By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 April 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Lisa and Michael Misiak marked 20 years as professional chiropractors today. They gave away free T-shirts and food to many of their patients at Oak Orchard Family Chiropractic.
ALBION – Twenty years ago Michael and Lisa Misiak graduated from Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis. The new professionals would marry and build a business in Albion.
They say they are happy they settled in Orleans County, where they are active community members. Their chiropractic offices are part of the couple’s house at 3912 Oak Orchard Rd. That has been convenient while they have raised three children.
Mr. Misiak grew up in Buffalo and first worked in Amherst, “where there are 100 other chiropractors.”
He came to Albion 18 years ago to fill in for Dr. Richard Shraven. Misiak went to the local diners every day and saw many of his patients. He joined the Albion Fire Department and the Elks Club, where he remains a member.
“I liked the way everybody knew each other,” he said. “It was quite different than in Amherst.”
His wife was working in her hometown in Fairview Heights, Ill. She joined Mr. Misiak in Albion more than 16 years ago. She served recently on the steering committee that helped pick the location for the new Hoag Library.
The couple’s diplomas hang on a wall in the waiting area of Oak Orchard Family Chiropractic. They both graduated on April 17, 1993. On Wednesday they celebrated by handing out T-shirts and food to patients.
Both of the chiropractors said they made the right choice with their profession. They work with patients to have properly aligned spines and nervous systems that are free of interference. They have seen patients debilitated by headaches and musculoskeletal imbalances turn into long-distance runners.
“I see miracles every day,” Mrs. Misiak said. “I love watching the body heal naturally without drugs and surgery.”
Mr. Misiak said the couple strives to help people live as healthy as possible. They also promote nutrition and orthotics when needed.
“We can be an intercessor, helping patients to be healthier,” he said.
The couple is looking forward to marking 20 years in Albion.
“We’ll have an even bigger celebration then,” Mrs. Misiak said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 April 2013 at 12:00 am
ALBION – The community is invited to a 2.62-mile run/walk on Route 98 tonight, a trek that will begin near the parking lot at Watt Farms, head north 1.3 miles and then return to the Five Corners. The entire route is blocked off because of the construction at a culvert just south of Route 104.
Jack Burris measured the distance this morning while out for a morning jog. He noted the distance was exactly one tenth of a marathon. The “Boston Marathon HOPE Run/Walk” begins at 7 p.m. Burris said it will give a chance for grieving people to connect and be inspired.
Burris is one of the leaders of a “Run for God” group at the Albion Free Methodist Church. About 60 people are in the program, training for the 5-kilometer race at the Strawberry Festival on June 8.
Everyone is welcome tonight and participants can park in the lot at Watt Farms at 3121 Oak Orchard Rd.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 April 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Kevin Pawlak, 20, of Albion holds his medal from finishing the Boston Marathon on Monday. Pawlak completed the 26.2-mile course in less than 3 hours, a personal best in his first time running the legendary Boston race. But he said that really doesn’t matter compared to the loss of life and injuries suffered from the terrorist attack.
ALBION – Kevin Pawlak was euphoric crossing the finish line on Monday, completing the grueling Boston Marathon in less than 3 hours.
But that mood changed about two hours later when two bombs went off near the finish line.
Pawlak, his brother, father and two coaches from high school were back in a hotel in Boston when they saw the news reports about an explosion on the course.
Initially, people at the hotel speculated it might have been an overloaded generator. But the media then reported bombs were placed near the finish line, designed to hurt and kill a big crowd of people.
“It is shocking,” said Pawlak, 20, of Albion. “We were right there. We were standing right there.”
Pawlak was at the hotel getting ready to ride to the Logan International Airport in Boston to catch a flight to Baltimore. He is a junior majoring in history at Shepherd University in West Virginia.
But Kevin’s father, Jerome, wouldn’t let him get on the plane.
“My fatherly instincts took over,” the elder Pawlak said this morning at the family’s home in Albion. “I didn’t have a good feeling about it.”
All flights would be cancelled anyway. The group of five just wanted to get back home and drove back to Albion. Along the way they stopped at rest areas, and other Boston Marathon runners were wearing bright yellow shirts from the race. They expressed their disbelief about an attack that killed three people and injured 130 others.
“Runners have such a bond, especially marathon runners,” Kevin Pawlak said. “They’re essentially your brothers in arms. You feel bad for the people who couldn’t finish or who were injured.”
‘You look back and realize we were very lucky.’ -Kevin Pawlak, Boston Marathon finisher from Albion
One woman at a rest stop told the runners she was near the finish line when the second bomb went off. She had a video running, wanting to capture herself approaching and then crossing the line. She showed Pawlak the footage from the second explosion. She wasn’t able to finish the race.
For months Pawlak was up at the crack of dawn, training in the hills of West Virginia. He ran 40 miles a week about four months ago and increased that mileage to about 70, building his strength and endurance for the race on Monday.
He wanted to break 3 hours, a blistering pace. On Monday, the temperature was ideal for a runner, about 50 to 55 degrees. There was a faint wind and the sky was overcast, so Pawlak and the other 23,000 runners wouldn’t have to battle the sun and other elements.
A huge and boisterous crowd lined the course.
“It was wall-to-wall people for nearly the entire 26.2 miles,” Pawlak said. “It was fantastic. The runners fed off the crowd.”
A group of five from the Albion area were in Boston over the weekend. It was a festival atmosphere with Massachusetts celebrating Patriots Day on Monday. Pawlak said people were dressed for the occasion, wearing colonial garb. He spotted a runner dressed as the Statue of Liberty.
“It was a wonderful experience being in Boston,” Jerome Pawlak said. “The whole thing revolved around patriotism.”
Kevin’s brother Joe and two cross country coaches from Notre Dame High School in Batavia – Eric Geiter and Aaron Sherman – joined Kevin and his father for the experience.
The group received automated text messages during the race, giving updates on Kevin’s pace. He was “right on target,” including a 1:28:05 time for the first half of the course, Jerome said this morning.
Kevin Pawlak finished the Boston Marathon on Monday.
Kevin still had to get past three hills between miles 16 and 21, including “Heartbreak Hill,” the last hill near the 21-mile mark. Kevin had been nursing a sore right knee leading up to the race, but it wasn’t any trouble on Monday. He climbed and descended the hills, pushing himself to the end.
He crossed the finish with a time of 2:57:11, nearly 3 minutes to spare from 3 hours. He grabbed a water bottle, a blanket and connected with his family and coaches.
“I was so excited,” he said. “I was sore, but I was so pumped up on adrenaline.”
The group then spent about a half hour getting back to the hotel. Pawlak’s phone was soon inundated with calls and text messages. His friends wanted to make sure he was OK, that he wasn’t hurt in the bombings.
Pawlak was unable to make any outgoing calls. He knew people were worried about him. He posted this message on Facebook:
“Just wanted to let everyone know that I am safe and heading out of Boston back home to New York. Not sure when I’ll be back at Shepherd. Please keep everyone in Boston in your thoughts and prayers.”
This afternoon he is taking a flight from Buffalo to Baltimore. He said he has a lot of studying to do with finals next week.
Right now, his mind can’t focus on school work.
“You look back and realize we were very lucky,” he said.
Photo by Tom Rivers – The lighthouse at Oak Orchard Harbor stands near a port that hasn’t been dredged in nearly 10 years.
Press release
CARLTON – The Oak Orchard Harbor, a port on Lake Ontario that is critical to Orleans County’s $12 million annual fishing industry, will finally be dredged in 2014, U.S. Rep. Chris Collins announced.
The harbor hasn’t been dredged since 2004, and some boats were grounded last year in shallow parts of the channel. County officials have been pressing for several years for federal funds to be released to remove sediment from the harbor.
Collins said the Oak Orchard, Olcott and Wilson harbors will all be dredged next year. The Army Corps of Engineers has the money lined up for the harbor work.
“The dredging of these three local harbors is long overdue,” Collins said. “Local residents and government leaders have been pushing the federal government to prioritize the work in order to maintain and maximize the harbors’ economic and recreational importance.These waterways are not only used for summer boating and recreation, but play a critical role in supporting the regional economy through the charter fishing industry.”
According to the US Army Corps of Engineers:
Oak Orchard Harbor in the town of Carlton was last dredged in 2004 when 10,700 cubic yards of material was removed.This harbor should be dredged every three to five years.In order to maintain adequate channel depth, 18,000 cubic yards of dredging will be required.The total sediment backlog is estimated at approximately 35,000 cubic yards.
Olcott Harbor in the village of Olcott was last dredged in 1997 when 9,900 cubic yards was removed.This harbor should be dredged every five to ten years.The current sediment backlog is estimated at approximately 55,000 cubic yards.
Wilson Harbor in the town of Wilson was last dredged in 2000 when 5,100 cubic yards was removed.This harbor should be dredged every three to five years.The current sediment backlog is estimated at approximately 55,000 cubic yards.
Collins is co-sponsoring the Realize America’s Maritime Promise Act or RAMP Act (H.R. 335) which would help ensure the funding is in place for routine maintenance dredging.He said the bipartisan legislation guarantees that the funds collected on imports at ports in the United States is used solely for its intended purposed of dredging and maintaining the nation’s waterways.
Collins also supports continued funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.The inter-agency program helps to protect and preserve the Great Lakes ecosystem.The Great Lakes are the source of drinking water for 30 million Americans, and hold 95 percent of our nation’s supply of fresh water. Collins’ congressional district is bordered by Lake Erie to the west and Lake Ontario to the north.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 April 2013 at 12:00 am
Petition seeks to reduce BOE from 9 to 7 members
LYNDONVILLE – The Board of Education on Monday approved a $13,094,250 budget for 2013-14, a spending plan that would raise taxes by 1 percent.
Residents can comment on the budget during a 7 p.m. public hearing May 13 in the school library. They go to the polls May 21 to vote on the budget.
Residents on May 21 will also decide the fate of a proposition to reduce the size of Board of Education from nine to seven members. Lyndonville is the smallest school district in Orleans County, but it has the largest BOE.
Medina and Albion both have nine-member boards, while Kendall has five. Holley residents last year approved a referendum to shrink the board there from nine to five members. (A new referendum in Holley seeks to stop the reduction to seven members.)
The overall budget represents a slight increase over the $12,964,687 approved for the current school year. The increase in 2013-14 is driven by a $370,000 hike in employee health and retirement benefits, District Superintendent Jason Smith said
Lyndonville is offsetting some of that increase by eliminating 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.
“We made some cuts, but we wanted to avoid things that directly touch the students,” Smith said today.
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. That keeps the district under a property tax cap set at about 2 percent by the state.
School leaders were eyeing a 1.7 percent tax hike, but state aid exceeded projections, allowing the tax increase to be 1 percent, Smith said.
The budget keeps a $100,000 college readiness program. The state approved that funding in a competitive grant process for Lyndonville last year. The three-year grant – the Advancement via Individual Determination Program or AVID – covers grades six through 11 and goes toward training teachers, salaries, supplies and materials.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 April 2013 at 12:00 am
Schiavone pulls teeth, promotes dental health in rural Peru
Photos courtesy of Dan Schiavone – Dr. Dan Schiavone of Holley is pictured with two children from rural Peru, where he spent a week last month providing dental care.
HOLLEY – For a week every March in recent years, Dan Schiavone packs his suitcases and heads out of country.
The Holley dentist doesn’t go on a joy trip or an escape from dental work. He fills four suitcases with toothbrushes, fluoride varnishes and toothpaste. He heads into the Amazon, visiting poverty-stricken rural villages in Peru, pulling teeth, applying fluoride varnish and promoting dental care.
“They are gracious and happy people,” Schiavone said at his Public Square office on Monday. “They appreciate everything you do.”
Schiavone is often greeted as “The Gringo Dentist” by Peruvian children and their parents. After making five trips since 2008, he recognizes many of the children, and they remember him.
He also notices better dental health. His first trip in 2008, he pulled 75 decaying and sick teeth. On his trip last month, Schiavone extracted 12 teeth.
“I’m seeing an improvement,” he said. “But I still see a lot of problems.”
Schiavone, 44, wasn’t alone on the trip. His daughter Kaci, 22, joined him on the March 9-16 journey. Kaci is a biochemistry major who will graduate in May from the University of Rochester. She helps her father in Peru, applying the fluoride varnishes and alerting him to bigger dental problems in the children.
Photos courtesy of Dan Schiavone – Kaci Schiavone checks a girl’s teeth and dental health during an exam in Peru last month. Kaci will graduate in May with a degree in biochemistry from the University of Rochester.
They do the work without modern dental equipment. Schiavone is grateful if he can sit a child in a sturdy chair. Sometimes the kids stand while their mouths are examined. If Schiavone has to pull a tooth, he will stack plastic chairs to make the seat more sturdy for the child – and ease his back-bending.
Many of the children feast on candy and soda throughout the day, and they lack toothbrushes, which has made their teeth vulnerable to decay.
“They drink too much soda,” Schiavone said. “They don’t realize it’s so damaging.”
Schiavone knows enough Spanish to ask a child if a tooth hurts. Often, they answer yes.
Photos courtesy of Dan Schiavone – Dr. Dan Schiavone of Holley does a dental exam on a boy in a make-shift setup in rural Peru. Schiavone has volunteered on five trips to the region, providing dental care to the rural poor. The community there is trying to raise money for a modern dental chair. (The boy is sitting on a stack of plastic chairs.)
He was looking for a opportunity to volunteer as a dentist in 2008, when he found Yantalo Peru Foundation on the Internet. The foundation was launched in 2005 to improve the health of people in a Yantalo. Luis Vasquez, a retired cardiologist from Chicago, started the foundation and a volunteer program for medical professionals to assist the Yantalo population.
Schiavone flies into Lima, Peru, and then takes a short flight into the Amazon, before he completes the trip with a two-hour car ride to Yantalo. He performs about 500 dental examinations during the week, sometimes hiking to more remote villages, places that have never seen a dentist.
The foundation is building a health clinic that should open later this year. Schiavone has been contacting dental chair companies about donating a modern chair and equipment to the site. He pulls teeth in Yantalo without compressed air, suctions, electricity and sometimes even water. Last year he donated oral surgery instruments so he and other dentists could use those tools without having to lug them on the trip.
With better equipment, Schiavone said dentists could better serve the Yantalo population. Right now they can’t do fillings, sealants or dentures because of the lack of modern equipment.
He intends to keep going back.
“I’m not going to just pick a new spot in the world,” he said. “Down there, I’m seeing a return on my investment. Things are getting better.”
Kevin Cercone, an employee with Shorty’s Beast Lawn Service in Medina, gathers fallen branches and other debris at Boxwood Cemetery in Medina today. Shorty’s was hired by the village for spring cleaning at the cemetery along Route 63.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 April 2013 at 12:00 am
District is only one in GLOW with NAMM recognition
Photo by Tom Rivers – Albion High School students perform Beauty and the Beast in March, one of two full-scale musicals put on by the district. High school musicians put on 60 different performances during the school year with drama, instrumental and vocal concerts.
ALBION – In an era of tight school budgets and packed student schedules, Albion Central School and students from elementary, middle and high school are making music a priority.
The district, for the sixth straight year, has been named a “Best Communities for Music Education,” one of 307 in the country to receive the designation from the North American Music Merchants. About 2,000 districts applied for the honor.
“Our kids commit to the program because they enjoy it,” said Michael Thaine, the high school band teacher.
He leads five different instrumental groups, and advises students who direct four others. In all, Thaine said high school musicians in drama, instrumental and vocal groups perform 60 times during the school year.
“Our philosophy is we need to be out performing,” he said. “That’s how you build performers. It’s not just band and chorus and a musical once a year. In Albion, our kids are performing all the time.”
Thaine and the music teachers also have added a faculty recital to the school’s performing calendar. Thaine, an Albion graduate, said the teachers are committed to the program. Most of them are Albion alumni. If they didn’t graduate from the program, they live in the district.
“We all have a vested interest,” Thaine said.
The high school puts on two musicals a year and two talent shows. There are 126 people in chorus. Students also perform in men’s and women’s select choruses, also well as solo festivals.
“It really is a nice recognition,” Gary Simboli, the musical director and vocal teacher, said about the NAMM honor.
Albion is the only school in the rural GLOW counties – Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming – to receive the award this year. Several nearby suburban districts – Brockport, Hilton, Akron and Clarence – earned the recognition.
NAMM said its Best Communities designation “recognizes collaborative, from-the-ground-up efforts of teachers, administrators, students and parents who continually work to keep comprehensive music education as an integral part of the core curriculum.”
Mary Luehrsen, NAMM Foundation executive director, said there is overwhelming research showing that music education leads to higher overall student performance and success in life.
Simboli said the music program is strong in all Albion school buildings. The middle school puts on a full-scale musical, and its students perform with the marching and jazz bands.
Elementary music teachers also lead students in performances throughout the year. The parents of the elementary musicians deserve praise as well, Thaine said, because the parents drive the students to practices before school.
Battles, Parade, Cotillion Ball highlight April 26-28 events
Photo by Tom Rivers – A Civil War cannon serves as a tribute to Civil War soldiers in Greenwood Cemetery in Kendall, one of several Civil War memorials in the area.
Press release
MEDINA – Civil War re-enactors will battle twice in Medina over the April 26-28 weekend, a Civil War encampment that also will feature a parade and cotillion ball.
Plans are being finalized for the three-day event at Genesee Community College’s campus center on Route 31A. Re-enactors, both Union and Confederate, will set up camp Friday evening from 4 to 8 p.m. Visitors are invited to view ongoing exhibits inside the Medina center at 11470 Maple Ridge Rd.
Exhibits will include Civil War dioramas, artifacts from a New York Infantry unit, period medical tools and children’s games. There will be ongoing demonstrations of blacksmithing, candle-making, period music and mortuary arts.
On Saturday, camps open at 9 a.m. followed by a parade through downtown Medina from 10 to 11 a.m.
“The parade gives the community a chance to really experience Civil War history in a unique way,” said GCC historian Derek Maxfield. “We’ve learned the route we’ve mapped for the parade is the same route Medina Company D of the 28th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment used when they went off to fight in the Civil War in 1861.”
During the parade 152 years ago, the women of Medina stopped the group to give Company D Captain Erwin Bowen a sword.
“Captain Bowen’s great-great granddaughter Mary Zimmerman Robinson is going to do the same thing during our parade,” Maxfield said. “She’ll present a sword to Capt. Bowen, as played by re-enactor Simon Taylor. It should be a touching moment.”
The parade will be true to 19th Century history, featuring re-enactors in uniform, horses, carriages and the Excelsior Fife and Drum Corps. It will end at the Railroad Museum, which was the depot the Civil War soldiers marched to when they left town.
Robinson is displaying her family artifacts. Visitors can also check out booths by the Medina Sandstone Society and Medina Historical Society, Medina RR Museum, Orleans Renaissance Group, Holland Land Office and Museum, Echoes Through Time Museum, Cobblestone Society and Rochester Museum of Military History.
In addition, a number of presentations are planned throughout the weekend, including:
Eleanor Stearns portraying Clara Barton
Tom Schobert portraying General Robert E. Lee
Derek Maxfield “Understanding the Emancipation Proclamation after 150 years”
Tom Rivers “Why Mt. Albion Tower may be the finest Civil War Memorial”
Dee Robinson “Women and the Civil War”
Donna LaValle “Proper Dress for the Civil War Lady Re-enactor”
Victorian fashion will be in full view Saturday evening during a Victorian Cotillion.
“We’re hoping some members of the community will join us in period costume,” Maxfield said.
The ball will be held in the Central Tent. Buffalo’s City Fiddle, which specializes in period balls, will provide the music. The ball runs from 7 to 10 p.m. Organizers are making it easy for parents to attend. During the ball, children’s activities will be offered inside the Campus Center.
Of course, no Civil War encampment is complete without the recreation of battle. Re-enactors will skirmish twice during the weekend, from 2 to 3 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.
“The schedule is jam-packed,” Maxfield said. “There really is something for everybody. It should be a fantastic weekend.”
Kody Leno, 11, of Medina climbs a 60-foot inflatable obstacle course today at the 4-H Fairgrounds in Knowlesville. This year’s Home and Garden Show includes a Kid’s Zone featuring the obstacle course and miniature golf. The activities are inside the Knight’s Building. The show, which includes 56 vendors, continues until 4 p.m. today.
