By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 July 2020 at 12:36 pm
GoFundMe established for David Warren, who felt fine and never smoked or used drugs
Provided photos: David Warren is shown with his kids – Hailey and Charles – during a family vacation last summer.
ALBION – An Albion family is facing mounting medical bills and other healthcare costs after the 35-year-old father of two unexpectedly had heart failure.
David Warren is home after three weeks in the hospital. He had open heart surgery to implant a permanent pump called an LVAD, or left ventricular assist device.
As he builds his endurance and recovers from the surgery, he is hopeful he can return to work as an accountant for Ruby Gordon Furniture in Henrietta.
He was struggling with shortness of breath when he went to the hospital on June 9. He and his wife Evelyn were shocked when the doctors said his heart was failing rapidly.
“There was no warning,” he said on Thursday. “There was no decrease in energy level.”
Warren not long before that has remodeled one of his kid’s bedrooms.
He and Evelyn have a daughter Hailey, who is going into ninth grade, and a son, Charles, who will be a sixth-grader.
Mr. Warren said doctors haven’t determined what caused the heart failure. His arteries weren’t clogged. He has never used drugs or smoked, and isn’t a heavy drinker.
David Warren is pictured with his wife Evelyn the first day she was able to visit him at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.
He is determined to get stronger and return to an active life with his family and career. Warren said the financial burden of being hospitalized with open-heart surgery, plus his ongoing medication, also is stressful for the family.
The Warrens have started a GoFundMe for people to help with the medical bills. (Click here for more information.)
“I am not one who asks for help or assistance but with this situation I need to in order to help my family,” Warren said.
The family lives at Oak Orchard Estates. Warren met his wife, an Attica native, through a mutual friend. Mrs. Warren works as a universal PreK teacher in Albion through Head Start.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 July 2020 at 1:14 pm
‘Dedicated to our courageous brothers and sisters of this community who served our country in times of peace and war’
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The new veterans’ memorial on the Courthouse lawn added the memorial stone. The Knights of Columbus in Albion has spearheaded the project that includes a flagpole with a POW/MIA flag. It stands next to a larger pole with an American flag.
The stone states the following:
“Dedicated to our courageous brothers and sisters of this community who served our country in times of peace and war. We thank them for their service. And especially to those who gave their lives in that service. May God grant them eternal rest.”
The stone includes the insignias of the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Army National Guard and Merchant Marine.
The back of the memorial stone lists sponsors for the project: Knights of Columbus in Albion, St. Mary’s Archery Club, St. Mary’s Athletic Club, Orleans Veterans Club, American Legion Sheret Post in Albion, Veterans of Foreign Wars Strickland Post in Albion.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 12 July 2020 at 11:22 am
‘It’s going to be real nice. It’s going to be beautiful.’ – Jay Pahura, Albion DPW superintendent
Photos by Tom Rivers: Jay Pahura, Albion’s Department of Public Works superintendent, checks on the spray park at Bullard Park on Thursday. The perimeter around the spray park needs to change from dirt to grass before the site opens. Otherwise, Pahura said mud would clog up the drains.
ALBION – Albion’s spray park is close to opening. A certain date for the debut of the water attraction isn’t set.
One missing piece in the project may seem like the simplest part of undertaking: grass. The village Department of Public Works brought in topsoil, seeded and fertilized it and has been steadily watering about an acre of land around the spray park, trying to get the grass to grow. The DPW brings tanker of 3,500 gallons of water to the site each day.
The punishing heat in recent weeks with little rain has made grass growing a challenge.
“We’ve been trying to grow an acre of grass during a drought,” said Jay Pahura, Albion’s DPW superintendent.
The spray park has 18 spray elements. It is much larger than the splash pad that opened in Medina on Thursday. That splash pad at Pine Street Park has five spray elements.
The grass is starting to sprout up so it might not be too much longer. Pahura said the grass is needed or else spray park users will bring in mud, which could clog the drains.
There is also some electrical work, and some sidewalks will be added to make the spray park handicapped accessible.
“We’re almost there,” Pahura said on Thursday. “When it’s done, it’s going to be real nice. It’s going to be beautiful.”
The spray park has been long anticipated by the community. It is part of about $800,000 in upgrades to Bullard, Albion’s most popular park on Route 31.
The new splash pad is next to the amphitheater. Construction started last year on the project.
The $800,000 upgrade at Bullard also includes an amphitheater, utility building with bathrooms and a pavilion.
The village in December 2016 was awarded a $499,605 state grant for the Bullard projects. The village also received $97,500 from the county and $45,000 from the town of Albion, money that was through a revolving-loan fund by the Orleans Economic Development Agency.
The state made the EDA and other economic development agencies end their revolving-loan funds. They either had to give the money to the state or use it in the community with some stipulations. One option allowed for improving handicapped accessibility at parks.
Albion will use that EDA money for sidewalks to the amphitheater and splash pad, to make them accessible to people in a wheelchair.
The park has a new utility building with bathrooms. The building will get a log wash, two coats of stain and clear coat. The Albion DPW also is putting a new 400 amp electrical panel next to the building.
The Albion DPW is providing $166,370 of in-kind services as part of Albion’s local share for the state grant. The DPW took down a pavilion and storage building last fall to make way for the new utility building. The DPW also ran a new sewer line across Route 31 near the Bullard entrance. That sewer line will service the park.
The DPW also ran 600 feet of waterline for the splash pad and utility building, several feet of sewer line, and will be doing the electric service for the amphitheater.
Pahura said the infrastructure was put in with future expansion in mind.
A touch pad will activate the water at the splash park.
The Covid-19 pandemic pushed back the schedule on the spring construction at the park. The village needed to reduce the work crews at the DPW by 50 percent for about six weeks.
The DPW only has nine employees at full strength, and they have the other tasks with street maintenance, water line work, picking up brush and numerous other responsibilities.
“Covid-19 slowed everything down, but we’re almost there,” Pahura said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 9 July 2020 at 12:41 pm
Albion resident helped push through construction of a new site which opened in 2012
Photos by Tom Rivers: Kevin Doherty speaks on Wednesday during the 120th annual meeting of the Swan Library Association. Doherty is speaking in front of a new mural in the Hoag Library painted by Stacey Kirby Steward. The annual meeting is usually the first Monday in May. It was pushed back due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
ALBION – Kevin Doherty has ended a 12-year tenure as a trustee for Hoag Library, including the past 11 years as the board’s president.
Doherty has reached the time limit for a trustee on the board. He is the last trustee who was on the board when Albion opened the new Hoag Library in July 2012.
Doherty was the president during the construction and the financial planning for the 14,600-square-foot site. The building allowed the library to move out of a former 6,000-square-foot mansion that lacked adequate parking and wasn’t fully handicapped accessible.
Kevin Doherty, president of the Hoag Library board of trustees, speaks during a ribbon-cutting celebration for the new library on July 7, 2012.
Terry Wilbert, a retired school guidance counselor, is the new board president. Wilbert also is an Albion town councilman.
“This is a centerpiece of the community,” Wilbert said about the library. “The meeting rooms are constantly in use. We have the book delivery program and the internet access. This is just a fantastic community asset.”
Voters on Wednesday also elected three trustees on the board. Anitrice Bennett, 77 votes, and Dan Conrad, 62 votes, were each elected to four-year terms. Joyce Riley, 55 votes, was elected to a three-year term. Those three were incumbents on the board.
There were two other candidates: Carol Miller, 43 votes, and Allyson DeBoard, 38 votes.
Doherty thanked all the candidates for their interest in serving on the library’s board of trustees. He said many other libraries struggle to find people willing to serve in the volunteer roles.
Doherty, in a message at the annual meeting, said Hoag Library has strong community support. The library is in demand for its meeting rooms, and special events, as well as access to its collection.
Doherty said generous donors continue to support projects at the library and help Hoag to pay down the debt from the mortgage for the building. The original $1.69 million mortgage from 2012 is now down to $300,000.
The library was completely done in 2012. A new electronic sign was installed last year. Solar panels were added to the roof in 2015.
Hoag also boosted its WiFi signal this year so people can have access to high-speed internet in the parking lot when the library wasn’t open.
“We added the WiFi booster because there are so many dead areas in the community where they’re trying to do distance learning,” said Betty Sue Miller, the library director.
Hoag also expects to have two charging stations installed later this summer for electric vehicles.
Donors continue to step forward for library
Doherty and Betty Sue Miller, the library director, said the community continues to give sizable donations to the library.
The library in 2019-20 received $143,246 in donations, including another $100,000 from Maurice “Mo” Hoag and his wife Courtenay. They have now given $800,000 to the library.
Betty Sue Miller, library director, speaks during the annual meeting on Wednesday.
Bob and Ann Moore also gave $10,000 for a mural of three swans in flight over the Albion countryside. That mural is in the main meeting room of the library. Stacey Kirby Steward finished that project last month. The mural was done in honor of Marion Moore, who served as director of the Swan Library from 1961 to 1973.
An anonymous donor has also given $10,000 towards the restoration of a Civil War flag that is owned by the library.
Xerox gave Hoag a $7,768 grant to purchase a book vending machine.
Another anonymous donor gave $4,000 towards a shut-in program, where library staff takes books and materials to senior citizens once a month.
A $1,000 anonymous donation also is paying for a “Book from Birth” program where children who live in the Albion school district can receive a free book on their birthday, up to age 5.
Miller, the library director, said Hoag isn’t fully open yet. It closed on March 23 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It reopened on June 1 with patrons able to order materials and have them set at the front of the building.
The building has since reopened to the community, initially from 1 to 6 p.m. The hours are now 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Monday through Friday.
The special events remain cancelled and the meeting rooms aren’t available to the public yet. The Summer Reading Program doesn’t have any in-person events but there is an online program.
Miller said the library looks to add back more services. Next week the interloan library program through Nioga is expected to return. That allows patrons to borrow books and materials from all member libraries in the Nioga system, which includes sites in Niagara, Orleans and Genesee counties.
“That’s what a lot of our patrons are waiting for,” Miller said about interloan. “We get a lot and we give a lot.”
Photo by Tom Rivers: Hoag Library has a flag from an African-American unit that fought in the Civil War. The flag has 35 stars. That’s how many stars were on the flag for two years from 1863 to 1865.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 9 July 2020 at 10:42 am
Library asks expert how to best preserve flag for the future
ALBION – An anonymous donor has given Hoag Library $10,000 to have a Civil War flag restored.
The library is having a textile conservator and flag expert do an analysis of the flag to see how it can best be preserved and what the estimated cost would be. If the cost exceeds $10,000, the library may ask the community for additional donations for the project, said Betty Sue Miller, the library director.
If the cost seems too expensive, the library might not proceed with the restoration and the $10,000 would be returned to the donor.
Miller discussed the restoration briefly during the library’s annual meeting on Wednesday evening.
The flag was driven to Delmar near Albany by Kevin Doherty, Hoag Library president. The flag is being analyzed by Spicer Art Conservation, LLC, a firm that has cleaned and restored many Civil War flags, and even one from the War of 1812, which was a half century before the Civil War.
Gwen Spicer, owner of Spicer Art Conservation, has worked on many historically significant flags and banners, including a pre-Revolutionary War “Liberty” flag and Civil War flags. She has treated flags from every American conflict from the Revolutionary War to the present, according to the Spicer Art Conservation website (click here).
The Hoag Library board of trustees on March 13, 2019 voted to have the flag sold through an auctioneer in Dallas, Texas. Heritage Auctions estimated the flag would sell for $20,000.
The library board, however, never followed through with the sale after hearing from the community and having a donor step forward, offering to fund a restoration up to $10,000.
The flag is from a Colored Troops regiment. The 26th Regiment United States Colored Troops wasn’t for a local unit. Those troops were based out of New York City, although former County Historian Matt Ballard said the group was led by a local white soldier, Charles H. Mattison of Barre.
The library trustees in March 2019 felt it would be costly for the library to preserve the flag and then to properly display it. The trustees didn’t think the library should have the responsibility of caring for an artifact that didn’t originate in the local community.
Hoag officials last year reached out to African-American museums as well as the Smithsonian to see if they were interested in the flag. The African-American museums said they would accept it, but only if it was restored. The Smithsonian would accept it and put it in storage. It might be decades before it was worked on or displayed, Miller said.
The flag has been in a frame for many years. The white stripes in particular have deteriorated. The library trustees were concerned if the library keeps the flag, in the current frame, the flag would further wither away.
Spicer Art Conservation will likely have recommendations on the best course of action to preserve and display the flag.
Face-to-face meetings, telehealth appointments available
Press Release, Danielle Figura, interim director of Orleans County Mental Health Department
ALBION – The Orleans County Department of Mental Health continues to be open during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
The outpatient clinic continues to offer face-to-face appointments that meet the social distancing requirements. If accordance to the CDC guidelines, we will ask that all individuals who attend face-to-face appointments wear a face mask, and participate in a health screening protocol prior to your appointment with your provider.
Additionally we are offering both audio and video telehealth appointments for individuals already engaged in treatment or for those who wish to pursue treatment services with us. To schedule an appointment or if you would like to find out more about our available and extended services at this time, please contact the clinic at (585) 589-7066.
Health Home Care Management services continue to operate and are accepting new referrals for both children and adults through Orleans County Department of Mental Health. Please contact the department at (585) 589-7066 and ask to speak with the Coordinator of Care Management Services or the SPOA Coordinator.
Additional information on the mental health resources in Orleans County and in case of a crisis, The Care & Crisis Helpline (585) 283-5200, can be contacted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 July 2020 at 8:48 am
ALBION – The school district wants to hear from the community about what they want in a school superintendent.
The district is pushing to have a new superintendent in place by Jan. 1.
The district has an on-line survey that lists about 30 qualities and skills for a superintendent. Respondents are asked to rank their five most critical skills for a superintendent to be effective at Albion.
Scott Bischoping is Albion’s interim superintendent.
Ability to create a positive school culture, unquestioned integrity, strong presence in schools and community, strong commitment to student achievements and success, and outstanding written and oral communication skills are among the possible responses.
Survey respondents are asked to pick what they believe is the single, most important quality for the next superintendent.
The survey also asks respondents to consider the top three areas of focus for the superintendent in the next 3-5 years.
Some of those areas listed on the survey include budget and finance, communication with the community, instruction/student performance, contract negotiations/labor relations, building and sustaining strong sports and arts programs, improving technology, and building relationships and trust with stakeholders.
The survey, which takes less than 15 minutes to complete and is anonymous, will be online until July 24. The survey is available in English and Spanish.
The district also is forming focus groups of staff, students, parents and other community members. The groups will be asked to identify the following: desired traits, characteristics and behaviors of the new superintendent as well as challenges and opportunities the new superintendent will face.
Albion has hired the Western New York Educational Service Council, located at the University of Buffalo, to assist in the search. The consultants will meet with stakeholder focus groups on July 20 and 21. There will be an open session on July 21 for the community to hear from the consultants at a location to be determined.
Kathy Harling, the Board of Education president, said the board members take the responsibility of selecting the next superintendent very seriously.
“The Board feels it is critical to obtain community input about the desired characteristics of the next superintendent as well as the challenges and opportunities that they will encounter,” Harling said in a letter to the community.
Albion will be doing a closed search to provide confidentiality for people pursuing the position. Board members will consider the input from the community in hiring the next superintendent.
“The Board wants to ensure that the search draws a very strong field of successful candidates and understands that confidentiality is critically important for highly successful candidates who do not want to jeopardize their current positions,” Harling said.
The board wants to hire the new superintendent in November, with a start date on or before Jan. 1.
Scott Bischoping is serving as Albion’s interim superintendent. He started on Monday.
He takes over as superintendent for Michael Bonnewell, who will serve as evaluator of teachers in the his last year with the district before his retirement.
Bischoping most recently served as interim superintendent at North Rose-Wolcott Central School from Feb. 3 late June. Previously, Bischoping was an interim superintendent at Batavia City School District. He also was the district superintendent for Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 7 July 2020 at 10:16 am
ALBION — Hoag Library will hold an election on Wednesday from noon to 7 p.m. for trustees on the board of directors. The library will also have its annual meeting at 7 p.m.
Three trustees will be elected. There are five candidates: Anitrice Bennett, Dan Conrad, Allyson DeBoard, Carol Miller and Joyce Riley. (Bennett, Conrad and Riley are currently on the board.) Click here to see candidate statements on Hoag’s YouTube page.
Voting will be at the library, which this week added extended hours and is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Hoag is located at 134 South Main St.
Voters must be at least 18 in live in the library’s service area – the central Orleans towns of Albion, Barre, Carlton and Gaines.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 7 July 2020 at 8:35 am
Photos by Tom Rivers: Ed Fancher speaks during the 50th anniversary celebration of Community Action of Orleans & Genesee on Oct. 1, 2015. Fancher the executive director of the agency. He started with Community Action in 1987 as the fiscal director when he was 22.
ALBION – The school district on Monday evening honored the late Ed Fancher as a Friend of Education.
Fancher, an Albion graduate, passed away at age 54 from cancer on May 24. He was the director of Community Action of Orleans & Genesee. He was also very active with the Albion Alumni Foundation and the Albion Rotary Club, organizations that have assisted Albion students.
With Community Action, he welcomed a statistics class to pour over local demographic data. He welcomed interns in the district’s school-to-work program and also helped distribute tens of thousands of produce collected by the FFA each year in a food drive.
Fancher typically would help unload a tractor trailer with heavy boxes and bags of produce. This December, he was still there for the unloading, but physically wasn’t able to help move the boxes. He thanked the FFA students for their work in lining up the donations from farmers, and then packaging the food and delivering it to Community Action.
The agency would share the food with other local food pantries and churches. Community Action would store many of the boxes and bags of food.
The FFA food drive started out at 3,000 pounds in 2010 and reached a new high of 40,000 pounds in 2019.
Ed Fancher, Class of 1983, fills a bag of popcorn during the Homecoming football game on Oct. 4, 2013. He works in the booth with Jean Shervin, Class of 1953. Fancher was a proud Albion graduate.
“We were never discouraged by them or turned away even as the numbers increased exponentially,” said Sue Starkweather Miller, the district’s school-to-career coordinator and public information officer. “He always helped unload until couldn’t lift. This December he was there in rain, cheering us on and thanking us.”
Starkweather Miller is on the Alumni Foundation Board of Directors with Fancher, where he was the treasurer. The Foundation in June distributed about $90,000 in scholarships to Albion High School seniors.
With the Rotary Club, Fancher cooked the hams for the annual Rotary St. Patrick’s Ham Dinner, with the proceeds going to the Rotary-sponsored Interact Club at the school. The Rotary Club also gives three scholarships annually to Albion seniors.
“He was a true servant leader, he was a proud Purple Eagle and he is a friend of education always,” she said during the Board of Education meeting.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 July 2020 at 8:14 am
File photos by Tom Rivers: Adam and Tina Johnson opened a bar and restaurant on North Main Street in Albion on March 1, 2018.
ALBION – The owner of the 39 Problems bar and restaurant in downtown Albion announced this morning the establishment is closed.
Adam Johnson said in Facebook post the business has always been a challenge to make money. But he and his wife Tina were determined to be a part of the solution to bringing traffic and renewed economic activity to historic downtown Albion. 39 Problems hosted live music and popular trivia nights.
However, the state response to Covid-19 proved too much to withstand. 39 Problems was closed to the public for about three months.
Johnson welcomed musicians and during a recent performance, someone called a state hotline to report the customers weren’t social distancing. Johnson said there were only about 10 people in the business at the time, and many of them came in as a group.
Johnson bristles that someone would report him, when it has been such a struggle to keep the business afloat.
“We are another empty storefront on Main Street,” Johnson posted on Facebook. “What’s next for me? As always, Tina and I will ‘keep going’, just like we always have. In fact, we are going to keep going right across the state border to somewhere that respects and welcomes people with a never-ending desire to accomplish something greater than themselves. NY loses another ambitious family. We are inviting our friends too, come along with us. Leave this state for the rats.”
Downtown Albion had been without a restaurant for several years. On March 1, 2018, Adam and Tina Johnson opened 39 Problems, a bar and restaurant on Main Street. The couple purchased the building, which includes three storefronts, in 2015. They worked diligently to renovate the site, while preserving its historic charm.
Adam and Tina purchased the building in 2015. He called the property an “ugly duckling” that nobody wanted. The building proved to be “a costly mistake” but the Johnsons didn’t give up. They first opened an ice cream business, the Frosty Bucket, in 2016 to generate some money for the property.
They switched to 39 Problems as a takeout/delivery in 2017 restaurant. On March 1, 2018, 39 Problems opened the dine-in restaurant and bar.
They named it 39 Problems because of the many obstacles and challenges they faced in trying to revive 39 North Main St.
“We were building a restaurant/bar where there had never been one before,” Johnson said in his post this morning. “For anyone not familiar with restaurant construction, there are a lot of moving parts to make it hum. It was a daunting task, but we kept going.”
Johnson also served as president of the Albion Merchants Association and was on the board of the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce.
Adam Johnson put this sign at 39 Problems in Albion, saying all businesses should be considered essential.
He organized classic car shows in downtown Albion, including a cruise-in where Main Street was closed to traffic.
The Johnsons also developed the Chuck Wagon food trailer that they took to special events.
“In early 2020, we were ever so slowly clawing our way forward financially,” Johnson said. “We were paying in a tremendous amount of money, week after week, because so many people loved us and were counting on us to make it. Our mission and our passion was larger than us. We wanted to be what saved Main Street, Albion. I don’t know why, I suppose it was that inner fire that drove us forward when we should have just walked away, so even still, we kept going.”
But the virus hit and the Gov. Andrew Cuomo imposed many restrictions to slow the spread of Covid-19. Bars and restaurants weren’t able to have customers inside after March 16. These restrictions were in place for about three months.
Johnson didn’t think it was fair that the “mom and pop” businesses on Main Street were closed while the state allowed the big box retailers to stay open. He coordinated a May 16 event where about 200 vehicles went on a 50-mile caravan to highlight small businesses in Orleans County. The trek went through four village downtown districts and eight towns. Johnson put a sign in the 39 Problems front window to “Re-Open NY – All Business Is Essential.”
When bars and restaurants could reopen, they were limited to operating at 50 percent capacity. The governor also repeatedly stressed that bars and restaurants who don’t adhere to social distancing or allow too many people inside could lose their liquor license or be forced to temporarily shut down.
The state promoted a hotline for people to call and report violators who aren’t adhering to social distancing, mask wearing and the capacity guidelines.
“Something went wrong this year, though, really wrong,” Johnson said in his post. “It wasn’t the virus, it was the leadership from Albany. I’m not an expert in political science and don’t want to be. I am a Veteran and swore a long time ago to uphold and defend the Constitution. We have freedoms that have been paid for in blood. That is something that I don’t take lightly. Our State Legislature gave essentially unlimited power to someone that has run wild with it. In the beginning, it made sense. It doesn’t anymore.”
Adam Johnson is in the lead car in a caravan on May 16 to highlight small businesses in Orleans County. The group is headed down Main Street in Albion.
