Photo by Tom Rivers
Barre firefighters stood near the intersection of routes 98 and 31A this morning, collecting money for the fire company. Jesse Babcock, left, and Brad Driesel worked together on Route 98, just south of 31A. Babcock said the funds will help firefighters upgrade their equipment. “Every little bit helps,” Babcock said.
Photos courtesy of Jesse Colmenero
ALBION – Residents attended Friday’s open house at the Central Orleans Volunteer Ambulance. They toured fire trucks and ambulances, ate hot dogs and hamburgers, and even did the chicken dance in the parking lot at 239 South Main St., Albion.
Mercy Flight landed a helicopter by COVA to help the agency celebrate its service to the community.
Photo by Tom Rivers – Baillie Oberther, 16, of Medina is crowned queen of Dyngus Day on Monday during a celebration at Sacred Heart Club. Bonnie Boyd, last year’s queen, passes on the crown.
MEDINA – They danced to the polka, delighted in “pigs in the blanket,” and even crowned a king and queen.
About 200 people celebrated Dyngus Day on Monday at the Sacred Heart Club in Medina. Before they danced to Brass Magic, a polka band from Rochester, the crowd took in Polish food staples, such as sweet and sour cabbage, scallop potatoes, smoked Polish sausage, pierogis and “pigs in the blanket” – rolled cabbage with pork.
The latter is State Sen. George Maziarz’s favorite. He has loved it since he was a kid.
“My grandma made them and I’d eat half a dozen in one sitting,” Maziarz said at the Sacred Heart Club.
He has been coming to Medina’s Dyngus Day celebration for 18 years. Maziarz spends much of the post-lent Monday at Polish celebrations in his district. There are several of the events in Niagara County earlier in the day before he joins the Medina crowd.
“It preserves people’s heritage,” he said about Dyngus Day. “It’s good for the young kids.”
Photo by Tom Rivers – Brass Magic, a polka band from Rochester, entertains during a Dyngus Day celebration on Monday.
The day has been growing in popularity in Western New York in recent years. Buffalo hosts a big Dyngus Day party with a parade and 25 polka bands. That popularity spreads all the way to Medina and Orleans County.
“It keeps getting bigger,” said Dee Lucas, one of the coordinators of the event in Medina. “We just love doing it.”
Polish immigrants about a century ago started their own Catholic churches in Medina and Albion. Both have closed in recent years. The Polish-American congregation at the former St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Albion has joined the Dyngus celebration at Sacred Heart, helping the crowd size to grow.
Laurianne Pruski of Albion said Sacred Heart has been welcoming to the Albionites. She wore a red “Dyngus Day Buffalo” shirt with a white Polish eagle symbol on front.
She looks forward to the giant spread of Polish food every year. The cooks all prepare the food from scratch.
She said younger adults are enthused about the annual event. Many even join in polka dances.
“It sets a mark for the younger generation to carry on the traditions,” she said.
Alissa Bruce wants to do her part. Her grandfather was Polish and celebrated Dyngus Day. Alissa brought her 2-year-old daughter Elaina to Monday’s party. She delighted the crowd with her energetic dances with her cousin, 4-year-old Aidan Oberther.
Photo by Tom Rivers – Aidan Oberther, 4, dances with his cousin Elaina Bruce, 2, while a polka band plays at Sacred Heart Club.
“This is awesome,” Bruce said while the polka band played. “It’s great they keep it going.”
The event included the crowning of a king and queen. Both are active volunteers at the Sacred Heart Club.
New king John Weaver, 41, “never complains” when he is asked to help with dinners and other club events, said Lucas, one of the Dyngus coordinators.
The new queen, 16-year-old Baillie Oberther, helps prepare and serve fish fry dinners and other meals at the club. She said she doesn’t want to miss a Dyngus Day party.
“It’s a family tradition,” she said. “We all love the dancing, the food and the heritage.”
Several business expansions are planned for 2013 in Orleans County, with millions of dollars in private investment planned for the ventures, said Jim Whipple, the CEO of the Orleans Economic Development Agency.
“This is going to be a great year,” Whipple said.
The projects are spread around the county with a $4 million investment by Credit Recovery Financial Services topping the list. That company is moving from its Albion location on East Avenue to the Olde Pickle Factory in Medina, doubling in size to about 700 employees.
CRFS has grown from Jodi Gaines’ kitchen table a decade ago into the industry leader, helping banks and investors recoup money when a home is foreclosed. Employees work with industry regulations in all 50 states.
As part of its shift to the Pickle Factory, building owner Roger Hungerford also is spending $4 million in renovations to modernize space for CRFS. Hungerford spent $1.2 million at the Pickle Factory in 2012, upgrading space for tenants.
Other projects in the county include:
The Wegman Group in Rochester plans to turn a former Salvation Army camp in Kendall into The Cottages at Troutburg, a 126-acre site with the potential for 400 cottages. Construction on the first seasonal houses, ranging from 450 to 1,300 square feet, is expected this year.
In Holley, Precision Packaging Products is considering a $2 million expansion that could create 20 jobs, Whipple said.
In Albion, an electronics recycling company from Canada is expected to close on an EDA-owned warehouse on McKinstry Street. The company is planning a $700,000 investment in Albion while creating 25 jobs.
Helena Chemical in Albion also is looking at a new site for its company, which sells chemicals, seeds and other products to agricultural businesses. The company may spend $1.5 million on a new site this year. It looked at a site in Albion on Long Bridge Road, but after neighbors objected the company is now targeting a spot in Medina.
Also in Medina, Take Form Architectural Graphics is pursuing a $1.5 million expansion into the current Trek building on Route 31A. Trek is moving to Lockport. Take Form plans to add 20 positions as part of its expansion.
Whipple said other companies are considering expansions, including Freeze-Dry Foods in Albion, Snappy/ACME in Medina, and other companies he declined to name. One project could be an $11 million new-build.
Whipple said 2012 was a successful year, highlighted by the redevelopment of two former Jubilee grocery stores.
Jerome Pawlak opened a Save-A-Lot in Holley at the former Jubilee, spending $1.2 million and adding 15 jobs.
Ace Hardware this month will open in the former Jubilee in Medina, a $1 million project that will add at least three new jobs.
Orleans Community Health invested $1.5 million in Albion in a new health care center at the corner of Route 31 and Butts Road, a project that added 16 jobs.
The Village Inn in Gaines spent $325,000 for a remodeling that resulted in 2.5 new positions.
CRFS also grew in 2012, spending $1 million for new computers, office furniture and other upgrades of its site in Albion.
ALBION – Jim Sinner, the CEO of Medina Memorial Hospital, said he isn’t trying to “scavenge” Lakeside Health System, which is in process of drastically reducing its inpatient hospital beds from 61 to five. The Brockport hospital also was going to close its emergency room, but now intends to keep that open.
The shrinking hospital in western Monroe County creates opportunities for Medina Memorial, Sinner told Orleans County legislators on March 27. Many Albion and eastern Orleans residents are connected with Lakeside physicians and that hospital. With the changes at Lakeside, Sinner said more Orleans residents may choose Medina and their physicians rather than go into Rochester for health care.
Sinner has approached six Lakeside physicians about aligning with Medina. Sinner told county legislators the doctors are interested in joining Medina, which falls under the Orleans Community Health umbrella.
The Lakeside down-sizing comes soon after Orleans Community Health opened a new 7,500-square-foot health care facility in Albion at the corner of Route 31 and Butts Road. The site offers primary and urgent care. About 50 percent of the traffic to the site since November has been walk-ins. The center is open six days a week and could add evening and Sunday hours if there is a demand, Brian Banas, chief operating officer for OCH, told legislators.
Banas and Sinner said Orleans County is considered a “physician shortage area.” Many of the local medical practices are at capacity, they said.
“We don’t have enough docs in the community,” Sinner said.
Orleans Community Health hired two doctors to work at the Albion site. Dr. Sandra Boehlert focuses on internal medicine while Dr. Jamal Janania Sr. specializes in family medicine.
Sinner is trying to convince specialists to provide services in Orleans, even if it’s only one or two days a month.
The Albion center, a $1.5 million facility, has eight exam rooms and modern technology. It also offers physical therapy, occupational therapy and lab blood draw services. A $784,000 state grant Healthcare Efficiency and Affordability Law for New Yorkers or HEAL covered half of the construction costs.
Orleans Community Health wants to add X-ray services in the new facility. Sinner and Banas are working on a certificate of need application that must be filed with the state Department of Health.
Sinner is pleased to see OCH expanding in the county. He has led the organization the past 15 years.
“It’s always been our goal to be the healthcare system of choice in Orleans County,” he said.
Photos by Tom Rivers
Hal Goodwin, front, and Paul Wengrzyeki carry the cross on Main Street on Friday during the annual “Cross Walk” on Good Friday. Christians from several Medina churches joined in the event, which included the reading of Scripture and singing of hymns.
“I’m feeling a lot of emotions, thinking about what our Lord went through,” Goodwin, a member of the Medina United Methodist Church, said after carrying the cross.
The Medina Area Association of Churches has been doing the “Cross Walk” for at least 20 years. They get together at noon every Good Friday, with Christians taking turns carrying the cross. The event begins at City Hall and includes several stops in the community, including Rotary Park, a gazebo by the canal and other prominent public locations.
Paul Wengrzyeki hopes passing motorists and onlookers took a moment to reflect on the meaning of Easter. Wengrzyeki, a member of First Baptist Church, has participated in the Cross Walk for several years.
“It gives me a sense of what Christ went through,” he said. “It’s a very meaningful experience.”
The Rev. Ray Noell, pastor of the United Methodist churches in Millville and Knowlesville, reads Scripture about Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, Christ’s crucifixion and his resurrection. Paul Wengrzyeki holds the cross while Noell speaks.
The cross is carried down East Center Street in Medina, part of the annual “Cross Walk” on Good Friday.
Photo by Tom Rivers – Haylee Wright, 2, of Lyndonville fills a basket with Easter eggs. Her mother Barb Wright joined her on the egg hunt.
About 200 children went hunting for Easter eggs on Saturday on the Courthouse lawn in Albion. The event included a visit from the Easter Bunny, a story hour, a coloring contest and other games inside the First Presbyterian Church. The event was organized by Community Action of Orleans & Genesee, Albion Main Street Alliance and the Presbyterian Church with sponsorship from Digital Ink Arts, Della’s Chocolates, Oliver’s Candies and the Salvation Army.
ALBION – The state may require counties to open polling places two weeks before a general election and a week before a primary. That proposal could cost Orleans County $55,000 a year.
“I don’t see the need for this in Orleans County,” said Janice Grabowski, a county elections commissioner.
If residents want to vote early or if they can’t get to the polls on election day, the Board of Elections will send them an absentee ballot, Grabowski said.
County legislators on March 27 opposed the push by the state require early voting.
The state may require Orleans to offer early voting at five sites at 12 hours per day for up to two weeks before an election. Each site needs four election inspectors – two Republicans and two Democrats.
Dennis Piedimonte, the other county election commissioner, said it would be difficult to find staff for the polling places for over two weeks.
He expects the county will be required to offer early voting. If the legislation goes through, he hopes the county can have one polling place for early voters, instead of five spots. If Orleans provides one voting place, the expense to the county would be $11,000, not $55,000.
Legislators, in their resolution, asked the state to allow an “opt-in” provision for counties. The state also should foot the bill for the added costs, legislators said.
Downstate legislators are pushing the early voting legislation, trying to boost ballots for primaries and the general election. Thirty-two other states allow early voting.
Photos by Tom Rivers
First Presbyterian Church in Medina hosted the African Children’s Choir on March 27. The 16-member group from Uganda includes eight boys and eight girls between the ages of 7 and 10. The group performed for a packed crowd of 300 people at the church. They are two months into a year-long tour of the East Coast. The choir has raised money to support 52,000 children in seven African countries since 1984. While in Medina, the children and choir volunteers stayed with host families. The group performed popular children’s songs, traditional spirituals and rhythmic Gospel favorites including “Amazing Grace.”
ALBION – Municipal leaders in Orleans County have been working for three years to persuade Time Warner to run cable for high-speed Internet in rural pockets without the service.
Time Warner has balked at running the cable in some rural areas, saying the potential for few customers at a $10,000-a-mile cost doesn’t make business sense.
But town and county officials think they have found a way around the problem: Go wireless.
Towers carrying antennas and wireless infrastructure may be the best chance to cover the entire county, Shelby Town Councilman Ken Schaal said.
He called the push for county-wide broadband access a top priority – for economic development and to keep and attract residents.
“We need to stop thinking of ourselves as a bedroom community,” Schaal told local government officials March 26 during the Orleans County Supervisors and Legislators Association meeting. “The Internet is the highway of the future. If we can’t get into that jet stream, we’re screwed.”
Orleans has been working on extending high-speed Internet the past three years, but has been stymied by Time Warner’s reluctance to run cable in the lightly populated areas.
Orleans has since partnered with Niagara County officials in looking at the problem. David Godfrey, a Niagara County legislator, said the current setup puts residents without high-speed Internet at a disadvantage. Students can’t complete some of their homework and research without broadband, he said.
“It’s creating discrimination for students, businesses and residents in the rural areas,” he said about those without the service.
Legislator Lynne Johnson, R-Lyndonville, said residents without broadband often can’t complete job applications online. Many companies only accept applications and resumes through their web sites.
“If you live in a rural area in Orleans County (and are applying for jobs), you might as well stay unemployed,” Johnson said during the association’s monthly meeting.
The two counties had been thinking a first step would be a house-by-house survey to see where the service isn’t available. But Schaal and other local leaders now think the push should be focused on how many towers would be needed in Orleans to blanket the county with wireless high-speed Internet. Wireless providers could co-locate on existing cellular phone towers, water tanks, and other tall infrastructure. New towers may also be needed.
David Callard, the County Legislature chairman, said he supports the engineering study that would look at existing topography and vertical infrastructure, and what may be need to be built. Town and county officials think it may cost $50,000 to have a study done.
Once the study is complete, the county could pursue state funding to help pay for new infrastructure. The state has funded broadband projects in other rural communities. Orleans hasn’t been included in that money because it doesn’t have a study, showing what infrastructure is needed to make the service available to all residents.
The county has been working with Evhen Tupis, a rural broadband consultant, on the project. Tupis said the county should still consider a house-by-house survey, checking for the service availability. Ultimately, wireless service providers will want to know the potential market in the county before they commit resources to Orleans, said Tupis, a Clarendon resident.
“If businesses see an opportunity, they could be enticed to come here,” he said.
