Events, including battles and a ball, continue until Sunday

Photos by Tom Rivers – Re-enactors marched down Main Street in Medina this morning, part of a three-day Civil War encampment in the community.

MEDINA – Downtown Medina was the scene of a moving parade and ceremony this morning when about 100 Civil War re-enactors marched down Main Street.

The event included the re-enactment of a ceremony at the beginning of the war 152 years ago. Back then Medina soldiers in Company D of the 28th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment stopped on Main Street and the women of Medina gave Company D Captain Erwin Bowen a sword for protection.

The sword has stayed in Bowen’s family, and his great-great granddaughter, Mary Zimmerman Robinson of Medina, handed off the sword to re-enactor Simon Taylor, who was portraying Capt. Bowen. That took place on a stage in front of the Bent’s Opera House, which opened in 1865.

“You can read about the Civil War, but the re-enactors bring the whole thing to life,” said Dan Dedo of Batavia, who watched the parade with his wife Bonnie. They plan to see the battle at 2 p.m. next to the GCC campus on Route 31A.

The Medina re-enactment on Main Street was a reminder of the sacrifice of so many families, Mrs. Dedo said.

Medina is hosting its first Civil War encampment this weekend. The event was initially planned to stay at the GCC campus, but the Medina community welcomed the parade down Main Street, where several Civil War era buildings remain.

Adam Tabelski, the former village mayor, is honorary chairman of the event. He recently returned from an overseas deployment with the Army. He served as master of ceremonies during the parade, and dressed in a top hat and a suit on loan from the Medina Historical Society.

“We have a wonderful historic Main Street,” Tabelski said after the parade. “Let’s show off the re-enactors and remind people of our community’s past.”

Visit http://civilwaratgcc.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/cw-medina-encampment-program-2013-final.pdf for a schedule of Civil War events in Medina.

Photos by Tom Rivers – A cannon goes off with a loud boom and explosion of smoke during a mock Civil War battle today next the GCC campus center in Medina. About 100 re-enactors are in Medina for an encampment. They will battle again on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Raymond Ball, a Civil War re-enactor from West Seneca, looks through a telescope to check Confederate and Union solider positions during a battle next to Genesee Community College in Medina this afternoon.

MEDINA – Robert Yott and about 100 other Civil War re-enactors dressed in cotton and wool uniforms on a warm Saturday. They marched down Main Street, cooked lunch over open fires and then went to war for an hour, chasing down the enemy.

“It’s a way to educate the public and give them a sense of what the men went through,” said Yott, a Bath resident who leads Wheeler’s Battery, a group of about a dozen re-enactors in the 1^st New York Light Artillery Battery E.

Yott gave the soldiers instructions during a mock battle this afternoon. He told them where to aim the cannon and when to fire. Most of the re-enactors are descendants of Civil War soldiers from 150 years ago, Yott said.

“This is a way to honor them,” he said.

He continues to learn more about the war and the sacrifice of the soldiers and families. Most of the units were made up of soldiers from the same community. Brothers, family members and neighbors served alongside each other.

“They enlisted just like everyone in the village,” Yott said. “Many of them had never been off the farm.”

They would witness horrible deaths in the war. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder wasn’t yet recognized, but Yott knows the soldiers suffered mental anguish from the gruesomeness of the war, and the loss of so many friends and family.

Several hundred people watched the battle today between Union and Confederate re-enactors.

About 500 people lined the field where Union and Confederate soldiers went to war this afternoon. Tim Tydings, 29, of Rochester was tasked with “sponging the cannon” before it was fired. Tydings admitted his adrenaline starts to kick in when he smells the sulfur from the cannons and sees the black smoke.

When Yott’s group fired their cannon, a ring of smoke wafted up in the sky, drawing cheers from the crowd.

David Kreutz was among the onlookers. He was dressed as Abraham Lincoln. The retired General Motors worker from Depew has been portraying Lincoln for 16 years and is a member of the Association of Lincoln Presenters.

“Basically we’re trying to bring history alive for students,” he said. “It’s a lot of energy, but it’s worth it because you bring history alive.”

David Kreutz, an Abraham Lincoln presenter from Depew, shows over-sized pennies to people at the Civil War encampment in Medina.

Photos by Tom Rivers

Phil Banasczak (top) of plays the mandolin during a Victorian Cotillion – a ball in the Civil War era – as part of the Civil War encampment in Medina on Saturday. Banasczak is a member of City Fiddle in Buffalo, a group that includes his violin-playing wife, Gretchen Banasczak. Several people dressed in period costumes and danced as part of the concert next to GCC’s campus center in Medina.

Brothers Sharbel Simon, 11, and John Paul Simon, 9, of Lyndonville enjoy the Civil War encampment in Medina on Saturday. The brothers carried a banner about the event in a parade earlier in the day. Their father, Jim Simon, is associate dean at the Genesee Community College campus centers in Albion and Medina.

Photos by Tom Rivers

Medina will be hosting about 150 Civil War re-enactors from today until Sunday, with many seminars, workshops, two battles, a ball and a parade on the schedule. This banner hangs on the Bent’s Opera House front façade on Main Street. The building will be open for tours from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, following the parade on Main Street that begins at 10 a.m.

David and Gail Miller set gerbera daisies at the base of the Medina clock on Main Street this morning, trying to show off the clock in preparation of the Civil War encampment the next three days. Re-enactors will open their camp at Genesee Community College on Route 31A today from 4 to 8 p.m.

Photos by Tom Rivers – About 400 students from Oak Orchard Elementary School helped plant trees along West Avenue this morning in Medina.

MEDINA – The village celebrated Arbor Day this morning by planting trees, and welcoming elementary school students who sang songs about recycling.

The Medina Tree Board also honored Peggy Crowley, who recently retired as village clerk, with the “Friend of the Urban Forest” award.

“She made sure we got the funds we needed,” said Chris Busch, the Tree Board chairman.

Students sing a song, “Reuse Reduce Waste Recycle.”

He addressed 400 Oak Orchard Elementary students in front of 1018 West Ave., and told them trees are important for clean air, fighting erosion, improving water quality and making neighborhoods look better. Mayor Andrew Meier also read a proclamation, declaring “Arbor Day” in the village.

Medina is planting 60 trees this spring, with most of those on West Avenue and Park Avenue. Next week, the village Department of Public Works will remove some trees on Main Street and replace them with different varieties that Busch said will look and grow better. Some of the Main Street trees will be relocated to Butts Park.

The National Arbor Day Foundation has given Medina a “Tree City Growth Award” and has designated the community a “Tree City USA” for its commitment to planting trees every year.

Nicole Goyette, a Medina teacher and member of the Medina Tree Board, addresses 400 students in front of 1018 West Ave., where several trees were planted in the right-of-way.

Press release

MEDINA – The community will celebrate Arbor Day on Friday by planting trees and accepting a “Tree City Growth Award” from the National Arbor Day Foundation. The award honors Medina’s commitment to community forestry.

Medina is one of the few local communities with the “Tree Growth” designation. It puts the village in the company of well-known urban forestry communities such as East Aurora, West Point, Mount Vernon and Ithaca, said Chris Busch, chairman of Medina’s Tree Board. It is also the sixth year Medina has received the Tree City USA designation. Overall, this year Medina will plant over 60 trees, an increase of 10 trees from last year.

Medina’s annual Arbor Day Celebration is scheduled for 9 a.m. this Friday at 1018 West Ave. Hundreds of elementary school children from neighboring Oak Orchard Elementary School are expected to attend and participate along with FFA members from Medina High School.

“This will mark the first year we have had participation with our FFA chapter at Medina High School,” said Nicole Goyette, Medina’s Arbor Day coordinator. “This will be a great opportunity for them to interact with our younger students at an agri-based event like Arbor Day.”

Medina Mayor Andrew Meier is an advocate of his community’s forestry program.

“We’re extremely proud to be a Tree City USA and a Tree City Growth Award community,” he said. “It demonstrates the kind of commitment to the environment that helps make our village an attractive place to live, work and visit.”

The Tree City USA program and Tree City Growth Award is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the National Association of State Foresters, and the USDA Forest Service. Tree City USA and Tree City Growth are national designations.

“We commend Medina’s elected officials, volunteers and its citizens for providing vital care for its urban forest,” said John Rosenow, chief executive and founder of the Arbor Day Foundation.

“Trees provide numerous environmental, economical and health benefits to millions of people each day, and we applaud communities that make planting and caring for trees a top priority.”

Photo by Tom Rivers

A nearly full moon gave downtown Medina a nice glow last night. The downtown will host a Civil War parade this Saturday at 10 a.m., part of the three-day Civil War encampment in the community. Re-enactors will battle by the GCC campus at 2 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.

Mayor says village faces rising costs, shrinking assessments

MEDINA – Village property owners can expect a jolt to their tax bills for the 2013-14 fiscal year that begins June 1.

The tax rate could jump from $15.81 per $1,000 of assessed property to $17, a 7.5 percent increase, Mayor Andrew Meier said after tonight’s board meeting.

“It’s very demoralizing,” he said. “There’s no money anywhere.”

Medina’s village-wide assessment shrunk about $800,000, down to $165 million. Costs are up with rising contributions to the retirement system, health insurance and workers’ compensation. And revenues are down. The rising costs and declining revenues represent about a $300,000 swing from 2012-13.

Meier said fixed costs – employee benefits and wages – give the village little leeway to make reductions. That’s the same with fuel and many other operational expenses, he said.

Some municipalities with growing tax bases can hold their tax rates steady because bigger assessments sometimes keep pace with tax growth. But in Medina, the assessments are going down village-wide.

Meier believes the village tax rate is driving the decline in the values and assessments of village properties. Just moving across the village line into the towns of Shelby or Ridgeway can slash $12 off the overall tax rate for a property owner, saving a property owner with an $85,000 home about $1,000 a year in taxes.

Meier has been pushing to dissolve the village, believing that would create a tax structure that is more equal for village and town residents, rather than the current disparity. The village has received a state grant to study the dissolution. Meier wants to bring the issue to a public referendum. That could be two years away.

“There are inherent, built-in structural problems with how we provide services and split up how we pay for them,” he said. “It uniquely burdens the village.”

Meier wanted to hire a village coordinator to work on the study and help manage the village government, which has about 50 employees and a $4.5 million annual budget.

But he said that position is unlikely given the village’s financial situation for 2013-14.

“The Village Board needs to decide whether it will budget for it,” Meier said. “If we don’t budget for it, then it won’t be there, unless some other money turns up and I don’t think it will.”

Right now, the budget doesn’t include a village coordinator, a position that could pay $70,000 a year.

The Village Board and department heads are working to finalize the budget for a 7 p.m. vote on Monday at the Shelby Town Hall.

Meier worries the 2014-15 could be even more difficult for village property owners. A new reassessment dropped the village values another 5 percent, but those numbers don’t take effect until the 2014-15 budget. The shrinking tax base will put more pressure on the tax rate.

“The grim reality is we haven’t even taking the hit on the new assessments,” Meier said. “That’s next year.”

Budget restores modified sports, 2 positions

MEDINA – The Board of Education approved a $33,805,130 budget for 2013-14 that won’t raise school taxes and will restore some staff and modified sports.

Medina two years ago slashed 30 positions and eliminated many extracurricular activities. The district responded to a state aid cut of about $2 million for 2011-12.

The district is in better shape this budget. It will keep the tax levy at $9,135,636. The overall budget increases spending by $377,200. Teacher and staff benefit costs – health insurance, contributions to the retirement system, worker’s compensation – are up $640,428 to $8,107,706.

A $414,255 state aid increase will help pay for the rising expenses. Medina also is budgeting for a $150,709 reduction in transportation costs. The district this school year shifted to a combined morning and afternoon bus run. That has saved 75,000 miles on the bus fleet. However, the district purchased three buses because of the single bus runs for 2012-13. Next year, the district won’t have to add buses outside of its regular replacement schedule.

Medina also will see a $137,309 drop in debt service payments.

The Board of Education has talked about bringing back programs since the cuts two years ago. Modified sports for students in junior high will return next school year at a $35,500 cost.

“We’ve maintained our programs and added back modified sports, which I think is important,” said BOE President Carol Heiligenthaler.

The district also is bringing back a curriculum director, and will add a network specialist to focus on the school’s technology needs.

“This budget is fiscally sound while at the same time increasing opportunities for students,” Jeff Evoy, the district superintendent, said at Tuesday’s BOE meeting. “We have to remember we are here for our students.”

District residents can comment on the budget during a 6:30 p.m. public hearing May 7 at the district office. Voting will be from noon to 8 p.m. on May 21 at the district office.

Voters will also decide whether Medina can spend $200,000 to purchase one 66-passenger bus and two 30-passenger buses.

Another proposition would establish a capital reserve account for up to $2.5 million. School officials said they want to modify an existing reserve fund to allow for more money to be set aside. The district plans to use surplus funds at the end of fiscal years to put in the account.

Four seats on the Board of Education also will be up for election. The terms for Virginia Nicholson, Wendy Pencille, John McCarthy and Susan Squires are all expiring. The deadline to submit petitions to run for the BOE is 5 p.m. April 22.

Photo by Tom Rivers

Kody Leno, 11, of Medina climbs a 60-foot inflatable obstacle course today at the 4-H Fairgrounds in Knowlesville. This year’s Home and Garden Show includes a Kid’s Zone featuring the obstacle course and miniature golf. The activities are inside the Knight’s Building. The show, which includes 56 vendors, continues until 4 p.m. today.

Photo by Tom Rivers

Kevin Cercone, an employee with Shorty’s Beast Lawn Service in Medina, gathers fallen branches and other debris at Boxwood Cemetery in Medina today. Shorty’s was hired by the village for spring cleaning at the cemetery along Route 63.

Battles, Parade, Cotillion Ball highlight April 26-28 events

Photo by Tom Rivers – A Civil War cannon serves as a tribute to Civil War soldiers in Greenwood Cemetery in Kendall, one of several Civil War memorials in the area.

Press release

MEDINA – Civil War re-enactors will battle twice in Medina over the April 26-28 weekend, a Civil War encampment that also will feature a parade and cotillion ball.

Plans are being finalized for the three-day event at Genesee Community College’s campus center on Route 31A. Re-enactors, both Union and Confederate, will set up camp Friday evening from 4 to 8 p.m. Visitors are invited to view ongoing exhibits inside the Medina center at 11470 Maple Ridge Rd.

Exhibits will include Civil War dioramas, artifacts from a New York Infantry unit, period medical tools and children’s games. There will be ongoing demonstrations of blacksmithing, candle-making, period music and mortuary arts.

On Saturday, camps open at 9 a.m. followed by a parade through downtown Medina from 10 to 11 a.m.

“The parade gives the community a chance to really experience Civil War history in a unique way,” said GCC historian Derek Maxfield. “We’ve learned the route we’ve mapped for the parade is the same route Medina Company D of the 28th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment used when they went off to fight in the Civil War in 1861.”

During the parade 152 years ago, the women of Medina stopped the group to give Company D Captain Erwin Bowen a sword.

“Captain Bowen’s great-great granddaughter Mary Zimmerman Robinson is going to do the same thing during our parade,” Maxfield said. “She’ll present a sword to Capt. Bowen, as played by re-enactor Simon Taylor. It should be a touching moment.”

The parade will be true to 19th Century history, featuring re-enactors in uniform, horses, carriages and the Excelsior Fife and Drum Corps. It will end at the Railroad Museum, which was the depot the Civil War soldiers marched to when they left town.

Robinson is displaying her family artifacts. Visitors can also check out booths by the Medina Sandstone Society and Medina Historical Society, Medina RR Museum, Orleans Renaissance Group, Holland Land Office and Museum, Echoes Through Time Museum, Cobblestone Society and Rochester Museum of Military History.

In addition, a number of presentations are planned throughout the weekend, including:

Eleanor Stearns portraying Clara Barton
Tom Schobert portraying General Robert E. Lee
Derek Maxfield “Understanding the Emancipation Proclamation after 150 years”
Tom Rivers “Why Mt. Albion Tower may be the finest Civil War Memorial”
Dee Robinson “Women and the Civil War”
Donna LaValle “Proper Dress for the Civil War Lady Re-enactor”

Victorian fashion will be in full view Saturday evening during a Victorian Cotillion.

“We’re hoping some members of the community will join us in period costume,” Maxfield said.

The ball will be held in the Central Tent. Buffalo’s City Fiddle, which specializes in period balls, will provide the music. The ball runs from 7 to 10 p.m. Organizers are making it easy for parents to attend. During the ball, children’s activities will be offered inside the Campus Center.

Of course, no Civil War encampment is complete without the recreation of battle. Re-enactors will skirmish twice during the weekend, from 2 to 3 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.

“The schedule is jam-packed,” Maxfield said. “There really is something for everybody. It should be a fantastic weekend.”

ALBION – Orleans County officials were urged to seek state grant funding and other resources to make two sites in Medina more attractive to developers.

The spots – a 120-acre cow pasture owned by the Keppeler family on Route 31A and the Medina Business Park on Bates Road – were called “priority sites” by the Orleans Economic Development Agency.

It received a $50,000 state grant to develop an economic development plan for the county. The 850-page document looks at the strengths and weaknesses of business sites throughout the county.

O’Brien and Gere, consultants for the EDA with the project, said the two sites in Medina are the county’s best bet for luring manufacturing and other companies. The sites both have access to water, sewer and other infrastructure. They both fall within the 30-mile radius of the hydropower plant in Lewiston. The New York Power Authority determines which companies receive that low-cost electricity.

Steve Eckler, the project manager for the study, recommended the county pursue funding to advance the sites, making them more “shovel ready.” The county could seek funding for the sites in the next round of regional economic development grants, he said. The deadline to apply is expected to be in July.

The economic development plan lists four other sites in the county that have business potential. Two others are in Medina: Allis Road near the railroad tracks just off Route 31 and Bates Road near Brunner. Other sites with room for companies include the Holley Business Park off Route 31 and the Albion Business Park at the corner of Butts Road and Route 31.

The report from O’Brien and Gere looks at the zoning of all the business sites, access to infrastructure, proximity to the Thruway, airport and railroad, and other issues.

Eckler urged the county to work on all sites, removing obstacles to development.

“Ultimately you want to make them as shovel-ready as possible,” he said.

County officials said they would review the thick document.

“This plan certainly serves the county well in the short-term and the long-term,” said David Callard, chairman of the Orleans County Legislature.

The Orleans EDA board is expected to discuss the development plan during its 8 a.m. meeting Friday.

Photo by Tom Rivers – These boarded-up houses on Genesee Street are expected to be gone this summer.

MEDINA – Two boarded-up houses that have depressed a neighborhood will soon be demolished.

The Village Board today voted to hire Fisher Associates of Rochester to do asbestos surveys at 613-615 Genesee St. and the next-door house at 617 Genesee St. The board said it would commit up to $5,250 for the surveys from the village’s economic development fund.

The surveys will show if any remediation is needed before the houses can be knocked down. Medina officials expect the houses will come down in the summer.

“It’s long overdue,” said Marty Busch, the village’s code enforcement officer.

In other action, the board:

Approved a parade for 10 a.m. on April 27 that will be part of a three-day Civil War encampment at Genesee Community College in Medina. The parade will include Civil War re-enactors. The parade begins at St. Mary’s Catholic Church and heads down Eagle Street to Main Street and then continues behind City Hall on Park Avenue.

The YMCA was approved to set up a thermometer fund-raising sign in Rotary Park for the next two months. The organization is halfway towards a $400,000 fund-raising goal for capital improvements at the former armory site.

The following were approved as call men for the Medina Fire Department: Sabrina Farnsworth, Cyndil Farnsworth and Dylan Parker.

MEDINA – The state has come through with a $750,000 grant and low-interest loan package for an Albion company that is expanding into Medina.

Credit Recovery Financial Services will receive a $367,500 grant and a $367,500 deferred loan with the other $15,000 going to Harry Sicherman, a grant writer and consultant from Buffalo. He prepared the application and will administer the funding.

If the company meets its employment goals – adding 315 workers in the next three years – the $367,000 loan won’t need to be paid back.

Medina applied for the money for CRFS in February. Mayor Andrew Meier praised the state’s Homes and Community Renewal agency for approving the request so quickly.

“Now that’s a quick turnaround,” Meier said Monday.

The Village Board agreed to serve as a “pass through” for the money. The village applied for the grant and loan, and is the official recipient. It will pass the money to the Orleans Land Restoration Corporation, which is part of the Orleans Economic Development Agency umbrella. The OLRC will then loan and give the grant money to CRFS.

The Albion company was started in 2002 by CEO Jodi Gaines. It has grown to more than 400 employees and company officials believe it could reach 750. CRFS outgrew its Albion site. It will work out of a 15,000-square-foot building at the Olde Pickle Factory for the next year while keeping some workers in Albion at a site on East Avenue.

In about a year it expects to shift to a 50,000-square-foot space at the Pickle Factory. CRFS expects to spend $7 million in the expansion project. The state funding will go towards purchasing computers, furniture and other equipment.

CRFS has become the leader in its industry, helping banks and investors recoup money when a home is foreclosed.