By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 May 2013 at 12:00 am
The 524-mile state canal system, which runs through Orleans County, officially opened today for its 189th season.
Canal village residents will soon be hearing the bells on the lift bridges, and tugboats, tenders and recreational boaters will be traveling along the iconic waterway.
Several official canal vessels, including the tender in the photo above, stay in Albion during the winter months. The tender is a working vessel on the canal.
The bell on the Main Street Lift Bridge in Albion is pictured in the photo below.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Boy Scouts from troops in Albion and West Barre this morning set 720 flags on the graves of veterans in Mount Albion Cemetery. Scouts work with the American Legion every May to make sure the graves receive flags.
Eight-year-old Devin Marchu, above, places a flag on the grave of William S. Lattin, a World War II veteran, while Anthony Freeman, 10, places flags for veterans in the Civil War section of the historic cemetery on Route 31.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Albion, Lyndonville and Medina students all honored
Photo by Tom Rivers – Albion High School students earned an outstanding dance ensemble award from the Rochester Broadway Theatre League in Albion’s performance of Beauty and the Beast.
ROCHESTER – The Albion and Lyndonville drama departments took home many honors Thursday night for singing, dancing and acting in the annual “Stars of Tomorrow” program through the Rochester Broadway Theatre League.
Both school districts won numerous awards with Mary Martin of Albion picked of one four outstanding lead actress honors among Division B schools. Martin is a repeat winner in the category. She played Belle in Albion’s production of Beauty and the Beast.
She will now compete in RBTL’s scholarship competition May 23 that features 32 outstanding leads in a nine-county area.
Photo by Tom Rivers – Mary Martin, an Albion High School senior who played Belle in Beauty and the Beast, was named an outstanding female lead by the Rochester Broadway Theater League.
Albion also won an award for outstanding dance ensemble. Several students also won “Tip of the Hat” recognition from program judges. A trio of performers – Faith Bentley, Madelaine Fournier and Alyssa Lawrence – were recognized for their performance as “Silly Girls.”
Joyce LaLonde won a “Tip of the Hat” award for “Babette,” while Kendra Morrison was recognized for her efforts as “Madame De La Grande Bouche.” Another Albion student, Maria Ostafew, was honored for “The Rose.”
Lyndonville had a big night. The district also competes in the B Division and has included Medina students the past two years. They performed Anything Goes.
Courtesy of Lyndonville Central School – Tom Follman, who played Moonface Martin in Lyndonville’s production of Anything Goes, was awarded best supporting actor in the “Stars of Tomorrow” program.
Lyndonville’s Tom Follman was awarded best supporting actor for his role as Moonface Martin. Joy Follman, who portrayed Mrs. Wadsworth T. Harcourt, received special recognition and Tip of the Hat awards.
The production also received outstanding singing ensemble and outstanding pit orchestra awards.
Medina students Madison Holland, Joe Mangiola and Regan Stacey were recognized for their roles in Anything Goes. Stacey was named best supporting actress and received a Tip of the Hat award for her work as the production choreographer. Mangiola was given a Tip of the Hat award, and Holland was named a Rising Star after a nomination from musical director Jennifer Trupo.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Mitchell Ling, a sixth grade junior FFA member from Pioneer, sits atop a 3020 John Deere form the mid-1960s. The Western New York 2-Cylinder Club brought nine John Deere tractors to the state convention.
FFA members are taking turns at a booth promoting agricultural education. The booth is among many displays promoting careers in agriculture in the middle school gym. This group of students is from the Cazenovia FFA. They include, from left: Easton Young, Paige Horan and Tim Hunt.
ALBION – It’s not all work and no play for the 1,100 FFA students in Albion for the state convention.
With temperatures near 80 degrees on a glorious sunny day, many of the students took to the outdoors to lounge on the grass, play on a swing set, and climb old tractors this afternoon.
It’s been a busy first two days of the convention with students competing in 26 events, picking new officers, and attending numerous leadership seminars and career fairs.
Students are looking forward to a concert in the high school gym tonight by country music singer JJ Lawhorn.
The convention wraps up tomorrow.
Kelsey Delles, left, and Brittany Allen – both members of the Indian River FFA near Watertown – relax on the high school front lawn this afternoon. The two competed in a foods competition, making frozen raspberry yogurt. They were waiting for the results from the competition. Twelve students from Indian River are attending the state FFA convention in Albion.
A.J. Fletcher, a ninth-grader from the Cobleskill FFA, swings on the middle school playground this afternoon. There are 19 Cobleskill students in Albion for the state FFA convention.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Volunteers are welcome to pitch in with two community cleanup projects on Saturday.
In Carlton, the Oak Orchard Neighborhood Association will meet at the Lighthouse Restaurant for tea or coffee at 8:30 a.m. The group will then shift to the Orleans County Marine Park to start a roadside garbage pickup at 9 a.m.
Volunteers will pick up trash on Route 98 between Lake Ontario and Narby’s Superette and Tackle near “The Bridges.” OONA has been doing the trash pickup for four or five years. Some volunteers bring weed wackers to help trim the grass along the roadside.
The organization urges helpers to bring their own gloves and buckets.
“The more people we have, the less time it will take,” said Ed Bellnier, OONA vice president.
In Medina, the Lions Club is having its annual spring environmental cleanup day from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will meet at the Lions Park before heading to different parts of the village for cleanup projects.
So far, 15 club members, 40 Boy Scouts and 10 students from the Iroquois Job Corps have committed to helping. Lions will cook hot dogs for participants beginning at 11 a.m.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 May 2013 at 5:45 pm
ALBION – Albion police have charged a 20-year-old man formerly from Albion with endangering the welfare of a child after he allegedly picked up a 12-year-old girl after school on Wednesday and took her to Buffalo overnight.
Jonathan Banks may face additional charges and an investigation is continuing, said Tom O’Hearn, a lieutenant with the Albion police. Banks was put in jail in lieu of $2,500 bail this afternoon.
He allegedly picked up Marina Zeppetella after middle school at 2:20 p.m. on Wednesday. Video from the school showed her getting into a car. O’Hearn said police used On-Star and cellular phone tracking to help locate the car driven by Banks.
He dropped Marina off at a truck stop on Route 77, and state police picked her up around noon today.
Marina allegedly arranged for the ride after school by Banks, police said. Albion police issued a missing person alert for the girl at about 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The alert was broadcast throughout Western New York. A motorist on the Thruway called the 911 to report seeing Marina near Route 77.
Marina wasn’t hurt and was dropped off at the truck stop at her request, O’Hearn said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 May 2013 at 12:00 am
The tower, nestled in the southeast section of Mount Albion Cemetery, rises 68 feet from the hill it stands on. From the top, which can be reached by climbing the spiral staircase inside, visitors can admire Albion’s countryside and, on a clear day, see clear north to Lake Ontario.
ALBION – For 11 years after the Civil War, Orleans County residents fought to raise money for a memorial to 463 county residents who perished in the war.
Quarrymen cut the stone and hauled it to the heart of Mount Albion Cemetery. The community built a 68-foot-high tower, the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, that has endured for nearly 140 years. An 84-step spiral staircase allows people to climb the tower, to enjoy a view above the trees.
The tower is a tremendous achievement, one of our most magnificent sandstone structures – and an overwhelming expression of grief.
The tower was built in stages. Several times, the community ran out of money for the immense project, County Historian Bill Lattin said.
But residents wouldn’t be denied a chance to pay their respects to the fallen. The monument was dedicated on July 4, 1876, the 100th anniversary of the country.
This tower isn’t merely decorative. It’s a memorial to 463 Orleans County residents who died in the Civil War.
I’ve been researching Civil War memorials on-line, and taking pictures of ones from other nearby communities. I want to be respectful and not criticize other memorials. In fact, I admire every one. But I think it’s clear that the Civil War memorial in Albion is one of the most unusual and perhaps most magnificent of them all, especially in a small town.
Many of the Civil War memorials include a plaque with a retired cannon from the war. Kendall has one at Beechwood Cemetery. Bergen has a Civil War memorial with a cannon mounted on a big stone block. The memorial includes the names of the soldiers from the community who died in the war.
Bergen mounted a cannon on a stone block as part of its memorial to Civil War soldiers at Mount Rest Cemetery.
There are a lot of obelisks as monuments. Batavia has a 36-foot-high obelisk with a bronze statue of a soldier in front. A lot of the memorials include statues. Some of them are on stone pedestals that are elevated 50 feet or more above ground. Warsaw in Wyoming County has one like that in the middle of a traffic circle. It’s impressive.
But the Mount Albion tower can be experienced, not just admired. Climb into the tower and you’ll see the names of the local dead carved on nine marble slabs that hang on the walls. Many of the last names, such as Davis and Root, remain in the community.
The Upton Monument in Batavia depicts a Civil War hero and Batavia native, Maj. Gen. Emory Upton. The monument, dedicated in 1919, includes a 36-foot-high obelisk and honors Civil War soldiers and other Genesee County veterans.
A grieving Orleans County didn’t pick the highest-ranked solider from the community and commission a bronze likeness of that solider, and then offer a general comment about how the memorial honors all who died in defense of the union.
In Orleans, every solider who gave his life is remembered. Rank didn’t give a solider a loftier position in the memorial. I think that’s a radical idea, and different from many of the Civil War memorials.
The Civil War memorial in Warsaw features a statue on a pedestal in the middle of Route 19. There are four cannons at the base of the monument.
The Albion tower is one of only two (I think) made of Medina sandstone. Brockport built a 52-foot-high tower in 1893. The tower has crumbled and today partially stands on Owens Road. Calls to save the tower have met with apathy.
Due to safety concerns, the tower in Albion was off limits in the early 1970s. A group of high school students attended a Village Board meeting when one trustee suggested the tower be torn down. The high schoolers were outraged and spearheaded a “Save a Tower” campaign that raised $30,000 to strengthen masonry joints and repair the staircase. The tower was rededicated on July 4, 1976, the country’s 200th anniversary.
The community raised $30,000 to repair the steps and masonry joints inside the tower in the 1970s.
“We saved something that is really important,” Lattin told me. “Out here in Western New York it is certainly one of the more outstanding monuments.”
Locally, we benefited from the close presence of so many sandstone quarries. That provided a superior building material for the memorial. And we had immigrant stonecutters who could shape the stone. They also loved their adopted country, and wanted to express their gratitude for the soldiers’ sacrifice “in defense of the union.”
Lattin said some communities spent more than Orleans County “with exotic memorials with statuary.”
Nine marble slabs bear the names of Orleans County residents who died in the Civil War.
But our tower shows what happens when regular people get together and give their best. A shared sacrifice resulted in a magnificent monument that should endure for decades to come.
I take visiting friends to the tower, and they are filled with awe when they reach the top. I’ve been asked to give tours of the cemetery recently, showing it off to Cornell graduate students last month and a Rotary exchange group from the Philippines last fall.
They act like tourists at Niagara Falls, especially at the top of the tower. They are overwhelmed, shocked by the achievement from 1876.
This group from the Philippines climbed the top of the tower in October.
We should promote the tower, include it as part of a community marketing plan with its likeness on gateway signs and tourism brochures. It could be the focus on a bigger “Civil War Trail” in Orleans County and perhaps Western New York. If we developed a “Sandstone Trail” with roadside markers of sandstone buildings and quarries in the county, the top of tower should be the iconic symbol for the signs.
The tower is absolutely incredible. No other Civil War tribute, at least locally, quite compares.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Point Breeze and the Oak Orchard Harbor are likely to advance to the next round to determine the ‘Ultimate Fishing Town,’ an on-line contest by the World Fishing Network.
POINT BREEZE – Todd Fannin for the past two weeks has alerted just about everyone he knows to vote for Point Breeze as the “Ultimate Fishing Town.”
Fannin, owner of Lighthouse Restaurant, and other Point Breeze cheerleaders have the community ranked second in a nation-wide poll of top fishing communities. Point Breeze has 11,492 votes, while Cape Hatteras, NC, leads with 17,448, as of 3 p.m. today. Point Breeze has jumped ahead of Grand Lake, CO, with 8,309 votes.
“This to me is another tool, another feather in our cap to promote some of the best fishing in the fall,” Fannin said.
Point Breeze has a big lead as the top spot in the Northeast. Walton, NY, is in second place with 4,686 votes followed by Waddington, NY, with 3,860.
Voting ends tomorrow at 11:59 a.m. for the first round of the competition. The first- and second-place finishers per region will then square off for the finals. If Point Breeze wins the region, it will secure $3,500 to bolster the local fishery.
The second round continues from noon Friday to 11:59 a.m. May 24. The World Fishing Network will announce the winner on June 4 on ultimatefishingtown.com.
The overall winner will receive $25,000 for port improvements. The community can also proclaim itself as the “Ultimate Fishing Town.”
Fannin said Point Breeze is deserving of the honor. Many of his customers come from out-of-state. He said the brown trout fishing locally is second to none.
“We’re known for browns,” he said. “We have the best brown fishing in the world.”
Point Breeze also touts a year-round fishery with salmon, steelhead and cohoes.
The on-line voting has united the community at a time when it has suffered from the federal government’s inability to dredge the harbor. The community also has been hurt by a closed section of the Lake Ontario State Parkway and a bridge over Marsh Creek.
“This contest has got the community involved, which is phenomenal,” Fannin said. “I think we have a wonderful community down here.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
Workers have spent the past month tearing off an original roof at Lee-Whedon Memorial Library in Medina, which opened in 1966. Progressive Roofing of Buffalo is installing a new built-up Tremco roof, a project that should be done in about a week. The $215,000 project also adds a layer of insulation to the roof, which should help cut down the library’s energy bills. The state is paying for half the project through a library construction fund. Lee-Whedon also plans to paint the interior of the building and add new carpeting and ceiling tile in the fall. The improvements are aimed to give the library, located at 620 West Ave., a new look for its 50th anniversary in 2016.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 May 2013 at 12:00 am
ALBION – A 12-year-old Albion girl reported missing on Wednesday has been found and is safe, Albion police said.
Marina L. Zeppetella was last seen on Wednesday at 2:20 p.m. before a missing persons reported was filed. State troopers pulled over a car suspected in the case on the Thruwaytoday and discovered Zeppetella as a passenger. The car was stopped between Batavia and Pembroke, WHAM is reporting.
Albion police say they will be issuing a news release about the case soon.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Paige Levandowski is VP, and Adam Eick is district president
Photo by Tom Rivers – Paige Levandowski of Albion is vice president of the New York FFA, an organization with 4,000 members. Adam Eick of Medina is president of a district that includes six FFA chapters in Western New York. They are pictured earlier today at Albion Middle School, where they are helping to plan the state convention that runs from Thursday to Saturday.
ALBION – Paige Levandowski was in seventh grade the last time Albion hosted the state FFA convention. She remembers the excitement from about 1,100 students from FFA chapters around the state in 2007.
“Everyone came flooding in and I could see what a big organization it is,” Levandowski, 19, said earlier today.
She has ascended the top ranks of FFA leadership, serving as vice president of the state FFA this past year, when she was a freshman at Morrisville State College. She also competed at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, and earned a silver medal in the job interview competition.
She is back home this week, helping to plan and run the three-day state convention, when 1,100 students from 71 chapters will be in town for competitions, workshops and inspiration.
“It’s nice to be back,” she said. “I’m hoping to see a fire lit in the local chapter and the FFA students.”
She sends a message that students don’t have to grow up on a farm to be involved in FFA or to pursue a career in agriculture.
“If you eat and wear clothes, you are involved in agriculture,” she said.
The industry offers many job opportunities off the farm, including careers in marketing, transportation, food processing, environmental regulations and many other jobs.
Levandowski has a few days left as vice president of the state FFA, an organization with 4,000 members in about 80 chapters. After the convention she will return to Morrisville for finals. She is majoring in agriculture business.
She has crisscrossed the state this year, visiting FFA chapters, especially those in northern New York.
She isn’t the only local FFA member on the state leadership team. Adam Eick, 18, is a senior at Medina and president of a district that includes six FFA chapters in Western New York.
He has visited those schools this year, spending a day leading leadership workshops. Eick also meets with the 13-member state officers team. He is more convinced after this year that FFA can develop leaders.
“FFA gives kids an opportunity to step outside the box and do things they never thought they’d do, and they do it,” he said.
He has made friends from throughout the state, and learned to value their opinions.
“Before I tended to want it to be my way,” Eick said. “Now I weigh all the sides and you make the best decision.”
Eick also plans to attend Morrisville this fall to major in ag business. He will join the collegiate FFA at Morrisville.
“I’ve evolved more professionally in the FFA, by talking to the public and with adults,” he said. “With the FFA you learn to deal with different types of people.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 May 2013 at 12:00 am
MEDINA – The new village clerk-treasurer in Medina is a familiar face in the village office.
Debbie Padoleski worked with Peggy Crowley, the recently retired clerk-treasurer, for about three decades as deputy clerk. Padoleski has been serving in Crowley’s former position since April 8.
The Village Board on Monday formally appointed Padoleski to the job at a base salary of $64,087.
The board also hired Jada Burgess, another veteran employee in the village office, to serve as deputy clerk-treasurer at an annual salary of $35,000.
The board made one other hiring decision: Judy Gress as a clerk for $23,500. The office is functioning with three employees, rather than the previous four.
Mayor Andrew Meier had proposed adding a full-time village manager who would work out of the village office, but that was scrapped because of the village’s fiscal constraints.
Meier and the Village Board have directed the fire and police departments to each cut $40,000 in the newly adopted 2013-14 budget. The Department of Public Works needs to chop $10,000 while the code enforcement officer needs to trim $5,000 from his budget.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 May 2013 at 12:00 am
ALBION – In December 1810, William McAllister bought 368 acres in Albion, the east side of the village, from the Holland Land Company. The following year he built a log cabin where the current County Clerks’ Building stands next the county courthouse.
McAllister and his wife, known only in historical information as “Mrs. McAllister,” were Albion’s first settlers. In a few months a historical marker, with a log cabin logo, will celebrate their pioneering spirit.
The County Legislature approved the marker to be placed on the lawn in front of the Clerks’ Building, near a sidewalk and parking lot at the southwest corner of the grass.
The Capurso family in Albion is paying for the marker, which will be dedicated during a July 6 event at 1 p.m. There will be a ceremony inside the Clerks’ Building, and the dedication will include musical performances.
“It’s a historic first that has not been commemorated,” said Al Capurso of Albion. “They were the first settlers in the village and the town.”
Capurso tracked down the history about McAllister while reading about pioneer residents in Orleans County in books that were published in the mid-1800s. He also traced records in the Holland Land Company.
Capurso’s wife Chris is the daughter of the late Donna Rodden, a former Albion mayor who pushed to have several sites in the community listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the 1980s.
“She was very active and interested in historic preservation and she impressed that upon me,” Capurso said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 May 2013 at 12:00 am
ALBION – Orleans County continues to reduce its unemployment rate, although it is still among the highest in the state.
The state Department of Labor reported the county’s unemployment rate fell to 10.4 percent in March, which was down from 11.2 percent in February and 12.3 percent in January.
Orleans is one of 14 counties with a double-digit unemployment rate in March. Lewis County in northern New York has the highest unemployment rate at 12.3 percent while Tompkins County has the lowest, 5.3 percent. State-wide the rate was 8.2 percent in March.
Other nearby rural counties have a better jobs picture. Genesee had an 8.0 rate, while Livingston was listed at 9.1 and Wyoming, 9.7 percent.
The DOL reported that 17,100 people were working in Orleans in March, while 2,100 were out of work and looking for a job.
