HOLLEY – Village residents and businesses will soon see their sewer rates go up so the village can close a deficit in the sewer budget.

The average resident will see their sewer bills increase about $7 to $9 a month, while commercial accounts go up about $9 to $12 a month, said Brian Sorochty, a village trustee.

Holley is still crunching the numbers for the rate increase. The final numbers will be presented during a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 21 at the Village Office, 72 Public Square.

The village is trying to close a $23,000 deficit in the sewer budget and also build a $20,000 fund for operations and contingency. The sewer budget totals $154,941 in 2013-14.

“We have no choice but to raise them,” Mayor John Kenney said about the rates.

Holley’s sewer rates currently are low, village officials said. Residents pay a $10 minimum per month, plus $1 per 1,000 gallons. That would be increased to $2.60 per 1,000 gallons, according to the preliminary proposal.

Commercial sewer users pay a $16.67 minimum per month and a $2.24 rate per 1,000 gallons. That would go to $2.60 per 1,000 gallons with the new sewer proposal. Residents will pay the same minimum monthly charges.

The new rates could go into effect in March or April.

HOLLEY – Dan and Monica Seeler are working on transforming the former Tagg’s Tavern in Holley into a steak and seafood restaurant.

The couple expects to open the Holley Falls Bar and Grill in October or November. Besides extensive renovations to the building, they are trying to ensure enough parking for their customers.

They want to make it as easy as possible for people to park close to the restaurant in the Public Square. The Seelers think a chunk of land next to Hair Affair could be used for 12 vehicles. The lot would need to be cleared. The village owns the land and is open to selling it, Mayor John Kenney told the Seelers during Tuesday’s Village Board meeting.

The Seelers and village attorney John Sansone will negotiate a price for the property.

In other action, The Village Board hired Sharon Ebbs as a temporary part-time imaging clerk. She will be paid with a state grant that is paying for Holley to convert 96,000 paper records into digital records through Laserfiche.

Ebbs, a Holley resident, will be paid $6,468 in the part-time role until June 1, Holley’s deadline for completing the project. The village was awarded a $29,304 Local Government Records Management Improvement  Fund Grant.

Holley will convert payroll records since 1959 and Village Board meeting minutes from 1900 into digital files.

Provided photos

About 25 people gathered in Holley to fire shots in protest of the NY SAFE Act on Saturday. Gun owners and gun clubs throughout New York joined for the “The Shot Heard Round New York,” an event that was timed near the one-year anniversary of the SAFE Act being approved by the State Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The Holley group met in the backyard of Jeremy and Gia Arnold, who are leaders of New York Revolution, a Second Amendment group that started after the SAFE Act was passed.

New York Revolution held about 25 events  around the state, where gun owners joined at rod and gun clubs or in back yards to fire the symbolic shot.

“At noon we shot one safe and legal round to symbolize we are still fighting and still remember,” said Gia Arnold, state coordinator of NYR.

The group would like to help unseat Cuomo in this November’s election for governor.

Here is a photo of the dogs. Gracie is the black dog. If you spot or find them, call Kathy Smith (Orleans County Animal Control) at (585) 589-5528 or Sandy at (585) 331-8215.

HOLLEY – A family lost its house to a fire late Saturday night just as the ice storm was hitting.

David and Gloria Gustke weren’t home at 2605 Monroe-Orleans Countyline Rd., when the fire broke out. Firefighters from 10 companies battled the blaze.

Mr. Gustke, on his Facebook page, thanked the community for its support after the fire.

“We are overwhelmed by everyone’s kindness, prayers, and generosity,” he wrote. “This reminds me of how much I love my family and my community. Thank you so much!”

He asked people to help locate the family’s three dogs: Gracie, Bert and Ernie. The house was located about a mile north of Route 104.

MURRAY – The driver in an accident on Friday night in Murray is in guarded condition at Strong Memorial Hospital this morning, the hospital reported.

Scott A. Kuhn, 44, of Holley was travelling east on Lynch Road at about 7 p.m. on Friday when he lost control on a slippery road.

The vehicle flipped, struck a tree and impaled itself on the shorn off pine tree, coming to rest almost perpendicular to the ground. Kuhn was trapped in the wreckage for about 2 hours and 20 minutes before being extricated by firefighters. He was then flown to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester by Mercy Flight helicopter.

It was bitterly cold on Friday night with the temperature at 15 degrees. Kuhn’s two daughters, ages 12 and 13, were also treated for minor injuries.

Kuhn wasn’t drinking alcohol, Undersheriff Steve Smith said.

“He was probably going too fast over the railroad tracks,” Smith said. “It was the slippery conditions combined with imprudent speed.”

For previous articles on the Murray accident, click here and here.

Three people were injured in crash on Lynch Road

Photo by Tom Rivers – Firefighters worked more than two hours to free the driver from this vehicle in the bitter cold tonight. This photo was taken shortly after the driver, Scott Kuhn, was extricated.

Press release
Orleans County Undersheriff Steve Smith

MURRAY – Three people are hospitalized tonight following a one-vehicle crash in the town of Murray.

The incident occurred shortly after 7 p.m. in the 16400 block of Lynch Road, just east of the Falls Railroad crossing. A 2000 GMC Suburban, operated by Scott A. Kuhn, 44, of Holley, was travelling east on Lynch Road, when Kuhn apparently lost control.

The vehicle ran off the south of the roadway down a slight embankment. The vehicle over-turned before striking and impaling itself on a tree, coming to rest almost perpendicular to the ground.

Kuhn was trapped in the wreckage for about 2 hours and 20 minutes before being extricated by firefighters from Holley, Fancher-Hulberton-Murray, Clarendon, Albion, Morton and Hamlin.  He was then flown to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester by Mercy Flight helicopter.

Two female passengers, ages 13 and 12, both of whom are Kuhn’s daughters, were able to free themselves from the wreckage and were transported to Strong by Monroe Ambulance, with injuries described as “non-life-threatening.”

Slippery road conditions and imprudent speed were contributing factors in the crash. The incident was investigated by Deputy J.J. Cole, assisted by Deputies D.S. Klips and K.J. Colonna, Lieutenant R.E. Perry and Chief Deputy T.L. Drennan. Trooper K.L. Bentley of the State Police – Albion barracks also assisted.

Photos by Tom Rivers – It took firefighters more than two hours to free a driver after his vehicle flipped and came to rest on a shorn-off tree.

MURRAY – Firefighters battled brutal cold tonight to free a man who was trapped inside his vehicle after it overturned on Lynch Road.

It took about two hours and 15 minutes to extricate the driver, who was then transported by Monroe Ambulance to the hospital.

After the vehicle overturned, it knocked down a tree. The vehicle came to rest, upside down, on the base of the tree. That stump pierced the windshield and pinned the driver inside the vehicle in 15-degree weather.

The driver was trapped inside his vehicle by the bottom of this pine tree.

Firefighters needed to build a support under the vehicle so they could get inside and cut off the steering wheel and work to remove the driver. They set up cribbing with hard blocks of wood, and used steel jack supports to stabilize the vehicle so they could remove the driver.

The mission was complicated by a ditch on the side of the road. That prevented firefighters from bringing down vehicles or equipment to help with the task.

Once the vehicle was stabilized with the cribbing and jacks, firefighters tied a chain around the vehicle and lifted it slightly so the driver could be extricated.

Firefighters take down the jacks and cribbing system after the driver was extricated tonight in Murray.

The driver, whose name hasn’t been released, was taking his two daughters to a dance at Holley. The accident happened just east of the railroad tracks, about 1.5 miles from the school.

The two girls had minor injuries and were taken by ambulance to the hospital.

The fire call went out at 7:10 p.m. The driver was removed from the vehicle at 9:24. Firefighters tried to keep the driver warm with blankets while they were working to free him from the vehicle.

It appeared that about 40 firefighters from several departments were at the scene.

(Editor’s Note: A press release from the Sheriff’s Department says the driver, Scott Kuhn of Holley, was taken by Mercy Flight. I saw him put into an ambulance. Undersheriff Steve Smith confirmed Mercy Flight was used.)