MEDINA – Medina Central School has cancelled afterschool activities today due to the wintry weather.
The Albion basketball games at Akron have also been cancelled for this evening when 7 to 13 inches of snow is forecast for Orleans County.
The slate of candidates is set for village elections next month in Orleans County.
Lyndonville has the only contest featuring a race for mayor with James Tuk and John Belson running for the village’s top elected official. Tuk is the current deputy mayor and has been leading the village since Steve McAvoy resigned as mayor on Oct. 31 due to the demands of his full-time job.
Belson lost a close re-election for Yates town supervisor in November to Jim Simon. Belson wants to continue in public service. He is running under the Lyndonville Party while Tuk picked “The Lake Party.” The mayor’s post is a four-year term.
Three people are running for two seats on the Village Board, including incumbents Ellen Tuohey (Independent Party) and Danny Woodward (Peoples Party). Andrew Cousins (Sustainable Futures) also is running for village trustee.
The election will be on March 15 with voting from noon to 9 p.m. at the Village Hall.
In Medina, Michael Sidari, a current village trustee, is the only candidate for a two-year term as mayor. Sidari is running under The Village Party, along with incumbent Marguerite Sherman and Tim Elliott, who are seeking two-year terms on the Village Board. Current Mayor Andrew Meier isn’t seeking re-election.
Voting in Medina is from noon to 9 p.m. at the Senior Center.
In Lyndonville and Medina, candidates run under independent parties without the official backing of either Republicans or Democrats.
In Albion, the Republican and Democratic parties still hold caucuses to pick candidates. Albion has two four-year seats open on the Village Board. The Republican Party is backing incumbent Gary Katsanis, and Democrats are backing Mattea Navarra-Molisani and incumbent Peter Sidari.
Voting is from noon to 9 p.m. on March 15 at the Village Hall.
Holley holds its village elections in June.
Provided photos
MEDINA – Bob Kwandrans, Jr., owner and instructor of Kwandrans Tae Kwon-do in Medina, presents a check for $10, 981.17 to Laura Nutty, Western New York representative for Make-A-Wish. Debby Farfaglia, manager and instructor at Kwandrans, also presents the check to Make-A-Wish. They are pictured last Saturday during a belt testing for students.
The Kwandrans students and staff worked for several months to raise money for Make-A-Wish. Local residents and businesses were generous with several fund-raisers to help Kwandrans raise the money, Farfaglia said.
Kwandrans decided to raise funds for Make-A-Wish after one of the Tae Kwon-do students, Garett Smith, 12, attended Disney World in Florida for a week with his family last May. The trip was paid through Make-A-Wish Western New York.
Garett has cystic fibrosis. Tae Kwon-do helps move the mucus in his lungs, keeping them clear. He takes Tae Kwon-do classes twice a week. Garett, a Middleport resident, is a seventh-grader at Roy-Hart.
Kwandrans surpassed its $8,500 goal. It was raising the funds so another WNY kid could go on a trip.
Kwandrans put on several fund-raisers, including a kick-a-thon, car wash, bake sale and candy bar sales. They also did a 5-kilometer race, chicken barbecue, spaghetti dinner, and basket raffle.
Provided photo
MEDINA – Don Lepkoske, a former Medina firefighter who is now a resident at the Orchard Manor Rehabilitation & Nursing Center, was surprised on Monday when members of the Medina Fire Department stopped by and presented a new monogrammed jacket.
The Fire Department placed the order for new jackets and wanted to include Lepkoske. After a visit with Lepkoske, firefighters sounded the truck’s siren, leaving Don with big smile.
Pictured, front row, from left: Jeff Tuohey, Don Lepkokse, and Ferdinando Papalia. Back row: Don Marchner, Sergio DiCenso, Mike Sidari, Dell Stork, Captain Jonathan Higgins, and Josh Wolck.
Provided photo
VICTOR – Medina’s Varsity Winterguard took first place against nine other guard units during a Winterguard show on Saturday at Victor Central School.
There were 28 guards performing altogether in eight different classifications, plus one guard in exhibition. Medina’s Winterguard scored 62.21 points to take first in the A1 class. The students performed at a quick pace using flags, rifles and acrobatics.
Medina will next compete March 5 in Lancaster and then Medina has its Home Show on March 12 with both the Varsity and Cadet guards performing. The Medina Home Show, Colorburst 2016, will be in the High School Gym. The doors open at 4 p.m., the show starts at 5 and there are 20 guards performing. The Medina Cadet guard performs at 5:21 and the Varsity guard at 7:40.
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – A big crowd of 900 people are participating at the eighth annual Wine About Winter in downtown Medina.
Celebrity Day Spa is one of 30 wine-tasting stops on the event. This picture shows, from left: Brandy McKinney, Day Spa owner Edee Hoffmeister, and Amanda Riggle.
They were giving out gift certificates and coupons, as well as sips of wine. Hoffmeister said the event draws people to the downtown business district, giving them a chance to socialize and see many of the businesses.
Hoffmeister praised the Medina Business Association for its effort in planning and organizing the event.
“They have done a wonderful job with it,” she said.
Some of the commemorative wine glasses are displayed on a table at the start of the wine-tasting.
The 900 people is up from 850 a year ago. Cindy Robinson, the Business Association president, said the event will likely be capped at 900 in the future.
“We’re going to have to limit it because we don’t want long lines and we don’t want to overload the businesses,” she said.
Some of the Wine About Winter participants are lined up on Main Street to sample some of the wines.
Joel Hurlbutt, 23, of Albion and his friend Angela Corloni of Albion are pictured at the English Rose Tea Shoppe in Medina. They said they were impressed by number of family-owned businesses in Medina.
This group of friends and family stayed together on the wine stops. They are inside The Bread Basket. The group includes, from left: Dalton Vercruysse, Erika Myhill, Lisa Wheatley, Lori Myhill, Kirk Myhill, Mary Washak, and Dale Watts.
Paul Schwenk, right, of Schwenk Wine Cellars in Kent pours wine for Jim and Paula Dresser of Medina at A Kut Above.
Mrs. Dresser said the event has become a chance to reconnect with friends and visit Medina’s many shops in the downtown.
Peggy Johnson, one of the co-owners of Kut Above, said the event has proven popular.
“It’s a perfect time of the year,” she said. “In February a lot of people have cabin fever.”
Provided photo
MEDINA – Orchard Manor Rehabilitation & Nursing Center in Medina took part today in National Wear Red Day.
Orchard Manor residents and staff wore red to raise awareness about heart disease and stroke. Donations made will help fund research and education efforts by the American Heart Association to fight against the nation’s No. 1 and No. 4 killers – heart disease and stroke.
Pictured, include, front row, from left: Jenna Rath, Amy Martin, Dave Denny, Brenda Cherry, Richard Pizzuto and Michelle Clor.
Back Row: Patty DiNardo, Karen Biehl, Laurie Seager, Kari Root, LuAnn Thompson, Lori Sutton, Rose Ann Velesko, Katy Owczarczak, Jamie Murphy and Laura Lechner.
Photo by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Medina Burger King employees hold a ceremonial check for a fund-raising effort to benefit a school in Haiti. The group includes, from left: Star Graning, general manager Heather Eagle, and Tina Daly.
In December, the Burger King in Medina encouraged customers to donate a dollar to build a school in Haiti. If they donated, customers received coupons.
James Cammilleri owns the Medina Burger, as well as Burger King stores in Le Roy, Hamburg and the Eastview Mall. He encouraged the stores to hold a competition, to see which one could raise the most money. Medina topped the others with the final donation of $6,000. (The check says $3,361, but a final donation pushed the amount to $6,000.)
The funds went to help finish a school in Passerine, Haiti. C.A.R.H.A. (Christian Action Relief for Haiti) provides a school for over 250 children in that community.
“Without this ministry, these kids would not have the opportunity to attend a local school and they also may not have the chance to have some kind of food that day, which the school provides,” Cammilleri said.
He went on a mission trip to the site with his wife Sarah.
“With those funds, we were able to finish the construction of the classrooms and a provide a courtyard for the kids to play in,” he said. “We are also able to construct a real Steel Gate that will provide as an entrance to the school as well as additional security to the premise.”
Heather Eagle, the Burger King general manager in Medina, said customers were happy to contribute to the effort.
“People were in a giving spirit,” she said. “They thought it was a good cause.”
For more on the C.A.R.H.A. ministry, click here.
MEDINA – For years Medina police officers or a village animal control officer have picked up stray dogs and cats in the Village of Medina and maintained a dog pound at the police station.
But the Village Board, feeling the strain of tight budgets in recent years, did away with the part-time animal control officer. Police officers would still pick up animals, and Jose Avila volunteered to maintain a dog pound, feeding the dogs and cleaning kennels and cages for the animals.
Avila retired as police chief a month ago.
Village officials have been trying to work out a deal with the county for animal control services. Village residents pay for the service in their town taxes, Deputy Mayor Mike Sidari said. Dale Stalker, a Shelby town councilman, confirmed that village residents pay in their town taxes for animal control.
Medina and Shelby officials have reached out to the county about picking up animal control services in the village, and Sidari said the county responded it doesn’t have the staff to assume those duties.
Village Trustee Marguerite Sherman said during last week’s Village Board meeting she wants the county to put in writing that it is refusing to provide animal control for the village.
In the meantime, new police chief Chad Kenward said the village should look at hiring a part-time employee to care for animals, walking and feeding dogs, and cleaning the kennel. The police officers can continue to pick up animals in the short-term.
Village Board members said the county should provide the service, picking up animals and taking them to the county animal shelter in Barre at the routes 98 and 31A intersection.
In other action at last week’s meeting:
The Village Board gave Kenward permission to move the chief’s office from the police station upstairs to the second floor of City Hall in the former judge’s chambers. Kenward said that would give him more space and allow the current chief’s office to be used for an interview/interrogation room.
“I can hardly breathe in their right now,” Kenward said about the cramped office.
The board also gave Kenward permission to go ahead with a $3,600 engine repair for one of the police cars.
File photo – Medina firefighter Mike Maak, right, is pictured with Ridgeway Fire Chief Don Marchner last March during a pellet stove fire on Porter Road in Ridgeway.
MEDINA – Mike Maak, a captain in the Medina Fire Department who was instrumental in the department’s move to full-time ambulance services in Western Orleans County, has retired, effective Jan. 21.
Maak served 27 ½ years with the Fire Department, starting as a callman. Besides his role as captain, he also had been serving as officer in charge since Todd Zinkievich retired as fire chief last June.
“He’s done a lot for the village,” Deputy Mayor Mike Sidari said about Maak at Monday night’s Village Board meeting. “He was instrumental in the ambulance.”
The Fire Department replaced Rural Metro in July 2007 as primary ambulance provider in western Orleans County. The Department grew from six full-time firefighters to 13 as part of the transition and its call volume increased from about 300 a year to nearly 3,000.
Maak in recent years has pushed the Village Board to add more full-time firefighters to help handle the call volume and reduce overtime. He also ran for a county legislator position and lost to incumbent David Callard about four years ago.
Maak’s retirement opens another leadership position in the Fire Department. The Village Board will soon interview candidates for the fire chief’s job and expects to make an appointment next month, Sidari said. Then it will need to fill Maak’s captain position.
Filling those two positions will open two firefighter jobs if the positions are filled internally.
The Medina Police Department also has two full-time positions open, including a lieutenant’s position. Chad Kenward, the new police chief effective Dec. 27, announced that one patrolman, Ed Bower, is leaving Jan. 31 for a job at the Gates Police Department. The village is accepting another officer in a lateral transfer. However, two other positions need to be filled.
The Village Board will busy with interviews to fill some of the positions, and Sidari said existing staff will have to work more hours to cover all of the shifts.
The village should see some savings when the new firefighters and police officers are hired because they will start at lower salaries than the retiring personnel, Sidari said.
File photo – The Village of Medina won’t allow electronic signs like this one at Medina Central School on Maple Ridge Road. The school district isn’t subject to the village’s zoning laws.
MEDINA – The Village of Medina passed a law this evening that bans electronic signs, those featuring animation, flashing, scrolling or spinning messages.
The Village Planning Board recommended the new law, saying it wanted to preserve the character, heritage and history of the community. That emphasis on historical preservation has driven the current “renaissance” in the downtown business district, Planning Board Chairman Chris Busch wrote to the Village Board.
Busch said the Planning Board strives for sign designs that inform but don’t overwhelm people. Digital signs can pose a safety concern because they tend to hold a drivers’ attention for an extended period of time, he said.
Busch said the Planning Board was united in the push to ban the electronic signs. Tim Elliott, a member of the Planning Board, attended tonight’s Village Board meeting.
“In the village you’re coming into a historic area and we don’t want them in,” he said about the signs.
The school district has an electronic sign. That sign was put in before the new law was passed. The school district also isn’t subject to village zoning regulations.
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Stacey Kirby created a mural on the second floor of Medina Memorial Hospital about three years ago. The mural’s dominant image highlights the Erie Canal, which runs through Orleans County.
The mural also includes paintings of the Orleans County Courthouse in Albion, an iconic structure built in 1858.
Kirby, an Albion native, also painted the former site of the hospital. Before the hospital was built in 1925 on Ohio Street, the hospital used the former home of local industrialist A.L. Swett at northwest corner of Eagle and Prospect streets. The hospital operated out of that location from 1910 to 1925.
The mural was unveiled to public in March 2011. I was at the hospital on Tuesday and thought the mural worked wonders in dressing up this hallway.
MEDINA – The Village Board is raising the ambulance rates for the Medina Fire Department by 3 percent, and increasing the mileage rate by $3 to $33 per mile.
The new rates are right in line with ambulances in the area, said Eric Dodge, client relations executive for MedEx Billing, Inc.
The village in October 2014 raised the ambulance mileage rate from $20 to $30.
The Village Board this evening approved the 3 percent overall increase in ambulance bills. Medina billed an average of $570.79 per call in fiscal year 2013-14 and $553.41 in 2014-15, according to the report.
The village uses MedEx for is billing. Dodge compared the revenue for the ambulance from the two fiscal years. The amount paid for ambulance services increased from $999,253 (from June 1, 2013 to May 31, 2014) to $1,063,610 (from June 1, 2014 to May 31, 2015).
The Fire Department is seeing less revenue per call on average as more patients are on Medicare, rather than private insurance. Medicare pays at a lower rate. The total Medicare patients increased from 1,233 in 2013-14 to 1,458 in 2014-15, according to the ambulance report.
“What you guys are experiencing is pretty much what everyone else is since the Affordable Care Act,” Dodge told the Village Board.
The number of patients on private insurance dropped from 340 in 2013-14 to 196 the following fiscal year.
Medina was able to increase the percentage of calls that were paid from 88.3 percent to 91.1 percent. That helped boost the total revenue for the ambulance service.
Dodge said Medina has a higher collection rate than the typical ambulance provider. He suggested the village use a different collection agency that sends outstanding bills to credit agencies, affecting the delinquent payers’ credit score. Right now the collection agency doesn’t send that report. Dodge said some people may need that incentive to pay their bills.
Some insurance providers send the bill to pay for the ambulance service to the patient, who should turn those checks over to the Fire Department for the ambulance service. In 2013-14, there were 133 checks kept by patients, and 123 in 2014-15.
Photo courtesy of Ashley Ward – This photo, taken approximately in 1983 during the Lyndonville Fourth of July Parade, shows Ashley Ward’s grandson Alan with a 13-foot-long fiberglass salmon.
MEDINA – Orleans County’s biggest fish is making a comeback.
A 13-foot-long fiberglass salmon used to be in parades in the 1980s, promoting the Orleans County Fishing Derby. Al Capurso acquired the giant fish on a trailer and parked it by the Bait Barn on Route 279 in Gaines.
The fish was there for about 25 years. Capurso has given the fish back to promote the fishery in the community.
File photo by Tom Rivers – Here’s how the fish looked in 2013 when it was by the Bait Barn.
Medina students led by teacher Todd Eick are working to restore the fish to its original luster. The fish had been painted reddish brown with the words “Go Fish.”
Students will paint the fish a shiny silver, refurbish the fiberglass and put in on a new mount. The county’s sportsfishing promotion department is buying a new trailer so the fish can be taken in parades and moved around the county, said Mike Waterhouse, the county’s sportsfishing promotion coordinator.
Money from the World Fishing Network, which named Point Breeze the “Ultimate Fishing Town” in 2013, will be used towards the project.
“We’ll get it done and get it up to snuff,” Waterhouse said.
However, the fish might not be ready until 2017, or it may make its new debut this year.
The fish was originally used to promote the Orleans County Fishing Derby. It was created by Chuck Wind of the Medina Rotary Club, said Ashley Ward, a long-time coordinator and volunteer for the derby.
The Medina, Holley and Albion Rotary clubs used to work together running the fishing derby. The Albion Rotary Club has been running the derby each August since 1984.
This year’s derby will be from Aug. 6-21. There are usually about 700 entrants with grand prize $4,000 for the biggest fish. For more on the derby, click here.
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Kevin Sadrak, one of the performers in the Billy Martin’s Cole All-Star Circus, is high above the show ring in his routine in Medina’s middle school gym on Friday.
The circus performers put on two shows in Medina on Friday. It was a busy week for the cast with performances Sunday in Franklinville, Monday in Coudersport, Tuesday in Albion, Wednesday in Emporium, Thursday in Holley, Friday with two shows in Medina, and today with shows in Livonia and Honeoye.
Jonathan, one of the performers with the Rinny family from Argentina, rides a five-wheel unicycle in the center stage. Friday’s performances were also a fund-raiser for the Twig Association at Medina Memorial Hospital.
Vincent, one of the circus performers, holds a big snake during intermission. People could get their picture taken with snakes.
Vincent turned 14 on Friday. He is pictured with show promoter Billy Martin, who had the crowd sing Happy Birthday to Vincent, who has grown up in the circus.
One of the Rinny family members smiles for the crowd after a juggling routine.
Lucy Perez, 2, of Medina snacks on popcorn during the show in Medina.
One of the jugglers performs on Friday. He also juggled Ping Pong balls with his mouth.
Kevin Sedrak, a contortionist, folds himself into box during one of his routines.
Roger, left, one of the circus comedic performers recruited audience volunteers in a rendition of the famous YMCA song and dance.
