File photo: The country band, Julie Dunlap and High Maintenance, performs during a concert by the canal in Holley. Holley hosts the concerts on Fridays near the gazebo.

HOLLEY – The Village Board isn’t ready to cancel its summer concert series, even though other communities have decided against holding the events.

Holley’s concert series runs on Friday evenings from June 12 to Aug. 7.

The Village Board discussed the series during the monthly board meeting on Tuesday. The schedule remains set for now, but the June dates could first be scrapped and possibly rescheduled for the end of August.

The Board first wants to see if the bands have flexibility in their schedule. If some of the concerts earlier in the season are cancelled, Holley also wants to know how that could affect the $545 it is receiving in arts funding for the series. The Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council approved that amount for the series. Would Holley still receive the full amount if some dates are cancelled? The board will check with GO Art!

“There is no reason in my opinion to cancel the whole summer,” said Holley Mayor Brian Sorochty. “Maybe we take June out of it.”

The Oak Orchard Neighborhood Association has cancelled its summer concert series at the Orleans County Marine Park. Many other community festivals and events have also been scrapped this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

With so many community events being cancelled, Sorochty said that is more reason to try to have the concert series in Holley.

The village will need to insist on social distancing and other precautions if the events go on. Many of the concert-goers are senior citizens.

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Photo by Tom Rivers: Randy Bower, the retired Orleans County sheriff, speaks at an event in July 2016.

MURRAY – Randy Bower has returned as a local public official.

Bower retired on Dec. 31 as the Orleans County sheriff. On April 20 he was appointed to the Murray Town Board. Bower will fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Neil Valentine.

Bower will serve in the role the rest of 2020. The position will be back on the ballot in November for the remaining three years of the term.

Bower will serve on a Town Board where his late brother Ed was a councilman for 20 years. Ed Bower passed away at age 57 on May 27, 2018.

Their father George Bower also was a Murray town justice for 21 years before he joined the Orleans County Legislature and was on that board for 24 years. George Bower retired as legislator on Dec. 31, 2013.

Town Supervisor Joe Sidonio said Randy Bower’s appointment was unanimous by the board.

“He brings a whole new dimension to our board,” Sidonio said. “Genuine energy, passion and curiosity… just what our community needs to face the tough challenges ahead.”

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Provided photos

HOLLEY – Katie Dobri, a Holley 8^th grader, is pictured with some of the squirrel tables she made over the weekend with her mother, Crystal Dobri.

This squirrel enjoys a treat of peanuts, sunflower seeds and corn on its squirrel table made by Katie Dobri and her mother, Crystal.

This morning they announced the tables were for sale for $25 each and proceeds would go to the Eastern Orleans Community Center in Holley. Within an hour, all 18 tables were sold, raising about $500 for the community center. Many of the people gave more than $25 per table.

Squirrel tables have become a quarantine phenomenon, a fun project for many families. The tables are about 10 inches long.

Katie and her mother cut the wooden pieces of cedar and put the tables together on Sunday.

Crystal said she and her husband, Tibor Dobri, are thankful they have both been able to keep working during the pandemic. Mrs. Dobri is a nurse and teaches nursing classes at St. John Fisher.

The family decided to support the local community center by selling the tables. (They included a bag of food for the squirrels with each sale.)

The center at Holley’s Public Square is providing take-out lunches and emergency food for local residents.

“We are so fortunate to be working through the pandemic, and putting food on the squirrel table is fun but not a necessity,” Dobri said today. “Katie and I decided that we want to put food on our community’s table, too.”

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Advice to younger students: ‘Don’t take time in high school for granted’

Provided photos: Holley seniors celebrate in the gym after the class won the homecoming competition this fall.

(Editor’s Note: Morgan Cary, a senior at Holley, wrote this piece today after news from Gov. Andrew Cuomo that school buildings would be closed the rest of the school year. The schools have been closed since March 16 with students working on school work at home or remotely. Morgan plans to be an education major this fall at Genesee Community College. To send a Pandemic Perspective to the Orleans Hub, email news@orleanshub.com.)

By Morgan Cary, Holley senior

Morgan Cary

Dear fellow seniors,

On a half day in March we went home excited for a three-day weekend and upset that the musical was being postponed. The next Tuesday we were told that we are having a two-week break due to the Coronavirus. We were excited! Who wouldn’t be, two weeks off! Slowly those two weeks turned into seven and now those seven weeks of online learning are turning into the rest of our senior year.

Senior year. The year everyone waits for. The year that makes the past 3 years all worth it. The year you’re supposed to win homecoming, the year you take your class picture, have your senior nights, skip days, senior picnic, senior prank, senior prom, graduation parties, senior yearbook and the year you’re supposed to graduate.

Graduation. The day you walk across the stage in front of the people you’ve known forever, the teachers who have helped you along the way and your family who has supported you. The day you get your diploma and celebrate all that you have accomplished. Finally getting to throw your cap up in the air and say goodbye.

Goodbye. You’re supposed to prepare for the goodbye. Saying bye to every teacher, every person you’ve met along the way and saying goodbye to the place you spent so many hours at. Saying goodbye to your home field or court, your stage, and all the fun times you had. Now we have had no time to prepare for these goodbyes. We had no idea that half day was our goodbye to the place and people we’ve known forever. Will they remember us? What impact have we left? What legacy will the class of 2020 leave behind?

Our legacy. Not only is the class of 2020 going to leave legacy that will never be forgotten, but we will make sure that future students know what we went through. We will make sure they don’t take their time in high school for granted. We will make sure they don’t forget what they have because in a split second, that can all be taken away from them. We will make sure they know to make memories that will last a lifetime.

Lifetime. That is what we have ahead of us. A lifetime full of opportunities. Look ahead. We all have a bright future. If we can get through this, we can get through anything. Together we are the Holley Central School District Class of 2020 and we will not be forgotten.

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Photos by Tom Rivers

HOLLEY – Rachel Escobar, left, and Debbie Rothmund prepare a pulled pork lunch at the Eastern Orleans Community Center in Holley. The center at 75 Public Square has been serving about 30 take-out lunches each weekday since non-essential businesses were closed by the state on March 22.

Rothmund is director of the center and Escobar has been a volunteer for the past 10 years.

“I just love being here and helping everyone,” Escobar said. “I find this is where I belong. I love the people here.”

The center is run by Community Action of Orleans & Genesee. The site typically would serve residents in a dining area but that has been off limits to the public for more than a month. The meals are handed off at the front door.

Rothmund has worked at the center for 20 years. When she started there were about 10 regulars who attended the center for lunch. There were about 30 attending more recently, and they would start showing up at 10 a.m. to play cards and Bingo and just to hang out.

Rothmund feels bad that those local residents haven’t been able to socialize very much the past six weeks.

“They are so sad,” Rothmund said about many of the regulars, who stop by now for a take-out meal at the front door. “They miss being here and seeing their friends.”

The center would also bring in speakers to talk about health issues, cooking and other issues. The Health Department also stops by typically once a month to check people’s blood pressure.

Debbie Rothmund, left, and Rachel Escobar get meals ready  in the kitchen. They also prepared about 170 emergency food boxes in March.

“I’ve never had that many,” Rothmund said. “I’m seeing people I’ve never seen before.”

Rothmund praised the school district for providing meals for many students while the schools buildings are closed to the public. This is now the seventh week the schools have been off-limits. The food from the schools isn’t enough for many families, and the Holley center is seeing an increased demand, Rothmund said.

“Many of the people here have found themselves out of work,” she said. “They don’t have any groceries.”

Debbie Rothmund and Rachel Escobar pride themselves on preparing quality meals for the residents. This meal included pulled pork, peas, cole slaw and chocolate chip cookies.

“It’s nice to have a home-cooked meal,” Rothmund said.

Some people stop by for emergency food, but they don’t want to take very much.

The center operates through donations from the residents who stop by, and contributions from the Salvation Army, Foodlink and local churches.

“They tell me somebody else needs it more,” Rothmund said. “I tell them we have enough for them and for you. God does provide.”

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Photos by Tom Rivers

HOLLEY – Suzanne Lepkowski, senior class advisor for Holley, puts a sign in the front yard on North Main Street for Alexander Brimacomb.

The members of the Class of 2020 were paid a special visit today by a group of Holley teachers and staff, including Superintendent Brian Bartalo and Junior/Senior High School Principal Sue Cory.

They delivered signs to each member of the Class of 2020.

Suzanne Lepkowski, an English teacher at Holley, brought a mega phone with her and stood in the street to tell one of the seniors congratulations on their impending graduation. Lepkowski has been senior class advisor for 20 years. This is the first time in her lifetime a class has had their senior year disrupted by a pandemic. The students have been out of the school building for six weeks now.

There were several cars at each stop, honking their horns to try to get the seniors’ attention to come outside and see their sign.

Olivia Radford, one of the 81 members of the senior class, poses with her sign after it was delivered by her soccer coach, Renee Wolf.

Radford said she is hoping the seniors can still have their prom and a graduation ceremony – “somehow or someway,” she said.

Roxanne Wagner, principal’s secretary, helps get the signs organized before the team of teachers and staff went out to deliver them beginning at about noon.

Sue Cory, the principal, sent an email to staff to see if any of them were interested in sponsoring a sign for $10 each. She received an almost immediate reaction from teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, clerical staff and administrators. They raised more than the $810 needed for the signs. The extra money will be donated to the senior class.

The signs were made by Keith Neale of 585 Print. Neale, who has two kids in the junior-senior high school, offered a deal on the signs.

Suzanne Lepkowski and Penny Cole, a secretary in the guidance department, load the signs into the back of a vehicle with help from Brian Bartalo, the district superintendent.

Makayla Famoly came out in the front yard to see her sign. She said she appreciated the gesture from the teachers and staff.

Makyla, 16, is graduating a year early. She is holding out hope students will be able to return to school this year.

“I just want to go to prom and walk the stage at graduation,” she said.

This sign is for Mikaela Auch, one of the seniors.

There are also some more generic signs celebrating seniors that teachers and staff requested to have in their yards. Sue Cory, the principal, is pictured in back.

Janelle Miles was thrilled when her sign was dropped off today.

“I cried when they came up here,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting this. It was so nice because it’s been really hard not seeing everyone.”

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Photos by Tom Rivers: Bill Ingham of Morton rides his 1954 Model 40 John Deere tractor during the June Fest parade on June 2, 2018 in Holley.

HOLLEY – The Village of Holley June Fest celebration, scheduled for June 6, has been cancelled due to public health concerns with Covid-19.

The village announced the news today on its Facebook page.

“I am sure this announcement comes as no surprise to our community, given the current extension of the PAUSE until May 15 and the uncertainty of future social distancing and other requirements related to this public health concern beyond this date,” the village states. “It is unfortunate as this has been a fantastic and fast-growing event in our community and it is sad to have to officially cancel this, but we do have a moral obligation to consider our community’s health and welfare first.”

Holley is the second Orleans County community to cancel a big festival. Albion also nixed the annual Strawberry Festival this year. That event is the second Friday and Saturday in June.

Albion and Holley are both planning to have their festivals return in 2021.

Children enjoy a bounce house in Holley’s park during the June Fest in 2018.

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HOLLEY – The Board of Education and the Holley Teachers Association have agreed to a three-year contract giving teachers an average annual salary increase of 3.5 percent.

The contract was approved by the board last month. The contract changes the step salary structure. Not all of the increases for all of the steps are 3.5 percent a year.

The contract is retroactive to July 1, 2019 and continues through June 30, 2022. The agreement includes 105 teachers and eight teaching assistants.

The contract also requires teachers to contribute 12 percent to the health insurance costs for either single or family plans. That is the same rate as in the previous contract.

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HOLLEY – Zack Jacobs sent in this photo he took of a great blue heron looking for fish at the Holley Waterfalls this past weekend.

The weather this week shows highs in the 40s from Monday through Friday, and a high of 50 on Saturday.

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Fire trucks provide escort through Holley on way to hospital

Photos by Tom Rivers

HOLLEY – A Clarendon fire truck has an “Evan Strong” sign in front of the truck during a processional today, when several fire trucks provided an escort through Holley, Clarendon and to Route 531 in Spencerport for Evan Valentine.

Evan, a Holley High School junior battling leukemia, left this morning to go to Golisano Children’s Hospital in Rochester. He is preparing for a final treatment of chemo and then a bone marrow transplant.

Evan Valentine smiles while on a ride through Holley this morning. Many community wore orange shirts in his honor and held up signs with messages of support.

Evan was first diagnosed with leukemia in Oct. 19, 2018. He completed four rounds of chemotherapy and returned to school on April 22, 2019. In January, he received the news the leukemia had returned.

This group stands in the parking lot for the soccer field on High Street. Evan plays soccer and golf for the school, and also performs in the musicals and with the chorus. He also is active with the Boy Scouts and is an altar server at St. Mary’s Catholic Church.

“He is an inspiration to not only all the students and staff at Holley High School, but to the entire Holley community,” said Brian Bartalo, the Holley school district superintendent. “He is an incredible young man with an engaging personality and unwavering spirit that encourages all of us.”

Bartalo was set up on Route 31 near the entrance of Northampton Park in Brockport, to wave to Evan and his family.

“I’m so proud of the response of the Holley Central School District, the Holley, Clarendon and Brockport Fire Departments and the entire Holley community for pulling together, especially during these trying times, to show their support for one of our own,” Bartalo said. “Holley is an incredible community that has a lot of heart, even when faced with challenges, like we’re all dealing with now.”

There were fire trucks from Holley, Clarendon, Fancher-Hulberton-Murray and Brockport in the escort for Valentine.

The community organized the sendoff for Evan this morning at 10 a.m. Due to the restrictions on visitors at the hospital, many of Evan’s friends haven’t been able to visit him while he recovered from chemo and now as he prepares for his bone marrow transplant. Evan’s classmates, teachers and the firefighters wanted to give him a show of support and strength as he prepares for the transplant.

Some classmates and friends stand in front of St. Mary’s Catholic Church and hold up signs and wave to Evan as he rides by this morning.

Evan’s mother Diane Valentine and her son wave to the people gathered in the parking lot on High Street for the soccer field.

To see a video of the fire trucks and Evan passing through the intersection of routes 237 and 31, click here.

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Callie Updike raises nearly $1,400 for childhood cancer research

Provided photos: Callie Updike of Holley reacts after her head was shaved on Saturday in a fundraiser for childhood cancer research. Callie, 15, did the fundraiser for her Holley classmate Evan Valentine, who is currently being treated for leukemia.

HOLLEY – Callie Updike, one of the student leaders at Holley Junior-Senior High School, has a flair for style, including with her hair. She gives her hair a touch of purple, pink or some other color.

Callie, 15, is a junior at Holley. One of her long-time classmates, Evan Valentine, is currently in remission from leukemia for the second time. Callie last month announced she would shave her head on April 11 to raise money for childhood cancer.

Callie Updike

She picked April 11 in honor of my grandmother’s 73rd birthday. Her grandmother passed away to cancer in 2014.

Callie was hoping Evan could personally shave her head this past Saturday. He has been at Golisano Children’s Hospital in Rochester and is currently home in remission, waiting for a bone marrow transplant. Callie instead went with a virtual event with Evan.

She set a $1,000 fundraising goal and passed that with donations averaging about $20. It’s at $1,368 currently. (Click here to contribute.)

Callie said she decided to shave off her hair when Evan lost his thick head of curls. She talked with Evan about her plan, and he suggested St. Baldrick’s, an organization created for the direct purpose of aiding in childhood cancer research.

“Seeing the hurt that Evan and his family had endured as well as the constant love and support that our community provided, I felt compelled to do what I could to help,” Callie said in an email.

Evan was first diagnosed in Oct. 19, 2018. He completed four rounds of chemotherapy and returned to school on April 22, 2019. In January, he received the news the leukemia had returned.

Callie thanked the donors for contributing to the fundraising effort.

“It’s a modest number, just over a grand, but knowing that we could reach so many community members and gather together in such a trying time brings me immeasurable joy,” she said.

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The Holley Village Board met Tuesday evening through Zoom. Pictured from left include Mayor Brian Sorochty, and trustees James DeFilipps, Rochelle Moroz, Connie Nenni and Kevin Lynch.

HOLLEY — The Holley Village Board has approved a tentative budget that would reduce the tax rate from $16.41 to $16.20 per $1,000 of assessed property.

The board held a public hearing on the budget at Tuesday evening. The meeting was done online through Zoom. The Village Office remains closed to the public due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This was the village’s first meeting online.

The budget will be formally adopted later this month. The village fiscal year runs from June 1 to May 31.

Although the tax rate will be going down, the village will be collecting more in property taxes. The tax levy will go up 2.3 percent or by $20,483 from $887,999 to $908,482.

The tax rate will go down because the village’s tax base grew by about $2 million. The village assessed value is up 3.6 percent or $1,967,513, from $54,098,660 to $56,066,173.

The general fund portion of the budget – office, DPW, police, employee benefits and general debt – totals $1,239,434, while the water budget is $436,401 and the sewer budget is $180,338.

Mayor Brian Sorochty said village officials have been working hard on the budget in recent months. He is pleased the tax rate will go down and the budget is under the property tax cap.

However, he said the village will have to be extra careful this coming fiscal year because state and federal funding may change due to the economic strains from Covid-19’s impact on the economy.

“We will really need scrutinize spending given the uncertainty,” Sorochty said.

In other action at Tuesday’s meeting, the Village Board:

• Approving spending $1,500 for the Waste Water Treatment to purchase two submersible pumps from Goodwin and 100 feet of lay flat hose.

• Approved spending $600 for the Police Department’s annual defibrillator certification conducted by Zoll.

• Approved spending $3605.83 for the Water Department to buy a Well Pump from Bailey Electric.

• Authorized spending $3,800 for the Water Department to buy four sampling stations from Blair Supply.

• Approved up to $900 for flowers and mulch for containers on Public Square and Wright Street.

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Provided photos

HOLLEY – The Easter Bunny spent a couple hours greeting people from a Holley fire truck today. The bunny rode with a procession of Holley and Clarendon fire trucks, including Clarendon’s new rescue/pumper.

The parade passed through the Village of Holley, Ridge Mobile Estates, Countyline Trailer Park and Thomas Estates.

The Schutz family waves to the Easter Bunny.

The Strathearn Family provided the Easter Bunny for a couple hours.

“A huge thank you to the community for coming out and waving to the Easter Bunny during this Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing as I’m sure most of these kids would have loved a picture with the bunny,” according to the Holley Fire Department. “This is truly a hard time for all during a holiday.”

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HOLLEY – The federal Environmental Protection Agency is temporarily suspending a $20 million cleanup project at the former Diaz Chemical site in Holley.

The EPA is planning to have about 20 personnel on site for phase 2 of the cleanup on Jackson Street.

The EPA has already spent $12.5 million on the cleanup, using money from the Superfund. The EPA has removed buildings, pipes, drums and tanks. Only two warehouses remain from Diaz, which declared bankruptcy and abandoned the site in 2002. The company operated for about 30 years in Holley.

The next phase – thermal treatment of contaminated soil and groundwater at the site – will cost $20 million, the EPA said.

“As we continue to adjust to the evolving COVID-19 situation, EPA is taking the necessary steps to ensure that decisions about ongoing cleanup activities at Superfund sites are made with the health and safety of communities, EPA staff, state and tribal partners, and contractors as the priority,” the EPA said in a community notice.

Besides EPA staff, the phase 2 includes personnel from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and contractors. They are temporarily suspending bringing equipment and staff to the Superfund site.

“The suspension of work is a temporary measure as we adjust to the ongoing situation with COVID-19,” the EPA said. “We will be periodically reassessing this decision moving forward and are prepared to come back to the site to continue work as soon as possible. The decision to suspend work was made in consultation with, or at the recommendation of, the Village of Holley.”

The EPA has been working on cleaning up the site for nearly 20 years. With phase 2, the EPA will tackle the contaminated soil on the 5-acre site. The soil poses a threat to the groundwater, EPA officials said.

The dirt can’t simply be carted off the premises until it has been treated to remove the contaminants. The EPA and a contractor will drill 600 wells, spaced about 13 to 15 feet apart, and install an underground system where the soil will be heated up. That will remove below-ground contaminates from soil.

Water vapors also will be collected and treated, and then filtered and discharged into the sewer.

Once the contaminant level drops in the soil, about 100 truckloads are expected to be hauled away to a landfill.

The EPA will have 100 truckloads of clean soil brought to the site. Project managers went over the work with the Holley Village Board in February.

The schedule before Covid-19

The schedule before the delay caused by Covid-19 included contractors drilling test wells and crews starting to mobilize this spring, with soil to be excavated in the summer, with drilling and well installation.

The first stage of the thermal treatment system will go in next winter through summer 2021. A second stage of drilling and well installation is planned for the spring-summer 2021 with the second stage of the thermal treatment system to be installed from winter 2021 to summer 2022.

A concrete cover is part of the project during the treatment stage. The concrete will be removed once the treatment is done.

The project will be substantially complete in the winter of 2023, according to the EPA timeline. A final layer of topsoil and grass will be added to complete the project.

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