Photos by Tom Rivers

HOLLEY – The Holley Fire Department welcomed a new ladder truck in June. The $800,000 truck with a 100-foot-long ladder is shown in the June 8 parade in Albion.

The truck replaces one from 1999 that had a 75-foot ladder. The old truck was sold for $75,000 to the Five Mile Point Fire Company near Binghamton.

The old truck was plagued with electrical and hydraulic problems in recent years, as well as rusted structural components.

Harris Reed, the Holley fire chief, shows some of the features on the truck, including compartments for saws and other equipment.

State Sen. Rob Ortt secured a $65,000 state grant for equipment on the truck, including hoses, nozzles, adapters for hoses, rescue ropes and air packs.

Harris Reed holds a combination spreader-cutter extrication tool that was donated to the Holley FD by Jeff Lyons, a dealer for Genesis Rescue Systems. Lyons gave the tool to Holley after the Barre Volunteer Fire Company upgraded with new Genesis tools. Barre’s old tools were a trade-in and Lyons gave them to Holley because they were well-matched to fit the new fire truck.

John Totter served as chairman of the Holley Joint Fire District and was critical in developing a financial plan to pay for the new fire truck. Totter passed away at age 57 on Feb. 13.

There is a plaque in the truck to recognize Totter’s work on the truck.

Harris Reed gives the truck a drive in the village on Thursday evening. The truck was manufactured by Rosenbauer in Minnesota.

“It rides like a Cadillac,” Reed said. “It doesn’t have the thump and bump like the old one. It’s a smooth ride.”

The truck also has a Knox Box next to the driver’s seat with a master key. That key can open Knox Boxes in the downtown and at apartment buildings. The keys to the buildings are in a Knox Box, which spares firefighters from breaking down a door if there is a fire or emergency at the building.

A firefighter needs to enter a code to have access to the key in the fire truck.

Reed said the Knox Box gives firefighters easier and faster access to a building, and also will save the doors for property owners.

It is a tight squeeze fitting the new fire truck in the fire hall. The doors are 12 feet high and the truck is 11 feet, 10 inches high. The manufacturer had to put smaller tires on the truck and build a smaller cab so it would fit in the fire hall.

The ladder on the new truck is Montreal Blue. “It looks sharp,” said Harris Reed, the fire chief.

The longer ladder gives the Fire Department more reach for structures on fire, and also provides more room away from a collapse zone.

The new fire truck has an iPad tablet mounted in front of the passenger’s seat. It gives a map to a scene, and can show an image of a house. Reed said all of Holley’s fire trucks have the iPads. The technology is especially helpful when Holley is called for mutual aid outside its fire district, where firefighters aren’t as familiar with the landscape.

The image of houses and fire hydrant locations also helps firefighters. Many houses do not have clear property numbers. Seeing the image takes away some of the guesswork when firefighters show up on a scene.

The Holley Fire Department will have an open house from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sept. 8. Community members are welcome to check out the new truck and equipment, and also consider joining the department as members. Reed said the Holley Fire Department has about 50 members, with 20 to 25 who are active in responding to calls.

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Photos courtesy of I Am Rochester

HOLLEY – Dick Grout of Lima portrays Charles G. Finney during filming on Saturday of the documentary, I Am Rochester. The film crew shot footage inside the First Presbyterian Church of Holley.

Finney was an abolitionist preacher who pushed for many social reforms, including equal education for women and African Americans. He taught at Oberlin College in Ohio, which accepted students without regard to race or sex. He served as Oberlin’s second president from 1851 to 1866.

Garrett Wendt, right, is director/producer of the documentary, and Stephen Morse is a camera operator.

Wendt is working on the documentary as a ministry through the LifeTree Fellowship church in Rochester.

 I Am Rochester highlights the spiritual history and revival fires that burned in the Rochester region, once known as the “Burned-Over District,” an area made up of the six counties of the Greater Rochester Metropolitan Area of the Genesee River Valley.

The film presents rarely shown perspectives of local people who became global change agents of freedom and justice, such as Finney, Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony.

Saturday’s filming included many extras in costume, including local Civil War re-enactors. The story being filmed occurred on Sunday, Aug. 14, 1853, and tells the true story of a dire situation which ends in supernatural renewal. The East Shelby Community Bible Church provided some of the costumes for the cast in the pews.

Dick Grout preaches as Charles G. Finney during Saturday’s filming in Holley. The Charles Finney School loaned filmmakers Finney’s actual pulpit from the Rochester Revival of 1830-31.

The scene shot in Holley is based on events at Finney’s church in Oberlin on August 14, 1853.

“We were unable to get the needed extras for the film shoot at First Church of Oberlin, as many Ohio re-enactors were here in NY at the Genesee Country Village & Museum for the big Civil War weekend,” Wendt said in an email. “We had a short window to film in Oberlin as they were about to do renovations on Finney’s church building. So we shot outside of the building to establish our story as happening there.”

The crew was in Oberlin last month for footage there. With that sanctuary unavailable for filming, Wendt tried to find a suitable church in the Rochester area.

The sanctuary at the Holley church provided an ideal setting for the documentary.

“I looked all around the rural areas surrounding Rochester for an old church with wooden pews, a center aisle, and 1800s pipe organ in the front of the sanctuary,” he said. “First Presbyterian of Holley fit the bill! I met with Pastor Tom Gardner and one of his leaders, Don Welch, who surprisingly was born in Oberlin, and later attended Oberlin College, where Finney had been president! They were so gracious to allow us to film this exciting story in their beautiful sanctuary.”

Wendt said that B.T. Roberts, founder of Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, was friends with Finney and visited him in Oberlin. That college would serve as a model school for Roberts with the college in Rochester.

“Finney was a great abolitionist and a pioneer in the church to elevate women,” Wendt said. “Oberlin College is known to be one of the first schools in America to accept African Americans and women as students.”

Dick Grout portrays Charles G. Finney during a critical scene in the film.

Wendt is aiming for the film to be released on Feb. 2, 2020. He wants every congregation in the six-county Rochester area to share it with their church. It will also be available through streaming and DVD purchases.

He is hopeful it will inspire Christians to see the power of what God can do in a community. He also wants the Rochester area to better understand its identity during an important time in the church’s history when it pushed for equal rights and abolition.

For more on I Am Rochester, click here.

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HOLLEY – The Village of Holley will have a scheduled power outage on Tuesday starting at 3 p.m. and will last for approximately 6 hours.

The outage is related to a major utility pole replacement work that needs to be completed in the village.

The following streets will be effected: South Main from the under pass to the red light, North Main/ School Fireman’s field, West Albion/ Woodside Court/ Holley Grove, Jackson, West Avenue, High Street, Day Street, Orchard Street, West Union, Ray, Franklin, East Albion, Park, Morgan, Perry, Van Buren, Geddes from West Albion to the Public Square, and the Public Square from Thomas to Wright.

For questions contact the Water/Electric Department at (585) 638-6367.

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Roy Bubb bought the quilt during auction to benefit Cobblestone Museum

Photo by Ginny Kropf: Ann Raskopf of Olcott and Roy Bubb of Holley renewed acquaintances after meeting on a bus trip in May to view cobblestone structures in the Rochester area. They first met at the Cobblestone Society’s annual membership dinner and fundraising auction, where Bubb was the successful bidder on a Civil War-era quilt she donated.

HOLLEY – Roy Bubb had long been looking for a suitable coverlet for his bed, which dates back to the Civil War era, when he decided, for the first time, to attend the Cobblestone Society’s third annual membership dinner and fundraising auction last spring.

When Ann Raskopf of Olcott inherited a trunk of heirloom quilts, she was faced with the dilemma of finding a proper home for them – one in particular, a Love Apple quilt dating back to the Civil War era.

The two would meet when Raskopf, a member of the Cobblestone Society Museum at Childs, decided to donate the quilt to the Cobblestone’s membership dinner and fundraising auction on April 30.

Bubb is also a member of the Cobblestone Society and when he attended the auction, the quilt caught his eye.

His bedroom set came from the family of Holley resident Corinne “Kitty” Potter Moore, who had been given the furniture as a wedding gift by her grandparents prior to the Civil War. When the last heir in the family died, the contents of their house were left to Bubb.

For some time, he had been looking for a new quilt for his bedroom.

Raskopf, in the meantime, had shirttail cousins in Jamestown who owned a four-story home. When she helped clear it out, they found a trunk in the attic, which a cousin said hadn’t been opened in years and he didn’t know what was inside.

Inside were four quilts. One was tattered (which Raskopf eventually sold at a garage sale for $15); another was called a Nine-Patch pattern; one was the Love Apple quilt; and one in a Wild Geese pattern, she has decided to keep.

Raskopf contacted quilt appraiser, Linda Hunter of Lockport, who spent several hours talking to her about the quilts, which are all hand-appliqued.

The Love Apple design is a Pennsylvania Dutch influence, while the Nine-Patch has pen and ink prints from 1883 of famous people, such as Alexander Graham Bell, and the names of famous families in the Jamestown and Dunkirk areas. She decided to send the Nine-Patch quilt to a relative out of state.

Provided photo: The Love Apple quilt is shown during April 30 at the Cobblestone Society Museum’s annual membership dinner and fundraising auction.

“Then I wondered, ‘What am I going to do with the other one,’” Raskopf said. “I’d always been interested in the Cobblestone Museum, and I knew director Doug Farley from Newfane for years. Then I read online about their fundraising event.

She contacted Farley and asked if the Cobblestone would like a quilt. He told her they already had several, but they were relatively new ones.

“I told Doug I’d drive to the museum and show it to him,” Raskopf said.

The Love Apple quilt is 76 x 90 inches, in turkey red and green.

“I told Doug I envisioned this quilt in a lovely old house – maybe of cobblestone or brick – on a lovely old bed,” Raskopf said.

While Bubb’s home in Holley isn’t very old, he previously lived in an 1810 Cape Cod in New Hampshire, and then in an 1825 house in Clarendon. But his bed is from the Civil War era.

The quilt he was currently using on his bed had been made by an aunt 40 years ago, and he wanted a change so he could rotate them.

Bubb, 88, attended the Cobblestone’s auction, where Raskopf was seated near the Love Apple quilt.

“I didn’t know if anyone would be interested in something like this,” Raskopf said. “Thank heavens Roy was there.”

“Barb Filipiak of Medina started bidding on the quilt,” Bubb said. “I knew her, but I didn’t care. I wanted that quilt.”

He got it for $120, which Raskopf considers a “steal.”

“I was more thrilled when I met him and discovered he was originally from Williamsport, Pa.,” Raskopf said. “That is Pennsylvania Dutch country and this quilt, considered ‘Country Cottage,’ has a Pennsylvania Dutch influence. I guess ‘What goes around, comes around.’”

Raskopf and Bubb would meet again in May when they both went on a bus trip with the Cobblestone Museum to visit cobblestone structures in the Rochester area.

That’s when they made a date for Raskopf to visit Bubb’s home and see the 1800’s Love Apple quilt on his Civil War-era bed.

They both agree she couldn’t have found a better home for her quilt.

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MURRAY – The New York State Department of Transportation today announced that the bridges carrying Transit Road and Telegraph Road over the Erie Canal in the town of Murray, Orleans County, are scheduled to close to vehicular traffic on Monday as part of a previously announced project to rehabilitate seven Erie Canal bridges throughout Orleans County.

Transit Road over the Erie Canal is expected to close for approximately six months. Telegraph Road over the Erie Canal is expected to close for approximately ten months. Detours will be posted at each location directing motorists to nearby canal bridges.

The state is spending $10.7 million on the seven bridges in the county. The DOT said the work on these bridges will include installing high-strength galvanized steel to replace steel floor systems, low chords, gusset plates, and truss elements.

Bridge railing and guide rail on the bridge approaches also will be improved and each bridge will be repainted. The alignments and profiles of the bridges will not change.

The  seven single-lane truss bridges were constructed between 1909 and 1914.

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Robin Silvis

HOLLEY – The Board of Education has a new president. Robin Silvis on Monday was picked by her colleagues on the board to take over for Brenda Swanger who retired from the position on June 30.

Silvis was previously the board vice president. She has been a member of the BOE the past 10 years. John Heise, a retired Holley school administrator, is the new board vice president.

“I love my community,” Silvis said. “I love the children. I love having the opportunity to be a voice.”

Silvis works as an executive confidential assistant for State Supreme Court Justice Richard Dollinger.

Her children are Holley graduates. Toni, Class of 2010, works as a nurse at Rochester General. Michael, Class of 2013, works for a division of Corning and is a wrestling coach at Holley. Lucas, Class of 2015, just graduated from the University of Buffalo and has started the graduate program at Brockport State College to be a high school counselor.

Silvis said the board of education works well together. She praised the teachers and administrators at Holley for a focus on creating a caring community at the school while pushing for excellence.

“We’ve developed a bond and commitment to improving the district on a whole,” Silvis said. “We are on the upswing. I thank the other board members, teachers and administrators. We’re going to see bigger and better.”

She praised Swanger for her 15 years of service on the board, including six years as board president.

Silvis said she is grateful for the chance to serve in the volunteer position.

“It’s become a part of me and I enjoy it,” she said.

Robin Silvis presents the high school diploma to her son, Lucas, during June 2015. Lucas has since graduated from the University of Buffalo and is now in the graduate program at Brockport State College for high school counseling.

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HOLLEY – The school district will make free breakfasts and lunches available to all students who want them in 2019-20.

Holley has been offering free breakfasts and lunches during part of the summer, from July 8 to Aug. 16 this year, as has in previous summers.

Holley applied for the free breakfast and lunch program throughout the school year, and was approved through the Community Eligibility Provision of the National School Breakfast/Lunch Program.

The CEP program provides the opportunity for schools in high poverty areas to provide two nutritious meals every school day, while eliminating the stigma for those students previously identified as “low income.”

Medina participated in the program this past school year for the first time and will continue next year.

“It’s wonderful,” said Robin Silvis, president of the Holley Board of Education. “We’re thrilled.”

For more information about the program, contact Sharon Zacher, Assistant Superintendent for Business, at (585) 638-6316 Ext. 2001 or szacher@holleycsd.org.

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Provided photos

HOLLEY – More than 200 people attended a 5K run and 1 mile walk on Saturday in Holley in memory of Andie Carpenter.

Andie, 20, passed away unexpectedly on Jan. 31. She was in her last semester at North Country Community College in Saranac Lake. She died after an artery ruptured.

Andie wasn’t diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome until she was 15. That diagnosis followed years of doctor visits when Andie and her family knew something was wrong. She bruised easily. Her skin stretched far more than a typical person’s.

Andie, despite the effects of Ehlers-Danlos, ran cross country for Holley. Saturday’s race went by the Holley waterfalls, which was one of her favorite spots.

Her family and friends have formed the Adventuresinlove4Andie Memorial Fund as an official 501(c)(3) charitable corporation.

Some of the participants make heart shapes with their hands in memory of Andie Carpenter.

Andie enjoyed photography and taking hikes in nature. She wanted to be a 46er, climbing all of the mountain peaks in the Adirondacks. She was partway on that goal.

Andie researched her college major, and picked the rigorous radiological technology program. She did her training at the Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, Canton-Potsdam Hospital and the Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake.

Brian Bartalo, Holley Central School superintendent, participated in the event, and sprinted to the finish line.

McKenzie Hill was the first recipient of the Andie Mae Carpenter Memorial Award during Holley’s graduation on June 29. McKenzie submitted photos in the scholarship application  which showed what “adventures in love” mean to her.

There will be an “Andie Cup” on Aug. 25 at Genesee Community College in Batavia, featuring GCC against North Country Community College. Andie’s father Josh Carpenter was an assistant soccer coach at GCC. Andie attended North Country Community College. There will be jerseys and bracelets for sale at the event to benefit the Adventuresinlove4Andie Memorial Fund.

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Photos by Tom Rivers

HOLLEY – The Rev. Tom Gardner, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Holley, leads a special service on Sunday afternoon to celebrate the 200^th anniversary of the church.

The service on Sunday included remarks from previous pastors of the church, including Bob Kaiser and Cheryle McCann.

There were magnets available for the church’s 200^thanniversary. The church is located at 34 West Albion St.

A combined choir from the Albion and Holley Presbyterian churches sings “In One Accord” during the service. The Amadeus Chorale Youth Singers also participated in the service.

The Rev. Deb Swift, pastor of the South Presbyterian Church in Rochester, leads the group in a prayer. She also gave the sermon, “Ride Loose in the Saddle,” during the bicentennial celebration.

Swift leads a church on Mount Hope Avenue in Rochester that decided to sell its building in 2014. That has freed the congregation to have more focus on outreach and serving the community, rather than trying to attract people to a historic building for services. “Go out and be the church,” she said.

Swift said churches should be riding on the back of the Holy Spirit.

“Trust we’re on a ride and we might get jostled around a little bit, but we need to hold on to the reins,” she told about 75 people at the service.

Swift praised the courage and vision of the pioneers who established the congregation for the Holley community 200 years ago, back when the community was known as Saltport and the Erie Canal hadn’t opened yet. The canal was complete in 1825.

Sue Machamer played the organ during the service. The organ is from 1856 and was transported to Holley from Utica along the Erie Canal. Machamer said she has been playing the organ at the church, “for as long as I can remember.”

People stand for one of the hymns sung at the service.

Sue Machamer is pictured up by the organ before the start of the service.

A banner outside the church notes the Holley Presbyterian Church is 200 years old as a congregation this year. This summer the church services start at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays.

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Photos by Tom Rivers

HOLLEY – Jared Bowen, a member of the Clarendon, Holley, Hulberton Fire Youth Group, was out early this afternoon in a boot drive to raise money for the youth group, which includes 14 teens in the Clarendon, Holley and Hulberton communities.

The youth group started about five years ago. The students learn First Aid and CPR, and practice hose advancement skills, extrication and patient packaging, and also learn about firefighting tools on the trucks.

Mike Snell, a member of the youth group and also a new member of the Holley Fire Department, collects a donation today.

The money will help pay for field trips for the students. In September, they are headed to New York City to see the Sept. 11 memorial. There were 343 firefighters killed in NYC during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack.

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Evan Valentine is playing summer soccer and looking forward to varsity season in fall

Provided photos

HOLLEY – Evan Valentine, 16, of Holley rang the bell last Thursday to celebrate completing his treatments for leukemia and being in remission for the disease.

He is pictured with his parents, Neil and Diane Valentine, at Golisano Children’s Hospital where Evan spent six months after being diagnosed with leukemia on Oct. 19. His parents praised the Golisano doctors and staff for helping Evan to be cured.

“We are just so thankful for the incredible people at Golisano who treated him and to our community for all of the support,” Mrs. Valentine said.

Evan added his handprint to the wall at the CURE office at Golisano.

Evan returned to Holley school on April 22 to a big reception in the gym. He is regaining his strength and is playing summer soccer on Holley’s U17 team. He looks forward to playing on the varsity soccer team this fall.

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MURRAY – Republicans in Murray had the highest turnout for the primary last Tuesday .

Primaries don’t tend to bring out the voters en masse. But Tuesday’s turnout wasn’t too far off a local general election.

The turnout countywide was 32.3 percent or 3,487 voters among the 10,789. That doesn’t include 137 absentees and seven affidavits. When they are included the overall turnout is 33.6 percent or 3,631 voters. That also means more than 7,000 registered Republicans didn’t vote in the primary.

Here is a breakdown of turnout at the 10 towns last Tuesday.

Source: Orleans County Board of Elections; Orleans Hub calculations.

Board of Elections staff had ballots printed for a 50 percent turnout in towns with town elections, as well as a hotly contested sheriff’s election between Chris Bourke and Brett Sobieraski. Elections printed ballots for a 45 percent turnout in towns without town positions on the ballot.

Murray not only had the sheriff’s race, but a battle for town supervisor Robert Miller and Joe Sidonio, as well as three people seeking two spots on the Town Board. The councilman candidates included Neil Valentine, Lloyd Christ and Dirk Lammes.

Murray also had the biggest turnout about two years in the Republican primary at 42.2 percent. Sidonio and Miller again squared off in that primary, which didn’t include a countywide race.

Yates had the lowest turnout at 25.8 percent. That town didn’t have a primary for any town level positions.

Ridgeway had the second lowest turnout on Tuesday, despite a race for town supervisor and two other seats on the Town Board. Ridgeway, at 28.6 percent, and Yates were the only towns below a 30-percent turnout.

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Joe Sidonio

ALBION – Joe Sidonio is the winner of the Republican primary for Murray town supervisor. Sidonio had a 1-vote lead over Bob Miller, the incumbent, after Tuesday’s vote tally.

After the absentees ballots were counted this morning, Sidonio’s lead grew to 14. He had 24 absentee votes to 11 for Miller.

After the votes were counted this morning, Miller shook Sidonio’s hand and congratulated him.

Twice before in the Republican primary in September 2017 and then the general election in November 2017, Sidonio had small leads over Miller. But when the absentees were counted, Miller passed Sidonio.

This time around Sidonio said he was more aware to encourage people to use absentees if they weren’t around on primary day.

“I’ve learned how government works,” Sidonio said after the votes were counted this morning at The Villages of Orleans, the former county nursing home where the Board of Elections has its office.

Sidonio said the recent close elections showed him many in the public wanted change in the town government. But it was a challenge. He wasn’t the endorsed Republican candidate.

“I am going to take a deep breath here,” he said. “I want to thank my wife and daughter. I’ve had their support and encouragement the entire time. I want to thank God for being able to have this opportunity.”

Sidonio also is the likely winner of the Independence primary for town supervisor. Miller had 5 votes and Sidonio had 6 write-in votes. There is a chance more absentees could come in. Tuesday is the count-off date. The final results will be certified later this week, the Board of Elections said.

Sidonio won a seat on the Murray Town Republican Committee in a September 2016 primary. But he was unable to get a seat on the Town Board, not only losing to Miller but last November to Neil Valentine for town councilman.

“I represent change,” Sidonio said this morning. “I’m the first to take on the establishment, the Murray Republican Committee, and win. It takes courage, effort and time to bring change to the entrenched establishment. My change will be inclusiveness rather than exclusiveness.”

He was upset when the Town Board didn’t reappoint him as the town representative on the Orleans County Planning Board about two years ago after he served in that position for 12 years.

He wants to hear from everyone who has ideas and a willingness to make Murray a better community.

“I look forward to working with the board and the town,” he said. “It’s time for the community to come together and work together.”

Miller’s term as town supervisor continues until Dec. 31.

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ALBION – It’s the third close race between Bob Miller and Joe Sidonio in less than two years for Murray town supervisor, and again the absentee ballots are needed to determine the winner.

In Murray, 36 absentee ballots were taken out for last Tuesday’s Republican primary. The absentees will be counted this morning in the Orleans County Board of Elections office.

After the polls closed at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Sidonio had a 1-vote lead over Miller, 255 to 254.

Sidonio has been there before, with a slight lead over Miller when the polls closed. In both cases, Miller would overtake him with the absentees.

In September 2017, Miller and Sidonio squared off in the Republican primary for town supervisor. Miller was behind Sidonio by 7 votes after the polls closed. But when the absentee ballots were counted on Sept. 18, 2017, Miller emerged as the victor for the Republican line, getting 19 absentees to 5 for Sidonio.

The two would face each other again on Nov. 7, 2017 in the general election. Sidonio stayed in the race with the Conservative and Independence lines.

Sidonio had a 16-vote lead, 558 to 542, when the polls closed. However, Miller had 26-vote lead in the absentees, 47 to 21 for Sidonio. The final tally was 589 votes for Miller, 579 for Sidonio.

Today’s absentee count will also finalize the primary for Orleans County sheriff. Chris Bourke has a 99-vote lead over Brett Sobieraski with 139 absentees out.

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