and its clients.
The Community Action staff walked in memory of Kathy LaLonde.
Christopher lived in Albion and Carlton. “The Ladies of the Lake,” a group of about 35 of her friends and neighbors, all walked the orchard in Christopher’s memory this morning. Many wore a sticker with her saying to “Keep Moving.”
Karen Blank, owner of the Whole Approach in Holley, worked for Christopher when she owned Phoenix Fitness, a health club in Albion. Blank formed a team from her Holley gym in honor of Christopher.
“We’re here because of the loss of our beautiful friend Judy Christopher,” Blank said. “This is a cause that is near and dear to most women’s hearts.”
Jeanne Wormuth of Elba attended the walk a year ago when she was in the throes of chemotherapy after being diagnosed with breast cancer. She returned today as a cancer survivor. She wants to help raise money for research.
“I benefitted from the past people and the advances in treatment,” she said.
Kathy Williams, a breast cancer survivor for 13 years now, urges a crowd of several hundred people to keep advocating for cancer research through private donations and government funding.
The walk today included teams from CRFS in Albion and Medina, the Holley Fire Department, and Albion, Kendall, Byron-Bergen and Elba central schools, as well as numerous other groups.
Elba and Byron-Bergen have a combined football team. The 38 players and their coaches joined for the walk today. One player had a father die from cancer and other players have parents fighting the disease.
Coach Mike Cintorino said the group raised more than $1,500 for the Cancer Society.
Members of the Elba Lancers were part of today’s breast cancer walk at Watt Farms.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
A crowd of several hundred people gathered this morning at Watt Farms Country Market on Route 98 in Gaines for the 9th annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk.
The walk in its first eight years raised $225,000 for breast cancer research and assistance for patients.
OrleansHub.com will have more on the walk later today.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 October 2013 at 12:00 am
ALBION – About a century ago it was touted in advertisements as “one of the largest and best refrigerating plants in the U.S.”
That was the bold proclamation in 1905 when the Albion Cold Storage Company was featured in a souvenir book of Albion businesses.
Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin dropped off a copy of the photo and the book following Thursday’s fire at the building. Frank Zicari of Albion also emailed Orleans Hub the photo from 1905, four years after the plant opened. It towers three stories above ground and also appears to include a basement.
The structure has been declared a total loss after being engulfed in flames on Thursday. Demolition crews are expected to knock down the remaining walls soon. Two of the walls were pushed over in the piles of smoldering rubble on Friday.
In the photo from 108 years ago, hundreds of apple barrels are stacked outside. The advertisement notes the building had a capacity for 75,000 barrels of refrigerated space and 25,000 barrels of dry storage.
“We use carbonic acid gas for refrigeration,” the company states in its ad. “There is no danger in case of leaks either to the fruit or persons who might be in the rooms.”
Lattin notes the cold storage had a very loud steam whistle that is pictured left of the smoke stack at right. The whistle went off at noon.
“It could be heard for miles around,” Lattin said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Will Francis of the Albion Fire Department keeps a steady stream of water on the smoking ruins of a warehouse that was owned by Orleans Pallet. The site went up in flames on Thursday. This photo was taken at about 11 a.m. today.
Small fires continue to flare up at the site due to the hot smoldering piles. Firefighters say the twisted metal, wooden beams and now piles of sandstone have created a barrier from getting water on some of the fires that erupt in the bottom of the piles. Two of the three-story sandstone walls have been knocked down, beginning on Friday. Two remain standing.
Matt Francis, Will’s brother, was in charge of this hose for another flare up in the smoking remains of the warehouse.
The massive three-story structure was built in 1901 as the Albion Cold Storage Company. Half of a stone sign is setting in the rubble. The sign faced the railroad tracks on the north side of the building. A stream of water from one of the hoses is directed over the sign and at one of the smoldering piles.
Firefighters on the scene said the smoldering ruins with the jagged metal sticking up reminded them of the piles of rubble from the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Older firefighters said the scene looked like the aftermath of World War II bombing.
Orleans Hub has tried to talk with Shawn Malark, owner of the building and Orleans Pallet. I didn’t speak directly with him today but his employees said the company will continue and will keep its customers happy. The company rebuilds wooden pallets and has many customers in the agricultural industry.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Renee Ebbs, right, and Andrea Coccitti whip up cotton candy during today’s Country Fair at the First United Methodist Church of Albion.
The church put on its annual Country Fair, an event that features numerous baked goods, food, gift baskets and other items.
The church, which faces some uncertainty over the future of its building at the corner of Platt and East State streets, wants to continue the annual event, although it could be at a different location in the future.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Firefighters use the ladder truck from the Clarendon Fire company this morning to keep water on the smoldering ruins at the warehouse on Hamilton Street. Empire Coatings Inc. is next door and visible below the firefighter on the ladder.
ALBION – A fire broke out at Empire Coatings Inc. in the middle of the night in the exhaust vents of a building next door to a warehouse that was engulfed in flames on Thursday.
The fire at Empire Coatings was on the roof and was quickly knocked down by firefighters who were already on the scene because of the smoldering ruins of the warehouse.
“The flames were shooting out of the roof,” said Rocky Sidari, fire chief for the Albion Fire Department.
Sidari credited the fast action from firefighters for containing the fire.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Workers from the NAS Sign Company in Buffalo are in Albion today working on the signs for the new Advance Auto Parts. The store will be located in a former Rite Aid store at the northeast corner of routes 98 and 31.
Advance Auto has painted parts of the building and put new blacktop in the parking lot.
On Wednesday, Advance Auto announced it was getting bigger by acquiring General Parts International, a privately held parts maker, for $2.04 billion in cash.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 October 2013 at 12:00 am
‘Gilbert Creek’ runs east of 98 in Gaines and Carlton
Photos by Tom Rivers – This unnamed stream by Ridge Road in Gaines, about a mile east of Route 98, is largely undisturbed.
GAINES – The stream doesn’t have a name, but it caught the eye of a pioneer settler on Ridge Road and the town of Gaines more than 200 years ago.
Elizabeth Gilbert and her husband, identified in historical records only as “Mr. Gilbert,” arrived with their two children and a niece in 1807. They picked a spot next to a stream near where the Gaines Carlton Community Church now stands on Route 104, close to the intersection with Brown Road.
Early settlers liked to build log cabins close to a source of water. The Gilberts chose the north side of Ridge Road, building their home where there was a rise in the land.
The cabin is long gone, but a historical marker notes the pioneering efforts from Mrs. Gilbert. Her husband died in 1808, leaving her to raise the children, and tame the nearby wilderness.
The creek at the site has never been named, but Al Capurso wants to change that. He wants it to recognize the pioneering efforts of Mrs. Gilbert.
The creek begins from feeder sources south of Route 104 near Brown Road. It then marries Procter Brook in Carlton, and then flows into the oak Orchard River.
Capurso has secured resolutions of support for naming the stream “Gilbert Creek” from both the Gaines and Carlton town boards. He has pages of signatures from residents in support of the creek naming.
Al Capurso stands on a pedestrian bridge over a stream he wants named for a pioneer settler in Gaines.
On July 7, he sent an application to the U.S. Geological Survey Unit of the Department of the Interior, the agency responsible for reviewing applications for naming geologic features in the country.
Capurso said the creek meets the Interior’s criteria for naming a creek based on three levels: The feature is currently unnamed; The stream has an independent and distinct source of flow; and it is historically significant.
Capurso has read historical accounts of the pioneers in Orleans, and Gilbert is credited with helping settlers that arrived soon after her make their new homes.
Capurso believes the stones on the creek bed are the same ones that the Gilbert family likely stood on when they moved to Gaines and built a cabin beginning in 1807.
He is hopeful the creek will officially bear her name by early next year, and a sign by Ridge Road will proclaim it as “Gilbert Creek.” Capurso is working on the wooden sign that will match the one for Procter Brook at the Cobblestone Society Museum.
He thinks honoring a pioneer settler, and erecting a historical-looking sign, will blend in nicely with the Cobblestone Museum less than a mile down the road.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The back wall of Orleans Pallet by the railroad tracks and the east side of the building have joined the smoldering rubble after being knocked down by contractors late this afternoon.
Those walls were the most worrisome from a safety standpoint, especially the east wall. Firefighters worried the towering wall might topple onto Empire Coatings, Inc.
Environmental Construction Group in Albion is leading the demolition of the three-story Medina sandstone warehouse that burned Thursday.
The thick sandstone walls have been credited with containing the blaze and helping to reduce heat to the neighboring property owned by Empire Coatings.
Firefighters have also stayed on the scene since about 4 p.m. A crew from the Shelby Volunteer Fire Company was on scene when I stopped by at about 7 p.m. They were keeping the hot pile doused with water.
Contractors are expected to work over the weekend on knocking down the other walls.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 October 2013 at 12:00 am
‘Once it sparked there was no stopping it.’
Photo by Tom Rivers
Photos by Tom Rivers: A huge fire on Thursday broke out in a warehouse that was very close to Empire Coatings, Inc. Firefighters kept the blaze from spreading.
ALBION – Long before it was engulfed in flames on Thursday, Rocky Sidari and Albion firefighters worried about the three-story warehouse at Route 31 and Hamilton Street.
The structure is snug in a commercial district, and stands only a few feet away from Empire Coatings, Inc., a painting company that uses chemicals.
“We actually talked about this building all the time,” said Sidari, the Albion fire chief. “I always said if it burns while I’m chief I know exactly what I’m going to call. We knew when it went up it was going to be an exterior attack with ladder truck operations and that’s basically what we did. There was no interior on it, obviously.”
Firefighters from four counties used at least five ladder trucks to spray water on the building. Sidari said firefighters were told not to get too close to the structure, in case it toppled.
He was particularly worried about the east side of the warehouse next to Empire Coatings, Inc. That business uses chemicals and volatile compounds as part of its painting operation.
The warehouse had been vacant for many years until Shawn Malark bought it and used it to store wooden pallets. Malark is the owner of Orleans Pallet, which rebuilds pallets for farmers and other businesses.
The blaze at the site yesterday, caused by a spark from grinder, quickly spread as the fire feasted on all the wood and the wooden beams in a building constructed in 1901. The initial fire call went out at 4:10 p.m. and some firefighters were on the scene within a few minutes.
“We had plenty of manpower on scene,” said Paul Wagner, Orleans County’s emergency management coordinator. “But once it sparked there was no stopping it.”
The inferno spewed dark smoke that could be seen from Batavia, Spencerport and Lake Ontario. After the fire was doused after about six hours, many veteran firefighters called it the worst they had seen in Albion. The fire at the former Avon Automotive in 1999 also was a huge blaze.
Sidari helped put out the Avon fire in a rubber injected molding plant at the corner of Route 31 and Platt Street.
“I think this was worse than Avon because of the chemicals involved and all the structures in close proximity,” Sidari said. “With Avon you had a couple of houses close by. It was up fast and down fast. This one lasted a lot longer and there were a lot more things to deal with.”
Contractors and the state Department of Labor are expected to be on site this morning to develop a plan to knock down the warehouse, which remains a threat to fall on neighboring structures.
The old warehouse will be knocked down soon. It was originally the Albion Cold Storage Company.
