news

Retired deputies work on Marine Patrol

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

Photo by Tom Rivers – Bill Larkin, left, and Larry Manning work part-time on the Orleans County Marine Patrol.

POINT BREEZE – I saw two familiar faces yesterday at Point Breeze. Bill Larkin and Larry Manning are both retired deputies from the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department. I remember them both from my earlier days as a newspaper reporter in Orleans County.

They’re still working the beat, but now they’re part-time as part on the Orleans County Marine Patrol. There are seven part-timers on the Marine Patrol, and they’re all retired police officers. The county also assigns a full-time officer to the group from April through October.

Manning worked full-time for the Sheriff’s Department from 1974 to 2001. Larkin worked full-time for the department from 1976 to 2005, retiring as an investigator.

The Marine Patrol has boats based out of Oak Orchard Harbor and Lake Alice. Another boat is on a trailer and can be taken to any waterway in the county.

The Marine Patrol does safety checks on boats and makes sure they have life preservers. Sometimes a boat will get stranded and need help. Other times, a boater may be intoxicated.

“Usually it’s pretty quiet down here but you have to be ever vigilant because you never know,” Larkin said.

The state reimburses the county half of the Marine Patrol costs, Larkin said.

New sign honors Medina’s sandstone past

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

Photo by Tom Rivers – The Medina school district activated this new school sign last Friday. The sign on Route 31A is made of Medina sandstone.

MEDINA – A new sign advertising Medina school events recognizes the community’s sandstone heritage, while utilizing new wireless technology.

“It’s a neat combination linking our past, present and future,” said Jeff Evoy, the district superintendent.

Medina used leftover state funds from a capital project to cover nearly all the costs of the new sign on Route 31A by Mustang Drive.

The sign replaces one that was only about 10 years old. That stopped working years ago. Residents and school officials wanted it to be repaired. The company that installed the sign went bankrupt and is no longer in business, school officials said.

Evoy is a member of the Medina Sandstone Society. He wanted some of the area’s famous stone incorporated in the new sign.

The new sign was functional last Friday, just in time to welcome the Medina Mustang Band back from a trip to New Jersey and wish Medina sports teams good luck in the playoffs. The sign was changed Wednesday to thank the community for supporting the district’s school budget.

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.

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.

Medina will replace downtown trees

Posted 21 May 2013 at 12:00 am

Press Release, Medina Tree Board

MEDINA – Ten years ago, when downtown Medina was ripped up for a road reconstruction project, old mature trees were removed and replaced with new trees in tree pits in downtown sidewalks.

Those new trees have never developed as expected, said Chris Busch, the Tree Board chairman.

“The existing trees included a couple varieties of crab apple, flowering pear, and a few other miscellaneous species, none of which were growing as would normally be expected and none of which were providing the desired impact in the streetscape,” he said.

So those trees will be taken out and replaced beginning Wednesday morning with several larger shade trees which would provide the desired canopy effect. The larger trees will eventually require selective pruning and shaping, but the overall effect will be stunning, Busch said.

The village worked with Tree Board consultant Andy Pleninger of Urban Forestry LLC of Palmyra to study the tree pits and make recommendations for the bigger trees.

The crabapples and other trees being removed from the Main Street site will be replanted in one of the local village parks.

Busch said the benefits of having a healthy green canopy in a business district are both multiple and tangible, and an underdeveloped canopy is literally robbing a business district of potential profits. Many studies have shown that the greening of business districts increases community pride and positive perception of an area, drawing customers to the businesses.

Pleninger made several species recommendations, with the Tree Board eventually settling on two- ‘Prairie Pride’ Hackberry and Skyline Honeylocust – both of which are trees that can thrive under tough urban conditions.

“In a relatively short number of years,” said Pleninger, “the shade trees will begin providing more environmental benefits such as shading the sidewalks, moderating temperatures and wind speeds.”

Medina Mayor Andrew Meier said a healthy, green canopy is important in a successful business district.

“These new trees will soften and compliment our historic streetscape,” Meier said. “They will dramatically enhance the walkability of the district.Whether the realize it or not, people tend to enjoy being in a well-landscaped business district.”

The Village of Medina is a Tree City USA and a multiple Tree City Growth Award recipient.