By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 November 2013 at 12:00 am
ALBION – The mother of an inmate at the Orleans Correctional Facility appeared in court today for the first time and was sent to the county jail on $25,000 bail.
Tracey Stratton, 51, of Vermont allegedly mailed her son drugs. County Court Judge James Punch set her bail at $25,000. He also assigned her the public defender’s office. She will be arraigned on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. once she has an attorney assigned to her case.
Stratton has been charged with promoting prison contraband in the first degree and criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fourth degree.
She allegedly mailed the drugs to her son, Jason Seifert, 28. He has been at the Orleans Correctional Facility in Albion since April 23, 2010. He was sent to prison after being convicted of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 November 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – No need to take a ride out in the country to see the fall foliage in its glory. I stopped by the Courthouse Square in Albion this afternoon and took these photos.
The top photo is on the Courthouse lawn with the First Baptist Church in back in the center. The Episcopal Church is at right and St. Joseph’s Catholic Church is at left.
The top of the Orleans County Courthouse dome shows while some leaves cling to one of the trees on the lawn.
The County Clerk’s Building is framed by a mostly barren branch in this photo. The Courthouse Square and the seven churches nearby are part of a district named to the National Register of Historic Places.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 November 2013 at 12:00 am
Horvath makes commitment to Orleans Community Health
Photos by Tom Rivers – Dolores Horvath, CEO of Orleans Community Health, checks some of the merchandise up for bid at Saturday’ night’s Treasure Island fund-raiser for OCH. On Monday, the OCH board of directors named Horvath the chief executive officer, removing interim from her title.
MEDINA – Three months ago Dolores Horvath arrived in Medina for what she thought would be a six-month job, helping Orleans Community Health find a permanent CEO for a healthcare organization that includes a hospital, a health care facility in Albion and other outpatient sites.
Horvath impressed the board of directors at OCH, and the community won her over. She is staying, and not just as the interim leader of the OCH. On Monday the board of directors appointed her chief executive officer.
Horvath would like to serve in the position for five years. She is looking for a house in Medina.
‘This is a wonderful little town,” she said Saturday at the hospital system’s Treasure Island fund-raiser. “You have a committed board and a community that supports you. There are staff that have worked here for 40 years. You just don’t see that kind of commitment too often.”
The Treasure Island event was another demonstration of the community support for the hospital. About 275 people attended the event at the Sacred Heart Club. Numerous businesses and residents donated items to be sold. The event typically raises about $50,000 for Orleans Community Health.
Greg Canham weighs a bid on some of the items at the 20th annual Treasure Island fund-raiser to benefit Orleans Communtiy Heath.
Horvath will remain an employee with HealthTech Management Services, a firm hired to manage OCH in June. That contract was for an initial three-year deal.
On Monday, the OCH board decided it wanted to retain Horvath through HealthTech.
“She has addressed a lot of issues and we’re moving in a positive direction,” said Bruce Krenning, president of the OCH board. “She has a lot of experience and she fits what we’re trying to do.”
Horvath has already led a complete assessment of OCH’s operations and finances. She said this is a tumultuous time in health care with a new federal health care law taking effect and many smaller hospitals struggling to stay open. Lakeside Memorial Hospital in Brockport shut down in April, for example.
Krenning said Medina Memorial Hospital isn’t closing.
Horvath said the organization needs to position itself towards more outpatient services. She will be working to recruit more primary care physicians. She said the organization needs to expand its services and will likely need a capital plan to upgrade some of the facilities.
Bruce Krenning, president of the board of directors for OCH, attended the Treasure Island fund-raiser on Saturday. Tammi Pritchard, administrative assistant for CEO Dolores Horvath, volunteered at the event, helping people pick bottles of wine.
“We haven’t decided on that yet,” she said.
Horvath said the organization wants to be known as the preferred health care provider for the entire county. Other outside healthcare organizations also are pushing for Orleans County residents as patients. The former Brockport hospital is now known as Strong West. Strong Memorial Hospital and the University of Rochester Medical Center are running that site and they are advertising in Orleans County.
Horvath said Orleans Community Health is the only health care organization whose sole mission is primarily targeted to Orleans County residents. (The organization also serves patients in Genesee and eastern Niagara counties.)
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 November 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Singers from Episcopal parishes in three rural counties joined together for an “All Saints Sunday” service today at Christ Church in Albion. The multi-church choir was part of an annual memorial service for patients that were served by Hospice of Orleans.
The agency remembered 110 patients that died between Sept. 16, 2012 and Sept. 16, 2013. The Genesee Deanery Episcopal Choir includes members from Episcopal congregations in Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming counties.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 November 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The Albion Free Methodist Church, which is undergoing a remodeling project in its sanctuary, held its service inside the main meeting room at the Hoag Library this morning.
The church will be back at the library next Sunday at 9 a.m. before returning to the church building at the corner of the Platt and East State streets for Nov. 17. The church is removing its pews and adding cushioned seats, which will increase the seating capacity at the site. New carpeting, paint and other changes are part of the project.
Kevin Eccles, one of the church pastors, delivers the sermon today. A portrait of Emma Swan, one of the founders of Albion public library more than a century ago, is on the wall to the right.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 November 2013 at 12:00 am
ALBION – About 40 years ago, Albion’s downtown had a grocery store, clothing and jewelry shops, as well as lots of other independent merchants.
Albion resident Gar Trusselle found these photos and sent them to The Orleans Hub.
The top photo was taken from near the canal looking south. The Waterman building, which is next to the Briggs building, was standing in the early 1970s. A fire about a decade later would remove that structure from the collection of historic structures in the downtown.
The photo below shows East Bank Street. You can see projecting signs and awnings on some of the buildings back then.
“I remember doing a lot of our shopping there when I was growing up,” Trusselle said. “So many stores were downtown at that time. Clothing, jewelry, groceries and several of each. Oh well, I guess that’s progress.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 November 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
At 2 a.m. tonight we gain an hour as part of Daylight Saving Time. On the plus side, we can get an extra hour of sleep.
But I personally dread this time of the year when it gets dark at about 5 p.m. But this is the law of the land. So don’t forget to turn your clocks back.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 November 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – More than 100 Civil War re-enactors marched down Main Street as part of the Civil War encampment in April.
MEDINA – They are coming back for another parade through historic Medina, two days of battles in a field next to Genesee Community College, and other “living history” programs.
Civil War re-enactors this past April did a series of events in Medina in a partnership with GCC. The event went so well, with so much support from the community, that GCC has committed to two more years of Civil War initiatives in Medina, including encampments.
Those two years will fall within the 150th anniversary of the war, which ended in 1865. GCC may extend the Civil War events after 2015. The college has committed funding and resources for the next two years, said Derek Maxfield, Civil War Initiative coordinator and a history professor at GCC.
Re-enactors were prominent in Medina, including a downtown parade, during the encampment in April.
When GCC proposed Medina as a host for the initiative, the village government and several local civic groups joined the effort. The groups planned the parade that went from St. Mary’s Catholic Church, through Main Street and to the Medina Railroad Museum.
The encampment is planned for April 25-27 in 2014. This time the parade on Saturday is planned to start near the museum and go through the downtown, with the re-enactors heading to Boxwood Cemetery for a memorial service.
“The re-enactors said the experience in Medina was unique,” Maxfield said.
The encampment also includes formal lectures and artifact displays.
“We’ve merged the living history with the academic element,” Maxfield said.
Re-enactors “battle” in a field next to the GCC campus on Route 31A during an encampment last April.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 November 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – I missed these projects when they were happening, but three initiatives have changed the looks of the Albion landscape.
Roger Hungerford, owner of the former JPMorgan Chase site on Route 31, already has the building repainted. It will become the home of CRFS, which is consolidating its Albion and Medina locations into the Chase site.
CRFS is adding 150 workers to its current 600 employees in Orleans County as part of the shift to Chase, which is expected to happen by March.
Two other projects aren’t as dramatic, but make an impact nonetheless. Freeze-Dry Foods on West Avenue put up a new stone sign last week. Freeze-Dry operates out of the former Lipton’s building across from McDonalds.
The Holy Family Parish on South Main Street has been around for more than a century, but it didn’t have a sign along Main Street for St. Joseph’s Catholic Church until last week.
HOLLEY – A power outage affecting parts of eastern Orleans County and the Village of Holley is likely the result of a traffic crash in the Town of Murray.
The incident occurred at about 8 a.m., in the 3500 block of Fancher Road. Richard J. Breslawski, 23, of Hamlin was operating an 18-wheel tractor-trailer truck and was exiting westbound Route 31 onto northbound Fancher Rd., when he lost control of the vehicle. The truck jack-knifed, striking several parked cars at A&M Transmission Service at 3581 Fancher Rd., before shearing off a National Grid utility pole.
Breslawski, the sole occupant, was not injured. The truck is owned by Charles Breslawski Farms, also located in Hamlin. There was no cargo on-board at the time of the incident.
Unsafe speed is a probable factor in the crash, investigated by Deputies A.L. Jenks & M.C. Mele. Also assisting at the scene are firefighters from the Fancher-Hulberton-Murray and the Holley Fire Departments. That section of Fancher Road remains closed to traffic.
