By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Elsenheimer admitted to sex acts with two teen-age boys
ALBION – A former Medina firefighter was sentenced to two years in state prison on Monday after he admitted in court in March that performed sexual acts on two teen-age boys.
Jeffrey J. Elsenheimer Jr., 32, worked as a full-time Medina firefighter for six years. Investigators from the Orleans County Major Felony Crimes Task Force found nude photographs of a 16-year-old boy on Elsenheimer’s cell phone, which were sent while he was on duty.
The alleged abuse with the two boys occurred between March and August 2012.
Elsenheimer faced a 29-count indictment, including 17 felony counts and 12 misdemeanors. He pled guilty to one count of third-degree sexual act with each boy, and faced up to four years in state prison.
He was sentenced to two two-year sentences that will run at the same time. Elsenheimer also will be registered as a sex offender and will have eight years of post-release supervison when he’s out of prison.
Elsenheimer served as Medina Fire Department public information officer in addition to his duties as firefighter. He had to surrender his EMT license. He also worked as a part-time dispatcher for the county, and was fired from that position when he was charged with the sex crimes. He previously worked as a teacher at Kendall.
MEDINA – A $573,063 budget for Lee-Whedon Memorial Library was overwhelmingly backed by Medina school districts residents on Monday, passing with an 83-6 vote.
This budget represents an increase of 1.8 percent. Residents also re-elected incumbent Trustee Isabella Mark to another five-year term.
“We are grateful to the community for the continuing support,” said Maryellen Dale, Board president. “We authorized a major but necessary expense this year – the replacement of the 45-year-old roof at a cost of $215,000.”
A state construction grant will pay 50 percent of the roof costs.
“We look forward to decreased energy costs as a result of the newly insulated roof,” Dale said. “However, as the building approaches its 50th year, we notice that it is in need of updating. Many of the ceiling tiles are stained and broken. The walls were last painted in 1994, the carpet was replaced in 1996. It is time to freshen up! We plan to give the community a building it can be proud of. Plans are afoot for this major renovation project to be completed in the fall.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – This home at 204 West Center St., Medina, was one of 17 houses in the village to receive matching funds for improvements through a grant administered by the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce. The $200,000 grant also provided money to 11 businesses for façade and sign upgrades.
MEDINA – Kathy Blackburn drives down Main Street and some of Medina’s residential streets, and she sees new signs for businesses, fresh paint on buildings, and new siding and roofs.
And more of those projects will soon be tackled, with the prospect of more improvements next year.
Blackburn, executive director for the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce, is administering a $200,000 grant that provides matching funding for the projects that are all in the village of Medina. An anonymous funding entity is paying for the grant, and that entity will likely continue a second round in December, Blackburn said.
The grant has paid for $121,000 worth of work on 17 houses and $68,000 for 11 businesses. Some of the projects have been completed, and others will soon get under way, Blackburn said.
More than 50 applicants sought matching funds through the program after it was announced in November. A committee reviewed the proposals.
“We would have liked to do more projects, but you only have so much money,” Blackburn said.
The committee included Medina Code Enforcement Officer Marty Busch, a contractor, investor, banker and accountant.
The group was focused on projects that would have the biggest impact for “curb appeal,” Blackburn said. The grants were capped at a maximum of $20,000 per property.
The grant program is expected to be focused on the Medina area again if a new funding round goes forward, Blackburn said.
“This project pulled at your heart strings because it is helping some people stay in their homes and do work they couldn’t have afforded on their own,” she said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 May 2013 at 12:00 am
MEDINA – I was in Medina this evening and stopped to look at “The Big Apple,” a sculpture by Richard Bannister of Barre. The artwork was installed in Medina along the Erie Canal in 2000. The sculpture is next to the Glenwood Avenue bridge. Bannister created the giant apple as a tribute to Western New York fruit growers.
I also like how Medina’s truss bridges are painted black, compared to most of the others in Orleans County that are green. And it’s hard to beat the spires on St. Mary’s Catholic Church as an iconic landmark in a canal town.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 12 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA — Many mothers and their children chose to spend Mother’s Day in Medina with Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas will be in town for another weekend at the Medina Railroad Museum from May 17-19. The children’s attraction is making his eighth annual visit to Medina. Thomas draws 2,000 to 3,000 visitors each day to the community.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 11 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
Kurt Brunner of Rochester holds his 3-year-old son Mateo up high to view the largest HO-scale model train layout in the country. The 204-by-14-foot layout inside the Medina Railroad Museum includes 7,000 artifacts.
Brunner and his family were in town Friday for the Thomas the Tank Engine adventure. Thomas began his six-day run in Medina on Friday. Visitors can take a 25-minute train ride with Thomas and try other activities at the museum on West Avenue.
Thomas events continue today and Sunday and on May 17-19. The attraction drew 14,000 people to the museum last year. The museum has 150 volunteers to help with the event, which is now in its eighth year at Medina.
MEDINA – The Medina Mustangs Band Boosters met on Monday and picked the group’s leaders for 2013-14, including President Trisha Laszewski and Vice President Mary Morgan. The group is excited about the Mustangs trip to New York City on May 16-19 to compete in the Music in the Parks Festival.
Pictured include, from left, front row: Julie Granchelli, delegate; Mindy Kenward, delegate; Amy Strickland, chaperone chair; and Karen Furness, student accounts. Back row: Marcia Toussaint, uniform chair; Christine Pask, secretary; Trisha Laszewski, president; Kathy Dreyfus, publicity; Doug Waild, transportation chair; Mary Morgan, vice president; Kathy Bogan, delegate; and Kelly Allen, treasurer.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Cardone family reopens Main Street site for food and entertainment
Photos by Tom Rivers – Renee Schuner, events coordinator for Medina Theatre, stands inside the remodeled theater that is used for music, live entertainment, parties and other events.
The Cardone family has reopened the Medina Theatre at 607 Main St.
MEDINA – After 30 years of mostly sitting underutilized on Main Street, the Medina Theatre has a new life as an entertainment venue for bands, a party house for weddings, and restaurant for individuals and groups.
The Cardone family remodeled the historic theater site and reopened it late last year. The building has been equipped with state-of-the-art audio, video and lighting equipment. Live entertainment is booked most weekends, including a Murder Mystery this Saturday. Local and regional bands also perform inside the former theater that seats 400 people.
“We have the capability to book any kind of event you want,” said Renee Schuner, the events coordinator. “I love this venue. It has so much potential for the community.”
Medina Theatre has a busy schedule with entertainment lined up Fridays and Saturdays, including a Murder Mystery this Saturday.
Joe Cardone said his family wants a new generation to experience the Medina Theatre. The site was restored and expanded by Warner Brothers in 1938, making it a premiere movie theater in Western New York that drew regular customers from outside the county. Warner Brothers was hit with an anti-trust suit in mid-1940s and had to sell its theaters.
The Medina site changed hands many times. Vincent Cardone bought it in 1975 and remains the owner. The site was used as a movie theater until that year, when it last showed “Jaws.” Movie theaters received a tiny portion of the ticket sales and had to rely on concessions. That wasn’t enough to survive for many small-town theaters, including the theater in Medina, Joe Cardone said.
Cardone is optimistic about Medina, and sees the upgraded building as part of the community’s renaissance.
“We didn’t want this to be an eyesore or a nonproductive building,” he said about site at 607 Main St. “There’s a whole generation of kids that haven’t been in here. We have a lot of things planned to draw people here.”
The theater received an extensive upgrade in 1938 when it was acquired by Warner Brothers. Many of those improvements are still evident, including movie reels and old projectors. This plaque near the front entrance remains.
The main theater room has space for large parties or for bands and live entertainment. The Cardones have also serve lunch from Mondays through Fridays in the Diana Lounge, named for the daughter of former theater owner Nikitas Dipson.
Medina Theatre serves dinners from Thursdays through Saturdays.
Schuner returned to Medina last year after working as an event planner in Sacramento, Calif. She said Medina is becoming a destination.
“There has been a resurgence in Medina,” she said. “It’s a darling town. People come from Buffalo and Rochester and can’t believe what a gem is here.”
MEDINA – The 2013-14 budget for Lee-Whedon Memorial Library would increase spending by 1.8 percent or $10,019 to $573,063.
Lee-Whedon leaders will discuss the budget during an annual meeting 7 p.m. May 13 at the library. Isabella Mark, the current board of trustees vice president, also is up for election at the annual meeting. She is unopposed.
“The Board has again prepared a conservative budget to sustain this vital and viable community asset,” said Mary Ellen Dale, the board president.
Eligible residents in the Medina school district can vote on the budget from noon to 8 p.m. on May 14 at the library.
The library is in the process of replacing a roof that is original to the building from 1966. A state grant is paying for half of that project. Library staff are also planning several interior improvements for the building at the 620 West Ave., including new paint, carpeting and ceiling tile for this fall.
“Building maintenance is our priority at this time, our investment for the future,” Dale said. “We expect to enjoy decreased energy costs thanks to our newly completed insulated roof. We have budgeted for these anticipated expenses and we have also secured grant funds.”
Residents of the school district must present identification and proof or residence to vote on May 14.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Volunteers are welcome to pitch in with two community cleanup projects on Saturday.
In Carlton, the Oak Orchard Neighborhood Association will meet at the Lighthouse Restaurant for tea or coffee at 8:30 a.m. The group will then shift to the Orleans County Marine Park to start a roadside garbage pickup at 9 a.m.
Volunteers will pick up trash on Route 98 between Lake Ontario and Narby’s Superette and Tackle near “The Bridges.” OONA has been doing the trash pickup for four or five years. Some volunteers bring weed wackers to help trim the grass along the roadside.
The organization urges helpers to bring their own gloves and buckets.
“The more people we have, the less time it will take,” said Ed Bellnier, OONA vice president.
In Medina, the Lions Club is having its annual spring environmental cleanup day from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will meet at the Lions Park before heading to different parts of the village for cleanup projects.
So far, 15 club members, 40 Boy Scouts and 10 students from the Iroquois Job Corps have committed to helping. Lions will cook hot dogs for participants beginning at 11 a.m.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
Workers have spent the past month tearing off an original roof at Lee-Whedon Memorial Library in Medina, which opened in 1966. Progressive Roofing of Buffalo is installing a new built-up Tremco roof, a project that should be done in about a week. The $215,000 project also adds a layer of insulation to the roof, which should help cut down the library’s energy bills. The state is paying for half the project through a library construction fund. Lee-Whedon also plans to paint the interior of the building and add new carpeting and ceiling tile in the fall. The improvements are aimed to give the library, located at 620 West Ave., a new look for its 50th anniversary in 2016.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 May 2013 at 12:00 am
MEDINA – The new village clerk-treasurer in Medina is a familiar face in the village office.
Debbie Padoleski worked with Peggy Crowley, the recently retired clerk-treasurer, for about three decades as deputy clerk. Padoleski has been serving in Crowley’s former position since April 8.
The Village Board on Monday formally appointed Padoleski to the job at a base salary of $64,087.
The board also hired Jada Burgess, another veteran employee in the village office, to serve as deputy clerk-treasurer at an annual salary of $35,000.
The board made one other hiring decision: Judy Gress as a clerk for $23,500. The office is functioning with three employees, rather than the previous four.
Mayor Andrew Meier had proposed adding a full-time village manager who would work out of the village office, but that was scrapped because of the village’s fiscal constraints.
Meier and the Village Board have directed the fire and police departments to each cut $40,000 in the newly adopted 2013-14 budget. The Department of Public Works needs to chop $10,000 while the code enforcement officer needs to trim $5,000 from his budget.
MEDINA – While driving to the Medina firehall early this morning, a Medina firefighter found a car off Salt Works Road at 1 a.m.
The car was flipped on to its roof against a sheared off telephone pole with the driver still pinned inside and power lines down.
The Village of Medina Fire Department and its ambulance were dispatched. The Ridgeway and Shelby fire departments were also responded to the scene with their hydraulic tools.
With the positioning of the patient inside the crushed vehicle and the position of the telephone pole, it took firefighters 40 minutes to safely extricate the driver.
The driver was then treated by the Village of Medina Fire Department paramedics and transported to the helicopter landing zone for transport to ECMC by Mercy Flight WNY.
Also assisting at the scene were crews from National Grid and Lyons Collision. The Village of Medina Police Department is investigating the accident.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 April 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Medina Village Trustee Mark Irwin, left, and Mayor Andrew Meier listen to residents comment on the proposed village budget during a public hearing on Monday. Former Mayor Marcia Tuohey, back left, offered several suggestions.
MEDINA – The Village Board approved a new budget on Monday that will the raise tax rate 4 percent or 63 cents per $1,000 of assessed property, a $4.7 million spending plan that drew criticism from two former village officials.
“Little by little the tax rate can be reduced but you have to have the guts to do the little things,” Marcia Tuohey, a former mayor, told the Village Board during a public hearing on Monday.
The board cut $125,000 from the tax levy from the previous week, to narrow the tax increase from about 9.5 to 4.2 percent. Those cuts included $40,000 each in the police and fire departments, $10,000 from the Department of Public Works and $5,000 for code enforcement. Medina also is taking $30,000 more from a reserve account.
Tuohey suggested more cuts, including less overtime for an officer assigned to the Orleans County Major Felony Crimes Task Force, reductions in the tree budget, no raise for the mayor and taking more money from a contingency fund.
The board agreed to cut $5,000 from the tree budget, which still leaves $5,000 for trees with $4,000 coming from community donations and outside sources.
The Village Board proposed a $3,000 raise for the Mayor Andrew Meier, from $6,000 to $9,000, with $1,000 each for the increase coming from water, sewer and general funds.
Tuohey and former Trustee Owen Toale said the timing of the raise is bad when Meier is asking for cuts in village departments.
“It’s called leadership by example,” Toale said.
Tuohey said the mayor’s raise is “unconscionable” when police and fire will be cut and taxes will go up.
Meier said the mayor’s pay hasn’t been changed in at least a decade, and pales compared to the neighboring town supervisors, who have far fewer employees to manage. He agreed to not take the raise if police and fire have to reduce employees to meet the budget numbers.
The $40,000 in cuts in the two departments haven’t been identified. Meier said department heads will be asked to find the reductions.
Trustee Mark Irwin defended the pay increase for the mayor.
“Nine thousand dollars is frankly ridiculously low compensation,” Irwin said. “It should be more.”
Meier said the village needs to take a long-view in the budget, and that’s why he didn’t support taking more money from contingency. He said Medina needs more revenue from a county sales tax sharing formula. The village’s share hasn’t increased in more than a decade.
The village also needs to keep pressing for relief from town taxes, where village residents pay for some services they do not receive, Meier said. He has asked the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway to exempt the village from road maintenance and plowing taxes because the village already pays for that in village taxes.
Resident Mike Sidari told the board Medina should seek contributions for its ambulance service from the western Orleans municipalities that use the service. The revenue for the ambulance is down about $45,000 from budget for 2012-13. Sidari said the neighboring towns should give something to help make up for the gap.
“I’m with you in principle,” Meier said. “We bear the cost solely and they get it for free.”
The village is getting some relief from a neighboring municipality. Medina provides a police officer as a school resource officer to Medina Central School. The school district is increasing its share of the officer’s pay and benefits from $50,000 to $60,000. That covers about 65 percent of the officer’s total costs, and reflects about how much time the officer devotes to working at the school.
Meier said the county should increase its contribution to the officer assigned to the task force. The county pays $50,000 towards a total cost of about $115,000.
Tuohey, a former County Legislature chairwoman, urged the Village Board to be “hard-nosed” in negotiating with other municipal leaders to ensure the village is getting its fair share.
Meier said the village faces a difficult financial picture with falling tax assessments and rising costs. The total assessed value fell $658,131 to $165.5 million in 2013-14. The village’s overall budget decreased $35,000 to $4,688,975. The amount of money to be collected in taxes is up 3.6 percent or $94,469 to $2,722,442. That is resulting in a tax rate increase from $15.82 to $16.45.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 April 2013 at 12:00 am
State funding would replace roof on historic Medina building
Photos by Tom Rivers – The Orleans Renaissance group wants to restore the third floor as a performing arts venue for musicians and other artists.
Civil War re-enactors stopped in front of the Bent’s Opera House on Saturday for a ceremony in front of the building that opened during the Civil War.
MEDINA The organization that owns the historic three-story Bent’s Opera House is optimistic it will receive a $500,000 state grant to replace the roof and work on second and third floor restoration projects.
The Orleans Renaissance Group sought a $500,000 grant from the state last year, but was denied. This time the organization has a stronger application, ORG officials said.
It has since received grants for engineering and architectural studies, and other funding for the first floor and the façade. The Orleans Renaissance Group just last week was awarded a $10,000 matching grant from the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution for restoration of the first-floor storefront, façade and windows.
“I think we have an excellent chance of getting a grant this time,” said Bridgette Yaxley, ORG’s grantwriter. “The roof is a huge priority.”
Chris Busch, vice president of the Orleans Renaissance Group, sits inside the Bent’s Opera House on Saturday, just below the balcony.
The grant application is expected to be due in July, when it goes before the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council. That group will pick projects as part of a bigger application that goes before the state, which will announce the funded projects in December.
“This time we have the engineering studies and the smaller grants to help get approved for the big grant,” said Lynne Menz, ORG administrator.
The ORG acquired the building and a nearby parking for free from Bank of America in 2008. ORG wants to restore the opera house, which opened in 1864. The top floor would be used as a performing arts venue, with a restaurant eyed for the second floor. Retail tenants are sought for the first floor.
The building was open for tours on Saturday following a parade of Civil War re-enactors in the downtown. Paul-Joseph Stuckmann, a member of the Greycliffe String Quartet in Buffalo, served as tour guide.
Paul-Joseph Stuckmann, in suit, leads a tour of the Bent’s Opera House on Saturday. Stuckmann, a member of the Greycliffe String Quartet, said the acoustics are outstanding in the former opera house.
“The historical value of this place is very high,” Stuckmann said. “There s tremendous potential here as a place to perform music and arts.”
He thinks a restored Bent’s Opera House would be a draw, pulling people from between Rochester and Buffalo. Stuckmann stood on the main stage and played his violin on Saturday while visitors looked over the third-floor space including the balcony.
“As a performer, I can hear my sound all over the room, which is great,” he said. “The acoustics are wonderful in here.”
