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County asks Transportation Council to study repurposing Parkway

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 December 2015 at 12:00 am

Reducing expressway to 2 lanes may ensure better maintenance

File photos by Tom Rivers – The Lake Ontario State Parkway runs along the lakeshore from Carlton into Rochester.

ALBION – Orleans County officials, increasing worried about the deteriorating conditions on the Lake Ontario State Parkway, think a long-term answer to the route’s maintenance may be reducing some of the lanes.

The expressway currently has two westbound and eastbound lanes. The road is bumpy in spots with cracks and pockmarks, especially just across the Orleans County line in Hamlin. The off-ramps are in bad shape and the state also seems to be reducing roadside mowing, county officials said.

“They are not maintaining the roadway or mowing much,” Jim Bensley, director of the Orleans County Planning Department, told the County Planning Board last Thursday.

He advised the board the county has applied to the Genesee Transportation Council for a feasibility study to reduce lanes of the Parkway, which extends 12.7 miles into Orleans County, ending near the Lakeside Beach State Park. The Parkway includes bridges that go over the Oak Orchard River.

The bridges over Oak Orchard River were built for the Lake Ontario State Parkway, which ends abruptly 2 miles west of the river.

The county is seeking $55,000 from the Transportation Council for the study, with the county providing an additional $9,000 in in-kind services.

The county would only support repurposing or decommissioning the west- or east-bound lanes if that resulted in the state better maintaining the remaining lanes, according to the county application with the Transportation Council.

The state Department of Transportation and Genesee Transportation Council have been directed state and federal highway resources to higher-volume routes. That doesn’t well for the continued maintenance of the Parkway, Bensley told the Planning Board.

One Planning Board member, Andrew Kludt of Kendall, said the Parkway has become so jarring that ambulance drivers don’t want to take patients on it. They look for alternative routes which take longer to get to the hospital.

“The Parkway is a huge time-saver if it’s operational,” Kludt said.

If the west- or eastbound lanes were closed to traffic, the closed lanes could perhaps be opened as a recreational route for walkers or snowmobilers, according to the county application. The remaining west- or eastbound lanes would stay open to traffic with steady maintenance from the state.

If the Transportation Council approves the study there will be public meetings and opportunities for residents and businesses to provide input about the Parkway and its future.

The study will take an inventory of the transportation assets on the Parkway and project the remaining useful life of the bridges, pavement, etc., and an anticipated maintenance schedule.

The study will also look at the most feasible route for repurposing the Parkway.

The study should weigh the conversion costs of a repurposed Parkway with its ongoing maintenance. Bensley said it’s possible a study could show it will cost too much to close lanes on the Parkway when conversion costs are tallied.

The project would be unprecedented, certainly for Orleans County, because it seeks to downsize a limited access state roadway. The route isn’t available to commercial traffic.

The goal of the study is a continuous highway corridor on the parkway from the Orleans-Monroe County border to Lakeside Beach State Park, Bensley said.

Judge sentences 3 to state prison

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 December 2015 at 12:00 am

Batavia man gets longest punishment at 9 years

Philip R. Ayala

ALBION – Three people were sentenced to state prison today with a Batavia man getting the longest punishment at 9 years of incarceration.

Philip R. Ayala, 30, of Summit Street admitted in a previous court appearance to selling cocaine in Orleans County on March 31. He pleaded guilty on Sept. 14 criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree. As a second felony offender, he could have faced a sentence of 2 to 12 years in state prison.

“It’s pretty clear you’re a drug dealer with a very bad record,” said Orleans County Court Judge James Punch. “The only way you will stop is to be incarcerated.”

As part of the plea deal, Ayala’s sentence is capped at 9 years, and Punch gave Ayala the maximum. It will run concurrently as his sentence in Genesee County Court, where Judge Robert Noonan sentenced Ayala to 8 years in state prison in August.

The following were also sentenced this afternoon in County Court:

Philip A. Riley, 32, of Albion was sentenced to 5 years in state prison, the maximum under a plea deal.

Riley on Oct. 5 admitted in court he had heroin and sold it for a profit on April 7. He pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree. Riley is a second felony offender and has been in the county jail on $100,000 bail since his arrest in July.

A Rochester man with eight alcohol-related offenses was sentenced to the maximum, 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison, for driving while intoxicated and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Jeffrey Houghtaling, 50, was arrested in Murray by Holley police on Oct. 25 when he was driving erratically with another person’s ID. He had a Blood Alcohol Content of 0.16 percent, twice the legal limit.

Houghtaling has been in treatment for alcohol and mental health, while keeping a full-time job. He said he has been sober for 14 months.

“I’m 50 years old but I have turned the corner,” Houghtaling told Judge Punch. “My commitment is to stay focused.”

Punch responded that Houghtaling has been on probation at least three times before.

“You have a deep-rooted problem,” Punch said. “I would be irresponsible as a judge to let you out again. It just doesn’t get any worse than this as far as DWI goes.”

Houghtaling also is to install an inter-lock device that measures his BAC when he is released from prison.

A Holley woman was sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years probation. Jennifer McCarthy-Conklin, 39, is a first-time offender. She admitted she had cocaine and sold it from the Holley Hotel on Feb. 27.

She pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree.

“This is a classic case that calls out for probation but also warrants some punishment,” Punch said.

County Legislature, Medina Memorial oppose mandated staffing levels at hospitals

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 December 2015 at 12:00 am

File photo by Tom Rivers – Medina Memorial Hospital would take a big hit financially if the state passes legislation requiring mandated staffing levels in hospitals, according the Medina Memorial’s CEO.

ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature is opposing proposed state legislation that would require minimum staffing levels for hospitals and nursing homes.

“One size does not fit all,” said Legislator Lynne Johnson, who is also on the board of directors for Orleans Community Health, the parent organization of Medina Memorial Hospital.

County legislators said the legislation (click here), takes staffing decisions away from hospitals and would add $3 billion in the cost of care across the state.

“This one could close us down and bankrupt all of us,” Johnson said.

Wendy Jacobson, CEO and president of the hospital, addressed the County Legislature last week. She thanked the county officials for opposing government-mandated staffing levels.

If the state proposal goes through, Jacobson said she expects hospitals would turn to more agency staff and employees would face more overtime.

“It would be financially devastating to our organization,” Jacobson said.

The legislation would also pose increased staffing costs and demands on nursing homes.

“I can’t emphasis enough how important it is that Orleans County has its one hospital and two nursing homes,” Legislature Chairman David Callard said.

The New York State Nurses Association favors the state legislation. For more on the Nurses Association and why it backs the law, click here.

Nursing home shifts more sales tax from village to town

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 December 2015 at 12:00 am

Village of Albion takes $5K hit in sales tax as town assessments continue to grow

File photo by Tom Rivers – The Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center on Route 31 in Albion went on the tax rolls for the first time in 2015 at a $6,618,900 assessment. The facility is just outside the village borders.

ALBION – The addition of the former county nursing home to the tax rolls will result in a loss of sales tax revenue to the Village of Albion, and a gain for the Town of Albion.

The county collects about $15 million in sales tax each year and shares $1,366,671 from that total for the 10 towns and villages. (The $1,366,671 has been frozen since 2001.) The county is budgeting for a $250,000 increase in sales tax in 2016.

The town and village amounts are tied to assessed values. The villages have been shrinking in value in recent years while the towns have been gaining. That has resulted in more sales tax money for the towns and less for the villages.

The Village of Albion will get $5,307 less in sales tax in 2016, according to the sales tax apportionment approved by the County Legislature last week. The Village of Albion will get $169,998, which is down from $175,305 in 2015. In 2013, the village was getting $180,457 – $10,459 more than in 2016.

The Town of Albion’s sales tax will jump from $115,666 to $120,628. The Town of Gaines, which also includes a portion of the village, will increase from $86,558 to $86,902.

Albion’s village and town numbers shifted in 2016 mainly because of the nursing home. That 120-bed facility on Route 31 went on the tax rolls for the first time in 2015 with an assessed value of $6,618,900.

Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services LLC paid $7.8 million for the nursing home. Comprehensive has filed legal papers to drop the assessed value to $2.5 million.

Other villages also will see a drop in 2016. Medina is down from $159,586 to $158,208. Holley dropped from $47,746 to $47,706 and Lyndonville decreased from $15,473 to $15,316.

To determine the village share, the county divides the village taxable value by the town taxable value. As the villages lose assessed value and the towns gain, the village share gets smaller.

For example, in the Town of Albion, the village now accounts for 55.30 percent of the town’s total taxable value. It was 57.14 percent in 2015, 57.45 percent in 2014 and 58.59 percent in 2013.

Altogether the villages in 2016 will receive $391,229 of the $1,366,671 in sales tax shared with the towns and villages. The village share is down nearly $7,000 from the $398,110 in 2015. The villages received $404,666 in 2013.

Here are the amounts set aside for the towns in 2016: Albion, $120,628; Barre, $64,536; Carlton, $95,418; Clarendon, $116,261; Gaines, $86,902; Kendall, $86,813; Murray, $111,259; Ridgeway, $126,126; Shelby, $101,257; and Yates, $66,238.

Hospital lights up annual memorial tree

Staff Reports Posted 20 December 2015 at 12:00 am

Provided photos, Orleans Community Health Foundation

MEDINA – Orleans Community Health Foundation’s Annual Memorial Tree is proudly standing in the lobby at Medina Memorial Hospital. The 12-foot tree is filling up quickly with nearly 100 gold angel wing ornaments already purchased.

Ornaments orders are available in the hospital’s lobby. Pictured from left to right: Jeanne Crane and Jean Wetherbee, both of the MMH Association of TWIGS, along with Angela DiRosa, executive director of the Orleans Community Health Foundation.

The Orleans Community Health Foundation took a little time to help with holiday decorations in the dining room at the Long Term Care Residential Facility at Orleans Community Health/Medina Memorial Hospital, known as the North Wing.

Angela DiRosa, executive director of OCHF, distributed centerpieces during lunch with the residents. She was assisted by Bill Carroll, administrator of the unit; Mary Luckman, department manager; and Adrienne Belson, activities director. They are pictured with resident Joan Henel.

Knowlesville family produced lineage of physicians

By Matthew Ballard, Orleans County Historian Posted 19 December 2015 at 12:00 am

Volume 1, Issue 38
KNOWLESVILLE – The eldest son of Benoni Grover, Lysander was born Jan. 22, 1802 at Deerfield, Massachusetts. Lysander’s father was a farmer in his early life, forced to adopt a new profession after a horrible milling accident cost him his leg. It was after this accident that he married his wife, Thankful Smith, and raised several children including Lysander.

When Lysander was all but five years of age, his father moved the family to Phelps, New York, where he attended schools and worked on area farms. Despite his rugged family genes, young Lysander’s body could no longer take the physical strain of manual labor and he was forced to establish himself in a profession that was more manageable.

Attending an academy at Geneva, Lysander attained a teacher’s certificate and proceeded to teach in the local school districts for several years. Finding the profession of a teacher quite bothersome, he sought out a new vocation. Deciding that he was neither pious enough for ministerial work nor confident enough to practice law, he decided that the occupation of physician would suffice.

Studying with Dr. James Carter of Geneva, Lysander spent the next four years learning the specifics of the medical profession. With six cents in his pocket, the eager Dr. Grover travelled to the village of Alloway in the township of Lyons where he borrowed enough money to start a medical practice.

His first year of practice in Alloway was marked by much health amongst the population of the village as he wrote, “nobody would get sick to accommodate me, or test the efficiency of my drugs, or my ability in prescribing them.” With patience and due diligence (and eventually patients), Dr. Grover established a successful practice in Wayne County.

In 1844 Dr. Grover relocated to a farm in Alexander, New York where he spent less than one year before exchanging the land for a farm located at Knowlesville. He remarks in his short autobiography in Arad Thomas’ Pioneer History of Orleans County that, “I practiced medicine but little, keeping a drug and book store, and superintending my farm.” He also writes that he operated both an ashery and distillery in the area for a portion of his time in Orleans County.

Dr. Grover died before his grandson, Dr. Edward L. Frost, graduated from the University of Buffalo’s Medical School in 1892. The son of Cecilia Grover and William H. Frost, Edward later served as an Instructor of Obstetrics at the University of Buffalo’s Medical School from 1893 to 1897.

Dr. Frost was one of four physicians who testified at the trial of Olive Sternaman, Canada’s Black Widow who was accused of poisoning her two husbands with arsenic in Cayuga, Ontario. Dr. Frost’s son, Carl Grover, attended the University of Michigan where he earned his medical degree in the specialty of Ear, Nose, and Throat.

Lyndonville senior receives big Navy scholarship

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 December 2015 at 12:00 am

Provided photos – Thomas Follman, a Lyndonville High School senior, was presented with a NROTC Scholarship last week by Sgt. Yertich from the Batavia recruiting station. Follman is pictured with his father, Curt Follman, left.

LYNDONVILLE – It started as a normal school morning for Thomas Follman, president of the Lyndonville Student Council. He read the morning announcements on Dec. 10, one of his roles as president.

But then the High School Principal, Dr. Aaron Slack, claimed the microphone for one more announcement.

Slack let Follman and the student body know about a prestigious scholarship for one of the seniors. In fact, Follman was the recipient of the Naval Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (NROTC) Scholarship.

The award will cover four years of tuition for Follman, who wants to join the Marine Corps. He has applied to several universities to study either mechanical engineering or criminal justice.

The NROTC could save Follman $160,000 to $180,000 if he is accepted and enrolls at the University of Rochester, for example.

“It takes a whole lot of pressure off,” Follman said about the scholarship.

Follman keeps a 92.65 academic average, and he is president of the Lyndonville Class of 2016 and the National Honor Society. He also has been active playing football for the combined Lyndonville-Medina team, wrestling for Lyndonville and participating in the school musicals. He also works full-time in the summer at the White Birch Golf Course, maintaining the grounds.

Thomas Follman is presented with the (NROTC) Scholarship last week during a surprise at Lyndonville High School.

Follman said his dream would be to go to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. He has interviewed with the offices of the U.S. Rep. Chris Collins and U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand to be accepted to the Naval Academy. The Marines are a component of the Navy.

Recipients of the Naval Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (NROTC) Scholarship must meet extreme rigorous academic standards. In addition to a normal academic workload leading to a four-year college degree, NROTC students attend classes in Naval Science, participate in the NROTC unit for drill, physical training, and other activities, and are taught the leadership principles and high ideals of a military officer.

During the summer break between school years, NROTC students participate in training activities to help students understand career options and familiarize them with military life.

Firefighters enjoy helping Santa in Medina

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 December 2015 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Valerie Childs, a Ridgeway firefighter, carries a box full of toys this morning. She was one of about 30 firefighters who volunteered to deliver toys to about 150 children in the annual toy drive by the Medina Area Association of Churches.

Firefighters delivered boxes of toys, food and clothes to more than 100 Medina families and senior citizens this morning. The delivery was the last step in annual toy and gift effort coordinated by MAAC, an annual initiative going back more than four decades.

Ridgeway firefighters fill a truck up with boxes of toys. Rick Tuohey is in the truck. He has been helping with the toy delivery the past 18 years.

Don Marchner, Ridgeway fire chief, is in front at right. He has helped deliver the toys for about 40 years.

“It’s for a good cause,” Marchner said. “When you see the kids’ faces light up, it means a lot and makes you feel warm inside.”

Firefighters from Medina, Ridgeway, Shelby and East Shelby delivered toys to Medina families this morning. Paul Wengrzycki, a Medina firefighter, is in front at left.

The Medina United Methodist Church at the former Apple Grove Inn served as the staging area for the MAAC holiday effort.

Brothers Vinny Viterna, left, and Dominic Viterna help load up a truck with toys. Vinny just joined the Shelby Volunteer Fire Company and his brother is a junior firefighter.

Medina firefighter Jacob Crooks gets one of the last boxes ready for delivery.

Medina firefighters also placed 29 red barrels in the community in November and residents filled them up with toys and donations.

Medina firefighters head out to deliver some of the toys and food.

First snowfall hits this winter

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 December 2015 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The first snowfall finally hit today, with harsh winds part of the onslaught. The weather turned nasty around 3:30 p.m. This cyclist is crossing Main Street in Albion at about 4 p.m.

At least three accidents were reported on Ridge Road in Ridgeway since 4 p.m. with a car into a tree between Marshall and North Gravel roads, a vehicle rollover between Knowlesville Road the Gaines-Ridgeway town line, and a rollover between Swett and Oregon roads.

The weather will get better after today with highs of 38 on Sunday, 48 on Monday, 50 on Tuesday, 55 on Wednesday, 59 on Thursday and 45 on Friday (Christmas), according to the National Weather Service.

Here is how Main Street leading to downtown Albion looked at about 4 p.m.

NY apple industry pleased with Fed relief on hard cider tax

Posted 18 December 2015 at 12:00 am

File photo by Tom Rivers – Congressman Chris Collins joins members of the Orleans County farm community in September 2013 at the Leonard Oakes Estate Winery in Medina to promote the Cider Industry Deserves Equal Regulation Act, which would reduce the excise tax on hard cider.

Press Release, NY Apple Association

FISHERS – New York state’s apple industry is raising glasses of hard cider today to toast the news that the U.S. Congress has approved an overhaul of how hard cider is taxed that will allow New York state hard ciders to be more competitive in the marketplace.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the measure as part of the so-called tax extenders bill approved Thursday; the U.S. Senate approved it today as part of a combined tax and government funding bill.

The House and Senate bills included language from bills introduced in both chambers earlier this year to level the playing field regarding how hard cider is taxed relative to other alcoholic beverages such as champagne, wine and beer. New York’s U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D) had introduced the “Cider Investment and Development through Excise Tax Reduction (CIDER) Act of 2015” with five bipartisan cosponsors in May.

New York’s U.S. Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY-27) had introduced similar bipartisan legislation in the House of Representatives in January with Oregon’s Rep. Earl Blumenauer. Several U.S. representatives from New York subsequently co-sponsored that House bill: Richard Hanna (R-NY-22), Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY-18), Charles Rangel (D-NY-13), Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21) and Paul Tonko (D-NY-20).

“As the second-largest apple producing state in the country, New York should be the core of hard cider boom we are seeing now. With this sensible change, our hard cider makers can sell more cider and grow their businesses – and that means our apple growers can sell more apples to those cider makers,” said NYAA President Jim Allen.

“Cheers to the leadership shown by the New York congressional delegation, our thanks to Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Chris Collins in particular,” he added.

Under current federal law, depending upon its alcoholic content hard cider can be taxed at same rate as wine, $1.07 per gallon – and depending upon its carbonation, it can be taxed at the even higher champagne rate of $3.30 per gallon. The CIDER Act provision included in the tax extender bill changes the definition of hard cider to tax it at $.23 per gallon, equivalent to beer.