By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 May 2016 at 12:00 am
ALBION – These tulips are out by the United Methodist Church on Platt Street in Albion.
The weekend weather shows mostly sunny and a high of 69 on Saturday, with a chance of showers after 3 p.m., according to the National Weather Service in Buffalo.
Sunday also has a chance for showers after 1 p.m., partly sunny and a high near 55.
The extended forecast shows a high of 61 on Monday, followed by highs of 63 on Tuesday, 65 on Wednesday, and 73 on Thursday.
Chris Finney, an employee with the Orleans County Buildings and Grounds Department, trims the grass by trees on the Courthouse Square lawn on Friday.
MEDINA – Two people were arrested on Thursday for selling prescription narcotics in Medina.
Allen E. Snook
Betty J. Russell
The Orleans County Major Felony Crime Task Force, Orleans County Sheriff’s Department and Medina Police Department executed a search warrant at 14 Edgewood Drive in the Applewood Trailer Park, where police seized prescription pills (200 MG morphine pills and Zanax), cash, packaging material, several rifles and shotguns, and other drug paraphernalia, The Major Felony Crime Task Force reported.
Police arrested Allen E. Snook, 33, of 14 Edgewood Drive. He was charged with two counts each of criminal sale and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, which are class B felonies.
Police also arrested Betty J. Russell, 57, of 1004 West Ave., who allegedly was selling hydrocodone pills. She was charged with two counts each of both criminal sale and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree.
Both Snook and Russell were arraigned in Ridgeway Town Court by Town Justice Joseph Kujawa. They were both committed to Orleans County Jail on $25,000 bail. The investigation is ongoing and more charges are pending, the Task Force reported.
MURRAY – The Orleans County Youth Board will holds its 34th annual Youth Recognition Dinner at Hickory Ridge Golf and Country Club on May 12 and will recognize 20 young people for their commitment to community service and/or their impressive role in their family. Additionally, the dinner will recognize one adult youth worker and an adult volunteer.
The following young people will be recognized: Amanda Blackburn, Randal Eblacker, Evan Gaesser, Kenzie Galletta, Allyson Irwin, Dixon Keon, Jessica Mandigo, Natalie Mrzywka, Rose Pajek, Cassandra Sargent, Damian Schoonmaker, Zachary Shaffer, Ian Smith, Julia Smith, Kyle Thaine, Andrea Toussaint, Joseph Velez, Baylee VerCruysse, Austen Vroman and Angela Weaver.
Gerry Golden is receiving the Helen R. Brinsmaid Memorial Youth Worker Award from his position as a caseworker at Orleans County Department of Social Services for going above and beyond with the families he works with.
Robert Brice is receiving the Eileen Heye Adult Volunteer Award for all the work he does for the Holley community.
The keynote speaker for the evening will be Jeremy Babcock, an Albion volunteer firefighter who is currently is the Executive Director of Housing at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Babcock, 39, oversees a staff of 24, the residential halls and 1,000 apartments. He deals with everything from keys, pest control, furniture, laundry facilities and many other issues.
Babcock is also a talented golfer. He lives an active life despite being born with birth defects in both arms.
“I’m really fortunate with what I can do,” Babcock told the Orleans Hub in a previous interview. “My family and friends always pushed me.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 May 2016 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
GAINES – Taylor Daughton, director of the Cobblestone Society & Museum, is pictured in the Proctor Room at the Cobblestone Universalist Church, the site of a reception on Friday for an art show.
The free event will also be a chance for the public to meet Daughton, who was hired in February to serve as the museum’s director.
The show is part of First Fridays, which for the previous seven years was organized by Kim Martillotta Muscarella at her home at 229 North Main St. Muscarella is continuing to run the events, which this year will shift to the Cobblestone Museum. There will be new art shows each month until the museum closes for the year in October.
Tony Barry, a Holley artist, painted a tugboat on the Erie Canal. The art show on Friday also features artists Tom Zangerle, Pat Greene, Kim Martillotta Muscarella, Connie Mosher and Suzanne Wells.
The reception on Friday will be free from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the museum, 14389 Ridge Road. The museum also opens for the season on Sunday, Mother’s Day, although the buildings will be available for tour on Friday for an admission price.
The Proctor Room is named for John Proctor, a prominent pioneer on Ridge Road in Gaines.
The Cobblestone Museum is the only National Historic Landmark in Orleans County. For more on the museum, click here.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 May 2016 at 12:00 am
The vice president of the Orleans County Sheriff’s Employees Association says all of its members currently live within the county.
The union represents about 60 employees – correction officers, jail cooks, civil clerks, and dispatchers. They ratified a three-year contract with the county providing 2 percent annual raises. The contract also requires residency within Orleans County for workers hired after April 27, 2016.
Chris Caufield, vice president for the union and a corrections officer, said the union members supported the residency requirement because they already live within Orleans.
“The union was of the opinion that New York State Public Officers Law allows the county to require us to maintain residence in the county without negotiation,” Caufield said today. “That notion, coupled with the fact that every member currently resides in Orleans County, the union membership did not have a problem with agreeing to this contract with that requirement included. We viewed this as something the county could enforce anyway, regardless if we agreed to do so. Essentially, we didn’t feel like we were giving anything up.”
County officials pushed for the residency requirement because they wanted more community commitment for employees to county taxpayers.
Chuck Nesbitt, the county chief administrative officer, said the county will likely push for the residency requirement in other county contracts.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 May 2016 at 12:00 am
District attorneys in New York State will get about $30,000 a year raises after the state followed the NYS Commission on Legislative, Judicial and Executive Compensation recommendation for salary increases.
The state had previously agreed to pick up salary increases for district attorneys, but the recent state budget didn’t include those increases that account for an extra $1.6 million throughout the state.
Counties already had their budgets in place, and they continue to have limited room for additional costs due to the state-imposed tax cap, Orleans County legislators said.
They joined counties around the state in passing a formal resolution for the state to pick up the increase in salary.
Many state legislators, including State Assemblyman Steve Hawley, support the state paying for the increase.
“Our hard-working district attorneys deserve this recognition, the invaluable work that they provide make our communities safer and better places to live,” Hawley said. “Mandating that counties pick up this cost however is a direct burden on our middle-class families and I’m glad my bill will provide the proper compensation for our public servants while also protecting the hard-earned money of our taxpayers.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 May 2016 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – About 30 people gathered outside the Orleans County Courthouse at noon for the National Day of Prayer, which was created in 1952 by Congress and signed into law by President Harry Truman.
The Rev. Tim Lindsay, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Albion, leads the group in a prayer. Many of the prayers were directed towards the community and country’s leaders.
Some of the prayer participants lifted their hands in seeking God’s direction and blessing for Orleans County and the United States.
The Rev. Dan Thurber, right, is pastor of the Oak Orchard Assembly of God in Medina. His father, Stanley Thurber, is next to him. The elder Thurber also led Oak Orchard as pastor for many years.
Sheldon Silver, the leader of the State Assembly for about 20 years, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Tuesday after being convicted on Nov. 30 of corruption, including honest services fraud, money laundering and extortion.
“I am glad to finally see Sheldon Silver meet the fate he deserves,” said State Assemblyman Steve Hawley, R-Batavia. “I am extremely dismayed to hear that he will be receiving a near six figure taxpayer-funded pension behind bars. No one who purposely betrays the public for decades and denigrates his/her office like Silver should receive any form of taxpayer-funded pension.
“The Assembly Majority promised us comprehensive ethics reform months ago. Since then they have ignored the desires of New Yorkers in exchange for protecting one of their own. Corruption in Albany should not be business as usual and I will continue to beat the drum for a return to integrity here in the Capitol.”
Other former state legislative leaders also await sentencing on corruption. Dean G. Skelos, the former Senate majority leader, will be sentenced on May 12. John L. Sampson, a former leader of the Senate Democrats, will face his own sentencing on May 19.
Press Release, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
MIDDLEPORT – The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced today that Phase Two of the soil remediation effort will begin on June 27 on the grounds of the Royalton-Hartland (Roy-Hart) High School and on May 3 at residences located on the K and M Blocks in the Village of Middleport, Niagara County.
This remediation is part of the overall 14.4-acre remediation effort required under the Final Statement of Basis (FSB) issued by DEC in May 2013 regarding the cleanup of the FMC Corporation Middleport facility site.
The 2013 FSB requires the removal of arsenic contamination exceeding the 20 part per million soil cleanup objective from the Roy-Hart High School property. To date, approximately 8,000 cubic yards of material has been excavated from the school property by DEC due to FMC’s refusal to implement the remedy.
During phase two, DEC will excavate and remove approximately 900 cubic yards of arsenic-contaminated soil from the Roy-Hart High School inner courtyards and grass areas adjacent to the southwestern side of the high school during the summer of 2016.
DEC is currently working with the Royalton-Hartland Board of Education and school district officials to develop a construction schedule for all remaining soil remediation activities at the school.
Remedial work will also restart this month to complete the excavation and removal of arsenic-contaminated soil from three residential properties within the K and M Block areas as well as the remaining 28 residential properties within the K and M Block areas that have signed on to the project.
DEC and partnering contractors have worked closely with the Village Mayor and public works staff to coordinate this work on the K and M blocks. The DEC project team has also engaged in extensive outreach with residential property owners in this area and will continue these activities until the project is complete.
The FSB identifies a total of 182 properties in the Village of Middleport for cleanup and DEC will continue its cleanup activities until all impacted properties have been addressed, as required by the FSB. Any property owners within the K and M Blocks who have not already responded to DEC to schedule remediation of their properties are encouraged to contact Dave Chiusano at 518-402-9813 or David.Chiusano@dec.ny.gov.
Additional information regarding the cleanup of the FMC Middleport Facility and a map of the K and M Blocks can be found at DEC’s website by clicking here.
Marissa Pecorella is pictured with her gold medal.
Press Release, Medina Central School
MEDINA – Medina junior Marissa Pecorella took first place in the Esthetics category at the New York State SkillsUSA competition.
Marissa competed against eight other BOCES cosmetology students from across the state for creating a makeup look that incorporated a bird theme. It was the first time that the New York SkillsUSA competition has held this particular contest.
SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry that work together to ensure America has a skilled workforce while encouraging students to become world-class workers, leaders and responsible American citizens.
Marissa Pecorella created this winning design in a bird theme.
Marissa, who attends the Cosmetology program at the Orleans Career and Technical Education Center, designed the makeup look on her model around the New York State bird, the bluebird.
Marissa is already working freelance as a makeup artist and says she will continue to do so to put herself through law school after graduation. She will represent New York State in Louisville, Kentucky at the National SkillsUSA competition at the end of June.
