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Chamber’s New Business of the Year: Ho-Jacks Bar and Grill

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 September 2013 at 12:00 am

Photo by Tom Rivers – The Conrad family opened Ho-Jack’s Bar and Grill last Nov. 1 at 1750 Oak Orchard Rd., Carlton. Pictured, from left: Francesca Papalia, Tony Conrad, Danielle Conrad, Jo Jo Allport (age 4), Matthew Lilly and Dan Conrad.

CARLTON – Three years ago, Dan Conrad was downsized after 26 years of work at Kodak. After being laid off, Conrad earned a degree in business and looked for an opportunity that would involve his family while also keeping him in Orleans County. Conrad saw potential for a restaurant that had an unstable history. The former Carlton Grill had been opened several times, only to shut down not long after.

Conrad was warned by friends that the site didn’t have a good track record. But he thought he could assemble a team to make it work.

Last Nov. 1 the Conrad family opened Ho-Jack’s Bar and Grill at 1750 Oak Orchard Rd. The venture has gone so well that Ho-Jack’s is expanding its parking lot.

Conrad’s son Tony is the head chef. He is looking to add sub sandwiches and bakery to the location, perhaps by next year.

“It’s been a lot of hard work, but it’s rewarding,” Dan Conrad said. “People walk out and say the food is great.” The Chamber of Commerce named Ho-Jack’s the 2013 “Business of the Year.” The Conrads have 15 employees. The business has brought stability to the site, and created a destination on Route 98 between Point Breeze and Albion. Conrad, a Rochester native, enjoys local history. He wanted the restaurant to play up the community’s railroad heritage. The interior has several railroad images, as well as photos of cobblestone structures, fishermen and other local scenes. Ho-Jack’s buys many of its ingredients – fruits and vegetables – from local farms. Tony, 25, graduated from the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute and worked at several local restaurants. He and the kitchen staff prepare mainstays, such as seafood, barbecue, hamburgers and fresh cut French fries. Tony favors his pork delmonico – pork smothered with bourbon glazed peaches. He adds other touches, “hamburgers with a gourmet spin,” his father said.

Dan’s wife Brenda works at Ho-Jack’s, making the desserts. Their daughter Danielle is a bartender. Tony’s wife Crystal is the assistant manager. Other family members also work at the site.

“It’s been a total team effort,” Conrad said. “We have a lot of good help here.”

Land lab provides outdoor classroom for Albion ag students

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 September 2013 at 12:00 am

‘This is a lot better than looking at a book.’

Photos by Tom Rivers – These Albion High School students – Aaron Burnside, Gary Moore and Dillon Black – were out in a corn field with other members of Adam Krenning’s agricultural science class on Tuesday.

ALBION – Adam Krenning used to show YouTube videos of corn planters spreading seeds in a field and combines coming through in the fall and harvesting the crop.

Krenning’s agricultural science students could read about the biology of plants from a textbook, learning about how photosynthesis from plant leaves helps grow corn and other crops.

This year, his students aren’t confined to an indoor classroom. The district last spring opened a 5-acre “Land Lab” near Clarendon Road.

A local farmer Adam Kirby planted the crop last May. Albion ag students filled the planter with seeds. One of the students, Aaron Burnside, sat in the planter with Kirby.

Four months later the plants are about 10 feet tall. Students have been out in the field, measuring the plants’ heighth, the distance between rows (29 inches) and distance between plants in each row (6 inches).

“This is a lot better than looking at a book,” said Dillon Black, a senior.

Gary Moore, an Albion 11th grader, holds an ear of corn in the school district’s 5-acre land lab, which is producing its first crop this year for the school’s agriculture program.

Students were surprised by how big and strong the corn plants grew in four months, and all that to produce one ear of corn, although different varieties could have two or three ears.

When they studied the corn plants on Tuesday, Krenning sent them about 25 plants deep into the corn field. Krenning said the edge of a corn field can give a false indication about a field’s health. The edge often has small or stilted plants because animals can feed on them or the soil is splashed with road salt.

Aaron Burnside, a junior, was impressed with the plants. He said it’s been a good growing season with lots of rain and sunshine.

“This is the first time the classes can get hands-on with the plants,” he said.

The ag sciences classes and FFA chapter have developed a corn maze that will be open to Albion elementary school students. They will each paint a pumpkin on Oct. 16-17 as part of a fall outdoor event with apple cider and donuts. Each elementary classroom is making a scare crow for that event.

The district opened the 5-acre Land Lab last year. Local farmer Adam Kirby in May brought a planter to the site to plant corn.

Later this fall students will be able to watch the corn be harvested. They also will likely be able to see it at the ethanol plant in Medina, where the corn is ground up and turned into fuel.

The district’s agricultural program also is working with Panek Farms in Albion. The farm planted corn on 63 acres of land owned by Albion Central School. Panek is tracking the farm’s expenses for the crop. It will share that data plus the revenue numbers for the crop later with students. The net profits from the crop will be donated back to the district for the ag program.

Krenning said those funds plus the knowledge shared by Panek Farms will make for a program full of enrichment for students.

Recent rainy days kept his class inside, instead of out in the corn field. He could sense their enthusiasm on Tuesday, when they went into the cornfield, inspecting and measuring the plants.

“You can explain all you want on the board or with YouTube videos, but this is where the educational aspect really happens,” Krenning said.

Lyndonville wants to raise academic performance, restart PTA

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 September 2013 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers – Cindy Ames, director of the Niagara Region PTA, met with about 25 Lyndonville community members on Monday, urging the community to relaunch its PTA after it was dormant last year.

LYNDONVILLE – School officials have a four-year plan for the district that raises the academic performance for students, including setting a goal that all students graduate on time.

Lyndonville already boasts a high graduation rate – 96 percent graduated with their four-year cohort in 2013. But the district wants every member of each class of roughly 50 students to complete high school in four years.

A four-year strategic plan also would significantly raise student performance on state standardized tests for grades 3 to 8, with the district determined to have about two thirds of its students master the material.

Lyndonville only had 28 percent achieve that for English and 19 percent for math with the 2013 state tests, where only about 31 percent attained mastery levels state-wide. Lyndonville wants 65 percent of its students at that level by 2016.

At the high school level, Lyndonville wants to increase the percentage of students who graduate with an advanced Regents diploma from 28 percent in 2013 to 40 percent in 2016. A committee of school teachers, administrators and parents also established a higher threshold for the number of graduates who attain at least a 75 in English and 80 in math – key indicators of success in college – from 30 percent in 2013 to 45 percent in 2016.

“We want college-ready graduates,” said High School Principal Aaron Slack. He said the district is setting “ambitious targets.”

Lyndonville’s new strategic plan calls for every high school student to graduate on time.

The plan will be presented to the Board of Education on Oct. 14. District Superintendent Jason Smith said the BOE will be asked to back the “road map” for the district.

Smith also is supporting an effort to revive the PTA in the district. The Parent-Teacher Association was dormant last year. Smith said the PTA and involved parents are critical for students and the district to boost their classroom achievement.

“When you have a PTA, you have a built-in partner,” Smith said.

Lyndonville started a PTA in 1984. The group was once very active, said Cindy Ames, director of the Niagara-Region PTA.

The Newfane resident touted the benefits of a PTA as the country’s “premier advocacy group” for parents in education. Lyndonville can restart its PTA by forming nominating and bylaws committees, groups that only need three members.

The PTA can help raise money for school trips and other initiatives at the school. It can also be a voice for parents at the local, state and national level.

Ames said the PTA, which has 5,000 members in the Niagara region, has expressed its concern about the new state tests. The group has reached out to state legislators, including Sen. George Maziarz, to develop a “smarter way” of testing the students.

The PTA will have a regional training Oct. 17 in Kendall. The other four districts in Orleans County – Albion, Holley Kendall and Medina – currently have active PTAs, Ames said.

She urged Lyndonville to reactivate its PTA. Interested community members should contact the district office at 765-2251 if they are interested in the PTA.

The House of Refuge in Albion

Posted 17 September 2013 at 12:00 am

By Bill Lattin, Orleans County Historian

ALBION – This photo post card, published in the second decade of the 20^th century, shows the original administration building at the Western House of Refuge in Albion.

It was built in 1892 and demolished in the 1930s with the expansion of the New York State Training School, now the Albion Correctional Facility, which is the state’s largest prison for women inmates.

DEC will issue trapping permits for wildlife management areas

Posted 17 September 2013 at 12:00 am

Press release, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

BASOM – Beginning October 1, trapping permits will be issued for the Oak Orchard, Tonawanda, and John White Wildlife Management Areas for the 2013-2014 license year.

Permit applications can be obtained weekdays from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30, by appearing in person at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge Office on Casey Road between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., or by writing to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Bureau of Wildlife, 1101 Casey Road, Box B, Basom, NY 14013.

Trappers who obtain a permit will be required to report their harvest and trapping efforts on each area. The Western New York trapping season for fox, raccoon, coyote and other upland furbearing animals opens Oct. 25, 2013, and closes Feb. 15, 2014, with the exception of the John White WMA, which will run from Nov. 1, 2013 to Feb. 15, 2014.

This year, the beaver season in this area of New York (including on Tonawanda, Oak Orchard and John White WMAs) will run from Nov. 25, 2013 until Feb. 15, 2014.

The Western New York trapping season for mink and muskrat opens on Nov. 25, 2013 and closes on Feb. 15, 2014. However, the 2013-2014 muskrat and mink seasons at the three WMAs start later than the Western New York trapping season and will run from Dec. 7, 2013 to Feb. 15, 2014.

In addition, a 25-trap limit will be in place for muskrat and mink on the three WMAs (traps set for upland trapping and beaver will not require numbered tags and will not be considered in the trap limit). The trap limit provides a more equitable distribution of the harvest and prevents trappers from monopolizing the better trapping areas.

The maximum number of traps a single trapper can set for muskrat and mink on the three areas is 25. To accomplish this, the DEC issues 25 numbered tags to each trapper who obtains a permit. A tag must be attached to each trap used on the areas. Any trap that does not have one of these tags attached is considered an illegal trap. Also, an individual trapper can only operate traps that contain tags with their assigned numbers.

Management of the muskrat population promotes prime emergent marsh habitats used by waterfowl and uncommon marsh birds such as the black tern and least bittern. The trap limit allows Bureau of Wildlife personnel to better regulate the muskrat harvest according to water availability, habitat needs and population.

Hunters and trappers are reminded that no gas or electric motor boats are allowed on Oak Orchard or Tonawanda WMAs.

Holley plays first game at new football stadium on Saturday

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 September 2013 at 12:00 am

Photo by Tom Rivers – This picture was taken in April when the Holley school district opened the all-weather track to the community. The Holley football team plays its first game Saturday on the new field.

Press release
Holley Central School

HOLLEY – The Holley Hawks Varsity Football team will play their first game in the district’s newly constructed football stadium on Saturday, with kickoff at 1:30 p.m.

The Hawks take on Byron-Bergen/Elba in a season home-opener. Come support the Hawks and enjoy a crisp fall day in the new football stadium. The Holley Sports Boosters will be selling concessions at the game.

Construction on the stadium was completed earlier this summer. Features include new seating, a new scoreboard, and an all-weather track surrounding the playing field.

Chamber’s Phoenix Award: Roger Andrews, Ace Hardware in Medina

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 September 2013 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers – The former Jubilee in Medina has been gutted and turned into a hardware and lumber business at 342 East Center St. Ace Hardware opened the site in April 2013 following more than a year of renovations.

MEDINA – It sat empty for nearly a decade, a drag on the community, especially with the downtown enjoying a rebirth a few blocks away.

The former Jubilee store not only was vacant for several years, but a previous owner stopped paying taxes on the property. Orleans County became the owner.

While other developers couldn’t see a future for the building, Roger Andrews saw possibilities at the site. Andrews, 42, bought the former Hahn Hardware on West Avenue in Medina on April 11, 2011.

He wanted more space so he could offer more lumber and other choices for customers. Medina Mayor Andrew Meier was at the closing for the Hahn site. Meier, an attorney, listened to Andrews’ share a goal for more retail space.

Meier suggested Andrews take a look at the former Jubilee store on East Center Street. That building had been empty since 2006, closing soon after Walmart opened a Supercenter in Albion.

Andrews went to see the former Jubilee and immediately saw possibilities in the vacant and run-down property. He acquired the site from the county by paying $100,000 in back taxes.

For 13 months he worked at transforming the 26,000-square-foot building. The store was gutted, with walls taken out to accommodate an Ace Hardware. Andrews opened the Ace on April 22 to praise from the community. He held the grand-opening celebration on May 18-19.

“It’s really cleaned up that end of the business district,” Meier said in May.

The Orleans County Chamber of Commerce honored Andrews with the “Phoenix Award,” given each year for a major renovation in the county.

Roger Andrews, owner of the Ace Hardware in Medina, talks with customer Gloria Short in May at the former Jubilee site, which was renovated in a 13-month project.

The former Jubilee is a large building at the gateway to the downtown business district, coming on Route 31 from Albion.

Andrews said the former Jubilee site has tripled the space for hardware supplies. The other side of the building includes room for lumber. Andrews said the site has 36,000 different products and he will add more if there is a demand for them.

“With this style and layout it is so much easier for the customers,” Andrews said while giving a tour of the building this spring. “It’s bigger and brighter. You have aisles you can walk up and down.”

He changed the façade of the former Jubilee to make it look like a store from the early 1900s. He said the building provides a nice transition to the historic district.

“It would have been a shame to let this building sit,” he said. “This is the right project for this spot.”

Andrews also owns an Ace Hardware in Derby, south of Hamburg. He has 26 years in the business, starting as a teen-ager.

The former Hahn site didn’t sit empty for long. Kim Lockwood moved her women-only gym from Main Street to the site across from the library on Sept. 5, more than doubling her space.

Andrews said he enjoys reclamation projects and is interested in working on more buildings in the future.

He was praised during the Chamber awards banquet.

“The changes in that building are amazing,” said Cindy Robinson, the Chamber president. “He took what was becoming an eyesore and turned it into an asset.”

Chamber award for Lifetime Achievement: Judy Christopher

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 September 2013 at 12:00 am

Kenmore native embraced rural community, running businesses and giving to community causes

Judy Christopher is pictured with her husband Gene and their sons David, left, and Darrick.

ALBION – In 1984, the Christopher family bought a marina at Point Breeze. With her husband often away for a job as an executive for TAD Staffing, Judy Christopher did most of the work at the business, connecting with customers and trouble-shooting when there were problems that needed to be solved.

“There was nothing she wouldn’t do,” said her husband of 47 years, Gene. “She pretty much ran the marina without me.”

Five years after buying Four C’s Marina, the family opened Phoenix Fitness in downtown Albion. Mrs. Christopher started the health club after a cardiac rehab site closed down in Albion. When the center needed a certified trainer, Christopher earned those credentials while she was in her 50s.

When members of the gym needed a fitness goal, she started 5k and 8k races at the Strawberry Festival, wanting to promote wellness in the community.

Christopher organized the races for two decades. One year, the DOT closed the canal bridge on Butts Road, which was part of the race route. Christopher wanted the bridge open for runners. She was told no by the DOT. But she wouldn’t accept that. The bridge was open during the race.

‘She always found time to get things done. I don’t know how she did it.’ – Gene Christopher, speaking about his wife

“She was tenacious, but she was gentle about it. She did it with a smile,” Mr. Christopher said about his wife, who died from cancer at age 70 on Aug. 3.

The Orleans County Chamber of Commerce honored Mrs. Christopher with a Lifetime Achievement Award during a banquet on Sept. 14. Wendy Hinkley, branch manager for Five Star in Albion, told the crowd that Christopher was a community cheerleader with lots of “spunk and passion.”

Judy Christopher

Gene met Judy while they were college students at Canton Ag and Technical College in northern New York. Gene was studying machine and tool design. Judy earned a degree in business. Gene was a country boy from Albion. Judy grew up in Kenmore.

“She lived in the city,” Gene said. “She didn’t know a maple tree from a willow tree or a herd of cattle from a flock of cattle.”

They fell in love, married and raised two sons, Darrick and David. When the husband and wife looked for a home, Gene pushed for Albion. Judy was game for the adventure and soon planted a big garden.

When the couple went out to dinner in the early years of their marriage, Gene noticed that his wife knew more Albionites than he did, despite his roots in the community.

“She loved the village of Albion,” Gene said. “She liked Small Town USA.”

Judy was the first woman elected to serve on the Albion Town Board. She was a long-time member of the Albion Rotary Club and served on the Swan Library Board of Trustees.

The Rotary Club runs a fishing derby for about two weeks every August. Christopher was one of the key leaders of the derby, and sold many of the ads in the derby program. Even when she was very sick from cancer this spring and summer, Judy called local businesses, selling ads for the derby.

“She did all of her derby work while she was as a sick as a dog,” Gene said.

When Gene was away on business trips for TAD, he often returned home to an 1835 farmhouse that was undergoing a remodeling effort begun by his wife. Judy had her own tool box and reglazed windows, tackled woodwork, painted walls and took on other projects. She made the drapes in the house. She hung all of the wallpaper. Gene just marveled at her.

“She always found time to get things done,” he said. “I don’t know how she did it.”

Judy often told her husband and family to not feel overwhelmed with daunting challenges, including her bouts with cancer.

“She had a saying, ‘You eat an elephant one bite at a time,’” Gene said. “That is how she got through things.”

The Christopher family will be participating in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk on Oct. 20 at Watt Farms in Albion. The event has raised $225,000 the past seven years to fund research and provide services for people with cancer.

Mustang band off to a first place start

Posted 16 September 2013 at 12:00 am

Press release, Medina Marching Band

MEDINA – The Medina Mustang Band opened its fall season on Sept. 7 with a first place showing in East Irondequoit. The Mustangs scored 75.95, followed by East Irondequoit at 74.40 and Le Roy in third at 69.65.

This past Saturday, Medina traveled to Jamestown High School and the Mustangs scored an 81.20, winning their class. They were the only band in that division.

This Saturday Medina is home, hosting the Fall Festival of Bands. Twelve bands will compete and UB will perform in exhibition. The gates open at 4:30 and the show starts at 5:30 with the National Anthem and introductions. Medina performs at 8:15.

This is a great evening of family entertainment including homemade concessions. It’s also an opportunity for our community to see Medina’s show, “The Pursuit of Gold” as they celebrate America’s most famous Olympic moments.

Suspected Albion, Medina burglar arrested in Niagara County

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 September 2013 at 12:00 am

LOCKPORT – A 20-year-old Medina resident, who police suspect in 15 Albion burglaries and five in Medina, has been arrested in Niagara County after a burglary on High Street in the city of Lockport.

Jonathan K. Banks of 4886 South Townline Rd., Ridgeway, has been charged with second-degree burglary after breaking into a house at 5:20 a.m. He was arrested on Thursday.

Police in Albion and Medina have yet to charge him but Albion Police Chief Roland Nenni said Banks is suspected in the rash of burglaries in the two villages.

“He is a person of interest in Orleans County as well as other locations,” Nenni said in an email. “No arrest has been made on the burglaries in Orleans County to date.”

Albion and Medina police teamed with Lockport police in the investigation. They tracked Banks to Tonawanda, where he was arrested by Buffalo police officers and the Lockport Police Department, according to the Lockport Union-Sun and Journal.

The Albion and Medina burglaries all occurred at night, when residents were sleeping. Burglars would enter through unlocked doors or cut out screens to get inside.

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.

He currently is in Niagara County Jail on $15,000 cash bail or $30,000 property bail.