Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Caleb, Leah and Eli Prior of Hilton present a check for $511 to Patty Coffee, director of the PAWS Animal Shelter on Gaines Basin Road in Albion. Coffee is holding a Chihuahua named Sky.

The three children are the great-grandkids of the late Judy Grabowski who passed away about a year ago. Grabowski was known as “Mema” to the great-grandchildren. She was a Holley resident who donated often to PAWS in memory of friends who passed away, and as memorials for pets in the family that also passed.

“The kids chose PAWS because it was her favorite charity,” said her daughter, Elizabeth Pera of Hamlin. “She loved animals.”

Grabowski’s family did a Super Bowl Square fundraiser and gave the proceeds to PAWS in her memory.

Besides the three great-grandchildren this morning the donation was presented by Grabowski’s daughters, Pat Fredendall of Holley and Elizabeth Pera of Hamlin, and Grabowski’s granddaughter, Karen Prior of Hilton.

Coffee, the PAWS director, said the shelter currently has seven cats and eight dogs available for adoption.

ALBION – In October 2020, David Hill opened Orleans Storage with 107 units at three buildings on West Countyhouse Road in Albion, just east of Route 98.

Business has been good, and Hill only has six units available.

He has proposed an expansion with three more buildings that would bring the total units to about 240.

The Orleans County Planning Board this evening voted in favor of the project which includes two buildings that would be 30 feet wide by 230 feet long, plus another building that would be 20 feet long by 225 feet.

“There is a definite demand,” he told the Planning Board this evening.

Dan Strong, the town’s code enforcement officer, said it’s a “low-key” business that is quiet with little traffic.

The board recommended the Town of Albion approve the site plan and permit for the project.

In other action:

• The board recommended the Town of Clarendon approve a permit for a diesel repair shop to be operated by Erich Hoak at 5267 Countyline Rd.

• The board re-elected Brian Napoli of Ridgeway as the board chairman and Paul Hendel of Murray as the vice chairman.

• Corey Winters, a planner with the County Planning and Development Department, announced the department was notified that $41,000 in state funding will be coming to Orleans for snowmobile trail maintenance and signage.

• Winters also notified the board that the household hazardous waste collection event will be back in August with expanded hours after last year’s event quickly filled up and some residents had to be turned away.

Press Release, Albion Elks Lodge

ALBION – Albion Elks Lodge prides itself in doing what we can to help our local community.

No doubt we have all felt the pain caused by the pandemic in one way or another. We decided to reach out to The Grand Lodge of Elks and apply for what is known as the Spotlight Grant  valued at $2,000. The grant is one of many that local lodges can apply for to offer assistance in their community.

In previous years our Lodge has donated to several different organizations: Hospice, COVA Ambulance, Orleans Hope and Recovery, and the Angel Program through Community Action, just to name a few.

We thought hard about where we could impact the most in our community and the decision was the Genesee-Orleans County Ministry of Concern. The Ministry of Concern is a local non-profit organization that assists in helping low-income families and elderly individuals to overcome difficult circumstances when no other help is available.

It is with heartfelt expression that we at Albion Elks Lodge 1006 are proud to be able to support our community.

ALBION – Village residents can hear directly today from the seven candidates running for the Village Board in the March 15 election.

There will be a forum on March 1 starting at 6 p.m. at The Lockstone, 160 North Main St. The event is sponsored by The Lake Country Pennysaver and Orleans Hub.

The event is set up as a forum and not a debate. Candidates will give opening and closing statements, and will respond to questions submitted by the audience. People unable to attend the forum in person can call (585) 623-0688 during the forum between 6:15 and 7:45 p.m.

The candidates include three people running for mayor: Angel Javier Jr., running on the Republican and independent “Better Together Albion Strong” lines; Vickie Elsenheimer on the Democratic and independent “Move Albion Forward” lines; and Kevin Graham on the independent “Albion Pride, Working Together.”

Four people are seeking two trustee positions on the Village Board. Tim McMurray and Dan Conrad are on the Republican line. Sandra Walter and Joyce Riley are under the Democratic line and the independent “Move Albion Forward.”

The forum is expected to be posted on the Orleans Hub YouTube page.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION — Khabir Hillary of Albion speaks during a People Embracing Diversity event on Monday evening at Hoag Library. Hillary took to the podium after the speaker scheduled for the evening, Karima Amin of Buffalo, was unable to attend.

Amin was going to share a program about storytelling. When she was unable to be in Albion, several of the people in the crowd decided to offer their own personal stories.

Hillary spoke about the power of reading. He has always loved a book. He encouraged the crowd of about 50 people to inspire people to read.

“With a book you can go anywhere you want to,” he said.

Hillary also shared about many inventors who were Black, people who had an idea and brought it to the masses.

Sheila McCullough, chaplain at the Wyoming Correctional Facility in Attica, stepped in as an emcee to encourage people to share their stories.

McCullough talked about when she was a kid and saved up to buy her grandmother a new Bible. Her grandmother didn’t want a new one. She preferred the well used Bible that was full of her personal marks, highlighting important verses.

Her grandmother instilled in McCullough a passion “to read, read, and read.”

Joyce Riley of Albion, a past president of the Hoag Library board of directors, said she is one of 10 kids in her family. She said it’s an amazing how human kindness can lift a person. In her nursing career that has taken her to many countries and later in public service, Riley said she has learned to be “fearless.” And that fearless includes the courage to make mistakes and learn from them.

Riley said hearing stories from community members filled her with hope.

Henry Smith shared about being one of 24 kids in his family. He was born in South Carolina and moved to Rochester. He worked 32 years at Kodak, earned a master’s degree, and later served on the Gaines Town Board and Orleans County Legislature, as well as running a driving school.

Smith said his father didn’t have a degree, but was the smartest man Smith ever knew. Through it all, Smith said the greatest lesson he knows is “to treat your fellow man with respect.”

Malika Hill recalled her mother, who didn’t stay in school after second grade because she had to work on a farm. Her mother would hold up produce with her bare hands in a grocery store, and could tell you the weight to the exact ounce.

“Education goes way beyond books,” Hill said.

Kae Wilbert, one of the leaders of People Embracing Diversity, urged more community members to be part of the group. People Embracing Diversity has been meeting about five years with a goal of sharing stories and helping people to connect and get to know each other.

File photo by Tom Rivers: The basketball hoop at Bullard Park is pictured in this photo from Aug. 4, 2015. A group is pushing for two new basketball courts at Bullard.

ALBION – A group of community volunteers, including former Kendall and Syracuse University great Roosevelt Bouie, are pushing for two new basketball courts at Bullard park.

Bouie said he learned the game playing as a kid at Bullard, often against tough competition from Albion, Brockport, Batavia and Medina.

Bouie also worked during the summer at Bullard as a park supervisor. It was his first job.

“I owe quite a bit to Bullard park,” Bouie said on Friday during a Zoom call with others working on the project. “It used to be the mecca of basketball.”

The current court was described as decrepit without any upgrades in at least 30 years. The surface is cracked and heaves in places. The same basketball pole and hoops “have been there forever” and the hoops are tipped, said Tim McMurray, one of the volunteers working on the new courts.

McMurray said the current court has too much heaving and is in too rough of shape to be patched up.

Bouie and the community volunteers want to have two new courts and they would be in an area close to Route 31 at a former skating rink and skateboard area, the part of a parking lot with blue paint. Their plan includes an 8-foot-high perimeter fence. There would also be “breakaway rims” that flex back up when there is a slam dunk.

The project could be about $100,000, McMurray said. The group has the Village Board’s blessing to look into grants and support from foundations.

“I think it would be great,” Mayor Eileen Banker said today.

The board has already said it would support having new courts near the front of the park by Route 31.

The village and the community group have Orleans County United Way grantwriter Matt Holland looking into funding options for the project.

The local group also is planning fundraisers. One includes having Bouie, who is nearly 7 feet tall, shoot hoops with people during the Albion Strawberry Festival in June.

File photo: Roosevelt Bouie attended a charity basketball in Kendall in March 2015 when Holley and Kendall teachers played each other.

Bouie said he could see Bullard again becoming a big basketball venue, especially for 3-on-3 tournaments and those events could raise funding for ongoing maintenance of the courts.

Bullard has recently received about $800,000 in upgrades with a splash park, playground equipment, amphitheater, and utility building with bathrooms.

The basketball court hasn’t been touched in more than a generation. That space could be used for parking, especially for events at the amphitheater, the committee said.

The group stressed that the Albion community lacks outdoor courts. There aren’t any at the school campus.

The community group wants to have an engineer assess the old rink and skate park to see if that surface can be salvaged for a basketball court or if it needs to be torn out and a new surface put down.

Susan Oschmann, one of Bouie’s Kendall classmates, recently moved to Albion and is pushing the new courts. She noticed the lack of courts in Albion especially when the parks were closed for several months in 2020 in the earlier days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“All I hear is complaints about the youth,” Oschmann said. “But as adults and taxpayers it is our responsibility to put in the effort to give them something to do.”

She wants to see more recreational opportunities for children and residents in Albion. She is surprised there are so few outdoor courts in the community.

Others besides McMurray, Bouie and Oschmann in the effort so far include Steve Mowers, CRFS president; John Grillo, recreation director; and Holland, the grant writer.

Bouie is in the Syracuse University Hall of Fame and his number 50 has been retired by the Orange. He led the team to a record of 100-18 from 1977 to 1980. Bouie was a first-team All-BIG EAST Conference selection in 1979-80. He was picked in the second round of the 1980 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks. Bouie instead chose to play professionally in Europe for 13 seasons.

He has moved back to Kendall. The school retired his jersey in June 2012, the first one picked by Kendall with the recognition.

Bouie was a force for Kendall in the mid-1970s when the school won five straight sectional titles. Kendall had a record of 65-1 during his sophomore, junior and senior years, including 55 straight wins during one stretch.

Bouie said he traces his basketball origins to playing at Bullard.

“That’s where it all started for me,” he said.

Photos courtesy of Jamie Traxler

ALBION – Cooper Traxler, 7, is pictured with seven sheets of pizza from Mark’s Pizzeria that he shared today with the second-grade class at the Ronald L. Sodoma Elementary School in Albion. Cooper bought each class a sheet pizza and juice bags.

Cooper Traxler sold cider and doughnuts for three days in October.

He raised the money in October by selling apple cider and doughnuts from his grandmother’s front yard on South Main Street. His second-grade teacher was among his customers.

Cooper wanted to provide the pizza as a way to push back against bullying. He was being teased by some kids at school over his long hair.

Cooper likes to keep his hair long like some of his favorite dirt bike racers.

Some of the kids at school told him he was a girl because of his shoulder-length hair. Cooper tells them he is boy – with long hair.

When Cooper sold cider and doughnuts many of the customers shared stories about how they had been bullied when they were kids.

“There was a lot of community support,” Cooper’s mother Jamie said this afternoon. “He felt very blessed and that he wasn’t alone.”

Cooper has some money left over from the cider and doughnut sales that he wants to use for other acts of kindness, his mother said.

Photos by Tom Rivers: Volunteers and staff at Community Action of Orleans County distribute food on Monday morning at the parking lot for the Main Street Store. A long line of people in cars and trunks showed up for the event in 10-degree weather.

The schedule is in place for pop-up food distributions through June in Orleans County.

The events tend to be three times a month in the Village of Albion, the west end of the Town of Albion at Fairgrounds and in Lyndonville.

The food is delivered by Foodlink and is available for free to residents.

The upcoming food distributions include:

Albion Main Street Store, 131 Main St.

• March 21 (Monday) at 9 a.m.
• April 18 (Monday) at 9 a.m.
• May 16 (Monday) at 9 a.m.
• June 13 (Monday) at 9 a.m.

Community partner: Community Action of Orleans & Genesee

Lyndonville Presbyterian Church, 107 North Main St.

• Feb. 25 (Friday) at 9 a.m.
• March 11 (Friday) at 9 a.m.
• April 1 (Friday) ay 9 a.m.
• April 29 (Friday) at 9 a.m.
• May 13 (Friday) at 9 a.m.

Community partner: Lyndonville Presbyterian Church

Orleans County Fairgrounds, 12690 Route 31, Albion address but close to Knowlesville

• Feb. 28 (Monday) at noon
• March 28 (Monday) at noon
• April 25 (Monday) at noon
• May 23 (Monday) at noon
• June 27 (Monday) at noon

Community partner: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Orleans County

Note from organizer: Upon arrival you may check in with staff who will be in the Trolley Building, or staff will greet you at your car in the parking lot to give you a pass for a specific time slot.

A variety of food was given away on Monday outside the Main Street Store in Albion.

Provided photos

ALBION – Mark Tillman, center, is pictured with Community Action employees Ernie Gursslin an Katrina Chaffee last week after Tillman’s Village Inn donated $1,500 of food to the agency.

The pasta, sauce, vegetables, crackers, ketchup and other food will go the Community Action’s center in Holley, where meals and lunches are served each weekday.

The Village Inn closed on Dec. 30 after the Tillman family operated the restaurant and bar for 70 years.

Some of the food items are shown that were donated last Thursday and Friday by Tillman’s Village Inn.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Staff and volunteers for Community Action of Orleans & Genesee were out this morning in about 10-degree weather during a pop-up food distribution at the Main Street Thrift Store’s parking lot, 131 South Main St.

Dana Jessmer of Albion works quickly to unload food from boxes. A team put produce and other food in trunks of vehicles. Jessmer is the daughter of Community Action human resources director Susan Jessmer.

The food distributions will continue to at least June. Orleans Hub is trying to get a schedule of the upcoming distributions. Foodlink delivered the food in a program funded through the state’s Nourish New York program.

About 100 to 130 vehicles have been attending the recent distributions, with the food given away on a first come, first served basis.

Jackie Gardner, Community Action’s chief operating officer and director of operations, was part of the team unpacking food and putting it in cars and trucks this morning. She enjoyed the camaraderie with her co-workers and volunteers.

Greg Gilman, a Community Action employee, cuts open a box. He has worked at most of food distributions in Albion for nearly two years. He is retiring for the second time on Feb. 25.

Dan Healy had the day off from his job and was happy to help with the food distribution.