By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 July 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos courtesy of Ron Mathes
ALBION – In 2000, a contractor was hired to climb to the top of the 175-foot-high spire at the Albion First Presbyterian Church, part of an inspection and repointing of the steeple.
Ron Mathes of Holley asked one of the workers to take up a camera and get some shots from up high.
Mathes, a retired Postal Service worker in Albion, unearthed these photos and shared them with The Orleans Hub.
“I watched the man climb the steeple using a long rope which he would throw around the steeple and work his way up like a lumberjack,” Mathes wrote in an email. “After the first day, he used a chair-platform that was suspended from a pulley. I was talking with him one day, and he offered to take my camera up and snap some photos for me.”
Mathes saved the photos on floppy discs. The images were recently moved to his PC.
“I especially like the close up of the top of the steeple,” Mathes said. “From the ground you have no idea how big it really is.”
The last picture shows the very top of the steeple.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 July 2013 at 12:00 am
Joyce Powell allegedly wrote a song about the crime in 1992
ALBION – Two years after she was sentenced to 25 years to life for a drug-related slaying, Joyce Powell is working on an appeal. Her attorney wants to examine critical evidence that led jurors to convict her.
Powell in 1992 allegedly shot John Rutledge, 37, of Rochester and dumped his body in a ditch along Sawyer Road in Carlton. The murder was a cold case for 19 years until 2011.
The most damning evidence against Powell may have been a cassette tape that was seized from a car driven by Powell in 1992. She was stopped in Ontario County. The tape include a song that Powell allegedly wrote and sang that details how she murdered Rutledge, District Attorney Joe Cardone said.
The song was on a store-bought music tape. The tape sat in evidence storage for nearly two decades. Investigators didn’t play it until January 2011.
During the trial, experts studied the tape for authenticity, and deemed it hadn’t been altered, Cardone said. Musical friends of Powell also said it was her voice on the tape, he said.
Powell’s attorney Marcel Lajoy of Albany wants to have the tape studied again. He was in Orleans County Court this afternoon with Powell, and asked Judge James Punch to allow Lajoy’s experts to look at the tape to make sure it’s authentic.
Cardone doesn’t want to let the original tape out of his possession.
Punch didn’t issue a ruling today.
Powell was a high-profile anti-violence leader in Rochester in the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, that image changed in 2007 when she was convicted of brutally assaulting a woman. Powell was sentenced to 16 years in state prison for burglary and assault for that crime.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 July 2013 at 12:00 am
Five Orleans districts to receive $3.2 million more
Photo by Tom Rivers – Albion Central School officials say they will be able to preserve their programs at the middle school (pictured) and other schools in the 2013-14 budget.
District
2012-13
2013-14
Increase
Albion
$20,389,686
$21,203,440
$813,754 (4.0 %)
Holley
$10,879,581
$11,621,917
$742,336 (6.8 %)
Kendall
$8,273,703
$8,826,811
$553,108 (6.7 %)
Lyndonville
$6,066,589
$6,357,344
$290,755 (4.8 %)
Medina
$18,008,806
$18,812,657
$803,851 (4.5 %)
Orleans County
$63,618,365
$66,822,169
$3,203,804 (5.0 %)
Source: NYS Division of the Budget
State aid increases are making life a little easier for school leaders this budget go-round.
The five districts in Orleans County will receive between 4 and nearly 7 percent more in state funds next school year, according to the state budget approved last week. That follows two years of meager increases. The districts were all cut significantly when David Paterson was governor. The state sliced education spending by nearly $3 billion state-wide during Paterson’s tenure.
“With the latest aid increases we are now back to the funding levels of 2009,” said Clark Godshall, superintendent of the Orleans-Niagara BOCES.
The 13 districts in the Orleans-Niagara BOCES cut 700 positions during the school funding crisis over the past five years, Godshall said. Some of those reductions were made due to shrinking enrollments. But many teachers, administrators and staff lost their jobs because districts were contending with rising costs and tepid revenue growth. The state also imposed a tax cap of about 2 percent on local governments.
“With the tax cap you were forced to reduce,” Godshall said.
State-wide education funding is up nearly $1 billion for about 700 school districts. The five districts in Orleans County collectively will receive $3.2 million more in operating aid, or a 5.0 percent increase to $66.8 million.
“We will be able to preserve all of our programs,” said Shawn Liddle, Albion Central School assistant superintendent for business. “We’re always grateful for the aid we receive from New York State.”
State and federal governments pay for about 80 percent of the district’s $33 million annual budget. The state budget gives Albion about $800,000 more in operating aid for 2013-14.
Although programs will be maintained, Liddle said the Finance Committee is eyeing some staff cuts to mirror a drop in student enrollment. The committee will make its budget recommendation to the Board of Education during Monday’s 7 p.m. meeting.
The district went the past six years without raising taxes. Albion cut staff and tapped reserve funds to stave off a tax increase during that time. But Liddle said the committee is looking at a 1.5 percent tax increase for 2013-14, which will be under the 2 percent cap.
Lyndonville also expects to preserve all of its programming and stay under the tax cap, said Board of Education President Ed Urbanik.
Rather than dig deeper into its reserve funds, the district can preserve those funds due to the increase in state aid. That gives Lyndonville a cushion with the uncertainties with health care costs, Urbanik said.
Rural schools have been lobbying the state to boost funding the past several years. Rural districts say they were disproportionately hit hard with the state funding cuts under Paterson.
Educate NY Now, an advocacy group of school stakeholders throughout NY, praised the new state budget, particularly the sizable increases for some districts. But Billy Easton, executive director for the Alliance for Quality Education, said the state needs to do more to help school districts, especially those in rural areas.
“There remain urgent educational needs that must be addressed, such as closing the now widening gulf in educational opportunities between wealthy and poor schools,” he said in a statement. “Legislators are getting the message loud and clear that our schools are in crisis. This budget will slow the rate of classroom cuts, not stop it.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 June 2013 at 12:00 am
MEDINA – A Medina manufacturer expects to move to Lockport from July 11-14, and begin operating from Building 4 in the former Harrison Radiator plant on July 15, Trek Inc. states on its web site.
Trek’s Medina building at 1601 Maple Ridge Rd. won’t be empty for long. Takeform Architectural Graphics is moving from Mahar Street to Route 31A as part of an expansion for that company.
Trek, an electronic instrument manufacturer, shifted its engineering, and research and development groups to Lockport in 2011.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 June 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – U.S. Rep. Chris Collins discusses legislation and the impact of Obamacare with residents during a “Coffee with Chris” event Saturday at The Village Inn.
GAINES – After six months in Congress, Chris Collins sees the role of conservative Republicans as playing defense in the nation’s capitol, trying to minimize the impact of what he said is a liberal agenda “in the nanny state,” a push to grow government programs and “hand-outs” at the expense of hard-working Americans.
“We’re trying to prevent additional laws like Obamacare and Dodd-Frank,” Collins said Saturday during a “Coffee with Chris” meeting at The Village Inn. The public event was attended by about 30 people, including many local elected officials.
Collins expects Obama will push hard to enact laws that would cut fossil fuels before his term is over. Climate change legislation would cripple the country’s economy, Collins said.
However, he said conservatives shouldn’t be extremists or obstructionists with every proposal. He is trying to take a pragmatic approach so Congress can pass much-needed legislation, including a Farm Bill that would offer a five-year plan for agriculture. The Farm Bill has been stymied over food stamps, which account for about $80 billion of the $100 billion Farm Bill.
Collins also favors immigration reform, but not the plan approved by the U.S. Senate on Thursday. That would allow a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million people who are in the country illegally. Collins said those people can have work permits if they are working in agriculture and other jobs that are difficult to fill with Americans.
But Collins wouldn’t give the people who are here illegally a pathway to citizenship, nor would they be eligible for any government benefits. However, he said he would support the possibility of citizenship for the children of people who came to the country illegally.
Collins said agriculture desperately needs access to foreign workers who can milk cows and harvest crops without the threat of deportation. Farmers can’t find enough Americans to do these jobs. Without legal workers from Mexico and other countries, the nation’s food supply and rural economy is very vulnerable, Collins said.
A group of many local elected officials turned out to hear Chris Collins discuss his first six months as congressman.
Orleans County Legislator Bill Eick, a former dairy farmer from Shelby, said local farmers have been traveling to Washington to lobby for immigration reform for 15 years. Farmers are starting to switch from labor-intensive crops to corn because of the lack of legal workers, Eick said.
“I hope you can get something done,” Eick told Collins about the immigration proposal.
Collins was harshly critical of Obama’s health care plan – “Obamacare is the worst law ever passed.” That legislation is starting to take effect and causing numerous problems, Collins said.
Healthy people are resisting the high-cost of health insurance, while businesses aren’t hiring or have cut hours to stay under thresholds for providing health insurance, he said. That has reduced job opportunities and take-home pay for residents.
“This law is beyond a wet blanket,” Collins said. “It’s destroying people’s lives.”
The congressman also blamed Albany politics for much of the New York state’s economic problems. The growing welfare state in New York has resulted in oppressive taxes, chasing away residents and businesses, he said.
“We are shrinking and shrinking every day, and dying,” he said about the state. “We should be a prosperous, growing area. We have great climate, a lot of water and an educated workforce. But Albany hurts us. Fix Alabany and you would see this state grow again.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 June 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – The Ingersoll Memorial Fountain is still going strong in Mount Albion 99 years after it was dedicated in the historic cemetery. The sandstone chapel is in the background.
ALBION – I’m glad they didn’t do it on the cheap nearly 100 years ago. The Ingersoll Memorial Fountain in Mount Albion is the Cadillac of fountains.
It has endured for nearly a century. It’s visible from Route 31 and is one of the three most iconic structures in the cemetery, with the front sandstone arch and the Civil War Memorial – Mount Albion Tower – also enduring landmarks.
I don’t know the full story behind the Ingersoll family. Nehemiah Ingersoll was an early prominent resident in Albion. There were only a few settlers in 1812, but when it was announced the canal would pass through here, entrepreneurs started to buy up land.
Photo by Tom Rivers
Ingersoll purchased much of the land near the planned intersection of the canal and Oak Orchard Road, the main north-south route through the area in 1822, according to a Wikipedia entry about Albion. Ingersoll’s land was soon subdivided, and the village, then known as Newport, began to grow.
I’d like to see Albion put up another fountain, and not just the cheapest one on the market. An Ingersoll-type fountain on the bank of the canal would be an attraction and would give our canal bank and downtown a big lift, while also drawing some customers for the downtown businesses.
I think the fountain should be built in honor of the 15 people who died in a Sept. 28, 1859 bridge collapse. I wrote about that part of our history about a week ago. You can read about it by clicking here.
Those 15 people died while watching a wire walker. I think Nik Wallenda could be talked into doing an event in Albion, to help the community dedicate a fountain in their memory.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 June 2013 at 12:00 am
Chet Wheelock, 82, fulfills a life-long dream with balloon ride
Photos by Tom Rivers – Jeremy Mikels waves to his friends and family as the balloon takes off over his grandfather’s farm on Kent Road.
The balloon heads out over the countryside after a take off from Chet Wheelock’s farm on Kent Road.
The family smiles for a photo before takeoff. The group includes Mason Mikels, 5; his father Jeremy Mikels, Peggy Bropst, and Chet Wheelock, right. Balloon pilot Greg Livadas readies the balloon for take off.
KENT – Chet Wheelock got his wish tonight when he was lifted high over his farm and the rural countryside in a hot air balloon.
Wheelock, 82, was part of a four-generation ride that included his daughter Peggy Bropst of Kendall, grandson Jeremy Mikels of Webster and great-grandson Mason Mikels of Webster.
The balloon ride was intended to be a Father’s Day gift but bad weather grounded that flight. Tonight it was gorgeous with bright sunshine and little wind.
Greg Livadas, pilot of the “Yeowza” balloon, has been flying balloons for 35 years. He said a four-generation flight is highly unusual. But Wheelock is far from the oldest passenger. Livadas said he took up a 98-year-old recently.
Wheelock has watched balloons take off at the Pine Hill Airport in Barre, a balloon festival in Dansville and other spots in the Southern Tier.
“I always wanted to do it,” he said. “It seems like fun.”
Greg Livadas, center, and High Hopes Balloon Co. fill up the balloon with hot air.
The crew and passengers are almost ready to soar.
Mark Driesel, one of Chet Wheelock’s neighbors, records the events for what Driesel said was a historic day for the neighborhood.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 June 2013 at 12:00 am
Travel agency, sheet metal fabrication, storage units, farm labor camps all OK’d
ALBION – Several business projects have the backing of the Orleans County Planning Board for wide-ranging initiatives throughout the county.
The following projects were approved Thursday at the Planning Board meeting:
Matthew Pask wants to operate a travel agency out of his home at 12236 Maple Ridge Rd., in Shelby. Pask said he will use about 400 square feet of his house for the business, Next Adventure Travel Agency. He plans to have office hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Charles Breuilly of Albion is working to build four rental storage buildings at the southwest corner of Allen Road and Route 98 in Albion. Planners recommended the village of Albion Zoning Board of Appeals approve variances for setbacks to allow the project.
Rick Stacey, owner of RS Automation on Route 98 in Albion, is working to expand the business at 4015 Oak Orchard Rd. He intends to build a 56-by-64-foot accessory/storage structure for raw materials that RS Automation will use for its custom metal projects.
The company also is planning a 50-by-75-foot addition to its existing building to increase its production capabilities.
Aaron Albone of 1273 Marshall Rd., Lyndonville, plans to sell steel from his home, which is in a rural/agricultural district.
Leonard Auker is planning a sheet metal fabrication business in Carlton at 12667 Roosevelt Highway. Shoreline Sheetmetal will operate on Tuesdays through Saturdays in a detached 24-by-32-foot barn.
Kast Farms wants to add four manufactured housing units, with a capacity of eight people in each building, at 2824 Densmore Rd. The housing in the town of Gaines will be used for farm workers.
Oded Kalir of Brockport also is working to add farmworker housing in Gaines at 13105 Eagle Harbor-Knowlesville Rd. Kalir wants to convert an existing single-family house into farmworker housing. The house currently isn’t in an agricultural district but Kalir has applied to have it added to County Agricultural District No. 3.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 June 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Larry Radzinski this checks on geraniums he planted earlier this month at the Sacred Heart Cemetery on Route 63 in Medina. Radzinski was back at the cemetery today, sprinkling fertilizer on the flowers.
Sacred Heart is next to Boxwood Cemetery in Medina, giving the community two well-maintained historic burial grounds.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 June 2013 at 12:00 am
CARLTON – County officials say their costs for maintaining a state-owned boat launch and park are not as high as reported on The Orleans Hub on Friday.
The Hub put the costs at between $10,000 and $20,000 for bathroom cleaning, mowing and other upkeep at the Oak Orchard Marine State Park, a boat launch and bathrooms along Archibald Road on the west side of the Oak Orchard River.
I came up with that number because county officials said they pay $19,000 to have bathrooms and docks cleaned at the Orleans County Marine Park, a county-owned site on the east side of the river. The cleaning costs for the state site are part of that contract.
I figured it was a 50-50 split, but a county official said there is significantly more work at the county site, which includes 72 boat slips. He estimated the state boat launch and bathrooms cost the county about $3,000 a year.
I figured mowing and other expenses added to county costs as well, but I was told those expenses aren’t nearly as high as reported.
I stand by the crux of the article, that the state should assume financial responsibility for its own boat launch, especially because it’s a revenue generator for the state and the local economy because of the sales tax spent by the fishermen on gas and other supplies while they’re in the area.
