news

Simulated DWI crash sends powerful message to Lyndonville students

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 May 2013 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

Local firefighters, Mercy Flight of Western New York and the Lyndonville school district today simulated a drunken driving car crash outside the high school. Students wore makeup to appear bloodied. Firefighters removed pieces of the cars to remove the “injured” students, who were taken from the scene by stretcher.

LYNDONVILLE – A little after 9 this morning, the ambulances and fire trucks started arriving. When they saw the damage in the two-car crash outside Lyndonville’s school on Housel Avenue, Mercy Flight was called.

The crash was a simulation, a reminder of the deadly dangers of drunk driving with prom season and graduation parties just around the corner.

“This is one of the best ways to show them,” said Jason Smith, Lyndonville Central School superintendent. ““It makes an impact. The first time I saw it as a teacher at Albion, it made an impression on me.”

He has invited firefighters for the simulation the past two years as school superintendent. He also welcomed firefighters and Mercy Flight to stage a drunk driving crash when he was a principal at Elba.

Lyndonville students wore makeup so their faces and shirts appeared bloodied. Firefighters tore apart the vehicles to get access to the students, who were then removed by stretcher and taken away in either an ambulance or Mercy Flight.

One student, Alyssa Houseman, pretended to be dead from the crash. Firefighters put a blanket over here to signify her death. Alyssa’s mother, Bobbi, ran in front of about 150 students and shrieked in distress over her daughter.

Alyssa and several of her softball teammates were in one of the crashed vehicles. They wore their uniforms in the simulation.

“You could feel the tension and emotions,” Alyssa said. “If it will save someone, it’s worth it.”

Bobbi Houseman reacts after being told her daughter, Alyssa, “died” as part of DWI mock simulation earlier today to warn Lyndonville students about the dangers of drunk driving. Ken Strickland, a deputy with the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department, tries to comfort Houseman.

Bobbi Houseman was reluctant to participate in the simulation. She didn’t like the thought of pretending her daughter had been killed.

“It was creepy,” she said. “It’s the last thing you want to think of, that you’ve lost a child. It was very difficult to come up and see your child and know there is nothing you can do.”

Walter Batt, an Orleans County fire investigator, talked to students about what was happening while firefighters arrived and worked to free students from the wreck. Batt told students that even one drink of alcohol can impair their ability to drive and lead to a fatal accident.

Ken Strickland, an Orleans County deputy sheriff, also addressed the students. Strickland said he has gone to the homes of families to break the news that a child had died in car accidents.

“We’re telling you this happens all the time,” Strickland said about the consequences of drunk driving. “You’re not super human.”

Several local fire departments volunteered for the simulation. Mercy Flight sent a helicopter from Batavia. That agency is participating in about 20 simulations at schools in Western New York this spring, said Bill Schutt, the agency’s outreach coordinator.

“We serve this community and if we can do something to prevent them from needing our services, then that’s the right thing to do,” Schutt said.

Mercy Flight of Western New York and several local fire departments responded to the simulated crash at Lyndonville today.

Kendall kicks off concert season by honoring veterans

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 May 2013 at 12:00 am

Boy Scouts in Troop 94 and the Kendall Community Choir both honored members of the military on Wednesday during a concert at the new town park across from the elementary school.

The troop honored veterans with a flag-folding ceremony while the choir sang several patriotic songs. Orleans Hub thanks Crystal Freitag for sending these photos. A rainbow also appeared during the concert. More concerts are being planned at the gazebo this summer.

Holley residents OK budget, propositions

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 May 2013 at 12:00 am

Board of Education won’t be reduced to five members

HOLLEY – School district residents approved a $22,976,429 budget with a 371 to 229 vote. The spending plan increases taxes by 2 percent.

The budget brings back the marching band, elementary student council, ski club, golf and boys and girls basketball for grades 4 to 6. The budget also will add an athletic trainer, a high school social studies teacher and an elementary teacher.

Last year residents approved a proposition to reduce the board in a phase-in from nine to five members. A new proposition, to halt the reduction at seven members and not five, passed on Tuesday, 350 to 257. Residents also re-elected Brenda Swanger with 507 votes. She was unopposed.

A bus proposition to spend $372,136 passed, 353 to 255, and voters approved $102,652 for Community Free Library, 430 to 180.

80,600 lake trout stocked off Oak Orchard

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 May 2013 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers – Caledonia Fish hatchery manager Alan Mack, bottom, works with Brian Edmonds from the DEC’s Salmon River Hatchery to unload a truck full of lake trout.

The lake trout are yearlings that are about 7 inches long.

POINT BREEZE – A decade from now, many of them will hopefully be two feet long, trophy fish that will draw angling tourists and their money to Orleans County.

For now, the 80,600 lake trout that were stocked off the Oak Orchard Harbor are about seven inches long. This morning they were hauled on a barge 2.1 miles from the harbor and released into Lake Ontario.

A sample of the lake trout are measured, and checked to see if a fin is clipped. The group includes, from left: Matt Sanderson, senior aquatic biologist for the DEC in Avon; and Mike Waterhouse, the county’s sportsfishing coordinator.

The fish were taken out where the lake is 150 feet deep. That is their preferred environment, and also avoids many of the predators, bigger fish and birds, that stalk the waters close to shore.

“If we stocked them off shore they’d have to run a 2-mile gauntlet to get through,” said Alan Mack, the Caledonia Fish Hatchery manager. “If we stocked them by the shore the chance of them getting eaten are pretty good.”

The lake trout that were released today were raised at the Allegheny National Fish Hatchery in Warren, Pa. The fish each had a fin clipped to show it was a hatchery-raised fish. A tiny tag in its snout will help the state Department of Environmental Conservation track it for survivability. The tag will note the fish was released near the Oak Orchard on May 22, 2013. It will also indicate one of three strains of lake trout: Lake Cayuga, Lake Chautauqua and Lake Champlain.

The fish are taken out 2.1 miles from shore and released into water that is 150 feet deep. That reduces the predators that are closer to shore. In this photo, the vessel carrying a truck of fish returns from the lake through the Oak Orchard Harbor.

DEC officials get ready to swap out this truck with another one, and then make the 2.1-mile trip out to the lake.

“It will help us know which ones survive more and have the highest catch-ability,” Mack said on the barge this morning.

The DEC has already stocked steelhead in Orleans County this spring, as well as a batch of pen-reared Chinook salmon. Next week more Chinook and brown trout will be stocked with cohoes put in the lake in the fall.

Fishing has a $12 million annual economic impact in Orleans County, according to county officials, with about $1 billion each year in the state, Mack said.

After a year in a fish hatchery in Warren, Pa, these lake trout are released into Lake Ontario.

Kendall approves $25M capitol project

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 May 2013 at 12:00 am

Voters back budget, which reduces taxes by $1 million

Photos by Tom Rivers – The Kendall Junior-Senior High School is eyed for about $14 million of the $25 million capitol project that was approved by district residents on Tuesday.

The elementary school also will be the focus of about $11 million in upgrades.

KENDALL – Residents gave strong support to a proposed $25 million capitol project, 203 to 89, which will replace roofs on two school buildings, improve safety and redesign classrooms in the junior-senior high school.

The project includes energy efficient improvements, heating and ventilation work, and improvements to parking lots and sidewalks. The state will pay 90 percent of the costs. Kendall already has its local share saved in the capitol reserve account.

The proposed $14,051,383 budget passed 233 to 61. The budget cuts taxes by nearly $1 million, from $5,601,132 to $4,606,613. The average tax rate will fall from $21.51 to $17.45 per $1,000 of assessed property.

The district is shedding about $500,000 annually with a paid-off bond and another $115,000 annually with a bus loan payment. Kendall also will see several students with disabilities, who were educated at costly facilities outside the district, move into other communities. Those factors, plus a $553,000 increase in state aid, are allowing Kendall to drastically cut taxes.

Residents approved continuing a school bus replacement capitol reserve fund, 236 to 56, and approved spending up to $250,000 from that fund for buses, 228 to 64.

Board of Education member Edward Gaesser did not run for re-election. Martin Goodenbery, the lone candidate, was elected to a five-year term with 251 votes.

Lyndonville passes budget, shrinks BOE

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 May 2013 at 12:00 am

LYNDONVILLE – Voters backed a $13,094,250 budget with a 196 to 80 vote on Tuesday. Residents also supported a proposition to reduce the size of Lyndonville’s Board of Education from nine to seven members.

“I appreciate the Lyndonville community’s support of the school budget,” said Superintendent Jason Smith. “The district strives to provide a high quality education that prepares students for college and career. This would not be possible without the community’s support. On behalf of the students, staff and administration, I express my sincere gratitude to the community.”

Residents elected four members to the BOE with Harold Suhr receiving the most votes, 180, followed by James Moody and Terry Stinson who tied with 161. Michelle Dillenbeck, 151, was elected to fill the remaining two years of an unexpired term. Voters chose not to re-elect Tara Neace.

The proposition to reduce the size of the BOE to seven members passed, 209 to 80. Other propositions also were supported, including the creation of a transportation vehicle reserve fund with up to $460,000, 190 to 77; the purchase of a $126,000 bus, 188 to 81; and $82,500 for the Yates Community Library, 187 to 83.

FFA plants first crop at ‘land lab’

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 May 2013 at 12:00 am

5 acres will be used for corn, including a maze

Photos by Tom Rivers – Albion FFA members Jenny McKenna and Aaron Burnside empty a bag of seeds in a corn planter this afternoon.

The FFA planted its first crop this afternoon on its 5-acre land lab along Clarendon Road.

ALBION – Today was truly a ground-breaking celebration for Albion FFA students. With some help from the local ag community, students planted their first crop of corn on a 5-acre “land lab” along Clarendon Road.

The district set aside the 5 acres in September, wanting to give FFA students more hands-on experience in agriculture. They will have 4 acres of corn plots with another acre set aside for a corn maze that will be opened to elementary school students in the fall.

“Our goal today is to learn about the process and how GPS works,” said Jenny McKenna, the FFA president.

She put corn seed donated from Channel into a planter driven by Adam Kirby, a local farmer. Kirby, 24, is a FFA alum. He volunteered to plant the seeds.

Before the planter went to work, FFA students and local farmer Adam Kirby had some last-second tinkering with the machine. Pictured, from left: FFA students Aaron Burnside, Jenny McKenna, Kirby, Riley Kelly and FFA advisor Adam Krenning.

“It’s for a good cause and it helps make people more aware of agriculture,” he said.

Another FFA alum Chris Flansburg secured the donated seed and will run test plots. He will share that knowledge with students.

He is co-owner of BCA Ag Technologies, which uses precision agriculture to help measure seeds and bushels of yields per acre. He will work with students on soil testing, agronomy and pest scouting for the crop.

The FFA also is working with Panek Farms, an Albion farm that planted 63 acres of corn on Saturday next to the land lab. Panek will work with students on growing and selling the crop, and will turn over profits to the school’s agriculture program.

Chris Flansburg, left, and Adam Kirby talk strategy this afternoon before planting corn at the Albion FFA’s land lab. Both are FFA alumni, volunteering with the students.

Adam Krenning, the school’s agriculture teacher and FFA advisor, expects FFA students will share the crop-growing project with biology and other classrooms.

He said the project has already been a big benefit for students, connecting them with local farmers and other ag businesses.

“They’ve been able to build relationships,” Krenning said.

After the corn is harvested in late in the fall, he said the FFA plans to plant some apple trees on a portion of the land lab.

Albion FFA member Aaron Burnside, right, rides in a corn planter with Adam Kirby of Jim Kirby Farms, which worked with the FFA to plant the crop this afternoon.

Some views from the barge

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 May 2013 at 12:00 am

POINT BREEZE – I don’t get out on the lake very often, maybe once a year. Today was one of those occasions.

I took a 2.1-mile ride on a barge carrying a truck full of 16,000 lake trout. I wrote about that earlier today. (Click here to see that article.)

I wanted to share a few more pictures from the trip, including a shot of the breakwall at the Oak Orchard Harbor and one of a guy fishing from the east pier. The other picture is a view from the back of the vessel while we head out to the lake.

Lions raise money with flowers

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 May 2013 at 12:00 am

Bill Robinson and members of the Albion Lions Club are selling geraniums today until they’re all sold out. They are set up on Route 31 in front of Mark’s Pizzeria. Robinson found some shade on an 80-degree day. When he wasn’t pushing product, he was reading a book.

Get out and vote today

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 May 2013 at 12:00 am

School budgets, propositions, BOE candidates all on ballot

The five school districts in Orleans County will ask for the blessing of local voters for school funding, candidates to serve on the Board of Education and several other propositions, ranging from library funding, to new buses and a proposal to reduce the BOE in one district.

Here is a snapshot of each district:

Albion proposes 1.5 percent tax increase, five job cuts

ALBION: The district’s budget increases overall spending by 0.6 percent or $202,799 to $33,349,049. Taxes would increase by 1.5 percent in a budget that cuts five jobs.

Albion is proposing its first tax increase since the 2006-07 school year. The proposed tax levy, at $8,446,946, is up $124,484. It remains down compared to the $9,094,194 levy in 2006-07.

The district, with the five cuts planned for next school year, will have eliminated 21.5 jobs since the 2011-12 school year. Three of the cuts next school year will come from attrition with two layoffs planned.

The budget preserves all school programs, without exceeding a property tax cap of about 2 percent. The state Legislature established that cap on local governments about two years ago.

Residents will also be asked to approve a school bus reserve proposition that would create a reserve for buses not to exceed $4,821,000. The district would like to take $440,000 from the reserve to go towards new buses. The state pays 94 percent of the bus costs.

Residents will also vote on whether $654,000 can be collected to support operations at Hoag Library.

Two BOE candidates are unopposed: incumbent BOE President Margy Brown and Linda Weller. Incumbent Marie Snyder opted against re-election.

Voting is from noon to 8 p.m. at the elementary school’s conference room A.

Holley will restore some programs that were cut two years ago

HOLLEY: The district’s $22,976,429 budget increases taxes by 2 percent from $7,393,901 to $7,541,779. The budget would bring back the marching band, elementary student council, ski club, golf and boys and girls basketball for grades 4 to 6. The budget also will add an athletic trainer, a high school social studies teacher and an elementary teacher.

The board decided to return staff and programs that were cut in previous budgets when state aid was drastically reduced for the district. Next school year state aid is targeted to increase by $742,336 from $10,879,581 to $11,621,917.

Residents will also vote on a bus proposition to spend $372,136, and a proposition to raise $102,652 for Community Free Library. Brenda Swanger is unopposed for a three-year term on the Board of Education.

Another proposition seeks to keep the BOE at seven seats rather than continue a downsizing to five members. Voters a year ago approved a phase-in reduction of the BOE from nine to five members.

Voting is from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the high school foyer.

Kendall cuts taxes by $1 million, proposes $25 million project

Photo by Tom Rivers – The Kendall Junior-Senior High School is eyed for most of the $25 million in a capital project that goes before voters today.

KENDALL: The district is proposing a $1 million cut in property taxes. Kendall also wants residents’ support for a $25 million capital project at the elementary and junior-senior high schools.

The proposed $14,051,383 budget would cut taxes from $5,601,132 to $4,606,613. The average tax rate would fall from $21.51 to $17.45 per $1,000 of assessed property.

Kendall plans to add an elementary teacher, and at least another teacher to help students meet and surpass more stringent state standards. The board also wants to increase the Building and Grounds staff while the district begins work on the capital project.

The $25 million capitol project will be 90 percent funded with state aid. Kendall’s local share already is saved in a capital reserve account.

The project includes new roofs for both school buildings, as well as energy efficient improvements, heating and ventilation work, and updated security measures. Both sites will also see improvements to parking lots and sidewalks. The classrooms in the junior-senior high school also will be redesigned and upgraded.

Board member Edward Gaesser isn’t seeking re-election. Martin Goodenberry of Morton is unopposed for a five-year term. Voting is from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the elementary school.

Lyndonville proposes 1% tax increase

LYNDONVILLE: The $13,094,250 budget for 2013-14 would raise taxes by 1 percent. The budget would eliminate one teacher position due to an enrollment drop. Another teacher is retiring and will be replaced with one who earns less money. The Board of Education also made budget reductions to conferences, supplies and materials.

The budget calls for raising $4,666,578 in taxes, a 1 percent increase from the $4,620,374 collected in the 2012-13 budget.

Residents will also decide the fate of a proposition to reduce the size of Board of Education from nine to seven members, and vote whether to approve $82,500 for the Yates Community Library, the establishment of a $460,000 transportation vehicle reserve fund and a $126,000 bus purchase.

Four seats are up for election with the top three voter-getters receiving three-year terms and the fourth-place finisher getting a two-year term. Incumbents Terry Stinson, Tara Neace and James Moody are running again. Harold Suhr and Michelle Dillenbeck also will be on the ballot.

Voting will be from 1 to 9 p.m. at the school library.

Medina budget won’t raise school taxes

MEDINA: The $33,805,130 budget won’t raise school taxes and will restore some staff and modified sports.

Medina two years ago slashed 30 positions and eliminated many extracurricular activities. The 2013-14 budget brings back sports for students in junior high. The district also is bringing back a curriculum director, and will add a network specialist to focus on the school’s technology needs.

Residents will also vote on several propositions, including whether to spend $200,000 to purchase one 66-passenger bus and two 30-passenger buses. Another proposition would establish a capital reserve account for up to $2.5 million.

Four seats on the Board of Education also will be up for election. Three incumbents – Wendi Pencille, Virginia Nicholson and John McCarthy – are seeking re-election to three-year terms while David Sevinski and Lori Draper are also running. The top three vote-getters will get full terms while the fourth-leading candidate will receive a one-year term.

Voting will be from noon to 8 p.m. in the District Office board room next to Medina High School.