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24-pound Chinook leads fishing derby

Staff Reports Posted 3 August 2014 at 12:00 am

POINT BREEZE – A 24-pound Chinook is leading the Albion Rotary Club’s annual fishing derby, which started on Saturday and continues until Aug. 17.Clifford Stout of Northeast, Md., leads the derby with 24-pound, 1-ounce Chinook. The grand prize is $4,000 for the heaviest fish. Foster Miller of Holley won last year’s derby with a 34-pound, 13-ounce Chinook.

In other categories, Matt Bedient of Lockport leads the Chinook Division with a 20-pound, 3-ounce Chinook. Mike Schaeffer of Sligo, Pa., has the biggest rainbow trout with a 14-pound, 1-ounce fish.

Karen Cinelli of Newfane leads with a 12-pound, 9-ounce brown trout, and April Johnson of Rochester is in first place with a 16-pound, 4-ounce lake trout.

The Rotary Club will give away about $8,800 in prizes with the derby. For more information, click here.

Muslim community honors sheriff, cardiologist

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 August 2014 at 12:00 am

Mosque in Medina part of effort for humanitarian work

Photos by Tom Rivers- Sheriff Scott Hess was given a certificate of appreciation for his “outstanding public service” for 10 years as sheriff.

Dr. Asif Shah, a cardiologist for Medina Memorial Hospital, addresses the World Sufi Foundation on Saturday evening at its mosque on West Avenue in Medina. Shah was recognized for providing cardiology services in the community.

MEDINA – The Muslim community honored Sheriff Scott Hess and Dr. Asif Shah, a cardiologist at Medina Memorial Hospital, for their service to the community on Saturday.

The World Sufi Foundation held a big celebration after Ramadan, when Muslims go 30 days without eating or drinking between sunrise and sunset. The community had a big feast on Saturday and wanted to recognize Hess and Shah.

Hess has been sheriff for about 10 years following a career with the Albion Police Department. Bilal Huzair, a member of the mosque, thanked Hess for his “outstanding public service.”

“He doesn’t just see black and white,” Huzair said. “He sees human beings.”

Hess proved a friend to the Muslim community in 2010 when shots were fired at their mosque on Fuller Road in Waterport. The Sheriff’s Department investigated the case and arrested five teen-agers.

Shah joined Medina Memorial Hospital about a year ago and has been providing cardiology services in Medina and also at Orleans Community Health’s urgent care site in Albion. He also has partnered with the World Sufi Foundation for some humanitarian work in the community, Huzair said.

Dolores Horvath, CEO of Medina Memorial, presented Shah with a certificate of appreciation for his work in the community.

Medina Mayor Andrew Meier was invited to the mosque for a celebration after Ramadan. Meier thanked the Muslim community for working to upgrade the building, a former mansion next to the Medina Historical Society, and also for their expanded community outreach efforts.

Leaders of the mosque also invited Medina Mayor Andrew Meier to the celebration Saturday. Huzair said Meier “is so helpful to everyone who knows him.”

Meier thanked the members of the mosque for working to restore the former mansion on West Avenue. The site had fallen into disrepair after being carved up for apartments.

Edmund Pitts built the mansion. He has the distinction of serving as a leader of both the Assembly and Senate.

The mosque on West Avenue is a former mansion and also a former Masonic Lodge.

The Masonic Lodge acquired the building in the 1920s and put on an addition that included the large meeting room and a fellowship hall in the basement. The Masons met in the building until the 1980s.

“Thank you for improving the building that threatened to become a white elephant,” Meier said.

He praised the mosque for also working to better the community through humanitarian efforts, including a food giveaway the first and third Saturdays from Huzair’s restaurant, the Old Mill Run Restaurant, near the corner of routes 31A and 63.

Harris Lieberman, left, and Metin Shahin greet each other in the mosque, where members have been working three years to improve the building, including bringing back the tin ceilings and hardwood floors in the upstairs.

The World Sufi Foundation also for nearly 20 years has run the Project Life program, which brings war orphans to rural Orleans County for a summer of respite, fun and education. Several other community members, including Christian churches, help with that program.

Project Life now has an office in Medina at the mosque next to the Ridgeway Town Hall. Huzair said the group is committed to international work, but also wants to step up its efforts in the local community.

It continues to have its mosque on Fuller Road in Waterport. That site is more of a retreat, while the Medina site is its focus for spiritual and community work.

“Medina is a wonderful city,” Huzair said. “We needed something more visible. This building is open to everyone. We welcome everybody who has a passion to do work for humanity.”

Dirt road cuts through Clarendon

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 August 2014 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

CLARENDON – Orleans Hub likes to capture some of the local rural ambiance, including the stretches of dirt roads out in the country.

There is an unpaved road in Clarendon that runs from Upper Holley Road to Route 237. Brown Schoolhouse Road is a seasonal road like many of the dirt roads in Orleans. This one is also hilly.

Exhibit gives a look into local medical profession in 1800s

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 August 2014 at 12:00 am

Cobblestone Museum has straight edges, house call bag, and numerous other items from era

Photo by Tom Rivers – Matt Ballard, co-director of the Cobblestone Society Museum, stands in the Danolds Room in the Cobblestone Universalist Church where artifacts, portraits and other information about the medical profession from more than a century ago are on display. The portrait in back shows Orson Nicholson, M.D. Nicholson, who lived from 1795 to 1870, was a pioneer physician in Orleans County. The portrait was donated by his grandson, Francis E. Stewart, M.D.

The display includes a collection of medicines and medical equipment, including a 1913 fully intact syringe with the Diptheria Antitoxin.

GAINES – If you think going to the doctor’s office gets a little frustrating now, sometimes having to wait an hour, imagine what it was like in the 1800s.

It could take days for doctors’ to make a house call. They had to be fetched and would then travel by horse through the wilderness of Orleans County.

“When the county started there were one or two doctors to cycle around and miles and miles of open space,” said Matt Ballard, co-director of the Cobblestone Society Museum.

He put together an exhibit – “Medicine at the Museum” – about medical care in the 1800s. The museum had an extensive collection of artifacts, and many were also donated from community members for the exhibit, which runs until Oct. 12.

“Medicine at the Museum” features photos and write-ups on many of the pioneer physicians and pharmacists in the county.

The display includes the sign for Dr. Eugene Everett Barnum, a doctor who grew up in Kendall. He earned medical degree from UB Medical School in 1881. He was born 1854 and died in 1904 at age 50. He worked out of Waterport and also was a farmer. The crutches are from the Civil War era.

This house call bag belonged to Dr. Dorothy Ollswang Cooper.

Some of the doctors and pharmacists had influences that stretched beyond Orleans County. Henry C. Lawrence of Knowlesville was a mentor to Col. Eli Lilly. Silas Mainville Burroughs of Medina was a founding partner of Burroughs, Welcomme and Co., which helped to develop compression power in medicine that was used in tablets and pills. Francis E. Stewart, M.D., worked in the research department at Parke, Davis & Co.

For medicine, pharmacists would mix concoctions. There were a lot of herbal and natural treatments, tinctures, tonics and syrups.

The museum received this collection of pharmacology items from a former Rexall store in Albion. They were donated to the museum about 40 years ago.

One of the bottles included aqua ammonia.

Doctors used straight edges for surgeries, with a barber sometimes doing a lot of the work.

Ballard consulted with local historians, reviewed local history books and used Internet research to compile the biographies of many physicians who worked in the county in the 1800s.

Doctors often teamed with barbers for surgeries, using straight edges.

“Our physician history is not very well known,” Ballard. “Those doctors had to do a little bit of everything.”

Ballard also has arranged for four lectures to be given about Orleans and WNY medical history. Those lectures will be 4 p.m. on Sundays on Aug. 17, Aug. 31, Sept. 14 and Sept. 28.

Ballard said the medical exhibit and lectures should be a draw for the museum, which is a National Historic Landmark with many structures located near the intersection of routes 98 and 104.

“Every time you go here you see something new and learn something new,” he said. “It’s not a one and done museum.”

For more on the museum and its upcoming events, click here.

Albion adds another painted bench, interpretive panel to downtown

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 August 2014 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Kim Martillotta Muscarella of Albion painted this bench to look like a piano. The bench was added to the downtown this afternoon. It’s in front of the Uptown Browsery and Knight’s Pride. Muscarella’s son, Jeremiah Knight, owns Knight’s Pride, a custom woodworking business.

The Albion Department of Public Works also installed a new 5-foot-wide interpretive panel about historic downtown Albion. The panel is in Waterman’s Park next to Conrad Cropsey’s law office.

The downtown now has 10 benches that have been painted in heritage or historical themes. The piano bench is in front of the Pratt Opera House. Michael Bonafede and his wife Judith Koehler are working to restore that third-floor site. The benches were paid for a Main Street grant through the state. The Albion Rotary Club paid the artist fee for the piano-themed bench.

The interpretive panel provides information about the history of downtown Albion and highlights some of the architectural features in the buildings. The panel also notes the Albion area is home to four other nationally recognized districts: Mount Albion Cemetery, Courthouse Square, the Cobblestone Society Museum and the Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor.

The panel was paid for by the Main Street grant. The staff at the Lake Country Pennysaver designed the panel, which has been placed next to a mural celebrating the quarrymen.

Bands showcased at OC Summer Jam

Posted 2 August 2014 at 12:00 am

Photos by Sue Cook – Greg Shaw plays drums for Harrison and the Radiators.

By Sue Cook, staff reporter

KNOWLESVILLE – The OC Summer Jam debuted today by the Chamber of Commerce, featuring local bands in a festival-like atmosphere.

The bands alternated between the OrleansHub.com stage and the Curtis Pavilion at the 4-H fairgrounds to prevent a break in the music while each group set up.

Jerrod Thurber, right, of Leonard Oakes Estates Winery was at the event selling wine samples and beer.

People in the Curtis Pavilion watch The Moon Hunters.

Bands on the OrleansHub.com stage were Experimental Sandwich, Harrison and the Radiators, Triple Play and Terrible Ideas. At the Curtis Pavilion, the audience was treated to The Moon Hunters, The Capitals, The Lisa Zelazny Band and Happy Ending. The Capitals were performing one of the last times before member Pete moves away.

George Lama took pictures at the event to promote his business, RG Lama Studios. Cassidy and Matthew Oliver took advantage of the photo booth to get a little silly.

Harrison and the Radiators played many original songs. Greg Shaw is on drums, Brandon Smith is playing bass and Adam Foster sings to the crowd while playing guitar.

The Moon Hunters jam with a funk rock sound. Band members include Cortland McKernan, Evan Anstey, Zach Busch, Dave Blumrick and Zach Bickle.

Alex Feig of OrleansRadio.com called The Moon Hunters up and invited them to participate in the OC Summer Jam. They enjoyed the event so much they would love to be invited back for next year. Busch commented that there were faces in the crowd that were new for the band.

“Our families are always supportive which is nice,” Busch said. “It’s always nice to have a new crowd, too, and I think this summer jam was a great idea. I think it’s a really cool idea.”

Zach Bickle (left) plays saxophone while Zach Busch plays guitar.

Medina wants Shelby, Ridgeway to pay towards Niagara County water costs

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 August 2014 at 12:00 am

The Village of Medina, for the first time, has sent bills – totaling more than $30,000 – to the towns of Ridgeway and Shelby to help pay costs from the Niagara County Water District, the water provider for the community.

Medina has paid the full shot of the “ad valorum” costs since the two towns started hooking into the village water system more than two decades ago. That bill is currently $134,437 and is due Aug. 31.

An auditor, Bonadio & Co., went through Medina’s books and told village officials it shouldn’t bear that full NCWD charge. The firm tried to determine a fair share of the charge and calculated $24,171 for Shelby water users and $6,748 for Ridgeway water users.

The village would still pay about $100,000 of the charge. The village sent letters to the two towns in April, notifying them they would now be expected to pay towards the NCWD charge.

Shelby has refused to pay, and Ridgeway hasn’t responded.

The issue comes when Shelby is trying to renew contracts with the village to provide the water for town water districts. The village buys the water from the Niagara County Water District and then sells it to the towns. Before Medina signs off on a new contract, it wants Shelby to agree to help pay the charge to the NCWD.

Two village trustees, Marguerite Sherman and Mike Sidari, questioned the hardball stance, especially as Shelby pursues a new water district and needs Medina to formally approve an agreement, supplying the water.

“Are we going to hold people’s lives and health in the balance over this?” Sidari asked at Monday’s Village Board meeting.

He urged the board to sign off on the water supply agreement so the water districts could move forward. Trustee Marguerite Sherman also wants the village to sign off on the agreements so Shelby doesn’t miss out on a grant or have its water project delayed.

Mayor Andrew Meier said the village is obligated to pursue the funds from the two towns, especially after being put on notice from the auditors. The village shouldn’t have to subsidize the town water users, Meier said.

The water districts can move ahead if Shelby signs the agreement and agrees to help pay the NCWD charge, Meier said.

Town of Shelby Attorney David Schubel, in a June 20 letter to village attorney Matthew Brooks, said town officials don’t believe the NCWD fee applies to the town because the village is NCWD’s water customer. The “ad valorum charge” is applied to the village to ensure Medina receives the same water rates enjoyed by communities in Niagara County, Schubel said, citing a meeting with NCWD officials.

The village adds 1.6 times the village water rate or about another $1.50 per 1,000 gallons to the town rate. Schubel said that added cost should be enough to pay the NCWD charge and other village costs.

“It would seem that a premium rate of 1.6 should be adequate to cover the actual cost of water and the related costs incurred by the Village in supplying water to the Town and the ad valorum charge,” Schubel said in his letter.

He noted the town is working on two water districts that will need water supply agreements with the village. Schubel sent another letter on July 23 requesting the village approve the water supply agreements.

Shelby officials don’t see the “ad valorum charge” as a mandated or imposed charge from the NCWD, but a membership fee, Schubel said in his letter.

But Medina Attorney Matthew Brooks sees it differently. An August 1993 water supply agreement with the Town of Shelby obligates the village to seek a share of the ad valorum charge, Brooks said.

That agreement says, “Shelby further agrees to pay Medina the actual costs and charges which shall be, from time-to-time, mandated or imposed by the Niagara County Water District, concerning sales of water outside of Niagara County, in lieu of charges assessed from Niagara County Water District in Niagara County taxes, deficits and charges.”

Brooks said the issue could very well go to litigation.

“Right now the town only pays for the water it uses,” Brooks told the Village Board. “To say, ‘We don’t have to pay any additional water,’ doesn’t hold water, so to speak.”

Fairgrounds will jam on Saturday with lineup of bands

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 August 2014 at 12:00 am

File photo by Tom Rivers – The Moon Hunters will be one of eight bands performing Saturday in the OC Summer Jam at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds in Knowlesville. In this photo from February during Medina’s Wine About Winter event, Evan Anstey of Middleport, left, leads the Moon Hunters. He is joined by Dave Blumrick of Medina, center, and Zach Busch of Medina, right. Cort McKernan plays the drums.

KNOWLESVILLE – A week after Orleans County 4-H’ers celebrated their annual fair in Knowlesville, the fairgrounds will be busy again on Saturday, this time as a musical showcase.

The Orleans County Chamber of Commerce will have its first OC Summer Jam from 4 to 10 p.m. tomorrow. Eights bands will play, with the groups taking turns playing from two alternating stages.

“There’s nothing quite like it in this area,” said Sam Roskowski, the administrative assistant at the Chamber and event coordinator for the Summer Jam. “It’s a great way to get the bands together and give the people something to do.”

A $20 ticket gives access to each concert, plus a $5 voucher to one of the food trucks. Tickets drop to $12 after 7 p.m. but that doesn’t include a food voucher. Kids 12 and under are free to attend the concerts.

“The bands are super excited,” Roskowski said.

Each band will play for about 45 minutes. The following are scheduled to perform: Experimental Sandwich, The Moon Hunters, The Scarlet Carsons, The Capitals, Triple Play, The Lisa Zelazny Band, Terrible Ideas and Happy Ending.

Zach Busch, right, plays the guitar for The Moon Hunters.

The bands each have a strong following, Roskowski said. She is hopeful there will be a big crowd for the event. Concert-goers are asked to park on the west side of the fairgrounds.

In addition to the music and food, there will be the game, Can Jam, and a photo booth. The event will go on regardless if it rains.

The Chamber is doing is first music fest, and is in the second year of its Palettes of Orleans art project. Both projects differ from the traditional image of the Chamber, although Roskowski said the Chamber is committed to its “Main Street programs” as well.

“It doesn’t hurt to shake up the image,” she said about the Chamber. “We’re trying to keep things fresh.”

Tickets are available at the event or online at the Chamber’s website.

Accident with injuries on Maple Ridge

Staff Reports Posted 1 August 2014 at 12:00 am

Photos by Cheryl Wertman

MEDINA – A two-vehicle accident resulted in people being transported to the hospital this morning.

The accident occurred at 7:43 a.m. near the intersection of Maple Ridge Road and West Avenue, just west of the routes 31A and 63 intersection.

There isn’t much information available this morning, but a dispatcher said the road was mostly cleaned up by 8:20 and ambulances were dispatched to transport people with injuries.

Windmill used to pump water to feed faucets in cemetery

Posted 1 August 2014 at 12:00 am

By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian

ALBION – In this color post card, which was mailed in May 1909, we see the Tower or Soldiers and Sailors Monument at Mount Albion Cemetery.

At that time there was a fountain over the cistern west of the tower, which shows here in the foreground.

When the water works was first put in, a windmill pumped water from a well up to the cistern for then gravity fed water to the various faucets throughout the cemetery.

In 1906 the windmill was replaced with a pumphouse over the well where a gasoline engine then pumped up the cistern.

Historian to lead tours of cemetery on Sundays in August

Editor’s Note: Tours of Mount Albion will take place every Sunday evening in August at 6 p.m. The tours begin at the main gate and will be led by Bill Lattin, the county historian.