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GCC plans big Civil War encampment in Medina

Posted 15 April 2013 at 12:00 am

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.”

Carlton will freeze assessments at 2012 levels

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 April 2013 at 12:00 am

Town Board may bring in outside firm for reassessments

Photos by Tom Rivers – Michael Risman, an attorney with Hodgson Russ, meets with about 150 Carlton town residents tonight at the Fire Department Recreation Hall. Risman advised the Town Board to freeze the assessments at 2012 levels and bring in an outside firm for re-evaluations.

CARLTON – The Town Board voted tonight to freeze property assessments at 2012 levels, a move that will give the town about a year to have 2,400 properties re-evaluated.

The board may hire a professional appraisal firm to establish values for all the properties in Carlton, services that would cost between $50,000 to $100,000 – “closer to $100,000, in my opinion,” said Michael Risman, an attorney with Hodgson Russ. If the tally is $100,000 that would be an average of about $40 per property.

Risman addressed about 150 people at the Carlton Fire Company Recreation Hall. The meeting had to be moved from Town Hall because of the big crowd.

Many residents have been angry since they received their mail with their new assessments in recent weeks. Many residents said their assessed values went up 20 percent or more.

Betty Sue Miller’s property increased in value 52 percent, according to her 2013 assessment.

“Most of us want to know how we got here with 20, 30 percent increases,” she said at the meeting. “How do we in three years go up 52 percent?”

Carlton resident Woody Baker, standing, was among the residents with questions for Michael Risman, a Buffalo attorney.

Residents first expressed their anger to town officials during last Tuesday’s board meeting. The five Town Board members were unanimous in voting tonight to freeze assessments to 2012 levels. Town Assessor Karen Adams said she supported the decision and would certify the tentative rolls for 2013 at the 2012 numbers.

The tentative rolls need to be filed by May 1. Town Councilman Robin Lake said the board’s decision will give the town time to determine how it will seek to bring accurate and fair assessments to all properties – in 2014.

All towns in Orleans County do town-wide reassessments every three years, with updates annually. Residents challenged many of their assessments in 2010, with 188 going to formal grievances, by far the most in the county.

Risman urged the board to hire a professional appraisal firm that would meet often with residents in public meetings and explain the rationale for determining their assessments.

“You’ll have a process going forward that will work,” he said.

And residents who faced the prospect of bigger tax bills due to assessment hikes can have peace of mind that the increases won’t take effect this year.

Resident Peg Wiley said the town’s current data inventories of properties don’t include some accessory buildings and recent improvements.

“Hopefully we can get a real and good look at what is there,” she said.

Risman said a professional firm would first do data inventories, and they look at real estate sale prices of neighboring properties and each individual site’s sales history.

Carlton has a lot of lakefront along Lake Ontario, Lake Alice and Oak Orchard Creek. The town is rural and there aren’t a lot of property sales to provide “comparables” for sale prices, Risman said.

Unlike suburban towns, where there are blocks and blocks of similar-style houses, the properties fluctuate in size and styles on the same roads in Carlton, Risman noted.

“Carlton is a rather unique town,” he said. “There are different types of agricultural and residential property. It’s not a simple matter of evaluating all of these properties.”

Risman said Carlton isn’t alone in seeing an uproar from residents following a reassessment. Many towns will experience spikes in assessments when a long-time assessor retires and a new one takes over. In Carlton, Leo Spohr retired in 2007. Karen Adams has been on the job since then.

The state Office of Real Property Services used to have a much larger staff with appraisers that could help new assessors, but Risman said the state staff has been drastically reduced in recent years.

The great indoors

Posted 15 April 2013 at 12:00 am

Photo by Tom Rivers

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.

Holley hires security to enhance safety in its schools

Posted 15 April 2013 at 12:00 am

Press Release

HOLLEY – The school district introduced new security officers to students and staff on March 4. The district hired COP Security Inc., a local security company, to assist in maintaining a safe school environment and to help promote safety education in the schools. All of the security staff members are retired law enforcement officers from local agencies.

A security officer will be stationed at Holley Middle School/High School and Elementary School from 7 a.m. to dismissal, from 3 to 8 p.m. at the Middle School/High School, and from 4 to 9 p.m. in the Elementary School.

“Many of them are former school resource officers or DARE officers and are looking forward to working with our students, staff, and community on topics such as anti-bullying, prom safety, bicycle safety, and other pertinent topics,” said Superintendent Robert D’Angelo.

At the Middle School/High School, Principal Susan Cory has been introducing the officers to students during their physical education classes. At the Elementary School, Principal Karri Schiavone has been introducing the officers in each classroom. The security officers wear khaki pants and a dark shirt with the name of the security company.

The school district also has security cameras throughout its buildings, which security officers can access in the office space provided for them.

“In addition to our staff, the security officers will be the eyes and ears around our schools and will provide us feedback throughout the day,” D’Angelo said.

The superintendent added that there wasn’t one particular event that prompted the added security. “It is our obligation as a school district to keep our students and staff safe, and our community safe when the schools are being used for evening activities,” he said.

Speeding car ends up in Parma ditch

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 April 2013 at 12:00 am

PARMA – A speeding motorist eluded an Orleans County Sheriff’s Department deputy early this morning, but then went off Route 104 and crashed into the woods in the town of Parma, the department reported.

A motorist with Pennsylvania license plates was speeding at about 85 miles an hour when he passed a deputy at 2:40 this morning near Hurd Orchards on Route 104 in the town of Murray, Undersheriff Steve Smith said. The deputy pursued the motorist until he lost track of him, with the deputy going as far as Josie’s Juke Box in Parma.

On the way back to Orleans County, the deputy noticed a car had gone off West Ridge Road near Hinkleyville Road in Parma. The car was “mangled,” Smith said, and the driver was unconscious and needed to be extricated by the Spencerport Fire Department. He was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital with a head injury and broken legs.

The driver’s name hasn’t been released. Smith said the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department is handling the investigation.

Face art

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 April 2013 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

Paige Martin, 10, of Shelby holds still while a butterfly is painted on her face by Veronica Compton of Lockport. Compton worked in the face-painting booth sponsored by LynOaken Farms at the Orleans County Home and Garden Show. Paige’s 12-year-old sister Shelby, below, shows off a creature painted on her arm. The two visited the Home and Garden Show at the 4-H Fairgrounds today.

It’s showtime

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 April 2013 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

Bob Waters, president of the Medina Sandstone Society, signs a copy of the organization’s latest publication, “Medina, My Home Town – Fond Memories.” Waters and the Sandstone Society are among 56 vendors at today’s Home and Garden Show at the 4-H Fairgrounds in Knowlesville. In photo below, Clor’s Meat Market in Batavia employees Ryan Gugel, left, and Troy Colton prepare chicken for the concession booth in the Trolley Building.

Crowd sounds off on SAFE Act

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 April 2013 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers – About 200 people gathered outside the Orleans County Courthouse to protest the SAFE Act on Saturday.

ALBION – Roseanne Regan of Holley joined 200 other people at a Second Amendment rally in Albion, braving the cold and wind on Saturday. Regan didn’t deliver a fiery speech from the podium.

She hoped her presence with others would send a message to Gov. Cuomo and state legislators who approved the SAFE Act in January, which was designed to tighten gun control laws.

“I believe in the Second Amendment,” a shivering Regan said. “I’m sick and tired of people speaking for us and the government dictating. This isn’t the Soviet Union or Germany.”

The legislation, and its passage without a public hearing, has fired up many New Yorkers, including the contingent gathered in Albion on Saturday. New York Revolution formed soon after the SAFE Act’s passage. Gia Arnold of Holley is regional coordinator for the group and she helped organize Saturday’s event.

Conservative talk show host Bob Lonsberry, who has railed against the SAFE Act on WHAM in Rochester, addressed the crowd in Albion.

Talk show host Bob Lonsberry from WHAM in Rochester urged the group to follow the example of Rosa Parks, who refused to give in to unjust laws. Parks wouldn’t move to the back of a segregated bus, a bold move that helped embolden blacks in the Civil Rights struggle.

Gun owners shouldn’t accept the new state laws, Lonsberry told the crowd in Albion. He quoted from Martin Luther King Jr., who urged “civil disobedience” in the fight against oppression.

State Assemblyman Steve Hawley has co-sponored legislation that would repeal the law. State Sen. George Maziarz noted several lawsuits also seek to repeal legislation that will begin to take effect on Monday.

Maziarz said he’s not against background checks for gun buyers. But he thinks the state can better direct the fight against criminals by “focusing on cleaning up the streets and the murderers.” He called the gun control legislation “The Unsafe Act” because he said it targets law-abiding citizens rather than criminals.

The new state law deprives residents of constitutional freedoms, several speakers said at the rally.

Many in the crowd chanted, “Cuomo has to go,” during the rally. Someone carried a sign that referred to “Comrade Cuomo.”

Hawley said New Yorkers should feel angry at the majority of the Legislature and governor for passing a law “that turns law-abiding citizens into law-breaking citizens.” One controversial piece of the legislation requires magazines that can hold no more than seven bullets, when most magazines hold 10.

The legislation was hastily crafted without any vetting from the public, Hawley said, leading to bad policy.

“Now that we’ve had time to analyze and dissect this bill, we can see why it was forced on us so quickly,” Hawley said. “It is full of flaws and mistakes that even the bill’s authors have no excuse for.”

Fired up

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 April 2013 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

About 200 people attended a rally for the Second Amendment today in front of the Orleans County Courthouse. The event was organized by New York Revolution, a group that formed after the state Legislature and Gov. Cuomo approved a gun control law – the SAFE Act – in January. State Sen. George Maziarz called the legislation “The Unsafe Act” because he said it targets law-abiding citizens rather than criminals. Maziarz was among the speakers at the rally. Orleans Hub will have an article on event later today. For now, here are some photos.

Conservative talk show host Bob Lonsberry addresses a crowd of nearly 200 people in front of the Orleans County Courthouse.

Local community health leader wins national laurels

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 April 2013 at 12:00 am

Karen Watt, an Albion fruit grower, leads Oak Orchard Health

Photo by Tom Rivers – Karen Watt, chairwoman of Oak Orchard Health, is pictured inside the center’s Albion facility on Route 31. She also has served as a director for the National Advisory Council on Migrant Health and on the board for the National Center for Farmworker Health.

ALBION – The winner of a national award for service to community health centers has pushed a local organization to upgrade its health care facilities and expand into underserved communities.

Karen Watt, an Albion fruit grower, has served on the board for Oak Orchard Health for more than a decade, including the past two years as chairwoman. She is a former chairwoman of the National Advisory Council on Migrant Health and currently serves on the board for the National Center for Farmworker Health.

“She is well known around the country,” said Bobbi Ryder, president and CEO of the National Center for Farmworker Health. “She has been very instrumental as a board member and leader of her local center and at a national level.”

Ryder nominated Watt for the 2013 Outstanding Migrant Health Center Board Member Award. Watt will receive the honor next month in San Diego at the annual conference for the National Association of Community Health Centers.

Ryder said Watt, a retired math professor at SUNY Brockport, has been an advocate for healthcare in rural areas at the local, national and international levels. Watt often reminds professionals in health care to not overlook the humanity of their patients, who are often farmworkers and rural poor residents.

“I have admired her very frank recognition for the agricultural workers in her community,” Ryder said. “She recognizes them as human beings with feelings and families.”

Watt was asked to join the Oak Orchard board about 13 years ago. Besides her work with that organization, she has taken humanitarian trips to three African countries, working with farmers to increase profits and become more sustainable. In January she went to Cuba on a medical humanitarian trip, taking supplies into rural villages.

She led the Orleans County Farm Bureau in the late 1990s, serving as its president. She also led a North American association of farmers in direct marketing. She and her husband Chris were at the forefront of the agri-tourism movement in Western New York, turning their Route 98 market into a destination.

Watt said access to health care remains a personal mission. In January 2005, she was detected with breast cancer. She is a survivor, and works hard to raise money for research.

Nine months after she was diagnosed in 2005, she and her husband hosted a fund-raising walk through their orchards. The event has continued every October, and has raised about $225,000. The event last year attracted 1,000 participants and netted about $50,000.

Watt remains committed to community health centers. In the past few years Oak Orchard Health has acquired a healthcare site in Lyndonville, expanded and upgraded sites in Albion and Brockport, and will open a new facility in Warsaw in June. The organization also runs a mobile dental unit to schools in Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming counties.

Oak Orchard Health serves 16,000 patients in the community, and is pushing to do more to promote health and wellness in Orleans County and nearby rural towns.

“We are known throughout the region for delivery of excellent primary health care, whether you’re insured or uninsured,” she said.

Oak Orchard sees 60,000 client visits annually and 42 percent of the patients have insurance, which is high for a community health center. Watt sees that as an indication Oak Orchard has won respect in the community for its high quality of care.