Photos from Medina Central School
MEDINA – The Medina Student Association held a canned food drive to benefit the MAAC (Medina Area Association of Churches) Christmas Program. At the high school, over 2,500 items were collected for families in need.
The donated food was picked up by Medina firefighters and delivered to the MAAC.
MEDINA – A big turbine blade that had been parked in Medina at the former Ames plaza since Dec. 5 was back on the move today.
Cassandra Poole sent in these photos taken from the Rite Aid parking lot. The blade looks to be more than 100 feet long. It was headed east down Maple Ridge Road.
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Members of the Medina Area Association of Churches are pictured at the United Methodist Church this morning with some of the toys and food that were headed to local families and senior citizens.
Sylvia Riviere, front left, has led the drive the past seven years. Sue Metzo, front right, also is a long-time leader of the effort. MAAC has been leading the annual drive for about four decades.
In back are Pastor Tony Hipes of the United Methodist Church, Donna Johnson, Pat Howell and David Riviere.
Local firefighters put out about 30 red barrels about a month ago in the community and residents and businesses donated toys, food and clothes. The MAAC put together packages for 112 families including 150 children. There were also 43 senior citizens that received meals, including a ham. (Last year the holiday drive served 107 families.)
Firefighters from Medina, Ridgeway, Shelby and East Shelby delivered the gifts and food this morning. Mike Fuller from East Shelby carries one of the big boxes. The United Methodist Church, the former Apple Grove, served as the packing and distribution headquarters for the drive.
Medina firefighter Jacob Crooks checks the list for his deliveries. Firefighters said they welcomed the chance to deliver the packages to local families and senior citizens.
Medina firefighters Bob Urtel, left, and Jonathan Higgins carry boxes to an ambulance. The Medina Fire Department delivered the boxes from three ambulances.
Ridgeway, Shelby and East Shelby brought rescue trucks to carry the boxes to local families.
Provided photo: Lieutenant Todd Draper and Kye join Security and Law Enforcement students at the Orleans Career and Technical Ed Center.
Press Release, Orleans/Niagara BOCES
MEDINA – Medina Police Department Lt. Todd Draper and his K9 partner, Kye, recently stopped in to the Orleans Career and Technical Education Center. The purpose of his visit was to spend time with the Security and Law Enforcement students in Steve Browning’s and Dudley Gilbert’s classes.
Lieutenant Draper talked to the students about what it is like to work with his K9 partner – a Belgian Malinois – and the bond he has with him.
“I have had Kye since he was one year old when the police department brought him over from Holland,” Draper told the students. “He is seven years old now and not only do we work together, we live together.”
Drpaer told the classes that when he was offered his promotion to lieutenant he would not accept it if Kye was not part of the package. He appreciates that the Medina Police Department honored his request.
“When he is ready to retire, I am hoping the department lets me purchase him,” Draper said about Kye. “The usual deal is that for a dollar they will transfer ownership to me.”
Belgian Malinois are used as a working dog whose tasks include detection of odors such as explosives, accelerants and narcotics, tracking humans and search and rescue mission.
“This is the breed the Seals used when they went after Osama Bin Laden,” Lieutenant Draper told the students.
He said Kye is trained for narcotics detection and he uses positive reinforcement to keep him on task.
“He has a toy that smells like drugs, so in actuality he is looking for his toy when we are out searching,” he said. “When he finds drugs I reward him for his work.”
He told the students that you never cross train a police dog because when he finds something, you don’t know what he is detecting. He also said that they work with other states to get drugs for the K9 to smell and get accustomed to.
“Drugs are made differently in each area, so it is helpful to expose the dogs to different narcotics.”
He and Kye gave a demonstration on how he locates drugs and how he is used to takedown a suspect, with Mr. Browning volunteering in that role.
He said that Kye’s heightened abilities prove to be a great asset to law enforcement work.
“He has a great sense of smell which is about 1,000 times stronger than ours and great vision,” Draper said. “He is also very athletic. He can jump over a six foot wall.”
Kye is also very social and a great draw to getting the community to interact with him,” Draper said.
“Usually when I am walking through an event alone, I won’t get a lot of eye contact or people talking to me,” he said. “When I have Kye with me everyone comes up to us and wants to pet him and interact with us. He is a great public relations tool. I really could not ask for a better or more loyal partner.”
More than 700 residents and landowners in western Orleans County responded to a lengthy survey covering everything from transportation to housing to inter-municipal cooperation.
Those results are now available for download and review on the Orleans County webpage and will be used to inform the Comprehensive Planning Process. (Click here to see results of the survey.)
The survey asked 93 questions and included responses from residents in the villages of Lyndonville and Medina, and the towns of Yates, Shelby and Ridgeway.
Among the uses most encouraged by survey respondents were farmers’ markets and groceries, followed closely by light industrial and/or manufacturing enterprises. Job creation efforts were ranked as “very important” to develop and/or improve among 80 percent of respondents.
Oft-cited concerns were a lack of well-paying jobs in the area as well as a lack of jobs for skilled laborers. On a positive note, when asked their most serious concern regarding their homes, 64 percent of respondents indicated they were satisfied with their current residence.
During the creation of the Western Orleans Comprehensive Plan in 1999, a similar survey was distributed. A notable change in the intervening years is a marked increase in residents’ concerns regarding the conditions of streets and roads – a 14 percentage point increase in respondents considering their condition to be a “very serious problem.”
A committee of western Orleans elected officials and residents met Wednesday. The group is working with the Orleans County Department of Planning and Development to update the Comprehensive Plan. Those changes will be the focus of public meetings in the future.
The survey and updated plan also can be used to bolster grant applications for sidewalks and other infrastructure.
File photo by Cheryl Wertman: Lt. Todd Draper and Kye, the Medina Police Department’s K-9, are pictured in January 2014 when they met children attended a local basketball game.
MEDINA – The Medina Police Department is trying to get a new vehicle for its K-9 handler and dog.
The current vehicle is from 2008 with 120,000 miles. The department welcomes donations, and will give a stuffed animal of a K-9 dog that resembles Kye for every donation at $20 or more. The stuffed animal shows a dog wearing a police vest.
Kye is a Belgian Malinois that works each day with his partner/handler Sgt. Todd Draper. Kye joined the department in 2012.
The dog’s main duties are tracking, drug detection, building searches and criminal apprehension.
“Hopefully many of you have met Kye during public events, school visits, or demonstrations,” Police Chief Chad Kenward and Lt. Draper wrote in a fund-raising appeal to the community. “He has become a well known member of our Department and is quite popular with citizens of all ages.”
Kenward and Draper said the Police Department has reached out to businesses and community members for donations, and wants to extend the opportunity to everyone to help with the new vehicle. (Kenward and Draper said the stuffed animal of Kye would make a nice Christmas present.)
Any donated funds will be deposited directly into the K-9 fund and only be used for expenses associated with the K-9 program, Kenward said. Cash or check will be accepted, receipts will be given for all donations. Checks can be made out to the “Medina Police Department K-9 Fund.” Donations can be made at the Medina Police Department, 600 Main St., or at the the Village Clerk’s Office, 119 Park Ave., or by speaking to Lt. Todd Draper.
For more information, call the Police Department at (585) 798-5602.
Photos by Tom Rivers
RIDGEWAY – One of Orleans County’s most well-known landmarks, the Canal Culvert in Ridgeway, has numerous icicles hanging inside after the temperatures dropped below freezing in recent days.
The canal is currently full of water while the Canal Corp. checks on culvert repairs in other locations. The canal is expected to be drained again next week for the winter.
These photos were taken today of the Culvert, the only spot where you can drive under the Erie Canal.
The Main Street clock in downtown Medina also has icicles growing on it.
Press Release, Canal Village Farmers’ Market
MEDINA – The Canal Village Farmers’ Market in Medina is well into its second Winter Market season and this year will begin a new holiday tradition, a Holiday market this Saturday.
“Our market continues to grow and develop,” said Gail Miller, the market manager. “Last year, we began a successful winter market and this year as part of the effort to grow that market, we’re adding a special Holiday Market on December 16.”
Market volunteer, Stacy Knights Pellicano, came to Miller with the idea of a special holiday market.
“It’s a concept we were playing around with this past summer as we were preparing for the winter market,” said Pellicano. “With the ever-growing popularity of Downtown Medina, a holiday market for the Canal Village Farmers’ Market would give a great opportunity to showcase all that Medina has to offer!”
The Winter Market is located on the same site as the market in summer (127 West Center St. across from the Post Office) and offers a surprising variety of products. So far, participating vendors include Human Farms & Greenhouse, Baker Farms, McB’s Hoof & Feather Farm, Stone Hollow Bakery, and Nice Farms.
“We offer Brussels sprouts, cabbage, winter squash, potatoes, garlic, onions, kale, eggs, bacon, local pork and sausage, locally raised chicken, duck, lamb, and goat; baked goods of all kinds including breads and scone, honey, jams and this Saturday we’ll have extra vendors and some Christmas treats,” Miller said.
Pellicano teamed with Nicole Goyette to organize the Canal Kids activities at the summer market. Pellicano said Santa will be making a special appearance at the market this Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
“Santa will be stopping by for a few photos and we’ll have hot chocolate and cookies for the kids,” she said. “We’re so lucky to have the best Christmastown USA in Downtown Medina and we hope to grow the Holiday Market tradition in the coming years.”
The market operates every Saturday morning thru May from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“We may take some time off in January – we’ll see what the weather brings,” Miller said. “Other than that, we’re always here!”
Photos by Tom Rivers: Leaders from One Church – Leader Pastor Rick Rouse, left, and Worship Leader Dan Swain (Medina campus pastor) – are pictured inside the former Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Medina on Thursday evening. The pews have been removed and replaced by 175 chairs. New carpet, paint and other renovations have been ongoing the past two months. The church will make its debut with two Christmas Eve services at 7 and 8:30 p.m.
MEDINA – A church in Akron has had Medina in its prayers and on its heart the past two years.
One Church NY has put that faith into action, working on opening a new campus in Medina at the former Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Ann Street by Medina Memorial Hospital.
One Church includes the Akron Free Methodist Church and the campus in Medina. Akron renamed its church to reflect the new mission in Medina and how the two congregations will be united as one, with the same staff, a joint budget and a shared ministry.
The Akron church has grown to about 450-500 for Sunday services. Many of the attendees are from Medina.
One Church NY, the former Scared Heart Catholic Church in Medina, is shown on Thursday evening.
Rick Rouse is the lead pastor at One Church. He has been in the ministry since 1982 and helped with church plants in Webster, Fairport and Amherst.
Dan Swain, the worship leader at Akron, will be the campus pastor in Medina.
“I do love people,” Swain said. “I feel like my job here is to connect with people.”
The Medina sanctuary has a much different look from the Sacred Heart era. The pews have been removed and are being replaced with 175 chairs. There is new paint and carpeting. The pulpit area also will have a large screen for multimedia presentations. Twice a month the sermon will be streamed in from Akron and shown in Medina. The other weeks in the month, a pastor will deliver the sermon in Medina.
Swain said the services will include an up-tempo band. The church will still sing traditional hymns, but most of the music will be more contemporary.
The fellowship hall in the basement also is being reconfigured into four classrooms.
One Church created this float in last Saturday’s Parade of Lights. The church also has been participating in the backpack and Boxes of Love ministries in Medina.
Rouse, who has a background in construction, has been joined by many dedicated volunteers the past two months on the building’s transformation. He also said Mazacom, a company based in Medina, has been key in helping to get the site ready.
The church is leasing the building from Skip Draper, the Shelby town supervisor who recently purchased the Sacred Heart site, including the rectory and former school.
The church is eyeing Jan. 7 for its first Sunday morning service at 9:30 and 11 a.m.
For more information, click here.
File photo by Tom Rivers: Western New York Energy’s ethanol plant is located at the corner of Bates Road and Maple Ridge Road in Medina.
Press Release, WNY Energy
MEDINA – On December 1, 2007, Western New York Energy (WNYE) completed construction and began producing clean burning, homegrown ethanol at its $90 million facility originally designed to produce 50 million gallons of fuel grade ethanol per year.
Ten years later, the company has added additional capacity through further investment, implemented new production technologies, and improved production efficiencies to be an industry leader.
Also in the first ten years, WNYE formed a transportation subsidiary, Shelby Transportation, LLC, to fill a logistics need for smaller farmers and WNY feed mills.
Today, the plant is capable of producing 30 percent over its original nameplate design while running more efficiently. Since the beginning, Western New York Energy has partnered with NY corn growers to purchase as much corn locally as possible. WNYE is projected to grind almost 21 million bushels of corn in 2018.
Ethanol is a high octane, low emission fuel that is generally blended at a 10% or 15% rate in gasoline today (E10/E15). A recent USDA study shows that blending 10% ethanol in our gasoline today reduces harmful, cancer-causing emissions by 43%. The ethanol produced by Western New York Energy from grain grown by local farmers is the cheapest octane available and saves money for families and consumers at the pump every day.
The zero-waste ethanol production process produces several high-quality co-products in addition to fuel ethanol. No part of the corn kernel goes to waste. New York State prides itself on being a leader in the production of clean renewable energy and WNYE is proud to be doing its part towards that effort.
Western New York Energy began from John Sawyer, Jr’s vision of creating a business that would improve farming and agriculture in WNY. Following that vision, John and Michael Sawyer worked with a local ownership group and community leaders to build the first ethanol plant in NY resulting in an improved local corn market and agricultural economy.
Western New York Energy would like to thank all of our investors and employees for their faith, hard work and commitment over the past 10 years. As a proud and active supporter of our local community, we look forward to continuing our operations here in Shelby and Orleans County for years to come.
