Lyndonville

Lyndonville FD buys new extrication tools

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 March 2019 at 8:24 am

Photos courtesy of Lyndonville Fire Department

LYNDONVILLE – Lyndonville firefighters last week tried out new extrication tools the department purchased.

A fund drive that included $16,000 from community donations helped pay for the new tools.

“We would like to thank all who donated to our fund drive, which covered more than half the cost of the tools,” said Fire Chief Ben Bane. “Without the support of our community we wouldn’t have been able to purchase these.”

The new Genesis extrication tools include a new cutter, spreader and ram. They are replacing tools that are more than 20 years old, Bane said. The department purchased the extrication tools from Jeff Lyons in Medina, who is a Genesis dealer.

Lyndonville firefighters are pictured last Wednesday with the new equipment.

Firefighters became familiar with the new tools by opening jammed doors and cutting metal on a car.

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Lyndonville, Medina students to perform Sister Act

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 March 2019 at 9:32 am

Musical being staged for first time by a local high school

Photos by Tom Rivers

LYNDONVILLE – Layna Vitoria, center, portrays Deloris Van Cartier in Sister Act, which will be performed Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Lyndonville Central School’s Auditorium, 25 Housel Ave.

Deloris is a nightclub singer who is sent to a convent in hiding after she witnesses someone being killed. She takes over the choir and the nuns respond to her high-energy style. She is shown singing, “Raise Your Voice” with Sawyer Wilson, a dancing custodian, and Alissa Klinetob (left), who plays Sister Mary Patrick.

The musical is being performed for the first time by a school in Orleans County. The show times are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are available at the door.

There are 65 students in the cast, stage crew and pit. The musical showcases several strong female leads.

“It has some really great roles,” said Jennifer Trupo, the musical director. “It’s really upbeat.”

Cora Payne is Mother Superior. She is initially concerned that Deloris is a bad influence on the nuns. But Mother later becomes a protector of Deloris when gangsters come looking for her.

Payne, a senior from Medina, said the show is a big change from last year’s musical, The Addams Family.

“The biggest theme is the sisterhood,” Payne said before rehearsal on Tuesday.

The musical begins with Layna Viloria (Deloris Van Cartier) singing in a Philadelphia nightclub. Evie Schultz, back left, is Michelle and Danielle Schmidt is Tina. They are singing, “Take Me to Heaven.”

Ethan Bowie plays Curtis, who leads a gang and wants to eliminate Deloris after she witnesses a murder and talks to police. His gangster friends include Lincoln Pace (back left) as Joey and Brian Cunningham as TJ. They are singing, “When I Find My Baby.”

Sophia Cardone plays Sister Mary Lazarus, a spunky nun.

Layna Vitoria embraces the role as Deloris Van Cartier. Vitoria and Cora Payne were both honored by the Stars of Tomorrow last year as outstanding actresses for The Addams Family. They return with lead roles this year.

Jacob Corser (Eddie) wants to be cool and impress Deloris. He sings, “I Could Be That Guy.” Eddie is mostly shown in the musical as a shy police officer, who Deloris remembers from high school when he was known as “Sweaty Eddie.” Eddie decides Deloris needs to be hidden in a safe place and takes her to the convent.

Last year the Stars of Tomorrow recognized Corser, Brian Cunningham and Qasim Huzair as outstanding supporting actors. They return this year for Sister Act.

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Very close race in Lyndonville with 3 candidates separated by 6 votes

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 March 2019 at 9:57 pm

LYNDONVILLE – It was a very close election in Lyndonville today with three people running for two positions on the Village Board.

Darren Wilson led the candidates with 67 votes. Kimberly Kenyon had 61. They were both elected to four-year terms.

Mary Kage, an incumbent, just missed getting re-elected with 60 votes.

Jim Tuk, a former village trustee, also received a write-in vote.

The totals includes four absentee ballots. The results are final.

The new terms start April 1.

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Lyndonville, Medina have village elections today

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 March 2019 at 8:17 am

Lyndonville and Medina both have village elections today, with polls open from noon to 9 p.m.

Lyndonville has three candidates running for two village trustee positions that are four-year terms. The spots are currently filled by Darren Wilson and Mary Kage. They both want to continue on the board. Kimberly Kenyon also will be on the ballot.

Kage is running under the Kage Party, Kenyon under the Pool Party, and Wilson picked the Main Street Party.

Voting is at the Village Hall on 2 South Main St.

Medina has two candidates seeking two spots on the board. Incumbents Owen Toale and Todd Bensley are both seeking re-election to two-year terms. They are both running under the Accountability Party.

The election is at the Senior Center, the former railroad depot on West Avenue.

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Lyndonville will bid school bus contract with Roy-Hart, Barker

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 March 2019 at 9:35 am

LYNDONVILLE – The Lyndonville school district is joining with Barker and Roy-Hart for a joint bussing contract, hoping that will drive the costs down.

Lyndonville was notified its current transportation provider, Student Transportation of America (Ridge Road Express), wouldn’t accept a renewal of the contract at a cost-of-living rate.

STA wants to keep providing service to Lyndonville, but said the contract needs to be rebid to reflect higher operating costs.

STA also has provided the service to Albion the past 30 years and that contract was rebid, with STA the low bidder – at a 30 percent increase. The company told Albion school leaders the rising minimum wage is pushing up operational costs with bus drivers and aides getting paid more money.

Joe DiPassio Jr., Lyndonville’s school business administrator, has budgeted a $258,064 increase in transportation, which is up 36.8 percent. The district won’t know the costs until the bids come in.

Lyndonville on Monday voted to rebid the bus contract in a joint deal with Barker and Roy-Hart. The economies of scale with the three districts should result in a better price, said Jason Smith, Lyndonville’s district superintendent.

Barker will serve as the lead agency in the bidding process. The districts will share the costs for the joint transportation bid, estimated at $14,450.

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Lyndonville school district budget would increase taxes 2%

Photos by Tom Rivers: The Lyndonville Board of Education meeting on Monday included a presentation from fourth-graders in a coding club, where they program robots. This photo shows Hannah Fox with Dr. Aaron Slack, junior-senior high school principal; and board member Kelly Cousins.

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 March 2019 at 12:18 pm

Michael Alexander, a fourth-grader, talks about the coding project with Harold Suhr, a member of the Board of Education. The Coding Club emphasizes skills with STEM,

LYNDONVILLE – The school district has put together a $14,214,793 budget that would increase taxes by 2 percent. The budget isn’t final. It can still be tweaked before it is formally adopted by the Board of Education in April. It goes before district voters on May 21.

The overall spending would be up $207,811 or 1.5 percent from the $14,006,982 in 2018-19.

Joe DiPassio Jr., the district’s business administrator, urged the board to approve the 2 percent tax increase, saying it would be “prudent.” The district last year approved a 1 percent increase, following a year where taxes weren’t increased.

The 2 percent increase is under the state-imposed tax cap. Lyndonville has a tax cap allowance of $157,000, but is looking at a $86,190 increase. The district was able to carry over some of the tax cap cushion from the previous years.

DiPassio went over the budget during Monday’s Board of Education meeting. Some highlights include:

• The district is proposing to budget a $258,064 increase in transportation (36.8 percent increase); $326,456 more in instructional (4.6 percent); a $149,233 hike in employee benefits (4.9 percent). Lyndonville is seeing a $566,300 decrease in debt service payments which will help offset the increases.

• The district would add three full-time employees, including two special education teachers. Lyndonville also wants to add a technology integration specialist who would be 0.2 full-time. That person would help the district as it works to include more technology in the classroom.

• Four teachers are retiring, which will save the district about $193,000 for the lower-cost replacements, whose salary and benefits will be at a lower price.

• Health insurance is projected to increase by $87,000 but pension costs for teachers will be down $62,000, DiPassio said.

The May 21 vote will likely include the following propositions:

• School budget

• 3 board seats

• Transportation purchases, not to exceed $260,000. That includes one new 64-seat passenger bus, not to exceed $125,000 (which will replace a 2007 bus with 137,000 miles); two new passenger vans, not to exceed $46,000 each (replacing one from 2010 with 167,000 miles and one from 2014 with 150,000 miles); a new vehicle with room for four or five people to transport staff and students, at a cost not to exceed $43,000.

•Allowing one student to serve as ex-officio, not-voting member of the Board of Education.

• $103,750 for Yates Community Library, up from $2,832 or 2.8 percent which is within the library’s allowable tax cap.

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Lyndonville board member wants boys soccer back on the agenda

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 March 2019 at 9:26 am

LYNDONVILLE – A Lyndonville Board of Education member who voted last month for a merged boys soccer team with Medina now wants to have the vote back on the agenda because he said Medina misrepresented the issue, telling Lyndonville it couldn’t have its own boys soccer team without jeopardizing the other merged programs with Medina.

Steve Vann, a Lyndonville board member, last month said Medina presented the shared sports and extracurricular activities as an “all or nothing” proposition. That was based on individual conversations with Medina board members.

The districts first started sharing a boys soccer team about six years ago. That expanded to the school musical, football, girls soccer, volleyball, cross country, swimming and Medina’s marching band.

David Sevenski, Medina’s Board president, told the Orleans Hub the two districts have a great working relationship, and the shared programs have opened up opportunities for students in both districts, preserving programs and creating new ones.

“There was no edict from Medina that it had to be all or nothing,” he told the Orleans Hub on Feb. 27. “We went to great lengths to not twist anybody’s arm.”

Vann, at Lyndonville’s board meeting on Monday, said Sevenski’s comments to the Orleans Hub were contrary to their personal conversation.

Vann wants Lyndonville to have another vote on the boys soccer team at the April meeting. Lyndonville has about 20 boys interested in playing varsity soccer this fall, and Medina has a similar number, Lyndonville board members were told in January and February, when the board was considering whether to bring back Lyndonville’s own team.

Ultimately, the board voted 5-2 to keep the merged team with Medina because Lyndonville didn’t want to lose the opportunities for students in the other programs. Some board members also were concerned if it was sustainable long-term for Lyndonville to have its own team.

Vann said that vote was made with the wrong information. If having their own team doesn’t impact the other programs, Vann said there should be a revote in Lyndonville.

Vern Fonda, a district resident, also expressed his disappointment in the vote to keep the merged team. He said the full boards of the two school district, as well as the athletic directors, should have met to discuss the issue to make sure everyone knew the expectations and ramifications.

The districts should have been more transparent with the decision-making, instead of having “closed door” conversations, Fonda said.

Board member Harold Suhr responded that Lyndonville has been very transparent in the process.

Vann also pushed for Lyndonville to create a subcommittee to review its policy for student activities with athletics.

“I didn’t feel like we had a policy we could point to for this and why we’re doing what we’re doing,” Vann said.

He will serve on that subcommittee with Suhr and Board President Ted Lewis.

Lewis said the board and school officials will discuss Vann’s request to put boys varsity soccer back on the agenda. Lewis said it might be a “done deal.” The agreement approved last month by both districts was for four years.

“This is the first I’m hearing about it,” Lewis said at Monday’s meeting.

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Lyndonville has lots of fun at first ‘Mom Prom’

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 March 2019 at 4:21 pm

Provided photos

LYNDONVILLE – Lyndonville Junior Class put on a Mardi Gras-themed “Mom Prom” on Friday and nearly 200 attended the event in the school cafeteria, including 68 moms with many wearing their prom dresses from a generation ago.

“It was a great two hours,” said Kim Bow, coordinator of the event at the Junior Class advisor.

These participants enjoyed the Mardi Gras theme.

Bow works for the school district as a registrar in the guidance office. She has been the Junior Class advisor for 13 years. Rather than selling candy or other merchandise for fundraisers, Bow likes to have community events to raise money for the junior class.

Last year the class had a Daddy-Daughter Dance. That was a more formal event with a red carpet. About 150 people attended that dance.

One of the girls at the dance suggested Lyndonville try a dance where mothers could dress up with their sons and daughters.

Mardi Gras will be celebrated on Tuesday. Given the nearness of that event, Bow and the junior class decided to have a Mardi Gras theme with masks and beads.

She said the mothers were eager participants and were enthusiastic dancers with their children. The fathers last year didn’t tend to dance too much, except for the formal dances, Bow said.

“The moms really danced,” she said. “It was fun and crazy. There was a lot of frivolity.”

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Slate is set for Lyndonville, Medina village elections on March 19

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 March 2019 at 2:14 pm

The deadline has passed for candidates to be on the ballot for the March 19 village elections in Lyndonville and Medina.

Lyndonville has three candidates running for two village trustee positions that are for four-year terms. The spots are currently filled by Darren Wilson and Mary Kage. They both want to continue on the board. Kimberly Kenyon also will be on the ballot.

The village elections do not include major party affiliations. Kage is running under the Kage Party, Kenyon under the Pool Party, and Wilson picked the Main Street Party.

Voting will be from noon to 9 p.m. on March 19 at the Village Hall on 2 South Main St.

Medina has two candidates seeking two spots on the board. Incumbents Owen Toale and Todd Bensley are both seeking re-election to two-year terms. They are both running under the Accountability Party.

The election will be from noon to 9 p.m. at the Senior Center, the former railroad depot on West Avenue.

The two other villages in the county don’t have elections on March 19. Albion is in an off election year and Holley has its elections in June.

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Sheriff’s Office will do child car seat safety check Saturday in Lyndonville

Staff Reports Posted 27 February 2019 at 9:21 am

LYNDONVILLE – Orleans County Undersheriff Christopher Bourke announced Lyndonville Central School is sponsoring a Child Car Seat Check Point Event at the school bus garage, 77 Housel Ave., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.

According to data, vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ranging from 1 to 13 years of age. Preventative measures, such as proper installation of car seats, boosters and seat belts can lower many deaths and injuries. Informing and instructing parents and caregivers on child safety and proper installation of car seats is critical to saving young lives.

The Sheriff’s Office will have certified child passenger safety technicians available to inspect car/booster seats to assure that children are in the correct seat for their size and age. For any questions, please contact Sgt. Kevin Colonna at 585-589-5527 or Kevin.Colonna@orleanscountyny.gov.

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