Lyndonville/Yates

Girl Scouts in Lyndonville get thanks from soldiers who received 56 boxes of cookies

Posted 8 February 2018 at 6:31 pm

Provided photo and article from Girl Scouts of WNY

LYNDONVILLE – Girl Scout Troop 82040 is selling cookies with a special goal once again. Last year, the girls in the troop decided to send their donated cookie purchases directly to American military troops stationed in Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.

The girls were able to send 56 boxes of cookies. The girls in the troop range from Kindergarten Daisy Scouts through Cadette Girl Scouts in middle school.

Troop co-leader Amanda Nowicki’s husband, Army Sergeant First Class Greg Nowicki, previously served with Chief Warrant Officer 2 Timothy Slaght, who at the time was deployed to Kuwait.

Nowicki encouraged the girls to support local deployed soldiers. The girls decided to send the cookies for the camp to enjoy. When the package arrived, the boxes were put in the mess hall for everyone to share. CW2 Slaght requested a flag be flown over the post in honor of the girls and was later sent to the Girl Scouts with a certificate as a thank you.

The girls used the money they earned from cookie sales for flowers in a memorial garden in honor of Elaina Webb, an Albion girl who passed away from leukemia a age 2 ½ on Feb. 7, 2017.

Navarra’s Greenhouse matched the number of flowers the Girl Scout troop purchased to ensure the garden would be lush and beautiful. The girls are planning another visit to Navarra’s to replenish the garden again this year.

The troop also used their cookie sale funds to attend Darien Lake for a day of play and a Kid’s Bop concert. They also used it for a Painting with a Twist class, a candy dish painting class at Brushstrokes in Medina, a Disney on Ice event in Buffalo, and are considering also using the money for membership dues in the upcoming scouting year. Girls that sold enough cookies were also able to attend a week of Girl Scout summer camp free of charge.

Throughout the year, the troop tries to work on a Girl Scout badge every meeting. The girls contribute a Christmas tree for the annual Lyndonville Christmas Tree Festival and march in the annual Lyndonville Fourth of July parade. They also try to do community service on a regular basis, including working on the community garden at a Lyndonville church and will be participating for their first time this summer in the annual FLED Foundation Kickball Tournament that supports children with leukemia and their families.

Troop 82040’s goal for this year is to get 100 cookie box donations for the Army, as well as an overall troop goal of 5,000 cookie boxes. They typically set up a cookie booth outside of Miller’s Amish Store in Lyndonville on Rt. 104.

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Soil & Water honors Yates farm for conservation practices

Photos by Tom Rivers: Gary and Nancy Thering accept the Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM) award for Conservation Farmer of the Year from Katie Sommerfeldt, the district technician for the Orleans County Sol & Water Conservation District.

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 February 2018 at 9:37 am

Thering Family Farm works to protect soil, environment

Gary Thering thanked the Soil & Water staff for helping the farm implement many conservation practices.

GAINES – A Yates family that has been farming together on Millers Road since 1976 was honored on Wednesday for their years of conservation practices.

Gary and Nancy Thering grow corn, mixed hay and apples. They also have 85 cows, 25 heifers, 42 calves and Black Angus bulls. The Therings are known for their mini straw bales. They designed and built a twine baler that turns 800-pound round straw bales into mini bales.

The Orleans County Soil & Water Conservation District honored the farm on Wednesday as the 2017 “Conservation Farmer of the Year.”

The farm has worked to optimize soil health and reduce erosion by installing drainage tile, rotating crops, and reducing chemical usage as part of Integrated Pest Management. The Therings target use of pesticides.

They built a covered feedlot and also an Agrichemical Handling and Mixing facility which reduces runoff.

“We never could have done it by ourselves,” Gary Thering said during a luncheon Wednesday at Tillman’s Village Inn.

He thanked the Soil & Water staff for their expertise in helping the farm implement many of the soil-saving practices. The Therings have worked with Soil & Water since 1999 to participate in the Agricultural Environmental Management program.

“We’re very, very grateful,” Thering said. “It makes our farm better. It makes our community better.”

Soil & Water presented these photos of Thering Family Farm, where Gary and Nancy have been farming together since 1976 on Millers Road.

During the meeting 73rd annual meeting of Soil & Water on Wednesday, staff reviewed accomplishments from 2017, which included:

• Surveying and designing 56 miles of drainage tile for farmers

• Working with local highway departments to survey and design 22 culvert replacements and 8,175 feet of drainage ditches

• Implementing Best Management Practices for several farms, with projects including two grassed waterways, a silage leachate collection and treatment system, a covered feedlot, 3,340 feet of exclusion fencing to keep livestock out of local streams, 55 acres of conservation cover, and 1,959 acres of cover crops

• Purchasing a new tractor and boom mower that was shared with the 10 towns, county and Oak Orchard Small Watershed Protection District to mow and clean drainage ditches throughout the county, which helps keep water moving and reduces flooding. The “Slashbuster” was used to clear and open up 17,315 feet of stream blockages.

• Soil & Water also was awarded several grants. One from the NYS Ag Non Point Source Pollution program helped pay for a covered feedlot for a local farm.

• Soil & Water also used 10 separate grants from the NYS Grown & Certified program for five variable rate sprayers, four micro irrigation systems, and one Agrichemical Handling Facility.

• The district also received funding the through the North Atlantic Aquatic Conductivity Collaborative program to assess 160 culverts in the lower Oak Orchard Watershed for structural integrity and aquatic conductivity (fish passage).

• The district also distributed 8,000 tree and shrub seedlings and transplants to 120 landowners for conservation practices.

• Soil & Water also runs a fish program and distributed 2,800 yearling bass, bluegill and minnows to seven farm fishpond owners, and also distributed 27 grass carp to four pond owners to help control nuisance weeds.

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County planners back Yates in revised wind ordinance with much bigger setbacks

Photos by Tom Rivers: Yates Town Supervisor Jim Simon addresses the Orleans County Planning Board on Thursday.

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 January 2018 at 9:41 am

YATES – The Orleans County Planning Board voted in favor of revisions to the wind energy facilities law in Yates that would ban wind turbines from within 3 miles of the Lake Ontario shoreline and also require bigger property setbacks of at least a half mile. The proposed revisions also would insist turbines be quieter than the current regulations.

Taylor Quarles, project manager for Lighthouse Wind, said the changes represent “a wind energy ban” in Yates. Apex Clean Energy wants to put as many as 70 turbines in Yates and Somerset that would be about 600 feet high.

Town Supervisor Jim Simon said the proposal would keep the turbines away 3 miles from the lake and would protect homeowners from having the turbines too close.

Terry Brown, a County Planning Board member from Carlton, asked if there were any lots in Yates that would be big enough to accommodate a turbine under the proposed ordinance.

Taylor Quarles, project manager for the proposed Lighthouse Wind, said the Yates proposal represents “a wind energy ban.”

Even with the bigger setbacks, Simon said there is still land were the turbines could be located in Yates.

“There would still be locations in town (for turbines),” Simon told the County Planning Board. “We can’t ban them.”

He said the bigger setbacks will protect “non-participating land owners” and help to preserve the rural nature and character of the town.

Simon said 3-mile buffer from the shoreline follows a recommendation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which sees the 3-mile section along the shoreline as an important flyway for birds.

But Quarles said Simon is misstating the Fish and Wildlife Service stance. That 3-mile buffer was for a project in Michigan, Quarles said.

(Somerset also is proposing a 3-mile buffer from the shoreline.)

The changes in the Yates ordinance also include:

• Reducing the allowable noise decibels to “residential receivers” from 45 during the day (7 a.m. to 8 p.m.) to 42, and from 40 at nighttime to 39 decibels. Simon said that follows recommendations from the Vermont Public Service Board for lower decibels. Simon said the turbine noise and “infrasound” can disturb sleep, causing negative health effects for people. The infrasound is a lower frequency of noise that can disrupt a person’s equilibrium, Simon said.

• The current setbacks from non-participating property lines is a minimum of 3 times the turbine height for land with houses or buildings, and 4.5 times the turbine height for vacant land. The proposed change increases the minimum setback to a half-mile (2,640 feet) or 6 times the turbine height, whichever is greater.

• The setback from roads and public right-of-ways is a minimum of 1,800 feet or 3 times the height of a turbine. Yates is proposing to increase that to a half-mile or 6 times the turbine height.

• The setback from the boundary of the Village of Lyndonville is currently 1,800 feet or 4.5 times a turbine height. Yates wants to increase that setback to a minimum of 1 mile.

• The setback from the boundaries from other towns is currently 1,800 feet or 3 times a turbine’s height. Yates is proposing a half-mile setback or 6 times a turbine’s height, whichever is greater.

• The setback from residences is currently 1,800 feet or 4.5 times a turbine height. Yates is proposing to increase that to a half-mile or 6 times a turbine’s height.

• In addition, Yates is now proposing setbacks of 1 mile from schools, churches, and cemeteries. The town law currently doesn’t include setbacks for those sites.

Paul Hendel, a County Planning Board member from Murray, said he expects Apex will legally challenge the Yates proposals. Hendel said he didn’t want to see the County Planning Board or county get pulled into a lawsuit.

“I respect every town’s right to enact local laws,” Hendel said. “But I want to protect the county and this board.”

Jim Bensley, the county’s director of Planning and Development, said the county should be immune from a lawsuit because it only issues advisory opinions.

The Planning and Development staff said research cited by Yates to back on the bigger setbacks is “credible and reliable.”

The state has created a Siting Board to review larger turbine projects. Apex hasn’t submitted a final application for Lighthouse Wind. Quarles said the company is hoping to submit a final application later this year for the project in Yates-Somerset, and also for one proposed in Barre.

The Siting Board could override the local wind energy ordinances.

“It remains to be seen whether the Article 10 siting board will respect the zoning of the communities that restrict wind developments of the scale that is being proposed,” County Planning and Development staff wrote in its review of the Yates ordinance.

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Local schools’ state aid less than 3% overall education boost proposed by governor

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 January 2018 at 10:57 am

Photo by Tom Rivers: The entrance to Lyndonville Central School is pictured recently. Lyndonville would see a 1.2 percent increase in funding, according to the governor’s proposed budget.

The governor’s budget includes a 3 percent increase in education funding for 2018-19. However, for Orleans County school districts the increase in foundation aid ranges from 1.0 to 1.4 percent.

Cuomo said his budget directs 70 percent of the proposed $769 million increase to poorer school districts.

For Orleans County districts, the proposed funding in foundation aid includes:

• Albion – $20,466,937, up 1.1 percent or $224,529

• Holley – $10,153,563, up 1.1 percent or $112,858

• Kendall – $7,644,017, up 1.0 percent or $79,346

• Lyndonville – $6,179,242, up 1.2 percent or $73,168

• Medina – $17,231,623, up 1.4 percent or $234,439

Foundation aid doesn’t include capital funding or the Smart Schools funding for technology upgrades. Albion and Medina also receive Community Schools Aid which includes $171,687 for Albion and $135,337 for Medina.

The governor’s proposed increase in education falls short of what was recommended by the Board of Regents.

“Preliminarily, we are pleased the Governor recommends funding many of the important initiatives he announced in his State of the State address – initiatives like expanding the reach of PreK and afterschool programs,” said Board of Regents Chancellor Betty A. Rosa and State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia. “We are, however, concerned with the recommended increase of $769 million in State Aid funding, which is less than half of that proposed by the Board of Regents. We need to invest in the education of all New York State students. The Regents State Aid request would ensure schools continue to improve and better prepare our children while also acknowledging the State’s fiscal realities.”

The State Legislature and governor will push to finalize the state budget before April 1. The state aid for education typically is increased from the governor’s proposals as part of the budget negotiations.

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Lyndonville school and library partnering with storytelling workshops

Staff Reports Posted 15 January 2018 at 11:59 am

Provided photo

LYNDONVILLE – The school district and the public library are partnering on a storytelling workshop series. Rick Merritt, the workshop instructor, is pictured with fourth-graders when the series kicked off on Jan. 2 at Yates Community Library. Merritt combines science and activities in the workshops. His other workshops will be at classrooms at the school.

He has been a frequent presenter at the library as part of a summer reading challenge.

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2 schools work with GCASA to step up drug prevention efforts

Photo by Tom Rivers: Diana Fulcomer, a prevention educator with the Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcohol and Substance Abuse, is pictured with Jason Smith, superintendent of Lyndonville Central School. Fulcomer has been spending at least a day of week at the district this school year.

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 January 2018 at 10:24 am

‘We’re trying to prevent kids from using the drugs that are killing people.’

Two school districts have increased the presence of prevention educators from the Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse. Lyndonville and Medina both have GCASA staff in school buildings at least a day a week this school year. Diana Fulcomer has been working out of Lyndonville and Tracy Zakes has been connecting with Medina students.

“It’s been a great program,” said Jason Smith, superintendent of Lyndonville Central School. “I appreciate the partnership with GCASA.”

Fulcomer and Zakes have age-specific programs, as well as workshops for parents.

The educators teach students about the dangers of addictive substances. Fulcomer in some of her presentations focuses on making healthy choices, which includes getting enough sleep, eating nutritious foods and not spending too much time on social media.

Smith said he supports the expanded message – coping skills and making good choices.

“If the students are having issues with anxiety, we don’t want them turning to substances,” he said.

Lyndonville and Medina are both paying GCASA $3,500 this school year to have a prevention educator work out of the district.

Mark Kruzynski, Medina superintendent, said Zakes spends at least a day a week at the district. She meets with at-risk high schoolers and other students. She starts with students as young as third grade, teaching communication skills to those elementary students and urging them not to express their anger and frustration through violence.

“It’s going very well,” Kruzynski said about the partnership with GCASA. “Not only do we have the opioid epidemic, but kids today are exposed to so many things.”

Zakes some days spends a solid workday in the district, and other days might only be there a short time. Zakes has been a big asset in helping the district educate students about the dangers of drugs, he said.

“We’re trying to prevent kids from using the drugs that are killing people,” Kruzynski said.

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Lyndonville Leo Club collecting pet supplies for animal shelter

Staff Reports Posted 14 January 2018 at 7:02 pm

LYNDONVILLE – The Leo Club at Lyndonville Central School welcomes the community to drop off pet supplies at the main office of the school from Jan. 16-31. The school is located at 25 Housel Ave.

The supplies will be delivered to the Orleans County Animal Shelter, where students will also spend time with some of the cats and dogs at the shelter, 4125 Oak Orchard Rd., Albion.

The Leo Club welcomes used and new supplies. For more information, contact Aimee Chaffee at (585)765-2251 ext. 3143 or achaffee@lcsdk12.org.

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Lyndonville seeks nominations for ‘Educator of the Year’

Staff Reports Posted 11 January 2018 at 3:26 pm

Photo by Tom Rivers: John Bailey, an elementary music teacher, accepts the award last June for Educator of the Year. That was the first time the school district awarded the honor. Lyndonville seeks nominations for the second annual award.

LYNDONVILLE – The Lyndonville Central School District is currently accepting applications for the 2nd Annual Educator of the Year Award, to be named in June 2018.

Parents, students, and community members are eligible to nominate a Lyndonville educator for this special honor. Applications need to be submitted by February 9, 2018.

The Educator of the Year will also receive a $1,000 grant to be used for special programming in their department or grade level.

John Bailey, an elementary music teacher, was the first recipient of the award last school year.

Nominees for the award must have completed 4 years of teaching at Lyndonville.

Nominees should also:

• Be an exceptionally dedicated, knowledgeable, and skilled teacher;

• Inspire students of all backgrounds and abilities to learn;

• Have a strong sense of values, integrity and professional ethics;

• Actively collaborate with colleagues, administration, parents and families;

• Demonstrate innovative 21st century skills and continuing professional growth;

• Have the respect and admiration of students, parents, and colleagues;

• Play an active role in the school community

Applications can be found by clicking here.

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Lyndonville store sold winning $64K lotto ticket on Tuesday

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 10 January 2018 at 1:28 pm

LYNDONVILLE – A Lyndonville store sold a first prize ticket in NY Lottery’s Take 5 game on Tuesday. The prize is worth $64,259.

NY Lottery says the winning ticket was sold at the E-Z Shop on West Avenue. The winning numbers were 1–7–12–25–30.

There were 283 people who got four out of five numbers correct and those tickets are worth $340.50. There were 8,262 tickets with three numbers correct and those are worth $19 each. NY Lottery reported that 84,498 tickets received free play prizes by getting two out of five numbers.

Every night at 11:21 p.m., five winning numbers are randomly selected from 39 numbered balls in a special draw machine, under the observation of an independent auditing firm.

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Yates proposed law would ban wind turbines within 3 miles of Lake Ontario

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 10 January 2018 at 10:55 am

YATES – The Town Board is proposing revisions to the Wind Energy Facilities Law that would ban wind turbines from within 3 miles of the Lake Ontario shoreline.

Town Supervisor James Simon said that follows a recommendation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which sees the 3-mile buffer along the shoreline as an important flyway for birds.

Yates held a public hearing on Monday on the proposed changes to its law. The current law in Yates calls for minimum setbacks from the lake of 1,800 feet or 4.5 times the turbine height.

Somerset also is proposing a 3-mile buffer from the shoreline. Apex Clean Energy has proposed siting about 50-60 turbines that would be up to 600 feet high in the two towns.

Other changes in the law include:

• Reducing the allowable noise decibels to “residential receivers” from 45 during the day (7 a.m. to 8 p.m.) to 42, and from 40 at nighttime to 39 decibels.

• The setback from roads and public right-of-ways is a minimum of 1,800 feet or 3 times the height of a turbine. Yates is proposing to increase that to a half-mile or 6 times the turbine height.

• The setback from the boundary of the Village of Lyndonville is currently 1,800 feet or 4.5 times a turbine height. Yates wants to increase that setback to a minimum of 1 mile.

• The setback from residences is currently 1,800 feet or 4.5 times a turbine height. Yates is proposing to increase that to a half-mile or 6 times a turbine’s height.

• In addition, Yates is now proposing setbacks of 1 mile from schools, churches, and cemeteries. The town law currently doesn’t include setbacks for those sites.

The proposed changes go to the Orleans County Planning Board for review this month on Jan. 25. Simon said the revised law is expected to be voted on by the Town Board in February.

“The Yates Town Board has a deeper understanding of the rural character and local home rule values of our community as a result of our ongoing work in the Western Orleans Comprehensive Plan and the Lake Waterfront Revitalization Program committees,” according to a statement from the Town Board. “There is a growing body of research from reputable agencies, organizations, governments and municipalities which indicates significant risks to the public health, safety and welfare as a result of the increasingly recognized deleterious effects of poorly sited industrial wind turbines on human health, avian and bat habitats and flyways, noise and light pollution, hydrology, property values, prime agricultural land, tourism, scenic views, recreational areas, public gathering places, open spaces and cultural and historical resources.”

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Shadigee once home to shipping pier

By Matthew Ballard, Orleans County Historian Posted 6 January 2018 at 8:07 am

“Overlooked Orleans” – Volume 4, Issue 1

YATES – Another year has passed, and I often wonder if I will have enough “new” material to write 52 articles. Reflecting on the number of requests for information that flow through my office on a weekly basis, I started thinking about the number of questions I have received about the various New York State historic markers.

Although the State no longer funds the purchase, installation, or upkeep of these important monuments, those installed since the program started in 1926 showcase locations that are significant to the development of our communities. Perhaps utilizing some space in this column will help add to the information cast upon these blue and gold signs.

In 1989, an Urban Development Corporation grant was used to install fifteen historic markers in towns and villages throughout Orleans County. The project was initiated through the Orleans County Tourism Board and is noted on each marker as “Orleans County Community Pride” (Bill Lattin wrote about this project in his column Bethinking of Old Orleans vol. 11, no. 39). Each marker was cast from heavy aluminum by the Walton-East Branch Foundry in Walton, NY and installed by the respective highway departments for each municipality. These markers now cost around $1,300, but were less than half of that total when this project was undertaken.

These signs, such as the one installed at Shadigee to mark the location of Yates Pier, serve a valuable purpose in pinpointing significant historical sites that no longer exist. As the marker reads, a 275-foot-long pier was built in 1850 by Nathan Gilbert to ship lumber and grain by way of Lake Ontario. H. A. Botsford served as a customs agent at the location which also served as a docking area for passenger ships and freighters.

Situated approximately one mile north of Yates Center, a business venture was started by area farmers who hoped to create a pier from which to ship wheat and other grains to Canada and eastern New York. George Lane, a prominent farmer from Newfane, held the majority stock in the company and the 26-year-old Nathan Gilbert of Yates was selected to construct the pier. In 1852, Jonathan Edgecomb of the Orleans County Committee on Farms indicated in a report to the New York State Assembly that Berrick Gilbert, father of Nathan, operated a large farm near the lake in Yates which occupied some of the finest land in the county. A warehouse was constructed near the pier upon the old Chamberlain & Simpson warehouse site, which was swept into the lake several years prior.

Lane relocated from Newfane to Lockport in 1856 where he opened a nursery business selling fruit and ornamental trees. Erastus M. Spaulding took over the shipping business until he entered the Army during the Civil War, to which his brother Henry and another man, O. D. Phelps, took over the business. In 1873, Richard Barry opened a lumber yard near the pier dealing in pine and cedar shingles, yellow cedar posts, fence boards, and lath, as well as plaster water lime and cement, which he “kept constantly on hand and sold cheap for cash.”

Yates Historian Virgina Cooper noted that the site was prominent among fishermen as well, including Harvey Moon and George G. Thayer who were mentioned specifically in the 1870s. Yet just like Oak Orchard Harbor, this site became a destination for pleasure seekers, many whom opted to stay at the Ontario House operated by Silas Hopkins (the site now occupied by the water treatment plant). Upon the hotel’s reopening in 1876 after renovations, the building offered a large dining room, a 20×60 foot hall for dancing, two croquet courts, boats “with experienced men to attend them,” large swings, and bathing houses; it was destroyed by a fire in 1925.

Of course, the site was not without its fair share of misfortunes. In October of 1873, the Young America, a propeller vessel departing from Oswego and bound for Cleveland, broke down at 4 p.m. on October 22^nd, two miles above the pier. Eventually the vessel drifted towards shore and ran aground, taking on water. A tug boat was dispatched to retrieve the vessel soon after. Five years later on August 24, 1878, eighty people from Shelby, Ridgeway, and Medina boarded the tug J.J. Morely from the pier for an excursion trip to Port Hope, west of Coburg, Ontario. The vessel departed at 8:30 a.m. and did not arrive until 3 p.m. The rough seas caused quite the commotion, “badly stirring up” the passengers, “particularly the Misses.” In the hopes of avoiding the turbulent waters, the passengers stayed overnight, but the return voyage was considered far worse than the prior trip!

When Isaac Signor published Landmarks of Orleans County, New York in 1894, he noted that there were no remnants or any indication that a pier ever existed at the site. In 1981, County Legislator Frank Berger pushed the issue of constructing a fishing pier on the site.

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Lyndonville names ‘Spirit of Christmas’ decorating winners

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 December 2017 at 11:30 am

Provided photos:

LYNDOVILLE – The Thompson family at 14 South Main Street is one of Spirit of Christmas award winners for their outdoor decorating.

The Lyndonville Lions Club named the winners of the annual Spirit of Christmas awards. Plaques were presented to the following families who exhibited extra special Christmas spirit in their outdoor decorating this year.

The Seaman Family at 1559 North Lyndonville Road

Gary and Cindy Newman at 1545 North Lyndonville Road

Terry and Carla Woodworth at 106 South Main Street

Mr. Julio Tice at 8 Eagle Street.

“Thank you to all Lyndonville residents who do such a beautiful job of showing their Christmas spirit,” said Anne Marie Holland, president of the Lyndonville Lions Club.

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Lyndonville, Yates work together to pursue Main Street funding

Photo by Tom Rivers: A block of Main Street in Lyndonville, which is largely vacant, is pictured last month. The Village of Lyndonville and Town of Yates are pursuing grant funds for the downtown.

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 December 2017 at 10:04 am

LYNDONVILLE – Town and village officials are working together to pursue grant funds to help with downtown business development.

The Village of Lyndonville and Town of Yates each contributed $1,500 to hire LaBella Associates to pursue grants for Main Street. LaBella assisted Medina with its recent Main Street grant.

The town and village are first pursuing a $20,000 state grant to help with a downtown development plan. If that grant is successful, the village and town want to then pursue a Main Street grant from the state that would likely be several hundred thousand dollars.

The target area for the grants is both sides of Main Street from Riverside Street – north of Johnson Creek – to Eagle Street. John Belson, mayor of Lyndonville, said several of the buildings are vacant and a grant would help the building owners with repairs and renovations.

The village and town are first going after the smaller $20,000 planning grant, hoping that would help them put together a stronger application for the bigger Main Street grant.

“Maybe if we get this one it will open the door up to some others,” Jim Simon, Yates town supervisor, said about the grant.

The applications may also have a better chance of funding because the town and village are applying together, rather than one municipality taking the lead.

The village reached out to the town on the application. Simon said town officials support the effort to revitalize the downtown.

“Anything that is good for the village is good for the town,” Simon said.

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Results from survey in western Orleans show desire for better streets and jobs

Staff Reports Posted 15 December 2017 at 9:50 am

More than 700 residents and landowners in western Orleans County responded to a lengthy survey covering everything from transportation to housing to inter-municipal cooperation.

Those results are now available for download and review on the Orleans County webpage and will be used to inform the Comprehensive Planning Process. (Click here to see results of the survey.)

The survey asked 93 questions and included responses from residents in the villages of Lyndonville and Medina, and the towns of Yates, Shelby and Ridgeway.

Among the uses most encouraged by survey respondents were farmers’ markets and groceries, followed closely by light industrial and/or manufacturing enterprises. Job creation efforts were ranked as “very important” to develop and/or improve among 80 percent of respondents.

Oft-cited concerns were a lack of well-paying jobs in the area as well as a lack of jobs for skilled laborers. On a positive note, when asked their most serious concern regarding their homes, 64 percent of respondents indicated they were satisfied with their current residence.

During the creation of the Western Orleans Comprehensive Plan in 1999, a similar survey was distributed. A notable change in the intervening years is a marked increase in residents’ concerns regarding the conditions of streets and roads – a 14 percentage point increase in respondents considering their condition to be a “very serious problem.”

A committee of western Orleans elected officials and residents met Wednesday. The group is working with the Orleans County Department of Planning and Development to update the Comprehensive Plan. Those changes will be the focus of public meetings in the future.

The survey and updated plan also can be used to bolster grant applications for sidewalks and other infrastructure.

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Lyndonville Lions Club names Peace Poster winners

Posted 6 December 2017 at 2:00 pm

Provided photos: The top three finalists with their posters, from left: Karlee Rounds, Aasiya Huzair and Amanda Garza.

Press Release, Lyndonville Central School

LYNDONVILLE – Karlee Rounds, an eighth-grade student at Lyndonville, has taken the first step to becoming an internationally recognized artist by winning a local competition sponsored by the Lyndonville Lions Club.

In total, 48 eighth-graders participated in the contest. The entries were narrowed down by Amanda LeClair, art teacher, and then by Leo Club officers. The final six posters were ranked by Lions Club members. Certificates were presented to the top three poster creators, along with an honorable mention.

Amanda Garza placed second in the Lyndonville competition with Aasiya Huzair placing third. Julianna Scribner was recognized with honorable mention.

Karlee Rounds’ winning poster: “Peace and Love Have No Borders.”

Rounds’ poster, “Peace and Love Have No Borders,” was among more than 450,000 entries submitted worldwide in the annual Lions International Peace Poster Contest. Lions Clubs International is sponsoring the program to emphasize the importance of world peace to young people everywhere.

Rounds’ poster was sent on to the District Governor in November.

View past international grand prize winners at www.lionsclubs.org. Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization with more than 1.35 million members in 210 countries and geographical areas around the world. Since 1917, Lions clubs have aided the blind and visually impaired and made a strong commitment to community service and serving youth throughout the world.

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