Sr. Master Sgt. Cliff Thom was deployed to Afghanistan

Photos by Tom Rivers  – Cliff Thom walks down the hallway in the Albion Middle School this morning with his son Jacob and wife Tara. All of the classrooms emptied into the hallway and students and teachers applauded for Thom and his family.

ALBION – The High School Band played “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.” And then Cliff Thom entered into the band room, wearing his military uniform. He walked up to his daughter Catherine and put his arm around her.

Catherine, a sophomore, had her back to the door and was focused on playing her clarinet. But then she realized the person who cozied up to her was her father.

Catherine jumped up and gave him a hug. Her father is back home today after more than 5 months of active duty in Afghanistan.

Today he saw his three kids for the first time since June 29.

Catherine Thom and her father Cliff Thom embrace after seeing each other today for the first time since late June.

Thom, 42, has served in the military for 24 years. He also is a full-time electrician, working in Rochester. He and his wife, Tara, live in Gaines with their three children: Catherine, 15; Jacob, 11; and Sarah, 8.

He is a senior master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. He is in the Reserve, which typically requires one weekend a month and two weeks a year of training. There is always the chance of deployment.

Thom talks to middle school students in Jonathan Sanford’s class about Afghanistan. Thom’s son Jacob is in the class.

Thom does his training out of the Air Reserve Station in Niagara Falls. He is a command chief from that site. In Afghanistan, he served as an operations superintendent.

At a base in Afghanistan, Thom and his unit loaded cargo from aircraft.

“My job is loading the planes,” Thom told a class of Middle Schoolers today. “It’s an important job because it supports everyone else.”

Thom surprised his son Jacob, a sixth grader in Jonathan Sanford’s class, this morning.

Thom told students it’s very hot in Afghanistan with temperatures well over 100 degrees. In his five-plus months there, it seldom rained and there were very few clouds the entire time.

It cooled down to about 90 degrees during the summer nights. In early December, the temperatures were in the 70s during the day and dropped to the 30s at night.

“It’s windy, dusty and dirty,” he told the students. “It’s very sandy. It’s all tan or brown.”

Jonathan Sanford, a social studies teacher, takes a picture of Cliff Thom with his son Jacob and Jacob’s classmates.

Sanford, a social studies teacher, thanked Thom for his service and willingness to go so far away.

“I know I speak for all of the kids when I say thank you for your service,” Sanford said.

Sanford told the students that the United States enjoys its safety and peace due to soldiers. He noted they all volunteer to enlist.

“They serve their country,” Sanford said. “It’s a very noble thing to do.”

Thom walked through a corridor of students and staff in the middle school, all thanking him for his service.

After surpirsing Jacob at the middle school, Thom and his wife headed to the high school to surprise Catherine who was in band.

Mike Thaine, the band teacher, thanked the Thom family for sharing the surprise with students.

“This is one band practice you will never forget,” Thaine told the students.

Cliff Thom, right, greets the high school band where his daughter plays the clarinet.

Thom admitted he was nervous this morning before seeing his children. He doesn’t like a lot of attention, he said.

He didn’t want to wait until the end of the school day to see them. He said the deployment and separation was a little easier because he could text with his family and talk with them through Google Hangouts, which is similar to Skype.

Many of his local friends also saw him do the Ice Bucket Challenge while in Afghanistan. His wife posted a link to the video of that on her Facebook page.

Thom greets his youngest daughter Sarah during lunch in the elementary school cafeteria. Sarah grabbed his hat.

After connecting with his children, Thom said the family was headed for lunch at the Village House restaurant. He wanted a bacon cheeseburger deluxe.

Photos by Tom Rivers

GAINES – The call went out from dispatch at 12:15 p.m. about an accident on Crandall Road in the Town of Gaines.

Firefighters, a state trooper and an ambulance saw a trail of debris, including a demolished mailbox, along Ridge Road, just east of Crandall Road. But they couldn’t find the car in the accident – until they checked down Crandall Road where a car had been driven off the road into the brush.

There weren’t any injuries in the incidents. No additional information has been released.

Photo by Tom Rivers – Al Capurso of Gaines has created several mini log cabin scenes as tributes to pioneer residents in Orleans County. He is pictured with his latest creation. He has donated the log cabin dioramas to the Cobblestone Museum, Clarendon Historical Society and the Holland Land Office Museum.

Photo by Tom Rivers

Photo by Tom Rivers – The Clarendon cabin (above) bears the name of the town’s founder, Eldredge Farwell, who discovered Clarendon in 1810 while looking for his brother Isaac’s lost horse. He traced Isaac’s footprints along the border of Sandy Creek and was impressed with the waterfalls in Clarendon.

Photo by Tom Rivers

GAINES – In the spring Al Capurso was out in his backyard with a knife, cutting down thick grape vines that were wrapped around trees.

Capurso studied the thick vines and noticed they bore semblance to mini logs. His mind and hands started working, and began building a small log cabin. It sits on a shelf in his kitchen, a tribute to pioneer residents who settled in the area about 200 years ago.

Capurso has a strong interest in the county’s pioneer history. He and his family put up a historical marker on the Courthouse Lawn last year for William McAllister and his wife, who were Albion’s first settlers in 1811, building a log cabin where the current County Clerks Building stands.

Capurso also did the research and convinced the local and federal governments to name Gilbert Creek in Gaines and Carlton in honor of another pioneer.

With the grape vines, Capurso cut them in 7 and 9 inch chunks and created a mini log cabin. He notched the wood, made a roof out of bark, and put in windows and doors. He added corals for livestock, a swing for children, and a wood lot. He even planted trees around the sites.

It takes Capurso about a month to make the scenes, and he has donated three of them to historical organizations. As he makes them, he finds himself transported to about 200 years ago, when the area’s first settlers were tasked with surviving in the wilderness.

“Everything back then was ‘make do,'” he said. “You made do with what you had.”

Capurso has given log cabin dioramas to the Holland Land Office Museum in Batavia, the Clarendon Historical Society and the Cobblestone Museum.

Farwell saw the waterfalls as a potential source of power for business. He moved his family to Clarendon in 1811 and built saw and grist mills. The town was originally named Farwell’s Mills but was renamed to Clarendon. Farwell was from Clarendon, Vermont.

Farwell also had six children when he moved to Clarendon. Capurso added a swing by the miniature cabin.

“I dedicated this one to children who grew up as pioneers in the wilderness,” he said on Tuesday at his Gaines home on Route 279.

Capurso is a volunteer at the Cobblestone Museum. He gave the museum a cabin that made in honor of John Proctor.

John Proctor is often referred to by historians as the Paul Revere of Ridge Road. On a December night in 1813, he rode by horseback on the Ridge from Gaines to Clarkson to warn of the approach of British and the Indians after the burning of Lewiston.

The following morning he joined a regiment that was headed to Lewiston. The regiment would capture the enemy quartered at Molyneaux Tavern. A historical marker on a large stone on Route 104 shares the story of Proctor. The stone is on the south side of Ridge Road, a few houses west of the Route 98 intersection.

Capurso would like to build a full-size replica cabin as a tribute to the pioneers. That would be about 20 feet by 20 feet. He would need to find a site and volunteers for the project.

Photos by Tom Rivers

GAINES – A truck driver was attempting to turn around on Route 98 when the vehicle slipped into a ditch in the Town Gaines, just north of Watt Farms.

Albion firefighters, James Fisher (right) and David Nayman, were out directing traffic around the truck today at about 1:30 p.m. Firefighters were called to the scene at about 11:45 a.m. A tow truck was on scene to pull out the truck.

County’s only National Historic Landmark looks to build on success from 2014

File photo by Tom Rivers – Matt Ballard and Sarah Karas, co-directors of the Cobblestone Society Museum, are pictured in front of the Ward House (built in 1836) with the Cobblestone Universalist Church (built in 1834) in back. The museum opened six weeks earlier this year and expanded its programming.

CHILDS – The Cobblestone Museum saw attendance nearly double this past year when the National Historic Landmark opened on Mother’s Day, six weeks earlier than normal, and worked to expand programming, including a series on medicine in the 19th Century.

A new Museum Crawl also linked museums and historic sites on Route 98 from Batavia to Lake Ontario. It resulted in about 50 new visitors for the Cobblestone Museum. Altogether there were 1,475 visitors to the museum in 2014, up from the 876 that were counted in 2013.

“It seems like we’re going in the right direction,” said Matt Ballard, co-director of the museum. “We just have to stick with it.”

Ballard put together an exhibit – “Medicine at the Museum” – about medical care in the 1800s. The museum has an extensive collection of artifacts, and many were also donated from community members for the exhibit, which ran until Oct. 12.

“Medicine at the Museum” features photos and write-ups on many of the pioneer physicians and pharmacists in the county. The museum also hosted a lecture series with four speakers discussing Orleans and WNY medical history.

Ballard is now working on an exhibit for next year about World War I. The war lasted from 1914 to 1918, with the United States joining in 1917.

The Cobblestone Society had its annual meeting on Thursday and Susan Rudnicky, president, cited several successes, including the growing attendance. The museum also used grants and donations to complete a new roof on the Cobblestone Church and a next-door brick house.

“The church is near and dear to all of our hearts,” Rudnicky told about 70 people at the meeting at Tillman’s Village Inn. “Keeping it in good condition is pre-eminent. We have to keep it in good condition.”

Sarah Karas, co-director of the Cobblestone Museum, addresses about 70 people who attended the annual meeting for the Cobblestone Society on Thursday. She is joined by Matt Ballard, at right, and leaders of the Board of Directors, sitting.

The Cobblestone Society hired Ballard and Karas as co-directors in the spring. They both have other jobs and shared the duties in running the museum and its complex of historic structures.

Ballard and Karas both graduated in the Class of 2006 at Albion, and they both have master’s degrees in library science at the University of Buffalo. Karas works at Genesee Community College in Batavia and Ballard works at Hilbert College in Hamburg.

They have different strengths and interests. Karas organized weddings, trained volunteers and docents, redesigned the gift shop and worked on the museum’s social media with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Ballard brings a passion for genealogy and research to the position.

“Matt and Sarah are doing what I hoped people would be doing when I retired,” Bill Lattin, the long-time museum director, said at the annual meeting. “I’m very grateful for what they’ve done in carrying the museum into the 21st Century.”

The museum isn’t without challenges. Rudnicky said the organization would benefit from more revenue for upkeep of the buildings and to better pay its staff. Cobblestone Society Treasurer Ken Braunbach said the organization dipped into $30,000 of its investment funds in 2014. Those accounts are now down to $163,010.

The organization has been pushing more tours and weddings, as well as other events to bring in revenue. But ultimately, Rudnicky said other support will be needed to build a strong Cobblestone Museum for the future.

Orleans County currently doesn’t have the museum in its budget. Museum leaders have reached out to county legislators, and several took tours of the museum property in late October.

Rudnicky is stepping down as president and will remain on the board of directors. Mary Anne Braunbach will be the organization’s new president. Other new board members include Al Capurso, Louise Wu and Karen Desjardins.

Photos by Peggy Barringer
KNOWLESVILLE – The Eagle Harbor United Methodist Church held a Holiday Craft Show on Saturday at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds. Santa was on hand at the event to greet children.

Amanda Edick and Dustin Gardner are pictured in front of Dirt Road Designs, which they run with another partner, Elyse Catlin. Edick and Gardner said that they were excited to be doing their very first craft show and sold several items.

One of the craft show organizers, Leslie Allen (left), takes a basket of baked goods around to the vendors who may not have chance to get away from their tables to browse. The craft show is a fund-raiser for the church, which is led by Pastor Susan Boring.

Another new vendor at the show included Come On Get Snappy Photobooth by Peggy Barringer. Dmitry Allport assists Peggy with her booth while she was taking photos for the Orleans Hub.

Darlene Nenni and Jody Lubba sell tickets to the food items offered at the craft show in the Trolley Building. They said the beef on weck and chili were about even for popularity.

Tillman says addition keeps historic flavor, accommodates bigger crowds for special events

Photos by Tom Rivers – Mark Tillman, owner of Tillman’s Village Inn, stands next to a new addition under construction at the landmark restaurant at the corner of routes 98 and 104.

CHILDS – As it is nears its 200th anniversary, The Village Inn isn’t standing still as a business.

Two years ago, Mark Tillman gave the dining areas a new look with fresh paint, new tables, booths, finishings, lights, windows and soffits.

This summer, contractors led by Joe Penna of Holley started putting on a new 1,800-square-foot addition. The project should be done in two to three weeks, and will then be furnished to open in time for the holidays.

The addition will boost the capacity for parties and special events to about 225 to 250. The current main meeting room, a former carriage shop, seats about 150 to 165.

“We get numerous calls for wedding receptions, class reunions, banquets and special events,” said Mark Tillman, owner of the restaurant. “Two hundred seems to be the magic number.”

Tillman is also doubling the number of parking spaces to help accommodate the bigger crowds.

The Village Inn opened in 1824, before the Erie Canal opened, and long before the railroads and paved streets with cars. The Village Inn was part of a stagecoach route along Ridge Road, which was originally an Indian Trail.

The other taverns on the trail are long gone. In fact, few local landmark restaurants seem to last more than a generation. Locally, the Basket Factory, Albion Steakhouse, the Apple Grove, Barbary Coast all prominent local restaurants – have all closed.

Tillman said The Village Inn has endured, mainly because of its commitment to consistent high-quality food with a friendly staff. But he said the restaurant needs to be willing to change and seize some opportunities.

The Village Inn, with its historic flavor, stands out from other party houses, Tillman said.

“There are so many party rooms that are sterile,” he said. “They are big open spaces with lights.”

Mark Tillman sits on a carriage step at The Village Inn that notes the restaurant dates back to 1824. The new addition is in the back right. It should be ready for the holidays.

The main meeting room at The Village Inn has hand-hewn beams. Those supports were were shaped by axes and machetes nearly 200 years ago. Tillman displays many artifacts from the bygone era – saddles, harnesses, food barrels and many historical photos. He has the restaurant’s liquor license framed from the early 1900s. In 1905, the license cost $150, a fee payable to the state.

The new addition will blend in with the historic site. Tillman said many customers have brought in community artifacts over the years that he put in storage because he didn’t have enough space to display them. He will soon have more room to show some of those relics.

“The new space will blend in,” he said. “We don’t want to take away from the aesthetics.”

The restaurant has been in the Tillman family for 64 years. Mark is the third generation owner, following his grandfather Sam and Mark’s father Bill. Mark is determined to see the business to its 200th anniversary in 2024.

He knows the business is important for the community, providing jobs for 50 people and drawing visitors from outside the area. Many teen-agers get their first jobs washing dishes and bussing tables at the restaurant. Many of his wait staff have stayed with the Village Inn for decades. Twelve of his employees have a combined 300-plus years of working at the restaurant.

Tillman has a good relationship with the neighboring Cobblestone Museum, which is increasingly hosting weddings at the historic Cobblestone Church, which was built in 1834. People who get married there will soon be able to have wedding receptions at the Village Inn, which also operates the Fairhaven Inn, offering lodging.

“This route was once known as the Honeymoon Trail,” Tillman said, noting the close drive to Niagara Falls. “We’re trying to recreate that.”

Former bait shop owner in Gaines says SAFE Act deserves public support

Photos by Tom Rivers – Al Capurso and his wife Christine have two signs in their front yard on Route 279 in Gaines that show their support for the state’s gun control legislation known as the SAFE Act.

GAINES – About a week ago Al Capurso put up two lawn signs, both in support of the SAFE Act.

That might not seem newsworthy, but Capurso might be the first Orleans County resident to make such a public declaration of support for the state’s controversial gun control law. Capurso sees many “Repeal the Safe Act” signs, and he knows all of the elected town, village and county boards in Orleans have passed formal resolutions, calling for the law’s repeal.

Many of the law’s opponents see it as an attack on the Second Amendment’s Right to Bear Arms. Capurso doesn’t see it that way.

“I don’t believe the framers of the Constitution foresaw a citizens’ arms race where they have to get bigger and faster guns to feel safe,” Capurso said today. “A citizens’ arms race is not the Second Amendment.”

Capurso, a long-time sportsman who owned a bait shop for more than 20 years, said the anti-Safe Act voices don’t acknowledge the good with the law, mainly a restriction against magazines with more than 10 bullets. (The law, passed in January 2013, first limited it to seven bullets, but was overruled in a court challenge to a 10-bullet limit.)

Capurso also worked in the mental health field, retiring as an intensive case manager at the Orleans County Mental Health Department. He supports background checks and the pistol permit process. He supports the 10-bullet limit so madmen can’t fire off numerous rounds before reloading.

“Extremist” vices have dominated the SAFE Act discussion locally, Capurso said. He would like to see the public consider other viewpoints, and respect people with differing views.

Paul McQuillen of Buffalo is the Western New York coordinator of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence. He sent Capurso one of the signs in support of the SAFE Act. Capurso hand-painted the other one, which says “Keep S.A.F.E.”

McQuillen says a “silent majority” supports the SAFE Act and efforts to rein in gun violence. He gives out many of the organization’s signs, although he said they are often stolen from front lawns.

He pointed to a Sienna College poll in March that showed the majority of the state by a 2 to 1 ratio backs the SAFE Act. In New York City, the law has about 75 percent of the public’s support. In Upstate New York, a slight majority opposes the law, according the poll.

Capurso would like to see the public, including local elected officials, offer constructive criticism of the law, looking for ways to make it better rather than roundly rejecting it.

“There needs to be another side of this story told besides the extremist point of view,” Capurso said. “I’m not seeing a voice of moderation out there. The pendulum is swinging so far to the extreme. They’re afraid the government might come get their guns and that’s nonsense. They’re afraid the bogeyman will come get them.”

Capurso also took issue with the anti-Safe Act message that proclaims those supporters as “true patriots.” Capurso considers himself a “patriot” who supports the Second Amendment and “common sense” gun laws.

“I respect people’s rights to have signs in their yard,” he said. “I would defend that to that hilt. But I don’t have to agree with them. That’s what being an American is about: You have the right to speak out.”

Photos by Tom Rivers
GAINES – Eileen Sorochty is out today weeding a garden in front of Farmers’ Hall at the Cobblestone Museum.

Sorochty is training to become a master gardener, a role that requires at least 50 hours of community service each year. She is pulling Bishop’s Weed from the garden. The weed was crowding out some Daylilies.

Sorochty of Albion is retired from Brockport State College. She worked as an administrative assistant in the college advancement department.

She also is helping the Cobblestone Museum with another garden near the bathrooms behind the Cobblestone Universalist Church.

Town will apply excess to reducing debt for districts

GAINES – The Town of Gaines overcharged residents in water districts by about $175,000, the Town Board announced on Wednesday after audits by two accounting firms.

The Town Board decided it will take money from the water district reserves to pay down debt in the districts. That will shorten the life of the loans and also reduce the annual payments to residents in eight water districts.

One district, No. 8, actually wasn’t paying enough and residents in that district will need to pay “a little more” to cover the district’s full expenses for debt and maintenance, said Town Supervisor Carol Culhane.

Water District No. 4 overpaid by $52,000 and that will be enough to wipe out the remaining principal, eliminating debt payments in the future for that district.

Other districts overpaid by the following amounts, according to the town:

Water District 2: $29,567
Water District 3: $29,633
Water District 5: $20,269
Water District 6: $2,617
Water District 7: $39,522
Water District 9: $2,788
Water District 10: $2,014

Culhane said she has been working with auditors for about 18 months, trying to determine if there was an overcharge and how to best solve the problem. The town also consulted the State Comptroller’s Office and reviewed New York Finance Law, she said.

She couldn’t say why the town overcharged residents. She said it goes back to at least 2006.

A resident complained about a high tax bill for water and that got Culhane, the town supervisor for about three years, to look into the issue.

The changing numbers in the districts makes it difficult to craft a solution for the excess charges. Some residents who overpaid their water district bills have sold their homes and moved out of the district.

The water districts often add users as new houses are constructed. Sometimes lots are split up, changing the numbers of users from when the districts were first formed and started collecting annual debt payments to pay off the loan for the construction.

Using the excess funds from the water district reserves will provide relief to water users in 2015 with smaller debt service charges, except for District No. 8.

“The most important thing is we came up with a fair fix,” Culhane said. “I don’t see another viable plan.”

Culhane said the Town Board is united in wanting to address the problem.

“It’s the board decision to go forward and straighten this out,” she said.