By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 7 December 2013 at 12:00 am
The Holley and Lyndonville communities both are celebrating the holidays in a big way today.
In Holley, the events started at 10 a.m. with a breakfast with Santa. There will be a memory bulb tree lighting ceremony at 6 p.m. in the Public Square. The day will be capped with a parade of lights at 6:30 p.m.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 7 December 2013 at 12:00 am
Community decorates 27 trees at Veterans Park
Photos by Tom Rivers
LYNDONVILLE – Community members decorated 27 Christmas trees at Veterans Park as part of a new holiday tradition in Lyndonville.
The village pushed to start the project after Wes Bradley, a Yates Town Councilman and Lions Cub member, pitched the idea. He saw it at Oakfield last year when there were 53 trees lighted and decorated by community members.
Oakfield shared its planning tips with Lyndonville officials. Bradley was hoping for maybe 15 or 20 trees the first year. With a strong showing this year, Bradley thinks the community could do 40 or 50 next year.
He’d like to add horse-drawn carriage rides and more events as part of day-long celebration.
“This has been a little morale boost for the community,” Bradley said this evening while serving hot cocoa and cookies in the Village Hall.
After arriving on a trailer that looked like a sleigh, Santa greeted the crowd at Veterans Park.
Santa flipped the switch at the North Pole Electric Station, lighting the 27 trees decorated by the community.
Santa then met with youngsters at the Village Hall. Grayson Voltz of Lockport didn’t take a liking to the jolly ole’ elf. Grayson’s mother Jessica Voltz is a Lyndonville native.
Ethan Merrill, 7, of Albion was comfortable with Santa, and happily shared his wish list for Christmas.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 7 December 2013 at 12:00 am
John Long has witnessed changes on the farm landscape
John Long holds the 18-pound horse weight that has been in his family for generations.
GAINES – For the many years John Long and his father Frank milked cows on Zig Zag Road, they used an old horse weight as a door stop in the milk house.
Frank Long started the farm in 1937 at Zig Zag Road. John Long sold the cows in 1988, when he turned the farm’s focus on crops. He also had a retail straw and hay business.
He kept the old horse weight, which weighs 18 pounds and has a ring. It is a relic from the horse and buggy era. Orleans Hub has posted many articles about the rather incredible collection of hitching posts, mounting blocks and carriage steps that remain on many properties in the area. Albion and Gaines, in particular, have many of these. There are also quite a few in Medina.
Long wanted me to see the horse weight, which his father referred to as a horse block.
John Long treasures the horse weight. He scrubbed it and gave it a new coating of black paint.
Horse weights were movable blocks, made of iron or stone, that were carried in carriages. Not every place had a hitching post to tie up a horse. So people brought along a horse weight to tie up their horse and keep it in place.
I had never seen a horse weight before until Long showed it to me on Thursday. He takes pride in the relic. He has it scrubbed up and painted black. It’s been in his family for many, many years.
Long, 79, remembers when horses were a bigger part of Albion. He can recall hitching posts along Caroline Street and a drinking fountain for horses on the Courthouse Lawn.
I asked County Historian Bill Lattin if he thinks there are many surviving horse weights these days. Lattin has two, including a heavy sandstone weight that he suspects was used to hitch a team of horses. He also has a smaller one, similar to Long’s.
But Lattin hasn’t seen too many of the weights.
Long likes the history of the area. He lives outside the eastern end of the village of Albion. Long and his wife Loretta raised two sons – Jeff and Doug – out in the country.
John Long said almost every farmer in the area used to grow tomatoes to feed the processing plants in Albion.
Many of the roads near him – Kietel, Densmore, Lattin and Sawyer – are named for pioneer settlers. Zig Zag Road used to be call Wickham Road, named for another pioneer. Long doesn’t know why the name was changed.
He’s seen a lot of changes in local agriculture. Long’s farm and almost every other farm oepration in the area grew a lot of tomatoes to feed the processing plants in Albion.
Lipton’s (across from McDonalds) stopped buying local tomatoes in 1961 and then Hunt’s took its last local crop in 1969. Hunt’s had an enormous facility, the former Chase site in Albion plus more space on East Avenue going to Platt Street, where Helena Chemical is currently located.
“In the fall you could smell the ketchup cooking in Albion,” Long said.
Many local farmers grew tomatoes for Lipton’s and Hunt’s. These days you don’t see much acreage for tomatoes.
Instead, Long said it feels like corn is everywhere. He rents out his land and two farmers who use it for corn.
“Corn is king now because of the ethanol,” Long said.
Most of the corn has been harvested next to Long’s former dairy farm on Zig Zag Road. Long sold much of equipment from the barn in an auction in October.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 7 December 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
HOLLEY – Holley’s Parade of Lights passes through the Public Square tonight. Several local fire companies and other community organizations and businesses joined for the parade that started at the elementary school.
Santa stands at the back of a golf cart and greets people lined along the parade route, including people in front of the Community Free Library.
The crowd braves the bitter cold to watch the Parade of Lights pass through the Public Square.
Bentley Brothers in Albion and Brockport was among the local businesses that joined in the parade.
Holley’s Department of Public Works decorated its trucks for the parade.
Several nearby fire companies, including Clarendon, participated in the Parade of Lights.
Before the parade, Mayor John Kenney read names of people honored with memorial bulbs on a Christmas tree at Public Square.
Holley lighted the tree, a tradition that dates back about three decades.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 December 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Tom Zangerle of Medina has several landscape paintings on display at Marti’s on Main, an art gallery at 229 North Main St. Zangerle has paintings of local scenes in Orleans County, Letchworth State Park and Zion National Park in southern Utah.
Retired Holley teacher Tony Barry is pictured in front of two canal paintings he did in Holley and an image from a doughnut shop at a fair in Spartansburg, Pa., where he was visiting his daughter, Colleen McCray. She is shown waiting in the front of the line in the painting.
ALBION – For years they taught art in local schools. Now that they’re retired, Tom Zangerle of Medina and Tony Barry of Holley have more time to pursue their own artistic passion.
The two are the featured artists in the season finale show at Marti’s on Main, 229 North Main St.
Both artists have paintings that feature local landscapes and scenes, and locations from out of the area. Kim Muscarella, Marti’s owner, has long been a fan of both painters.
“I’m just thrilled to have such beautiful artwork here,” she said. “I love these two guys. I love their art work.”
Zangerle taught art in Medina at the Oak Orchard Elementary School. He also worked 23 years in the newspaper business in photography, the darkroom and with the press, working out of Medina, Lockport and North Tonawanda.
These days Zangerle paints, goes fishing a lot and plays guitar in two bands. He and his wife Mary traveled to southern Utah this spring and he completed several paintings that show the cliffs at Zion National Park.
“It’s jaw-dropping awesome,” he said. “The cliffs change colors. They are red, gray and bright pruple.”
Zangerle doesn’t have to go far to be inspired with his paint brush. His property backs up to the Oak Orchard River. He has paintings of a path by the river during the winter. He has several of Lethcworth State Park and its waterfalls.
This painting shows a path Zangerle walks to go fishing at the Oak Orchard River in Waterport.
“There is a lot of awesome stuff around here that is very dynamic,” Zangerle said.
Barry retired from teaching in Holley in 2005. He creates about 12 to 15 paintings a year. He loves the orchards, tugboats, lift bridges and many other local scenes.
“There is a lot of local color,” he said. “Holley is so rich, especially by the canal park.”
Barry has four daughters who are all artists. They did a combined show at Houghton College. When he travels to see them, he often comes home with a new painting. One of his favorites is at the fair in Spartansburg, Pa., where his daughter Colleen McCray lives.
He painted her waiting in line at a doughnut stand at the fair. He also painted her garage. Barry said he never knows where inspiration will strike.
Barry painted his daughter’s garage on a recent trip to see her in Pennsylvania.
Marti’s is concluding its fifth season. Muscarella has included Barry in a show every year. She was open eight months this year and featured 14 different artists.
“The fact that we’ve made it five years shows it is a success and it says a lot about our county,” Muscarella said. “It says that enough people in our county appreciate art.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 December 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Leah Pawlak, 5, checks out the new “Socio-Dramatic Play Center” that was dedicated on Thursday in memory of Rachel Miller, a speech therapist at Rainbow Preschool for 15 years.
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Children ages 3 to 5 in the Rainbow Preschool program often have significant developmental delays. Many of the children have autism and some of them have not spoken a word by the time they enroll in Rainbow Preschool.
For 15 years Rachel Miller worked as a speech pathologist at Rainbow. She helped many of the children say their first word. She was creative using games to get children to talk and express themselves.
She had a dream for a room that would allow children to role play. She thought it would be a fun way to get kids to learn and express themselves.
That dream has become a reality. The Arc of Orleans and Rainbow Preschool dedicated the “Socio-Dramatic Play Center” in memory of Miller, who was killed on March 4 at age 53.
Rachel Miller’s children – Amanda, Roy and Cody – attended the dedication for a play room in their mother’s memory. Rachel Miller has another daughter who lives out of state. She has 16 grandchildren.
Three of Miller’s children attended the dedication and cut the ribbon for the new room. Her daughter Amanda Miller, while fighting back tears, thanked a crowd of about 50 people that attended the dedication.
“I think it’s beautiful,” Miller said about the new room.
Her mother had a big personality, a big shoe collection, and a very big heart.
“Even when she was home, she was working, thinking about the kids,” Miller said.
The new play room used to be the nurse’s station. That was moved down the second floor in the Arnold Gregory Memorial Complex. The room now resembles a grocery store with tiny shopping carts for the children, as well as shelves, plastic fruit and vegetables, a cash register and other elements.
“This was one of her dreams,” said Linda Dressler, supervisor of the speech department. “She was all about play.”
Kellie Spychalski, Arc executive director, leads the dedication service for a room in memory of Rachel Miller.
Miller used to carry big boxes full of toys and supplies, her props for dramatic play sessions with students. Now the speech therapists can use the room in Miller’s memory.
Rainbow Preschool will change the themes in the room. When it opened in October, the site resembled a zoo and children could pretend they were a zookeeper. Dressler said the site will next be changed to resemble a pizza shop.
The room includes a plaque that notes Miller’s 15 years of dedicated service.
David Friedlander, director of educational services for the Arc, joined the agency in July. He supported the effort to create the room for Miller, a project driven by her co-workers.
“I’ve heard a lot of wonderful things about her,” Friedlander said. “She was loved.”
Trolley Building could be transformed into Culinary Institute
Press release, Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension
KNOWLESVILLE – Horticulture in Orleans County is expanding into new horizons.
On Nov. 21, the Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension Board of Directors voted in favor of transitioning its current part-time Horticulture Educator position to a full-time Garden-to-Table Educator. This new role will link horticulture with food and nutrition education to better serve the needs of Orleans County residents.
The Garden-to-Table Educator will provide daily support to the Master Gardener program and will advocate for garden-based learning and garden-to-table programs to further horticulture education in OCCCE youth and family programming. OCCCE’s non-profit and government agency partners, such as those in the county health department, see tremendous need for emphasizing backyard gardening and linking it with food choices to help community members lead healthier, better lives.
Growing your own food is a natural link with food preservation and the culinary arts, and it emphasizes horticulture’s important role in our community. As one board member stated, “I really look forward to more education on food preparation and preservation coming from the new Garden-to-Table Educator position. I think it will help address issues of rural poverty as well as childhood obesity and nutrition.”
The transition to a Garden-to-Table Educator coincides with OCCCE’s efforts to revitalize the Trolley Building at the 4-H Fairgrounds, which currently houses a large kitchen with a 50’ x 70’ event space.
In January 2014, community members will meet to establish a vision for the Trolley Building to guide renovation efforts, and ideas of hosting a Culinary Institute within the building with a sizeable teaching kitchen have been proposed.
The OCCCE Board of Directors wants the space to meet community needs and be available for use by other agencies to host educational workshops and events. OCCCE’s focus on agriculture, horticulture, and youth development naturally extends to food science and the culinary arts, and county community members are excited about the potential benefits of such a facility.
OCCCE is actively pursuing grant funds for horticulture education, and the Garden-to-Table Educator position provides a wide-range of grant options. Recently, a proposal requesting about $60,000 was submitted to The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation in Washington, DC, to conduct The Well-Stocked Pantry Project.
This project is designed to provide families with a “how-to” guide for starting a garden and incorporating its tending; along with cooking, preserving, and enjoying its bounty; into their daily lives for learning, enrichment, and enjoyment.
Gardening with children can yield strong families, improve nutrition, combat obesity, and promote lifelong learning. If funded, this project could bring national attention to Orleans County horticulture and make a significant, positive impact.
OCCCE is currently seeking applications for the Garden-to-Table position now through Jan. 15, 2014. For details, see the OCCCE website by clicking here.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 December 2013 at 12:00 am
Police believe group was responsible for 32 burglaries
Police agencies in three counties worked together to arrest Jonathan Banks, top left; Isaiah Bonk, top right; Jasper Lloyd, bottom, left; Thomas Shingleton, bottom right.
ALBION – Police from multiple agencies in three counties believe they have arrested the people responsible for 32 burglaries in August and September, a rash of break-ins in Albion, Medina, Oakfield and Lockport.
The four are all in jail and Orleans County District Attorney Joe Cardone said they will face long prison sentences.
One of the suspected burglars, Jonathan Banks, 21, of Medina, was arrested by Lockport police in September. After his arrest, there weren’t additional burglaries, police officials said.
Police officers continued to work on the cases and had a break through last week when Medina police arrested Isaiah Bonk, 20, of Medina. He was arrested following a foot chase. He gave information to police that led the arrests of two others who were part of the crimes.
Albion Police Chief Roland Nenni said the four were persons of interest in the crimes before their arrests. Police from Albion, Medina Lockport and the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department were in daily communication, sharing information and gathering evidence.
“Criminals don’t follow jurisdictional lines and neither do we,” Nenni said at a news conference at the Village Hall. “We became one big sheriff’s department or police department.”
The following were arrested:
Jonathan Banks, 21, of 4886 South Townline Rd., Medina, faces 10 counts of second-degree burglary, one count of attempted burglary and attempted robbery in the second degree, six counts of grand larceny, seven counts of petit larceny, three counts of attempted petit larceny, and four counts of fourth-degree criminal mischief.
He is held in Niagara County Jail on $160,000 bail.
Banks was involved in a high-profile crime in May when he took a 12-year-old girl from Albion overnight to Buffalo. The girl was subject to a missing persons report. Banks was charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
Photo by Tom Rivers – Law enforcement officials gathered at 11 a.m. today at Albion Village Hall to discuss the arrests of four people in a rash of break-ins in August and September. The group includes, from left: Lockport detective Kevin Schrader, Orleans County DA Joe Cardone, Lockport Police Chief Larry Eggert, Albion Police Chief Ronald Nenni (at podium), Medina Police Chief Jose Avila and William Sheron, undersheriff at Genesee County Sheriff’s Department.
Isaiah Bonk, of 531 East Center St., Medina, faces nine counts of second-degree burglary, one count of attempted burglary in the second-degree, six counts of fourth-degree grand larceny, seven counts of petit larceny, three counts of attempted petit larceny, and four counts of criminal mischief in the fourth degree.
He is held in Orleans County Jail on $50,000 bail.
Jasper Lloyd, 20, of 107 East Bank St., Albion, was charged with two counts of second-degree burglary, two counts of fourth-degree grand larceny, two counts of grand larceny and one count of criminal mischief in the fourth degree.
He is in Orleans County Jail on $50,000 bail.
Thomas Shingleton, 36, of 177 Bates Rd., Medina, has been charged with one count of attempted burglary in the second degree and one count of attempted petit larceny. He is in Orleans County Jail on $20,000 bail.
The four worked together in the crimes, but not necessarily all four at each location, Nenni said. With some of the break-ins, one or two of the burglars may have been at the scene. They sometimes provided each other with rides after the burglaries, Nenni said.
Albion had 20 break-ins. There were five in Medina, three in Lockport and four in Oakfield.
The burglars tended to hit multiple locations each night. They would go through unlocked doors or cut out screens in windows to gain access.
“It was alarming to the victims to have people come into their house,” Nenni said.
One of the victims from Albion attended the news conference. He said the burglary in August traumatized his young son, who wouldn’t sleep the rest of the summer unless a parent was by him.
The family used to keep its windows open in the summer to let in a breeze. After the crime, their windows were locked tight.
“You never expect someone to come through the screens,” the victim said.
Nenni said the burglars took cash, credit cards and electronics. The credit cards were never used after being stolen. Some of the electronics were sold. Nenni estimated the burglars took about $20,000 all together in cash and electronics.
There was also about a $20,000 cost to taxpayers for the officer overtime on the case, he said.
Nenni and the police leaders said the investigation is continuing.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 December 2013 at 12:00 am
Worthington Cylinders helps provide toys for needy families
Photos by Tom Rivers – The toy challenge drive at Worthington Cylinders in Medina was led by, from left: Diane Watts, Kristin Vogt and Valerie Childs.
ALBION – In June 152 employees at Worthington Industries in Medina were told their jobs would be gone in 2014. The company’s owner was closing the former BernzOmatic hand torch manufacturing operation in Medina and moving that work to existing facility in Chilton, Wis.
Worthington employees expect to be laid off in the coming months. They aren’t letting that grim reality prevent them from being generous this holiday season.
They have given $1,410 and donated numerous toys to the third annual “Toy Challenge,” which benefits families served by Community Action of Orleans & Genesee.
“Even though we are losing our jobs, we still have our dignity,” said Diane Watts, who works in assembly at Worthington and helped head the toy drive for the company. “We wanted to leave the community with a good image. We wanted to go out with a bang.”
Employees raised money for the toy drive with hot dog and doughnut sales. They also bought toys for the challenge.
A Worthington employee pushed to start the corporate toy challenge in 2011. Andrew Szatkowski was Worthington’s quality control manager. With the company’s impending closure in Medina, Szatkowski took a new job outside the immediate area.
The toy drive went on this holiday season. Carolyn Wagner, human resources and safety director for BMP America, and Kris Hartwig, administrative assistant S.B. Whistler and Sons (Phinney Tool and Die), stepped up to coordinate the project.
The drive lasted from Nov. 4 to Dec. 3. The toys are on tables in the basement at the First Baptist Church in Albion. Community Action Director Ed Fancher said the church has been transformed into Santa’s Workshop. He thanked the participating companies and their employees for giving so many toys and funds to the drive. The donations will be shared with 250 families in the Albion area.
Several companies pitched in to donate toys and money for the toy challenge. Community Action of Orleans & Genesee will distribute the toys to about 250 families in the Albion area. Pictured are, from left: Carolyn Wagner, human resources and safety manager for BMP America in Medina; Wendy Hinkley, branch manager for Five-Star Bank in Albion; Jen Restivo, logistics coordinator for Freeze-Dry in Albion; and Kris Hartwig, administrative assistant at S.B. Whistler and Sons (Phinney Tool and Die).
S.B. Whistler and Sons (Phinney Tool and Die) kept its streak going in winning the toy challenge for the third straight year. The title is determined by total donations – money and weight of toys – divided by the number of employees.
Worthington actually gave the most toys and money, but S.B. Whistler won the challenge. The company has 27 employees. They donated $1,000 and 165 pounds of toys.
The company hangs the award for winning the toy challenge in the shop at the business at the corner of West Center Street and Salt Works Road.
“We’re able to see that we make a difference,” Hartwig of S.B. Whistler said about the toy challenge. “We are like a big family and we want to help other families in the area.”
Freeze-Dry in Albion was happy to participate in the toy challenge. The company had a box by the break room and employees filled it with toys.
“The employees are all very giving,” said Jen Restivo, logistics coordinator for the company. “We all came together and wanted to make a difference.”
Five-Star Bank in Albion also collected many toys for the challenge. Wendy Hinkley, the branch manager, also recruited other Albion businesses to collect toys for the cause. Employees at the bank decided against buying toys for each other. They instead bought toys for the challenge.
“Community Action does so much for this community, and they do it throughout the year,” Hinkley said. “They are an agency that is near and dear to my heart.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 December 2013 at 12:00 am
Ron Armstrong plans to keep responding to fire calls
Photo by Tom Rivers – Ron Armstrong was treated with a birthday cake and much praise tonight by the Albion Fire Department. Armstrong turned 80. He has been an active firefighter for 55 years.
ALBION – One of Albion’s most dedicated firefighters just turned 80, but that milestone birthday doesn’t mean Ron Armstrong plans to retire anytime soon from the fire department.
“I’ve been blessed with good health,” he said tonight when firefighters treated him to a birthday cake in the fire hall. “Some day I will have to stop. My body will tell me.”
Armstrong served as fire chief in 1975, and then from 1996 to 1998. He said he has plenty of aches and pains. He doesn’t do interior firefighting anymore. He serves mostly as a driver of the big fire trucks.
“During the day he is our main driver,” said Fire Chief Rocky Sidari.
The fire department needs volunteers for the daytime calls when many of the firefighters are at jobs away from Albion. Armstrong knows there is a need. That’s why he has stayed active for the department through his 70s and now at age 80.
Armstrong said he is grateful for the chance to serve so long in the department. He joined back in 1958.
“I had friends who were in it,” he said.
Armstrong served in the Air Force as a radio operator. He was stationed in Germany during the Korean War. He then worked 30 years as a printer at the former Eddy Printing in Albion before working another 16 years at Kodak.
The fire department has members with longer service than Armstrong, but Lee Meisner, the fire department president, doubts anyone has ever been an active volunteer for 55 years with the department.
Many of the firefighters will pull back from the department when they have young children or when they become senior citizens. They may be members, but Miesner said they typically don’t respond to fire calls. That’s not true with Armstrong.
