By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 December 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers The ground was covered in frost on Saturday morning following a cold night. This leaf was on the lawn of the Orleans County Courthouse in Albion.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for Orleans County from 6 p.m. Monday until 10 a.m. Tuesday, when the area could get hit with freezing rain and snow.
The Weather Service says up to 2 inches of snow could fall Monday night, with another inch on Tuesday morning. Untreated roads could be extremely slippery, the Weather Service said.
The advisory was issued for Orleans, Niagara, northern Erie, Genesee, Wyoming and Livingston counties.
The frost on Saturday morning left its mark on lawns in Albion.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 26 December 2015 at 12:00 am
Provided photo – Orleans County Legislature Chairman David Callard, left, spoke at a Niagara County Legislature meeting earlier this month when Bill Ross, right, was recognized for a long career in public service, including a record 12 years as chairman of the Niagara County Legislature.
LOCKPORT – Niagara County may be much bigger than its neighbor to the east, Orleans County, but Niagara leaders have proven to be great friends to Orleans, said David Callard, chairman of the Orleans County Legislature.
A two-county partnership, the Niagara-Orleans Regional Alliance, has helped both counties advance projects, including a push for broadband Internet coverage in rural pockets of the counties, a joint effort to collect e-waste (household electronics) and also fight a plan for regulating the Lake Ontario water levels.
Callard said Bill Ross, the Niagara County Legislature chairman, was a strong supporter of the two-county effort. Ross, 82, is retiring on Dec. 31 after a 30-year career in elective office. He also worked nearly a half century as a teacher and coach.
“He was able to work with anybody and everybody,” Callard said about Ross. “He has such a dynamicism.”
Ross has been to Albion several times to address the Orleans County Legislature. In April, Callard and the Orleans legislators presented Ross with a “Special Recognition Award” for his efforts with NORA, the two-county alliance.
Photo by Tom Rivers – Niagara County Legislature Chairman Bill Ross accepts a “Special Recognition Award” in April from David Callard and the Orleans County Legislature.
Niagara County has 216,469 residents, compared to 42,883 in Orleans, according to the 2010 Census.
Ross during a June 2014 visit to the Orleans County Legislature meeting said he sees the two-county partnership paying dividends for Niagara and Orleans.
“It’s been a tremendous marriage and I only see it getting better in the future,” Ross said during that meeting.
Niagara had an alliance with Erie County, but Ross said that fell apart. Orleans officials have been far more receptive and the two counties seem to have more in common as southshore Lake Ontario counties with lots of rural landscape.
“This is just the beginning of NORA,” Ross said about the alliance. “It’s been successful and it will be successful because of the people involved in it.”
Callard attended a Niagara County Legislature session on Dec. 1 and spoke during the meeting about his appreciation for Ross and his inclusive leadership style.
“We can share the problems and solve the problems,” Ross said during an April meeting of the Orleans County Legislature. “I can’t see a better partnership than with Orleans County.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 December 2015 at 12:00 am
The unemployment rate in Orleans County was 5.5 percent last month, which was down from 6.8 percent in November 2014.
The state Department of Labor released the data on Tuesday. The report shows that 17,000 people were working in the county last month, compared to 16,800 the previous November. There were also 1,000 people listed as unemployed, compared to 1,200 in November 2014.
State-wide the unemployment rate was 4.8 percent in November, the lowest since November 2007, according to the Department of Labor.
Columbia County has the lowest rate at 3.5 percent and Hamilton County is the highest at 9.1 percent.
Other unemployment rates for nearby counties include Genesee, 4.6; Wyoming, 5.0; Erie, 4.8; Livingston, 4.5; Monroe, 4.6; and Niagara, 5.5.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 December 2015 at 12:00 am
ALBION – Orleans County has passed a local law requiring pawn shops and other secondhand dealers to hang on to merchandise for at least 5 days before a sale.
The county had considered the local law to require businesses to hold merchandise for at least 14 days but trimmed that wait to 5 days instead. Erie County last week voted to pass similar legislation and it requires a 14-day hold.
The law in Orleans applies to pawnbrokers, swap shop operators, stamp dealers, coin dealers, jewelers and auction houses that purchase and resell items from people other than dealers and suppliers. There are some exemptions, including garage sales, antique dealers and sales by governmental, civic and religious organizations.
Law enforcement officials requested the law, saying stolen merchandise is often taken to pawn shops and jewelry stores.
The new lawn requires secondhand dealers to not buy from anyone under age 18, and cannot purchase items where the original manufacturer’s serial number no longer legibly exists.
Sellers to the secondhand shops also need to present identification at the time of sale.
The owners of the secondhand businesses need to keep records of what was purchased and from which sellers, and those records need to be filled out on forms provided or approved by the district attorney. The person who made the acquisition, whether the owner of the business or an employee, also needs to be recorded for each item.
All entries of sales and transactions need to be kept for a year and open for inspection by police officers, according to the local law. (Erie County is requiring the records be kept for five years.)
Owners of the secondhand businesses also need to allow law enforcement officers to examine, during normal business hours, any goods, articles, pledges, pawns, books or other records relating to secondhand property.
Officers are also allowed to seize items they have “reasonable grounds to believe to have been stolen.” Property seized will be receipted and shall be returned within 10 days if determined not to have been stolen.
Secondhand dealers who break this law could be fined a minimum of $50 and maximum of $500 on the first offense.
Paul Lauricella of Lyndonville was critical of the law during last week’s Legislature session. Lauricella said police shouldn’t be allowed to search businesses without warrants.
“Our Founding Fathers went to war over this,” Lauricella said.
The law was unanimously passed by the seven county legislators. Legislature Chairman David Callard said the law went through “numerous revisions” before the vote last Wednesday.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 December 2015 at 12:00 am
Reducing expressway to 2 lanes may ensure better maintenance
File photos by Tom Rivers – The Lake Ontario State Parkway runs along the lakeshore from Carlton into Rochester.
ALBION – Orleans County officials, increasing worried about the deteriorating conditions on the Lake Ontario State Parkway, think a long-term answer to the route’s maintenance may be reducing some of the lanes.
The expressway currently has two westbound and eastbound lanes. The road is bumpy in spots with cracks and pockmarks, especially just across the Orleans County line in Hamlin. The off-ramps are in bad shape and the state also seems to be reducing roadside mowing, county officials said.
“They are not maintaining the roadway or mowing much,” Jim Bensley, director of the Orleans County Planning Department, told the County Planning Board last Thursday.
He advised the board the county has applied to the Genesee Transportation Council for a feasibility study to reduce lanes of the Parkway, which extends 12.7 miles into Orleans County, ending near the Lakeside Beach State Park. The Parkway includes bridges that go over the Oak Orchard River.
The bridges over Oak Orchard River were built for the Lake Ontario State Parkway, which ends abruptly 2 miles west of the river.
The county is seeking $55,000 from the Transportation Council for the study, with the county providing an additional $9,000 in in-kind services.
The county would only support repurposing or decommissioning the west- or east-bound lanes if that resulted in the state better maintaining the remaining lanes, according to the county application with the Transportation Council.
The state Department of Transportation and Genesee Transportation Council have been directed state and federal highway resources to higher-volume routes. That doesn’t well for the continued maintenance of the Parkway, Bensley told the Planning Board.
One Planning Board member, Andrew Kludt of Kendall, said the Parkway has become so jarring that ambulance drivers don’t want to take patients on it. They look for alternative routes which take longer to get to the hospital.
“The Parkway is a huge time-saver if it’s operational,” Kludt said.
If the west- or eastbound lanes were closed to traffic, the closed lanes could perhaps be opened as a recreational route for walkers or snowmobilers, according to the county application. The remaining west- or eastbound lanes would stay open to traffic with steady maintenance from the state.
If the Transportation Council approves the study there will be public meetings and opportunities for residents and businesses to provide input about the Parkway and its future.
The study will take an inventory of the transportation assets on the Parkway and project the remaining useful life of the bridges, pavement, etc., and an anticipated maintenance schedule.
The study will also look at the most feasible route for repurposing the Parkway.
The study should weigh the conversion costs of a repurposed Parkway with its ongoing maintenance. Bensley said it’s possible a study could show it will cost too much to close lanes on the Parkway when conversion costs are tallied.
The project would be unprecedented, certainly for Orleans County, because it seeks to downsize a limited access state roadway. The route isn’t available to commercial traffic.
The goal of the study is a continuous highway corridor on the parkway from the Orleans-Monroe County border to Lakeside Beach State Park, Bensley said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 December 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The first snowfall finally hit today, with harsh winds part of the onslaught. The weather turned nasty around 3:30 p.m. This cyclist is crossing Main Street in Albion at about 4 p.m.
At least three accidents were reported on Ridge Road in Ridgeway since 4 p.m. with a car into a tree between Marshall and North Gravel roads, a vehicle rollover between Knowlesville Road the Gaines-Ridgeway town line, and a rollover between Swett and Oregon roads.
The weather will get better after today with highs of 38 on Sunday, 48 on Monday, 50 on Tuesday, 55 on Wednesday, 59 on Thursday and 45 on Friday (Christmas), according to the National Weather Service.
Here is how Main Street leading to downtown Albion looked at about 4 p.m.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 December 2015 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Mark O’Brien (right), director of the Orleans County Mental Health Department, presents the Stepping Up Initiative to Orleans County legislators on Wednesday. O’Brien is joined by Scott Wilson (center), the jail superintendent, and Randy Bower, who takes over as sheriff on Jan. 1.
ALBION – About 80 percent of the inmates in the Orleans County Jail have mental health disorders, and half of the inmates have drug and alcohol addictions, the jail superintendent told Orleans County legislators on Wednesday.
About 30 inmates each month take medication, paid for by taxpayers, to help fight their addictions and mental health issues, said Scott Wilson, the jail superintendent.
Many of the inmates fighting addictions and mental health disorders have high rates of recidivism, returning to the jail, Wilson said.
He thinks there is a better way to help inmates with their addictions and disorders, and also to break the cycle of crime.
Wilson was joined by Sheriff-elect Randy Bower and Mark O’Brien, director of the Orleans County Mental Health Department, in presenting the Stepping Up Initiative (click here) to county legislators. Many counties across the country are working to provide more mental health and drug addiction services to inmates.
“We want to keep them out of our jails and break the cycle of addiction,” Wilson told legislators.
Bower in his campaign for sheriff made treatment for inmates battling addictions one of his top priorities. He already has made connections with other sheriffs running the Stepping Up Initiative. Bower said he would like to have the program in place in early 2016.
“Other counties have taken up this initiative and we’re going to piggyback on their successes,” said Legislature Chairman David Callard.
Mark O’Brien, director of the Mental Health Department in Orleans County, said it will be a community effort to assist those with mental health disorders. His department will coordinate with Probation, the Department of Social Services and other agencies to reach people before they are in jail.
He noted Mental Health has agreement with four of the five school districts to have mental health counselors in the schools to work with children.
The county already has a drug court. It could look at other jail diversion programs with Mental Health and perhaps Veterans courts, O’Brien said.
Wilson cited statistics from the Stepping Up Initiative that estimate 2 million people in the United States are admitted to jails annually. Those people tend to be incarcerated longer than other inmates, and require more attention from staff and taxpayer resources, Wilson said.
“I really applaud you for this effort,” Callard told the trio leading the initiative in Orleans County. “It’s long overdue and it’s certainly welcome.”
The Legislature presented Wilson with a proclamation for leading the effort.
“We want to put it in writing to show just how fully we support this initiative,” Callard said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 December 2015 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – The price at the Kwik Fill in Albion is $2.27 for unleaded today. Gas is cheaper at many stations outside Orleans County.
ALBION – Orleans County legislators say gas prices can sometimes be 30 cents more per gallon in Orleans, compared to neighboring counties, hurting businesses and residents in the community.
County officials have railed against the high prices before, which are attributed to “zone pricing,” according to a report from the Attorney General’s Office. The AG said in 2011 that no laws are being broken due to higher prices in some counties.
The County Legislature is asking Gov. Cuomo and the State Legislature to pass a law making it illegal for zone pricing and other artificial changes in fuel prices.
The State Assembly has already passed a bill, A.00103, targeting zone pricing and the State Senate is considering the issue with bill, S00332.
“It’s imperative that we level the playing field for our businesses in Orleans County,” County Legislator Ken DeRoller, R-Kendall, said on Wednesday during the Legislature meeting.
The national average for gas prices today is $2.007, according to AAA. That is the lowest price since 2009.
In New York State, the average price is $2.272 per gallon, AAA reported today. In New York City, the average price per gallon is $2.37. in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls region it’s $2.24. Gas gets cheaper moving east with an average price of $2.20 in Rochester and $2.13 in Syracuse.
MEDINA – A Rochester man face drug charges after being arrested Tuesday at the Rite Aid parking lot in Medina, the Orleans County Major Felony Crime Task Force is reporting.
Maurice D. Jacobs, 37, of 24 Conkey Ave. was charged two counts of criminal sale and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, which are Class B felonies.
His arrest followed a three-month investigation into the sale and distribution of crack cocaine from Rochester to Orleans County, the Task Force reported.
Jacobs was arraigned in Albion Town Court by Justice Joseph Fuller and committed to the county jail on $20,000 cash bail or $40,000 bond.
The Task Force made the arrest along with the Medina Police Department. Joe Sacco, supervising investigator for the Task Force, says the investigation continues and more arrests are pending.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 December 2015 at 12:00 am
ALBION – Randy Bower will be about $11,000 less as sheriff in 2016 than his predecessor, retiring Scott Hess.Orleans County legislators on Wednesday voted to set Bower’s pay at $71,322, which is grade 11, step 3 in the pay scale. Hess is retiring after 12 years sheriff. He has been paid $82,621 in 2015 at grade 11, step 9.
County legislators met in executive session to discuss Bower’s pay on Wednesday. The group decided that Bower would make less than Hess based on Bower’s experience.
Bower was elected sheriff last month. He has worked nearly 30 years as a public safety dispatcher.
Hess became sheriff after working for the Albion Police Department for about 20 years, including several years as police chief.
“This is just a starting salary,” David Callard, chairman of the Orleans County Legislature, said about Bower’s pay level. “We have great expectations for the job he’ll do.”
Callard said the Legislature could have started Bower at either step 1 or step 2, but opted for step 3. Bower’s salary and pay steps should increase each year he’s on the job, Callard said.
Legislator Ken DeRoller also said Bower’s pay is just at the “starting level” and will go up in the future.
“We’re looking forward to working with the new sheriff,” DeRoller said.
Legislators had a public hearing setting the pay for some appointed and elected officials. Those positions will see 2 percent increases in 2016. That includes the seven legislator positions.
The chairman will be paid $17,087, the vice chairman $12,920 and the other five legislators, $11,390 each.
Some other positions and the pay for 2016 include: county clerk, $77,529; county treasurer, $77,529; director of personnel, $81,963; highway superintendent, $84,273; social services commissioner, $84,273; real property tax director, $71,322; director of computer services, $72,930; IT operations analyst I, $58,383; director of community health services, $68,372; secretary to highway superintendent, $49,410; director of emergency management, $30,588; and county historian, $8,160.
The 2 percent increases were opposed by Paul Lauricella, who ran for legislator this year with Conservative Party backing. He lost the election to Lynne Johnson. Lauricella, speaking during the public hearing, said the raises are too much for taxpayers.
“I have a hard time understanding that,” he said about the 2 percent increases.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 12 December 2015 at 12:00 am
File photos by Tom Rivers – John Dady, part of the Dady Brothers with his brother Joe, performed along the Erie Canal in Albion on July 12, kicking off the concert series on Thursdays. The Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council approved funding for the concerts in 2016.
BATAVIA – The Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council has announced $52,283 in funding for several cultural programs in Orleans and Genesee counties for 2015.
The funding in state decentralization grants is up from the $41,600 approved in 2015.
GO ART! also approved $5,000 total for two Ripple Grants to support local artists who wish to involve the community in their creative process.
One of those $2,500 goes to Bill McDonald of Batavia for the Travelling Towpath Troubadors, a concert series along the Erie Canal. The Troubadors performed several canal concerts from a boat this past summer. The group will be back for more music in 2016.
Members of the “Old Hippies” play as the Travelling Towpath Troubadors in a concert on July 12 in Medina’s Canal Basin. The group includes Vinny Pastore, Jim Catino, Kay McMahon and Bill McDonald.
The decentralization grants approved for projects in Orleans County include:
Lake Plains Players for its fall musical (to be announced), $1,819.73;
Lake Plains Players summer musical (to be announced), $638;
Lake Plains Players, Summer Youth Theatre Camp, $1,324.73;
Lee-Whedon Memorial Library in Medina, “Finally Fridays!” – 15th annual series of free music programs during winter, $1,969.73;
Lyndonville Lions Club for Concert Fun in Lyndonville, $2,794.73;
Mental Health Association for pottery and print making, $835;
Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension, 4-H Fair Flower Show, $585;
Orleans Renaissance Group, Inc. for an evening with Irish Tenor, Ronan Tynan, $3,619.73;
Julie Patel portrays Olive Ostrovsky, one of six contestants in the The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which was perfomed last summer at Leonard Oakes Estate Winery by the Lake Plains Players. Patel is singing, “My Friend, the Dictionary.”
Tale for Three Counties Council for three-county community reading effort “A Tale for Three Counties,” $2,094.73;
Village of Albion, Concerts on the Canal, $2,509.73;
World Life Institute in Waterport for “Voices from the Earth,” $4,875;
Yates Community Library for “More than Just Books,” $2,969.73
GO ART! welcomes artists and organizations to apply for funding again next year. Workshops for the 2017 grant cycle will be in the summer of 2016 at select local libraries and at the GO ART! building in Batavia.
Megan Brenner-Zwara plays Mary and Joseph Kusmierczak is George Bailey in the Lake Plains Players production of the It’s A Wonderful Life, which was performed last month. The Players were approved for funding in 2016 for three different theater projects.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 11 December 2015 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Some of the members on the toy drive effort for Community Action of Orleans & Genesee include, from left: Kris Hartwig, administrative assistant at S.B. Whistler and Sons (Phinney Tool and Die); Annette Finch, community services director for Community Action; Marsha Rivers, executive director of the Orleans County United Way; Michelle Figueroa, case manager for emergency services at Community Action; and Megan Piccirilli, administrative assistant for Community Action. Some other committee members include Carolyn Wagner, human resource manager for BMP in Medina; and Wendy Hinkley. The toys in this picture were donated by Gary the Happy Pirate in Rochester.
ALBION – Businesses and residents accepted the challenge to play Santa Claus to nearly 400 children in the Albion area.
The community members bought toys for 377 children in a toy challenge. Donors were given gift tags for children, listing their first name, age and three desired gifts. The residents, business owners and employees then want out and shopped.
It was the first time Community Action of Orleans & Genesee tried the gift tags where donors knew the name of the child they were shopping for and their desired gifts.
“It became more personal,” said Kris Hartwig, an administrative assistant at S.B. Whistler and Sons in Medina, a regular participant in the Community Action toy drive. “You know you’re getting them something they like.”
There were 53 donors who gave gifts to 377 children and 54 adults. Donors also gave $2,500 to the effort and Community Action and volunteers will use the money for gifts and food for the families.
“I like the feeling of helping the family,” Hartwig said. “Everything that is given stays in our community.”
Each family will get a holiday basket with food, and much of that will come Saturday morning when the Albion FFA chapter delivers food collected from local farmers. Some of that bounty will be shared with food pantries around the county.
Michelle Figueroa works as case manager for emergency services for Community Action. She has helped organize all the toys and food. She is impressed by the community’s generosity.
“I think it’s awesome,” Figueroa said. “It’s showing the love. They have that holiday spirit.”
In addition to the effort in the Albion area, Community Action has organized a toy and holiday basket drive in Holley and Kendall for about 125 children and their families. The Lyndonville Lions are collecting toys for about 125 children. The Medina Area Association of Churches also runs a toy drive for children in the Medina area.
Altogether, the organizations will direct toys to 800 to 1,000 children in Orleans County, said Annette Finch, community services director for Community Action.
Photos by Raymond Coniglio – Kari Powers of Le Roy speaks during a legislative forum Tuesday hosted by the Genesee ARC and the Arc of Orleans.
By Raymond Coniglio, Courtesy of The Batavian
BATAVIA – Kari Powers takes great pride in her daughter’s achievements.
Morgan, 8, was diagnosed with autism in 2009. She received early intervention through the Genesee ARC’s Rainbow Preschool, and is now enrolled in a “6:1:1” elementary school program six students, one teacher and one aide in Monroe County.
“I can’t speak enough about how much these services help my daughter,” Powers, who lives in Le Roy, said during a legislative forum Tuesday at the Genesee ARC Community Center in Batavia. “She is doing so well.”
Her pride is tempered by worry.
Worry, that state budget cuts threaten educational, housing and other services for children like Morgan, now and as they grow into adulthood.
“There are so many children diagnosed with autism or learning disabilities who are going to need services down the road,” Powers said. “It’s just so important that the funding continue.
“It matters to me,” she added. “It matters to Morgan and it matters to every single person in this room.”
Powers was one of 18 parents, caregivers and self-advocates who spoke for an hour-and-a-half at Tuesday’s forum. It was attended by state Sen. Rob Ortt, Assemblyman Steve Hawley, and Jay Grasso on behalf of state Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer. Ortt is chairman of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.
More than 100 people attended the forum, which was hosted by the Genesee ARC and the Arc of Orleans, which are in the process of merging.
Powers’ words echoed “It Matters to Me,” the title of a grassroots advocacy campaign organized by the local agencies’ state affiliate, NYSARC Inc.
The campaign focuses on four issues:
Residential housing and other opportunities for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities who are living at home with aging parents or other caregivers.
The conversion of workshops into integrated businesses, to ensure employment for people with developmental disabilities.
Funding to boost wages for direct support professionals (DSPs) who serve people with developmental disabilities.
Increased state funding for preschools that serve special-needs children ages 3 to 5.
Assemblyman Steve Hawley, R-Batavia, speaks during Tuesday’s legislative forum hosted by the Genesee ARC and the Arc of Orleans. Jay Grasso, left, attended on behalf of state Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer.
Tammy Caldwell has worked for the Arc of Orleans for more than two decades, including the past 15 years at Rainbow Preschool in Albion. She said low wages and poor benefits, make it difficult to recruit and retain qualified employees.
“We have very dedicated staff,” Caldwell said. “They don’t come here for the money; they’re in it because they are truly passionate about their job and the kids they see.
“But it’s getting harder and harder, because of the lack of funding, to find good staff who want to come to a rural community like Orleans County and Genesee County.”
Wendy Eden said the starting wage for a DSP $9.66 an hour is “shameful.”
“Recruiting has been the biggest struggle,” said Eden, a residential supervisor for the Arc of Orleans. “We deal with staffing shortages on a daily basis.”
Alexis Arthur, a DSP at the Genesee ARC Day Habilitation Center in Elba, said it is “outrageous” that fast-food workers in New York will be paid $15 an hour while many of her peers work second jobs to make ends meet.
“My job is very rewarding, and I have a deep sense of pride and gratitude that I get to work with the people I do,” Arthur said. “My only wish is for myself and my coworkers to be compensated for our hard work.”
Loretta Stratton of Elba said her life changed when her son Hank was diagnosed with autism when he was 2 years old.
She switched careers, and trained to work with children like her son. “I thought I would be able to reach him,” she said. “And I couldn’t. I wasn’t able to reach my own child.”
Fortunately, help was available. Hank received in-home care, and attended preschool. By the time he started kindergarten, Stratton was in a position to insist Hank attend “regular” class.
By 10th grade he was taking Regents courses, and is now ranked third in his class. Stratton said he is Elba’s first special-needs student “in full inclusion” from kindergarten through senior year.
“We don’t want our kids to be a burden on society,” Stratton said. “We want to empower our kids to be the best that they can be at whatever ability they have.”
Hank is also an advocate, and spoke in support of job opportunities.
“We need people with special needs in the work force,” he said. “They really want to be a part of it, and they deserve the (same) respect as any other citizen.”
Hawley and Grasso said issues raised Tuesday, will be part of negotiations when work on the 2016-17 state budget begins in January. (Ortt had to leave early to attend a public meeting in Barker.)
Hawley hoped advocates would take their case directly to Albany, and “hammer away” at Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders via letters, emails and YouTube videos.
Will their voices be heard?
Hawley pointed to the career of former Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, a Democrat who represented Long Beach until last year. He has an adult son with a mental disability.
In 2013, Weisenberg led a successful bipartisan effort to restore $90 million in funding that had been cut from the state Office of People With Developmental Disabilities.
Hawley was among the Assembly co-sponsors of the legislation. Ranzenhofer co-sponsored the Senate version.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 December 2015 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – A reindeer on the lawn at Orleans County Courthouse Square is pictured while the sun sets in background on Sunday.
There is still no sign of winter hitting Orleans County and Western New York. On Dec. 4, Buffalo set a new record for the latest measurable snow, breaking the 116-year-old mark of Dec. 3 set in 1899.
Today has a high in the mid-40s, followed by highs of 52 on Wednesday, 53 on Thursday, 56 on Friday, 56 on Saturday, 59 on Sunday, 50 on Monday and 44 on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
Provided photo – This photo was taken at Lyndonville’s High School Gymnasium with Lee Dillenbeck, Dean of Students; Sarah May, program assistant for Orleans United Drug Free Communities Coalition; Aaron Slack, Lyndonville High School principal; Candice Pretko, Lyndonville mental health counselor; and Jason Smith, Lyndonville Central School superintendent.
Press Release Orleans United Drug Free Communities Coalition
LYNDONVILLE – Parents, adults, teachers and students have a number to call 24 hours a day to report underage drinking parties or other activities that may be harmful to the health, safety and welfare of young people.
The Underage Drinking Tipline is anonymous, confidential and free. By calling the Tipline at 1-800-851-1932 and providing basic information, a caller can potentially save a life and divert tragedy.
What happens when you call the Tipline? Call center staff are trained to notify the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department. If the party location is in the jurisdiction of another police agency such as the Medina or Albion police departments, call information will be promptly routed to the appropriate responding agency.
Sarah May, Orleans United Drug Free Communities Coalition program assistant, is working with coalition members to promote Tipline throughout Orleans County. This month, Tipline is featured on a Rt. 31 Medina billboard and lawn signs are being distributed to businesses and agencies in Orleans County.
“Do your part, if you know of underage drinking, call 1-800-851-1932 and take action to prevent harm caused by underage drinking,” May said.
