This article has been updated from an earlier version that reported Trustee Kevin Sheehan called the police to pursue possible criminal charges against AMSA. Sheehan said he never contacted the police or suggested they be involved.

ALBION – On Tuesday morning members of the Albion Main Street Alliance removed Christmas decorations from Village Hall to do an inventory and fix the items.

The group wanted to replace bulbs and have the decorations looking good for the holiday season.

But in a misunderstanding over who owned the decorations, the situation soon grew tense, with at least one village official asking the police to investigate and to possibly lodge a formal criminal complaint against AMSA. Village officials say they were surprised when the decorations were removed from the premises.

The decorations were returned at 7:15 this morning.

The Village Board held an emergency meeting at 6:30 this morning. Police Chief Rollie Nenni researched who actually owned the decorations, whether it was the village or AMSA, because of the uncertainty.

Nenni found that former State Assemblyman Charles Nesbitt used a $30,000 state member-item grant to buy them in 2005. The money went to the village with the former Albion Business Association purchasing the decorations on behalf of the village. The village then bought the decorations from the ABA with the grant, Nenni said.

Village Trustee Fred Miller said the situation over the past three days “got blown way out of proportion.” He said the village needs to establish procedures for when village property is removed.

“This wasn’t really anyone’s fault,” he said.

Nenni said it was a “gray area” that should have been handled with diplomacy.

Village attorney John Gavenda said he was negotiating the return of the decorations. But a village official hinted that criminal charges could be brought against AMSA. That put AMSA on the defensive, including a shutdown in communication with Village Board members.

Dale Brooks, the DPW superintendent, said the decorations will be up before Thanksgiving.

Photos by Tom Rivers

The high winds that are whipping through the area are knocking down some trees. I drove around Albion and saw one tree down in Mount Albion Cemetery and another one on West Academy Street near the grain facility by the railroad tracks.

There are lots of fallen limbs. But, for the most part, the trees are holding their ground against the gusts that have are up to 60 miles per hour.

Organization insists it owns decorations, and wanted to spruce them up for holidays

Editor’s note: This article was updated to clarify a comment attributed to AMSA President Maarit Vaga, who says the village did not request to have the decorations returned.)

ALBION – The decorations are back at the village, but a dispute continues over which entity actually owns the wreaths, garland and lights.

The Albion Main Street Alliance believes it owns the decorations, and took them from the Village Hall on Tuesday morning to make an inventory of what needed to be fixed before they were hung up in the downtown later in November.

Some village officials saw the removal of the decorations as possible theft of village property.

AMSA says it has paid insurance on the decorations and has operated on the understanding for several years that they owned them. Even Mayor Dean Theodorakos said during an emergency meeting this morning that he thought AMSA owned the decorations.

AMSA representatives handed the decorations to village officials this morning. This after AMSA said it was threatened with criminal and civil litigation.

“This has been very upsetting because it’s so stupid,” Katelin Olson, the organization’s interim director, said. “It’s been a lot of wasted energy that could have gone into bettering the community.”

Village officials accused the organization of wrongdoing Tuesday when the decorations were removed. The village thought AMSA was doing an on-site inspection. But when the decorations were taken off-site, the village worried the decorations might not be available to display for the holiday season.

Village representatives said they tried to reach out to AMSA about the decorations. AMSA President Maarit Vaga said she heard from the village, but the village didn’t make a request to have the items returned.

Olson said AMSA never would have hidden the decorations or prevented them from being displayed out of spite, as was insinuated.

“There’s nothing to ever suggest we’ve done that kind of behavior,” she said. “We proceeded from a good-faith understanding that these were ours.”

Olson believes AMSA owns the decorations. Its predecessor, the Albion Business Association, rallied the community for donations and also secured a member-item grant from former State Assemblyman Charles Nesbitt to buy the decorations in 2005. The village today said the ABA was a pass through for the money and the village owns the decorations.

AMSA and the ABA stored the decorations from 2005 until the village agreed to store them in 2010, Olson said.

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Employees at Five Star Bank in Albion today created a yellow brick road and Emerald City, while dressing as the main characters from the Wizard of Oz.

Branch manager Wendy Hinkley, right, dressed as Oz. Other employees include, from left: Katie Harvey as Dorothy, Amanda Bigley as the Scarecrow, Felicia Dhondt as the Lion, Susan Plummer as a witch and Marilea Greean as the Tin Man.

The bank also has been playing the sound track from the show throughout the day.

“People have just loved it,” Hinkley said.

Orleans Hub welcomes submitted photos from other workplaces that dressed up today. Please send the photos with IDs to tom@orleanshub.com.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Ann Batt dressed up as Harry Potter today for Halloween. She joined other senior citizens in costume during their exercise class at the Albion Academy.

The senior citizens have made it an annual Halloween tradition to dress up during their exercise class. The exercise session is led by Leslie Allen.

‘Just Another High School Music’ features improv and comedy

Photos by Tom Rivers – Elijah Van Epps does a Tom Jones routine while Zach Shaffer is the magician David Copperfield, two characters in Albion High School’s latest drama production, “Just Another High School Musical.”

ALBION – The annual fall musical at Albion High School will keep the audience in stitches.

“We wanted to do a farce,” said Gary Simboli, the musical’s director.

Twenty-two students are in the cast and 12 are in stage crew. They created their own blocking and choreography for “Just Another High School Musical,” a show where students are forced to improv because their director abandons the show, leaving students to perform in front of live audience without a director.

Jenna Reigle, left, and Char Olick lead the cast in one of the numbers.

Albion students take the lead with parts of the show, but Simboli provides plenty of guidance and instruction.

“I like the challenge and the fast pace,” Simboli said today during the final rehearsal before the show on Friday and Saturday. There are shows at 7 p.m. both days, plus a noon performance on Saturday at the middle school auditorium.

“Every single student gets their moment when they are genuinely funny,” Simboli said.

At the close of the first act, David Stilwell, left, and Kyle Thaine sing “Intermission.”

Students get to play contemporary high schoolers, and work on their acting and choregraphy.

Simboli says he likes to try more contemporary shows for the fall musical. In the spring, he picks many Broadway classics. The school this spring will perform “The Wiz.”

In one of the sillier scenes, three boys — William Pecorella, Zach Shaffer and Elijah Van Epps — do a spoof on “Little Women.”

Photos by Tom Rivers – Dick Diminuco, the retired football coach and athletic director at Albion, addresses about 700 people on Wednesday night when he was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.

Diminuco’s plaque will be part of the Hall of Fame exhibit in the First Niagara Center, an arena in Buffalo. (The photo shows him as coach at Alden, where he led the team for four years after 34 years at Albion.

BUFFALO – Retired Albion football coach Dick Diminuco joined 12 other athletes and sports leaders in the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame on Wednesday. None of the other inductees, including NFL and NHL players, could top Diminuco in fan support at the banquet.

Coach D filled eight tables with former players, coaches, teachers, friends and family.

His crowd of supporters gave him an enthusiastic cheer when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“He has touched so many lives in such a positive way,” said Randy Knaak, who succeeded Diminuco as Albion’s athletic director. “People are glad to have an opportunity to celebrate his special day with him.”

Knaak played tackle for Diminuco in 1980 and 1981. The team in Knaak’s senior year played at Rich Stadium. It was an unforgettable experience, Knaak said.

He credits his coach for pointing him to college and connecting him with the physical education program at Canisius College.

“I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today without him,” Knaak said.

Diminuco grew up in Rochester and attended college in Kansas at Ottawa University, where he was a star quarterback.

When Knaak graduated, Diminuco encouraged him to take a job at Albion, first in the correction room and as a coach for three sports. Knaak, a P.E. teacher, said Diminuco was a mentor to his players, coaches and the other teachers.

“He wasn’t just a coach to us,” Knaak said before dinner at the Hyatt Regency in Buffalo. “He was more than a coach.”

Diminuco won 204 games with Albion, including state championships in 1983 and 1987. When he retired from Albion, he took the job as coach at Alden for four seasons, including a 31-3 record the last three years. Diminuco won 242 games in his career with only 70 losses.

Knaak and Dan Monacelli put the call out in the Albion community to see who would want to attend the induction ceremony, where tickets cost $75.

“It wasn’t hard to get people here,” Knaak said.

Monacelli, now the middle school principal, played on Diminuco’s first team at Albion in 1979, a squad that played at Rich Stadium. Monacelli today counts Coach D as one of his best friends.

Diminuco steered Monacelli to Ashland University in Ohio, and welcomed him back to Albion as a teacher and coach after college.

“If it wasn’t for Dick Diminuco I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing,” Monacelli said.

The Hall of Fame introduction for Coach Diminuco showed many newspaper clippings when he was coaching Albion, a perennial powerhouse for three decades under Coach D.

Monacelli said the coach treats people like they are a son or daughter.

“The turnout here tonight is because of all the relationships he’s formed over the past 40 years,” Monacelli said.

Albion was a perpetual powerhouse for three decades under Coach D, regularly defeating teams from larger schools. Monacelli said Diminuco stressed team over individuals.

“He made everybody believe that we were one,” Monacelli said. “He didn’t care who scored or who made the tackle. It was about doing what’s right and winning. He is the man, end of story.”

Diminuco called the induction in the Hall of Fame “very special.” The turnout, from so many at Albion, was “very humbling,” he said at the banquet.

“I’ve seen a lot of people tonight I’ve haven’t seen in a long time,” he said.

During his induction speech he thanked his wife of 37 years, Dale, for being such a great life partner. “I outkicked my coverage when I got you, honey,” he said.

“He wasn’t just a coach to us. He was more than a coach.” – Randy Knaak on Coach Dick Diminuco

Diminuco had a reputation as an intense coach who sometimes loudly voiced his displeasure with officials.

“One of my regrets is that I was very tough on football officials, especially in my younger days,” Diminuco a crowd of about 700 in Buffalo. “I feel bad about that, really I do. I’m serious, I do. I never won a debate with them.”

He referred to himself as “just an old football coach.” But the Hall of Fame committee said he had an impact of thousands of high school athletes in Western New York.

Diminuco said he is thankful for his career in high school athletics and the many relationships through coaching.

“I have not touched as many people as have touched me,” he said. “I have had so many great role models and mentors in my life.”

ALBION – Albion Fire Chief Rocky Sidari and other leaders in the Fire Department gave what they said was a long-overdue message to the Village Board: “Thank you.”

Sidari and department officials attended last week’s board meeting to thank the village for its support of the department. Besides providing financial resources so firefighters have the needed equipment, Sidari said board members often go out of their way to help the department.

During a massive warehouse fire on Oct. 17, Trustee Eileen Banker was close to the scene, handing bottles of water to firefighters. Other members of the Auxiliary had food and snacks for firefighters, who were on scene for several hours of intense firefighting.

Some the firefighters were there all night.

At 4 in the morning the following day, Mayor Dean Theodorakos showed up with coffee for the firefighters.

“We wanted to thank you for your support,” Sidari told the board.

Sidari noted other village employees assisted the fire department in the aftermath of the blaze. Dale Brooks and the DPW delivered fuel in the middle of the night to keep the fire trucks going.

Trustee Kevin Sheehan praised Sidari and the department for their volunteer efforts in protecting the community’s property and often saving lives.

Banker called the fire department “the backbone of the community.”

“Thank you for thanking us, but right back at you,” the mayor said.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Contractors have the shell of a warehouse knocked down less than two weeks after a massive fire destroyed the three-story building on Hamilton Street and Route 31.

After the fire at Orleans Pallet, the four walls of the structure remained. The east and north walls came down a day after the fire. But the other walls on the south and west sides had to be chipped away by hand. A demolition contractor needed to use a lift for more than a week to manually remove chunks of the sandstone walls.

Most of those pieces have been pushed into the rubble – the twisted steel and charred beams – from the building.

Orleans Pallet owner Shawn Malark has said he wants to save as much of the sandstone as possible for reuse in the community.

The Environmental Construction Group of Albion has been the lead contractor on the demolition. It was assisted by Empire Wrecking of Rochester.

Here is how the building looked on Oct. 18, before demolition crews went to work on the remaining walls from the site, which was built in 1901. The smaller sandstone building won’t be knocked down.

Team plays Albion teachers in fund-raiser for PTA

Photos by Tom Rivers – A Harlem Wizard named BP cheers on Alyson Snow, 6, of Albion while she balances a spinning basketball in front of a crowd of about 700 people in the high school gym.

Before the game, during the contest and at halftime the Harlem Wizards liked to stop and mingle with the crowd in Albion.

The Harlem Wizards played the Albion All-Stars, a group of teachers and administrators. When one teacher made a jump shot, teacher Alec Sherman raised both arms in the air from the Albion bench. The event was a fund-raiser for the Elementary School PTA.

Free Methodists will meet at library for next 2 weeks

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Members of the Albion Free Methodist Church removed the pews, carpet and platform from the church following a service on Sunday.

The church will spend the next three weeks remodeling the sanctuary at 25 South Platt St., the first Free Methodist church in the world.

The pews, which were purchased about 40 years ago from a church in Greece, are being swapped out with cushioned chairs. Some of the pews have been purchased by members of the church, while others are available for sale to another church.

New carpet will be added and the pulpit will be shifted from the east side of the building to the north wall.

The changes will allow the church to comfortably seat 240 people. Right now there is a space crunch for about 190 people that regularly attend the services.

The church will meet at the Hoag Library the following two Sundays before returning to the historic site on Nov. 17.

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – A new bus shelter was installed about two weeks ago on South Main Street, near Route 31. Mayor Dean Theodorakos thinks it was a bad spot.

“It’s a horribly congested intersection,” Theodorakos said.

The shelter is the second one installed in Albion since August. The first one was put by the County Administration Building, well off Route 31.

The Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority and Orleans Transportation Service picked the spots for the shelters. The second one is next to Rite Aid.

Funding for each bus shelter in Orleans County totaled $15,000, and was provided by the Federal Transit Administration.

Theodorakos said the shelter by Rite Aid was approved without input from the village. He said he was surprised the state Department of Transportation allowed it at the location on Route 98. The village has struggled to get approval from the DOT for street-scape improvements and other projects.

“The DOT puts the screws to us on everything but they allow that to happen,” the mayor said.

Photo by Tom Rivers – Sid Beaty dressed up as SpongeBob SquarePants and helped plan the Beggar’s Night event Friday in downtown Albion. She is pictured with her dog Archie, named for the family’s seasonal home on Archbald Road.

ALBION – The two-month trial run is over. Sid Beaty is hired.

The Village Board voted to add Beaty to the village staff as a program coordinator, working to promote businesses in the community in the downtown and on Route 31.

She worked two months for free with local businesses, planning events, including a shopping tour and Beggar’s Night event that was on Friday. She also has been developing a concert series for next year and submitted a grant to the local arts council to help pay for the entertainment.

“All the feedback we’ve got has been very positive,” said Mayor Dean Theodorakos. “She is truly an asset and it would be great to keep her.”

The board voted last week to hire Beaty as an independent contractor for $10,000 a year. She will be paid about $800 a month beginning Nov. 1 and the position will run until May 31, when the village fiscal year ends. Theodorakos and the board said they would look at continuing the position in 2014-15 based on the village budget talks in April. Beaty works out of the village office.

Carolyn Ricker, president of the Albion Merchants Association, urged the board to bring her on staff to help coordinate some of the events in the community.

Beaty, in the part-time role, wants to look at other longer-range projects in Albion, including the possibilities of historic walking trails, a downtown farmers’ markets and other events to promote the community.

“We’re trying to draw people down here to increase the critical mass for the businesses,” Ron Vendetti, the village code enforcement officer, told the Village Board. “If you want viable businesses here you have to help them.”

Beaty is working on events for the upcoming holiday season as well as helping with the Christmas decorations for the downtown.

Beaty dressed as SpongeBob SquarePants on Friday as part of the Beggar’s Night. She isn’t a stranger to the area. Her parents, Anne and Bruce Beaty, have a cottage at Point Breeze. She is the granddaughter of the late Dick Eddy, a long-time community leader in Albion. Beaty is named for Dick’s father, Sid Eddy.

She earned a degree in city and regional planning from Cornell University in May 2012. She sees a lot of potential in Albion, especially Main Street and the downtown area, which is named to the National Register of Historic Places.

Photo by Tom Rivers – The Rev. Randy LeBaron sits in one of the pews at the Albion Free Methodist Church. The pews will be moved out after today’s service and replaced with cushioned chairs. The church will meet the next two Sundays at Hoag Library while the sanctuary is remodeled.

ALBION – In 1859, the Rev. Loren Stiles was kicked out of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Albion for his radical preaching. He railed against pew rental fees, the oppression of slavery and other social ills in the late 1850s.

Stiles helped start a new denomination, and it built its first church across the street from where he was ousted. From that first congregation in Albion, the Free Methodist Church has grown to more than 1,000 churches in the United States.

The first church continues to draw a crowd. In fact, the church in Albion is feeling some growing pains. Most of its Sunday services are at near capacity with about 190 people attending on average. That has prompted church leaders to look for ways to add seats so more people can attend services comfortably.

The church has decided to remove the wooden pews and replace them with 240 cushioned seats. The pulpit will also be shifted from the east side of the sanctuary to the north side.

“This is simply cosmetic,” said the Rev. Randy LeBaron, the church pastor the past 10 years. “We’re not changing who we are as a church.”

The pews are not the originals. The congregation bought them about 40 years ago from a church in Greece. One original pew from more than 150 years ago remains in the sanctuary and it will stay in the church. Some of the current pews are being purchased by church members, and other pews will be available for another church to buy.

The pews will be moved out after today’s service. The church will meet at the Hoag Library the following two Sundays while the sanctuary is remodeled. Besides the chairs and pulpit, new carpet is part of the improvements.

“A lot of people have noted that this is a good problem to have,” LeBaron said about the space crunch. “But a good problem still needs a solution.”

The church will have a celebration and dedication service on Nov. 17, its first Sunday back in the church following the sanctuary changes. LeBaron noted other recent upgrades for the building include a new roof and handicapped accessible entrance for the basement.

“We love the fact that we’re in the first building,” he said. “But we want to make it 21st century practical. We don’t want to abandon the building.”

The church has services on Sundays at 9 a.m. with Sunday school at 10:30.