Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Chris Forrester, a volunteer at this morning’s food distribution in Albion in the Platt Street municipal parking lot, carries a chicken to a car with two senior citizens.

Forrester said she has been volunteering at the monthly distributions for about a year. She tries to be high energy in greeting the people.

“Everyone deserves a smile,” she said.

Foodlink brought a truck of food from Rochester. Foodlink also does distributions at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds in Knowlesville and in Lyndonville at the Presbyterian Church.

The distribution started at about 9 a.m. but people were in the parking lot for hours before that with the first there at 5 a.m., said Katrina Chaffee, director of Community Service and Reporting at Community Action of Orleans & Genesee.

Community Action runs the distribution in Albion, and Chaffee said there has been a big increase in people seeking food with prices rising and people feeling a strain financially. About 150 vehicles typically are there for the distributions, and some vehicles include more than one family.

Ernie Gursslin, a maintenance worker for Community Action, gets boxes ready at the distribution. It was 20 degrees at the start of the distribution.

Today the boxes included macaroni and cheese, tomatillos, grapefruit, bags of Honeycrisp apples, potatoes, onions, cabbage, rolls and chicken. Chaffee said the value of the food is about $100.

Ricky Standish, a Community Action employee, opens up boxes with frozen chickens.

The distributions are funded by the state and will continue until at least June. The distributions started during the Covid pandemic in the spring 2020.

The schedule for the upcoming distributions in Albion at 165 South Platt St. includes:

• Monday, January 22 at 9 a.m.
• Monday, February 12 at 9 a.m.
• Monday, March 11 at 9 a.m.
• Monday, April 8 at 9 a.m.
• Monday, May 13 at 9 a.m.
• Monday, June 10 at 9 a.m.

The schedule at the Lyndonville Presbyterian Church, 107 North Main St., includes:

• Friday, February 16 at 9:30 a.m.
• Friday, March 1 at 9:30 a.m.
• Friday, March 15 at 9:30 a.m.
• Friday, April 5 at 9:30 a.m.
• Friday, April 19 at 9:30 a.m.
• Friday, May 3 at 9:30 a.m.
• Friday, May 17 at 9:30 a.m.
• Friday, June 7 at 9:30 a.m.

The Orleans Cornell Cooperative Extension also hosts a distribution at the fairgrounds, 12690 State Route 31, Albion, NY.

The next one will be Monday, February 5, beginning at 10 a.m.

The Albion and Lyndonville distributions don’t require registrations, but the Extension strongly encourages that. Those who preregister will be assigned timeslots for pickup (12-12:30, 12:30-1, 1-1:30, 1:30-2). Preregister at 585-798-4265.

Elaine Kovaleski (left), age 86, has been volunteering at the distributions in Albion for about a year. She sorts the food and tries to spread them out evenly in about 150 different boxes.

“It’s amazing how many people need food,” she said.

Anyone interested in volunteering at the Albion distribution can call Community Action at (585) 589-5605.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – These kids wave their light-up swords and souvenirs during Billy Martin’s Cole All Star Circus this evening at the Albion High School Gymnasium.

More than 500 people attended the show.

The circus has started its annual swing in the region. The other upcoming local performances include Medina Wise Middle School on Friday with shows at 5:15 and 7:15 p.m.; 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 25 at the Holley Elementary School; and 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 26  at the Kendall High School Gym.

Elena Aristov dazzled the crowd with a series of quick costume changes that looked like magic. She is joined in the show ring by her husband Alex, who also did a very quick suit switch. Their two sons, Ivan and Sasha, also are performers with Billy Martin’s Cole All Star Circus.

Sasha Aristov juggles a suitcase with his feet in his routine.

James Miller, 4, gets his face painted to look like Spider Man. Elena Aristov is the artist. She was painting faces before the start of the show. James’ mother Porshe Taylor said she has been coming to circus for many years, going back to when she was a kid.

Ivan Arestov displays his skill with Cyr Wheel acrobatics.

Angela Martin wears a blacklight outfit that glows in the dark while she does her aerial artistry up high in the gym.

The performers debuted new costumes, some new music and modified their routines from past shows.

The Albion performance also was a benefit for the Close-Up program which takes high schoolers to Washington, DC.

National Grid, Tompkins Community Bank kick off new service with donations

Photo by Ginny Kropf: Community Action of Orleans & Genesee has announced a new service – free hats and mittens to those in need. Here, CAOG’s executive director Renee Hungerford, Main Street Thrift Store manager Cassie Healy and case manager Jeanette Worsley fill a box in front of the store with hats and mittens, free for the taking.

ALBION – Community Action of Orleans & Genesee announced a new service to the community – free hats and mittens to anyone who needs them.

The idea came from Renee Hungerford, executive director of Community Action, who mentioned it to Jackie Dunham, director of operations.

“I said, ‘We’ve got to make that happen,’” Dunham said.

Hungerford spoke with facilities manager Rick Standish, who indicated he could build a suitable box to hold a supply of hats and mittens. Within a few days, he had completed two boxes, one in front of the Main Street store, and the other behind Community Action’s headquarters on State Street, with the agency’s mini food pantry.

While discussing the new project with Patrick Weissend, manager of Tompkins Community Bank, he asked if Hungerford would like him to run a mitten drive for them. Within two weeks, he had a huge box collected.

“We expect to get people from the new warming center, who will need hats and mittens to keep warm,” Hungerford said.

Another box full of mittens was donated by National Grid.

“There definitely is a need, not just for food, but for warm clothing,” said Jeanette Worsley, case manager at Community Action.

Hungerford said having the boxes available to the public assures those in need can access them any time.

“Obviously, we can’t have staff available 24/7,” she said. “This way, warm hats and mittens are available all the time.”

The public or any organization who would like to make donations of hats and mittens for all ages can drop them off any time in one of the boxes or bring them to the office during business hours or the Main Street Corner Thrifts, Gifts and More from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday or from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays.

Kevin Sheehan says mayor didn’t acknowledge letter seeking to fill vacancy

ALBION – Kevin Sheehan says he has a 40-year track record of service to the Albion community, from time on the Village Board including a stint as mayor, to many years with the Knights of Columbus, VFW, youth sports and as the current Planning Board chairman for the Town of Albion.

Kevin Sheehan

Sheehan sent a letter to Mayor Angel Javier Jr., offering to fill a vacancy on the Albion Village Board when Zack Burgess resigned as trustee in October after moving out of the village.

Sheehan said his letter was never acknowledged. Javier chose to fill the vacancy last month with David Buczek, a supervisor for National Grid. The position is up for election on March 19

Sheehan said the village never communicated with him about his letter or the process. He told the board during Wednesday’s meeting there was no communication with him, or with Tom O’Hearn, a retired Albion police lieutenant who also sent in a letter asking to be considered for the vacancy.

Filling the vacancy is a mayoral appointment. Javier told Sheehan he wasn’t considered for the spot.

“None of the letters that came in were considered,” Javier said during Wednesday’s meeting. “You have an election in two months. You have all the opportunity that you want.”

Javier said he didn’t interview Buczek to fill the vacancy. Deputy Mayor Joyce Riley met with him, but she said filling the position was the mayor’s choice.

Trustee Tim McMurray said he was left out of the process to fill the vacancy and said Javier does not share information with him. McMurray said he learned of the appointment in a text message from Riley.

Sheehan said the process is slight to long-time residents with a track record of service to the community. Sheehan said Buczek is largely unknown to village residents. He moved to Albion two years ago.

Sheehan and O’Hearn have been publicly critical of Javier in his first two years as mayor, especially with a dispute over pay with police officers that was settled in favor of the police department. Sheehan also briefly was the village code enforcement officer at the start of Javier’s term.

Sheehan said his letter of interest in serving as trustee should have at least been acknowledged by the mayor.

“If you don’t like me, fine you don’t like me,” Sheehan said. “But why wasn’t there any communication?”

ALBION – The Village of Albion Water Plant expects to start adding fluoride to the public water supply in February after about a 2 ½-year hiatus.

The village hasn’t added fluoride to the water since the summer of 2021. The village kept fluoridation chemicals in the water plant, but plant chief operator Adam Rush said it was a subpar setup.

The village will soon have a new 14-by-14-foot concrete building ready that will be used to store the fluoride. Keeler Construction was general contractor for that project which is nearly done. Rush told the Village Board on Wednesday there are a few “punch list” items to finish.

Keeler Construction submitted the low bid of $388,000 for the project, which included structural, architectural, mechanical (HVAC and plumbing) and electrical components and systems.

The building was funded with a $312,000 grant from the state Department of Health, with the other $76,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Rush wanted the fluoridation chemicals to be in a separate space and not in the water plant. The space in the water plant where the fluoride was kept is now used for the biomass heating system including a pellet boiler.

The American Dental Association backs having fluoride in water because fluoride helps prevent tooth decay by rebuild and strengthening the tooth’s surface or enamel.

The village water plant produces about 1.5 millions gallons of water of day, mostly for the central Orleans towns of Carlton, Gaines, Albion and Barre, as well as the village of Albion.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Kyle Gill, left, is shown this afternoon with his daughter Rylee and Kyle’s dad, Ray Gill, during a benefit for Kyle at Dubby’s Tailgate. More than 100 gift baskets, and many larger items were up for raffle.

Kyle, 35, is fighting stage 2 stomach cancer. He has surgery scheduled for Jan. 17 to remove most of his stomach.

Gill is the assistant store manager at Ace Hardware in Albion. He hasn’t been in the store working since July due to his illness and chemotherapy. He is down about 100 pounds and the chemo caused him to lose his distinctive beard.

He said he was grateful to see so many people turn out today, especially the many customers who he used to see so frequently in the store.

These bracelets were available to help Kyle Gill with the costs of his medical care.

Kyle started working for Jerry Ulrich at the Ace Hardware in Lockport when Kyle was 15. He has been in the Albion store the past 15 years, often in the plumbing section, mixing paint and in the back doing window repairs.

Kyle said he wasn’t feeling well back in May, and then was a diagnosed with an ulcer. That ulcer ultimately led to the cancer being detected. Gill said that ulcer likely saved his life and allowed him to get treatment and shrink the cancer.

The Ace Hardware team at today’s benefit includes, front row, from left: Vinnie Tarricone, Lisa Beam, Kyle Gill, Mark Luft, Jed Standish and Jessica Fox. Back row: Bryan Vagg, Hanna Vagg, Lindsy Yeager, Pete Pilon, Molly Jones, Jerry Ulrich, Stew Walck, Jessica Pilon and Renee Colonna.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – There are 87 two-person teams playing cornhole in Albion today at Dubby’s Tailgate with $5,250 in prizes up for grabs, including $1,500 to the top team.

The “Cornhole Throwdown” is run by the Medina Rotary Club, and expects to raise about $3,000 for the club, said Peter Bartula, the club president and a cornhole enthusiast.

Troy Kingdollar, right, of Holley takes a warmup throw in the double-elimination part of today’s tournament. His partner is Mike Beach of Albion. The two are among the top players locally. After four games in today’s tournament they were in the C division, the bottom third of the teams.

Beach helped organize todays tournament and noted five professional cornhole players were in the tournament, and other top talent from western and central New York.

Kingdollar welcomes the chance for friendly competition.

“It’s fun,” he said. “It’s socializing with other people. There aren’t any fights.”

Joel Zawistowski of South Buffalo is next to Kingdollar at left. Many of the out-of-town teams heard about the tournament on the Scoreholio app that is used to run corn hole tournaments and leagues.

Zawistowski said he is impressed with the cavernous setup at Dubby’s Tailgate, a warehouse with 10,000 square feet of space. He said it’s much bigger than most of the indoor venues he’s been at for cornhole.

Mike Borelli of the Corny Fellows from Hilton thanked the cornhole players for coming out to Albion for the tournament today. Borelli said he is planning a tournament on March 9 to benefit his brother who was recently diagnosed with brain cancer.

Borelli said the cornhole community rallies to support people in need.

The cornhole players enjoyed other games and refreshments at Dubby’s when they weren’t playing.

Brian and Rebecca Alexander opened Dubby’s Tailgate about two years ago. Today was the biggest cornhole tournament they have hosted.

Dubby’s has a regular Wednesday evening league for cornhole players. Bartula plays in that league. He said the success of today’s event will likely lead to three or four cornhole tournaments run by local Rotary clubs during the year.

Brian Alexander said the Dubby’s facility impressed the players from out of area and he is hopeful the site can host more regional tournaments in the future. The players liked the space, and having the option for food and beverages from the restaurant at Dubby’s.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – A new 25-bed women and children community residence is taking shape on Butts Road. This will be the first residential program for women and their children for UConnectCare, formerly known as Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse.

Contractors started clearing land, removing trees and brush, back in July. The site will allow women, 18 and older, to receive services to aid in their recovery while in a residential setting. Five of the 25 units will accommodate women with children younger than kindergarten. Up to two children can stay in those units. The property will include walking trails and a playground

The project was awarded a $4.6 million grant from the state Department of Health for construction of the residence, which will total $5.2 million.

UConnectCare has seen more women in recovery and addiction programs during the opioid epidemic, with the prevalence of addictive painkillers, John Bennett, UConnectCare executive director, said during a public hearing about the project on Aug. 3, 2022.

The agency expects new women and children’s residence in Albion to be ready in October 2024.