By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 August 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
The Albion Rotary Club today presented $1,000 checks to both Hoag Library for a series of historical programs and to Community Action of Orleans and Genesee for the agency’s food pantry.
Kelly Kiebala, the club’s president in 2012-13, is pictured, center, with Bonnie Malakie, director of children and youth services for Community Action of Orleans & Genesee, at left.
Susan Rudnicky, right, is director of Hoag Library in Albion. The library will use the funding for programs about local history.
LYNDONVILLE – The Lyndonville Central School District will be hosting two information meetings for parents and community members on Sept. 16, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Stroyan Auditorium.
Representatives from the Niagara Region PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) will present information at on the re-launching the local Lyndonville PTA.
“Not all decisions affecting a child’s school happen at the local level. It has been a mission of National PTA to address the needs of all children,” according to a statement from the Niagara Region PTA.
“PTA has been a driving force in establishing school lunch programs, after-school care, school bus safety, and TV rating standards before they became law. With several million members, its voice is heard. The PTA shares our commitment to strengthening the bridge between home and school.”
Following the PTA presentation, members of the district’s Strategic Planning Committee will present the 2013-2016 Strategic Plan. This plan is the culmination of efforts by many district stakeholdersincluding parents and community membersand provides direction and organization in ensuring that students are college and career ready.
“I hope many of our parents and community members will join us to learn more about the renewed direction of our district,” Lyndonville Superintendent Jason Smith said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 August 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo courtesy of Eileen Banker
Photo by Tom Rivers – Allen Sanford is pictured with his friends and Scouts in this photo from June when they were working to build a mobile stage.
Mayor Dean Theodorakos congratulates Allen Sanford for making a mobile performing arts stage for his Eagle Scout project. Sanford gave the stage to the village, which will use it community concerts and community events. (Village Trustee Kevin Sheehan is pictured in back.)
Theodorakos presented Sanford with a certificate of appreciation during Wednesday’s Village Board meeting.
Sanford turned an old hay wagon into a stage with wheels. The stage is 28 feet long. Sanford, an engineering student at the Rochester Institute of Technology, used a CAD program to design the stage.
“It’s to advance music in the community,” Sanford said during a June interview.
He has played in local bands and often had to perform on lawns or pavement because there wasn’t a stage.
He worked with local Scouts and businesses to make the project a reality.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 August 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
U.S. Rep. Chris Collins addressed members of the Albion Rotary Club today, including Michael Bonnewell, superintendent of Albion Central School.
GAINES – The government could grind to a halt next month due to the “vast differences” between President Barack Obama and a Republican-led House of Representatives, U.S. Rep. Chris Collins told members of the Albion Rotary Club today.
House Republicans want the president and Congress to reduce the nation’s deficit and develop a plan for paying down the national debt, said Collins, R-Clarence.
“The country is on an unsustainable course,” Collins told the Albion Rotary Club today during its meeting at The Village Inn. “There will be a showdown.”
House Speaker John Boehner vowed “a whale of a fight” over extending the debt ceiling. Boehner told reporters in Boise on Tuesday that Obama needs to cut government spending for Republicans in Congress to support raising the debt ceiling.
If the debt ceiling isn’t extended, the government could default on paying its bills in October. Collins would support raising the debt limit, if Obama would agree to rewriting the tax code. Collins said a fairer, less burdensome tax policy would spur the economy, with increased business activity resulting in more tax revenues.
Collins also wants to see the controversial Keystone Pipeline approved. Republicans could insist on that as part of the negotiations with Obama and Democrats in Congress over the debt ceiling and deficit reduction plan, Collins said.
The congressman touched on other issues. He supports an immigration reform plan that would give legal status for many farmworkers, especially those at dairies, to be in the country and work in agriculture.
He doesn’t want the United States to intervene in the civil war in Syria. While the fighting in Syria is “deeply troubling,” Collins said the country’s disintegration doesn’t pose an “imminent threat” to the U.S.
“We don’t want to have a knee-jerk reaction and fire cruise missiles,” Collins said. “I’m hopeful the president will move cautiously.”
Collins this afternoon made at least his third stop in Orleans County since March. He was in Corfu earlier today and was in Batavia on Wednesday. He said he is frequently meeting with business and community leaders in the eight-county district.
When he was elected in November, Collins said many people assumed he would seldom reach out to the rural counties, and instead be devoted to Erie County, where he was the county executive.
“I’m trying to prove the naysayers wrong,” Collins said.
Contributed Story Posted 28 August 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Michael Karcz
MEDINA – Terry Buchwald impersonates the king of rock and roll Elvis Presley during tonight’s Super Cruise in Medina. Buchwald has capped off the annual classic cruise-in series for the past several years.
Wednesday was scheduled to be the finale of the series, but organizers will have one more classic car cruise-in on Friday in the Canal Basin.
Medina shut off a portion of Main Street for the Super Cruise, which drew a big crowd of vintage cars and pedestrians.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 28 August 2013 at 12:00 am
ALBION – Matt Passarell will have the Republican line in the Nov. 5 election for town supervisor.
The Albion Republican Committee may have decided in April not to endorse Passarell, Jake Olles and or any candidate for the town’s top elected official.
But Passarell was able to secure the line by submitted petitions signed by Republicans in town. Passarell also has the Conservatve Party line.
Olles on Tuesday was backed by Democrats during their party caucus.
Olles and Passarell are both currently town councilmen. Passarell was elected in November 2008 with Olles elected two years later.
Olles works as a Sergeant at Attica Correctional. Passarell is an Iraq War veteran and VFW commander. He works as quality supervisor for Baxter in Medina.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 28 August 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Churches around the country rang their church bells 50 times today at 3 p.m. in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech that was 50 years ago today.
The First Presbyterian Church in Albion joined the chorus of church bells this afternoon.
In the photo above, Jim Mitchell, left, and his brother John ring the church bell at the Presbyterian Church.
The brothers grew up in Detroit and their father was a biology teacher in the inner city. He also was a Civil Rights supporter, and told his young sons to drink from the “Colored” water fountains and use “Colored” public restrooms.
The family often hosted members of the African-American community for meals at their house.
“Our father was a big believer in the movement,” Jim Mitchell said.
Both Mitchell brothers and their wives now live in Orleans County.
In King’s speech, he used soaring oratory to plead with Americans to come together to stomp out racism and create a land of opportunity for all.
A view looking up the church spire at the bell tower.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 28 August 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
The First United Methodist Church in Albion has a important role in the religious fervor that swept the “burned-over district” in the 1800s.
ALBION – It was called the “burned-over district,” the swath of western and central New York that was fertile ground for religious fervor in the 1800s.
Churches sprang up, including new denominations, and church leaders pushed to make believers out of the new settlers who were drawn to the area once the Erie Canal was under construction beginning in 1817. Church leaders especially targeted the canal workers, who were viewed as the underclass in need of spiritual direction.
One of the most famous evangelists, Charles Finney, referred to the area in his 1876 autobiography as the “burned-over district,” saying then the area had been heavily evangelized. There was no “fuel” (unconverted population) left over to “burn” (convert).
Joseph Smith started the Mormon Church in Palmyra. Spiritualism started and found a home at Lily Dale in Chautauqua County. (I grew up in Lily Dale.) Other religious movements emerged in the “burned-over district.”
Albion plays an important historical role in the push to evangelize and also to shape social issues. One church denomination, the Free Methodists, opened their first church in Albion, across the street from the Methodist Episcopal Church (now the United Methodist Church). The new church was strongly in support of freeing slaves, not charging pew fees and welcoming women into leadership roles in the church.
Loren Stiles preached those messages and he was expelled in 1859 from the Methodist Episcopal Church in Albion. Stiles and a new congregation built the Free Methodist Church across the street. That church launched a denomination that has grown to more than 1,000 churches, with most of the church membership outside the United States. About 53 percent of Free Methodists live in Africa.
The first Free Methodist church in the world opened across the street from the United Methodists after Loren Stiles was expelled. He formed the new church in 1859. There are now more than 1,000 Free Methodist churches in the world.
The original church remains in Albion, where about 200 people attend church on Sundays. (I go to that church.)
I felt sick for a few days last week after the United Methodists announced they planned to abandon their historic building, and turn it over to the denominational conference. The church needs about a $1 million repair to the roof and its support system. The congregation of about 30 families doesn’t have that kind of money.
I fear the church will be stripped of all the stained-glass windows, the pipe organ and ornate woodwork. And the building could be knocked down. That would be a blow to the congregation – and to Albion, Orleans County and New York State, which has a rich history.
I think the eight churches in the Courthouse Square are one of Albion’s great assets, buildings that are like walking into a time capsule from the 19th Century.
Albion is the only place I know of on earth that has eight historic church buildings, all representing different stories, so close together, with a courthouse from 1858 as the center.
The buildings are loaded with ecclesiastical art, including windows from the famed Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company in New York City. The Pullman Memorial Universalist Church has a breath-taking window of Jesus that almost looks three-dimensional.
The “Christ the Consoler” window in the Pullman church is a tremendous work of art by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company.
I’ve been in all of the churches. They’re all different, showing an array of architectural styles. Most of the buildings have giant stained-glass windows that bear the names of prominent families from ore than a century ago, names like the Swan family that started Albion’s first public library. (You can find that window in the Baptist Church.)
The dedication at the bottom of a window dedicated to William Gere Swan in the Baptist Church.
So, about the United Methodist Church building. Let’s turn it into a “Sacred Sites” Discovery Center that would talk about the religious and social movements that swept upstate in the 1800s, with some of those movements gaining strength and going world-wide.
The Sacred Sites center could provide an introduction to the different denominations and religious movements. It wouldn’t be a place to proselytize, but for people to learn the origins of the faith traditions of the different denominations.
The center could educate on church architecture and art, highlighting the works of some of the masters, such as Tiffany. Albion is truly a showcase of some awesome ecclesiastical artistry.
The United Methodist building could become a significant attraction, especially when combined with the seven other churches in the Courthouse Square. With the building’s new purpose, telling the stories of the social and religious movements that were so important to the state, it only makes sense to me that New York should help pay the bulk of repairing the roof and its support system.
It would be far easier for the state to help with this project than putting the entire financial burden on the 30 families that go to the church. (If this becomes a Sacred Sites Discovery Center, I think the sanctuary should continue to be used for church services, with the United Methodists welcome to use the building on Sunday mornings. The church could also use the site for other outreach ministries, especially with meals from the fellowship hall.)
The United Methodist Church has a failing structural support system for the roof over the sanctuary. The church is using five wooden beams to offer some structural support. A proper fix could top $1 million.
New York has a rich history and many museums tell stories of abolitionists, the women’s suffrage movement, pioneer settlers and even the best professional athletes.
New museums and “discovery centers” are added all the time, with a grape and wine center in Westfield among the most recent additions. A Finger Lakes Museum is planned for Yates County. More projects are on the drawing board, including a Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo loves the state’s history, and he has put state resources behind heritage tourism, wanting New Yorkers and visitors to know about the many inventors, social justice leaders and battlefields in the state’s history.
We have sites that talk about Jell-O in Le Roy and toys in Rochester. When I lived in North Chili, there was a dollhouse museum a couple blocks away.
The state should work with Albion to create a Sacred Sites destination. We can work around the separation of church versus state by focusing on the social and cultural history behind the religious movements, and the art of the stained glass and pipe organs.
I would encourage the village, county and our local state representatives to give this idea consideration – soon, before the United Methodist Church is picked of its assets.
If we created the Sacred Sites center, we’d need an army of volunteers to help run the place, including some paid staff. We’d need local dollars to help convince the state the community supports this.
We may need to form an Albion Historical Alliance or something like that and start getting aggressive about preserving and promoting these assets. Besides the churches, we have an abundance of riches with cobblestone homes, spectacular Medina Sandstone structures, and so much more.
The Presbyterian Church is one of eight churches in Albion that are named to the National Register of Historic Places.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 28 August 2013 at 12:00 am
Mike Wertman will cover the local sports scene
Photo by Tom Rivers – Mike Wertman covered local sports for 35 years for The Journal-Register in Medina. He started this week with OrleansHub.com.
ALBION – OrleansHub.com today will add coverage of local high school and community sports to our online news site. Veteran sports writer Mike Wertman will be reporting on game results, previews and other sports news.
Wertman covered sports for 35 years for The Journal-Register in Medina. He has earned many awards in his career, including an honor from the New York State Public High School Athletic Association for his coverage of girls sports. The Orleans County Chamber of Commerce gave him a “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his many years devoted to local high school athletes. The Albion Central School District named him a “Friend of Education.”
“People have asked me if I ever wanted to cover the Bills or Sabres,” Wertman said. “I tell them, ‘No, because I like working with the kids and the local coaches.’ It’s pure sports.”
Wertman will cover the games, often from the sidelines with a notebook. Many of the coaches will talk to him during the contests.
“Where else do you get that kind of access?” Wertman said. “Do you think Marv Levy would do that with the Buffalo Bills?”
Wertman’s wife Cheryl will also attend many of the games, taking pictures. She did that for The Journal and will now take photos for OrleansHub.com.
Wertman is a lifetime Medina resident. He wrote a book about Medina’s High School football program from 1929 to 1980. In another book, he chronicled the exploits of the Medina MAC’s, the Medina Athletic Club’s semi-pro football team from 1946 to 1961.
Wertman said many of the current high school players are children of players he wrote about two or three decades ago. He covers many of the athletes when they are in youth sports leagues. He then watches them mature and often excel as varsity players, sometimes becoming Sectional or State champions. That is always a thrill, for the community and for him, when a team makes a big run in the playoffs.
Nothing can top a game back in 1988, Wertman said, when Albion and Medina both advanced through the playoffs in football. The teams met at Rich Stadium under the lights. Medina won a close game, 14-7.
“Mike has a reputation as a hard-working sportswriter who works well with the local coaches and athletes,” said Karen Sawicz, the OrleansHub.com publisher. “We’re happy to have him join our team.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 28 August 2013 at 12:00 am
MEDINA – A $25,000 grant from Monsanto will help Medina’s ag education program add livestock, a compost research center, community gardens and a technology system where the animals can be viewed with monitors 24 hours a day.
Todd Eick, Medina’s ag teacher and FFA advisor, would like to have the new programs in place by May, when Medina hosts the state FFA Convention.
He plans to turn former grain bins behind Pizza Hut into a livestock area with goats, sheep and llamas. Eick’s students in veterinary science and small animal care classes will work with the animals. The video system would allow students to communicate with vets off site.
Manure from the animals will be part of a compost product that will be used to enrich soil for community gardens by the school buildings.
Medina is the second local district to be awarded one of the $25,000 Monsanto grants. Albion received a grant last year and used the money to develop a 5-acre land lab, acquiring soil testing equipment, laptops and corn seed.
The Monsanto grant applications need endorsements from local farmers.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 August 2013 at 12:00 am
MEDINA – The village approved an agreement with the Medina School District where police officer Chad Kenward will continue to provide a full-time presence at the district during the school year.
Police Chief Jose Avila is a strong supporter of having a police officer dedicated to school district. He said the officer is on the scene to respond to any calls, develops relationships with students and also acts as a deterrent to crime.
“It’s an incredible working relationship between the police department and the school district,” Avila said Monday after the Village Board approved a one-year agreement with the district.
The school will pay the village $60,000 towards Kenward’s salary and benefits. That covers about nine months of the cost with the village paying the rest.
Medina first had a school resource officer as part of a grant about 10 years ago. When the grant expired after three years, there wasn’t a SRO for at least one year. The district and village have since agreed to partner in providing the service.
“I’m very grateful the superintendent and mayor have worked to keep an officer in the school,” Avila said.
In other action on Monday, the Village Board:
Voted to take out a $120,000 bond to pay for a new police vehicle, utility tractor with a snow blower, maintenance equipment, protective gear for the fire department and equipment for an ambulance.
Agreed to a five-year lease with the county where Orleans can erect a new radio communications tower next to the village water tank on Route 31A. The county won’t be charged to use the land at 11816 Maple Ridge Rd., but the county agreed to share some revenue with the village if a telecommunications company co-locates on the tower in the future.
May declare a roadway leading into the Medina Business Park as an official village street. If the roadway becomes part of the village highway inventory, Medina could receive state CHIPS money to maintain the road.
Peter Houseknecht, the Medina DPW superintendent, said the road went in more than a decade ago and needs some work. He would like to use state CHIPS funds to help with the road maintenance, rather than village tax dollars.
The village will reach out to the Orleans Economic Development Agency to declare the road an official village street.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 August 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – I happened to take a picture of the First Baptist Church in Medina in late winter/early spring (photo at very top). You can see the church with its slate roof.
The church now has the asphalt shingle roof after the congregation hired Matt C.M. Contracting to replace the slate, which ranged from about 40 to 100 years old, depending on which section and side of the roof. (The slate remains on the church spire.)
Some of the slate on the big roofs was cracked and many of the nails that held the pieces had withered away. Church members worried the old roof was a safety concern and also needed to be upgraded to stave off leaks.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 August 2013 at 12:00 am
ALBION – Democrats gathered for a caucus tonight and picked current Town Board member Jake Olles, a correctional officer at Attica, for town supervisor candidate.
That sets up a Nov. 5 election contest versus two current councilmen, Olles and Matt Passarell, who has been endorsed by the Conservative Party. The Republican Committee didn’t endorse a candidate for the election.
Albion Democrats also endorsed Justin Sheehan and Todd Sargent for Town Board positions. Sargent is a Republican who also has the GOP endorsement. There are three candidates running for councilmen. Richard Remley also has the Republican line. Voters will elect two to four-year terms.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 August 2013 at 12:00 am
KENDALL – An ambitious lakefront residential project in Orleans County is progressing with the first five or six houses expected to ready in October at the former Camp Troutburg.
The Wegman Group updated town and county officials on the project, which is planned to have room for 400 houses on 126 acres in the northeast corner of the town of Kendall at a former Salvation Army camp.
The first houses are expected to be ready in two months, with more building over the winter and early spring, said David Wegman, CEO of the Wegman Group. By April there could be 20 to 30 houses built at The Cottages at Troutburg.
Wegman and his son Dan spoke at tonight’s Orleans County Supervisors and Legislators Association meeting at The Village Inn. The Wegman Group said there is strong interest in the seasonal houses, which range from about 450 to 1,300 square feet. The Cottages at Troutburg will be open from April 1 with the water service turned off on Dec. 1.
The group hasn’t made an aggressive marketing push yet. Wegman expects to see a big response for the seasonal homes from the Rochester region, including people in the Finger Lakes.
“We think there are a lot of people tired of the taxes in the Finger Lakes, which are outrageous,” he said.
Home owners at the Cottages will pay a monthly $495 charge to the Wegman Group for the gated community. The fee covers road maintenance, lawncare, walking trails, all common buildings, plus access to a pool with lifeguards.
The Wegman Group will keep most of the 126 acres as green space, and it is planting 2,000 trees. The property includes a half-mile of lake front.
“This is absolutely the best site in New York this could happen,” Wegman said. “This is really a special piece of property.”
Town Supervisor Dan Gaesser praised the Wegmans for the project, which will bring new residents to Kendall to support local businesses and will boost the town, school and county tax bases by perhaps $25 to $30 million when the property is at full build-out.
Wegman said the property could be fully developed with 400 houses in eight years. The company has set a goal of selling one house each week. Wegman said the company has tried to keep the homes affordable with most of the houses costing about $60,000.
There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the project on Sept. 25.
For more information, check The Cottages website by clicking here.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 August 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo courtesy of Eric Brown – Some of the Scouts from the Iroquois Trail Council are pictured in front of the Pittsburgh Zoo.
A group of 80 Boy Scouts from the Iroquois Trail Council attended the National Scout Jamboree last month in West Virginia. The Iroquois Trail Council includes Scouts from Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming and part of Livingston and Niagara counties.
There were 11 Scouts from Troop 164 in Albion on the trip, including four Scoutmasters. Eric Brown attended the event as a Scoutmaster with his son, Harrison.
Brown sent along these photos of the Jamboree after seeing the Vintage Orleans feature on Sunday that showed local Scouts on the Jamboree in 1953. (Click here to see the vintage photo.)
The Scoutmasters from 164 included Brown, Tom Madejski, Bryan Catlin and Giovanni Madejski. The Scouts included Freeman Lattin, Ben Hayes, Zach Champeney, Matt DeCarlo, Charles Moore, Cody Catlin, Caleb Pettit, Noah Shiffer, Matt Flanagan, Harrison Brown and Joe Madejski.
The 80 Scouts from the Iroquois Trail on the trip spent two days in Pittsburgh, going to the zoo, a Pirates game, Carnegie Science Center, and the 9/11 National Memorial Park in Shanksville. The trip started July 13 and ended July 24.
Photo courtesy of Eric Brown – Scouts visit the 9/11 National Memorial Park in Shanksville, where one of the hijacked planes crashed in rural Pennsylvania.
