Photos by Sue Cook – Sixth-grader Layna Violario wows the crowd during a karaoke contest Friday night at Medina Lanes. She received an honorable mention at the end of the show by taking fourth place.
By Sue Cook, staff reporter
MEDINA – The seats were full for Friday night’s WNY Idol Karaoke Contest at Medina Lanes bowling alley. Contestants preregistered for the event for an opportunity to win cash prizes.
The DJ and judging for the contest were provided by Block Head 59 Music Entertainment. The first round included many eager singers putting their heart and soul into their singing.
Ron Lemke stands before the crowd singing an original song he wrote called “Always Remember I Love You” that he dedicated to Kamie Marcin who sat among the audience.
Once the first round was complete, eight contestants were selected for the second round based on criteria such as overall vocal talent and an ability to remember the words, as no screen was used and song lyrics were recalled from memory.
The final round was narrowed down to four singers. The grand prize of $300 was awarded to Rich Nolan with an energetic performance of Luke Bryan’s “Country Girl.”
Rich Nolan impresses the judges with his country-music singing.
All four contestants were praised by the judges who suggested that they each pursue their singing. The judges offered to help connect the singers with bands in the region.
ALBION – In this photo circa 1900 we see John H. Howard’s coal yard, which was located on North Clinton Street and the Erie Canal in Albion.
Pictured at left is a hack which would have taken people from the R.R. Depot to various places in town. This taxi service was a sideline business for John Howard.
Another team of horses is hitched to a coal wagon just coming out of the scale house. Coal was delivered to this site from boats plying the canal.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 February 2014 at 12:00 am
Matt Ballard and Sarah Karas will share workload
Photo by Tom Rivers – The Cobblestone Society Museum includes several buildings on Route 104 and Route 98 in the Childs hamlet, including this Universalist Church that was built in 1834, the oldest cobblestone church in North America.
GAINES – Two Albion residents with a love for history have been hired as co-directors of the Cobblestone Society Museum, a National Historic Landmark in the Gaines hamlet of Childs.
Matthew Ballard and Sarah Karas will share the workload in managing the museum, which opens on Mother’s Day and closes on Columbus Day weekend.
The museum director job is high demand in the spring, summer and fall with the activity slowing during the winter.
Ballard and Karas both work as librarians. Ballard is library supervisor for Hilbert College in Hamburg. Karas works as a reference librarian at Genesee Community College. Both Ballard and Karas impressed museum board members during the interview process, said Susan Rudnicky, president of the museum board of directors.
“Both have their strengths – and their strengths are not the same as each other’s,” Rudnicky said. “We wanted so many skills to run the museum that it would probably have been impossible to get them all in one person. By selecting Matt and Sarah both, we are getting a larger selection of those skills than by just taking one of them.”
Karas brings a teaching background to the museum while Ballard has been focused on research and history.
By sharing the workload, the two can both keep their other jobs, Rudnicky said. They both started at the museum last week.
“They will be responsible for deciding who does which parts of the job, and ultimately their job titles will reflect those differences,” she said.
Karas graduated from the University at Buffalo in May 2012 with a master’s degree in Library and Information Science. She earned a Bachelor of Science from Oneonta State College in May 2010 in Adolescent English Education. She has a state teaching certificate in English for grades 7-12 and in School Library for grades K-12.
She has volunteered at the museum for the past three years giving tours, organizing the book sale, cataloging historic books, and completing other tasks.
Ballard received a Bachelor of Science in History from Brockport State College in 2010, studying Colonial American and New York State history. In 2012, Ballard graduated from the University at Buffalo with a Master of Library Science. He focused on archival and records management.
For the past eight years, he has been active in the study of local history. He has served on the board of the Orleans County Genealogical Society and has contributed time with Orleans County Historical Association, the Cobblestone Society Museum, and with local preservation efforts.
He teaches genealogical research and has spoken at numerous events and programs throughout the tri-county area on local history subjects. He has developed a web site, www.albionpolonia.com, about the Polish-American community in Albion.
Rudnicky and the Cobblestone board believe the new directors will bring the museum to a new generation of users. The site is the only National Historic Landmark in Orleans County.
“Their combined skills will enable the museum to continue our mission into the future, and expand how we share museum treasures with the local and wider community,” Rudnicky said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 February 2014 at 12:00 am
HOLLEY – New York Revolution, a group that formed about a year ago to promote Second Amendment rights, will not be demonstrating Saturday against the protestors of the Squirrel Slam fund-raiser for the Holley Fire Department, said Gia Arnold, a state-wide coordinator for the group.
NY Revolution instead will be holding a voter registration drive at the firehall, said Arnold, a Holley resident.
She issued this statement today after an Orleans Hub article on Wednesday said the group would be in Holley on Saturday.
“New York Revolution will not be demonstrating at the Holley Squirrel Slam,” Arnold said. “The Constitutional organization fully supports the protesters’ right to protest, as well as the fire department’s and hunters’ right to participate in the Squirrel Slam. The organization does plan on running a voter registration table inside of the Slam to promote the importance of voting to the local community as they have done in the past at other events.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 February 2014 at 12:00 am
Red Hat Society are regulars at local restaurants
Photo by Tom Rivers
GAINES – The Red Hat Society was out on the town again today, this time stopping at The Village Inn for lunch.
The group includes about 20 members who live in the Medina area. They call themselves “The Apple Dumplings.”
They go out at least once a month, wearing red hats and purple clothing. They may go shopping or out to eat. (The group also is open to members younger than 50, but they have to wear pink hats and lavender-colored clothing.)
Shirley Amos pushed to start the group about 15 years ago. Amos, 84, died on Dec. 4. She was the group’s leader, the “Queen Mother.” She loved the color red and even had a red coffin at her funeral, her friends said.
The group insists on the dress code and one other criteria: “Have fun.”
Photos by Chris Busch – Hartway Motors in Medina is getting a new metallic façade panel that will say “Chevrolet” in blue. The dealership, which is located in a historic district, is making the changes as part of a national push by Chevy dealerships.
Press release, Medina Historic and Architectural Review Board
The Hartway building is the state and national registries of historic places. The building also is listed on the National Register for its own merits.
Historic preservation can sometimes be at odds with national corporate branding, said Medina Planning Board Chairman Chris Busch. He also leads the village’s Historic and Architectural Review Board. That board found some wiggle room with the Hartway project.
The building features a post-war architectural style known as Streamline Moderne.Its lack of decoration or ornamentation, flat roof, white walls, glass block, and curved, aerodynamic forms are the chief identifying features of the building, Busch said.
In examining the proposed plan more closely within that context, the Review Board found that none of those features change, are destroyed, or were going to be irreversibly altered, he said.
“You might be tempted to lump this structure with the proposed changes into the pile with all the other newer suburban Chevrolet dealerships,” Busch said. “However, upon closer inspection, you will see that the Hartway structure is indeed different in that it does maintain the essential design characteristics of the original Streamline Moderne.”
The Medina business also is “nowhere near the scale of the typical suburban dealership structures,” Busch said. “It remains a pedestrian scale structure that make it compatible with the surrounding pedestrian scale buildings/neighborhood, with many of its design elements that define its historical importance in tact.”
In summing up its findings, the Review Board found that the architectural style of Streamline Moderne embraced the use of modern materials, and the use of them in the proposed changes was in keeping with not only the style but with the spirit of the style – an intent to celebrate clean, modern, aerodynamic lines through the use of modern materials.
The project received a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Review Board.
Busch said it is a good example of the board working to maintain a credible preservation district while balancing the practical needs of local business.
“The Hartway project is a great project, and we’re very excited to see this compatible upgrade on a business that is key to both Medina’s Main Street and its Historic District,” Busch said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 February 2014 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – The freeze-and-thaw cycle this winter has taken a toll on local roads, causing cracks and potholes.
The craters in this photo appear on Main Street in Medina, in front of City Hall. Local highway crews have been busy in recent days trying to patch the holes and make it a less bumpy ride for motorists.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 February 2014 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – The water tank on Route 31 in Albion stands near the two state prisons and by a row of trees. This photo was taken on Wednesday evening. High winds could take down trees in some WNY counties.
Orleans County is under a high wind watch from this evening until Friday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
Southwest winds will be at 25 to 35 miles per hour with gusts up to 60 mph, according to the Weather Service. The strong winds could take down trees and powerlines.
The high wind watch is in effect for Orleans, Niagara, Monroe, Genesee and northern Erie counties.
Orleans is also under a flood watch from this evening until Friday afternoon.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 February 2014 at 12:00 am
Company is adding 35-40 jobs to Medina site
Photo by Tom Rivers – Gabrielle Barone, vice president of business development for the Orleans Economic Development Agency, discusses a plan for a 48,000-square-foot addition at Brunner with Town of Ridgeway Planning Board members, from left: Charles Pettit, Tom Fenton (chairman) and Richard Swan. The board will review the site plan again on March 5.
MEDINA – A company that has committed to a $15 million expansion in Medina wants to have the project ready for production of truck axles by Jan. 1, 2015.
Brunner International already employs 360 people at the corner of Bates Road and Route 31. The company will add 35 to 40 jobs as part of a 48,000-square-foot expansion to the south side of its current complex. The new building will go next to a 41,250-square-foot expansion about five years ago that added 50 jobs in Medina.
Brunner looked at Kentucky for the latest expansion, but picked Medina for the project. Gabrielle Barone, vice president of business development for the Orleans Economic Development Agency, said one of the selling points for Orleans County was the support of the local governments.
She asked the Ridgeway Town Planning Board to work hard to expediently approve the site plan.
“We want to make this as efficient as possible for them and give them more room,” Barone told the Town Planning Board on Wednesday.
Brunner and EDA will need to re-establish a wetland as part of the project. The company and EDA are working with the Army Corps of Engineers on that issue. A new access road will also be built and Barone said local governments will assist with that project.
Brad MacDoanld, Brunner vice president, told the Ridgeway Planning Board that the company expects to soon submit a formal site plan to the town.
“We’re making a significant investment in equipment and automation,” MacDonald told the Ridgeway planners. “We’re excited about it.”
The board will meet again at 7 p.m. on March 5 to discuss the site plan.
Planning Board member Charles Pettit praised MacDonald and the Brunner leaders for picking Medina for the expansion.
“It’s great to see cars in the parking lot and tractor trailers coming in and out of there,” Pettit said.
Brunner is based in Canada. The company is expanding the production of machined axle forgings that are sold to large, heavy-duty truck and trailer suppliers. It will utilize automation and add jobs as part of the expansion.
“It will put more people to work in the community,” said Planning Board Chairman Tom Fenton.
New York Power Authority in December announced it approved 2.4 megawatts of low-cost electricity for the project. The state also said it would provide a $750,000 incentive package under Empire State Development’s Excelsior Jobs Program.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 February 2014 at 12:00 am
Orleans is under flood watch Thursday evening through Friday afternoon
Photos by Tom Rivers
It’s 50 degrees out today and the snow banks are melting, leaving big puddles of water on streets and roads in Orleans County. The top photo shows the grain facility and its reflection on West Academy Street in Albion.
The National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for Orleans and several other Western New York counties. That warning is in effect for Thursday evening through Friday afternoon.
“The combination of rain and temperatures that are forecast to climb to near 50 degrees should result in greatly increased runoff with significant rises on area waterways,” the Weather Service advised.
This photo shows West Academy Street near the Washington Street intersection in Albion at about 12:30 p.m. today.
