‘We have to remind ourselves it’s a building and the people make the church.’

Photos by Tom Rivers – Members of the church sing hymns during today’s service, the last Sunday service at the site. A wooden beam helps support the roof in the sanctuary. The costly repairs for the roof is prompting the congregation to move out of the building.

ALBION – The congregation at the First United Methodist Church in Albion held its final Sunday service at its historic church at the corner of Platt and East State streets this morning.

The church will have its services starting in one week at Christ Episcopal Church. The United Methodists are hosting the ecumenical Good Friday service at 7 p.m. on Friday and will have a final service later that night to close the church.

Today was an emotional service, with many long-time members wiping away tears and hugging after the service.

“It’s sad to leave,” said Leslee Lockwood, who has been attending the church for 40 years.

The church has decorated the wooden pillars that support the roof in the sanctuary.

The church faces a $1 million expense in rebuilding the roof system. The congregation of about 50 doesn’t have that kind of money. It has tried for several years to line up grants, without success. It has sought multiple estimates and bids on how to fix the building.

It has proven too much.

The congregation offered the building to the denomination, but the denomination doesn’t want it. The church plans to sell the building, but that sale date hasn’t been determined yet.

The Rev. Jack Laskowski preaches from the pulpit this morning.

Jack Laskowski, the church pastor, delivered a message of hope on the congregation’s future this morning.

He noted that on Good Friday, when Christ was crucified, the world seemed bleak. But Jesus came back on Easter, bringing hope to the world, Laskowski said.

Laskowski said the impending closing of the church building has been sad for many in the congregation. There have been generations and generations of weddings, baptisms and funerals.

Lockwood said moving from the church building would be harder for the members if it was the end for the congregation. But the church – the people – are shifting to a different site.

“It would be worse if we were going to disband,” Lockwood said.

The church has a large and magnificent stained glass window of ‘The Good Shepherd.”

After years of fretting about the failing roof and mounting building repairs, Lockood said it will be freeing to be relieved of that burden.

“We’ll be energized to do more of God’s work,” she said. “We won’t have to worry about a building, and about a roof, and falling plaster and bricks. This will free us up to do more in the community.”

Pat Davis has been coming to the church since she moved to Albion 25 years ago. She marvels about the architecture of the building from 1860. It’s one of seven churches that are part of the Courthouse Square, which is included on the National Register of Historic Places.

A church-goer sings from the hymnal during this morning’s service.

“It’s a beautiful church,” Davis said. “We have to remind ourselves it’s a building and the people make the church.”

Davis said the congregation has always been friendly and committed to the community. That’s why she has stayed and why she is relieved the group is continuing – together.

Church-goers get in line at the back of the church near “The Good Shepherd” window and wait their turn for communion this morning.

Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The Knights of Columbus in Albion are serving 500 chicken barbecue lunches today at St. Mary’s Athletic Club on Moore Street.

The top photo shows Tom O’Hearn, Dusty DeCarlo and Mike Fischer. The trio and a bigger cooking crew arrived at 7 a.m. to prepare the chickens.

O’Hearn’s hand and a thermometer appear in the photo of all the chickens.

The chicken barbecues are a Palm Sunday tradition for the Knights, which plans to share proceeds of the event with Boy Scouts and Hospice of Orleans.

Inside St. Mary’s, volunteers prepare the meals with cole slaw, rolls, potatoes and desserts. Jean Smith is in front, followed by Mary Ann Tillman, Michele Grabowski and Joan Adduci.

Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Lisa Burlsion, wife of the late Wayne Burlison, welcomes runners and walkers to the first “Run for Wayne,” which started at 12:01 p.m. today on Clarendon Road by the elementary school, where Mr. Burlison was a music teacher for 12 years.

Lisa’s and Wayne’s son Adam holds balloons, which he released to start the race.

Mrs. Burlison thanked the community for their support, and for attending the event today.

“I am so grateful for your help in carrying on Wayne’s legacy,” she said.

Brian Krieger, executive director of the Albion Running Club, helped organize the first “Run for Wayne” today in memory of Burlison, one of the founders of the Running Club. Burlison was 36 when he died from colon cancer on March 26, 2014.

Krieger and Burlison were close friends and running partners.

There were about 125 people who ran a 3.17-mile course or walked a mile. These runners are along Route 31, headed east to Mount Albion Cemetery.

These volunteers, members of the youth group at Albion Free Methodist Church, hand out water and Gatorade at the 1-mile mark. The group includes Tess Pettit, Trinity Allen, Zachary Moore and Caleb Pettit.

Alyce Miller, left, and Sarah Graham, cheer the runners on in Mount Albion. The two were in the elementary band with Burlison as their teacher.

Runners passed by Wayne Burlison’s gravesite at Mount Albion Cemetery.

Burlison lived 3 months and 17 days after his diagnosis of Stage 4 colon cancer. That’s why the course was 3.17 miles.

Burlison played in many community bands, including the Mark Time Marchers.

“Run for Wayne” started at 12:01 in recognition of Hebrews 12:1 as one of Burlison’s favorite Bible verses.

Randy LeBaron, pastor of the Albion Free Methodist Church where Burlison was a member and participant in the praise band, completed the 3.17 miles today. LeBaron ran a half marathon in September 2011 with Burlison.

Mike Thaine, the high school band director in Albion, hands a medal to Pat Crowley after she crossed the finish line. Burlison was assistant director for the marching band.

Stephany Austin of Albion finishes the “Run for Wayne” with sisters, Michkayla and Riley Eaton.

Proceeds from the race will be directed to a scholarship to be given out in Burlison’s memory to a graduating Albion senior.

The Running Club plans to make the “Run for Wayne” an annual event in late March.

Music teacher helped start Albion Running Club

Photo by Tom Rivers – Participants in Saturday’s “Run for Wayne” in Albion will receive a medal for completing the 1-mile walk or the 3.17-mile run. The event begins at 12:01 p.m. at the elementary school, where Burlison was a music teacher.

ALBION – Wayne Burlison was 36 when he was diagnosed with colon cancer in December 2013.

An Albion elementary music teacher, Burlison lived 3 months and 17 days after his diagnosis. Thursday (March 26) was the one-year anniversary of his death.

On Saturday, his friends have organized the first “Run for Wayne,” a 3.17-mile run or walk to raise money for a scholarship in his name. Participants also have the option of a 1-mile course.

Organizers will post signs along the course route with some of Burlison’s favorite sayings, including “Can’t isn’t a word, try again.”

The event will begin at 12:01 p.m. at the elementary school and participants will head east on Route 31 to Mount Albion Cemetery. They will pass Burlison’s grave and then head back to the school.

“It seems very poignant to honor Wayne in this way because running was very important to him,” said Mark Moore, the race director and member of the Albion Running Club.

Nearly 150 people have already registered for the event. Registrations are open up until 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Participants will receive a shirt and medal, with proceeds going to a scholarship in Burlison’s memory. (Click here for more information.)

Provided photo – Wayne Burlison runs in a race. Once he took up running and a eating more nutritious foods, he lost nearly 150 pounds. He became a long-distance runner and also led running programs for beginners in Albion.

Burlison was an active musician performing with many community bands and also participated in many groups at the school district. A concert in January with many of those musicians raised about $7,000 for the scholarship.

Brian Krieger, executive director of the Albion Running Club, expects the Run for Wayne will push get the scholarship funding past the $10,000 goal, including the fund-raising from the concert.

Krieger trained for a marathon with Burlison. The two were close friends. They led the “Run for God” program at the Albion Free Methodist Church, which helped beginning runners go from the couch to a 5K in about three months.

Burlison once weighed nearly 300 pounds and lost about half that weight. He became a big proponent for a balanced life with family, friends and faith, while also embracing fitness and healthy eating.

Krieger and Moore want the “Run for Wayne” to honor their friend, and also provide fitness motivation for people during the winter. The event can give people a training goal during the cold-weather months of January, February and March.

“We want to promote fitness earlier in the season and help kick off the running season,” Moore said.

The run/walk on Saturday will include opening ceremonies with a prayer and message from Lisa Burlison, Wayne’s wife.

“Run for Wayne” is set for a 12:01 start to represent one of Wayne’s favorite Bible verses, Hebrews 12:1: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Diane Morrell of Albion works on a project at Hoag Library. A large oil painting that was at Swan Library was added to the loft area in the Hoag, one of many paintings from Swan that are now at the Hoag.

Display cases, book shelves and other artifacts from the Swan have been brought to the Hoag, including this display case. Library Director Betty Sue Miller, left, and reference librarian Cheryl Mowatt look over some of the items in the case.

A 1897 graduation program for Albion High School is among the artifacts featured in the display case.

Library staff and volunteers aren’t sure who is pictured in this portrait. Betty Sue Miller said there are other mysteries in portraits and relics discovered at the former Swan Library.

That building has been sold to Chad Fabry of Holley. Library staff, volunteers and professional movers cleared the library of most of the items, with many of those pieces moved to a 24-by-36-foot storage unit.

The book case in memory of Simon Adler used to be behind the circulation desk at Swan Library. Now it’s just around the corner from the circulation desk in the new library.

“We’re trying to bring some of what was Swan Library here,” Miller said.

This portrait of Abraham Lincoln was discovered stashed away in the former Swan Library.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Keeler Construction has begun demolition of the Clarendon Street bridge in the Village of Albion.

The company has torn off some of the pavement and moved the concrete barriers on the approaches leading to the bridge.

The bridge was originally built in 1976 over the railroad tracks. It will be torn out, the highway embankments will be lowered and the street will be blocked off at a 90-degree angle at Crimson Drive. On the north side, it will also be blocked off with a turnaround spot near Childs Street.

The project is expected to take about three months.

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Firefighters were dispatched to an upstairs apartment in downtown Albion at 11:11 p.m. on Thursday. A fireplace was smoky and smelly, perhaps from melting crayons, firefighters said.

The Albion Fire Department ventilated the apartment at 28 East Bank St.

Photo by Tom Rivers – The village created this “pocket park” on Main Street after the former Waterman building burned down in the 1980s.

ALBION – A downtown business owner has suggested the Village Board pave over a small park in the downtown and turn the space into parking.

David Snell owns Peter Snell Realtors, two buildings south of Waterman Park. He said 6 to 8 spots could be created from the park. Those spaces would be a big lift to merchants nearby, who only have a few close spots on their side of the street for customers, Snell told the Village Board on Wednesday.

“We have a desperate need for it,” he said about the parking.

Snell said there are only three spots on the east side of Main Street, between the park and Bank Street to be shared by four businesses. Many potential customers, especially for a drive-up business like Fischer’s Newsstand, keep driving if there isn’t easy parking available, Snell said.

Snell also suggested the village push the state to allow angled parking on Main Street to create more spaces. Village officials doubted that would happen because the state doesn’t want vehicles backing into a state road.

“We need to get creative because the state is killing us and other small villages,” Snell said. “We can’t accept ‘No.’ The state says you can’t do it but that will kill us.”

This postcard from the 1970s shows how the Waterman building looked. It’s left of the Briggs Building, the tallest one on the block.

Snell thinks paving the park might be the best answer. Or the village should consider selling that land to a developer with the stipulation a new building be constructed that would match the historic flavor of the downtown.

He also urged the village to consider incentives for building owners that invest in apartments in the upper floors. The village shouldn’t just raise the assessments for those projects, forcing the building owners to pay more in taxes, Snell said.

He praised the village for marking parking spaces in a back lot between East Bank Street and the canal. Additional spots in that lot could be made available behind a building owned by Bill Wittman. Village officials said they would pursue an easement from Wittman, and would mark the spots with paint.

Village trustees said they wanted to talk with Snell more about his other ideas. Dale Brooks, the DPW superintendent, said he would reach out to the state Department of Transportation to see if angled parking could be an option.

ALBION – Ron Vendetti, the village’s code enforcement officer since 2001, has announced his intention to retire in the village’s 2015-16 fiscal year, which begins June 1.

Vendetti had to notify the village of his intentions by the end of March that he would retire within the next fiscal year.

When Vendetti was hired, he was tasked with pursuing unlicensed cars, property maintenance issues and neighborhood decline. The village has made strides in his 14 years on the job, he said today.

“When I started here we had unlicensed cars in front yards and a lot of property maintenance problems,” he said.

Residents often complained to Village Board members that Vendetti was abrasive and unfair in ticketing residents for infractions. The board even tried to fire Vendetti, but he prevailed in court.

Vendetti acknowledged the code enforcement officer makes many enemies. But he said he also has made friends, working with developers on new projects and reconstruction in Albion, in particular the many new buildings that went up on routes 31 and 98.

He also has pushed the village to create an LDC to focus on distressed properties, and has worked on the downtown concert series and other community projects.

Vendetti also is the code enforcement officer in Murray and Holley, and is managing Holley’s grant program. After he retires, he said he would like to continue in a part-time role in Murray or Holley.

Vendetti said Albion has benefitted in the past 14 years with a strong police department, stepped up efforts for street maintenance and overhauled neighborhood parks, which have helped the quality of life in the community.

Neighbor asks village to clean up site

Photos by Tom Rivers – A sandstone building from 1840, one of the oldest in downtown Albion, has been reduced largely to rubble. However, the site hasn’t been cleaned up after demolition started two years ago.

ALBION – Mary Anne Braunbach said two years is long enough for the village to move on cleaning up the rubble and remains of a sandstone building originally constructed in 1840.

Braunbach owns a building near the ruin at the corner of Beaver Alley and Liberty Street. She said the “pile of rocks” drags down the appearance of the entire downtown historic district, which is included on the National Register of Historic Places.

“Two years of patience is more than any taxpayer should have to bear,” Braunbach told the Village Board on Wednesday evening.

Dan Dunn of Ridgeway started removing the building in April 2013, but work was stopped because Dunn didn’t secure an asbestos removal permit from the state Department of Labor.

Dunn contested he needs a certified asbestos removal company for the work. Dunn, owner of salvage company, believes he could handle the job.

The DOL’s Asbestos Control unit tagged the building as a “suspended action.”

The building, once used to manufacture carriages more than a century ago, was deemed a “dangerous building” when it was standing and the village wanted it to come down. Dunn needed a permit from the DOL before removing the 5,000-square-foot building that was last used as a furniture warehouse about a half century ago.

Dunn took down some of the structure and removed some of the stone. But some of the rubble and his equipment remain on site.

Village Attorney John Gavenda said the village has taken Dunn to court to have him clean up the site, but the rubble remains.

Village officials say it would cost abut $16,000 to pay a contractor to remove the remaining debris. Braunbach urged the village to hire a contractor to get the job done, and try to recoup the costs from Dunn or by selling the land.

“It comes down to the village’s budget. Do we have the money?” Gavenda asked the board.

Village trustees are working on the 2015-16 budget, which must be approved by May 1.

“My personal opinion is that is a mess and we should clean it up,” Trustee Gary Katsanis said.

Here is how the building looked about two years ago before demolition started.

Trustee Eileen Banker didn’t want to see the village expend public resources cleaning up sites and buildings that are abandoned. She said there are 47 vacant houses in Albion and she worries the village could be stuck with some of them.

David Snell, a local real estate broker, said neighborhoods and the community suffer from buildings and sites left to rot.

“We’re suffering,” Snell said. “These homes are a cancer on our village.”

The Village Board said it would know more on May 1, after its new budget is in place to see if it has money to address the clean up of the Dunn building and address any of the housing issues.

Braunbach said putting off the cleanup another year isn’t an option. She wants the village to address it soon – or she may take legal action.

“We may include it in the budget,” Banker said. “We’ll do our best.”

ALBION – Dollar Tree will open a store in Albion at the former Ames Plaza, with a likely opening on June 1, Code Enforcement Officer Ron Vendetti said.

Dollar Tree used to have a store in Medina. There is one in Brockport. The company will use about 9,000 square feet in the plaza, which is home to Pawlak’s Save-A-Lot, Save On Beverage Center and Peebles.

Dollar Tree will go before the Village of Albion Zoning Boards of Appeals to seek a variance for its signage. Otherwise, the property is zoned commercial and the store fits the zoned use, Vendetti said.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – This stained-glass window in the young adult room at Hoag Library has been installed in honor of former library director Susan Rudnicky and also the late Ralph Brown, a long-time local fruit grower. His sons, Bob and Eric, followed him in running Orchard Dale Fruit Company in Carlton.

Their mother, Claire, is helping to fund the window along with Bill Lattin. Mrs. Brown was a key contributor to the new library and the young adult room is named in her honor.

Lattin also paid for a stained glass window with an image of a swan. That window was part of the new library when it opened in July 2012.

Lattin wanted to recognize Rudnicky, who worked 16 years as director of Swan Library and then the new Hoag Library. Rudnicky was let go by the library board of trustees in March 2014.

She pushed for the new library, and secured grants and worked with many other donors on the new building. She also led the Swan site through many technological improvements and expanded programming.

A reception will be held in the future and a plaque unveiled in honor of Rudnicky and Mr. Brown.

Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The Main Street lift bridge is closing at about 9 a.m. today so crews can make steel repairs to the bridge that was built in 1911.

The work should be done in two to three weeks, in time for the start of the canal season that begins in early May.

The State Department of Transportation has posted detours. Truck traffic will be detoured using Route 387 (Fancher Road) via Routes 31 and 104.

Regular automobile traffic can cross the Erie Canal at Ingersoll Street. Bicyclists and pedestrians can cross the Main Street bridge at the discretion of construction workers.

Construction workers close off the sidewalk on the west side of the bridge at about 8:30 this morning.

The stairs lead to top of the lift bridge when it is in its raised position. Orleans County has seven of the 16 lift bridges on the canal, the most of any county.

The canal ambiance in Albion includes this shopping cart in the shallow water.

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Albion Lions Club welcomed two new members – Aaron Robinson and Tim McMurray – to the service organization that is now in its 91st year in Albion.

Club President Bill Robinson, left, sponsored his son Aaron. McMurray, third from left, was sponsored by his uncle, Ron Albertson, far right.

Aaron Robinson, 35, works at CRFS and also plays drums for two local bands, The Who Dats and the Rusty Fisher Band.

He said he is happy to join the Lions, which meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. at the Masonic Lodge on Platt Street.

“It’s local and they do a lot of charity work,” Aaron said. “It’s a good supportive group that is positive.”

McMurray, 31, is a local youth football coach and a student at Erie Community College, majoring in civil engineering.

“They have a broad reach in the community,” McMurray said about the Lions. “It’s another way to give back to the community.”