By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 September 2020 at 12:19 pm
Sheriff’s Office will check car seats Saturday at Public Safety Building
ALBION — There will be three car seat safety checks in Albion this month, with the first one today from noon to 4 p.m. at the Save-A-Lot parking lot, 320 West Ave.
“We will have technicians there to inspect seats and install them correctly,” said Roland Nenni, Albion police chief. “If the seat is out of date or a new one is required we will provide that free of charge.”
There will two other child passenger seat safety checks this month by the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office with the first one Saturday, Sept. 19, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Public Safety Building in Albion, 13925 Route 31.
There will be another one from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sept. 26 in Albion at the Dollar Tree parking lot, 330 West Ave. The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office will have certified child passenger safety technicians on site to check car/booster seats.
These check events are sponsored by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, which provided funding for new car seats.
Child safety seats reduce the risk of fatal injury by 71 percent when used correctly, Nenni said.
More than 90 percent of the seats aren’t installed correctly, he said.
Residents can call the Albion PD anytime at (585) 589-5627 to schedule an individual appointment to have a child car seat inspected.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 September 2020 at 9:47 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Mount Albion Cemetery employees have cut down nine cherry trees near the entrances of Mount Albion Cemetery on Route 31. This is one of the prominent trees near the main entrance of the cemetery, shown on Tuesday evening.
The trees all had significant decay. The stumps will soon be removed and new flowering trees are expected to be planted next week, said Jason Zicari, the cemetery superintendent.
This photo from May 2019 shows the cherry blossoms near the entrance of Mount Albion Cemetery. The trees looked good while in bloom for a few weeks each year, but the rest of the year their cracks and dead spots were becoming more obvious, Zicari said.
Rather than replace the decaying trees one at a time, Zicari and the village opted to take the trees out and plant new ones in a group.
The new trees will have some variety with flowering pink and red, white and purple blossoms.
“There should be some nice color once they get bigger,” Zicari said about the new trees.
The village did a tree inventory of the cemetery and the Davey Resource Group near Ithaca identified the cherry trees as ones that should be removed and replanted.
“I was reluctant to have then removed but they were looking in such poor condition,” Zicari said.
Photos by Tom Rivers: Rick Ebbs puts plywood sheets inside a 10-by-14-foot log cabin that will be moved from Linwood Avenue to behind a cobblestone schoolhouse on Gaines Basin Road.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 September 2020 at 1:25 pm
There are plaques with the initials of the scouts who built the cabin, including Faris Benton.
ALBION – A log cabin built by Boy Scouts nearly a century ago is getting prepped for a move from a backyard to behind a historic cobblestone schoolhouse.
Rick Ebbs, a local carpenter, is volunteering to get the cabin ready for the move. He is put plywood sheets inside the cabin and will put in cross-bracing to help keep the cabin together for the journey, which will be about 4 miles from Linwood Avenue, down Route 98, to Bacon Road and then behind the cobblestone schoolhouse on Gaines Basin Road, north of the Erie Canal.
Ebbs said the cabin could be on the move later this month. He is lining up volunteers and equipment for the task. He expects to use two forklifts to get the cabin up on a loader and then to set it behind the schoolhouse in Gaines.
Patricia and Ralph Moorhouse donated the structure to the Orleans County Historical Society. Mrs. Moorhouse’s father, Faris Benton, was one of the scouts who built the cabin with help from his father, Fred Benton. The scouts dragged logs from the nearby woods.
They built a fireplace on the inside and outside. That fireplace has deteriorated but will be reset and repaired in its new location.
Rick Ebbs said the log cabin has deteriorated and has some rot, but has held up remarkably well for nearly a century. He is getting the structure ready to be moved to its new home.
Mrs. Moorhouse said the cabin has provided three generations of fun for her father, when she was a kid and for her children. It is in her backyard.
“There have been many happy times in there,” she said this morning. “I played in it and so did my kids.”
Her father and his friends had bunks in the cabin, which has proven durable. They likely built it in 1930, when her dad was 14.
The only major improvements since then was a new roof about 40 years ago. Moorhouse said she feels sentimental about the cabin but is grateful the Orleans County Historical Society is willing to display it and give it an extended life.
The cabin will be moved to this spot behind the Gaines Basin No. 2 cobblestone school on Gaines Basin Road. That schoolhouse, built in 1832, has been rescued from decline in recent years by the Orleans County Historical Society. Bill Lattin, retired Orleans County historian and director of the Cobblestone Society Museum, and Al Capurso who spearheaded the effort to relocate the cabin with lots of work by Ebbs.
The cabin had an impressive stone chimney, which was knocked down by a fallen limb. The scouts used an oil tank to keep the fire going. The chimney and fire place will be moved to the new location and reset.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 September 2020 at 11:04 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Village of Albion DPW workers Charlie Ricci, left, and Ron Ricker install a banner recognizing World War II veteran Karl Kast. They are on South Main Street near the railroad tracks.
The banner is one of 36 new ones that will be added in the next few days on South Main and West Avenue. The DPW needs to add hardware holding the banners on the utility poles.
The DPW in June put on the first group of 33 banners. There was more interest from the community and Mayor Eileen Banker, who is coordinating the effort, was able to order more banners.
She will do another order beginning in February. Family and friends of the veterans are paying the cost for the banners. For more information, send Banker an email at ebanker@villageofalbionny.com.
The banners will go up after the Strawberry Festival in June and remain in place to approximately Veterans’ Day in November.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 September 2020 at 1:25 pm
ALBION – The Board of Education voted on Monday evening to approve a 5-year contract with the Albion Teachers’ Association.
The labor agreement gives the 163 teachers an average salary increase of 3.1 percent annually over the next five years. The ATA has already voted in favor of the contract.
Teachers will also continue to pay 16.5 percent towards their health insurance plans.
The new contract is a year longer than prior agreements. The past two contracts were for four years each time.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 September 2020 at 9:16 am
Students with symptoms could be out of school for a while with current state protocol
ALBION – School leaders say they are concerned about the impact on Albion families of a State Department of Health policy for students who are home sick or if they have Covid-19 symptoms.
Those students can’t return to school in-person until they have a negative Covid test and a doctor’s note saying they are OK.
That could slow down the return to the classroom for students, interim superintendent Scott Bishoping told the Board of Education on Monday.
“The biggest issue that I’ve seen us dealing with so far is the concern about what happens when we have a report of a student being ill, either from home or we have to send them home,” he told the Board.
The current DOH guidelines require a doctor’s note, a Covid negative test and no symptoms in order to return.
If parents call in, saying a child has symptoms or isn’t feeling well, the student can’t come back to school until there is a negative Covid test or a doctor’s visit. Students have to meet that same threshold if they are sent home from school, feeling sick or with Covid symptoms, even if it’s just a headache.
“It has to be difficult for parents,” Bishoping said. “We hope there is some adjustment to that.”
Linda Weller, a Board of Education member, said the current state policy will be a strain on families, who may have to pay for a test in the county and then pay to go to the doctor’s office.
“It is so unfair to the economically disadvantaged,” she said.
There are free Covid test options in Niagara and Monroe counties, but not in Orleans. The test results often take a week or more to come back.
Ideally, there would be a rapid test with the results known very quickly, but that isn’t an option for Albion students right now, Bishoping said.
Advocacy groups are pressing the state to change the policy, he said, to either require a doctor’s visit or a negative Covid test, not both.
“We want more chances for students to get those tests so they can get back to school,” he said about Covid testing. “Or there needs to be a change in the language.”
In other action at Monday’s BOE meeting:
• Discussed how public relations and communication services will be handled at the district this year. Albion has contracted with BOCES for PR and communication services for the 2020-21 school year.
Susan Starkweather Miller served in that role for many years, as well as being a grantwriter and managing the district’s internship program. She retired on Aug. 31.
The district will have BOCES do the communication piece, with a BOCES staffer on campus and afterschool, often on campus five days a week and sometimes on weekends.
Bishoping told the Board of Education one advantage with the BOCES arrangement is Albion also has access to other BOCES staff if there was a crisis situation and Albion needs those communication services.
The district will see how the arrangement goes and could switch back to hiring a district employee from the community, perhaps next year.
The district isn’t doing the internship program to start the school year and Mary Leto, the district’s assistant superintendent for instruction, handles most of the larger “entitlement” grants. Starkweather Miller wrote the applications and managed the “competitive” grants, but there have been fewer of those options.
“I don’t think we have enough to support a part-time or full-time grant writer at this point,” Leto said.
The BOCES staffer also is expected to help Albion roll out a more active district presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
• The board accepted the athletic trainer bid of $30 per hour from Karen Renner of Holley. The board said it needed to accept the lowest responsible bidder. Renner is a lower cost than Charlie Palmer’s proposal of $35 per hour. Palmer has served in the role in recent years for Albion.
• Approved a bid for $41,820 from Lakeshore Property Maintenance LLC in Waterport to provide snow removal services on the district campus. The bid is up 2 percent from Lakeshore bid of $41,000 last school year.
ALBION – Father Richard Csizmar, pastor of Holy Family Parish in Albion, blesses the Little Free Library constructed and donated to the parish by Rachel Duggan for her Girl Scout Gold Award.
The library is located on the grounds of St. Joseph’s church between the rectory and the church on West Park Street.
Rachel, 17, will start her senior year at Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse. She spends her summers in the Albion area. She has been a Girl Scout for 12 years and is a member of Troop 10401 of NYPENN Pathways.
The Gold Award is the highest award given in Girl Scouting. Rachel built the library, took up donations for the books through a community newsletter and purchased a plaque that will locate the library on the internet through Littlefreelibrary.org. Take a book leave a book for all ages.
Rachel’s family ties to Albion go back to her great grandfather, born in Albion and baptized at St. Josephs in 1904. Her great-great-grandfather immigrated from Ireland to Albion in 1893. She has been a summer resident in Orleans County all her life.
There was a ceremonial ribbon untying today just before noon.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 11 September 2020 at 2:23 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Julie Horton, left, and Hannah Donley of Iroquois Job Corps in Medina were among the volunteers this morning during a food distribution in Albion at the parking lot of the Main Street Thrift Store.
One of the delivery trucks was later than expected. Normally the distribution starts around 8:15 to 8:30, but didn’t get going until about 9. At that point some people had been waiting since 6 a.m. There was a long line of vehicles down Chamberlain Street, McKinstry Street, East Park Street, and down Main Street past the intersection with Route 31.
There were three boxes of food for each of the more than 300 vehicles. The event ended about 10:30.
Ashtin Fiegel of the Iroquois Job Corps Center sorts out boxes of fruits and vegetables. Most of the people received a box with grapes, strawberries, peppers, Brussels sprouts, apples, blackberries, raspberries, radishes and oranges.
The Job Corps had a team of volunteers and they were instrumental in getting the food sorted and set in the vehicles this morning.
The food distributions are made possible through a state-funded program called Nourish New York. This funding allows Foodlink to purchase local product.
On a federal level, the USDA has implemented a new initiative called CFAP (Coronavirus Food Assistance Program). In this program, distributors who would normally serve schools, restaurants, and municipal programs are able to pre-pack boxes of perishable product and deliver to distributions being done all over the country.
Kenneth McNeil, left, and Greg Gilman of Community Action of Orleans & Genesee get the pallets of food ready this morning after it was delivered to Albion.
The next food distribution will be in a week on Sept. 18. The location has been moved from Medina Central School to the Ridgeway Fire Hall, 11392 Ridge Rd.
The entrance will be on Horan Road and the line will be facing north towards Ridge Road, where vehicles will exit.
The events is promoted to start at 9 but could begin earlier if the delivery trucks and volunteers are in place.
Photos by Tom Rivers: Kim Martillotta Muscarella and her husband Neal Muscarella are shown inside the former Cornell Cooperative Extension building in Albion. They have worked the past nine months to transform the interior of the building into an art studio and gallery. Mrs. Muscarella is eyeing a spring opening for the Marti’s on Main gallery.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 10 September 2020 at 11:53 am
Marti’s on Main eyes spring opening in historic building
The former Cornell Cooperative Extension building has been used an outreach center for the Episcopal Church in Albion. The building was originally a house built in the 1830s.
ALBION – For years Kim Martillotta Muscarella drove by the former Cornell Cooperative Extension building on Main Street. She watched the site decline, with little activity inside the doors of one of the prominent buildings in the historic Courthouse Square.
“Any time I see a building going to Hell it makes me crazy,” she said during a tour of the site on Monday.
Muscarella for the past decade ran Marti’s on Main, an art gallery and studio at her home at 229 South Main St. But that site, which was half of her house, was cramped to show case art and accommodate groups of people.
On a whim last December, she decided to look at the old Extension building, which had been for sale for years and was listed by her friend Jim Theodorakos of Morrison Realty. Muscarella and her husband, Neal, were given a tour of the building. (The Extension moved in 2007 to a new building at the 4-H fairgrounds in Knowlesville.)
The walls in the old building were all painted a very pale yellow. The floors covered in green and red carpet or asphalt tiles.
The couple also noted the high ceilings, big rooms and lots of wall space. They decided to take on the building, and give it a new life as an art studio and gallery.
For the past nine months it has been a full-time effort, transforming the interior.
Kim and Neal Muscarella relax in one of the main art gallery rooms. Mrs. Muscarella created the painting above the fire place. She also did most of the painting on the walls, giving them a bold look.
It took three months to remove wires, and pull nails and staples from the walls and hardwood floors that were hiding underneath. They hauled out 5,600 pounds of carpet, plywood and tiles.
Kim Muscarella created this sculpture, using a guitar, her mother’s measuring tape, one of her father’s bowties and other odds and ends.
“In every room we ripped out a Walmart bag full of wires,” Mrs. Muscarella said while giving a tour of the building on Monday. “It took a long time just to get it ready where we could paint.”
Mrs. Muscarella’s son Jeremiah Knight, a cabinet maker, refinished the floors. The Muscarellas tackled painting the rooms, often in bold purple, blue, red, orange and yellow.
She hasn’t posted pictures on social media of the transformation while it was in process. Today, the Orleans Hub gives a sneak peak of the new Marti’s.
Muscarella is eyeing a spring opening for the building to the public. She would like to do three art shows a year, while using the space as her studio to paint and create sculptures. She would also like to offer art and sewing classes. The sewing classes is a tribute to the building when it was the Home Bureau, beginning in the mid-1940s.
First, she wants the Covid-19 pandemic to end before bringing in groups of people for events.
The building is a showcase of work by more than a dozen artists. She hosted many of them at her gallery from her home.
She prefers a European-style gallery in multiple rooms of a home. She doesn’t like the narrow rooms and white walls of many American galleries.
“In the European style, the fill up a house with artwork and open the doors,” she said.
Muscarella also favors artists who push the envelope and shun “normal” – “anything that’s a little bit different.”
Many of her sculptures fit that model. She takes pieces of driftwood, and common objects – yard clippers, her mother’s measuring tape, her father’s bowtie, glasses, shells and feathers – to create a sculpture or assemblage with a personality.
Muscarella looks forward to letting the public stop in and see the site in larger groups. For now, she is willing to show a few people in small groups. She can be reached at (585) 589-6715.
Kim Muscarella likes to showcase art that is out of the norm.
Marti’s has artwork from more than a dozen local artists on display. Muscarella would like to add more art from other community members.
By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 4 September 2020 at 9:57 am
Laura Olinger is the new owner following her father’s retirement
Photos by Ginny Kropf: Laura Olinger and her dad David Bentley stand next to a Kubota backhoe on the lot at Bentley Brothers in Albion, the business she has taken over from David after he decided to retire.
ALBION – A family business started in 1925 will continue in Albion under a fourth generation of leadership.
David Bentley of Kendall announced earlier this year he was going to scale back his involvement in Bentley Brothers and turn the reins over to his daughter Laura Olinger.
Bentley Brothers was started in Barre Center by David’s grandfather Allen Bentley selling Cletrac machines for use on the muck. His sons Gerald (David’s father) and Walter (David’s uncle) came back from the war and started working there in the mid 1940s.
David Bentley and his daughter Laura Olinger chat in her office at Bentley Brothers in Albion, where she has taken over the business started by David’s grandfather in 1925.
Allen died in 1951 and the boys continued to run the business through the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were joined by Dave, his brother Doug and sister Donna. After Donna left in the late 1980s, Doug and David took over, with David as manager and Doug as mechanic.
David had graduated from high school in 1974 and then worked part time at the business while attending Alfred State College. After graduating from there, he started full time at Bentley’s.
The business evolved during the years, from selling Cletrac, which was bought out by Oliver, then Oliver was bought by White and White was bought by Agco.
In 1980, David started selling Kubota, a company in Japan which began making farm equipment in 1972. In 1991 he moved the business from Barre Center to Route 31 west of Albion. In 2009, he purchased the Kubota dealership near Brockport.
Doug retired two years ago, and David, who recently turned 64, decided it was time to step back and let Laura run the business.
“I’ve been at this business 45 years,” Dave said.
He will continue for now to spend two and one-half days a week at Bentley’s.
Laura is joined by Brockport’s manager Darrell Morgan, who is buying into the business.
David has a son Kevin, who worked at the business growing up, but after college he wanted to become a state trooper.
David loves boating and hopes to spend more time on his cabin cruiser. He will miss taking care of the people, he said.
“Many customers have become friends,” David said.
Laura said the staff at Bentley Brothers has doubled in the past five years.
“Our goal is to always keep growing and to have what people want,” she said.
Laura has taken over at a challenging time, with the Covid-19 pandemic closing businesses, and having difficulty getting parts and equipment. In spite of that, she said business has been good. She thinks many people who couldn’t spend their money going on vacation are spending it on equipment and things for their homes.
Like her grandfather and uncle, Gerald and Walter, Laura firmly believes in being involved in the community. She recently joined the board of United Way of Orleans County. She also has joined many of her employees, helping at food distributions during the pandemic.
“I’m very fortunate to have a great family, although I work my tail off,” she said.
Three years ago, she married John Olinger, the Ridgeway highway superintendent, and they have bought the Cottages at Oak Orchard and marina at the Bridges in Carlton.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 September 2020 at 9:54 am
Fruit grower was key leader for many local organizations
Photo by Tom Rivers; Bruce Krenning accepts an award for Lifetime Achievement in September 2014 from the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce.
ALBION – The Albion Board of Education on Monday began its meeting by observing a moment of silence for Bruce Krenning, who served on the board from 1990 to 1995, with four of those years as board president.
Kathy Harling, the current BOE president, said Krenning left a legacy of community service. He was “a lifelong advocate for agriculture, education and cultural issues,” Harling said.
Krenning, 76, passed away on Aug. 24. He was fruit grower and hog farmer in Knowlesville. He began his public service at age 30, when he joined the Lyndonville Board of Education.
He moved from Lyndonville, where he was an orchard manager, to Knowlesville to start his own farm. Krenning Orchards was decimated by a hail storm on Labor Day in 1998. Krenning was forced to go out of business.
But he remained a strong leader for agriculture, and was elected vice president of the New York Farm Bureau, an organization with more than 30,000 members.
Locally, he was chairman of the board for Orleans Community Health, seeing the organization through some difficult financial challenges. He also served on the board for the Orleans Renaissance Group, which started the restoration of Bent’s Hall in Medina and continues to run a farmers’ market and welcome musicians to the community, including renown tenor Ronan Tynan.
The Orleans County Chamber of Commerce in 2014 honored Krenning with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his many years as a community leader.
Krenning, during an interview with the Orleans Hub six years ago, said he struggled with self worth after the Labor Day storm and the loss of his business.
“I thought after the hail storm that life was over and nobody would want me,” Krenning said. “But that’s not true. I’ve had opportunities with great boards.”
Many of the local organizations reached out to him, wanting his wisdom and ability to build consensus. He was also battle-tested and didn’t shrink from a challenge. Those boards would often they pick him to serve as their leader.
Krenning found a new career as an insurance agent with the Southcott Agency. (When he was VP with Farm Bureau, he helped to get crop insurance approved at the federal level for fruit and vegetable farms.)
“I’ve been fortunate that people trusted me and with that trust I can build relationships and with those relationships you can get things done,” Krenning told the Orleans Hub in September 2014.
He and his wife of 54 years, Diane, have four grown children and 14 grandchildren. Their son Adam was the agriculture teacher and FFA advisor for Albion Central School. He is now the school’s athletic director and varsity football coach.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 September 2020 at 10:21 am
Photos by Tom Rivers: Dee Robinson, a reference librarian at Hoag Library in Albion, meets with Albion teacher Tim Archer for a YouTube video on some important local artifacts at the library, including a letter from George Washington, a sword from Civil War and a brick with the name “Newport.” That was Albion’s name before it was Albion.
ALBION – Tim Archer, an Albion Middle School service learning teacher, likes to take groups of students on field trips in the community each year.
They stop at historic sites, such as the Courthouse Square and Civil War Memorial (Mount Albion Tower) at Mount Albion Cemetery. They visit with historians to learn about local history and other interesting artifacts.
But there won’t be any field trips to start this school year, or guest speakers to classrooms.
Archer still wants his sixth- and seventh-grade students to feel a deeper connection to the community, learning about its history and some notable leaders and characters from the past.
He decided to bring the field trips to the class. He plans to visit many of the sites that would normally be on the outings, and make videos of the locations with short clips from historians and other speakers.
Tuesday was the first stop. Archer met with Dee Robinson, the reference librarian at Hoag Library and a long-time Gaines town historian. Robinson has been the caretaker of the archive room at the library.
She often will host Archer’s students on field trips. On Tuesday, she made a video on the library’s YouTube channel, showing some of the interesting artifacts in the collection.
Archer will share the video in the his classes, and students will need to answer questions from the presentation.
The two highlighted maps from Orleans County in 1852 and the village in 1857. In the county, map, there is no Town of Albion. At that time, the Town of Albion was part of Barre. The village, however, was Albion.
Albion, however, almost wasn’t “Albion.” The village officials initially were pushing to name the community “Newport.” Robinson has a brick with the Newport name. But state officials rejected that name because the U.S. Postal Service didn’t want two places with the same name in the state. There was already a Newport.
Robinson isn’t sure which building or site the Newport brick is from. The state government nixed the idea of naming Albion “Newport” because there was already a Newport in Herkimer County and the U.S. Postal Service balked at having two in the state.
Albion was also derisively referred to as “Mudport” by many people in Gaines. The village streets tended to get muddy, especially down the hill on Main Street near Bank Street, before the Erie Canal.
Robinson, in her YouTube talk, also showed a sword given to Albion man as he was departing to fight in the Civil War in 1862. The sword was presented to George Hutchinson by the local Masonic Lodge.
Robinson also discussed Grace Bedell, an Albion girl who wrote to Lincoln during the presidential campaign of 1860. She suggested that he grow whiskers “because his face was so scrawny,” Robinson said.
Bedell thought a beard would increase his chances for election. Lincoln took her advice and won. Bedell wrote that letter when she briefly lived in Westfield. Lincoln would meet her on the train in Westfield when he headed to Washington, D.C.
This book by Fred Trump in 1977 highlights Grace Bedell, a girl from Albion who urged Abraham Lincoln to grow a beard in 1860, when he was running for president.
Robinson also discussed other library treasures, including a letter written in May 1784 from George Washington. He wrote to Jacob Morris, who delivered a package for the general to Marquis de Lafayette, a French military officer who fought with Washington in the American Revolutionary War.
An Albion native, Noah Davis, received the letter from a friend who won it in a poker game, Robinson said.
The library also has the pen used in 1867 to sign bail bond for Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy. The pen was given to Rufus Bullock, the governor of Georgia and an Albion native.
Davis was captured in Georgia on May 10, 1865. He was taken to Fort Monroe, Virginia. Although he was accused of treason and plotting in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, he was never brought to trial.
After two years in prison, he was released and lived out the rest of his life in relative peace in Biloxi, Mississippi, at the Beauvoir plantation. He died in 1889.
Bullock donated the pen to the Swan Library, which opened in 1900 and soon was taken in important artifacts because there wasn’t a museum in the county to be serve as caretaker of the items.
“It’s cool that these things that are so significant to our national history are right here,” Archer said.
To see the YouTube video of Robinson’s presentation, click here.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 August 2020 at 4:58 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Ondrea Pate and her friends and family serve up beef on wick dinners today at the Elks Lodge on West State Street. They are prepared to serve 500 dinners from noon to 6 p.m.
The meals are part of a benefit for the Pate family, which lost their Albion home in a fire on June 20.
Retired Albion music teacher Linda Logan checks out some of the 100 baskets up for raffle. The event was spaced out over six hours to allow for social distancing inside the building.
The band Lonesome Road performs this afternoon. From left include Mike Whiting, Todd Colegrove, Robert Williams and drummer David Leonard.
Angelo and Ondrea Pate and their two daughters, Eowyn and Maia, are currently staying with Ondrea’s father Richard Brackenbury in Waterport. The Pate residence on West Academy Street was declared a total loss after the fire.
Noreen Dixon and her sister Donna Halladay are the leader organizers for today’s benefit. The Pates were great neighbors to their mother, Marguerite, checking in on her frequently, and responding in the middle of the night if she needed help.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 August 2020 at 10:06 am
ALBION – The school district will be making Chromebooks available to all students next week, whether they are doing remote instruction or the hybrid model where they are in-person at school two days a week.
The computers will be available Monday through Friday. Families can go to their child’s building and pick up the Chromebook. The district urges families to pick up the Chromebook within this timeframe:
August 31: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
September 1: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
September 2: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
September 3: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
September 4: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The district’s information technology department also is making a MiFi unit available to families who don’t have internet access at home. If families need a MiFi unit and didn’t fill out a survey from the district stating that need, they need to call (585) 589-2060 to request one.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 28 August 2020 at 9:21 pm
Michelle Waters opened on March 12, but then had to close until July due to Covid-19 pandemic
Photos by Tom Rivers: Michelle Waters, owner and program director of The Tree House, runs preschool, parent child classes, special events and birthday parties at the site on the second floor of 116 North Main St.
ALBION – On March 12, Michelle Waters held her first class at The Tree House, a program for young children and their families.
The first session was a parent-child music class. She had debuted the program at Dance Reflections by Miss Heather. There was a big response and Waters decided to open her own space in the second floor at 116 North Main St.
She was happy with the energy and turnout in the first class on March 12. But a few days later the site was closed to the public due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Michelle Waters and Cassie Langdon, assistant program director, check on these kids today who were playing at The Treehouse. Ava Waters, left, is Waters’ daughter and Kingsley Harden is Langdon’s son.
Waters had bills to pay and wanted to help families who suddenly had children home – nearly all the time. She put together activity kits and delivered them throughout Western New York. Those kits were fun and educational. There was a stuffed puppy kit, a project where children could assembly a bird feeder, a kit to do a dinosaur dig and others.
“We started the activity kits and took them to Buffalo, Rochester, Attica and locally,” Waters said. “The support from the community helped me to keep this open.”
She was able to welcome children back to The Treehouse in July, and this summer has offered several play camps and enrichment programs, with a focus on music, art and laughter. They kids do dramatic play, making “monster slime” and doing other activities that teach them to socialize with other kids, follow instructions from adults and get them ready for kindergarten.
At Tree House, children need to sanitize their hands frequently. Waters limits the number of kids to eight at a time in the 1,500-square-foot room.
She has taped off sections so kids space out, and she sets tables 6 feet apart during snack time. If she or her assistant director, Cassie Langdon, see children put a toy in their mouths, that toy goes in the “Yuck Bucket” to be sanitized.
Langdon was in the parent-child music class led by Waters when it was at Dance Reflections. Langdon was in the class with her son, Kingsley, who is now 3. Waters impressed with her energy.
“She is so welcoming and friendly,” Langdon said.
Michelle Waters, left, and Cassie Langdon look forward to a busy September and fall at The Tree House.
Waters will be offering a “playschool” program beginning next month for about 2 ½ hours, with the program for 3- and 4-year-olds on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and 2-year-olds on Tuesday and Thursday.
Waters also will be making the space available for birthday parties, and a monthly parents’ night out, with programs in the evening.
Waters, 32, grew up in Holley and Rochester. She moved to Albion about a decade ago. Her daughter Ava, 2, joins her at many of the programs. She also has a son, Logan Poupore, who has proven a doting helper.
The Tree House is located in the former space for Spotlight Studio. Waters credited her husband, Patrick Waters, for helping to transform the large room into a fun place for children and their families. Patrick works with his father, Dave Waters, as a painter at Waters Autobody and Paint in Albion.
Waters will have a ribbon-cutting celebration at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. Before that, she will meet with prospective playschool enrollees. She welcomes 2-year-olds and their families from 9 to 10 a.m., and 3- and 4-year-olds from 10 to 11 a.m. For more information about The Tree House, click here.
