Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – A section of East State Street is closed off today for a classic car show. Merrill-Grinnell Funeral Home is hosting the event for the second year. About 50 cars were registered by noon for a car show that runs from 1 to 5 p.m. The top photo shows a 1929 Ford Speedster owned by Randy and Mary Cooper.

Lewis Van Allen of Perry shines his 1983 Chevy Pickup. He goes to about a dozen car shows a year. He has owned the truck for 21 years. It used to be owned by his wife’s uncle. Van Allen had the truck repainted two years ago.

Frank Strasburger gets a 1971 Chevelle Supersport 402 Convertible ready for the car show. Strasburger restored the vehicle five years ago. He also has a 1971 Chevelle SS 454 in today’s car show. He restored that vehicle in 1989.

Becky Karls, director for Merrill-Grinnell, organized today’s car show. The event is a benefit for Hospice of Orleans. The Masons are selling hot dogs and hamburgers with half the proceeds going to Hospice. There is also a DJ playing music.

Glen Busch, a member of the Masonic Lodge, cooks hot dogs and hamburgers at today’s car show.

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Albion firefighters responded to a call about dark smoke coming from Saint-Gobain Adfors at about 12:30 p.m. today.

The company didn’t have a fire at its manufacturing plant located at 14770 Route 31. It was trying to use old oil for its boiler. When the dark smoke surfaced, the company switched the boiler back to natural gas, an employee said.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – A Dodge Dakota pickup truck burst into flames at about 5:20 p.m. at the Pawlak’s Save-A-Lot parking lot.

The truck is owned by Timothy Martin, who lives on Hamilton Street near the Save-A-Lot.

Albion firefighters were on scene and doused the fire. This sequence of photos was taken over about three minutes.

Photos by Sue Cook – Nathan Olmstead takes papers from Cole Spierdowis to put into the truck.

By Sue Cook, staff reporter

ALBION – After 30 years, Albion Boy Scout Troop 164 is ending their monthly paper collection.

Every third Saturday, the Boy Scouts would collect newspapers from businesses and citizens in the Save-A-Lot parking lot, then makie collection stops to get large quantities. A large 18-wheeler would come from Pennsylvania to take their paper and put it to use as insulation for houses and animal bedding.

“It started in 1984,” said Troop Leader Jonathan Doherty. “Troop 167 started it, then it was Troop 48, then Troop 60, now 164, but it ends today.”

Troop Leader Jonathan Doherty helps with carts while the boys load the trucks.

The collection has come to an end due to the busy schedule that the Boy Scouts have in their own lives. Many are unable to make time on Saturdays due to commitments to family activities, sports and other functions. The troop of about 40 ranges from age 10 to 18, though most of the scouts are 11 years old.

“We just can’t get help on Saturdays,” Doherty said. “We can only get a couple to help. It’s sad, but what can you do? We’re going to do two big fundraisers for the year, so that way there’s money for the activities.”

Troop Leader Karen Williams added, “It’s sad to see the paper drive go because it’s been going on over 30 years. It’s a sure sign of the electronic age and people’s lives getting busier where they just don’t have time to spread themselves out for volunteer work.”

From left: Nathan Olmstead, Cole Spierdowis and Sammy Williams load papers on the last day of the paper drive.

The troop is currently uncertain if they will continue their pop bottle collection. They are considering having an account at a local redemption center to allow the public to drop off bottles any time.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – A stove fire spread at an Albion home late this morning, causing extensive damage to the house at 13576 Phipps Rd.

The dispatch call first went out at 10:24 a.m. and several mutual aid calls were issued after that.

Albion, Barre and Fancher-Hulberton-Murray firefighters were soon on the scene. No additional information is available.

Photos by Tom Rivers – A fire this morning on Phipps Road ruined most of a home, forcing a family with five young children to seek temporary shelter.

ALBION – A family with five children lost most of their possessions after their home was badly damaged in a fire today at 13576 Phipps Rd.

Lisa and Christopher McGuire lived at the house with their five children as well as Mrs. McGuire’s aunt. No one was hurt in the fire, but they lost nearly all of their material belongings, said the couple’s niece, Chelsea Christopher.

The Red Cross is providing temporary shelter for the family at Dollinger’s Motel. Christopher is seeking clothing donations, as well as diapers, wipes and food. People are welcome to contact her at 585-590-1246 by text or through her Facebook page if they want to help.

The fire started in a stove and spread through the house, with flames reaching the second floor.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Todd Sargent, a Village of Albion Department of Public Works employee, runs a roller over new asphalt that was down this morning on Depot Street in the village.

Village of Albion and Orleans County highway crews were out today paving Depot Street. This street was added to the village inventory last November. It runs along a railroad depot, north of the railroad tracks between West Academy and North Clinton streets.

Greg Rosato of the County Highway Department fills the county’s paver with road material.

Provided photos

The Village of Perry opened a spray park in June. The biggest piece resembles a giant serpent. Village lore says a serpent once lived in nearby Silver Lake. Spray parks or splash pads can include characters that play up community history.

ALBION – The Albion Recreation Committee and the Lions Club are brainstorming how to make a spray park and new playground equipment a reality for the community at Bullard Park.

The groups met with a representative from Parkitects on Wednesday to discuss options for a spray park. Those could vary from the most basic model at $66,000 to splash pads that top over $200,000. In Albion’s case that price wouldn’t include the cost of building a new bathroom with a changing area close by. That would be an additional expense.

“It would set us apart and be an attraction,” Recreation Committee member Mike Beach said about the spray park.

He takes his two sons to spray parks in Olcott and Spencerport. The project in Albion would be a draw for local families, and Beach said it would also bring people into Albion, giving the local economy a boost.

The community needs to find a way to fund the project for it to happen. The Lions Club has pledged $10,000 towards it. A concert last month raised about $2,000 for Bullard Park.

Bill Robinson, the Lions Club president, wants to hire a grantwriter to pursue funding from the state and other sources.

Kim Remley, a Recreation Committee member, said grants will likely be the difference-maker in whether the project moves forward.

The Village of Perry in Wyoming County opened a new spray park in June that cost $156,000. New bathrooms pushed the total cost to about $230,000, Remley said.

The Albion group also wants to put in new playground equipment that would be different than the new playground that opened last spring at elementary school. The group will work on cost estimates with Parkitects or another playground provider.

In the meantime, village officials will try to reach out to neighboring towns and the county to help fund the project that would be open to children outside the village.

The next “Rebuild Bullard” committee meeting will be 7 p.m. on Oct. 15 at Hoag Library.

Rebuild Bullard also has a Facebook page. Click here for more information.

Photos by Tom Rivers – About 125 people attended a public hearing about a landfill, and whether a permit should be transferred to Richard Penfold, at Hickory Ridge Golf Course in Holley this evening. Many held signs showing their opposition to landfills in Albion.

MURRAY – Albion and Orleans County have had their fill as a garbage dump, Ted Scharping, a former town supervisor, said during a public hearing this evening.

Scharping was elected to the Town Board in November 1995 to fight Waste Management’s effort to build a new 200-foot-high landfill, dwarfing two existing landfills in the community. The town passed anti-landfilling laws that were upheld in court and prevented Waste Management’s project.

But Scharping said the community still suffers from a landfill legacy.

“The wounds are extensive – still,” Scharping said during a hearing attended by about 125 people at Hickory Ridge Golf Course. “We saw what the dump, an illegally run dump, did to our village. We suffered for years – environmentally, visually, quiet enjoyment and most importantly with property values.”

The issue won’t go away, even though Waste Management was denied a permit from the Town Board and laws were passed to prevent another landfill.

Waste Management, although denied by the town, secured a permit from the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Richard Penfold of Orchard Park claims he has ownership of that state permit. The DEC isn’t convinced and denied his request to renew that permit, saying he didn’t have legal standing.

Penfold has appealed that decision, and that was the focus of the public hearing this evening and a DEC issues conference on Wednesday, beginning at 10 a.m. at Hickory Ridge. Lawyers for Penfold, the DEC and Stop Polluting Orleans County will all address a DEC administrative law judge.

Kim Remley, chairwoman of Stop Polluting Orleans County, says Richard Penfold doesn’t have the right to take a state Department of Environmental Conservation permit for a landfill in Albion.

Kim Remley, chairwoman of SPOC, stuck to the issue at hand, whether Penfold has the right to the Waste Management permit. She said he hasn’t satisfied the DEC, and there isn’t a paper trail showing he secured the permit from Waste Management, former site owner Irene Smith, or the bankrupt estate of the Orleans Sanitary Landfill, which operated in Albion until running afoul of the law and going bankrupt in the early 1990s.

Scharping said the community suffered when John and Irene Smith ran OSL, and were fined for taking in too much garbage. The local property values haven’t recovered, with a downward trend especially in the village, said Scharping, long-time real estate broker.

“Any bribes – that’s what I call tipping fees and offers of free garbage – will not compensate for the loss of real property values,” he said. “People in the whole county could be harmed by 5, 10 or 20 percent.”

Another former town supervisor, Judith Koehler, also spoke during the public hearing and told the DEC that the town created a Canal Overlay District in 2002 which forbade landfill development along the canal.

The town and village also worked together on updating a comprehensive plan for land use and development priorities for the community. That plan, adopted in 2012, included a community survey where 75 percent of residents said they “very strongly” or “strongly” opposed more landfills in Albion.

Michael Bonafede said Richard Penfold has acted contrary to his words from a public meeting about two years ago, when he said then he wouldn’t pursue a landfill in the community if residents opposed the project. Bonafede said the community has worked hard to promote heritage tourism and other business in the town.

Michael Bonafede, a former Albion Board of Education president, has been a vocal critic of landfill expansion in Albion. He recalled an Oct. 23, 2012 meeting when Penfold presented his plan for assuming Waste Management’s permit and seeking local approval for the project.

Penfold said then he wouldn’t pursue the project without support from town officials and the community. Bonafede said there hasn’t been support for the project.

“Mr. Penfold said then he just wanted to make a presentation and if we weren’t interested he would go home,” Bonafede said. “Go home.”

The community has worked hard since Waste Management’s proposal in the mid-1990s to chart a new path, promoting heritage tourism, a world-class fishery and other projects that build a “vital wholesome community,” Bonafede said.

He highlighted the renovations of the former Citizens National Bank on Main Street and the former Albion Grammar School, both fully occupied. The community is trying to promote attractions along the Route 98 corridor, from Albion to Lake Ontario.

Albion has been recognized for its efforts by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Point Breeze last year won the Ultimate Fishing Town.

“We don’t want the stink, the noise and the heavy trucks going down Main Street and shaking our historic buildings,” Bonafede said.

Other residents – Marilyn Miller, Terry Wilbert, Andrew Remley, John Andrews and Susan Smith – spoke against allowing the landfill in Albion.

“I would encourage him (Penfold) to expend his effort to change the zoning in Orchard Park so he can build a landfill in his own backyard,” Andrews said.

Amy Hope Witryol, a former State Senate candidate who lives in Niagara County, has watched landfill operators come into Niagara County, only to become much bigger operations later on.

Penfold, during the Oct. 23, 2012 meeting, said he would run an Albion landfill that would take in 400,000 to 500,000 tons of garbage annually, which is down from the 690,000 tons approved by the DEC for Waste Management.

Witryol warned Penfold’s landfill could later become a much bigger operation, perhaps selling out to a larger company.

She said rural Orleans is “spectacularly beautiful” and residents should continue their effort to keep out a landfill.

“It would shatter this county in my view,” she said about a new landfill. “You can’t put Humpty’s Dump back together again.”

ALBION – Merrill-Grinnell Funeral Home in Albion is moving the date of its car show scheduled for this Saturday to Sun., Sept. 28 from 1 to 5 p.m., said Becky Karls, site manager and coordinator of the car show.

Saturday is forecast for 58 degrees with the threat of rain.

Karls wants to have a good weather day for the event, which includes food and a DJ. The show at 12 Ingersoll St. is also a benefit for Hospice of Orleans.

For more information, call the funeral home at 589-4466.

Art Buongiorne has book-signing at CRFS, where he works with 600 others

Photos by Tom Rivers – Art Buongiorne signs a copy of his book, “The Italians and Why They Came,” during an event today at CRFS, where he does administrative work. He also released “Faith Builders,” a book that encourages righteous living. He is joined by his wife Mary and his co-worker Donna Beadle, left.

ALBION – Art Buongiorne has accumulated a life-time of wisdom and experiences, and he is sharing some of those lessons and stories in two new books.

Buongiorne, 87, self-published a book about Holley entrepreneurs and public servants who descended from Italian immigrants. He celebrated the publication of “The Italians and Why They Came” with a book-signing at CRFS this afternoon.

Buongiorne has worked in security at CRFS and also with administrative tasks. He is a beloved co-worker for the staff of 600 at CRFS, said Jodi Gaines, the company president and CEO.

“He is a great employee,” Gaines said. “We know he’s worked really hard.”

Gaines is one of the Holley natives featured in Buongiorne’s book.

Buongiorne is a Holley native and a World War II veteran. He also wrote a book, “Faith Builders,” that offers insight into the Christian life. He was joined at his book-signing today by his wife of 65 years, Mary.

Buongiorne, a former carpenter, was working in security for a Rochester bank until he was 83. He was laid off. He wanted to keep working and was hired by G4S, a company contracted for security by CRFS.

He works during the week for CRFS doing administrative tasks such as printing copies, sorting and collating.

“He’s our caretaker around here,” said Donna Beadle, a co-worker who bought one of Buongiorne’s books. “He’s a sweet guy to have around.”

Buongiorne keeps the coffee pot fresh, and also sends inspirational cards to many of the CRFS staff.

He has three other books in the works, with “The Magnificent Journey,” his Christian testimony, expected to be released in November.

Proposal to limit to 3 days a week fails

ALBION – The Village Board wants to stop some residents from having “perpetual” garage sales, saying the daily sales aren’t fair to some neighbors, other businesses and can be unsightly.

But the five-member board isn’t sure how to best solve the problem with legislation. During a public hearing on Wednesday, one resident there shouldn’t be any restrictions on garage sales while another urged the board to rein in the sales.

“These sales have graduated to boats, cars, motorcycles, tread mills and furniture,” the resident said. “They’re really out of the scope of what a true garage sale is.”

The board considered a proposal to limit the sales to no more than Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Trustees Eileen Banker and Pete Sidari voted for it, but the proposal failed to reach a majority.

Banker said residents with frequent sales don’t pay sales tax or property taxes for a commercial building for their merchandise. That isn’t fair to other businesses paying the tax and keeping up a storefront, she said.

Sidari said most residents with garage sales only have them once or twice a year. But he said there are at least two sites that have items are their lawns for many days at a time.

“We have to do something,” he said. “It’s an eyesore.”

Trustee Stan Farone is reluctant to pass legislation on the issue.

“I can’t see putting restrictions on everybody else over two people,” he said.

Trustee Gary Katsanis wants the village to keep working on proposals. The proposal on Wednesday “introduces too many gray areas,” he said.

Code Enforcement Officer Ron Vendetti has presented several options for the Village Board to consider. Vendetti would like residents to register their sales at no cost. That way the village could track them and make sure people aren’t exceeded three days at a time.

He suggested limiting the hours from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. with the merchandise to be removed from front lawns after the third day of the sale.

Mayor Dean London wants the board to look at proposals in other communities. In the short term, he said the State Department of Taxation and Finance should be notified of the perpetual garage sales. London said those residents should be collecting sales tax because of the frequency of their sales.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Crews have been busy the past few weeks removing towering maple trees in the village of Albion. National Grid identified the trees as a hazard.

Many trees have been taken down, including this one at the corner of West Academy and West Bank streets by the former Albion Grammar School.

A crew takes down big branches on another tree by the former school.

Here is a close-up of another tree that was taken down in front of the former school, which is now used for senior apartments and also for services for senior citizens and developmentally disabled residents.

Village already does work for Holley

ALBION – The village could add another municipal contract for providing sewer services, which will bring in revenue for the village and also help a neighboring community meet standards for providing the service.

The village of Albion may take over managing Elba’s sewer plant and a water well on Oct. 10. The contract proposal calls for Albion to be paid $34,320 for the work.

The village would do the job with its existing three-person sewer crew. Rick Albright, the sewer plant chief operator, would assume most of the extra work. He is in a salaried position.

Albright said Elba is just looking for a one-year deal. The community expects to hook into a sewer and water district, Batavia North, in about a year.

The Camden Group currently provides sewer services for Elba, but the company has given notice it will discontinue working with Elba on Oct.10, Albright told the Village Board on Wednesday.

Village Attorney John Gavenda wants to review the contract. It’s a little different from the agreement with Holley, which started on June 1. Albion is paid $63,000 annually to provide the personnel for running the sewer plant. In Holley, Albion doesn’t have to work with Holley’s water system.

The agreement with Holley cut that village’s sewer costs by $30,000 in an annual operating expenses. The Holley agreement was initially for three years but Albright said Holley wants to extend the deal to five years.

Albright said he sees a talented workforce in the village that could be used in other communities, helping those municipalities while bringing in revenue for the village.

“We could expand village services,” he told the Village Board on Wednesday. “The sky is the limit. How far do you want us to go?”