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Orleans wants to woo more Canadian companies

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 November 2013 at 12:00 am

ALBION – The Orleans Economic Development Agency did something unusual this week. It put out a press release.

I don’t recall the agency ever doing that. The EDA wanted to share some good news. A Canadian firm was working to turn a vacant warehouse on McKinistry Street in Albion into an electronics recycling operation. BoMET Holding Inc. plans to hire 30 people at the Albion site.

The company is working on renovations at the 60,000-square-foot warehouse. It will likely start operations in Albion in the spring.

This project has been covered in the local news since April. I wondered why the push to highlight it now.

Jim Whipple, chief executive officer for the Orleans EDA, wanted to get the word out that the EDA has now worked with five companies based in Canada to grow in Orleans County. (Associated Brands in Medina, Brunner in Medina, Freeze-Dry Foods in Albion and Hinspergers Poly Industries in Medina are the others.)

“We’re using this to market our success with Canadian companies,” Whipple said about the BoMET project.

Several media outlets in Western New York reported on BoMET’s Albion project this week. It seems the press release did the job.

The Orleans EDA hired Mindful Media Groupto help put together the press release and promote it with news outlets. Mindful Media works with CRFS in Albion and Medina.

Orleans is an attractive community for Canadian companies because of the county’s close proximity to the Canadian border, as well as our location near Buffalo and Rochester, and the major markets in the northeast.

Whipple also wanted to show that the EDA can craft a deal that makes it appealing to do business in Orleans County.

The press release quotes BoMET CEO Zhan Bo Zhang, praising his assistance with the EDA.

“It was my dealings with the OEDA that cemented my decision to locate in Orleans County,” he said. “From start to finish, their knowledge, expertise and guidance gave me the confidence that BoMET Recovery would be successful there.”

Whipple said another Canadian company may soon commit to a project in Orleans.

Hoag hopes to hook residents on fishing

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 November 2013 at 12:00 am

Provided photo – Charity Garrow, the library systems administrator, is pictured with, from left: Web Pearsall of the DEC Regional 8 Fisheries; and Sportsmen Federation members Neil Newton and Mike Elam.

Coming soon to be checked out at Hoag Library in Albion: fishing poles.

That may seem like an odd offering at the local library, but Hoag said the library is located in an area with abundant fishing resources. However, many residents may not have the money to pay for fishing poles and gear. Or maybe they want to try out fishing before commiting to buying their own equipment.

The library will rent out 12 poles and kits beginning Dec. 1. The state Department of Environmental Conservation donated the 12 fishing poles to Hoag Library . The Orleans County Federation of Sportsmen has volunteered to maintain the equipment and provide kits with bobbers and hooks.

The DEC has donated fishing equipment to a few other libraries in the region, including the pubic library in Le Roy, the only other one besides Albion in the three-county Nioga system with fishing poles.

The fishing poles can be checked out by anyone over age 13. Children under 13 will need a parent’s permission to borrow the fishing gear.

Veteran dispatcher retires after nearly 28 years of service

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 November 2013 at 12:00 am

Wayne Litchfield enjoyed working with first responders

Photos by Tom Rivers – Wayne Litchfield looks over a set of instructions for Emergency Medical Dispatch, a reference guide for when callers are facing a medical crisis.

ALBION – Wayne Litchfield has given frantic residents instructions over the phone for performing CPR.

He has advised people suffering a heart attack to take an aspirin, the medical recommendation for a first course of action. He tried to calm down people in duress, telling them help was on the way.

One time he kept a man sought by the police on the phone for 45 minutes, enough time for state troopers to surround the man and take him into custody.

For 27 years and eight months Litchfield worked as a dispatcher for Orleans County. He had his last day on Oct. 31. Today the Sheriff’s Department held a party in his honor. Sheriff Scott Hess presented Litchfield with a plaque for his dedication.

Wayne Litchfield was honored with a party today at the Sheriff’s Department in Albion.

“There’s an old saying that if you love your job, it’s not work,” Litchfield said. “That’s what this was for me. I was paid to help people.”

Litchfield was a volunteer Holley firefighter and EMT when he was hired as a county dispatcher. He enjoyed working with the firefighters, police and ambulance squads, giving them instructions about emergencies and their locations.

He also fielded calls from the public, people often reeling from anxiety because of an emergency.

“He was dedicated to it,” said Steve Smith, the county’s undersheriff. “It was his chosen profession. He never looked at it as a stepping stone to do something else.”

Litchfield was part of a team of nine full-time dispatchers and five part-timers that handle about 33,000 calls a year. Litchfield personified the main qualities needed to excel at the job: patience and “the ability to stay calm when people call in a frantic mood,” said Allen Turner, the communications coordinator at the dispatch.

Erie Canal calls it a season

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 November 2013 at 12:00 am

Historic waterway ends 189th year

Photos by Tom Rivers

The tenders, tugboats and barges are lining up today between the Main and Ingersoll Street lift bridges in Albion, where the vessels will spend the winter before the canal reopens next May.

The canal is closing at 5 p.m. today, ending its 189th season since the waterway opened in 1825, transforming New York state into an economic powerhouse and giving birth to numerous canal towns, including Albion.

The 524-mile state canal system runs through Orleans County. I live a few blocks from the canal. I enjoy the old bridges and tugboats that are part of our landscape.

I took a lot of photos of the canal this year. I like this one of a sunset on Aug. 12 the best. It shows the Main Street lift bridge in Albion.

Feel the peace and power of Swallow Hallow

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 November 2013 at 12:00 am

Nature trail at wildlife refuge leads to wonderland

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALABAMA – When we all woke up to a dusting of snow on Wednesday, the first snowfall in many months, I cancelled my morning plans and headed out to the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge.

I’ve been having an awakening of sorts in recent months to the natural wonders all around those of us who live in Orleans County. This place is stunning. My favorite time of the year may in the spring when the fruit trees are in their blossoming glory.

Nature reigns supreme on the 1.3 mile trail in the wildlife refuge.

This past summer was a joy with what felt like day after day of spectacular sunsets. They were orange, red, purple, and some had an array of colors. I have friends in the big cities and they hardly ever see a decent sunset.

Fast forward to Wednesday morning. I was going to Swallow Hollow, period. Everything else could wait about two hours.

I’ve been on this 1.3 mile loop through the woods a couple times before, both times with little kids so I couldn’t really take in nature’s glory. I couldn’t let my guard down. I had to stay vigilant in case a child fell in the swamp.

So Wednesday, after the first light snowfall of the season, I embarked on a nature hike all by myself. Swallow Hollow is part of a wildlife refuge that covers about 11,000 acres in Shelby in Orleans County and Alabama in Genesee County.

Swallow Hollow is on Knowlesville Road, east of Route 63. I hoped Swallow Hollow was in Orleans County so we could claim this as one of our assets. But I think it’s slightly to the south in Genesee County. Close enough. We have about half the refuge in our county so why quibble over a technicality?

Swallow Hollow has an elevated boardwalk over the swamp. It makes for a wild walk. I give the refuge and whoever made this happen a lot of credit. I’m sure there were some naysayers when the idea was put out there: Let’s put a boardwalk in the swamp.

I’m grateful the project became a reality and we have public access to such a special place. Swallow Hollow was closed to the public for five years until the boardwalk was upgraded for about $500,000 in 2006. This was met with great fanfare by the public when the trail reopened.

You’re on the boardwalk at the beginning and the end of the trail. You spend most of your time walking on a dirt trail. (It was covered in snow on Wednesday.)

The birds are happy in the refuge. They sound like an enormous joyful chorus.

It was a chilly morning Wednesday and the autofocus didn’t work on my camera. I had to use the manual focus and a lot of photos that I thought were winners were actually slightly fuzzy. But it’s hard to walk out of Swallow Hollow without some good ones.

Orleans may strike deal for nursing home next month

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 November 2013 at 12:00 am

ALBION – Orleans County could reach an agreement to sell the nursing home next month.

The three-man board of Orleans County Health Facilities Corporation received two qualifying bids for the 120-bed Villages of Orleans.

The HFC, a local development corporation formed by the County Legislature to sell the nursing home, received requests to buy the site by an Oct. 16 deadline.

The Health Facilities Corporation is chaired by Russ Martino, a former Yates town supervisor and retired Lyndonville elementary principal. The LDC met today in executive session. It issued a statement this evening saying it will pursue a sale with two of the bidders.

One of the groups is led by Mordy Lahasky, Benjamin Fuchs and Benjamin Landa, which has multiple facilities in the Albany, Long Island and New York City. The other group is led by Kenneth Rozenberg and has multiple facilities across New York State.

Each bidding group will consider keeping existing employees, continue services for existing residents, maintain important community programs and continue to serve as landlord to the resident county offices, according to the news release.

The board anticipates entering a binding sale agreement in December 2013 with a change in the licensed operator as of Dec. 31, 2014.The state Department of Health will review the proposal, which often takes a year to get through Albany.

The LDC board anticipates meeting again next month to approve the final sale agreement.

County officials did not disclose the offers from the two entities.

Medina Lions are selling poinsettias

Staff Reports Posted 14 November 2013 at 12:00 am

Provided photo

MEDINA – The Medina Lions Club is embarking on its annual poinsettia sale, where profits are used to fight blindness, decorate State Street Park for Christmas and to help fund other causes in the community.

Pictured include, from left: Lions Club member Bridgette Yaxley, President Dave Bellucci and Lions member Laura Gardner.

The flowers are for sale from any Lions member or they can be ordered through the Medina Lions Club Facebook page or by emailing dbellack@yahoo.com. There are two delivery dates. To have poinsettias for Dec. 6 they need to be ordered by Dec. 2. For the Dec. 13 delivery, they need to be ordered by Dec. 9.

Albion village goes on record against landfill expansion

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 November 2013 at 12:00 am

ALBION – The Albion Village Board wants the record to show the current board opposes efforts to reopen a landfill in Albion.

A new landfill would hurt the community in many ways, from heavy truck traffic that would pose safety risks to other motorists and pedestrians to the stigma of having an operating landfill in the community, village officials said.

The recently approved village and town comprehensive plan, a map for the community’s future, opposes an operating landfill in Albion, Mayor Dean Theodorakos said on Wednesday.

Theodorakos is a member of Stop Polluting Orleans County, a citizens group against the landfill.

“I’m very much in favor of preventing further landfilling in the town,” he said.

The Village Board voted to send a letter to the Albion Town Board, urging the town to resist a new landfill. The Village Board may pass a formal resolution in an upcoming meeting, opposing the landfill.

Richard Penfold, a former landfill operator in Erie County, wants to reopen the landfill. Waste Management sought to operate an 80-acre landfill in Albion. It secured a permit from the state on Nov. 20, 2003, but Waste Management never could secure local support or a permit from the Town Board.

Penfold has sought to obtain Waste Management’s permit through an application with the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The agency told Penfold in June it wouldn’t transfer Waste Management’s permit. Penfold would have to apply for his own permit to operate at the site.

The Town Board in the mid-1990s passed laws against landfills in the town. Penfold believes the new landfill proposal could be considered an expansion of the existing Orleans Sanitary Landfill, and wouldn’t necessarily be a new landfill. That was how Waste Management’s plan was presented a decade ago.

Penfold would need town and DEC support for the project. All of the current Town Board members, plus the new ones elected last week, all have stated they are against reopening landfills in Albion.

Penfold has promised a host community benefits package for Albion. He also said he would care for the OSL and McKenna landfills at the site between Densmore and Transit roads, which currently aren’t being pumped of leachate.

Sidari brothers, both WWII vets, marvel at quarryman grandfather

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 November 2013 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers – Frank and Rocco Sidari look at the gravestones carved by their grandfather Francesco Spada in St. Joseph’s Cemetery on Brown Street.

ALBION – Frank Sidari wanted to show me something in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, the Catholic burial ground on Brown Street. He knows I’m interested in the community’s quarrymen heritage.

I met Frank, 88, and his brother Rocco, 91, there today. They were waiting by a row of gravestones carved out of Medina sandstone. Their grandfather, Francesco Spada, was the stonecutter on the projects.

Spada lived from 1864 to 1933. He came to Albion as a boy, moving here from Alfedena, the hometown for a lot of the local Italians.

His grandsons – the Sidari brothers – both served in World War II and then worked long careers as carpenters. They have lived on East State Street most of their lives. That is the street where many of the Italians settled. They had quarries a short walk from their homes. Some of the quarries were in their back yard.

The gravestones for two of Spada’s children, who died young from the flu.

The Sidaris remember their grandfather carving stone. Today, they looked at the carvings and the artwork on the stones in the cemetery.

“How in the Hell did they do all that fancy work?” Rocco said.

Spada somehow carved holes in the top of the gravestones and then set a cross on the top. Rocco, who was chief steward for 990 carpenters on the hydroelectric power project in Lewiston in the 1950s, is impressed by the talent of the stonecutters from a century ago.

“I don’t know how they did it,” he told me.

Spada etched a spade design on the gravestones. He added images of an anchor, the moon, diamonds and other symbols. The names and words on the stones are written in Italian.

Frank said the Italians were close-knit and a lot of fun while he was growing up.

He also said the flu and other illnesses claimed a lot of people when they were young. Looking at the garvestones today for his teen-age children, you could feel Spada’s grief. He poured his heart into the gravestones for his children.

occo and Frank Sidari are brothers and life-long friends. They posed for a picture in St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

Albion dentist has tried for months to put up a bigger sign

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 November 2013 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers – Karl Heuer and his son Kyle want a new sign in front of their Albion practice to indicate there are two Heuers working as dentists. They also want the address noted on the sign.

ALBION – Karl Heuer would like a new sign in front of his dental practice that notes his son Kyle has joined the practice.

The Heuers would also like the address – 313 South Main St. – listed on the sign. They have been trying since May to get up a new sign.

They had the sign designed. It’s 4.6 feet by 4.8 feet or about 22 square feet. That’s way too big, according to the zoning restrictions for businesses along South Main Street in the residential-commercial district. That area only allows for a 1 foot name plate sign.

However, the Zoning Board of Appeals has routinely approved variances for bigger signs. The ZBA said it would allow a 16 square foot sign for the Heuers.

The Heuers told the Village Board on Wednesday they want the 22 square foot sign so they can fit everything on it.

“We just want a nice-looking sign that people can read,” Karl Heuer told the board.

Kevin Allen, an attorney, told the board it should to change the sign restrictions for the residential-commercial district so the ZBA isn’t forever issuing variances, allowing certain sizes for some businesses and smaller ones for others.

Allen, who is representing the Heuers with the sign dispute, noted another dental practice in the same zoning district has a sign more than double what the Heuer’s are seeking. Plus, the All Smiles Dentistry sign is illuminated at night.

All Smiles Dentistry, at the corner of South Main Street and Allen Road, has a much bigger sign than is allowed in the residential-commercial district.

He suggested the Village Board alter the sign restrictions in the zoning district, allowing an upper level limit of perhaps 24 or 26 square feet.

“You should make it more practical and more realistic,” he said.

Other business districts in the village, without residential properties, have a top threshold of 32 square feet, although the ZBA has been giving variances for bigger signs on Route 31 and Main Street, Code Enforcement Officer Ron Vendetti told the Village Board.

Vendetti agrees the sign regulations need to be changed, to allow for larger signs.

But with the current code, the ZBA is left to its discretion in how big of a variance it wants to approve. In Heuer’s case, a 16-foot sign was allowed.

The Village Board can’t meddle with the ZBA’s decision. The board, however, can change the restrictions for the signs. That would require a public hearing.

Mayor Dean Theodorakos said he supports an update of the sign requirements.

“We’re working on it,” he told the Heuers.