10 speakers will be mounted outside on Bank Street

Photos by Tom Rivers – Albion Town Councilman Jake Olles stands on East Bank Street where he wants 10 all-weather speakers to play music in the downtown.

ALBION – Jake Olles has been to Medina and heard the music being piped into the downtown with outdoor speakers.

“People say the music is great in Medina,” Olles said. “Why can’t we do it in Albion?”

Olles has spearheaded an effort to have outdoor music in the downtown. The Albion town councilman convinced the majority of the Town Board to purchase 10 speakers for the project. Olles estimated those speakers would cost about $700 for the 10. The money would come out of the town’s parks and recreation budget.

The Albion Village Board voted tonight to accept the speakers, but the board wants village electrician Rick Albright to recommend whether the speakers should be wireless or be wired through the existing light poles.

Olles has a 400-disc CD player secured from Empire Trading owner Jacob Atwell of Albion. Atwell offered to donate the player, which would likely be controlled in village hall. Olles believes community members would donate music for the project.

Some of the speakers would be aimed towards Main Street and West Bank Street, so the music could be heard near the Family Hardware and former Gus’s Soda Shop, according to the proposal from Albion Town Councilman Jake Olles.

The village would have to buy speaker wire for the speakers if village officials decide to use wire for the system. The village also would need to install the equipment.

Olles pushed for the outdoor music after seeing the success of the project in Medina. He also thinks the music would be a positive addition to a farmers’ market planned for Sundays this summer, as well as other downtown events in Albion.

“If we’re going to have a farmers’ market and a Christmas walk, it would be good to have some music,” Olles told the Village Board.

Mayor Dean Theodorakos and Village Board members praised Olles and the town for pushing the project.

“I certainly appreciate the town coming to us,” said Trustee Eileen Banker.

In other action tonight, the board voted to pursue a $100,000 bond to be paid back over five years. That money will be used for road and drainage projects. The village won’t know the interest rate until it goes on the market for the bond. The rates are low at about a .50 percent rate, said Linda Babcock, the village clerk-treasurer.

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Lisa Bierdeman works to dig a hole for a plant while helping her mother Brenda Bierdeman create a sensory garden on Platt Street in Albion. The two spent part of Memorial Day on the project.

Bierdeman is a licensed clinical psychologist who works out of 27 South Platt St. She acquired the vacant lot next door and has been cleaning it up, and adding flowers, plants and small trees. She will include a balance beam at ground level, a slide and a bridge over a rock garden.

The garden is designed for children with autism and other sensory disorders.

“It will be a place that is really calming,” Bierdeman said.

Her daughter is a University at Buffalo doctoral student in physical therapy.

Photos by Tom Rivers – The Albion Lions Club is giving five Albion High School seniors each $500 in scholarships to help pay for college. The students were invited to the club’s meeting tonight at the Masonic Lodge on Platt Street. The group includes, from left: Dennis Smith, member of the Lions scholarship committee; Sarah Papponetti; Gretta Smith; Lions Club President Wilfred Moss; Tanisha Moyer, Michael Patterson; and Bob Galbreath, member of scholarship committee. Alison O’Hearn was unable to attend the Lions Club meeting.

ALBION – A year of fund-raising, from selling geraniums to sausage, bore fruit today when the Lions Club in Albion awarded five scholarships for a combined $2,500. The club also presented a check for $5,000 to the Orleans County YMCA.

“We like to support the kids in school,” said long-time member Dennis Smith, a member of the scholarship committee.

The club awarded $500 scholarships to the following students: Tanisha Moyer, who is headed to Niagara County Community College to study psychology; Sarah Papponetti, a physical therapy major at Nazareth College; Michael Patterson, who will study engineering at Harvard University; Alison O’Hearn, a biology and pre-med major at Grove City College; and Gretta Smith, an undecided major at Monroe Community College.

The club also presented a $5,000 check to the Orleans County YMCA, which is raising money for a $400,000 capital project in Medina at the former armory. The organization has increased its efforts in Albion, running child care and summer camps.

“They’ve expanded throughout Orleans County,” Smith said. “We think it’s worthwhile to support them.”

The Lions Club also is giving $5,000 towards the $400,000 capital campaign for the Orleans County YMCA in Medina. The organization has expanded its programming in Albion. Pictured, from left: Lions Club President Wilfred Moss, Y Board President Dean Bellack, and Dan Parker, Lions vice president.

Photos by Tom Rivers – Joe Gehl, second from right, and other veterans march along Main Street in Albion for today’s Memorial Day parade.

Eli Pask, a Scout in Pack 175 in West Barre, carries the flag down Main Street with other scouts in today’s parade.

The Knights of Columbus were new to the Memorial Day parade in Albion, part of the group’s effort to increase its visibility in the community. The K of C members who marched include, from left: Grand Knight Steve Karas, Alan Worgo, Pino Aldaco and Deputy Grand Knight Bob Ballard.

Allen Sanford and the drum line in the Albion Marching Band work their way down Main Street in today’s parade.

ALBION – Veterans, Scouts, firefighters and the Albion Marching Band all marched down Main Street and East Avenue to mark Memorial Day.

The parade ended in front of the middle school. Rocco Sidari, a 69-year member of the American Legion, was recognized at the service. Village Trustee Eileen Banker and County Legislator Don Allport also addressed the crowd.

Holley, Lyndonville and Medina also had parades and ceremonies today.

The flag is raised to start a Memorial Day service in Albion outside the middle school. The group includes, form left, Phil Warne of the American Legion, VFW commander Mark Roberts and Legion commander Doreen Capstick.

Joyce LaLonde, an Albion senior who won the county’s American Legion oratorical contest, reads the Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln. Phil Warne, a member of the Legion, served as master of ceremonies for a service outside the middle school.

Photos by Tom Rivers – Albion AP biology students fill planters with flowers this morning. Some of the students include, from left: Kellie O’Hearn, Monica Benjovsky, Kelsey Schmitt and Kali Benjovsky.

ALBION – Students in Albion’s High School advanced placement biology class spent this morning filling 20 planters with flowers that should be set up in the downtown this afternoon.

Lisa Stratton and Debbie Grimm headed up the project for the Albion Main Street Alliance. The organization used a $1,000 donation from the Town of Albion and $500 from downtown businesses to purchase the flowers from Bertsch’s Good Earth Market, Kirby’s Farm Market and Navarra’s Greenhouses.

The flowers will be on Main and Bank streets. Students have helped prepare the planters the past several years.

“It’s a way to put some of our knowledge of plants into practical use,” said teacher Sandy Climenhaga. “We think it gives the students a sense of pride when they see the flowers downtown.”

Stratton and Grimm also are working to have flowers at Bullard and Waterman parks and also by the village welcome signs.

Bertsch’s, Kirby’s and Navarra’s all donated five hanging baskets for the downtown.

Allen Sanford, left, and Mike Patterson mix the dirt for the downtown flowers.

Press release, Albion Police Chief Roland Nenni

ALBION – On May 23, 2013 at 1:24 p.m., the Albion Police Department was dispatched to the Crimson Heights Apartment complex on Crimson Drive for a reported suicidal person armed with a firearm.

First arriving police units learned that an adult male had left the residence following a domestic dispute and that he was armed with a firearm. Police personnel were advised that the male had made phone contact with the Albion High School prior to their arrival in an attempt to speak with this child enrolled at the School.

As a precaution the Albion Central School District was notified of the incident and police personnel were placed at school campus entrances. The school then made the decision to place the school in Lock Down. The School District was given constant updates as the situation unfolded.

Police personnel were able to speak with the individual via cell phone which resulted in him surrendering to the police. Upon the individual being taken into custody, the Albion Central School District was notified and the school resumed normal school operations.

At no time did the individual make an attempt to travel to the school and he was not near the school when he was taken into custody.

ALBION – Albion Central School was in lockdown this afternoon when a parent in a domestic dispute called to report a possible threat.

The school was told the parent of a student might arrive on campus with a gun. That prompted the schools to lock all doors at about 1:35 p.m. The lockdown was lifted at about 2:15 p.m. when police had the suspect in custody off-site.

Police officers were quickly on scene after the initial call to secure the perimeter of the campus, said Michael Bonnewell, the district superintendent. Village police, state troopers and the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department all assisted the school.

“Our law enforcement people were here immediately,” Bonnewell said. “The response was incredible.”

The school hasn’t cancelled after-school activities.

Bill Robinson and members of the Albion Lions Club are selling geraniums today until they’re all sold out. They are set up on Route 31 in front of Mark’s Pizzeria. Robinson found some shade on an 80-degree day. When he wasn’t pushing product, he was reading a book.

Press release, Albion Police Chief Roland Nenni III

ALBION – Village police will be stepping up its efforts to enforce seat belt use beginning today until June 2 as part of a state-wide initiative.

The Albion Police Department is using a $779 state grant from the state Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee to have extra officers on duty during the next two weeks. Officers will be doing road checks and patrolling throughout the village to enforce seatbelt compliance.

The leading causes of fatalities in motor vehicle accidents continues to be speeding, not wearing seat belts and driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, said Police Chief Roland Nenni III.

“The safety of our streets continues to be one of the number one goals of the Albion Police Department,” he said. “We will continue to strive to make our community safe.”

The Police Department for the past two years has won the Automobile Association of America’s Community Traffic Safety Platinum Award.

“This award shows the commitment and dedication the officers of the Albion Police Department have for the safety of our motorists and pedestrians,” Nenni said.

Aaron Kirby, 2009 graduate and PhD student in physics, gives keynote address

Photos by Tom Rivers – Aaron Kirby, a 2009 Albion graduate, addresses Albion honor graduates during the Academic Honors Convocation Dinner tonight at Hickory Ridge Country Club.

Faith Bentley is congratulated by Albion High School Principal Leslie Stauss and Superintendent of Schools Michael Bonnewell during a dinner for honor grads.

ALBION – While growing up in Albion, 22-year-old Aaron Kirby said he learned life is often what you make of it.

He was a top student in the classroom, and was active in the music and sports programs. He was an Eagle Scout who enjoyed time on the farm. His parents, Dennis and Wendy Kirby, sponsored two families from war-torn Kosovo, families that moved to Albion.

“There’s tons of stuff going on in Albion,” Kirby told Albion honor graduates tonight. “You just have to find it.”

Kirby was picked as the keynote speaker for the 38 students with cumulative grade point averages at 90 percent or higher. He graduated May 12 from the University at Buffalo with a mathematics and physics major. He is now a doctoral student at UB in physics.

Kirby heaped praise on his upbringing and the opportunities at Albion.

Aaron Kirby, a doctoral student in physics at the University at Buffalo, urged Albion graduates to have confidence and take the important first step.

“Albion has given me the tools and allowed me to have exceptionally varied experiences,” he told more than 200 people at the Academic Honors Convocation Dinner at Hickory Ridge Country Club.

Kirby has recently taken up rock climbing, a sport that requires patience, efficiency and passion. It also demands confidence.

“You have to take the first step,” he said.

He urged graduates to strike the right balance of confidence. Too little is fear and too much is arrogance.

Board of Education members took turns at the podium with Kevin Doherty closing the two-hour event.

“Albion has tried to help you to be the very highest you,” Doherty told the honor grads. “Be the highest and best you.”

Thirty-eight students who will graduate with cumulative grade point averages at 90 percent or higher are pictured for a group photo.

The honor grads include: Kyle Appleman, Brooke Bensley, Faith Bentley, Carly Burris, Ryan Castrechino, Samantha Covis, Brandon Doyle, Erika Edwards, Rebecca Flanagan, Alissa Francis, William Grimble, Trevor Hadick, Jackson Hamilton, Hannah Hapeman, Xiao Mei He, Brandon Hennekey, Samantha Johnson, Joyce LaLonde, Julia Lawrence, Kirsten Liddle, Sili Lin, Dustin Lockwood, Mary Martin, Cady Messmer, Tanisha Moyer, Tyler Neilans, Alison O’Hearn, Sarah Papponetti, Michael Patterson, Alan Quintana Aragon, Christopher Reed, Alessaundra Rivera, Roland Sanford, Gretta Smith, Taylor Soule, Tiffany Standish, Abigail Thaine and Jacob Tynan.

Pullman Memorial and Presbyterian also featured on Sunday

Photos by Tom Rivers – The pipe organ inside the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church includes gold leaf stencils.

ALBION – Two historic churches in Albion are part of a state-wide “Sacred Sites” tour this weekend.

The First Presbyterian Church and Pullman Memorial Universalist Church were open today from noon to 3 p.m. and will be open for tours during the same time on Sunday.

The New York Landmarks Conservancy coordinated the third annual “Sacred Sites” tour in New York. The event aims to raise public appreciation for the churches as community treasures with stained-glass windows, pipe organs, ornately carved pews, decorative paintings and murals.

I stopped by the Pullman building today and will feature the church in an upcoming “Sandstone Heritage.” The church was built in 1894 from local Medina sandstone. It has 41 stained-glass windows from the famed Tiffany stained-glass windows including “Christ the Consoler,” which looks like a three-dimensional image of Jesus with outstretched arms.

Today I was most interested in the Johnson pipe organ, which was decorated in gold leaf stencils by the Tiffany company. It is a striking work of art, and I didn’t even get to hear it play today. I couldn’t stay long and a woman from Buffalo was on the tour. I didn’t want to be a distraction.

The First Presbyterian Church spent $300,000 on an interior restoration in 2008, a project that included repairs to the rose window. The church also removed tiles and restored the original plaster ceiling.

The Presbyterian Church is full of shock and awe. From the outside, the church built in 1874, reaches 175 feet high. It’s impressive, but the inside may be even more dramatic.

The congregation spent $300,000 five years ago in a sanctuary restoration that removed ceiling tiles to showcase the original ceiling. The dominant stained-glass rose window also was repaired in the extensive interior project.

The two churches have committed to being open on Wednesdays from 9:30 a.m. to noon from May 22 until the end of summer. The churches want to be available for canal visitors and community members who want to stop in to pray and tour the sites.

Photos by Tom Rivers – John Williams, a member of the Elks Lodge in Albion, opposes a plan to turn a daycare next door into 10 efficiency units.

This former childcare center is eyed for 10 apartments.

ALBION – A proposal to turn a former child care center at the end of West State Street into 10 apartments has riled neighbors, including the Elks Lodge, which is next door to the former Agri-Business Child Development site.

“It’s not a good thing,” John Williams, a member of the Elks, told the Village Planning Board. “You could have sex offenders in there and ex cons. It’s no good.”

Williams and other neighbors said the site, if turned into 10 apartments, would bring down the property values in the neighborhood.

Linda Smith of Albion wants to buy the site from the state and turn it into 10 “efficiency units” that would be about 550 square feet each with their own bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. She said she does criminal background checks on all applicants for her apartments.

“If I think they are a danger, I can refuse them,” she said about applicants.

The efficiency units wouldn’t be a “flop house” or boarding house, and residents would stay for at least a month. Smith said the project would improve a building that has sat empty for at least three years and would return the site to the tax rolls.

“I take pride in them,” she said about the properties she owns in Albion. “I keep them up. I try to put good people in them.”

The building is in a residential neighborhood. Village Code Enforcement Officer Ron Vendetti said it’s highly unlikely the building would be converted into one- or two-unit housing.

He wrote a proposal for adaptive reuse overlay districts that would target buildings older than 1996 that are vacant with more than 5,000 square feet of space. The zoning would provide some flexibility for reusing the properties, but also provides conditions for the Planning Board to consider the project’s impact on the surrounding neighborhood.

Planning Board Chairman Dan Gleason said there are many vacant or underutilized sites in the village that need creative solutions. The Planning Board and Village Board would need to adopt the adaptive reuse zoning for the building before Smith could proceed. The Orleans County Planning Board also would need to weigh in on the proposal.

Several neighbors said they didn’t want a 10-unit site in their neighborhood. Matt Passarell, a member of Town Board, said the proposal is contrary to the recently approved Albion comprehensive plan, where community members they wanted less rental properties in the village.

“We established a vision in our comprehensive plan and we should stick to it,” Passarell said.

Village Code Enforcement Officer Ron Vendetti is looking for creative ways to reuse vacant buildings that are bigger than 5,000 square feet. He has proposed an adaptive reuse overlay district for those properties.

His parents, Jim and Barbara Passarell, both addressed the board and said the West State Street neighborhood has sharply declined in their 30 years on the street. Mrs. Passarell said the street has turned into “a slum.”

She also told Vendetti he should be neutral in enforcing codes, not working to create new zoning.

Vendetti said he was asked by the Village Board to draft a proposal for reusing some of the larger vacant buildings in the village that don’t lend themselves a one- or two-unit housing.

“It’s a hard thing to figure out,” Vendetti said about the properties.

The village’s tax assessed value has been shrinking in recent years. Gleason, the Planning Board chairman, said the village would benefit if sites were reused, rather than sitting vacant or being torn down. He said the board wouldn’t make a decision soon on the adaptive reuse zoning or on Smith’s project.

“It gives you an idea of what we’re up against,” Gleason said. “If you look around Albion, there’s a lot of empty buildings. We’re looking for ways to reuse some of those buildings and increase our tax base.”

Photo by Tom Rivers – Gary Withey, owner of Fischer’s Newsroom on North Main Street, waits on customer Larry Harvey this morning at the North Main Street business.

ALBION A downtown Albion merchant admitted to stealing from a fellow business owner in court on Wednesday.

Denise VanWagner, 60, of Medina pleaded guilty to attempted petty larceny. She will be sentenced in County Court on Sept. 10.

VanWagner will pay partial restitution to Fischer’s Newsroom, where police say she stole $28,303. VanWagner, owner of the Place To Go consignment shop, would go to Fischer’s and watch the store while owner Gary Withey took a bathroom break.

Withey became suspicious about the theft and marked $20 bills that VanWagner then allegedly stole. One time he hid behind a door and witnessed her taking the money. He then called the Albion police.

In March, VanWagner was arraigned on charges of third-degree grand larceny and fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property. The plea on Wednesday means the case is resolved and won’t go to trial.

“Are we happy? Yes and no,” Withey said this morning. “We’re happy she finally pleaded guilty. And we avoided a trial which saved the taxpayers a lot of money.”

Withey and his wife Denise had the business for sale until taking it off the market about a month ago. Once the theft was stopped, Withey said Fischer’s proved to be a healthy business.

“We’re solvent again, and we’re no longer for sale,” he said.

ALBION – State Assemblyman Steve Hawley has recommitted to keeping Albion as his district office, even though the redistricting process shifted the center of his district to Elba.

The 139^th Assembly District was changed about a year ago during redistricting, with the boundaries moved south to include all of Genesee County. The new lines make northern Genesee the geographic center of the district.

Hawley’s district used to include all of Orleans, but Shelby was removed, as well as the town of Somerset. He picked up the southern border of Genesee, which previously wasn’t in the district. The 139^th also includes four Monroe towns: Hamlin, Clarkson, Sweden and Riga.

Hawley’s predecessor, Charles Nesbitt, picked Albion as the district office in 2002, moving it to his hometown after the office was based in Brockport.

Hawley, who has served in the Assembly since 2006, isn’t going to pull up stakes from Albion.

“It’s accessible,” he said about his office at the Albion Visitors’ Center, 121 North Main Street. “It’s right in the center of Orleans County. People are familiar with it.”

The village owns the site at 121 North Main St. The Village Board requested a 2 percent increase in Hawley’s lease, which includes utilities. Hawley’s office paid $14,832 this past year for the space. The Assembly’s majority conference will decide if the increase is approved. Hawley said he supports paying a little more for the space.

“I don’t think that’s outlandish at all,” he said.

The Albion building also gives him access to a conference room and he said there is plenty of parking close by.

Hawley has stepped up outreach efforts with residents in Genesee and Monroe counties. His staff has office hours every Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. at Genesee Community College in Room T123 of the Conable Technology Building. His staff also will be available on Wednesdays at Brockport State College.

Hawley said he will meet with residents personally throughout the district if they schedule an appointment by contacting hawleys@assembly.state.ny.us or by calling the district office at 585-589-5780.