Photos by Tom Rivers – A participant has outstretched hands during Sunday’s multi-church service at Oak Orchard Assembly of God in Medina. Jennifer Printup and Steve Hodgins, right, are members of the praise band at the church.

MEDINA – Several local church leaders say they have been praying for a revival for years, that more Orleans County residents would give their hearts to God and seek God’s help in fighting addictions, and overcoming barriers that keep people in poverty.

About a dozen local pastors were part of a service Sunday at Oak Orchard, which included featured speaker Debbie Davis, founder of the faith-based “One Voice,” a non-profit organization that works with people fighting addictions in West Virginia.

Davis said God needs to be part of a community’s rebirth, but the people need to want God. She urged churches to reach out to people struggling with addictions and feelings of hopelessness.

“God bless them in their mess,” Davis told about 300 people at Sunday’s service. “I can tell you everyone sitting here in the pews has a mess. It just looks different.”

Debbie Davis shared how churches in West Virginia united to start the “One Voice” ministry to help people of all ages fighting addictions.

She praised the churches in the Orleans County community for wanting to be part of helping people with addictions. The dozen church pastors took turns speaking at the service, and church-goers from several congregations attended the service, many with hands outstretched during the music.

“This doesn’t happen everywhere, people,” Davis told the group about the spirit of fellowship and unity among the churches. “This is special.”

About 300 people attended Sunday night’s “Awakening” service at Oak Orchard.

Several church leaders in the county have been getting together for about a decade to pray for a spiritual awakening in the county.

The church leaders recently formed PACT, Pastors Aligned for Community Transformation. The pastors and many of their church members get together regularly for prayer and ecumenical services.

The church last month showed the documentary, Appalachian Dawn, at the Albion Free Methodist Church. That documentary shows how churches took the lead in pushing the community in eastern Kentucky to fight the drug problem and help people get clean.

Davis, a middle school teacher, said the effort united churches and many in the community, and is now leading to spiritual fervor especially among high school students.

Davis said pastors and people from churches met every Saturday for 5 1/2 years before they saw the spiritual awakening in their communities.

She urged the community to pray, including for specific people who are wrestling addictions.

Several local pastors asked for God’s blessing on the community, especially for those feeling the hopelessness of poverty and addiction. The pastors also praised the work of local organizations, such as Care Net Center of Greater Orleans, Genesee-Orleans Ministry of Concern and Hands 4 Hope Orleans.

File photo by Tom Rivers – This photo shows Brunner International on Bates Road in Ridgeway. The side of the road where Brunner is located is outside the village, while the other side is in the village with an additional tax rate of $17.30 per $1,000 of assessed property.

MEDINA – The Medina community has the highest tax rate in the region, and Holley and Albion aren’t too far behind, according to a report today from the Empire Center.

The Empire Center looked at communities with the highest combined tax rates – village, town, county, school, libraries and other special districts.

The Village of Medina in the Town of Shelby has the highest combined tax rate at $58.19 per $1,000 of assessed property. The Empire Center’s study is based on tax rates in 2014.

The Village of Medina in Ridgeway had the second highest tax rate, $57.93, in the Finger Lakes Region, which includes nine counties. Medina has been on top of the list of highest tax rates for several years in the Finger Lakes.

Orleans communities take five of the top 11 spots in the Finger Lakes. The Village of Holley (Town of Murray, Holley Central School and Orleans County taxing jurisdictions) ranked fourth with combined tax rates of $55.08. The Village of Albion in Gaines is eighth at $51.29 and the Village of Albion in the Town of Albion is 11th at $50.53.

“The ‘all-in’ property tax bill is often a key factor in locational decisions by individuals and businesses,” the Empire Center states in the report. “In addition, the tax data point to an inverse relationship between effective tax rates and property values, with high effective rates often correlating to low median home values.”

Sloan in Erie County has the distinction of the highest combined tax rate in the state at $64.46 per $1,000 of assessed property. Several villages in Allegany County top the Medina rate: Wellsville, $63.71; Alfred, $63.17; Andover, $63.09; and Bolivar, $60.79.

Most of the most tax-oppressed communities are villages. Orleans Hub has written about the big disparity in state funding for villages compared to cities. That is one driver of the higher tax rates for villages, compared to cities.

The Orleans villages also receive a small share of the local sales tax portion. About $15 million in local sales tax is generated annually in Orleans County. The county government keeps about 92 percent of that money with only about $400,000 shared among the four villages. Other counties, such as Genesee, share far more of the sales tax with villages and towns. Genesee keeps 50 percent for the county government, and shares the other half with the City of Batavia, and Genesee villages and towns.

Former Medina Mayor Andrew Meier pushed for dissolution of the village government, saying it would knock down the tax burden on village residents by about $6 per $1,000 of assessed property. Village residents rejected dissolution, 949-527, in a Jan. 20, 2015 vote.

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Provided photo – This two-story garage in Medina ta 342 South Ave. was damaged around midnight in a fire.

MEDINA – Firefighters were dispatched at 11:58 p.m. last night to a garage fire at 342 South Ave.

Medina, Shelby and Lyndonville firefighters worked to put out the fire. Damage is estimated at $2,500 to the contents and structure. There were no injuries to any residents or firefighters. The fire was determined to be accidental in nature and caused by careless disposal of smoking material, said Steve Cooley, public information officer for Medina Fire Department.

“No working smoke detectors were found in this structure,” he said. “We would like to remind all residents the importance of having multiple smoke detectors on all levels of your home, garage and any other out buildings.”

Adam Eick

CALEDONIA – Adam Eick, an agricultural business development major at Morrisville State College, is a participant in this year’s Growmark summer internship program. Eick is the son of Ken and Kelly Eick of Medina.

As an intern, Eick will spend 12 weeks working for Growmark FS in Caledonia. He will complete a special project coordinated through the company. Eick and 60 other interns will meet in August at Growmark headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois to discuss their experiences and present a summary of their projects.

“Our internship program prepares students for real-world experiences in the workforce,” said Amie Hasselbring, Growmark university relations manager. “We provide them hands-on experience working on projects with professionals in their career field of interest. It also allows them to gain professional skills and gives them networking opportunities to prepare them for their future career.”

The Growmark internship program began in 1959 with three interns. Since then, over 1,000 students have been involved in the program. This year’s interns represent 22 universities and will work at FS member cooperatives in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Ontario, Canada; as well as Growmark FS, MID-CO Commodities, and the Growmark corporate office in Bloomington, Illinois.

Provided photo – Tim Moriarity, left, of Roy-Hart and and Jon Lambert of Newfane helped get the popper working at Lee-Whedon Memorial Library in Medina. 

Press Release, Orleans/Niagara BOCES

MEDINA – When the popcorn machine at Medina’s Lee-Whedon Memorial Library stopped working, one of the employees suggested calling Orleans/Niagara BOCES to see if students could fix it.

“I guess her husband went to the Orleans Career and Technical Education Center to the Electricity program and thought we could help out,” said teacher Bill Leggett.

The students learn electronics and PLC programming their junior year and then residential and electrical construction their senior year so they were able to use their skills to fix the problem.

Luckily the students found the problem quickly and were able to get it back into operation that day.

“Of course we had to test it to make sure it worked properly,” laughed Mr. Leggett.

Provided photos
MEDINA – About 20 men, including Medina police officer Jason Barnum, participated in the “Real Men Read” event at the Head Start in Medina on April 28.

The Head Start program promotes literacy, with the emphasis that parents are their children’s first and primary teacher.

Ryan and Jackson Lucas read a book together as part of “Real Men Read” at the Head Start center on Ensign Avenue.

Joe and Chloe Luxon read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle.

Medina firefighters Ashton Lang, left, and Dillon Parker were among the volunteer readers from the community.

Kyle McMullen reads to his daughter, Kylee, during the event on April 28 at Head Start.

Provided photos – Medina’s Destination Imagination teams includes, from left: Margaret Klotzbach, Elle Gross, Jack Masse, Mary Flores, Nathan Sherman, Layna Valoria and Abigail Neuman.

Press Release, Medina Central School
MEDINA – Students from all around the world, including Medina, participated in a three-day event known as Destination Imagination in Knoxville, Tenn. More than 17,000 people attended the competition, which is billed as the largest creativity gathering of its kind.

Destination Imagination works with educators and industry experts to develop seven new academic challenges in the fields of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).  Students work in teams to research, design and build a solution to their challenge.

Students had the opportunity to compete, attend workshops, and develop science and space-related skills. Destination Imagination organizers say the participants are some of the most creative and innovative students in the world.

“We have students from China, we have students from Turkey, we have students from Qatar, they’re from all over the world. In fact our international participation has been growing phenomenally over the past few years and we’re really excited to give our students here in the United States a chance to interact with global participants,” says Andrew Whitmire, Associate Program Director.

Whitmire says each team spends two to four months coming up with a solution to a problem. They later present their solution at local tournaments. The teams with the highest scores compete at the state and country level. The Global Finals event is the international competition.

Medina team members are pictured in their ’60s style outfits. They include, from left: Jack Masse, Mary Flores, Layna Valoria, Elle Gross, Nathan Sherman, Margaret Klotzbach and in front: Abigail Neuman.

Seven 8th grade students from Medina High School comprised The ’60s Team. They competed in the long-term challenge, Get a Clue. The team had a few months to solve and prepare a solution where they had to present a mystery story, which was set on Earth, and chose a time period before 1990.

While on a live on stage, they discovered which of the three suspects is responsible for the mystery, and they had to quickly come up with an ending on the spot. The performance, which was presented in traverse staging, also had to include a TechniClue that helped to solve the mystery.

Luckily the team had the help of the Medina Village Police before they left for competition to learn the art of fingerprinting to crack their case in the eight-minute solution. The team also competed in the instant challenge portion of the competition that involved walking into a room where they are presented with a handful of materials. They were given about five to seven minutes to solve the problem given to them.

The Medina team is pictured with members of a team from Korea.

In addition to the competition, the students also enjoyed fabulous events hosted by the University at Tennessee. They attended an expo with hands-on exhibits from NASA and other leaders in the scientific world, a workshop on scriptwriting and had fun attending a Duct tape costume ball with the band The Exchange. They also attended a passport party, outdoor recreational activities, and met students from all over the world while pin trading.

“The experience was very rewarding,” said Medina coach Marguerite Sherman. “The enrichment the students received is something that they will grow from and treasure for the rest of their lives.”

The students and coaches would like to thank everyone who supported and helped them to have this experience.

Photo by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Janell Slomba, a sophomore at Roy-Hart, holds artwork she created free hand that won the High School Patriotic Art Contest at the Post and District level for the VFW. She was recognized during Monday’s Memorial Day service at State Street Park in Medina.

Janell’s artwork now advances to the state competition through the VFW. Janell thanked her art teacher Cristine Lucas for encouraging her to develop her talent.

The VFW this fall will have writing contests open to middle and high schoolers. For more information, stop by the Post at 216 East Center St. or check the organization’s Facebook page by clicking here.

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – Local veterans, including Adam Johnson at right, carry the flags during today’s Memorial Day parade in downtown Medina. Today is the 150th anniversary of Memorial Day, which started in Waterloo.

The honor guard heads down Main Street, which was packed with residents for the parade.

Veterans, including Fred Heschke (center), stand during today’s Memorial Day service at State Street Park in Medina.

Another veteran, Jim Freas, read the names of veterans from Medina who have died since the last Memorial Day.

The parade included an a vehicle escort for World War II veteran Cpl. Pete Amos, and Janet Rowe, a lieutenant as a Navy nurse in World War II.

These four Medina students will attend a Boys State Conference through the American Legion in late June at Morrisville State College. The four include, from left: Abel Zavitz, Federico Rosario, Nick Bogan and Kristian Snyder. All four spoke during the Memorial Day service at State Street Park.

The Mustang Band heads down Main Street during today’s parade.

Members of the band keep the beat during the parade. The band received an enthusiastic reception from the crowd.

The band makes it way along the parade route, pictured here on West Center Street in front of children waving American flags.

These kids, Teagan Meland and his sister Tzofia Meland, cheer on the band.

Medina youth sports teams join in the parade down West Center Street to State Street Park.

A veteran walks along West Center Street while fire trucks complete the parade procession.

Medina Mayor Michael Sidari and veteran Jim Freas, emcee for the ceremony, address the crowd at State Street Park.

Sidari spoke of his father Frank Sidari’s service in World War II, and his father’s heartache at losing friends in the war.

Former State Assemblyman Charlie Nesbitt also was a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War and was awarded a “Distinguished Flying Cross” for flying aircraft in hostile enemy territory on three separate occasions while drawing enemy fire to accomplish the rescue of soldiers and crew members downed by enemy fire.

Nesbitt spoke of three other local veterans who died serving their country. Trevor Cook of Lyndonville was a crew chief on a helicopter. He served two tours overseas. He was stationed at Camp Pendleton in California and was a skilled crew chief and marksman. Cook was 25 when he was killed in a helicopter crash during a training exercise on July 6, 2011.

Nesbitt also spoke of the ultimate sacrifice by Albion native Jay Burdett, who was 30 and a Huey pilot when the helicopter crashed during a training mission in October 1991.

Nesbitt also shared about a Little League teammate of his on the Barre Cubs. Rick Engle was a year older than Nesbitt. Engle was killed in Vietnam, attempting to rescue a wounded soldier after their unit was ambushed. Engle was 19 when he died on Feb. 2, 1968.

Those three are among 2 million Americans who have died serving their country in the armed forces.

“Sometimes we take the American way of life for granted,” Nesbitt said. “Veterans know this day is not about the people who came back, but it’s about the people who didn’t.”