Photos courtesy of Kendall Lions Club –Â Kendall Lions Club President Tom Minigiello, Leo Advisor Marlene Morrow and Lion Terry Bliss are pictured after Morrow was presented with a Robert J. Uplinger Distinguished Service Award.
Press Release, Kendall Lions Club
KENDALL – The Kendall Lions Club welcomed over 90 Lions, Leos and their families on Saturday in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Leo Club at Kendall Central School.
The Lions hosted the dinner at the Kendall Fire Hall. During the program, Lion Terry Bliss shared with those attending the history of Leo Clubs in the Lion organization as well as how the Leo Club was formed in Kendall 10 years ago.
Lion Mike Cusimano shared the impact the service of the Kendall Lions Club and the Leo Club has had on our community. He encouraged the Leos to continue this commitment to service as they go forward in life. He also encouraged the families to consider joining the Lions in their service to our community.
Leo Advisor Mrs. Marlene Morrow, back left, and KCS High School Principal Mrs. Carol D’Agostino are at the head table in the celebration of the Leo Club at Kendall.
Lion Julie Christensen, the school district superintendent, spoke on behalf of the school district. High School Principal Carol D’Agostino shared the impact on the high school and shared with the families the commitment, support and guidance demonstrated by Leo Advisor Marlene Morrow. The Leo Club presented a slide show showing the many ways they have served their school and community over the past 10 years.
The evening ended with a presentation by the District Governor Tim Crawford to the club. Lion Terry Bliss awarded a Robet J. Uplinger Distinguished Service Award to Leo Advisor Marlene Morrow. This award is awarded by clubs to individuals who embody the ideals, ethics and objects of International Lionism. It is the highest award available in Lions Multiple District 20 of which the Kendall Lions are a part. Ms. Morrow demonstrates these qualities as she guides and supports the Leos and students at Kendall Central School.
Leo Officers – Nancy Wright, Julia Smith, Rose Pajek and Destiny LaPlant – are pictured with Lion President Tom Minigiello and Leo Advisor Marlene Morrow. Following their presentation the Lions presented the Leos with a monetary gift to help them continue their work.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 10 April 2016 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – About 80 people attended the first Masquerade Ball at The Pillars on Saturday, an event organized by the Albion Rotary Club. The event was also a fund-raiser for PAWS Animal Shelter on Gaines Basin Road and included a silent auction.
Michelle Hughson of Albion won first prize for best mask.
Ally Olles of Albion and Jarrett Bailey of Newfane got engaged on Saturday and received a big round of applause at the Masquerade Ball.
Couples welcomed a chance for fun after the cold weather last week.
Skip and Lisa Stratton of Albion were among the attendees at the first Masquerade Ball.
This group welcomed the chance to dress up and socialize on Saturday.
Provided photo –Â Holley graduate Nicole Blackburn is pictured with Dr. Steve Tyrell, president of North Country Community College, and Wyatt Willis. Blackburn and Willis were both recognized on April 5 in Albany with the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence.
A Holley graduate, now a student at North Country Community College, has received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence. This award is the highest honor bestowed upon a student by the State University of New York.
Nicole Blackburn, the daughter Nadine and Brian Blackburn of Holley, is majoring in Health Science. She serves as a student ambassador who welcomes prospective students and families to the college community.
Additionally, she is the captain of North Country Community College’s women’s basketball team.
As a result of her academic success, Nicole is also the recipient of the Scholar of Promise Award and the Trudeau Institute Biology Ward.
Only two North Country Community College received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence. Wyatt Willis is the other recipient. He is a resident of Brainardsville and a former member of the U.S. Coast Guard involved with homeland security following 9/11.
“Both Nicole and Wyatt are great examples of students who make the most of their college experience,” said Dr. Steve Tyrell, president of North Country Community College. “As you can see, they are student leaders who clearly understand the importance of community and civic responsibilities at the College and in the community. I stand with everyone in the college community in applauding both of them for their success and recognition of this prestigious award.”
Both Nicole and Wyatt were honored by Dr. Nancy Zimpher, Chancellor of the State University of New York, in a formal ceremony held on April 5 in Albany.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 9 April 2016 at 12:00 am
Provided photos
ALBION – The Albion High School National Honor Society held its annual induction ceremony on March 31 and inducted 34 new members.
The Albion High School Chapter welcomed the following students to the National Honor Society pictured above; Marella Albanese, Rose Arnold, Emilie Barleben, Lauren Becht, Kastriot Bela, Emily Blanchard, Shannon Broda, Sierra Chudy, Jillian Doyle, Nicole Eldred, Owen Foos, Elizabeth Furmanski, Celeste Hoffman, Jared Hollinger, Megan Leight, Mackenzie Luft, Joseph Madejski, Bailey Maier, Katherine Mann, Isabella Prest, Jacqueline Quintana Aragon, Vivian Rivers, Karina Rosario, Katherine Rustay, Yasmeen Shabazz, Samuel Slick, Skyler Smith, Clara Stilwell, Angela Tarricone, Catherine Thom, Laurence’ Walker, Chloe Weis, Savanah Wirth and Stephen Zayac.
The National Honor Society recognizes outstanding high school students who demonstrate excellence in the areas of Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Character. These characteristics have been associated with membership in the organization since its beginning in 1921. (Click here for more information.)
Photo by Tom Rivers –Â Rich Gannon, a high school social studies teacher, receives the “Excellence in Teaching Award” from Kyle Thaine, a member of the National Honor Society in Albion.
The National Honor Society provides students with opportunities to excel in community service through a variety of projects. The Albion Chapter is active in many community service projects helping collect and distribute necessary supplies to needy families of Genesee and Orleans counties.
National Honor Society (NHS) is an organization that has been active in Albion for many years. Students with a 90% or above average after the first 20 weeks of their junior or senior year are invited to support their candidacy for membership. This consists of filling out several forms, writing an essay, and obtaining four letters of recommendation. Membership is granted only to those selected by the Albion NHS Faculty Council using the information provided by the candidate in the areas of leadership, service, and character as well as input gathered from Albion High School faculty, staff, and administration.
National Honor Society members also looked at the four pillars of NHS and chose staff members who exemplified these areas. Staff members chosen who model these pillars were Mrs. Michele Powley (service award recipient), Ms. Susan Sampson (scholarship award recipient), Mr. Brad Nickerson (character award recipient) and Mrs. Dawn Arnold (leadership award recipient).
The Society also annually awards an Excellence in Teaching Award to a faculty member. This year the Albion NHS Excellence in Teaching Award winner was an Albion High School Social Studies teacher Mr. Rich Gannon.
Also recognized at the induction ceremony were current National Honor Society members. Pictured above are; Miranda Allen, Dylan Bader, Desiree Barber, Daniel Beam, Bethany Bowman, Scott Daniels, Wynter Dumont, Cheyenna Eagle, Randal Eblacker, Matthew Flanagan, Madeline Gibbs, Sarah Graham, Mckayla Hastings, Meghan Hurley, Caitlin Malanowski, Alyce Miller, Evan Pappalardo, Meredith Patterson, Katelyn Perry, Katlin Pieniaszek, Zachary Shaffer, Kelsee Soule, Melissa Symonds, Kyle Thaine, Nathaniel Trembley, Raven White and Mikayla Yaskulski.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 April 2016 at 8:00 am
Company plans to spend $5M on new facility in Ridgeway
RIDGEWAY – Helena Chemical Company plans to break ground this year on a new $5 million complex at 3956 Allis Rd., a site along the railroad in Ridgeway, just off of Route 31.
The company will be spared paying sales tax for equipment and materials for the project. That move, approved today by the board for the Orleans Economic Development Agency, will save Helena $283,910 in sales tax.
The EDA sales tax exemption goes towards up to $3.6 million in taxable purchases for the new construction.
The company didn’t seek a property tax break for the project, which includes a 50,000-square-foot building this year, with plans for a railroad spur and mixing facility in 2017. Helena is planning to add six positions as part of the expansion, jobs that will pay an average of $57,100, according to EDA records.
Helena currently operates out of 10,000 square feet on Platt Street in Albion. It sells fertilizer, seeds and chemicals to farmers. The company will relocate to Ridgeway where it plans a six-building complex with 75,000 square feet. Helena will continue to work out of Albion this year while it settles into the new space.
“The move to Ridgeway will allow us to offer more products and services,” Mitch Wilber, Helena branch manager, previously stated. “The quality of the agriculture is what brought us here. There are good farmers growing good crops.”
Helena has headquarters just outside of Memphis, Tennessee, with 450 branch locations across the United States.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 April 2016 at 12:00 am
GAINES – This barn, with a patriotic theme, stands out in the cold late this morning on Crandall Road in Gaines.
Orleans County residents endured more snow and cold today, especially in the morning. April has got off to a cold start, keeping Little Leaguers off the ball fields and gardeners from yard work.
The cold spell will continue with a highs of 31 on Saturday, 37 on Sunday, 49 on Monday, 44 on Tuesday, and 44 on Wednesday. The low temperatures on those days could drop below freezing. This weekend brings a chance for a wintry mix of snow showers, according to the National Weather Service in Buffalo.
A lone tree stands by Crandall Road during today’s wintry blast.
MEDINA – Thirty-four students were inducted into the Arista Chapter of the National Honor Society on Wednesday at Medina High School.
Current members, under the direction of advisor Bronwyn Green, placed cords around the necks of the new members in a ceremony that honored a nearly century-old tradition.
This year’s inductees are: Coby Albone, Xion Baes, Brittany Bearss, Kathryn Bilicki, Nicholas Bogan, Teanna Cardone, Aeddon Cayea, Mallory Colton, Jadiel Flores-Medina, Taylor Frasier, Grace Fuller, Martha Gardner, Sarah Granchelli, Emily Green, Abigail Griffin, Molley Gross, Brandon Harris, Erin Hofmeister, Madison Holland, Taylor Hurrell, Kyla Leno, Chase McAdoo, Abbyleigh Osborne-Jones, Morgan Roach, Federico Rosario, Victoria Schicker, Carley Schultz, Kristian Snyder, Mikayla Soha, Emmanuel Sones, Paige Wagner, Nicole Waild, Madeline Winters and Kathryn Young.
Principal Michael Cavanagh welcomed honored guests and Medina Mayor Andrew Meier gave the keynote address.
In the 1920’s an exclusive scholarship club was held at Medina High School that invited students to join them based on their grade point average and formal recommendations. When Medina Central School District decided to charter its own chapter of the National Honor Society in 1964, the administration decided to honor the spirit of the existing club.
Grace Fuller is corded by Colm Cooper.
Emmanuel Sones receives the NHS cords from Allison Bensley.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 April 2016 at 12:00 am
$4,500 max to rent storefronts in Albion, Holley, Lyndonville and Medina
Photo by Tom Rivers – Diane Blanchard, director of the Microenterprise Assistance Program, will manage $60,000 in downtown rental subsidies, plus $100,000 in grants available for small businesses. She is pictured on Main Street in Albion.
ALBION – The Orleans Economic Development Agency has money to entice businesses to move into the downtown business districts in Albion, Holley, Lyndonville and Medina.
The EDA’s local development corporation voted Thursday to make $60,000 available in the next two years for downtown rental subsidies. Businesses can seek $3 per square foot annually if they move into the downtown. The EDA is capping the subsidies at $4,500 a year, the maximum for a 1,500 square foot space.
They subsidies aren’t available to businesses currently in the downtown. The funding comes from a $200,000 state grant approved for the EDA last December. The EDA also has $100,000 in grants to share with small businesses (5 or fewer employees) that need working capital, equipment purchases or inventory. The grants are capped at $15,000 per recipient.
Those grants are targeted for businesses that completed the Microenterprise Assistance Program, which offers small business training. However, the EDA will consider start-up businesses and other small businesses that didn’t go through the EDA, said Jim Whipple, the EDA executive director.
The EDA ran a similar grant program about five years ago and gave $20,004 to help businesses with their rent, including seven in Medina, four in Albion and two in Holley. The subsidies then were capped at $3,000 per recipient.
Blanchard said the program should result in new commercial activity in vacant storefronts.
She is on a committee to decide the funding along with Whipple, and three members of the EDA’s Finance Committee.
The grant from the state also provides $40,000 to the EDA to administer the funding.
The EDA runs the MAP program providing small business training in a 10-week class. The spring class just started last week and includes 15 entrepreneurs.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 April 2016 at 12:00 am
Touts new state budget in visit to Orleans
Photos By Tom Rivers – Brian Stratton, director of the NYS Canal Corp., went over highlights of the new state budget in a visit to the legislative chambers of the Orleans County Legislature on Thursday.
ALBION – The state budget brings good news to Orleans County residents, with a boost in the minimum wage, a Middle Class tax cut, more aid for schools, and numerous other funding options for municipalities to address aging infrastructure, and spur economic development, the director of the NYS Canal Corp. said in a stop Thursday in Albion.
Brian Stratton met with about 25 local officials in the legislative chambers of the Orleans County Legislature. Stratton and other many of the governor’s cabinet are discussing the new state budget in stops throughout the state. Stratton was also in Seneca Falls on Thursday.
Stratton said the higher minimum wage will benefit the state’s economy and residents. The new budget deal calls for phased in increases that bring the minimum wage to $15 in New York City and $12.50 for most of Upstate by the end of 2020. If the economy struggles, Stratton said there is a safety value “if catastrophic failure.”
He said the economy added jobs after six of the last nine times the minimum wage was increased in New York.
The County Legislature formally opposed raising the minimum wage in a recent meeting.
“That is the great debate: will it move the economy forward or will it have a depressing effect?” David Callard, the Legislature chairman, said on Thursday.
Callard said his top concern remains property taxes. He said the county and local governments have worked to share services, reduce staff and consolidate some departments. He said the state should follow that example.
Stratton said the state has been paring personnel costs.
“We’ve been doing that,” he responded to Callard. “We’ve retrenched, we’ve contracted. We’re all in this together.”
Stratton said the property tax cap, enacted by the governor and State Legislature, tries to limit property tax growth to about 2 percent. Sometimes the cap is lower because it’s tied to inflationary increases. The state has also capped the increase to counties for Medicaid and introduced a new less generous public pension tier that eases some of the financial pressure on municipalities, Stratton said.
He noted the budget includes more incentives for local governments to pursue consolidation to reduce layers of government.
Stratton said New York is in a much stronger position in the five-plus years Andrew Cuomo has been governor. The unemployment rate has dropped dramatically in all regions of the state, and the number of jobs has increased, Stratton said.
The budget includes a $27 billion commitment for infrastructure in Upstate. Stratton expects some of that money will address aging canal infrastructure, including some of the bridges that are more than a century old.
Many of those bridges in Orleans County have reduced weight limits, been closed or limited to one-way traffic. Orleans County officials in recent years have been pressing the state to spend more on repairing or replacing the canal spans.
Ed Morgan, the Murray town highway superintendent, said there are 10 canal bridges in Murray. He told Stratton many of the bridges are not properly posted by the state. He called it a public safety issue.
Dale Banker, the county’s emergency management coordinator, thanked the state for grant funds to help upgrade 911 emergency dispatch centers, but Banker told Stratton more funding would be helpful to make the systems interoperable with nearby counties.
The county also has made maintenance of the Lake Ontario State Parkway a top priority. Kendall Town Supervisor Tony Cammarata said the recreational route is in deplorable condition.
“It’s a horrible stretch of road,” Cammarata said. “The Parkway is the gateway to the east and the west. People aren’t taking it because it’s not drivable. It’s not a convenience issue, it’s a safety issue.”
Stratton said there are “many, many needs” in the state for the infrastructure. The funds haven’t been earmarked yet for projects.
He also highlighted an increase in school funding, a middle class tax cut, $500 million for Broadband, a $100 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative, a poverty reduction initiative, and a $200 million increase to upgrade water and sewer infrastructure.
“With this budget, New York will continue to lead the way forward,” Stratton said.
He also addressed the switch in the canal’s operation and maintenance from the Thruway Authority to the New York Power Authority. Stratton said the Thurway Authority was a great steward of the canal the past 25 years, spending about $1 billion in the 524-mile long system.
The NY Power Authority is a good fit for the canal, where 27 hydroelectric power systems use canal water, he said.
“We think this is a great economic opportunity by partnering with the New York Power Authority,” Stratton said. “The canal is a wonderful historic treasure and economic engine.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 7 April 2016 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Kyle Thaine portrays Joseph in the Albion High School production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Showtimes are 7 p.m. Friday (April 8) and noon and 7 p.m. on Saturday.
The show is directed by Gary Simboli. He has led Albion High School musicals for more than 30 years. This is the fourth time in his career Albion has performed Joseph, which Simboli said is his favorite musical.
The show is based on the Biblical story of Joseph, found in the Book of Genesis. His 12 brothers are jealous of his coat of many colors, his ability to interpret dreams, and his father’s preferential love.
Nate Trembley, right, plays Judah, Stephen Williams (center) is Levi and Connor Zicari plays Issachar, who are all Joseph’s brothers. They are plotting to sell him into slavery and fool their father into thinking Joseph was killed.
Freeman Lattin, center sitting, plays Jacob, father of Joseph.
Carly Fox, center, is one of the lead dancers in the show. This group is excited to be rid of Joseph. They are singing and dancing to the song, “One More Angel in Heaven.”
Kate Krieger is one the dancers. The cast and crew includes 86 students.
Cheyenna Eagle, left, and Angela Tarricone are both narrators in the show. The cast includes 13 elementary students who are the children of former cast members in past Joseph shows at Albion.
Joseph (Kyle Thaine) was falsely accused and imprisoned. In his despair he sings, “Close Every Door.”
Shelby Restivo, front, and Catherine Thom, right, and the cast dance to “Go, Go, Go Joseph.”
Hailey Bader is part of the cast in performing “Go, Go, Go Joseph.”
Zach Shaffer plays the Pharaoh, who performs in the style of Elvis. Pharaoh needs Joseph’s help in interpreting dreams.
Angela Tarricone, one of the narrators, sings near the finale of the show.
Tickets for the shows at the Albion Middle School are available at the door.
