By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 September 2014 at 12:00 am
YATES – A fire destroyed a home on Goodwin Road in the town of Yates on Tuesday afternoon and also resulted in the deaths of five dogs inside the house, Walter Batt, Orleans County fire investigator, said this morning.
The cause of the fire is undetermined while fire officials await testing results, Batt said.
The fire broke out at about 4 p.m. at 1877 Goodwin Rd. The house is owned by Diana and Antonio Lopez. No one was home when the fire started.
The house was a total loss and was torn down last night, Batt said.
LYNDONVILLE – A team of volunteers installed a playground by the Lyndonville school campus on Housel Avenue today. The playground used to be used by the elementary school on Main Street, but that building was closed about two years ago.
About 30 volunteers worked with the school district, PTA, town and village to move the playground. The district also worked with Parkitects on the project. Ben Frasier, a Lyndonville graduate, headed up the effort for Parkitects.
“We do community builds like this all the time, but normally the stuff is new,” he said. “This is the first time where we had to rip out the equipment like yesterday.”
A team of volunteers spent today assembling a playground.
“What was great was the village, the town, the county, the school district all helped out,” he said. “Everybody pitched in to make this happen, and then seeing all the community volunteers was great. It’s great to have everybody involved in my hometown.”
Volunteers spread out wood chips on a finished portion of the playground. They finished putting up the equipment by 2 p.m. and spent the afternoon moving stone and woodchips.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 August 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
YATES – J.C. Miller Co., a general store on Millers Road in the town of Yates, has an array of solar panels on the roof of the business in the northwest corner of the town.
The property also has a hitching post made of Medina sandstone as well as a hitching rack.
Jonas Miller runs the store with his wife. He put up the historic hitching post last year. He acquired it from a customer as part of the payment towards new gutters in another business venture headed by Mr. Miller.
He said some of his customers with horse and buggies at the general store will use the hitching post that was originally made more than a century ago.
He put up the solar panels in December 2012, the first member of the local Amish community to embrace the technology. Solar energy is popular in many other Amish settlements.
LYNDONVILLE – The playground from the now-closed elementary school on Main Street will be moved today and reinstalled by the school playground on Housel Avenue on Saturday.
The school district, re-established Lyndonville PTA and other community members will dissemble the playground beginning at 8:30 a.m. today. The volunteers expect they will be reassemble the playground from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Lyndonville is working with Parkitects, Inc. on the project. The project manager for that company is Ben Frasier, a Lyndonville graduate. The Lyndonville Area Foundation provided $7,500 for the project.
Construction materials were donated by local businesses, including Orleans Construction Company (geo-textile fabric), Shelby Crushed Stone (stone), Evan’s Ace Hardware (concrete) and Medina Hardware and Lumber (concrete). The Village of Lyndonville and Town of Yates also will provide manpower and equipment.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 August 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
YATES – I’ve been on the lookout for dirt roads in Orleans County and noticed Hall Road in the town of Yates. This one isn’t too far from the village of Lyndonville. It’s a north-south road about a mile east of Route 63. It cuts across Route 18.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 August 2014 at 12:00 am
Provided photos – Students from Albion, Lyndonville and Medina rehearse for an first-time elementary honors band concert that was performed last Thursday in Medina.
MEDINA – It was a first-ever concert for elementary band students last Thursday. A group of top musicians from three elementary schools got together for a concert – in the summer.
Nearly 100 first- and second-year instrumental musicians from Albion, Lyndonville and Medina rehearsed last week for four days before a Thursday concert before about 300 people at Medina.
“We wanted the kids to keep playing during the summer,” said Jeanette Sheliga of Medina, who helped coordinate the program. “It’s a way to keep them engaged.”
The students gather for a photo with teachers John Bailey of Lyndonville and Jeanette Sheliga of Medina.
Sheliga is the elementary band teacher in Medina. She and John Bailey, the band teacher in Lyndonville, spearheaded last week’s program.
Sheliga said she first pushed for the program with Wayne Burlison, the Albion band teacher. The two attended Fredonia State College together. They wanted to have the bands and teachers at the elementary schools collaborate.
“Wayne wanted to get the kids together,” Sheliga said. “The kids would become friends with kids from other districts.”
Burlison was diagnosed with colon cancer in December and died from the disease at age 36 on March 26. He was remembered during Thursday’s concert.
Sheliga said the three districts want to continue the program and could alternate schools to host the concert in the future.
“We were very pleased for our first year,” she said. “It’s something we want to keep doing.”
Students practice for their concert last week in Medina.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 24 July 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
Russ Martino, a member of the Lyndonville Lions Club, leads the crowd in doing the motions to the song “YMCA” during a concert by Crash Cadillac. The band from Buffalo performed at the Yates Town Park along Lake Ontario at the end of Morrison Road. Martino was the town supervisor when Yates created the park about seven years ago. Current Town Supervisor John Belson, center, and Jeff Johnson join in the dance.
Don Vaccaro, guitarist and singer for Crash Cadillac, leads the band in singing “Sweet Caroline” during a concert this evening at Yates Town Park.
Wes Bradley, left, and other Lyndonville Lions were called up by the band and asked to lead the crowd in the song, “YMCA.”
About 200 people attended the concert at the park by the lake. The Lions Club and Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council both sponsored the event.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 24 July 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
YATES – The Lyndonville Shoe Tree has been a craze since 1986 when the late Earl Baun helped a girlfriend get rid of about eight to 10 pairs of shoes. He threw them into the trees at the corner of Foss and Lakeshore roads.
Baun started a popular tradition in the Lyndonville community that shows no signs of slowing down. I stopped by the row of four ash trees this evening on a way to a concert at the Yates Town Park.
The Shoe Tree is a whimsical attraction, with hundreds of shoes nailed to the trunks of the trees or dangling from branches high above.
The Shoe Tree is featured on Web sites and was included in a 2008 book called “New York Curiosities.”
LYNDONVILLE – Two people were injured in an ATV accident at about 11:37 p.m. on Saturday.
Troopers from the State Police in Albion responded to an Orleans County Sheriff’s Office dispatch of an ATV accident on Lake Shore Road in the Town of Yates.
Investigation shows that the operator Derrick A. Harmer, 44, of Lyndonville was traveling westbound on Lake Shore Road at a high rate of speed and lost control of the ATV on wet roads.
The ATV overturned and came to rest right side up in the opposite lane. Both operator and passenger Laura A. Harmer, 49, of Lyndonville, were ejected from the ATV with neither wearing a helmet.
Derrick Harmer suffered head injuries and was transported by Mercy Flight to Erie County Medical Center and is currently listed in critical condition.
Laura Harmer was transported to Medina Memorial Hospital by Medina Ambulance and later transported by Mercy Flight to ECMC. She has been treated and released.
Derrick Harmer has been charged with ATV Violations with other charges pending.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 July 2014 at 12:32 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
LYNDONVILLE – Young Explosives once again put on a big fireworks show at Lyndonville to cap off the Fourth of July celebration. The Lyndonville Lions Club is the main organizer for the annual festival with help from several other community groups and the Village of Lyndonville and Town of Yates.
The top photo was during the fireworks finale with a big crowd in the school’s sports fields.
People gathered on Main Street, watching the fireworks over the dam at Johnson Creek.
These people watch from a sidewalk along Main Street by Johson Creek.
The pond at Johnson Creek provides a reflection of the fireworks.
Many people brought their own lawn chairs or blankets and settled in for the show.
Before the fireworks, four Albion friends played with sparklers, including from left: Kendall Derisley, Olivia Krenning, Olivia’s brother Seth Krenning, and Kendall’s twin sister Paige Derisley.
A long line of people wait to buy funnel cakes and other treats before the fireworks show.
Tom Zangerle, left, and the “Happy Ending” band played before the fireworks. The band had its own lighting display.
