Provided photos – WXXI-TV met with Lyndonville students on Tuesday to hear about the school district’s character education program.

LYNDONVILLE – Lyndonville Central School District’s character education program will be featured on WXXI-TV’s Need to Know news and public affairs program.

The district has adopted the innovative We R 3C program to help students develop positive behaviors when interacting with each other. The goal is for students to be active participants in creating caring communities – the three Cs in the We R 3C program.

WXXI-TV host Helene Biandudi-Hofer and videographer Martin Kaufman visited Lyndonville MS/HS on Tuesday to record video of students participating in program lessons and to interview students about their experiences. The segment profiling Lyndonville will air on WXXI-TV sometime in January or February.

“It was great to hear students talking about the importance of community and appreciation for self and others,” Biandudi-Hofer said. “The connections students have been able to make with their peers and teachers through a program focused on character development is a great story that should be told.”

WXXI visited Kevin Lasky and his seventh-grade students.

The WXXI television camera captured seventh-grade students in Kevin Lasky’s classroom as they broke into small groups and shared what makes each of them unique as people. The purpose of the lesson is to learn the meaning of respect by recognizing the value of others.

“We R 3C is a groundbreaking way to help our students develop good habits and reinforce the strong character traits that the Lyndonville community is known for,” said Lyndonville Superintendent Jason Smith.

“We R 3C is dedicated to building and sustaining caring communities through programs which develop and celebrate respect, kindness and compassion,” said We R 3C program founder Bart Dentino of Genesee County. “Lyndonville’s students and staff have embraced the program and seamlessly integrated the lessons to build strong relationships in the school community. It’s exciting to watch.”

Jim Simon

YATES – Persistence paid off for Jim Simon today when 86 absentee ballots were counted in the Town of Yates and Simon emerged the winner for town supervisor.

Simon has been a vocal critic for a proposed wind turbine project in town. The Town Republican Committee endorsed John Belson for another term as town supervisor in the spring.

Simon, with backing from the Save Ontario Shores citizens group, forced a GOP primary on Sept. 10, but lost to Belson, 153-146. The race was so close it went to the absentee ballots, with Belson winning.

But Simon wouldn’t go away. He announced a write-in bid for town supervisor. Those campaigns have historically been unsuccessful locally. However, two Medina residents – Mike Sidari and Marguerite Sherman – were elected to the Medina Village Board in March 2014 with write-ins.

A week ago, when the polls closed Belson was ahead by 14 votes, 352 to 338 for Simon. There were 86 absentees.

Simon would get 56 votes when they were counted this morning, with Belson getting 27. Three other ballots weren’t counted because two people voted for “John Simon” and one person filled in the circle for Belson, and didn’t fully erase it after writing in Simon’s name.

When all the votes were counted, Simon won 393 to 379. He takes office on Jan. 1. He will be joined by John Riggi, another turbine opponent with backing from Save Ontario Shores. (Riggi is president of that group.)

“It is very humbling to have 393 people write my name in,” Simon said after the votes were counted at the Board of Elections. “John Belson is a good man and he’s served well. I look forward to working with him in the transition.”

Simon works as the dean for the GCC campus centers in Albion and Medina. He knows many of the community leaders at the local, county and state level through his position at GCC. He looks forward to engaging those leaders in building a stronger small business and residential environment for Yates.

He remains strongly opposed to the project proposed by Apex Clean Energy. He said the company secretly started negotiating with landowners for six months before going public with the project and meeting with town officials.

Apex is proposing to build 60 to 68 turbines that peak at 570 feet tall in Yates and Somerset.

Somerset did a citizen survey that showed strong town opposition to the project. The Somerset Town Board and Niagara County Legislature both formally opposed the plan.

Simon has urged Yates and county officials to be more staunch in their opposition. Both Yates and county officials have said they want to see a survey first, gauging citizen feedback.

Simon and Save Ontario Shores have criticized the town for moving too slow on the survey. Belson said today the official town survey should be out in about two weeks with results tabulated in December.

“We tried to run a nice, clean campaign,” Belson said after the absentees were counted. “We tried to stay positive and do everything correctly.”

Belson said he plans to remain active in the community. His immediate goal is finishing up the town budget for 2016. That goes to a vote at Thursday’s Town Board meeting.

The turbine project has been contentious and divisive. The town doesn’t have the final say in the project. The state created a seven-member State Siting Commission to review and vote on the project. Five of the seven members are state officials with two from the local community.

Simon said he will be pushing hard to fight the loss of “home rule” on the project. If Yates and the county can come out against the project, following Somerset and Niagara, Simon said it would be more difficult for the state to impose an unwanted project on Yates and Somerset.

“I will do everything in my power to make it a local decision,” Simon said. “We’re going to explore every option to bring back home rule.”

Provided photos/Lyndonville Central School – Victor Woods, an author and speaker, addresses Lyndonville students.

Press Release
Lyndonville Central School

LYNDONVILLE – The Lyndonville community, students and teachers were able to feel the energy from a motivational speech from Victor Woods to kick off the school year.

Woods is a convicted felon who turned his life around to become an author and a speaker. He gave multiple presentations in the school district revolving around the themes of triumphing over adversity and having the ambition to achieve.

Woods touched on the fact that no one’s path in life is perfect or without problems.

“Something we all have in common is that each and every one of us will encounter a hardship,” said Woods. “It’s a matter of taking those challenges head on and becoming a better person.”

Woods shared principles from his book with the student body.

“I’m not standing here because I’m perfect, or because I have all the answers,” said Woods. “If I had all the answers, I wouldn’t have gone to jail twice.”

Woods told a story of him having conjunctivitis, or pink eye, while in prison and having to pry his eyes open to be able to see. The experience was both physically and metaphorically eye opening.

“People asked me when I began to change,” said Woods. “When you get sick and tired of being sick and tired, that’s when you change the condition of your life.”

“I was in prison and decided not to just have eyesight, but to have vision,” added Woods. “Eyesight is what you see in front of you. Vision is what you see down the road. I knew where I wanted to go.”

The vision to achieve your goals is important, said Woods. Harnessing your talents and strengths is part of that vision.

“Find out what you’re good at and don’t walk towards it, run towards it,” said Woods. “You have to see it in your mind, believe it in your heart and then have the guts to go out there and do it.”

Woods used examples of people who went from small towns to successful careers, such as Bill Clinton and Morgan Freeman, to motivate the students to achieve anything they set their sights on.

“People say ‘I’m from a small town, I can’t do it’,” said Woods. “We’re all the same. If you have an attitude of being a winner and say I’m going to make it any way, then you can. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what color you are, how much money you make, where your parents came from.”

Woods finished by saying, “Never give up on your children, never give up on your family, never give up on your friends and never ever, ever, ever give up on yourselves.”

Photos by Tom Rivers – Patrick Whipple fills out his ballot today at Yates Town Hall, which has been busy with voters.

YATES – Long-time Yates residents are seeing something today they don’t recall in their lifetimes: A big flock of people has turned out at the polls for a local election.

There has been a steady stream of people throughout the day on Main Street for people to vote at Yates Town Hall. By 5 p.m., 550 people had cast ballots out of 1,466 registered voters, or about 40 percent of the eligible voters. There were still four hours to go till the polls closed.

“There have been a lot of new faces,” said one of the poll workers. “This just doesn’t happen like this in this little town.”

Most of the local elections in Yates offer a slate of unopposed candidates. Turnout is light at the polls. But this election, there is a race for town supervisor, and three candidates are vying for two other spots on the Town Board.

Jim Simon, a write-in candidate for town supervisor, arrived at 6 a.m. and has been standing by this sign all day, hoping to connect with voters.

Jim Simon mounted a write-in campaign after losing the Republican Primary in September to incumbent John Belson for town supervisor. It was close, with Belson winning 153-146.

But Simon stayed committed in the race. He stood by the Post Office beginning at 6 a.m. with a big sign urging people to vote for him, John Riggi and Glenn Maid. All are vocally opposed to a proposed wind turbine project in the community.

A citizens group, Save Ontario Shores, formed when Apex Clean Energy announced its plan for 60 to 68 of the turbines in Somerset and Yates.

The election workers established 100-foot buffer zones for candidates to not campaign before voters entered the Town Hall to cast their vote. Simon stood in front of the Post Office. He had many conversations throughout the day.

“It’s great to see everyone exercising their Constitutional right to vote,” he said.

There was a sign not far from Simon displayed high, promoting Wes Bradley, a town councilman who wasn’t endorsed by SOS. The sign urges voters to support a “fair and impartial” town official. That is the same message in signs for Belson.

Richard and Linda Fisk arrived across the street from Simon at 7 a.m. They were there to support Belson and Bradley. The couple has lived in the Lyndonville community for more than 70 years.

They said they hadn’t seen a bigger crowd to Main Street since the Fourth of July, when Lyndonville hosts a big festival.

“There has been a lot of interest and a lot of traffic,” Mrs. Fisk said.

Richard and Linda Fisk have stood by their 1948 Mercury truck since 7 this morning. The truck includes a stuffed animal of a dalmation. “Fear Not The Wind” is painted on the truck door.

The Fisks said they have known Belson and Bradley for many years, and both are long-time community servants with the best interests of the community in mind.

“I’m doing this to keep the Town Board where it’s at,” Mrs. Fisk said. “I believe in what I’m doing. I believe it’s best for the town.”

They said they have received many honks of support and thumbs up from passing motorists.

The Fisks even chatted with Simon during the day and SOS members. Everything was civil, Mrs. Fisk said.

“We’re not at each others’ throats,” she said. “The bottom line is everyone has their own opinion and they’re entitled to it.”

Glenn Maid (left), a candidate for Town Board, is pictured with Anne Smith, treasurer of Save Ontario Shores, and Paul Lauricella, a candidate for County Legislature.

Some Save Ontario Shores members were on the north side of the Town Hall, near the library looking to speak with residents before they voted.

“We want to elect our candidates,” said Smith, who has been out since 9 a.m., hoping to chat with voters.

“We’ve had a lot of thumbs up from people and horns beeping,” she said.

Lauricella has been an active government watchdog in recent years. He often speaks about voter apathy. But he was smiling about the busy election polls today in Yates.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much traffic on Election Day,” Lauricella said. “It’s the revolution of Lyndonville. Isn’t it wonderful?”

YATES – Apex Clean Energy says public support is building for the company’s plan to build 60 to 68 turbines in the towns of Yates and Somerset that would peak at 570 feet high.

The company issued a press release about “political posturing” by Save Ontario Shores, a citizens group opposing the turbine project.

SOS on Oct. 16 opened 421 surveys of Yates property owners, asking their opinions about the turbine project. Of the respondents, 77.9 percent of Yates property owners say they oppose the project. Somerset town officials also did a survey of residents that showed strong opposition to the turbines.

Last Friday, Save Ontario Shores and Somerset town officials gathered at the lighthouse in Barker for a press conference and rally against the turbine project. The town has retained Dennis Vacco, a former state attorney general, to fight the Apex project.

Apex issued a statement saying it will continue to do public outreach about the project. As more residents learn about the plan, they tend to support the turbines, the company said.

“More and more residents in the project area are choosing to participate in the project,” said Dan Fitzgerald of Apex Clean Energy. “We continue to add participants as people have the opportunity to research and learn about this.”

Apex said the recent surveys in Yates and Somerset “deliberately excluded residents” of both towns.

The company released quotes from a resident in each town that support the wind energy project.

Floyd Koerner of Somerset said the town is paying Vacco $270 an hour  “in a clear attempt to score political points for the election, based on a well-funded misinformation campaign against advanced energy solutions in our local community.”

“In direct contrast, we are local residents and landowners interested in progress over politics, based on scientifically supported facts, benefits and the long-term future of our community,” Koerner said. “When the election is over, we’ll still be here fighting for the good of our community.”

Susan Campbell of Lyndonville has written letters to the editor to the Orleans Hub in support of the wind energy project.

“SOS claims to be worried about the health of the people in Yates and Somerset, but in truth I feel that they just want to continue to pollute our air and water with outdated energy technology,” said she in a news release from Apex. “In my opinion, the only fact that SOS brings up that cannot be disputed is that they don’t like the way the turbines look. This is the only planet we get and it is time we take the responsible steps to preserve it. The wind turbines will be a big step in that direction.”

YATES – The Town of Yates continues to work on a survey of town residents about the wind turbine issue in the community, Town Councilman Wes Bradley said today.

Save Ontario Shores, a citizens’ group opposed to large-scale turbines, sent a survey to residents this week. That survey didn’t clearly say which entity was doing the survey.

John Riggi, SOS president, said the organization moved to do the survey because the town effort has been slow.

“One reason we’re doing the survey is because the town hasn’t done anything,” Riggi said this morning.

SOS hired an accounting firm, Lumsden & McCormick LLP of Buffalo, to collect the surveys, collate results and provide the results to the residents of Yates. The surveys are due back Oct. 16 and results will be shared during a 7 p.m. Oct. 19 meeting at White Birch Golf Course.

Bradley said the town has formed a three-person committee to work on the survey. Bradley represents the Town Board, with Taylor Quarles, development manager for Apex, and Richard Pucher, from SOS, all on the committee to form questions and develop a process for the survey. The group meets again on Tuesday.

“It’s inclusive, it’s transparent but it will take some time,” Bradley said today. “The accuracy is more important than the speed.”

His goal is to have a survey with objective results that can be viewed as accurate and unbiased data by the NYS Siting Board, if Apex advances the project with 60 to 68 wind turbines. The Siting Board will give the final say on the project covering Yates and the neighboring Town of Somerset.

“One-sided efforts lack credibility,” Bradley said. “We want a survey that will be viewed as an objective measure by the New York State Siting Board, should we ever get to that point.”

Bradley didn’t want to issue a timetable on the town survey because of the uncertainties with reaching a consensus with three different entities.

YATES – A group of concerned Yates citizens has decided to finance and conduct a formal survey of the Town of Yates regarding the proposed Apex Lighthouse Wind project in Yates, Save Ontario Shores announced.

SOS, a citizens group that opposes the turbine project in Yates and Somerset, announced today that residents will receive a survey in the next few days from Lumsden & McCormick, LLP, which SOS said is an impartial accounting firm in Buffalo.

The citizens group said the survey is needed to detail the will of the citizens in Yates. The Town Board has discussed doing a survey, but SOS said that survey hasn’t materialized.

Lumsden & McCormick will be collecting all surveys, collating results and providing those results to the residents of Yates, the Yates Town Board, the Orleans County Legislature, the Somerset Town Board, the Niagara County Legislature, and the NYS Public Service Commission.

The surveys are being sent to the property owners on the official tax rolls of the Town of Yates. Each survey is confidentially tabulated and impartially controlled to ensure accuracy and validity, SOS said in an email today.

The questions were developed by several Yates residents. Surveys are due back by Oct. 16 and will be opened and tabulated by Lumsden & McCormick at 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 19.

The results will be made public at the conclusion of the tabulating process during the Oct. 19 meeting at White Birch Golf Club.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman
BARKER – Golden Hill State Park is in the process of constructing a new playground at the campground on Lower Lake Road, just east of the Orleans County line in the Town of Yates.

While adding new swings, the centerpiece of the playground is the replica of the lighthouse for the main structure. It has the date the lighthouse was built – 1875 – on the side, Golden Hill plaques on the smaller towers and the signature lighthouse on the center tower.

The playground is to be completed in time for this coming Sunday’s Christmas at the Lighthouse Celebration from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

YATES – A section of Route 63, north of the Village of Lyndonville, will be closed to motorists for about a month while a culvert is replaced, the state Department of Transportation announced today.

The culvert carries Route 63 over a creek in the town of Yates. The structure is located between East Yates Center Road and Route 18, approximately one-third of a mile south of the Route 18 intersection.

Keeler Construction of Albion is doing the work on the $392,000 project.

The road will be closed for a maximum of 30 days in an effort to minimize travel disruptions, the DOT said today in an advisory. A posted detour will direct motorists to use routes 104, 269 and 18. The bridge is expected to reopen to traffic in late October.

The existing jack-arch structure was constructed in 1915 and has reached the end of its service life. The new structure will be a precast concrete box culvert with precast concrete wing walls, the DOT said.