CARLTON – The Town of Carlton has been awarded $1 million towards the renovation of Nesbitt Manor along Johnson Creek, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced today.

The project will provide seven rooms for rent and an event space. A neighboring carriage house will be renovated as full-service café, kitchen and patio space, according to a news release from the governor’s office.

Hochul announced $146 million statewide in Restore New York grants. The Carlton project is the only one listed for Orleans County.

The Village of Albion also applied for Restore NY funding, and still could receive a grant, said Jay Grasso, the village’s grant writer.

“We still have a shot,” he said in an email about Albion.

The City of Batavia in Genesee County also was awarded $1.85 million for “Carr’s Reborn,” a project to renovate Carr’s department store.

Restore NY supports municipal revitalization efforts across the state, helping to remove blight, reinvigorate downtowns and generate economic opportunity in communities statewide. The program, administered by Empire State Development, is designed to help local governments revitalize their communities and encourage commercial investment, improve the local housing stock, put properties back on the tax rolls and increase the local tax base, Hochul said in a new release.

“These Restore New York grants will help to reimagine downtowns across our state and transform vacant, blighted and underutilized buildings into vibrant community anchors,” Governor Hochul said. “Thanks to a more than $146 million state investment, we are breathing new life into communities from Hudson to North Hempstead, jumpstarting new economic activity and helping ensure that New York State continues to be a place where people come to live, work and raise their families.”

Photo and information courtesy of World Life Instituter: In front kneeling from left include Cesar Velasquez, Nelson Barahona, Angel Escalante, Udis Cruz, Alan Nunez, Daniel Payan and Julian Garcia. Second row: new teacher Wynter Dumont and Malvy Rivera, students Melvin Zuniga, and Luis Henry. Third row: teachers Monica Beck and Linda Redfield Shakoor, Osmin Delcid, Gerson Espinoza, Jorge Alvaro, Wilfredo Guandique, Fabian Cortes and kneeling continuing Intergrow student from Colombia, Julian Garcia. Back row: Josue Canales, Josue Martinez, Michael Mejia, Alexander Vilorio, Denis Ramos, David Cruz, Andi Torres, Oscar Suazo, Johan Soriano and Intergrow student from Italy, Alessandro Vincenzi.

Press Release, World Life Institute

CARLTON – The Orleans/Niagara BOCES and World Life Institute of Waterport celebrated the achievements of 21 adult English language students on Monday evening at the WLI education center on Stillwater Road. More than 40 students, staff and friends attended the celebration.

This year most of the honorees came from H.H. Dobbins apple packing facility in Lyndonville. There were 21 men from Honduras who regularly attended classes two evenings a week after working at Dobbins. Four teachers – Monica Beck, Malvy Rivera, Wynter Dumont and Linda Redfield Shakoor – taught their classes.

Each student received a certificate acknowledging their effort and improvement in the English language over a period of 8 months.

Student comments included:

“I love to come to English class. I want to thank God for the wonderful opportunity that He gives us to be part of this program and the English school which is a blessing in my life.”

“The classes were very helpful for the relationship with my colleagues and my American bosses.”

“I learned to buy clothes in the store, numbers, time and to order food.”

 “I took the driver’s permit test.” Nine students received their NYS driver’s permit.

“I know how to greet people… I met new friends.”

Students plan to return to work at Dobbins in Lyndonville in October 2023 and continue with English classes at the education center in Waterport.

Higher values don’t necessarily mean more in taxes, real property director says

Photos by Tom Rivers: About 50 people attended an informational meeting on Monday evening at the Carlton Town Hall about the new reassessments for the town. Dawn Allen, left at dais, is the director of real property tax services for Orleans County. Lisa Ames, right, is the Carlton town assessor. They took questions from the public for about 1 ½ hours.

CARLTON – Many Carlton residents attended a meeting Monday evening and said their new reassessments don’t reflect reality, with the town assessor putting values that are on average 40 percent higher than the last re-valuations four years ago.

About 50 people were at the informational meeting where Assessor Lisa Ames and Dawn Allen, the Orleans County real property tax director, went over the reassessment process.

Allen acknowledged the values are way up in Orleans County.

Dawn Allen, the real property tax director for the county, said the reassessments have gone to reflect a dramatic change in the marketplace.

“We’re seeing some dramatic activity,” Allen said about sale prices way above assessments and asking prices.

Orleans is normally a very stable market with small incremental changes, she said.

But the housing prices soared during the Covid-19 pandemic, with more people working from home and many seeking life in the countryside. Interest rates were minuscule.

But residents say the market has changed this year, with much higher interest rates and a return to normalcy with the Covid pandemic no longer in the emergency stage.

One resident bought a house 2 ½ years ago and he said his new assessment in $116,000 more than what he paid for the house.

He said “fools” created a market bubble that he worries will come to a crash.

Allen said the data shows an across-the-board overall big increase in sale prices. It isn’t just a few isolated sales. Allen said the assessments need to reflect how homes are selling on the market.

Allen shared the median sale prices in Orleans County in recent years:

• 2018, 486 sales, $96,500 median
• 2019, 435 sales, $109,000 median
• 2020, 378 sales, $122,396 median
• 2021, 423 sales, $135,000 median
• 2022, 381 sales, $150,000 median

“We are seeing 15 to 20 percent jumps annually in the market,” Allen said.

Many towns opted against reassessments last year, wanting to wait a year to see if the market would slow down. Only Clarendon did the usual re-valuations in 2022, which are done every three years in the normal cycle among Orleans County towns, except Barre, which typically did town-wide reassessments every year.

Carlton, Kendall, Ridgeway and Shelby are doing the reassessments this year, at least four years since the last one.

Albion, Gaines, Murray and Yates aren’t doing them this year, meaning it will be five years without a reval if they do them next year. Just because they aren’t doing revals doesn’t mean those towns can ignore the rising market prices. The state uses equalization rates to try to make the tax rates fair. (Those towns that aren’t at 100 percent valuations will pay a higher equalization rate for the tax rates.)

Source: Orleans County Real Property Tax Services

Allen said the reassessments don’t mean property owners will pay more in taxes. The tax levies will be divided by a bigger tax base, which should result in a lower tax rate. In Carlton, those whose assessments increased less than the 40 percent average would pay less in taxes. Those with assessments that went up more than 40 percent would see an increase, Allen noted.

Clarendon did a town-wide reassessment last year, the only town to do it among the 10 on the three-year cycle. Clarendon’s assessments were up an average of 30 percent.

The higher values resulted in a drop in the tax rate for Clarendon property owners, Allen said. The school tax rate in Holley for Clarendon property owners decreased from $24.10 per $1,000 assessed property in 2021 to $19.28 last September. Clarendon’s combined town and county tax rate was down from $15.70 in 2022 to $12.65 this year with the new values, Allen said.

She encouraged the concerned property owners to do their homework in researching comparable sales to determine the market value if they are going to challenge the new assessments. They should look for sales within their town, checking similar neighborhoods and housing sizes and styles. They can check the Orleans County Real Property Database (click here) or real estate websites such as HomeSteadNet or Zillow.

Some of the residents who spoke at Monday’s meeting said prices are already sliding down this year with higher interest rates. Allen said the market is still strong. The prices tend to be a little lower the first quarter during the winter and then gain strength, she said.

However, if the prices overall are lower, the next reassessments in Carlton in three years will reflect the change in the market. (The values in the new Carlton assessments are based on the market price as of July 1, 2022. The next reassessment, if the town stays on a three-year cycle, will be based on the values of properties on July 1, 2025.)

“It’s too early to predict,” Allen said. “If they go backwards, then the (assessments) will have to go backwards.”

Provided photo: There is police tape on an orchard on Kendrick Road in Carlton while an investigation continues into a murder and suicide on Sunday, where a father killed his 14-year-old son and then took his own life.

ALBION – Orleans County law enforcement officials are trying to determine why a father from Lockport killed his son and then took his own life.

Henry Frank “Hank” Spoon Jr., 39, was a Marine Corps veteran who served in the Iraq War. Friends of his posted on the Orleans Hub Facebook page that he suffered from PTSD from the war. Despite his actions on Sunday, his friends say he dearly loved his 14-year-old son, Shawn.

District Attorney Joe Cardone said law enforcement has interviewed Spoon’s family and they are surprised by his actions and didn’t see any signs he was a threat of such violence.

“This is just a horrible tragedy,” Cardone said today at the Public Safety Building in Albion.

Law enforcement has recovered cell phones that Spoon threw out of the car before reaching an orchard in Kendrick Road, where the father and son died.

Cardone said law enforcement also will be looking at a tablet and computer from Spoon, to try to determine what was going through his mind.

The DA also will reach out the VA to see if mental health counselors can provide any insight about Spoon.

“We’re getting results on that data,” he said.

Sheriff Chris Bourke also said Spoon tossed a 20-by-20 party tent out of the vehicle and that tent landed in the front yard of a homeowner on Harris Road in Carlton.

Spoon appears to have picked the orchard at random. Bourke said the orchard owner did not know Spoon.

The Sheriff’s Office and Orleans County District Attorney’s Office also are working on the investigation with the Major Felony Crime Task Force, the Lockport Police Department, the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office, the State Police, and the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Shawn Spoon was a student at Lockport High School. The district is making grief counseling available next week when students returns to school.

Grief counseling also is available today from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Lockport Family YMCA at 5833 Snyder Drive, Lockport’s Superintendent of Schools Mathis Calvin III advised the community in a message on the district website.

Local pen-rearing project reaches 25^th anniversary

Photos by Tom Rivers

POINT BREEZE – Little Chinook salmon fingerlings head into a one of the pens where they will spend the next month getting bigger in the Oak Orchard River.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation delivered 126,330 Chinook salmon and 10,000 steelhead today just after 1 p.m. The salmon numbers were increased by 10 percent from a year ago after the DEC determined the lake could handle more salmon.

They will be raised for a month in pens at Ernst Lake Breeze Marina. They fish will double in size, which increases their survival rates and also allows them to imprint on the river, meaning they are more likely to come back to the Oak Orchard when they are much bigger, mature fish.

The pens have automated feeders with food provided by the DEC.

This group helps line up and support an interconnected pipe, guiding the fish from the DEC truck to the pens in the water.

A group of charter boat captains and other volunteers will keep an eye on the fish in the next month.

Bob Songin, a charter boat captain who is second from left, has been with the pen-rearing since it started 25 years ago in 1998.

At the time it was a pilot project with 50,000 Chinook and 5,000 steelhead. The group at Oak Orchard and the DEC showed the pen-rearing projects can be successful, leading to more mature fish and happier anglers who fish in the lake in the summer and the tributaries in the fall.

Ed Shepherd from the DEC’s Altmar hatchery gets ready to release the fish from a tank on the truck through the pipes to the pen.

The fish delivery on April 3 is believed to be the earliest shipment. Bob Songin said they are usually delivered around April 10. He said the fish got bigger at the hatchery ahead of schedule, likely from the warmer-than-normal waters from a winter with above-average temps.

Joe Grolling of Carlton was among the volunteers helping with the fish delivery today.

Some of the little salmon didn’t make it to the pen when the pipe’s interconnection failed. These people scrambled to pick up the fish and get them into buckets to be put in the pens. Many younger kids were on hand with no school in session. Those kids were quick to pick up the fish.

It was a community effort to work with the DEC to get the fish from the truck to the pens.

Photos by Tom Rivers

CARLTON – Firefighters battle a fire at a barn in Carlton this afternoon.

Firefighters were dispatched to 1755 Park Ave. just after 2 p.m. for a reported barn fire with vehicle exposure.

The fire appears to have started in the hay loft area of the barn.

Neighbors and firefighters said the owner, Bob Vercruysse, recently put a metal roof on the barn and made other upgrades to the property.

Carlton, Albion, Medina and Ridgeway all responded to the scene. Fire investigators are on the scene to determine the cause.

Provided photo: Commodore Bob Bialkowski, right, and Vice Commodore Erik Roth speak during the Point Breeze Yacht Club’s annual meeting on Oct. 15.

The Point Breeze Yacht Club held its annual members’ meeting and dinner on Oct. 15 in the Clubhouse at Godfrey’s Pond.

The following officers were elected: Commodore Bob Bialkowski, Vice Commodore Bob Turk, Rear Commodore Emrys March, Port Captain William Elliott, Secretary Marietta Schuth and Treasurer Madeline Bialkowski. Vice Commodore Erik Roth was thanked for all his service and dedication to the club.

Members enjoyed a nice fall day at Godfrey’s with a dinner catered by D and R Depot from Le Roy.

The Point Breeze Yacht Club is based at the Orleans County Marine Park, located on the Oak Orchard River at Point Breeze. Interested individuals can check the club website for more information.

Photos by Tom Rivers

CARLTON – Corey Roger of Cheektowaga stands on the bank of the Oak Orchard River on Friday evening and casts his line, trying to catch a Chinook salmon. Roger already caught a coho.

There were hundreds of people fishing along the Oak on Friday evening, and the parking lot near the Waterport Dam included many out-of-state license plates.

Roger said he has been to the Oak in the fall for eight years. He expected to be down along the river at 4 a.m. today to get a good spot in the river.

He said this is the ideal time to be fishing in the Oak, before the crowds get bigger.

“Right now there are more fish than people,’ he said.

John Buck, 26, holds one of three Chinook salmon he caught on Friday. This one is about 18 pounds. Buck is spending a week fishing in Orleans County. He made a four-hour drive from Seilinsgrove, Pa. He said he will also try Sandy Creek and Johnson Creek. He said he’s been making the trek annually for the past eight years.

A line of anglers try to catch salmon at the Waterport Dam. The person in front is trying to reel in a big salmon.

A fisherman from Brooklyn tries to catch a Chinook salmon in the Oak Orchard River on Friday evening.

Fishing is big business in Orleans County, according to survey by the state Department of Environmental Conservation that put the total economic impact at $27,989,393 in 2017.

Out-of-state anglers account for 70 percent of the fishing economic output in Orleans County, $19,620,488 of the $27,989,393, according to the survey that was released in 2020.

County residents who fish accounted for $1,767,334 in economic activity while other New York state residents outside Orleans represented another $6,601,571.

Oswego which includes the Salmon River is the highest-ranked county with $192.7 million in total economic impact from fishing.

The Brooklyn fisherman said he hadn’t caught a fish yet on Friday but was thankful to be out in the great outdoors with the changing fall colors on the trees.

The Waterport Dam is a popular place in October with anglers trying to catch a big salmon or trout.

This fisherman has a heavy Chinook salmon on the line.

These two fishermen are ready to reel in a big fish at the Oak Orchard.

Photos by Tom Rivers

WATERPORT – The Lord’s House at 2038 Eagle Harbor Rd. is getting a fresh coat of paint and new look with members of the church, and help from other congregations. They have been busy today with paint brushes and sprayers, changing the main color from white to gray.

This photo shows Jonathan Allis on the scaffolding and Leon Johnson on the grounds, both using sprayers with gray paint.

Johnson is a member of The Lord’s House and Allis attends the Agape United Methodist Church in West Seneca, where his wife Rebecca Allis is the pastor.

Raymond Pendergrass of the Shiloh Church is Albion joined the effort today to help paint the church. Pendergrass used to attend the church in Waterport. He volunteered today, wanting to “send blesses” to The Lord’s House.

Chuck Weed of the Agape UM Church traveled to Waterport today from Buffalo to help paint the windows.

The church’s pastor, Rebecca Allis, is from Medina and is friends with Eddie English, pastor of The Lord’s House.

They met through Pastors Aligned for Community Transformation or PACT, a group of pastors mostly in Orleans County.

English has preached at her church and she has been at the pulpit at The Lord’s House.

English said the church wanted to improve the outside of the building, and he is grateful for the help. Oak Orchard Assembly of God also is helping with the project, paying for scaffolding and some paint. The Lord’s House also had a chicken barbecue recently with the proceeds going to the painting project.

“The inside looks good but we know people judge the outside,” English said. “We want people who go by to say, ‘What an improvement.’”

English is hopeful the building’s new look will be done before the cold weather comes.

“We want to be one of the lights to help brighten up the neighborhood,” he said.

Anyone interested in helping to paint or in donating to the effort can contact Rose English at 585-331-7963.

Eddie and Rose English are pictured outside the church this afternoon. They have led The Lord’s House for 16 years.

The church moved from downtown Albion to the former United Methodist Church in Waterport after acquiring the building at the county tax auction in 2011.  The building had been vacant for about 20 years.

The building was in disrepair, in need of major repairs. English was called a fool by some in the community. Some church members also were skeptical about moving to a building out on the country that needed so much work.

English, with help from church members and some local residents, worked diligently to make the building ready for worship services. They painted, upgraded electric and plumbing, and put in a new bathroom, an outside ramp, a new pulpit and other improvements.

English said he is focused on given the outside an improved look. He said he is thankful for the help from people at his church and others from other congregations.

“God has put the right people with the right hearts in our path,” he said.

Photos by Ginny Kropf: This little restaurant at the end of Route 98 in Point Breeze is seeing new life under the ownership of Gatlen and Danielle Ernst, who opened it as Gilligan’s Galley on Thursday.

Danielle and Gatlen Ernst of Albion stand behind the counter of Gilligan’s Galley, the new restaurant they opened Thursday in Point Breeze. Gilligan’s will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week.

POINT BREEZE – After several successful years of owning two marinas and a restaurant in Point Breeze, Gatlen and Danielle Ernst have gone out on a limb to open another restaurant.

Located at the end of Route 98 in Point Breeze, Gilligan’s Galley opened its doors Thursday.

Several restaurants were in business there in recent years, but since the pandemic it has remained closed. John Brown and Dave Tuft of Batavia were previous owners. A year ago Brown approached Gatlen and asked if he would be interested in buying the place.

“I thought, ‘Am I nuts,’” Gatlen said.

He and Danielle are the owners of Lake Breeze Marina, which they purchased in 2014, and the former Four C’s Marina, which they purchased later that same year.

Gatlen had worked at Lake Breeze for 10 years and Danielle was a stay-at-home mom when they became owners of the marinas. They immediately started making improvements, redoing the docks, updating the cottages and adding two more cottages. Four C’s had a small restaurant with outdoor seating overlooking the docks, which has been very popular during the summer.

They finalized the purchase of the new restaurant last October, but didn’t start renovations until March. They replaced table tops and the counter top, added beams made from trees in their yard, and created a tiki theme with thatching and bamboo in the ceiling.

The name for the new restaurant, Gilligan’s Galley, comes from Gatlen’s childhood, when his friends called him “Gilligan.” Galley, of course, is the nautical name for a kitchen on a boat, and what could be more appropriate for a restaurant within a few steps of Lake Ontario and the Oak Orchard River.

Gatlen Ernst shows off the new décor in Gilligan’s Galley, the new restaurant he and his wife Danielle opened Thursday at Point Breeze. The remodeled décor features a tiki-theme thatched ceiling, wood beams cut from trees in their yard and new natural wood counter top.

The Ernsts plan to be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week. They may add breakfast later on. They will serve nightly specials, featuring home cooked comfort food. They hope Friday night fish fries will be a big hit, being offered Buffalo style, potato chip crusted, blackened grilled or plain.

Gatlen said they have applied for a liquor license and would like to have Bills parties, seeing they have several televisions in the restaurant.

Among the customers on opening day were Teresa Poler and her neighbor Paul Kenyon of Lyndonville.

“It’s lovely to have something like this close by,” Poler said. “Everything was very good.”

Gatlen said the area is getting a boost from increased traffic from Canada. That was curtailed during the Covid pandemic.

There are also picnic tables for outdoor dining, and Danielle said next year she would like to do something interesting with the back yard.