MEDINA – Medina Central School has cancelled afterschool activities today due to the wintry weather.
The Albion basketball games at Akron have also been cancelled for this evening when 7 to 13 inches of snow is forecast for Orleans County.
Photos by Kristina Gabalski – Ken Draper, owner of KD Flooring & Supply stands next to one of the displays of flooring options available at his store, which he recently opened in the historic Old Stone Store in Clarendon.
CLARENDON – The latest chapter in the history of the Clarendon Stone Store has begun with the arrival of KD Flooring & Supply as the new tenant in the ground floor commercial space.
Owner Ken Draper, a Kendall native who now makes his home in Clarendon and who has been in the flooring business since he was 15, says he is thrilled with the location and especially appreciates the history of the building – built in 1836 from Medina sandstone.
“I love this location, I love this old building. I’m here to stay,” he said. “I have no intentions of leaving.”
Draper previously owned Orleans Carpet, which was located on Rt. 104 east of Rt. 98. Recently, his business was located in the village of Holley, but he said parking was an issue. He says he initially was interested in the old grain mill, which sits in the Clarendon hamlet just south of the NYS Routes 237 and 31A intersection where the Stone Store is located, but after looking into that property found, “it would have been too expensive to rehab.”
That’s where Clarendon Historian/Code Enforcement Officer Melissa Ierlan comes in. Draper said she suggested the Stone Store, as the former tenant was leaving.
“It’s a perfect situation for us,” Ierlan says of the flooring business, noting it is a great fit for Clarendon and the Stone Store location. After Draper opened, Ierlan took a stack of 8 X 10 copies of historic photos of the store to the shop and Draper said customers have enjoyed looking through them.
The Old Stone Store was built in 1836 from Medina sandstone.
The building, which is listed on the State and National Historic Registers, functioned as a general store until 1975. It was broken into apartments in later years but by 2007 was sitting empty. The Town of Clarendon was ready to demolish the landmark in 2011 when a group of concerned residents formed the Old Stone Store Preservation Committee and rallied to save the structure from the wrecking ball.
The town agreed to put the building on the market and sell it for one dollar, as long as the new owner could provide a suitable plan for restoration and future use. Late in 2012, Sue and Joe Fertitta of Parma purchased the building and began the work of restoration/ rejuvenation.
Clarendon Supervisor Richard Moy said he is overjoyed with the way the Old Stone Store turned out. “Joe and Sue Fertitta did an outstanding job refurbishing the old store so it could become a viable business and at the same time preserve its historic past. Too many times old historic structures get demolished and once they are gone, some of our history goes with it.”
Supervisor Moy said many people in the Clarendon community are appreciative of the work done by the Fertittas.
The interior of the store includes a display for KD Flooring & Supply.
“It is also important to note that the building is still on our tax rolls and the building generates sales tax for the entire county,” Moy added.
Draper now has the ground floor shop filled with displays and flooring samples from which customers can choose – carpet, tile, linoleum, laminate, hardwood, and ceramic choices abound for both commercial and residential customers.
“I do whatever I can to save customers money,” Draper said. “I keep overhead low and sell below the suggested retail price. I can beat anybody’s price.”
Draper provides installation, but also can guide customers through do-it-yourself projects. He offers “a premium product … first quality name brands with the best prices guaranteed,” he said, and added that 90 percent of the products he sells are American made.
The quality and durability of flooring choices has improved dramatically in recent years – “Some flooring will now last a lifetime,” Draper said.
He works to make sure the shop offers the latest designs, styles and colors and follows that up with customer service. “I educate the customers,” he said. “There’s a lot they don’t know. I educate them here and in their home.”
Draper also offers additional discounts to seniors and veterans, and will continue to honor warranties for customers of Orleans Carpet.
“I stand behind any flooring products you purchase,” he noted, guaranteeing labor for life.
KD Flooring & Supply is open 10 am – 7 pm Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri., and Sat. The store is closed on Wed., and Sun., but Draper says he is available to come to the store anytime. Customers can call 585-638-2492.
Press Release, State Sen. Robert Ortt
In the wake of alarming news reports, where a deadly batch of heroin has led to 23 deaths in Erie County and numerous other overdoses in less than two weeks, state senators Rob Ortt, George Amedore, and Terrence Murphy are calling for the enactment of “Laree’s Law.”
This legislation (S.4163) would allow law enforcement officials to charge a dealer with homicide if heroin or an opiate-controlled substance they sell causes an overdose death.
In the 11-day period beginning on January 29, 23 people aging in range from 20-61 in Erie County died as a result of overdose from heroin use. The majority of the overdoses are believed to be linked to an extremely deadly batch of heroin laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opiate that can be 50 times stronger than heroin.
“The heroin in our backyard is stronger and deadlier than anything out there. This must serve as a wake-up call to our community and to our state,” said Senator Rob Ortt. “We lost at least 23 lives over the last two weeks as a result of this heroin. That’s 23 of our sons and daughters. And that should be 23 homicide charges against the dealers bringing these drugs onto our streets and into our schools. Enforcement alone will not cure the heroin epidemic, but it will provide a serious tool to law enforcement officials and a serious blow to the criminals killing our citizens.”
“The State of New York is facing a heroin crisis, and we need to do everything we can to stop the flow of these deadly drugs into our streets,” said Senator George Amedore. “Our efforts to increase prevention, treatment and recovery to help those suffering with addiction need to go hand-in-hand with stronger penalties for those who are bringing these drugs into our communities.”
“The face of heroin has changed. It is no longer solely associated with disreputable people in crumbling communities,” said Senator Terrence Murphy. “It has come to roost amongst the rich and the poor, in our schools and our homes. We need to protect our families through more stringent legislation that seeks to punish drug dealers peddling their poison. Of the 17 pieces of legislation the senate passed last year, only one became a law. If we are serious about winning the war on drugs the Assembly needs to act.”
Laree’s Law is named after Laree Farrell Lincoln, a Colonie teenager who died of a heroin overdose three years ago. This bill would establish the crime of homicide for drug dealers who sell opiate-controlled substances that result in overdose, an A-1 felony punishable by 15-25 years in jail.
The legislation targets mid-to-high level drug dealers who profit from heroin sales, and includes a co-user carve out. In 2011, New York adopted a “Good Samaritan” law to protect individuals from charges related to an overdose if they attempt to help the individual and report the incident in a timely manner.
The Senate overwhelmingly passed Laree’s Law last year, with a vote of 53-9, but the Assembly failed to bring it to the floor for a vote.
ALBION – The Village Board wants to pursue a state grant that would provide money to renovate and spruce up downtown buildings.
The board hasn’t decided how the grant would be managed or administered. It is considering options, including having Code Enforcement Officer Ron Vendetti work as the grant administrator.
“We definitely don’t want to miss out on the opportunity,” Mayor Dean London said at Wednesday’s board meeting.
Adam Johnson, president of the Albion Merchants Association and owner of a downtown building, urged the village to pursue the Main Street grant in the next round of state funding this year.
Medina was approved for a Main Street grant in December and will work over two years to implement the grant. The Orleans County Chamber of Commerce is administering the grant for Medina.
The grants provide matching funds for building owners for smaller projects such as painting to more costly interior renovations. Johnson is working to renovate his building so it can be used for a restaurant.
“It would be a great help for the businesses,” Johnson said about the grant.
Village Board members are expected to discuss the grant more during a 7 p.m. Feb. 24 meeting.
In another downtown issue, Lisa Stratton updated the board on efforts for flowers in planters and hanging baskets.
Stratton, owner of the Hazy Jade Gift Shop, said the flowers will cost $1,469.81. The Town of Albion has offered to pay $1,000 towards the effort.
Stratton asked the village to help cover the difference. Village Trustee Eileen Banker said she would work with Stratton in seeking donations or sponsors.
Stratton also said Albion Merchants Association could use volunteers to help water the flowers on weekends once the flowers are put on Main Street. Volunteers also water flowers by the welcome signs and at Bullard Park.
Provided photos
MEDINA – Bob Kwandrans, Jr., owner and instructor of Kwandrans Tae Kwon-do in Medina, presents a check for $10, 981.17 to Laura Nutty, Western New York representative for Make-A-Wish. Debby Farfaglia, manager and instructor at Kwandrans, also presents the check to Make-A-Wish. They are pictured last Saturday during a belt testing for students.
The Kwandrans students and staff worked for several months to raise money for Make-A-Wish. Local residents and businesses were generous with several fund-raisers to help Kwandrans raise the money, Farfaglia said.
Kwandrans decided to raise funds for Make-A-Wish after one of the Tae Kwon-do students, Garett Smith, 12, attended Disney World in Florida for a week with his family last May. The trip was paid through Make-A-Wish Western New York.
Garett has cystic fibrosis. Tae Kwon-do helps move the mucus in his lungs, keeping them clear. He takes Tae Kwon-do classes twice a week. Garett, a Middleport resident, is a seventh-grader at Roy-Hart.
Kwandrans surpassed its $8,500 goal. It was raising the funds so another WNY kid could go on a trip.
Kwandrans put on several fund-raisers, including a kick-a-thon, car wash, bake sale and candy bar sales. They also did a 5-kilometer race, chicken barbecue, spaghetti dinner, and basket raffle.
HOLLEY – If you’ve noticed more Holley Police vehicles on the campus of Holley Central School lately, there’s a good reason.
Police Chief Roland Nenni spoke to members of the School Board during their regular meeting Monday regarding his efforts to increase police presence at the school and around the village in general.
Nenni said he has had officers working days stop at both the elementary and middle school/high school buildings on a regular basis over the past few weeks to assist with “bonding with staff and students.”
He explained that the recent efforts are only the beginning of work to strengthen ties between the village police and the school district.
“We want to build bridges,” Chief Nenni told board members. “We want to build a relationship … interact with students … bridge those gaps and make a bond. I can’t thank the staff of the school enough.”
The police chief also thanked board members and commended the district for their campus security efforts. Nenni explained that he acts as commander for the county-wide SWAT team and that, “Holley is above the grade of everybody else,” he observed. “It’s phenomenal, Holley really stepped up over the need for security. I can’t commend you enough.”
Nenni serves as chief of both the Albion and Holley Police Departments and he said he sees the stepped up efforts at the school as part of building a relationship with the entire Holley community.
“It’s nice to see us doing this together,” Board President Brenda Swanger told Nenni. “It’s what we need … I’ve seen your cars around more.”
Board member John Heise agreed with Swanger. “I see the (police) cars much more, they are active around the community. It’s amazing, the change.”
Nenni took over leadership of the Holley Police force in October 2015. He said he is well acquainted with the needs of small communities and wants to respond well to residents’ concerns.
“I want to do our business better,” he said, “have our customers tell us what they are looking for. We want to serve you the best we can.”
In other business, Elementary School Principal Karri Schiavone said parents will see different looking report cards next year as the school is working to move to a standards-based report for parents.
Schiavone said the district has formed a committee that is looking at samples from other districts and working on templates. She noted Holley is behind in aligning grades to standards.
“We need to start reporting to parents on standards,” she explained. “We work with standards in the classroom and on curriculum writing … this is going to be a huge shift and an uncomfortable shift, but we need to do it.”
LYNDONVILLE – “Need to Know,” a public affairs program produced by WXXI in Rochester, aired a segment on Lyndonville’s character education program on Feb. 4.
Jason Smith, the district superintendent, is pleased with the attention for the program, We R 3C. The segment on Need to Know includes interviews with teachers and students at Lyndonville.
The core of the We R 3C curriculum promotes values, respect, kindness and compassion and recognizes the definitive responsibility of the individual to the well-being of the community and reciprocally, the community’s responsibility to the well-being of the individual.
To see the feature on Lyndonville, click here for a link to the show. Lyndonville starts at the 23:50 mark.
File photo by Tom Rivers – This photo from March 2014 shows the Farmers’ Hall at the Cobblestone Museum on Route 98 with lots of snow on the museum grounds.
There hasn’t been much snow so far this winter, but there will be some today and Thursday. The National Weather Service in Buffalo is forecasting 4 to 7 inches for Orleans, Niagara and Monroe counties from 4 p.m. today until 4 p.m. on Thursday.
Visibility could be as low as a half mile at times due to snow and winds from 15 to 25 miles per hour, with gusts up to 35 mph. The Weather Service is also warning of extreme cold on Thursday when the wind chill will be 3 below zero.
Today the temperature is forecast for a high of 30, but will fall on Thursday to a high of 16. Friday there will be a high of 23, followed by Saturday when the high temperature will only be 1 degree.
GAINES – The Town of Gaines has long marked the year 1809 as the birth of the town. That’s when several pioneer settlers started to arrive, making a new home in what was then a wilderness.
The town marked its centennial in 1909, its 150th anniversary in 1959 and a bicentennial in 2009.
However, Town Historian Al Capurso said the town didn’t officially exist until Feb. 14, 1816. That’s when the State Legislature recognized the Town of Gaines.
The first official Town Board meeting was soon after the state’s move to recognize Gaines. Capurso shared the tidbits with the Town Board on Tuesday. He noted that this Valentine’s Day will mark the town’s 200th official birthday.
Capurso shared other news with the Town Board. He is part of a committee working on the new Orleans County Heritage Festival the second weekend in September. Capurso said the event, which includes assistance from Genesee Community College, will highlight transportation, architecture, historic gems and historic cemeteries in the county.
He would like the Gaines Cemetery on Ridge Road, behind the Gaines Congregational Church, to be included on the cemetery tour. Capurso said that is the first cemetery in the county and includes two Revolutionary War soldiers.
At least one new historical marker will go up in Orleans County this year, with the Orleans County Department of History and the Orleans County Historical Association splitting the estimated $1,200 cost, Capurso said. He expects historians will vie for sites for the marker around the county. He would like one on Route 279, just south of Route 104 in honor of James Mather, one of the early Gaines settlers.
Capurso also has been leading the effort to preserve a former cobblestone schoolhouse on Gaines Basin Road, just north of the Erie Canal. Capurso said a variance has been approved to allow the site as a meeting house for the Historical Association. Attorneys are working on getting the title for the property for the Historical Association.
In other action at Tuesday’s Town Board meeting:
The board discussed options for water accessibility for employees in the building. The Town Hall only has sinks in the two bathrooms. There isn’t a utility sink.
Town Supervisor Carol Culhane said that makes it difficult to fill a coffee pot or wash a dish.
“I think it’s unreasonable that we have something like this,” Culhane said. “We wash a dish in the bathroom sink because there is no sink.”
She thought water from the Culligan company, which would include 5-gallon jugs of water and a water cooler, would solve the problem temporarily. Culligan would charge $6.25 a month for the cooler, plus $7.99 per jug.
Town Councilman Richard DeCarlo wants to explore running a waterline in the building and creating a utility sink.
The board will look at options for either bottled water, Culligan or a waterline.
Ultimately the Town Hall needs some renovations for security and handicapped accessibility. Those changes could include a sink for the employees, Culhane said.
“But that’s down the road,” she said.
The board approved spending $2,709 to Star Electric of Pavilion to add phones and upgrade the phone system for the Town Hall, where the phones haven’t been updated in more than a decade.
GAINES – The Town of Gaines in January approved a comprehensive plan for land use and now the town is pushing to implement some of the changes, including creating a land use map
The Town Board on Tuesday voted to spend $11,400 for General Codes to revise the town zoning map to reflect changes from the comprehensive plan. The current map is confusing with contradictions, Town Supervisor Carol Culhane said.
“It would bring us a lot of clarity and confirmation,” she said.
Mike Grabowski, the ZBA chairman and town’s representative on the Orleans County Planning Board, also was given permission by the Town Board on Tuesday to work on digitizing the map with James Bensley, the director of the county’s Planning Department.
One big change includes an expanded commercial zone on Route 104 from west of Brown Street Road to east of Route 279.
The comprehensive plan also encourages the town to create an overlay district to better preserve and promote historic sites in the town, including the Erie Canal and the Cobblestone Historic District.
The town also wants to encourage single-family development to preserve the rural character of the community. The town is also open to extending public sewer lines in the future, with the priority given to higher-density areas for residential and business development, and also for residents with pollution problems from their sewage disposal systems.
The comprehensive plan also adds multiple definitions of farming including enclosed farm operations (greenhouses), agricultural industrial operations (large-scale cattle, hog, dairy and poultry farms). Traditional Open Land Farming Operations include crop farming (vegetables, fruit, grain) and hay farming.
Culhane said now that the comprehensive plan has been adopted, there is more work needed to implement the plan.
File photo Tom Rivers – The Hamburg Kingsmen Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps march down Route 31 in the Public Square during a parade in Holley last June 6.
HOLLEY – Two Clarendon residents are hoping to keep the Village of Holley’s Junefest alive. Marge and John Krizan presented a proposal to members of the Holley Village Board during Tuesday’s regular meeting.
“People have enjoyed it,” John Krizan said of the annual festival which was cancelled in recent months due the Town of Murray deciding not to fund its portion of the 2016 celebration and members of the organizing committee saying they could not find enough people to try to keep Junefest going.
“The village has taken a lot of pride in it and all of that meant one wonderful day,” Krizan said. “I would hate to see that go bye-bye.”
He added that he and his wife have talked with many people who have been surprised and shocked to learn that this year’s Junefest had been cancelled.
The Krizans told trustees they are willing to spearhead a movement to form a committee and organize a scaled-back event for this year. They hope to be able to stage a parade, have a band for musical entertainment and locate the celebration “up on the knoll” in the park around the gazebo.
Trustee/Deputy Mayor Brian Sorochty said he was in favor of giving it a try and noted the village should be able to gather information regarding festival organization from former committee members.
“If we walk away (fail to hold Junefest this year) it’s gone,” Sorochty said. “I appreciate your energy. I think it’s great.”
Mayor John Kenney thanked the Krizans for coming to the Village Board and said he will be getting back in touch with them.
“It comes down to manpower,” he advised them. “That is the issue at the forefront.”
In past years the Town of Murray and the Village of Holley have each contributed $5,000 to the Junefest, and Mayor Kenney said the event was also supported by many donations.
Marge Krizan said she hopes groups like the Rotary Club might become involved as well as students from Holley Central School. The Krizans suggested more Clarendon residents might also be interested in helping to organize the event.
“If you think positive, positive things can happen,” she said.
Photos by Tom Rivers – Howard Ward and Jeremy Babcock, both Albion graduates, are pictured at Rochester Institute of Technology, where Ward is an associate vice president and Babcock the executive director of housing facilities.
ROCHESTER – His spacious office in the Global Village at the Rochester Institute of Technology is a long way from his living conditions as a kid, when Howard Ward grew up without running water at a migrant labor camp on Baker Road.
Ward, who earned a doctorate in higher education, is an associate vice president at RIT. He has worked 39 years for colleges and universities.
At RIT, he oversees an $82 million annual budget, 208 employees and leads a team committed to impeccable facilities and service for students and staff. The Global Village is a $55 million student housing and retail complex.
Jeremy Babcock has known Ward for two decades. He spoke at Babcock’s Albion High School graduation in 1995. The two stayed in touch when Babcock worked in student services at Brockport State College. Babcock had the tough job of handling student discipline. He also helped manage construction projects.
He would often call Ward or have lunch with him, seeing him as a friend and sounding board.
Babcock, after 10 years at Brockport, joined Ward’s team at RIT on Feb. 20, 2012 – Babcock can recite the day. Babcock took a job as an assistant director of housing. On Nov. 1, Babcock was promoted to executive director of housing facilities following a grueling search and interview process.
“He’s skilled and talented,” Ward said about Babcock. “He’s well respected on campus. I look forward to his vision.”
Babcock, 39, oversees a staff of 24, the residential halls and 1,000 apartments. He deals with everything from keys, pest control, furniture, laundry facilities and many other issues.
Ward and Babcock have more in common than their high school alma mater. They have both overcome challenges, and they both left Albion after high school, attending small colleges about six hours away from home. Both wanted to push themselves, and see if they could make it on their own.
Ward, a 1972 Albion grad, grew up in the former Coloney Camp in Carlton. He lived there from when he was 2 until he graduated. It was one of the state’s largest farmworker labor camps, home to 60 African-American families.
Ward grew up in a loving home with loving neighbors. But his house resembled a shack. It was small, poorly insulated and field rats made a racket at night, scratching against the pasteboard outer walls, trying to get inside.
Ward was a star football player for Albion. He earned a scholarship at Mount Union College in Ohio. (In 1973, Coloney Camp was torn down and Ward’s family moved into a newly-built housing development, Carlton Manor, on Baker Road.)
He excelled as a lineman for the Mount Union football team, and was leading tackler in a senior all-star game among Ohio football players. Some NFL scouts were interested. But Ward, who was popular on campus with students, college professors and even the president, was urged to consider a career in college student services.
He took that advice and would work at Mount Union, Bowling Green, Ohio Northern University and RIT. He said he has been blessed. He hasn’t forgotten his Albion roots, and he has led diversity training for school staff, and worked with students on the college admissions process.
Howard Ward and Jeremy Babcock work out of the Global Village at RIT, a $55 million student housing and retail complex.
Babcock, the son of Jim and Linda Babcock, is an active member of the Albion Fire Department and a skilled golfer. He and Ward often play golf together, including at charity events. Babcock has a knack for hitting the ball straight, about 200 yards down the middle for his tee offs.
He does it all despite being born with birth defects in both arms. Babcock said his parents and friends always encouraged him as a kid. He played Little League baseball, basketball and used adaptive equipment made by his father to ride snowmobiles and be active in many other ways. Babcock these days drives the biggest fire trucks for the fire department.
“I’m really fortunate with what I can do,” Babcock said. “My family and friends always pushed me.”
He brings a knowledge of construction, and that helps at RIT when he reviews plans for buildings, housing units and other projects. Ward said Babcock also brings a sensitivity to using doors and buildings that many staff don’t consider in the design and construction of the space.
Babcock sees the big picture, working to do what’s best for the university and the students, Ward said.
“I like his tenacity,” he said.
Babcock was 18 when he ventured from Albion to attend college near Pittsburgh at the California University of Pennsylvania. He earned a degree in business in 1999, and then a master’s degree in business administration in 2001.
“I wanted to prove to myself that I could be on my own,” he said.
Ward also needed that distance to become his own man. He said he was a “momma’s boy” in high school and had to fight homesickness in college. He was also one of the few black students at Mount Union.
He gained confidence and friends through football, good grades and a welcoming personality. He started his career as a residence hall director. He is now one of the key leaders at RIT. He said he enjoys empowering staff and students.
Jeremy Babcock and Howard Ward are pictured at Ward’s office at RIT on Monday.
Babcock started his career as a resident director at Brockport, overseeing a residence hall with 200 students and a staff of six. He had to discipline students and have some expelled from school. Some of those students used the punishment as a wake-up call. They turned themselves around, graduated and thanked Babcock for pointing them on the right track.
Ward stayed in touch with Babcock, and was impressed how he handled some of the situations at Brockport, working with students and also with construction of new townhouses.
“He’s worked with tough characters and high-level people,” Ward said. “He’s been involved with major projects.”
RIT has been in growth mode in recent years, and continues to expand. Babcock will helped manage another $1.9 million in renovations and projects this year.
Babcock said RIT is a home away from home for students. He appreciates Ward’s push for excellence, to make the facilities safe, comfortable and appealing for students and staff.
“We need to give them the best possible experience whether dining, the residence halls, or the apartments,” Babcock said.
The two joked over lunch Tuesday about the upcoming golf season. Babcock, a lefty, is consistent with the 200-yard drives down the middle of the fairway. Ward and some of the long hitters may hit the ball farther than Babcock, but it is often sliced or hooked.
At the end of the day, Babcock wins almost every time.
“He is amazing,” Ward said.
The National Weather Service says the snowfall could be up to 15 inches in Orleans, Niagara and Monroe counties from today through 4 p.m. on Thursday.
The Weather Service had issued a lake effect advisory, predicting up to 4 to 7 inches by 4 p.m. Thursday. But that has been upgraded this morning to a snow warning with 4 to 8 inches today, 2 to 4 inches overnight, and 1 to 3 inches on Thursday for 7 to 15 inches total.
Provided photo
MEDINA – Don Lepkoske, a former Medina firefighter who is now a resident at the Orchard Manor Rehabilitation & Nursing Center, was surprised on Monday when members of the Medina Fire Department stopped by and presented a new monogrammed jacket.
The Fire Department placed the order for new jackets and wanted to include Lepkoske. After a visit with Lepkoske, firefighters sounded the truck’s siren, leaving Don with big smile.
Pictured, front row, from left: Jeff Tuohey, Don Lepkokse, and Ferdinando Papalia. Back row: Don Marchner, Sergio DiCenso, Mike Sidari, Dell Stork, Captain Jonathan Higgins, and Josh Wolck.
Photo by Kristina Gabalski – Holley Middle School/High School Principal Susan Cory presents head wrestling coach John Grillo with the February Soaring to New Heights Award.
HOLLEY – John Grillo, Holley’s head wrestling coach, was recognized during Monday evening’s Board of Education meeting for his milestone 700th win, which came Jan. 20 in a Genesee Region League match hosted at Lyndonville High School.
Grillo was presented with the “Soaring to New Heights” award by Holley Middle School/High School Principal Susan Cory. Grillo’s 700 wins are the most of any wrestling coach in New York State.
“This is huge,” Cory said. “John has given a lot of dedication to the wrestling program.”
Grillo has coached wrestling for more than 40 years, 30 of those at Holley. He also coached at Pavilion Central School. His Holley Hawk wrestlers have won 20 Genesee Region League titles and 11 Section V championships. Grillo was named Genesee Region Coach of the Year 15 times and Section V Coach of the Year six times.
Grillo, who also teaches physical education at Holley, coached his three sons over the years – Ashley John, Adam and Andrew – who continue to assist their dad in coaching the Holley wrestling teams. Ashley is now Elementary Assistant Principal at Holley and Andrew is a grade K-12 physical education teacher at Holley.
“We didn’t have a winning season until you joined us,” Board member John Heise said and noted Grillo has also worked over the years to help students who have been struggling academically as well those with discipline issues. “After they talked to you, the behavior stopped.”
“You’ve helped a lot of kids,” Board President Brenda Swanger told Grillo. “We appreciate all you have done for the kids.”
Grillo thanked students, parents and school staff. “Your support is part of it,” he said of his accomplishment.
In other business, Assistant Superintendent for Business Sharon Zacher reported to board members regarding the tax cap for the 2016/2017 budget. Zacher said the state must be notified by March 1 as to whether or not the district thinks it will need to override the tax cap.
With the allowed carryover, Zacher estimated the increase on the 2016/2017 tax levy to be capped at 2.173 percent. Board members agreed that they did not foresee a need to override that figure.
Superintendent Robert D’Angelo said during his report that the governor’s proposal for school districts is “ridiculously low.” However, he noted that Holley is in “pretty good shape.”
“I have a sense of optimism,” D’Angelo said, which stems from assurances he has received from State Assemblyman Steve Hawley and Sen. Robert Ortt that there will be “a huge difference between what the governor is proposing (in aid) and what members of the State Senate and Assembly arrive at.”
He said local superintendents have made it clear to state lawmakers that, “the proposed aid to education is unacceptable at this point.”
Although D’Angelo had wanted lawmakers to take real steps to provide relief from unfunded mandates, he said Monday evening that at this point he does not see that coming.
“They are not serious about it,” he said of lawmakers. “It hurts both the districts and the taxpayers.”
Holley Central will continue to monitor the state budget process in relation to its own budget development, D’Angelo said.
