By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 August 2013 at 12:00 am
ALBION – The Orleans County Chamber of Commerce has named Baxter Healthcare Corp., a company that bought that former Sigma in Medina, as “Business of the Year.”
Baxter became the owner of Sigma last year and has remained committed to the community and the employees who work out of the old “Pickle Factory” on Park Avenue in Medina.
Baxter develops and manufactures smart infusion pump technology, including the Spectrum large volume pump that provides advanced safety and clinician-friendly features.
Other winners announced today by the Chamber include:
New Business of the Year – Hojack’s Bar & Grille in Carlton
Entrepreneurial Excellence – OrleansHub.com
Phoenix Award – Roger Andrews of Evans Ace Hardware, for remodeling the former Medina Jubilee
Community Service – The GLOW YMCA in Medina
Community Service – Genesee-Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse
Lifetime Achievement – Jodi Gaines, CEO of Claims Recovery Financial Services, a growing company with sites in Albion and Medina.
Lifetime Achievement – the late Judy Christopher of Albion, who was active in many community groups and also was co-owner of the Four C’s Marina and the founding owner of Phoenix Fitness.
Agricultural Business of the Year – Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 August 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
The Albion Rotary Club today presented $1,000 checks to both Hoag Library for a series of historical programs and to Community Action of Orleans and Genesee for the agency’s food pantry.
Kelly Kiebala, the club’s president in 2012-13, is pictured, center, with Bonnie Malakie, director of children and youth services for Community Action of Orleans & Genesee, at left.
Susan Rudnicky, right, is director of Hoag Library in Albion. The library will use the funding for programs about local history.
LYNDONVILLE – The Lyndonville Central School District will be hosting two information meetings for parents and community members on Sept. 16, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Stroyan Auditorium.
Representatives from the Niagara Region PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) will present information at on the re-launching the local Lyndonville PTA.
“Not all decisions affecting a child’s school happen at the local level. It has been a mission of National PTA to address the needs of all children,” according to a statement from the Niagara Region PTA.
“PTA has been a driving force in establishing school lunch programs, after-school care, school bus safety, and TV rating standards before they became law. With several million members, its voice is heard. The PTA shares our commitment to strengthening the bridge between home and school.”
Following the PTA presentation, members of the district’s Strategic Planning Committee will present the 2013-2016 Strategic Plan. This plan is the culmination of efforts by many district stakeholdersincluding parents and community membersand provides direction and organization in ensuring that students are college and career ready.
“I hope many of our parents and community members will join us to learn more about the renewed direction of our district,” Lyndonville Superintendent Jason Smith said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 August 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo courtesy of Eileen Banker
Photo by Tom Rivers – Allen Sanford is pictured with his friends and Scouts in this photo from June when they were working to build a mobile stage.
Mayor Dean Theodorakos congratulates Allen Sanford for making a mobile performing arts stage for his Eagle Scout project. Sanford gave the stage to the village, which will use it community concerts and community events. (Village Trustee Kevin Sheehan is pictured in back.)
Theodorakos presented Sanford with a certificate of appreciation during Wednesday’s Village Board meeting.
Sanford turned an old hay wagon into a stage with wheels. The stage is 28 feet long. Sanford, an engineering student at the Rochester Institute of Technology, used a CAD program to design the stage.
“It’s to advance music in the community,” Sanford said during a June interview.
He has played in local bands and often had to perform on lawns or pavement because there wasn’t a stage.
He worked with local Scouts and businesses to make the project a reality.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 August 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
U.S. Rep. Chris Collins addressed members of the Albion Rotary Club today, including Michael Bonnewell, superintendent of Albion Central School.
GAINES – The government could grind to a halt next month due to the “vast differences” between President Barack Obama and a Republican-led House of Representatives, U.S. Rep. Chris Collins told members of the Albion Rotary Club today.
House Republicans want the president and Congress to reduce the nation’s deficit and develop a plan for paying down the national debt, said Collins, R-Clarence.
“The country is on an unsustainable course,” Collins told the Albion Rotary Club today during its meeting at The Village Inn. “There will be a showdown.”
House Speaker John Boehner vowed “a whale of a fight” over extending the debt ceiling. Boehner told reporters in Boise on Tuesday that Obama needs to cut government spending for Republicans in Congress to support raising the debt ceiling.
If the debt ceiling isn’t extended, the government could default on paying its bills in October. Collins would support raising the debt limit, if Obama would agree to rewriting the tax code. Collins said a fairer, less burdensome tax policy would spur the economy, with increased business activity resulting in more tax revenues.
Collins also wants to see the controversial Keystone Pipeline approved. Republicans could insist on that as part of the negotiations with Obama and Democrats in Congress over the debt ceiling and deficit reduction plan, Collins said.
The congressman touched on other issues. He supports an immigration reform plan that would give legal status for many farmworkers, especially those at dairies, to be in the country and work in agriculture.
He doesn’t want the United States to intervene in the civil war in Syria. While the fighting in Syria is “deeply troubling,” Collins said the country’s disintegration doesn’t pose an “imminent threat” to the U.S.
“We don’t want to have a knee-jerk reaction and fire cruise missiles,” Collins said. “I’m hopeful the president will move cautiously.”
Collins this afternoon made at least his third stop in Orleans County since March. He was in Corfu earlier today and was in Batavia on Wednesday. He said he is frequently meeting with business and community leaders in the eight-county district.
When he was elected in November, Collins said many people assumed he would seldom reach out to the rural counties, and instead be devoted to Erie County, where he was the county executive.
“I’m trying to prove the naysayers wrong,” Collins said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 August 2013 at 12:00 am
ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature is officially supporting a state proposal to encourage broadband Internet in underserved areas by offering tax credits to residents and businesses that pay to help extend the service.
State legislation has been introduced to provide a 100 percent refundable tax credit over five years for out-of-pocket expenses paid by residents, small business owners and municipalities that go towards construction of a high-speed Internet network.
Legislators unanimously voted to support the state proposal, despite objections from Paul Lauricella, a member of the Orleans County Conservative Party. Lauricella of Lyndonville said residents and businesses should pay to bring the service to their locations without state incentives.
“Have businesses save up and buy it themselves,” Lauricella said.
Service providers have avoided sparsely populated areas due to the costs of running the cable to few customers. That has put businesses and residents at a competitive disadvantage because they can not download some software and information for their businesses. Students are unable to access some web sites and residents often can not fill out online applications without high-speed Internet.
“It’s important for the economic development of our county,” Chuck Kinsey, the former county computer services director, said in response to Lauricella. “Communities with technology grow faster.”
County and town officials have been brainstorming how to bring the service to the rural pockets of the county, where there are gaps in service. Local government leaders are looking at wireless Internet or WiFi for those areas.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was in rural Western New York on Wednesday stopping at an Attica farm to tout a Broadband Loan Program. That would offer grants and funding for providers to extend Broadband to rural areas where an estimated 1.1 million New Yorkers currently do not have access to the service.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 August 2013 at 12:00 am
Orleans has also reduced inmate population at site
Photos by Tom Rivers – New York State officials about five years ago were talking with the county about building a new jail. But the State Commission of Corrections shifted, supporting a series of improvements to the existing building.
Workers caulk around windows at the Orleans County Jail. The county has had new caulk put around all of the windows, about 100 in all, at the jail, as well as caulk around concrete panels and seams.
ALBION – Five years ago Orleans County officials worried the state was going to force construction of a new $30 million jail in Albion, a cost that would fall squarely on county taxpayers.
The jail on Platt Street, built in two stages around 1970, was crowded and falling into disrepair mainly due to water infiltration.
The county, hoping to stave off a costly new project, created a lengthy list of initiatives to keep the old jail open. The state Commission of Corrections gave the county the option of upgrading the Platt Street site.
About $1 million later county officials see a vastly improved jail that they expect will meet the county’s needs and state standards for at least two more decades.
Jail Superintendent Scott Wilson, left, and Orleans County Chief Administrative Officer Chuck Nesbitt stand on a new roof on top of the county jail. The new tiled roof is on top of a rubber membrane with a drainage system.
The site has a new roof, boiler system, and a series of energy efficiency improvements, including new caulking around about 100 windows and also on the seams of the building. Crews sprayed insulation inside the concrete panels on the building.
“It’s a great accomplishment, not having to deal with that,” Legislature Chairman David Callard said about the jail improvements that have stopped talk of a new jail. “In a systematic basis we took care of things that needed to be done.”
The county assigned one employee from Buildings and Grounds to be dedicated to the facility’s ongoing maintenance. Callard said that has ensured many problems are resolved quickly.
A crane has been next to the jail most of this summer, lifting heavy boxes of supplies and equipment. Most of those materials were used for a new roof on the jail, including a rubber membrane.
The roof now has tiles and a drainage system that keeps water from flowing into the building. When the jail was built more than four decades ago, it was done in two stages. A seal that connected the jail has been a long-term problem, until now.
Crews fixed that seal and put a rubber membrane over it. The previous seal never quite worked, allowing water to run into the building. That then caused chunks of the walls to break loose. Some of those pieces were used as weapons by inmates.
The deteriorating facility created a stressful environment for the 40 jail employees, said Jail Superintendent Scott Wilson.
But the jail is much improved these days, he said. There aren’t chunks of concrete to be grabbed. The walls and floors have all been painted, and new roof has blocked water from running down walls.
The project has upgraded showers and gate motors in the cell blocks. The showers now have water timers and a raised concrete pad on the floor, which will reduce water migration.
The biggest safety improvement may be a less crowded jail, Wilson said. The facility has an 82-bed capacity, but the county was granted a waiver to exceed that by 25 beds on weekends.
The jail population now tends to average in the 60s. The jail used to house many “state-ready” inmates who were to be transferred from the county jail to the state prison system.
It used to take the state months to move out those inmates. The process now takes about a week or two, Wilson said.
County officials were angry with the state five years ago when there was pressure to look at a new jail because the overcrowding on Platt Street was partly the state’s fault for not transferring out the state-ready inmates. The state used to pay counties $75 a day for housing state-ready inmates, but the state stopped paying counties, which further aggravated county officials.
But Wilson said there are now good relationships between Orleans and the state Commission of Corrections and the state Department of Corrections.
Nesbitt praised Wilson, the Sheriff’s Department, Buildings and Grounds and the County Legislature for allocating resources and expertise to improve the jail.
“It’s been a total team effort,” Nesbitt said. “By doing this project, the evidence will show we don’t need a new jail. Our intent was to extend the life of this building for at least another 15 to 20 years.”
The upgrades, which included a new boiler, will reduce some of the utility expenses for the jail. The county is also seeking rebates from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which should help pay towards some of the project.
The project added screens to the fence on the roof. The screens provide a visual and voice barrier from inmates and the public outside the facility. The jail is next to the County Courthouse.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 August 2013 at 12:00 am
ALBION – Four candidates for Orleans County Legislature – two who have been endorsed by the Conservative Party and two by the Democrats – will also appear under the independent “Save Our Nursing Home” line during the Nov. 5 general election.
Gary Kent, an outspoken critic of the county’s plan to sell The Villages of Orleans, secured the Nursing Home line in his Legislature battle against incumbent Republican Don Allport. Kent is a Democrat and former county legislator.
Jonathan “Jack” Gillman, a Democrat and former Kendall town supervisor, secured the independent line in his race against John DeFilipps of Clarendon. They are vying to fill a county-wide legislator position currently held by George Bower, who is retiring after 24 years as legislator.
Two other newcomers to county politics also have the new independent line. Gregory “Emil” Smith of Medina and Linda Rak of Lyndonville both are endorsed by the Conservatives. Like Kent, they submitted petitions signed by at least 5 percent of the eligible voters from the 2010 gubernatorial election. Those petitions were due to the County Board of Elections by Aug. 20.
Smith is challenging Bill Eick for a district that includes Clarendon, Barre and most of Shelby. Rak is running against incumbent Lynne Johnson for a district that includes the towns of Yates, Ridgeway and a portion of Shelby.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 August 2013 at 12:00 am
HOLLEY – A $27 million capitol improvement project, the largest in Holley Central School’s history, will be celebrated with a ribbon-cutting and open house on Tuesday.
Contractors have been working the past two years on the district campus, overhauling the high school side of the middle-high school, replacing roofs on that building plus the elementary school, and tearing down the current bus garage and building a new transportation facility.
The district also built a new football field and all-weather track, and tackled a series of other improvements.
This summer crews worked to create a revamped foyer, and put the finishing touches on a library, dining hall, resource room and new offices. There is also a new light court area and science labs.
School and community leaders will cut a ribbon in front of the middle-high school at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The campus will then be open for tours until 8 p.m.
Contributed Story Posted 28 August 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Michael Karcz
MEDINA – Terry Buchwald impersonates the king of rock and roll Elvis Presley during tonight’s Super Cruise in Medina. Buchwald has capped off the annual classic cruise-in series for the past several years.
Wednesday was scheduled to be the finale of the series, but organizers will have one more classic car cruise-in on Friday in the Canal Basin.
Medina shut off a portion of Main Street for the Super Cruise, which drew a big crowd of vintage cars and pedestrians.
