Ed Morgan

MURRAY – Ed Morgan, the Murray highway superintendent the past 30 years, has resigned, effective May 31.

The Murray Town Board accepted the resignation this evening. Morgan has been influential in the town’s expansion of public water service, and also helped construct the Holley Business Park.

In November, he was elected to another four-year term. His resignation comes too late in the election cycle for the usual petition process to become a candidate. The political parties in town can instead nominate a candidate to run this November to fill the remaining year of the term.

The parties have until July 23 to submit a certificate of nomination to the Orleans County Board of Elections. The Town Board is discussing if it should appoint someone to fill the remainder of the year as acting highway and water superintendent.

Morgan on Jan. 30 was recognized as the Public Works Leader of the Year by the Genesee Valley Branch of the American Public Works Association

Morgan was first elected highway superintendent in 1990. In the past 30 years the town constructed nearly 300,000 linear feet of water main to serve the residents of the community.

The highway superintendent also oversees maintaining about 30 miles of roads throughout the town, along with total winter maintenance on 17 miles of county roads and 16 miles of State roads.

Morgan and the Town of Murray Highway Department staff completed the replacement of the Highway Department flat roof with a new truss roof, built a large storage building and expanded the Town Hall to accommodate the expanding court system with accessibility for town residents and operational staff.

The Highway Department also built a 1,200-ton salt storage building and installed a computerized fuel system to accommodate not only the Town’s needs, but also service two fire departments.

Morgan also has served as President of the Orleans County Highway Superintendents Association several times over the past 30 years.

He is the fourth long-time highway superintendent to retire in the county. Larry Swanger of Clarendon (30 years), Ron Mannella of Gaines (26 years) and Mike Fuller of Shelby (44 years as employee including 14 years as superintendent) ended their careers on Dec. 31.

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Trek will pass through 4 village business districts, 8 towns

HOLLEY – A caravan of trucks and other vehicles head down Route 31 near the start of a 50-mile trip throughout Orleans County to highlight small businesses in the community. Art Hill Excavation in Medina is in front in the yellow trucks.

The caravan had more than 100 vehicles when it started at 9 a.m. at the Holley Business Park.

These two head down Route 31 in Holley. The route turned on Countyline Road to head to Kendall.

After Holley and Kendall, the caravan then goes to Carlton, then to Albion, Medina and concludes in Lyndonville. Adam Johnson, organizer of the ride, estimates the route will take about 2 hours with the group finishing in Lyndonville at about 11 a.m.

Larry and Edie Hendershott of Wheatland brought a 1949 Studebaker for the ride. They said they were thankful to be out of their house.

“We’ve been home too long,” Mr. Hendershott said.

Adam Johnson, owner of the 39 Problems bar and restaurant in Albion, checks the lineup of vehicles at the Holley Business Park.

Johnson said many businesses are eager to reopen. They have been sidelined the pass two months and are feeling financial pressure. They are concerned about the businesses’ viability and also about their employees.

Today’s ride was intended to showcase small businesses in the community.

Some of the participants wait for the ride to start in Holley this morning.

Orleans Hub expects to have more coverage later of the ride.

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(Editor’s Note: This article was updated. An original post said Holley had granted the waiver, allowing the 21 extra days before there is a late fee. However, the village needs permission from the state before the waiver can go into effect.)

HOLLEY – The Village Board voted on Tuesday to ask for state permission to give taxpayers 21 extra days to pay their village taxes without getting hit with a 5 percent penalty.

Village tax bills are due June 30. The board wants to waive the late fee until July 21. Any payments the rest of July will be assessed a 5 percent late charge. In August, the late fee goes up to 6 percent.

“In these times I don’t have problem giving them those 21 days,” said Deputy Mayor Kevin Lynch. “Some of the residents will just be getting back to work.”

The governor needs to allow villages the waiver on the late fees. Holley Mayor Brian Sorochty has sent an email to the governor’s office, requesting the waiver.

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

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 village fiscal year runs from June 1 to May 31.

In other action at Tuesday’s Village Board meeting:

• The board approved the purchase from Admar of a Kubota Wheeled Skid Steer at a cost of $26,855.29 to be split between the Water, Electric and DPW Departments. The current Skid Steer is 20 years old with more than 3,000 hours.

It is used by to plow sidewalks and also for conduit trenching by the electric department, among its many uses for the village staff.

• Mayor Brian Sorochty updated the board on the village elections. The election was scheduled for June 16 but has been moved by the state to Sept. 15. The state has provided other information on the petition process and the time frames for getting signatures, the mayor said.

• The village and Town of Murray are holding off on deciding about the summer youth program. “We’re taking a wait and see approach,” Sorochty said.

• The federal Environmental Protection Agency, which delayed the start of construction on a $20 million soil cleanup at the former Diaz Chemical site due to Covid-19, expects to start mobilizing construction equipment and work crews later this month.

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 involves thermal treatment of contaminated soil and groundwater at the site. Besides EPA staff, the phase 2 includes personnel from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and contractors.

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 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 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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Photo by Tom Rivers: Ron Vendetti (left), Holley’s code enforcement officer and grants manager, last month tours the Holley Gardens project with George DeRue, Home Leasing’s vice president of historical preservation and construction manager for the project. Home Leasing turned the former Holley High School into senior apartments and the village offices. This is the last project Vendetti inspected for the village. He has now officially retired as code officer and grants manager.

HOLLEY – Ron Vendetti has officially retired as a municipal official. Vendetti retired last year from Albion and Holley code enforcement officer. He also served in the role for the Town of Murray.

He also was serving as the grants manager for the Village of Holley. But he has resigned from the position to finally be fully retired.

The Holley Village Board accepted his resignation on Tuesday, and thanked him for getting the village in a position to tackle ambitious sidewalk and water projects.

“He will be missed,” said Holley Mayor Brian Sorochty. “Throughout the planning process Ron has been invaluable to me and the village.”

The mayor said Vendetti has often been viewed as a “lightning rod” in his role as code officer. But Sorochty said Vendetti is competent and able to move complicated projects forward.

The $4.5 million waterline and sidewalk project is expected to start soon and will take about a year.

The Village Board on Feb.11 accepted a $2,556,000 construction bid from a contractor on Tuesday to replace sidewalks and water lines in the village. Most of the project is along Route 237 and the northeast section of the village.

Mark Cerrone, Inc. of Niagara Falls submitted the lowest bid for the project. Grants will cover the majority of the costs. Holley is responsible for 20 percent of the sidewalk work and 40 percent of the waterlines.

The village was approved for a $1,780,000 federal TAP grant (Transportation Alternatives Program) to construct curbs and sidewalks that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The grant will allow the village to replace about one-third of the sidewalks in the village.

Holley also was awarded nearly $1.3 million from the state for upgrades to the water system through the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act, as well as the Intermunicipal Water Infrastructure Grants Program.

The waterline project includes 5,800 linear feet, just over a mile, and involves replacing 4- to 8-inch water mains with 8- to 12-inch water mains.

The village has a $318,100 contract with the Wendel firm for construction administration and observation services during the project. In addition to Wendel, village officials will be involved in the construction, especially Dave Nenni, superintendent of the Department of Public Works, and Matt Campbell, superintendent of the Water and Electric departments.

One responsibility that Vendetti handled as code officer was prosecuting the code violations. Many other towns and villages have the municipal attorney attend court and prosecute the violations.

“The village was very lucky because Ron did them all and it didn’t cost you anything,” said John Sansone, the Holley village attorney.

Sansone has been the village attorney for 19 years and he said only on three occasions did he need to be involved with a code violation case in Holley.

Tracy Van Skiver, the Albion code enforcement officer, also is working part-time for Holley. She wants the village attorney to handle more of the court responsibilities.

The rules have changed since Vendetti retired with the code officer needing to meet the state’s new laws for discovery, which means a faster turnaround for providing documents to the defendant.

Sansone said his contract calls for additional pay for time spent in court representing the village. Many of fines for code violations are $50. That is less than the village would have to pay Sansone to defend the case.

Right now, the local courts are closed until at least June. Sansone said the Village Board should weigh how to proceed in prosecuting the cases, perhaps only using him if there are cases with “huge violations.”

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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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