Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – These trumpet players in the Albion Middle School band perform during Wednesday evening’s All-District Concert in the high school gym.

The concert featured the elementary, middle and high school bands. More than 1,000 people attended the concert in the gym.

Mike Thaine leads the high school band in a medley of music from The Lion King. Thaine and Greg Martillotta, the middle school band teacher, are both retiring after this year. The two are both Albion grads who have devoted their careers to their alma mater.

Kailee Anstey plays the saxophone in a solo with the high school band.

March is celebrated as “Music in our Schools Month” throughout the country.

These clarinet players keep their focus in the elementary school band.

Lindsay Almeter leads the beginner band of fourth graders and also fifth graders as par tof the elementary school band. The concert was the first since the gym received a new floor, paint, scoreboards and other improvements.

An elementary student plays the trumpet during the concert.

Greg Martillotta, the middle school band director, played the guitar with the band during “Crazy Train.” They also played “Lean On Me” and other songs.

All three bands – elementary, middle and high school – joined together in concluding the concert with “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple

Photos courtesy of Marsha Rivers

ALBION – The Rev. Dr. Don Algeo, pastor of the Gaines Congregational United Church of Christ, gives the benediction to a Ash Wednesday service at the First Baptist Church in Albion.

Several churches in the Albion Ministerium planned and led the community service.

People received a cross of ashes on their foreheads. The ashes are from the burnt palms from the palms from about a year ago on Palm Sunday.

The Rev. Brenda Bierdeman of the Free Methodist church gives the message during the service.

Ash Wednesday starts a 40-day Lenten season for Christians around the world.

Lent is a time for reflection and repentance in preparation for the celebration of Easter, which this year will be celebrated on April 20.

Albion’s Lenten lunches start March 12 for five Wednesdays at noon at the Albion First Baptist Church, 30 West Park St.

Clarissa Steier plays the trumpet and Kay Marsh is on the piano for “Lift High the Cross.”

ALBANY – Daniel Martuscello, the commissioner of Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, said today that corrections officers who remain on strike on Monday will lose their health insurance.

Their dependents on their health insurance plans also will be cut off, and they won’t be eligible for health insurance through COBRA.

“My message to you is this is the final push,” Martuscello said in a message posted on the DOCCS Facebook page.

Corrections officers have been on strike for nearly two weeks, beginning at Elmira and Collins facilities on Feb. 17. By the next day the strike had spread to the majority of the prisons, including Albion and Orleans.

“I want you to come back to work today,” Martuscello said. “If you missed your shift, you should still report, and know that we will continue to have open dialogue on making facilities safer places to work.”

Photo courtesy of Scott Joerger: Scott Joerger of Rochester, whose son is in the National Guard, holds a sign on Wednesday with striking corrections officers in Albion at Gaines Basin Road, across from the Orleans Correctional Facility. Joerger’s son is currently assisting in one of the prisons in Albion. “Get the professionals BACK TO WORK!” the sign states. About 6,500 National Guard members have been activated to work in the prisons during the strike. Joerger said he supports the COs and hopes their concerns are addressed by the state.

The union representing corrections officers said it expects the state will make a formal offer today to striking COs who have refused to go to work in the prisons for about 10 days.

Day three of mediation between the union and the state concluded at midnight last night, said James Miller, spokesman for the union, New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association.

“The leadership of NYSCOPBA is meeting with the State late this morning,” Miller said in a message to the media. “It is expected that the State will have a formal offer to the demands of those who have refused to work during the labor dispute. I don’t have any information on any concessions or what demands will be met.”

Many corrections officers went on strike Feb. 17 at Collins and Elmira prisons, and those strikes spread to the majority of the 42 prisons in the state by the next day, including the two prisons in Albion.

As public employees, the correction officers can’t legally go on strike, according to the Taylor Law. A judge also told the COs to return to work. The union hasn’t sanctioned the strike.

Correction officers say the prisons have been understaffed leading to mandatory overtime that often is 60 to 80 hours a week for officers. They say they are spending too much time away from their families.

Officers also want an end to the HALT Act, which has changed the way solitary confinement is used as punishment. The union says the HALT Act has made the prisons less safe, resulting in more attacks from inmates on other inmates and staff in the correctional facilities.

Photo by Tom Rivers: This miniature clay model of a reindeer was created by Brian Porter of Pendleton in Niagara County. He would like to make the reindeer as a bronze statue to tie in with Albion’s Christmas heritage as a home to a school for Santas.

ALBION – The Village Board on Wednesday gave its support to a sculpture of a reindeer, but the board wants the project to be funded with donations and grants – not taxpayer dollars.

The board held a public hearing on Wednesday about whether to commit village funds towards a life-size model of a reindeer. It would cost $12,500 to have Brian Porter make a clay model of the reindeer.

Village Trustee Joyce Riley is leading the effort for the new sculpture, which she sees as a community-building project and a way to further promote Albion’s heritage as the home of a school for Santas and also the Christmas Park attraction led by the late Charles Howard in the 1950s and 1960s. Howard established the Santa School in 1937 and ran it until his death in 1966. The school continues in his name in Midland, Mich.

The clay model of reindeer is needed before it can be cast in bronze. The bronze statue would cost an estimated $65,000. Duplicates of the reindeer could be made with a less costly metal. Porter is the sculptor who made the bronze statue of Santa in Albion and also the soldier in Medina by the YMCA, which was originally the Medina Armory.

Riley would like to see many of the reindeer around the community. She thinks the reindeer will add to other recent efforts with the statue of Santa in honor of Charles Howard, and Christmas-themed signs and murals. The Albion Betterment Committee also is working to have a Santa House on Main Street next to the Presbyterian church and a municipal parking lot.

Deputy Mayor Greg Bennett said continuing to build on a year-round Christmas theme makes sense for Albion. But he doesn’t want taxpayer funds committed to the project, especially when village taxes have been on the rise. The 2024-25 village budget increased taxes by 6.6 percent with the tax rate passing $20 per $1,000 of assessed property for the first time.

“I’m all for this,” Bennett said about the reindeer sculptures. “It’s branding the community and taking Christmas to another step. I love the idea but we’ve raised taxes so much on people.”

The board voted to create an account where people can donate towards the project. Albion received the first $200 towards the project during the meeting when code enforcement officer Chris Kinter and sewer plant chief operator Aric Albright each gave $100.

“You want a destination location for people to come to,” Kinter said.

Riley said she would donate, too. Her brother Xavier Riley, now a Texas resident, attended the meeting and said he would contribute as well. He thinks the reindeer and Christmas focus present an opportunity for businesses to sell merchandise and entice visitors.

Debbie Thies, a Albion resident, spoke during the hearing and said she supports the reindeer sculpture.

“I love the reindeer idea,” she said. “I think Albion needs to take advantage of Christmas.”

Riley said she is confident the $12,500 can be raised from donations. She would like those funds to be raised by the end of April so Porter can then be hired to make the clay model in time for an Erie Canal festival in late September.

Trustee William Gabalski also said there are other lower-cost options for a bronze reindeer. He showed her one bronze option for about $10,000. Riley said she would look at that option, too.

Gabalski said he thinks the reindeer make sense for Albion, but he doesn’t want taxpayer money to go towards it – “given all we are up against.” The board is facing budget challenges from many fronts, he said.

Governor urges officers to return to work; praises those who stayed on job and 6,500 National Guard assisting in prisons

Photo by Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul: Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks today in Albany after a public safety roundtable.

ALBANY – An angry Gov. Kathy Hochul told corrections officers on strike to end their unsanctioned strike and get back to work, saying their absence has put prisons and the entire state at risk.

Many corrections officers went on strike Feb. 17 at Collins and Elmira prisons, and those strikes spread to the majority of the 42 prisons in the state by the next day, including the two prisons in Albion.

As public employees, the correction officers can’t legally go on strike, according to the Taylor Law. A judge also told the COs to return to work.

“Let me be clear: the illegal actions being taken by a number of individuals is putting the entire state at risk,” Hochul said during a news conference in Albany today following a public safety roundtable. “We need them back to work; this must end immediately.”

Today is the second day of a mediator meeting with state officials and the union representing the corrections officers. The union didn’t officially support the strike.

“We’ve done everything we can to encourage them to get back to work,” Hochul said. “They know they are in violation of the New York State Taylor Law. They also are in violation of a temporary restraining order to return to work.

“We offered an amnesty period where they could go back to work, no questions asked. We also repealed a staffing memo that had been viewed as controversial. We also suspended portions of the HALT law, which requires a certain amount of time out and other activities that we do not have the staffing to implement.”

Hochul said 6,500 members of the National Guard have been deployed to help fill the void of the lack of staff.

“That means that they’ve been taken either from their homes or critical assignments — whether they’re protecting assets in New York City or elsewhere against terrorism,” the governor said.

She said the striking COs need to make a “good faith effort” to resolve the strike. She said she understands the frustration about long hours with mandatory overtime.

“We need more of you on the job, I get that,” she said. “But, we have a situation right now, which is absolutely untenable, especially the fact that there were prisons left unguarded — think about that. The incarcerated population was left unguarded. There were people from other unions, people who work in health care, and the commissary, who were left unprotected by these actions.”

Photo by Tom Rivers: The National Guard has been helping with staffing at the two prisons in Albion since last Thursday. This photo from Friday shows some of the National Guard vehicles at the QWL site on Washington Street.

Hochul said she is thankful for the National Guard and the corrections officers who have stayed on the job or returned to work.

The state is taking legal proceedings against those who are not coming to work, and she said their health insurance is no longer entitled from the state.

“People took an oath of office to protect the public,” she said. “We have to get back to ensuring that that oath is kept. There’s an enormous strain on our system right now. I encourage everyone to come back to work. We hear you with respect to the long hours.”

The governor said the prison population is about half of what it was and she is moving to close or “consolidate” some of the prisons to maximize every beds in the facilities.

 “In fact, we’re transporting members of the incarcerated population as we speak to take them to other facilities where I can protect them more readily,” she said. “So, that’s where we are. That’s the status. We’re very engaged and look forward to a resolution as soon as possible.”