The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Orleans County and most of Upstate New York. The watch is in effect until 10 p.m. today.
The Weather Service warns the storm could bring damaging wind gusts with heavy rain.
Provided photo – Orleans Community Health recently was recognized for attaining 100 percent immunization rate for children by their 19-month-old birthday. The following are pictured with a certificate of recognition: Jennifer Herring, operations manager for Orleans Community Health in Albion; Paul Pettit, director of Orleans County Health Department; and Bill Gajewski, administrator of Orleans Community Health’s Albion health care site.
By Nola Goodrich-Kresse
Public Health Educator for the Orleans County Health Department
We all know how important immunizations are to prevent illness and death, but did you know there are certain standards that are in place to make sure guidelines were followed correctly?
All local health departments are under the guidance of the New York State Department of Health Bureau (NYSDOH) of Immunizations and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for immunization practices.
In order to meet the standards the health departments are responsible for reviewing the immunization rates for healthcare providers in their respective counties. The Standards of Immunization Practice are created by the American Association of Pediatrics for all providers who immunize. The data determines the percentage of children completely immunized with their initial series of immunizations by their 19th month birthday.
In March, Orleans Community Health Center received a 100 percent rating for children’s immunization coverage by 19 months of age. This is an excellent example of standard of practice for immunizations. NYSDOH has a benchmark of 90 percent rating to receive their Certificate of Excellence.
It is important to make sure you and your children are up to date on all immunizations to not only protect you from harmful diseases, but also for those of you who are in contact with people who have poor immune systems.
If you are unsure what immunizations you and your family needs, talk with your healthcare provider to get up to date. There are also catch-up schedules to make sure you have what you need to protect your health.
Congratulations to Orleans Community Health of Albion for encouraging families to be healthy by meeting the standards. We encourage all healthcare providers to work toward meeting these standards as well. For more information about the immunization standards, call the Orleans County Health Department at 585-589-3278.
By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian
Two local residents, Harry Spencer (left) and Bruce Baldwin, obviously had a very successful fishing expedition when this photo was taken about a century ago.
The picture is from a post card by J. Cliff Pennock from Chaffey’s Lock in Ontario, Canada.
A summer type resort hotel appears in the background.
Photos by Tom Rivers – St. John’s Episcopal Church was featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not as “The church in the middle of the street.” Church Street splits by the church near the intersection with East Center Street (Route 31). Built in 1832 this is the oldest remaining church in Orleans County.
MEDINA – The congregation may be getting smaller and older but the group at St. John’s Episcopal Church remains committed to ministry and maintaining the oldest church in Orleans County.
Episcopalians in 1832 built the church at 200 East Center Street. They used Medina sandstone from Oak Orchard Creek near Center Street. The first commercial sandstone quarry wouldn’t open until 1837.
The church is prominent on the Medina landscape. It’s the first church on East Center Street leading to the downtown.
“We feel this is an iconic building that we have to take care of,” said Cynthia Kiebala, the church’s senor warden and acting treasurer. “We feel it is a duty to Medina to keep it up.”
The stones aren’t cut in crisp and precise blocks like the churches that came later in Medina. But St. John’s leaders say the stone church remains structurally sound and has held up well. The church once had a spire but it had to be removed after a cyclone tore through Medina in 1856. The bell tower remains and it holds a 2,100-pound bell.
Cynthia Kiebala, left, is the church’s senior warden. She is pictured with the Rev. Nancy Guenther, the church vicar.
The church regularly only has about a dozen attendees. There were eight there on Sunday when I joined the group for their service at 10:30 a.m.
I had never been inside St. John’s and wanted to see it. The church is repairing the plaster on the interior. It already fixed the plaster in the front entrance.
The plaster is getting repaired in the church sanctuary.
Another view of the sanctuary repairs.
It has many striking stained-glass windows, as well as a pipe organ. St. John’s has been working to replace rotting wood that holds the windows. It can be expensive.
“We’re bit by bit repairing the windows,” Kiebala said.
Kiebala attended St. John’s as a little girl and came back about two decades ago. She likes how women are welcomed in church leadership.
The Waters family donated this satined-glass window as a memorial for Alonzo Waters, a former newspaper publisher and state assemblyman. The window depicts a pen, scroll and the scales of justice.
The Rev. Nancy Guenther serves as the church pastor or the vicar.
“Here it is open and accepting,” Kiebala said. “It lets you reason.”
She would like to see more people help with the church ministries. That includes a linen closet, where St. John’s provides bedding and clean linens for families served by the Genesee-Orleans Ministry of Concern. The church also collects used shoes and donates then to be repurposed.
The church plays hymns on a pipe organ.
Kiebala is on a discernment committee that includes church representatives from Episcopal congregations in Orleans and Genesee counties. The rural parishes have seen falling membership.
“We want to keep our traditions going, but we have to face reality,” she said.
That may mean merged churches or more shared programming and ministries in the future.
“Right now we have about a dozen regulars,” Kiebala said. “We’re a band of the faithful.”
The fellowship hall is in the basement of the church. St. John’s would like to see more use for the hall and Sunday School classrooms.
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – A hanging basket of flowers is pictured this afternoon in downtown Albion at the corner of Bank and Main streets.
The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning southeastern Orleans County, western Monroe County, Genesee County and northwestern Livingston County until 5:15 p.m. today.
The storm is capable of producing damaging winds in excess of 60 miles per hour, the Weather Service said.
File photos by Tom Rivers – The Albion FFA chapter delivered 19,000 pounds of produce to Community Action of Orleans & Genesee last December, one of the chapter’s community outreach efforts.
ALBION – At Albion the FFA program is more than learning about agriculture and leadership. The program, behind teacher Adam Krenning, has put community service and partnerships with local farmers at the top of its mission.
The FFA last December worked with local farmers to collect and deliver 19,000 pounds of donated produce for local food pantries.
The FFA participates in many community festivals, reads books about growing food to elementary students, and runs an annual “mini-farm” where animals and farm equipment come to the school for elementary students to tour.
The Albion chapter hosted the state FFA convention in 2013, welcoming more than 1,000 students to Albion.
The New York Association of Agricultural Educators has taken notice of the Albion program and has named it the state winner of the “outstanding Middle School/Secondary School Program.” Albion will receive the honor later this week during an FFA training program at Camp Oswegatchie.
These Albion High School students – Aaron Burnside, Gary Moore and Dillon Black – were out in a corn field with other members of Adam Krenning’s agricultural science class last September. The corn was planted in the ag program’s 5-acre land lab.
“Under the direction of Mr. Adam Krenning, the Albion Agriculture Program has excelled in the areas of quality instruction, FFA initiatives, and community involvement and has emerged as a leader and a model in our state association,” according to a letter to the Albion Board of Education from Carol Wright, NYAAE president, and Shari Lighthall, Agriculture Education Outreach program specialist for Cornell University.
Wright and Lighthall praised Krenning for his work as FFA advisor and agriculture classroom teacher. Krenning is active in state-wide professional development activities, working to improve the rigor and relevance of the Albion program.
The NYAAE said several “exceptional” candidates were considered for the award, but Krenning and the Albion program rose to the top.
Albion will now be considered at the regional level for top agriculture education program.
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The Albion community was treated to a fireworks show as well as free food and games on Saturday night thanks to the Tonawanda Indian Baptist Church in Basom.
Albion firefighter Carmen Quatro (top) watched the fireworks while standing on top of a fire truck at Bullard Park.
Fred Piano, another Albion firefighter, also watched the fireworks from the top of the fire truck.
The fireworks brought out young families to Bullard Park. The Tonawanda Indian Baptist Church paid for the fireworks show for the third straight year on July 5.
Before the fireworks show, Pastor Bobby Dean from Tonawanda Indian Baptist Church shared a message with the crowd. Dean is also pastor of High Point Community Church in Corfu, a sister church of Tonawanda Indian. The churches would like to start a new congregation in Albion. The two churches had about 30 volunteers in Albion today and they served about 1,000 free hamburgers before the fireworks.
A man leans on his bike while watching the fireworks at Bullard Park.
Matt Dean, Bobby Dean’s son and a worship leader for the church, sings with the praise band. Dean said Tonawanda Indian would like to have a church soon in Albion. The service might be on Saturday evenings. “We’re just waiting for God to work things out,” Dean said.
Bullard Park drew a crowd Saturday night for the fireworks show.
Mike Dean sang and played the guitar in the praise band. His father is pastor of Tonawanda Indian Baptist Church in Basom and High Point Community Church in Corfu.
The fireworks finale was explosive and lit up the sky.
Press release, Orleans County Sheriff Scott Hess
CARLTON – A Rochester couple escaped serious injury early this morning after their car crashed into a tree in the Town of Carlton.
The incident occurred at approximately 5 a.m. in the 13200 block of Lakeshore Rd., at intersection with Lakeside Road.
Elizabeth A. Marcano, 46, was operating a 2014 Nissan Suburban travelling east on Lakeshore Road, when she failed to stop for the stop sign at the T-intersection with Lakeside Road.
The vehicle continued east across Lakeside Road, and left the roadway before striking a metal gate that controls access to New York State Park Lands. The vehicle continued on for several feet into a wooded area before striking and coming to rest against a tree.
Marcano’s husband Joseph Marcano, 48, was a front seat passenger in the vehicle. Both were transported by Medina Fire Department ambulance to Medina Memorial Hospital, where they were treated and released. Carlton firefighters also assisted at the scene.
Elizabeth Marcano was cited for Unsafe Speed, Moving from Traffic Lane Unsafely, and Failure to Stop at a Stop Sign. She will appear in Town of Carlton Court later this month.
The incident was investigated by Deputy M.C. Mele, assisted by Investigator D.E. Foeller Jr.
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Two people were out for a walk along the canal in Medina this afternoon near the Horan Road canal bridge. It has been a sunshine-filled day with temperatures in the low 80s.
On Monday, there will be heavy rain with a high of 79, according to the National Weather Service in Buffalo.
Three boats were also in the Canal Basin in this photo framed by a tree.
This mural created by Arthur Barnes, faces the canal, and greets boaters and walkers by the Canal Basin.
Photos by Tom Rivers
LYNDONVILLE – Young Explosives once again put on a big fireworks show at Lyndonville to cap off the Fourth of July celebration. The Lyndonville Lions Club is the main organizer for the annual festival with help from several other community groups and the Village of Lyndonville and Town of Yates.
The top photo was during the fireworks finale with a big crowd in the school’s sports fields.
People gathered on Main Street, watching the fireworks over the dam at Johnson Creek.
These people watch from a sidewalk along Main Street by Johson Creek.
The pond at Johnson Creek provides a reflection of the fireworks.
Many people brought their own lawn chairs or blankets and settled in for the show.
Before the fireworks, four Albion friends played with sparklers, including from left: Kendall Derisley, Olivia Krenning, Olivia’s brother Seth Krenning, and Kendall’s twin sister Paige Derisley.
A long line of people wait to buy funnel cakes and other treats before the fireworks show.
Tom Zangerle, left, and the “Happy Ending” band played before the fireworks. The band had its own lighting display.
