Photos by Tom Rivers – Tom Kuryla, commissioner of the Orleans County Department of Social Services, is pictured in the hallway outside the DSS offices on the second floor of the County Administration Building on Route 31. He started as DSS commissioner in 2010, and welfare fraud recoveries and cost avoidance have doubled since then.

ALBION – The raid at the Murray Superette on Tuesday, when three people were arrested in a food stamp trafficking scheme, is the latest sign Orleans County officials, including the district attorney and law enforcement agencies, are taking welfare fraud very seriously.

Three Salamaca brothers – Alexander, Myron and Olec – were all arrested on Tuesday and jailed on $20,000 bail. Police believe their fraud could reach into “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

The Salamaca family owns the Murray Superette on Route 104. Police say store owners and some employees accepted customers’ food stamps for cash at 70 percent to the customer, and then allowed customers to purchase items not authorized by the food stamp program, including cigarettes and lottery tickets.

At least 50 people have been identified for using their food stamp benefits in exchange for cash and that number should grow, said District Attorney Joe Cardone.

The arrests on Tuesday followed 15 months of investigation, including work from the county’s Welfare Fraud Unit in the Department of Social Services. The two full-time investigators, Marie Snyder and Scott Twitchell, have a solid understanding of the social services programs, and know the red flags that can show welfare fraud, DSS Commissioner Tom Kuryla said.

“If there is welfare fraud, we’re going to find out,” Kuryla said. “We owe it to the taxpayers to show that we’re working on their behalf, too.”

Kuryla joined the Orleans County DSS as commissioner in 2010, after being deputy commissioner in Seneca County, where he oversaw the fraud investigations.

The Orleans fraud numbers have doubled in the past five years.

Source: Orleans County DSS. The 2015 data represents the first nine months of the year.

The county added a second full-time investigator in 2013. Orleans County leads similar-size nearby counties in welfare fraud detection and recovery.

Wyoming County investigators prevented an estimated $1,343,000 in unentitled benefits in 2014, and also recovered $62,000 in fraud, according to an April 18, 2015 article from The Daily News in Batavia. That report also said Genesee County prevented $787,716 in improper benefits and recovered $20,000 in fraud in 2014.

When the investigators with Orleans DSS detect fraud, they will often work with local law enforcement, which makes the arrests.

Tom Drennan, chief deputy of the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office, went over the game plan for making arrests and executing search warrants with about 20 officers from several agencies on Tuesday morning when the Murray Superette was raided and three people charged in a food stamp trafficking scheme. Drennan and the officers are pictured at about 6:30 a.m. at the Gaines Town Hall. Orleans County’s Welfare Fraud Unit has been involved in the case.

Some of the candidates for county-wide offices have said the county isn’t doing enough to crack down on welfare fraud. Kuryla said the county is a leader with its efforts and is doing everything “reasonable” to detect fraud and prevent it when people seek public assistance.

He said there has been some pushback from people who don’t like seeing people arrested, denied benefits or forced to pay back assistance.

“Some people think we’re beating up the poor,” Kuryla said. “That is not the case. We want to give people the appropriate assistance that they need. We’re absolutely trying not to hurt anybody who deserves benefits.”

An improving local job market and the county’s welfare fraud crackdown has brought down the county’s overall welfare caseload and cost, Kuryla said.

The caseloads for Family Assistance and Safety Net (assistance for people without children or who have been on welfare for more than 5 years) have been reduced from 758 in 2014 to the current level of 592, Kuryla said.

The reduced caseloads should reduce the county’s welfare costs by at least $200,000 this year, “conservatively,” Kuryla said.

“The numbers are coming down,” he said. “Many people realize it’s easier to get a job than to come in here and try to fool them.”

He said identifying the fraud takes people with their sole focus on looking for the red flags, and responding to referrals from the public and a hotline. Kuryla said county officials are discussing adding a third welfare fraud investigator to keep up with the workload and pursue more leads.

“The fraud is there and it’s constant,” he said.

Fundraising target – $279,104.31 – reflects major routes and connections in community

Photos by Tom Rivers

MEDINA – United Way of Orleans County wants to emphasis community connections in the 2016 fund-raising campaign. The organization, to emphasize that theme, picked three major state routes – 279, 104 and 31 – in the county for the campaign goal.

On Thursday evening, honorary campaign chairman Charlie Nesbitt and United Way executive director Marsha Rivers unveiled the campaign goal during a reception at Leonard Oakes Estate Winery. The $279,104.31 not only incorporates the major thoroughfares in the county, but those numbers could serve as donation targets for community members.

In the 2015 campaign, United Way also used “104” to motivate donors. That number represents a $2 donation 52 weeks a year. Rivers urged some donors to try to reach $279 in giving to the United Way for the year. Or perhaps first-time donors might want to begin supporting United Way at the $31 level.

The campaign raises funds for 19 partner agencies, as well as many more programs designated by donors.

Charlie Nesbitt, the honorary campaign chairman, addresses a group of agency leaders and United Way supporters during a campaign kickoff on Thursday evening.

“Thank you to the agencies for dedicating some part of your life to helping your neighbors,” Nesbitt, the former state assemblyman, said during the campaign kickoff.

The Genesee-Orleans Ministry of Concern is one of the agencies that benefits from the United Way campaign. The United Way funding is used for the Just Friends mentoring program and also for crisis services, said Jacki Mowers-Sciarabba, the client advocate in Orleans County and Just Friends coordinator for the agency.

“With more money we could help more families keep the heat on during the winter,” she said. “These are senior citizens, children and families.”

The Cornell Cooperative Extension uses United Way funds for a “Choose Health” program, where a staff member teaches children about making good choices and healthy living. That can include reading labels on food packages and portion control while eating.

Jessica Downey, as assistant vice president at Claims Recovery Financial Services in Albion, is president of the United Way board. She said United Way has an impact throughout the county, supporting agencies that work with people of all ages.

“I love how close-knit the community is,” Downey said. “We’re loyal to each other and help each other out.”

The United Way board of directors is pictured at Thursday’s kickoff. The group includes, front row, from left: Jessica Downey, Assistant VP for CRFS; Executive Director Marsha Rivers; Melinda Maedl, Business Community Liaison for Iroquois Job Corps; Carol D’Agostino, Principal for Kendall Junior-Senior High School; and Virginia Kropf, Reporter for The Daily News.

Back row: Jackie Gardner, VP at Claims Recovery Financial Services; Patrick Weissend, Assistant VP & Branch Manager for Tompkins Bank of Castile in Medina; Bill Hungerford, President of Takeform Architectural Graphics; Jerome Pawlak, Owner of Pawlak’s Save-A-Lot; Jason Smith, Superintendent of Lyndonville Central School; and Dave Cook, Territory Manager for Innovative Solutions.

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Pete Rhim, an employee with Baxter International, is out volunteering with the Day of Caring today through the Orleans County United Way.

Rhim and volunteers set up a perimeter of plastic timber around the playground for Community Action of Orleans & Genesee on East State Street in Albion. They set a vapor barrier on the grass and were then going to put a layer of recycled tire mulch on top.

Jamal Smith, a student at the Iroquois Job Corps Center in Medina, carries weeds to the garbage while working on the landscaping at a residence for The Arc of Orleans County on Hamilton Street in Albion.

Jamal Smith, left, and fellow Job Corps student Kyawshwe Aye work on the landscaping at The Arc residence. They were getting the ground ready for a fresh layer of mulch.

They were volunteering as part of the Day of Caring today.

Christian Candelaria measures wood to 6 feet. Christian, a Job Corps student, helped build frames and display areas for the Cornell Cooperative Extension. The display areas will be used to show 4-H projects.

Job Corps carpentry students Selena Ortiz, right, and Estephanie Moreno put the frames on the new display boards inside the Trolley Building at the fairgrounds..

There were about 30 volunteers out in the Day of Caring today. They also worked on projects at Hospice of Orleans County in Albion and The Arc’s Stork Street residence in Medina.

Besides Job Corps and Baxter International, volunteers from Takeform Architectural Graphics in Medina, Orleans County Adult Learning Services and Genesee-Orleans Ministry of Concern worked on community projects.

Candidates asked about adding school resource officers, body cams, and boosting diversity among officers

Photos by Tom Rivers – Steven Aldstadt, president of SCOPE in New York, serves as moderator of a candidate forum on Wednesday evening for the three people running for sheriff, including from left in back: Tom Drennan, Don Organisciak, and Randy Bower.

ALBION – In a candidate forum organized by the New York Revolution and the Orleans County chapter of SCOPE, two groups staunchly opposed to the SAFE Act, the first question for three candidates for sheriff didn’t waste any time on the controversial gun control law.

Candidates Randy Bower, Don Organisciak and Tom Drennan were all asked if they would enforce the SAFE Act.

Bower and Drennan said they wouldn’t. Organisciak said he would.

Most of the law, passed by the State Legislature in January 2013 after a mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, was just upheld by a federal court.

Drennan, the chief deputy for the Sheriff’s Office, said the law “needs to be repealed.” He told 200 people at the candidate forum that he wouldn’t push officers to enforce that law if he is sheriff.

“We won’t be knocking on anybody’s door, checking their guns and ammunition,” he said.

Bower, a public safety dispatcher who won the Republican primary over Drennan last month, noted that every Orleans County town and village board, as well as the county Legislature, opposed the SAFE Act and have called on its repeal.

“As sheriff I work for the people,” Bower said at the forum at the Elk’s Club. “If you don’t want it enforced, I won’t enforce it. The sheriff works for you, the people.”

Don Organisciak speaks during a sheriff candidate forum.

Organisciak, a retired Medina police officer and investigator, said he would be obligated to enforce the SAFE Act as sheriff. He is endorsed by the Democratic Party.

“It’s a big issue,” he said about the SAFE Act. “The SAFE Act is a law and I have to enforce the law as sheriff.”

The candidates were asked numerous questions in the forum that lasted about 80 minutes. They were also allowed to make opening and closing statements.

Bower said he would push for a drug treatment program in the county jail, and more community policing, especially in the rural areas. He wants the Sheriff’s Office to have a stronger relationship with local school districts. Ideally, he said two officers would be assigned to work in each school district.

“We spend a lot of money protecting everything else but our children,” Bower said. “We need to be in our schools.”

Randy Bower answers a question during the candidate forum.

After a 30-year career in Medina, Organisciak worked two years as a school resource officer in Lyndonville. The school district had several bomb threats before Organisciak was brought in and he said those issues went away by the end of his two years.

He also developed a rapport with students, and that helped solve other crimes. He would favor a school resource officer in each district. Only Medina has an officer now in the schools with the school district paying towards an officer’s salary from the Medina Police Department.

Organisciak said the county should pay for a school resource officer for Kendall because that district doesn’t have a village police force. The other communities might work out paying for an officer through the school district or the village police department, he said.

Drennan said he meets regularly with the school superintendents and there is talk about the schools making an office available for officers, who could also stay for lunch and get to know students.

Organisciak said he is running for sheriff to give residents a choice in the election, and to also put his 30-plus years of experience to work for the county. He would make professionalism his main mission for the Sheriff’s Office, making training and proper equipment a priority for the officers and staff.

“I want to bring back the professionalism,” he said.

Tom Drennan, a 23-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, has worked his way up through the ranks, including the past nine years as chief deputy.

Drennan lost a close Republican primary by 21 votes. He remains a candidate through the Reform and Independence parties.

He said he has the experience and commitment to take the Sheriff’s Office to a higher level of professionalism. He wants to make the Sheriff’s Office an accredited agency through the state. That would establish procedures and standardization for deputies and staff, Drennan said.

Organisciak also said he would support accreditation because it would make the Sheriff’s Office more efficient and reduce insurance costs. Bower said he wasn’t convinced about the accreditation because he doesn’t want the state dictating how the Sheriff’s Office is run.

Both Drennan and Bower have said who would serve as their undersheriff. Bower named Chris Bourke, a lieutenant with the Sheriff’s Office with three decades of experience. Drennan on Monday announced Brett Sobieraski, a sergeant with the Rochester Police Department and a Kent resident, would serve in the role if Drennan is elected.

Organisciak said he is interviewing people for undersheriff and may make an annoucement next week. His choice as undersheriff will have law enforcement experience, he said.

Organisciak and Drennan said the election is for the sheriff.

“You’re not voting for the undersheriff,” Organisciak said. “You need to lead by example.You’re the sheriff.”

Mattie Zarpentine, a leader of New York Revolution, said the group wants to help educate voters about the candidates and encourage people to vote on Nov. 3.

Drennan reluctantly named an undersheriff because he said the issue was becoming a distraction. Sobieraski has a 27-year career in law enforcement, starting with the Lockport Police Departmentand then the past 23 years with the Rochester Police Department, including the past 15 as a supervising sergeant with the Greater Rochester Area Narcotics Enforcement Team.

Sobieraski also has been a training officer, and Drennan said the Sheriff’s Office has several new deputies who would benefit from training and mentoring from Sobieraski.

Drennan said he would be an active leader for the Sheriff’s Office, and would be capable of helping with investigations and other issues.

“This whole race should be about the sheriff,” Drennan said. “The sheriff can’t rely on the undersheriff doing the work for him.”

Bower said Bourke is well known among residents, business owners and highway workers. Bourke is accessible and would be a leader with community policing, Bower said.

Bower said he is striving to build a team in the Sheriff’s Office that would serve the community from law enforcement, emergency communications, the jail, animal control, and the civil division.

The candidates were asked about turnover in the Sheriff’s Office, with some deputies leaving to work for other departments.

Organisciak said the Sheriff’s Department used to be the top destination for law enforcement in the county, but that started to change about 15 to 20 years ago. Some deputies left the Sheriff’s Department to work for either the Albion or Medina Police Departments. Others left to work in neighboring counties.

Organisciak said the county needs to be committed to training and the proper equipment to keep deputies.

“I would bring professionalism, integrity and loyalty back so it is a place men and women want to come to work,” he said.

Don Organisciak answers a question in the debate. Mattie Zarpentine, front left, and Steve Aldstadt are in the front table with a crowd of about 200 behind them.

Drennan said the county hasn’t been as competiive with pay, not only with surrounding counties but also with Albion and Medina police. That gap has narrowed in recent years, he said. The Sheriff’s Office should at least be able to match the pay of the local village police departments, he said.

However, some nearby counties pay a third more to double the pay offered by the county.

“We’ve made some adjustments with pay,” Drennan said. “We’ll never meet Monroe, Niagara or even Genesee, but we have to at least pay what the villages do.”

Bower said boosting morale for the employees will be a top priority.

“We will make it a place where the men and women really want to work,” he said.

The candidates were also asked about increasing diversity among deputies and staff, and the possibility of the Sheriff’s Office taking over all local law enforcement or perhaps more shared services with the village police departments.

The candidates all said they favor a diverse staff. Drennan said there are several deputies who are women. He would welcome officers who are black, and urged them to take the Civil Service exam and apply.

The county is pursuing a grant that would study shared services among existing police departments and the Sheriff’s Office, with the possibility of dissolving the village police and having the Sheriff’s Office expand its work.

Bower and Organisciak said they worry the village residents would get less service in such a scenario. They would only back it with village approval.

Drennan said the Sheriff’s Office could handle the added work with more deputies and staff. He said the Sheriff’s Office would have to add police substations outside Albion in such a scenario, which he said might make the most sense for the county’s policing services.

The three canddiates all said they were open to body cameras on officers because they cameras can help prove cases or make cases stronger when evidence is presented to the district attorney. The cameras also would raise the level of professionalism.

“It’s a good tool to help officers get up to another level,” Organisciak said.

All three candidates also said they would work to uphold the Constitution and would bring a strong work ethic to the job.

Photos by Tom Rivers – Orleans County Legislature Chairman David Callard speaks to 250 people during the Republican fall rally on Saturday at the Ridgeway firehall.

RIDGEWAY – Taxes are down, businesses are moving in, and the county is tackling other needed projects, from replacing bridges and culverts to laying the groundwork for high-speed Internet.

That was the message from six incumbent Orleans County legislators who spoke on Saturday during the Orleans County Republican fall rally at the Ridgeway firehall.

“If you like to be involved and do good things for the people of Orleans County, then the Orleans County Legislature is the place to be,” said David Callard, the Legislature chairman.

He spoke to 250 people on Saturday during the rally at the Ridgeway firehall. Callard of Ridgeway is the longest-serving legislator with 22 years on the county board.

He said the county’s fiscal position is strong after selling the county nursing home. The sale from the nursing home and the annual relief from having to subsidize the facility with tax dollars has allowed the county to reduce taxes by 1.5 percent in 2015, Callard and Legislator Lynne Johnson of Lyndonville noted. (Callard serves as a county-wide legislator from the west end of the county.)

The Legislature also approved taking out an $8 million bond to replace bridges, culverts and roofs (on Public Safety Building and County Administration Building), while also adding two new pole barns for the highway department to cover expensive equipment, including a paver.

Callard said the county and the Orleans Economic Development Agency are positioning Orleans to agricultural economic development projects. Pride Pak is the latest to announce a big investment in the county – $15 million for a new vegetable processing and packaging plant in Medina. That facility is expected to be ready in June 2016 with 85 to 100 employees. Additional expansions could bring the workforce up to 200 employees.

Other agriculture-related businesses – Western New York Energy in Medina, Intergrow Greenhouses in Gaines, Lake Ontario Fruit in Gaines, and H.H. Dobbins in Lyndonville – have also recently made big investments.

Callard said the county has more land with infrastructure in place that can attract more businesses.

The Legislature has seven members with six Republicans. The GOP isn’t running a candidate against Fred Miller, a Democrat from Albion. Ed Morgan, the Republican Party chairman, said Miller has done a good job in his first term on the Legislature.

Johnson

Two of the Republicans, Johnson and Don Allport of Gaines, have opposition on Nov. 3. Johnson is challenged by Paul Lauricella of the Conservative Party while Allport faces James White, a Democrat.

Each of the six Republican legislators were given a few minutes to speak at the rally on Saturday.

Allport highlighted the partnerships through Orleans and Genesee counties in sharing a public health director and board of directors. The shared staff has saved Orleans $400,000 annually, said Allport, a county-wide legislator from central Orleans.

Allport

“We are leading the state,” he said about the shared service initiatives with Genesee.

Allport is a past chairman of the board for The Arc of Orleans. That agency has also approved a merger with the Genesee County ARC. The merger should reduce costs for the two counties while maintaining services for people with developmental disabilities, Allport said.

He also highlighted efforts by the Mental Health Department to improve services, including same-day service for walk-ins.

DeFilipps

John DeFilipps of Clarendon serves on the EDA board and he said the agency has the county well positioned for new businesses and expansions with shovel-ready sites. DeFilipps is an at-large legislator from the east side of the county.

He noted Pride Pak’s $15 million commitment to the new site in Medina, the prospect of a new hotel in Medina and a “virtual spec” building at the Medina Business Park.

The county also stepped up with three e-waste sites to collect TVs and other hosuehold electronics after they were being thrown in ditches because of a state law that banned them from being accepted with curbside trash pickups.

DeFilipps and Johnson both highlighted the effort to bring high-speed Internet to the community. Johnson is the county’s representative on the Niagara-Orleans Regional Alliance.

That two-county partnership has the two counties prepped and in good position to benefit from $500 million available from the state to expand high-speed Internet service, especially in rural underserved areas.

“The students, farmers and businesses all need it,” Johnson said about the fast Internet. Johnson represents a district that includes Yates, Ridgeway and a portion of Shelby.

Legislator Bill Eick talks about the county’s efforts to improve infrastructure.

Legislator Bill Eick serves a district that includes Barre, Clarendon and most of Shelby. He also is on the county’s Highway Committee.

He said Orleans will use about $5 million of the $8 million bond to replace six bridges and some culverts. Those projects started last year.

The state and federal government used to pay up to 95 percent of the bridge replacement costs, but that money has been hard to come by recently. The county took out the bond last year after several bridges were in danger of being closed.

Eick said harsh winters and heavy equipment are taking a toll on the bridges, culverts and roads.

“It’s going to be an ongoing issue,” he said about the infrastructure. “They’re not lasting.”

The county will continue to press the state and federal governments to help pay for the bridge and culvert work, Eick said.

DeRoller

Ken DeRoller of Kendall represents a district that includes Kendall, Murray and Carlton. He said the canal bridges, with several at weight reductions or closures, pose a challenge for businesses, farms, school buses and emergency equipment. The county continues to push the state to better maintain the bridges at higher weight limits.

DeRoller highlighted successes in public safety, including the work of the Major Felony Crime Task Force, which includes officers from the Sheriff’s Office, and Albion, Medina and Holley police departments.

The Task Force has made 905 drug arrests since 2007, and has a nearly 100 percent conviction rate, DeRoller said, and also has seized $840,000.

The county also started a Traffic Diversion program in 2010 which keeps that ticket revenue, up to $150,000, with local courts, while giving motorists the chance to have their tickets reduced, DeRoller said.

He also noted a drug take-back program, led by jail superintendent Scott Wilson, has collected nearly 3,000 pounds in unused prescriptions, keeping that medicine from being abused and also being flushed into local waterways.

Photos by Tom Rivers – Orleans County sheriff candidate Tom Drennan, left, and Brett Sobieraski meet with reporters this afternoon. If Drennan is elected sheriff on Nov. 3, he said his choice for undersheriff would Sobieraski, who has a 27-year career in law enforcement.

KENDALL – When Brett Sobieraski’s house was broken into, and guns and jewelry were stolen seven years ago, the Rochester Police Department sergeant knew what it was like to be a victim of a crime.

He didn’t like feeling so vulnerable.

Sobieraski lives in Kent. About two days after the crime, Tom Drennan and the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office had it solved. Drennan, the chief deputy for the Sheriff’s Office, worked with investigators to make the arrests. Sobieraski’s possessions were returned to him.

“Tom Drennan was most responsible for solving that crime,” Sobieraski said today when he stood by Drennan, a candidate for sheriff. “I was astounded by the professionalism shown by the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department.”

Drennan announced today if he is elected on Nov. 3, he would make Sobieraski his undersheriff. The two have known each other for about two decades. Their children attended Kendall Central School together.

Drennan and Sobieraski made the undersheriff announcement today at the Kendall community park gazebo across from the elementary school. Drennan wanted to highlight his small-town roots and commitment to protecting residents.

Sobieraski has a 27-year career in law enforcement. He started with the Lockport Police Department, and has worked the past 23 years with the Rochester Police Department, including the past 15 as a supervising sergeant with the Greater Rochester Area Narcotics Enforcement Team.

He leads the multi-agency task force of undercover officers. He has participated in more than 2,000 search warrants, including some with the Major Felony Crime Task Force from Orleans County.

Tom Drennan and Brett Sobieraski take questions from the media this afternoon.

Sobieraski said Orleans County is not immune from drugs, especially heroin, and violent crime. He wants to take his years of experience and help train and raise the standards of professionalism in the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office.

He said he and Drennan are similar in expecting high standards and accountability for officers.

“When someone shows up for work, they work hard for their paycheck and their community,” Sobieraski said.

Drennan has shied away from picking an undersheriff, saying residents should focus on the sheriff’s name on the ballot. Randy Bower won a close primary over Drennan for the Republican line on Sept. 10, 1,671 to 1,650.

Bower, a public safety dispatcher, has been campaigning with Chris Bourke, a long-time lieutenant in the Sheriff’s Office, as the undersheriff choice.

Drennan said he has been asked repeatedly who he would name as undersheriff.

“It’s a topic that everyone’s bringing up and I don’t want it to be a distraction anymore,” he said.

Drennan said Sobieraski would bring “fresh eyes” to the department and help Drennan in his push for an accredited department through the state. To be accredited, the department will need clear policies and training for officers, as well as regular audits.

Drennan said accreditation would establish uniform standards and responses for deputies when they are working with the public.

“It would create standardization, whether it’s Deputy A or Deputy Z,” he said. “It would become a much more professional agency.”

Sobieraski has served as a police academy instructor the past nine years. He has taught SWAT, police supervisor, active shooter and enhanced in-service classes.

He also is a board member and former chairman for seven years of Huther Doyle, an outpatient addiction recovery agency.

Sobieraski said he welcomes the chance to work where he lives. He wants to help equip and train the local deputies. He also said the department is small enough, where Sobieraski can spring into action and help on calls.

Drennan said he too would be visible and working on police calls.

The Nov. 3 election also includes retired Medina police investigator Don Organisciak, who is running as a Democrat. He hasn’t said publicly who would serve as his undersheriff.

Photo by Tom Rivers – Randy Bower speaks during the Republican fall rally on Saturday night at the Ridgeway fire hall. Bower won the Republican Primary on Sept. 10.

RIDGEWAY – Randy Bower, the Republican candidate for Orleans County sheriff, addresses 250 people on Saturday night during the Republican fall rally at Ridgeway fire hall.

Bower discussed some of the goals he has for the Sheriff’s Office, including a drug treatment program in the county jail, and stepped up sheriff’s patrols for Kendall and Lyndonville schools and rural businesses.

“It’s the people of Orleans County that we work for,” Bower told the Republican crowd.

He also wants a deputy assigned to help with animal control calls, and Orleans County dispatchers to have access to video links inside the schools. (School superintendents would be notified if the Sheriff’s Office was using those video links, Bower said.) The access to see what’s happening in the schools could speed up a law enforcement response in an emergency or crisis.

The jail is the largest division of the Sheriff’s Office with 30 corrections officers, two cooks and a jail superintendent. The jail can peak with 80 inmates inside the facility on Platt Street in Albion. Many of the inmates have drug problems, which often fuels their other crimes, Bower said.

Providing the inmates with treatment will make them less likely to commit more crimes when they get out of jail, and also will help them to regain control of their lives, Bower said.

Bower, a dispatcher for the county for nearly 30 years, said he would push the state for funding of the drug treatment program. He believes state officials could be convinced to make Orleans County a pilot program for such an effort.

He said he would push for local, state and federal dollars to ensure the Sheriff’s Office has the personnel and equipment to do serve the public in Orleans County.

Bower pushed for the Republican endorsement last spring, but committee members in a close vote picked Tom Drennan, the chief deputy, as the Republican candidate for sheriff.

Bower forced a primary, and has campaigned with Chris Bourke, a lieutenant in the Sheriff’s Office, as Bower’s undersheriff choice if Bower is elected. Many of the deputies also are backing Bower, and have been visible wearing red shirts for Bower during community parades and other events. (Many Bower supporters also cheered and applauded loudly while he went through some of his goals for the Sheriff’s Office on Saturday night.)

Drennan lost the primary by 21 votes, 1,671 to 1,650. He is staying in the race under the Independence and Reform lines.

Bower, in addition to the Republican line, has been endorsed by the Conservative Party.

The Nov. 3 election includes a third candidate: retired Medina police investigator Don Organisciak, who is running as a Democrat.

Bower urged Republicans to unite behind his candidacy and keep the Sheriff’s Office under the leadership of a Republican.

Bower addressed the group from a stage in the firehall. Two high school students lifted him to the stage in his wheelchair. Bower has been paralyzed from the waist down since a car accident when he was 18.

“This wheelchair is just a perception,” he told the Republican crowd. “I can do anything I want.”

Bower, in a previous interview, said he lives a blessed life with his wife Robin and their two grown children: Jessica and Jacob. In addition to working as a dispatcher, he has been a member of the Sheriff’s Department’s Off-Road Patrol from 1992-1998, riding all-terrain vehicles to help locate missing persons, stolen property and respond to other situations.

Bower wants to be sheriff because he said he has the leadership skills, vision and communication skills to run the department and serve the public.

Photos by Tom Rivers

KNOWLESVILLE – It was the third annual Family Game Night at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds with activities light on gadgets but designed to make residents and children more aware of services in the community.

In the top photo, Cincere Lowe, 8, of Albion gets his face painted to look like a vampire. Vivian Neroni, a DSS worker, shared her artistic talents at the face-painting station.

Families could also play board games and meet the staff at many county departments, which offered activities for families to learn about county services. The event was coordinated by the Youth Bureau.

Tom Drennan lets Aaron Schmidli of Medina try on a bullet-proof vest. Drennan, chief deputy for the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department, said the vest weighs 20 to 25 pounds. Aaron’s brother Andrew, in back, also had a chance to wear the vest.

Chuck Nesbitt, the county’s chief administrative officer, went fishing with his daughter Jane, 4. They hooked a magnetic lake trout at a station run by the Orleans County Tourism Department.

Dale Banker (left), the county’s emergency management director, and Pat Eick, administrative assistant for the Emergency Management Office, pass out an “Emergency Go Bag” to County Legislator John DeFilipps, right. Eick developed the bags with emergency items for people to keep in their vehicles in case they are stranded with winter around the corner.

EDA says residents don’t need to wait for Pride Pak, STAMP to find local jobs

ALBION – There are about 200 jobs available in Orleans County, ranging from sales reps, food service worker, software engineer, and many others, including Holley police chief.

“There is the full gamut of skills,” Jim Whipple, executive director for the Orleans Economic Development Agency, told the board of directors last Friday. “There is entry level right up to engineers.”

Many of the jobs are listed through the Job Development Agency in Orleans County. (labor.ny.gov). Many jobs are also listed on the Orleans Hub – Click here.

Some of the jobs are seasonal farm work. However, companies such as CRFS in Albion, Baxter Healthcare in Medina, the Arc of Orleans County, Saint-Gobain ADFORS in Albion, Takeform Architectural Graphics in Medina and Velocitii in Medina are trying to fill full-time permanent positions.

“These are very tangible jobs that are available,” Gabrielle Barone, vice president of business development for the EDA, told the board of directors.

Orleans County’s unemployment rate was 5.8 percent in August, higher than the state rate of 5.2 percent, which is the lowest in NY since May 2008.

There will be more job opportunities next year when Pride Pak is expected to hire 85 to 100 people for a new vegetable processing and packaging site in Medina.

Last week, 1366 Technologies also announced it will build a new high-tech manufacturing plant in the Town of Alabama, employing 600 people in phase one of what could be a $700 million build-out.

EDA leaders said the two projects will provide many job opportunities for Orleans County residents. However, residents need not wait on those projects because there are opportunities available right now.

Organisciak says he would ‘lead by example’ in Sheriff’s Department

Photos by Tom Rivers – Don Organisciak is pictured with friends and family during a spaghetti fund-raiser Oct.3 at the Ridgeway Volunteer Fire Company. Some of the group includes his son Jimmy, right; Don’s wife Jacky (left); and Jeanne Crane, Democratic Party chairwoman, second from left in front.

MEDINA – Don Organisciak has seen the letters to the editor and a public displays from supporters for both Randy Bower and Tom Drennan, candidates to be the next Orleans County sheriff.

Organisciak winced at many of the letters to the editor during last month’s Republican primary. Some letter writers questioned Drennan’s judgment and other writers doubted if Bower has the qualifications to lead the Sheriff’s Department.

“As a leader you have to stay out of that,” Organisciak said about the letters and also many social media posts. “It degrades the Sheriff’s Department and the men.”

Organisciak is the Democrat candidate for sheriff. Bower won the Republican primary by 21 votes and also will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot as a Conservative. Drennan also has two lines for Nov. 3 – the Independence Party and Reform Party line.

Organisciak, a retired Medina police officer and investigator, said the sheriff’s race shouldn’t be a popularity contest. He urges voters to look at the experience and qualifications of all three. He has a 30-year career in law enforcement, capped by two years as the school resource officer in Lyndonville.

“Don is a good candidate with a lot of good experience,” said Jeanne Crane, the Democratic Party chairwoman. “Looking at their experience, Don has done some things the others haven’t.”

He sees a divided Sheriff’s Department, and says he can be a unifying leader for the department.

“They need someone they can look up to, who’s been there, done that,” Organisciak said. “I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel, but we need to bring professionalism and loyalty back.”

Don Organisciak walks in the parade in Lyndonville during the Fourth of July.

It would normally be a tall order for a Democrat to win in a county-wide election. Former sheriff David Green was a Democrat who won several elections before retiring about 20 years ago. Currently, all county-wide elected positions are filled by Republicans.

Republicans outnumber Democrats nearly 2 to 1 in Orleans County. The current enrollment numbers include 5,261 Democrats and 10,099 Republicans.

There are also 1,055 registered members of the Independence Party, 529 Conservative Party members and 147 members of the Working Families Party.
A big wild card is the 4,754 “blanks” or voters who aren’t registered with a political party.

Organisciak and Crane think Republicans will split the vote for Drennan and Bower, with some Republicans also siding with Organisciak.

Organisciak is currently a part-time school bus driver for Medina. He said he has enjoyed the recent months of his campaign, attending community festivals and events, and meeting many residents throughout the county.

“It has been fun,” he said. “The people finally have a choice. It’s better than a two-horse race. It’s now a three-horse race.”

The three candidates will be featured during a forum on Oct. 21, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Albion Elks Lodge, 428 West State St.

New York Revolution and the Orleans County SCOPE are coordinating the forum. Steven Aldstadt, president of SCOPE in New York, will be the moderator of the forum.