Photos courtesy of Ed Bouchane
YATES – Fire caused significant damage this afternoon to a Yates house at 1429 Niagara-Orleans Countyline Rd.
Ed Bouchane took these photos of the fire that broke out around 3 p.m. Several fire departments responded to the blaze. Firefighters were still on scene at about 9 p.m. The fire was out and crews were cleaning up at the site, an Orleans County dispatcher said.
With more bitter cold temperatures forecast for Wednesday morning, two local school districts have already decided to be on a two-hour delay.
Lyndonville and Medina will run their school buses two hours later than the regular schedule. Classes will start at 9:50 a.m. in Lyndonville.
The National Weather Service has issued a wind chill warning for Orleans County until 10 a.m. on Wednesday. The wind chill will feel as low as 25 below zero in the morning, the Weather Service advised.
I stumbled across the numbers by accident last week, numbers that show what appears to be a glaring state-sponsored economic discrimination against the villages in New York.
I was on the state Division of Budget website looking for the state aid to school districts on Wednesday. Before I found the school numbers, I clicked on “Aid and Incentives to Municipalities,” also known as AIM. I hadn’t seen those numbers before in my 17 ½ years as a reporter.
I was curious. I checked our local villages and was surprised how little they get – only about $100,000 for the four villages in Orleans County with about 15,000 people total.
I know that Albion (population 6,056) and Medina (population 6,065) are bigger than some of the cities in the state. So I looked up how much the state gives the city of Sherrill, the state’s smallest city with 3,071 people in Oneida County. $372,689. Wow. I thought maybe it was a fluke.
I looked up another small city, Salamanca in Cattaraugus County. It gets $928,131 for a city of 5,815 people.
I grew up in Chautauqua County and I know Dunkirk and Fredonia are similar in size, separated by a couple miles. Dunkirk is a city with 12,563 people. It gets $1,575,527 in state aid. Fredonia is a village with 11,230 people. It gets $89,140 in AIM funding.
| City (County) | State aid | Population | Per Capita |
| Salamanca (Cattaraugus) | $928,131 | 5,815 | $159.61 |
| Dunkirk (Chautauqua) | $1,575,527 | 12,563 | $125.41 |
| Batavia (Genesee) | $1,750,975 | 15,465 | $113.22 |
| Sherrill (Oneida) | $372,689 | 3,071 | $121.35 |
| Norwich (Chenango) | $1,089,279 | 7,190 | $151.50 |
| Waverliet (Albany) | $1,210,193 | 10,254 | $118.02 |
| Cortland (Cortland) | $2,018,330 | 11,183 | $180.48 |
| Beacon (Dutchess) | $1,537,478 | 15,541 | $98.93 |
| Gloversville (Fulton) | $2,302,592 | 15,665 | $146.99 |
| Johnstown (Fulton) | $1,388,910 | 8,743 | $158.86 |
| Canandaigua (Ontario) | $1,119,304 | 10,545 | $106.15 |
| Geneva (Ontario) | $1,942,613 | 13,261 | $146.49 |
| Rensselaer (Rensselaer) | $1,137,317 | 9,392 | $121.09 |
| Mechanicville (Saratoga) | $662,392 | 5,196 | $127.48 |
| Ogdensburg (St. Lawrence) | $1,708,659 | 11,128 | $153.55 |
| Village (County) | State aid | Population | Per Capita |
| Albion (Orleans) | $38,811 | 6,056 | $6.41 |
| Medina (Orleans) | $45,523 | 6,065 | $7.51 |
| Holley (Orleans) | $17,786 | 1,811 | $9.82 |
| Lyndonville (Orleans) | $6,251 | 838 | $7.46 |
| Brockport (Monroe) | $110,171 | 8,366 | $13.17 |
| Fredonia (Chautauqua) | $89,140 | 11,230 | $7.94 |
| East Aurora (Erie) | $50,569 | 6,236 | $8.11 |
| Le Roy (Genesee) | $34,391 | 4,391 | $7.83 |
| Geneseo (Livingston) | $72,701 | 8,031 | $9.05 |
| Whitesboro (Oneida) | $73,012 | 3,772 | $19.36 |
| Cobleskill (Schoharie) | $36,461 | 4,678 | $7.79 |
| Massena (St. Lawrence) | $132,671 | 10,936 | $12.13 |
| Potsdam (St. Lawrence) | $111,864 | 9,428 | $11.87 |
| Bath (Steuben) | $103,906 | 5,786 | $17.96 |
| Monticello (Sullivan) | $46,903 | 6,726 | $6.97 |
| Newark (Wayne) | $65,833 | 9,145 | $7.20 |
Source: New York State Division of Budget for state aid in 2013-14 (2014-15 numbers are proposed to be the same in governor’s budget.) Population is from U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 population count. Orleans Hub calculated the per capita numbers.
I spent a good chunk of the weekend with these numbers. Most larger villages, with populations between 5,000 and 10,000 people, get less than $10 in state aid per person. Small cities, with 3,000 to 15,000 people, get about $100 to $180 per person.
Many of the larger villages like Albion and Medina function much like a city. They have full-time police, street departments, water and sewer services, cemeteries, etc. Medina also has a paid fire department. The bigger villages should be getting far more in state aid.
If Albion and Medina received comparable aid as similar-size cities, it would make a dramatic difference in the taxes in these villages.
If the two got Salamanca money – $928,131 – that would be about $875,000 more in aid for each village.
The Village of Albion has a $6.3 million annual budget, which includes police, streets, Mount Albion Cemetery, parks, and the costs for running water and sewer plants, as well as other services. The village is struggling with a shrinking tax base and falling property values. Real estate agents say the high tax rates in the villages are driving residents into the countryside where the tax rates are much less. For many residents, you can save $1,000 a year simply by moving outside the village lines and escaping the village tax.
The village taxes are high partly because there is so little state aid to help with the cost of services.
The village of Albion has a tax rate of $16.86 per $1,000 of assessed property. Albion will collect $2,419,975 in village taxes in 2013-14. If the village received what Salamanca gets in state aid, Albion’s village taxes would be cut by a third. A smaller tax bill would make the village more inviting for residents, and would pump up the property values.
Medina raised its tax rate from $15.82 to $16.45 in 2013-14. The village is taking in $2,722,442 in taxes this year. That could also be cut by nearly a third if Medina was treated like Salamanca.
I urge the local villages to raise hell about this disproportionate system for doling out the aid. The local villages should contact the other villages across the state and colloboratively complain to the state legislators. Bring a unified voice to the issue. Our County Legislature should stand with our villages and demand a fair share of state aid for the villages.
Maybe the villages don’t provide 100 percent of the services that cities do. So it may make sense to have different classifications for giving aid to villages. Perhaps a tiny village with no police, no paid fire, and less than 1,000 residents would get 25 percent of the average aid of a city. (That would still be a significant increase from what they’re getting now.) Lyndonville might fall into this category. The village does hire a constable for some police protection.
The next level at 50 percent of the city rate might be villages like Holley, with 1,000 to 3,000 residents. Holley has a police department that is staffed mostly with part-timers. It has a water and sewer plant. It provides many services you expect in a city.
I would put Albion in the 75 percent rate category. It doesn’t have a paid fire department, but has full-time police, and its own water and sewer plants.
I think you can make the case that Medina deserves the full 100 percent of a city share. It has a paid fire department, the only village in the county with that paid service.
I encourage the villages to make a lot of noise about this, and state their case for more funding. They should point out how the meager dollars from the state have hurt the villages, resulting in huge tax rates, an exodus of residents and falling property values.
The state’s AIM funding totals $714 million a year but it is nearly consumed by the cities. The three big upstate cities of Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse get $161.3 million, $88.2 million and $71.8 million, respectively.
Buffalo, with 261,310 people, receives an average of $617.21 per person. In the village of Albion, which feels a lot like a city with some of the urban wear and tear, the state aid amounts to $6.41 a person.
The villages should find out why they’ve been shafted by the state. If the state refuses to give them more money, I urge the villages to become cities, and perhaps expand their geographical boundaries to maximize their aid.
It’s time to fight. The villages need and deserve this money.
LYNDONVILLE – A vigil planned for this evening has been moved from the Lyndonville school parking lot to inside the Lyndonville United Methodist Church at 102 North Main St.
Orleans County is under a wind advisory and gusts could hit 50 miles per hour.
Friends will gather at 5:30 p.m. for the vigil to remember Paul Lauricella, a 2007 Lyndonville graduate who died in a car accident on Wednesday morning. Lauricella, 24, had many friends in the community.
The public is invited to the vigil and adults are encouraged to bring their own candles and a paper plate or cup to collect the wax.
Shirts and stickers in memory of Lauricella will be for sale to help his family pay for funeral costs. The shirts for $12 will say “In Memory of Paul V. Lauricella. Sacred moments will never be lost in time.” Car window decals will be $3.
Paul Lauricella in a photo from his Facebook page
LYNDONVILLE – Friends will gather on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. in the Lyndonville school parking lot to remember Paul Lauricella, a 2007 Lyndonville graduate who died in a car accident on Wednesday morning.
Lauricella, 24, had many friends in the community.
“He always lifted everyone’s spirits,” said his friend Shelby Blousenhauer of Medina. “He was such a nurturing person who would give you the shirt off of his back in a snowstorm.”
Blousenhauer and her husband Chris are helping to plan Sunday’s candlelight vigil. Sam Stillinger and her boyfriend Bryan Babcock also are working on the vigil.
Shirts and stickers in memory of Lauricella will be for sale to help his family pay for funeral costs. The shirts for $12 will say “In Memory of Paul V. Lauricella. Sacred moments will never be lost in time.” Car window decals will be $3.
Lauricella worked as a machinist with Brunner International in Medina and also worked with his father in the family business. He enjoyed fixing cars.
His father, Paul Lauricella, is vice chairman of the Orleans County Conservative Party. He is active in local politics and attends many government meetings, often expressing his disproval about budgets with tax increases.
Participants in the vigil on Sunday are encouraged to bring their own candles.
Calling hours for Lauricella are on Monday at the Oak Orchard Assembly of God Church, 12111 Ridge Rd., from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with a celebration of life service at 2 p.m. The Rev. Daniel Thurber will officiate.
LYNDONVILLE – A 24-year-old Lyndonville man was killed this morning when he hit black ice, lost control of his vehicle and then hit a tree.
Paul Lauricella was travelling westbound at about 6:30 a.m. on East Yates Center Road when he hit a patch of black ice, crossed into the eastbound lane and then collided with a tree.
He was transported by Mercy Flight helicopter to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, where he was pronounced dead, State Trooper Victor Morales said.
Press release, Orleans County Sheriff Scott Hess
LYNDONVILLE – A Waterport man has a court date in the Town of Yates after leaving the scene of a crash last night in downtown Lyndonville.
The incident occurred at about 9:45 p.m. Blake Strickland, 25, was operating a ’98 Dodge pick-up truck, travelling north on Main Street when he failed to negotiate a right turn onto Maple Avenue.
The vehicle ran off the north side of Maple Avenue and struck the building on the northeast corner of the intersection. The building houses a liquor store and hair salon on the main level, and vacant apartments on the upper level. There was significant structural damage.
Strickland left the scene but was located a short time later at a residence on Oak Orchard River Road by State Troopers from the Albion barracks. He was returned to the scene and faces traffic charges including Leaving the Scene of an Incident, Unsafe Speed, Failure to Keep Right, Unsafe Lane Change, and Failure to Notify DMV of Address Change.
Strickland is next scheduled to appear in Town Court on Feb. 19.
The incident was investigated by Deputy D.S. Klips, assisted by Lieutenant R.E. Perry.
Provided photo – The front wall of Sixes and Sevens Spirits was damaged last night after a car crashed into the building at 2 North Main St. in Lyndonville.
LYNDONVILLE – A hit-and-run driver caused significant damage last night to the Sixes and Sevens Spirits liquor store in Lyndonville.
Business owner Julie Caleb isn’t able to open the store today after the front windows and wall were smashed by a car. The vehicle also snapped a supporting beam at the building, 2 North Main St.
“We’re trying to clean up and we hope to open back up tomorrow,” Caleb said this morning.
The driver crashed through the store at 9:49 p.m., and then backed out of the building and took off. Orleans Hub is awaiting a police report from the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department. Caleb said someone was arrested for the crime.
She opened the business on June 28. The store was a dream come true for Caleb, a Medina native who had been working as an office administrator, first for an insurance company in Virginia and then for a fertilizer business in Knowlesville.
Caleb said the incident could have been tragic. The driver smashed through the front of the store where she normally sits by the counter.
“If I had been sitting there I wouldn’t be talking to you,” she said.
A hub cap and the grill from the vehicle were found inside the store.
Both Lyndonville and Medina school districts have announced that they will be closed again on Wed., Jan. 8, due to frigid temperatures. The cancellations include all extracurricular and athletic activities.
LYNDONVILLE – The snowstorm and plunging temperatures have prompted Lyndonville Central School to cancel all afterschool activities today.
Students will be dismissed at 2:30 p.m., District Superintendent Jason Smith said.
Lyndonville is the only school in Orleans County open today. The others – Albion, Holley, Kendall and Medina – are off because of winter break.
Press release, Lyndonville Lions Club
LYNDONVILLE – Lyndonville residents put their best lights forward for Lyndonville Lions Club’s “Spirit of Christmas” annual lighting contest this year.
Judges patrolled the area on Monday visiting the winners’ homes and presenting the top 5 with plaques. The winners are:
Village of Lyndonville, 2 South Main St.
Mr.& Mrs. Gary Newman, 1548 N Lyndonville Rd.
Alex Seaman, 1559 N Lyndonville Rd.
Bill Harrold, 10 Garland St.
Jacob, Margaret, and Emily Cebula, 15 Miller Drive.
Photos by Tom Rivers
LYNDONVILLE – This year’s holiday open house at the Yates Community Library will feature student musicians, festive treats and a holiday reading by Orleans County Legislator Lynne Johnson.
The event this Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. also will showcase 30 pieces of pottery created by Lyndonville eighth-graders. They worked with Waterport potter Deborah Wilson and Lyndonville art teacher Doug Michalak to create the jars and bowls.< The pottery has been displayed in the library since Nov. 25. The pieces will be there until Dec. 16. “Everyone has remarked about them,” said Emily Cebula, library director. “We feel it is important to show what our kids can do.”
The pottery pieces were inspired by jars made by Woodland Indians and excavated from archaeological sites near Waterport and Oakfield. The project was made possible through an Artists in the Schools grant distributed by the New York State Council on the Arts and administered by the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council.
The most distinctive feature of the historic pots is that they have highly decorated “collars” or necks. Each student had the chance to make their own personalized stamping tool for decorating the collars on their own pieces.
This was the first chance that many of the eighth-graders had to work with clay, as the Art Department has not been able to offer pottery in the past few years. The Artists in the Schools funding allowed the school to get the kiln out of mothballs and paid Wilson to come in the share her knowledge of pottery with the group.
“It’s been a wonderful program,” Cebula said. “The kids are very proud of these.”
Photos by Tom Rivers
Route 63 in Lyndonville has a stretch of grand old houses, and several of them are decked out in holiday decorations, including this house at 8 Eagle St., at the South Main Street intersection.
Just south of that location, at 142 South Main St., one of the area’s finest cobblestone houses is lighted up for the holidays.
This house was built in 1846 and is the only Lyndonville location listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Jackson Blood, an early Lyndonville resident, built the house and lived there until 1875.
The downtown decorations for the holidays have been upgraded thanks to funds from the Lyndonville Lions Club and the Lyndonville Area Foundation.
The Holley and Lyndonville communities both are celebrating the holidays in a big way today.
In Holley, the events started at 10 a.m. with a breakfast with Santa. There will be a memory bulb tree lighting ceremony at 6 p.m. in the Public Square. The day will be capped with a parade of lights at 6:30 p.m.
For a full list of events, click here.
The first “Christmas in Lyndonville” celebration includes a lineup of events from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Santa will arrive at 5 p.m. at Veterans’ Park and will flip the switch that will turn on the lights for 26 Christmas trees decorated by the community.
For a full list of events, click here.
Photos by Tom Rivers
LYNDONVILLE – Community members decorated 27 Christmas trees at Veterans Park as part of a new holiday tradition in Lyndonville.
The village pushed to start the project after Wes Bradley, a Yates Town Councilman and Lions Cub member, pitched the idea. He saw it at Oakfield last year when there were 53 trees lighted and decorated by community members.
Oakfield shared its planning tips with Lyndonville officials. Bradley was hoping for maybe 15 or 20 trees the first year. With a strong showing this year, Bradley thinks the community could do 40 or 50 next year.
He’d like to add horse-drawn carriage rides and more events as part of day-long celebration.
“This has been a little morale boost for the community,” Bradley said this evening while serving hot cocoa and cookies in the Village Hall.
After arriving on a trailer that looked like a sleigh, Santa greeted the crowd at Veterans Park.
Santa flipped the switch at the North Pole Electric Station, lighting the 27 trees decorated by the community.
Santa then met with youngsters at the Village Hall. Grayson Voltz of Lockport didn’t take a liking to the jolly ole’ elf. Grayson’s mother Jessica Voltz is a Lyndonville native.
Ethan Merrill, 7, of Albion was comfortable with Santa, and happily shared his wish list for Christmas.
