Press release, Orleans County Undersheriff Steve Smith
KENDALL – A Kendall man is dead, apparently after being accidentally pinned underneath the lawn tractor he was working on.
The incident occurred at a private residence in the 16900 block of Roosevelt Highway (State Route 18) and was reported to Orleans County 9-1-1 at about 4:20 p.m. Kendall Fire Department first responders found Stephen C. Ergott, 62, pinned under the machine and already deceased.
Upon investigation it appeared that Ergott had used the forklift on a larger tractor to lift the lawn tractor and suspend it off the ground so he could do maintenance on the under-side. At some point the lawn tractor apparently slipped off the forklift and fell to the ground, pinning Ergott underneath.
The on-scene investigation was conducted by Deputy R.M. Flaherty, assisted by Deputy J.J. Cole, Sergeant D.W. Covis, Investigator D.E. Foeller Jr., and Chief Deputy T.L. Drennan. That investigation has since been joined by the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office in Rochester.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 September 2014 at 12:00 am
File photos by Tom Rivers – The Kendall Junior-Senior High School is eyed for most of the estimated $25 million in a capital project that should start next month.
KENDALL – The school district will open construction bids on Wednesday for a project that will bring the school campus into the 21st Century.
Kendall residents approved the $25 million capitol project in May 2013. The district has been working with the State Education Department since then on the final designs for the work.
The district will open the bids at 2 p.m. on Wednesday with the Board of Education expected to approve seven different contracts at its 7 p.m. meeting on Sept. 24.
The work could start in October in the back cafeteria of the junior-senior high school, as well as some of the underground infrastructure work at the elementary school.
Crews will continue to work in wings of the junior-senior high school during the winter and spring, with contractors busy next summer so the buildings are ready for the new 2015-16 school year next September.
The $25 million capitol project will be 90 percent funded with state aid. Kendall’s local share already is saved in a capital reserve account.
The project includes new roofs for both school buildings, as well as energy efficient improvements, heating and ventilation work, and updated security measures. Both sites will also see improvements to parking lots and sidewalks.
The junior-senior high school was built in 1971 in an “open classroom” model that didn’t include contained classrooms. The school includes partitions to try to reduce noise and hallway distractions. A capital project would give all the classrooms four walls and their own doors.
The project makes improvements at the two school buildings, including a reconfiguration of the classroom wings so each room has four walls and a door. That will go a long way to improving the learning atmosphere and security for teachers and students, said Julie Christensen, the district superintendent.
Another classroom disrupter, the cafeteria, will be relocated to a wing of the building occupied by the current weight room and another classroom. Right now, the cafeteria is in the middle of the building.
Contributed Story Posted 2 September 2014 at 12:00 am
Provided photo
KENDALL – The Kendall Boys Varsity Soccer Team raised $100 to fight breast cancer by selling bracelets highlighting the disease. Team members presented a check to Orleans Community Health.
Pictured, from left, include Richie Swift; Cindy Perry, director of Health Education, Wellness and Outreach Department; Will Condo; Alex Sutphen, Kendall Boys Varsity Soccer Team Captain; and Lori Condo, President, Kendall Sports Boosters.
Orleans Community Health’s Community Partners offers programs for breast cancer patients and survivors. The soccer team plans to raise money again in October at Senior Night.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 August 2014 at 12:00 am
Provided photo – These students will be submitting petitions to the Kendall Board of Education this evening to have cursive writing taught in the elementary school. They say they want to be able to read the Bill of Rights, letters from their grandparents and be able to give their signatures and read others’ names. The students include, from left: Morgan Bukatis, Grace Casey, Cayden Faulks, Cameron Faulks and Riley Casey.
KENDALL – Five elementary students will tell the Board of Education this evening they want to learn old-fashioned cursive hand-writing, believing it will help them learn, be creative and read important documents, including the Bill of Rights and letters from their grandparents.
The students have created posters and secured about 35 signatures on petitions, asking that the district teach cursive to elementary students. The students pushing the issue include Morgan Bukatis, Grace Casey, Cayden Faulks, Cameron Faulks and Riley Casey.
“I don’t think the politicians and school administrators feel it is necessary because they are so into technology,” said Cindy Christ, grandmother of the two Faulks brothers.
She will join them at the BOE meeting at 6 p.m. this evening. She knows school leaders feel pressed for time with a busy curriculum. But she thinks cursive writing is valuable for students.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 August 2014 at 12:00 am
Provided photos – The Kendall Community Chorus performs in many events around the holidays and then later in the spring and summer.
KENDALL – Mary Campbell wanted to give Kendall area residents a chance to sing together in 2008. She got word out about a community choir, but wasn’t sure how many would show up.
Fifty people joined and that number has been steady since then. The choir isn’t slowing down. The Kendall Community Chorus is starting a new season and singers are welcome for the Monday evening rehearsals from 7 to 9 p.m. or on Saturday mornings from 10 to noon. The group meets at the Kendall United Methodist Church. (It won’t be there this Monday because of Labor Day.)
“We have a good time,” said Campbell, a retired music teacher from Medina and Kendall. “There’s no pressure. It’s more for the social.”
The chorus will be preparing for its biggest concert of the year on Nov. 21 at the David J. Doyle Junior-Senior High School. The concert will feature Christmas music and Broadway tunes. In the past six years, proceeds from concerts have benefitted the Kendall Park Gazebo Fund, the Kendall food cupboard, the 2012 Kendall Bicentennial, and the Kendall Fire Department Ambulance Fund.
The chorus also sings at nursing homes and other community events. It leads off the Kendall Firemen’s Carnival Parade in July.
“We open up the parade with ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ and ‘God Bless America,'” Campbell said. “I don’t know anywhere else where that happens at a firemen’s parade.”
The chorus also performed a flash mob patriotic musical medley at the Brockport Wegmans store and at the Hilton Tops. They have sung at three Rochester Red Wings games.
The group draws singers from Kendall, Holley, Hamlin and Hilton. Campbell said more singers are welcome.
“Just show up and you can join,” she said.
She welcomed people to come to practice this Saturday to join the group or the Monday a week after Labor Day.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 August 2014 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Descendants of Philip LeFrois are pictured today in the Town of Murray in the front yard of Steve Babcock after his great-grandfather Philip LeFrois’s hitching post was moved from his homestead to Babcock’s. Local contractor Jim Babcock removed the post and transported it to his brother’s property. Babcock is pictured at left, kneeling. He is joined by Phil Sargent, Sargent’s grandfather Ron Ayrault, Steve Babcock and Jerry LeFrois.
MURRAY – A hitching post that spent about a century in Eagle Harbor today was moved to Phillips Road in the Town of Murray. It is now in the front yard of Steve Babcock, just south of Route 104 near the Murray Superette.
The hitching post belonged to Babcock’s great-grandfather, Philip LeFrois. His local descendants wanted the post to stay in the family. They reached out to the property owner, Kevin and Joanie Kent, and they agreed to let the hitching post go to Babcock’s.
Mrs. Kent is a hospice nurse. She cared for Babcock’s wife, Annette, when she battled ovarian cancer. Mrs. Babcock died on Sept. 25, 2002 at age 44.
Her husband thanked the Kents for letting the hitching post go.
“I’m very family-oriented,” Babcock said. “Having a historical piece that goes back several generations is pretty awesome.”
Babcock had help moving the hitching post today. His brother Jim, a local contractor, had the hitching post, which weighs about 800 pounds, out of the ground, transported and reset in Murray in about an hour.
Steve marveled at the artistry in the hitching post. A quarryman who was a friend of his great-grandfather carved spear points on each side. Steve said he will try to get a ring for the post and would like to have the spot nicely landscaped with a plaque.
Photos by Sue Cook – Frannie Hicks, left, dances with her daughter Tara Hicks, Joan Weed and Marilyn Gilbert, far right.
By Sue Cook, staff reporter
KENDALL – Friday night, Kendall kicked off their 3rd annual Homegrown Days with “The Lego Movie” on the Town Hall lawn. About 150 people came to the viewing, which was the first of three weekend events.
The fire hall hosted Saturday’s event due to the rain. Originally a street dance was scheduled to take place in front of the fire hall. However, rain and chilly weather pushed the event indoors. Nearly 100 Kendall residents came out to the dance.
“It’s an event to get people to get together,” said Kendall Town Supervisor Tony Cammarata. “It’s to meet people and renew friendships.”
The band Country Class provided music for the event. Pictured from left: Al Ramsay, Richard Vernon, Bruce Huchzermeier and Larry Weed.
The weekend’s theme is to celebrate Kendall through community events. The tradition began on the town’s bicentennial and has continued since. The events are free to the public and provide a gathering place for people to get together to see familiar faces and make new connections.
The fire department sold beverages as a small fundraiser. The Concordia Lutheran Church sold ice cream.
“It’s nice to see the people get together,” said Church Council President Alan Lambert. “You see people you don’t get to see all the time.”
Country Class, led by Kendall resident Larry Weed, entertained the crowd throughout the evening with a mix of country, ’50s and ’60s music. They were also the featured band last year.
Larry Weed performs with his band.
“It kind of brings the whole community together,” Weed said. “You know people, but you don’t really get to talk to them that much. It’s a great thing. It’s a quiet town and a great town. The people are good. I know if anything happened the people would come together and help each other out.”
The Lawn Chair Ladies do a dance to “Happy” by Pharrell Williams.
The Kendall Lawn Chair Ladies also stepped in during an intermission to perform a set of dance numbers. The group practices dance numbers from March until August to perform at parades and other events. The group formed for the Kendall bicentennial.
Kim Corcoran led the Lawn Chair Ladies. She said the group was originally founded to add something to the bicentennial parade after seeing the Saranac Lawn Chair Ladies on Youtube.
Corcoran, front right, leads the group in another dance.
“I also think it’s that baby boomer thing,” said Corcoran. “We just don’t want to quit. We don’t want to say die. We want to keep as active as possible.”
The Homegrown Days will conclude Sunday morning with a nondenominational community worship service at Gazebo Park at 10 a.m.
KENDALL – A Waterport woman is hospitalized after crashing her car this morning in the Town of Kendall.
The incident occurred shortly before 11 a.m. in the 15500 block of Roosevelt Highway (State Route 18). Norma J. Webster, 80, was operating a 2004 Buick sedan traveling east on Rt. 18 when she failed to negotiate a curve just east of Transit Road.
The car ran off the south side of the roadway and struck a tree. Webster, the sole occupant, was trapped in the wreckage for approximately 45 minutes before being extricated by Kendall firefighters. She was then flown to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester by Mercy Flight helicopter.
The incident was investigated by Deputy A.L. Jenks, assisted by Deputy J.J. Cole.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 August 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
HOLLEY – About of 100 Catholics in the St. Mary and St. Mark Parish carried a statue of Mary through the Holley downtown and back to St. Mary’s Church in a public processional this evening.
In the photo above, Penny Cole, right, helps carry the statue. Della Morales, left, also joins the effort.
“It’s an honor,” Morales said. “It has a lot of meaning. It’s reaffirming our faith.”
Church members say it is the first time the church has done such a processional in the parish’s 149 years. Richard J. Malone, bishop of the Western New York Diocese, has encouraged churches to do the processionals to make a public display of their faith.
Father Mark Noonan, pastor of the parish in Holley and Kendall, welcomed the processional. The processional was timed with the Feast of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which Catholics celebrate every Aug. 15.
The Knights of Columbus – Mike Fuller at left and Alan Worgo – are part of the processional through the Public Square.
The parish will celebrate its 150th anniversary next year.
KENDALL – Brittany Kennedy returned to West Kendall Road home yesterday to see a black bear by her house. The bear went up on her porch and sifted through a recycling bin and grabbed a coffee can. It was flipping it around when it noticed Kennedy in her vehicle. The bear then took off for the woods.
Orleans County dispatchers think there are two bears in the county. Whenever they get a call they notify the state Department of Environmental Conservation. If residents see a bear, they should leave it alone. The bears are unlikely to confront a person, a dispatcher said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 August 2014 at 1:33 pm
Holley ranks near very bottom in WNY
The annual rankings of school districts in Western New York by Buffalo Business First puts Kendall at the top in Orleans County while Holley ranks 92nd out of 97 districts in the eight-county region.
The top districts tend to be affluent suburban schools in Erie and Niagara counties. Williamsville led all 97 districts in a ranking used by compiling state test scores at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Williamsville has finished at the top of the Business First ranking the past 11 years.
Kendall was rated 38 of the 97. Other Orleans districts in the list include Albion at 59, Lyndonville at 65, Medina at 81 and Holley at 92.
Lyndonville dropped 12 spots in the latest ranking, the biggest decline in WNY besides Clymer, which went down 19 positions.
In the eastern tier of WNY (the counties of Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming), Pembroke is the top rated school district at 25th overall, according to Business First’s report.
The publication ranked 135 high schools in the eight counties. City Honors in Buffalo is the top rated high school. Kendall was rated highest in Orleans at 44, followed L.A. Webber in Lyndonville at 88, Charles D’Amico in Albion at 89, Medina at 103 and Holley at 114.
Notre Dame in Batavia is a top-rated high school in the eastern tier at 17 out of 135.
At the middle school level, Transit in Williamsville is the top rated in WNY out of 205 schools. In Orleans, Kendall leads at 104, followed by Carl I. Bergerson at 105, L.A. Webber in Lyndonville at 119, Clifford Wise in Medina at 140 and Holley at 161.
Wyoming has the highest rated middle school in the eastern tier at 52 out of 205.
Ledgeview Elementary School in Clarence is the top-rated elementary school out of 276 in WNY. In Orleans County, Lyndonville has the highest-rated elementary school at 134, followed by Ronald L. Sodoma in Albion at 189, Holley at 192, Kendall at 198 and Oak Orchard in Medina at 207.
Sheldon in Wyoming County is the top rated elementary school in the eastern tier at 39th out of 276.
KENDALL – A Kendall teen-ager remains hospitalized in guarded condition this morning after crashing his pick-up truck late Sunday afternoon in the Town of Kendall.
The incident occurred shortly before 6 p.m. in the 16100 block of Woodchuck Alley, near West Kendall Road. Ryan D. Clay, 17, was operating a ’96 Chevrolet pick-up, travelling west on gravel road surface when he lost control of the vehicle.
The truck ran off the north side of the roadway, turned sideways, and slammed driver’s side into a tree. Clay was extricated by Kendall firefighters and transported to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester by Kendall FD ambulance.
A front seat passenger is identified as Andrew A. Eden, 17, of Kent. Eden was treated at the scene for minor injuries. He was not transported by ambulance.
The incident was investigated by Deputy T.N. Tooley, assisted by Deputy K.J. Colonna and Sergeant G.T. Gunkler. It appears that excessive speed was a contributing factor in the crash.
KENDALL – The U.S. Postal Service is surveying Kendall residents about reducing hours at the Post Office at 1870 Kendall Rd.
The Postal Service will have an informational meeting at 6 p.m. on July 31 to hear from residents about a reduction in hours. That meeting will be at the Kendall Town Hall, 1873 Kendall Rd.
The Post Office is currently open six hours daily from Monday through Friday with hours from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. It’s open two hours on Saturday at 10 a.m. to noon.
The Postal Service hasn’t said how it would reduce hours. The Postal Service could also reduce the postmaster’s position so it’s not full-time in Kendall.
KENDALL – The five-member Board of Education in Kendall unanimously backed Nadine Hanlon for another term as president.
Hanlon will be starting her third year as board president. With Hanlon as president the board approved a $1 million tax cut about a year ago. The school district is eager to begin work on a $25 million capital project that will tackle a number of improvements at two school buildings.
The district is waiting for the state Education Department to approve final designs for the project.
Hanlon was re-elected last week. A new board member also was sworn in. Chaley Swift replaces Lucille Welch, who didn’t seek re-election in May after 10 years on the board.
The board also re-elected Chris Gerken as vice president.
Photos by Sue Cook – The Kendall Foremen’s Carnival continued Friday with a parade drawing many community groups. The Lawn Chair Ladies were among the performers. The carnival continues today.
The White Sabres drumline marches in the setting sun. The bugle and drum corps is from Dansville.
By Sue Cook, staff reporter
KENDALL – Kendall was a popular place Friday evening as crowds lined the street from the elementary school to the fire department on Kendall Road. The parade started as the sun was getting low in the sky.
The annual carnival is held by the Kendall Fire Department and each year there is a much-anticipated parade on Friday evening accompany the festivities.
The East Battalion consists of Clarendon, Holley, Fancher Hulberton-Murray, Kendall and Morton.
Vietnam veterans led the parade. The crowd stood and clapped or saluted as the men walked by.
Cars were a part of the parade. Seen here is a Chevy Chevelle.
Assemblyman Steve Hawley connects with a future voter.
State Senate hopeful Gia Arnold also walked in the parade handing children sweets.
The White Sabres color guards show off their moves.
A young woman rides her horse at the head of the group from Lone Oak Stables in Kendall.
Kendall Marching Band entertains the crowd as they move toward the judges.
Head Over Heels Acrobatics and Dance wore their costumes to pass out candy. Many of the girls also did acrobatic acts of handstands and cartwheels.
