By Kristina Gabalski, Correspondent Posted 6 December 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Kristina Gabalski
KNOWLESVILLE – Rudolph and his fellow reindeer are made from peanuts and pipe cleaners. They form a portion of an entry by 11-year old Brandi Stephens on display at the 2015 4-H Holiday Faire on Saturday at the 4-H Fairgrounds.
Orleans County 4-H’ers, their families, friends and community members gathered at the Trolley Building for the annual Holiday Faire.
The event showcases 4-H projects with a holiday theme. Club tables featured activities of various 4-H clubs and offered craft projects for those attending.
This entry – a sock snowman – was made by 8-year old Layne Walker. The snowman will be used as a holiday centerpiece.
The annual 4-H Holiday Faire brought together community members on Saturday afternoon at the Trolley Building on the 4-H Fairgrounds.
The “Jolly Ol’ Elf” – Santa Claus – made an appearance and checked out 4-H Club tables in addition to taking down holiday wishes from youngsters in attendance.
Five-year old Ella Wilson and her sister, two-year old Cora Wilson of Holley, check out a bunny at the Orleans County 4-H Rabbit Raisers table.
Lily Brigham, age 6, and Sawyer Brigham, age 8, of Albion, show off the snowman hat ornaments they made at the Orleans County 4-H Paw Praisers Club table.
No, it’s not one of Santa’s Reindeer, it’s Domino the Llama, owned by Orleans County 4-H Leader Barb Kurzowski. Domino sports a festive holiday headband at the annual 4-H Holiday Faire.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 December 2015 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
LYNDONVILLE – This photo shows the dam in Lyndonville at Johnson Creek near Main Street this evening with the Lyndonville Central School in back.
The National Weather Service has issued a severe weather statement for tonight, warning about black ice and patchy fog.
The conditions are expected in Orleans County and much of Western New York. The Weather Service says visibility could drop to a quarter mile or less in the dense fog. Patches of black ice are also possible late tonight and into Sunday morning.
Photo by Tom Rivers – The Brown Street bridge in Albion has been closed since 2012. It is one of several canal bridges in Orleans County that is either closed or has significant weight reductions.
A new federal transportation bill will provide more than $16.3 billion in direct infrastructure spending to New York State over the next 5 years, $1.5 billion more than New York would receive in a flat-funded bill, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said today.
The bill directs about $300 million more annually to NY help municipalities in the state repair and replace aging infrastructure, Schumer said.
“The regional economy is the very heart of our nation’s economy and our transportation systems are the lifeblood that make it all possible,” Schumer said in a statement. “Investing to maintain and improve those transportation systems boosts our economy in the near- and long-term and that’s exactly what government should be doing to keep our improving economy humming.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo thanked Schumer and the Congressional delegation for advocating for the state.
“The expected passage of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act is tremendous news for New York State,” said Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “From helping to rebuild outdated bridges in Upstate New York to preventing massive funding cuts that would have hurt millions of public transit riders, this bill provides important support to our State’s infrastructure.”
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, also praised the new funding. She cited statistics from the State Department of Transportation, which considered more than one-third of New York State’s 17,000 bridges in need of repair, with 2,016 graded as structurally deficient and 4,735 graded as functionally obsolete.
In Western New York, there are a total of 2,743 bridges, and of these, 229 are structurally deficient bridges and 465 are functionally obsolete bridges.
In Orleans County, there are 138 bridges and 26 are structurally deficient with 28 functionally obsolete.
“With more stable and long term funding than New York has seen in previous years, it is an important investment in the Empire State’s future,” Cuomo said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 December 2015 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – This photo shows the shadow from the Orleans County Courthouse on the former United Methodist Church building in Albion. This picture was taken at about 3 p.m. on Monday on a bright, sunny afternoon. (The church building is for sale.)
Orleans County and Western New York have dodged snowfall so far, and it looks like the warmth will continue through late next week.
The National Weather Service in Buffalo is forecasting a high of 42 on Friday, followed by highs of 48 on Saturday, 52 on Sunday and highs in the upper 40s from Monday through Thursday next week.
ALBION – The Genesee-Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse spearheaded a coat collection effort that resulted in 86 coats being donated to Community Action of Orleans & Genesee.
Kirsten O’Grady, right, has been interning with GCASA and she was a big help with the coat drive. She is pictured with Michelle Figueroa, a case manager for Community Action in Albion. Figueroa noted that “these coats will be put to good use in the cold weather months ahead of us.”
The coats were collected at GCASA, Lyndonville Central School and the GCC satellite campuses in Albion and Medina.
GCASA has done a coat drive before to benefit families served by the Medina Area Association of Churches.
The coats were dropped off at Community Action on Tuesday as part of “Giving Tuesday.” Patricia Crowley, the Orleans United Drug Free Communities project director for GCASA, said Giving Tuesday is a day to celebrate generosity.
“It’s a movement that started three years ago and Orleans United felt it only fitting to deliver coats to Community Action here in Orleans County as a way of giving back,” Crowley said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 December 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Randy Bower, right, and Chris Bourke celebrate on Nov. 3 after Bower won the sheriff’s election. Bourke, a lieutenant in the Sheriff’s Department, is Bower’s choice to serve as undersheriff.
November was one of the best months for Orleans Hub for traffic since we started in April 2013. We had 678,666 pageviews over 30 days last month for a daily average of 22,622. We also averaged 6,879 daily visitors to the site.
The first part of the month was dominated by election coverage. We topped 10,000 unique visitors on both Nov. 3 and Nov. 4. There was some added election drama because some of the town races were too close to call and had to wait until absentee ballots were counted on Nov. 10.
The Letters to the Editor continue to be popular on the site and drew 36,714 pageviews, which nearly beat the record of 38,747 in September during the heated primary season.
Here are the top stories for the month. I expanded it from five to seven because numbers four through seven were so close in “clicks.”
A tractor trailer hauling milk and an SUV were in a violent collision Nov. 4 on Route 98 in Albion near the Allen Road intersection.
Even though sports was in an in-between season in November, with fall sports ending and winter sports getting started, Orleans Hub still drew 26,392 pageviews to sports. The top sports story was Kendall High senior Evan Gaesser accepting a Division 1 golf scholarship from LaSalle University in Philadelphia, Pa. Click here to see that story.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 December 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Orleans County officials presented a $64,435,941 budget plan during a public hearing Monday evening in the main courtroom at the Orleans County Courthouse. Chuck Nesbitt, the chief administrator, provides details about the budget. Most of the attendees at the hearing were county department heads.
ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature approved a $64,435,941 budget for 2016 on Monday evening, a spending plan that reduces overall spending and holds the tax rate at $9.89 per $1,000 of assessed property.
County officials have worked in recent years to reduce the county workforce by streamlining departments and sharing services with other counties. The Legislature also sold the nursing home to a private company.
That has resulted in some tax relief for residents. (The tax rate was $10.11 per $1,000 in 2014). Local residents also should receive a rebate check from New York, which will make the state look like the heroes when it was the local governments that pared down costs, said Chuck Nesbitt, the county chief administrative officer.
He said the state could provide significant relief to local taxpayers by reining in some of the state-mandated programs or assuming more of the expense for the programs.
“The state captures dollars from taxpayers and they do it in a lot of ways that you may not be aware of,” Nesbitt said during a budget hearing.
Nine state-mandated programs – Medicaid, Child Welfare, Temporary Assistance/Safety Net, Indigent Defense, Early Intervention, Preschool Special Education, Probation, Youth Detention and Pensions – account for 100 percent of the county’s tax levy of $16,323,150.
Although the tax rate is unchanged, taxes in the county budget are up by 0.7 percent, which is under the tax cap allotment of 1.4 percent.
Nesbitt, as he has in recent years, railed against the state for not taking more action on mandate relief. He pointed to a study by Pew Charitable Trust that looked at all 50 states and how they receive revenue for state programs. (Click here to see that report.)
Local governments provide 2.2 percent of funding for state programs as a national average. However, in New York the local governments pay 15.4 percent, by far the most in the country. Wyoming is No. 2 at 3.9 percent.
“When someone asks, ‘Why are my taxes so high?’ There’s the answer,” Nesbitt said during the hearing. “That’s what’s different about us.”
He urged local residents to press state officials to reduce the local share for state programs. That would have a big impact on lowering local taxes, Nesbitt said.
Instead, Gov. Cuomo and many state legislators point the finger at the local governments as the culprit for high taxes. The upcoming rebate checks, a reward for local governments that stayed under the tax cap and met an efficiency plan, are a “smoke screen,” Nesbitt said.
Paul Lauricella tells the Legislature the group should have reduced the tax rate instead of keeping it at the same level.
Paul Lauricella of Lyndonville said he wanted to see more reductions and a tax cut in the budget, especially with the nursing home no longer under county control.
He suggested the county pull back on its contributions to agencies, such as the Cornell Cooperative Extension, Orleans Economic Development Agency and Soil and Water Conservation District. Lauricella said those groups all have ways of generating their own funds.
The county budget provides the following funding for agencies with 2015 in parentheses: $232,500 for Cornell Cooperative Extension ($225,000); $166,500 for Economic Development Agency ($170,000); $77,500 for Soil and Water Conservation District ($75,000); $10,000 for four public libraries ($10,000); $5,000 for Mercy Flight ($5,000); $5,000 for Friends of Mental Health ($0); $3,000 for GO Art! ($3,000); $1,000 for Sportsmen’s Federation ($1,000).
Ed Neal, president of the Cooperative Extension board, thanked the county for keeping the agency in the budget and providing an increase. Neal said the agency provides important services for agriculture, children and families.
Joe Sidonio of Murray thanks the county for not cutting dollars to the Cornell Cooperative Extension. Sidonio said his daughter has benefitted from the 4-H program.
Nesbitt said the county is also working to build up its reserve funds and tackle infrastructure projects. Two bridges and two culverts will be replaced in 2016.
Sales tax also represents about a quarter of the revenue for the budget. After budgeting for no increases in 2014 and 2015, county officials are going to recommend another $250,000 in sales tax to $14,035,000.
After the public hearing, the Legislature convened in the legislative chambers and passed the budget.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 November 2015 at 12:00 am
While the rest of the region and most of the country saw personal income grow from 2013 to 2014, the income dropped per household in Orleans County, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
In Orleans, the per capita household income went from $31,967 in 2013 to $31,720 the following year, a 0.7 percent drop.
The federal government said only 14 percent or 438 of the 3,100 counties saw per capita household income decline.
Nationally, it grew by 2 percent from $45,159 to $46,049 in 2014. The eight counties in Western New York all grew except for Orleans. Allegany saw the biggest growth at 3.7 percent, up from $31,946 to $33,128, according to a report from the Buffalo News.
Orleans County has a significantly smaller per capita household income than the other counties. Here are the per capita personal incomes of the eight WNY counties in 2014 with the percent growth in parentheses:
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 28 November 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
BUFFALO – This sculpture of a bison is displayed in downtown Buffalo. It has been there for 40 years.
It was a gift to Buffalo in 1975 from its sister city, Kanazawa, in Japan as part of the bicentennial celebration for the United States the following year.
“Bison” was created by artist Cecilia Evans Taylor.
Orleans County has a big birthday around the corner. The county will turn 200 in 2024 (or it may be 2025, depending on source). I haven’t heard any rumblings about the county’s bicentennial. I don’t think the officials have given it much thought. It’s still nearly a decade away.
This painted buffalo on Franklin Street was turned into artwork by Gustavo Glorioso as part of the “Herd About Buffalo” project, when 154 buffalo roamed Buffalo streets in 2000. The project was a benefit for the Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the Burchfield-Penney Art Center. This one was sponsored by Buffalo Optical and called “Eye Love Buffalo.”
I think a public art project would generate excitement on the county’s 200th anniversary. I think painting fiber-glass mules would make sense because the mules were iconic animals during the Erie Canal’s heyday when mule-drawn packet boats were a frequent sight.
We could try to have at least one in each town, but hopefully there could be more. Maybe the mule public art project could happen before the 200th, and proceeds from that effort could be used to fund a bigger signature site for the county’s bicentennial.
A statue of George Washington stands in front of Old County Hall, home to Erie County government on 92 Franklin St. in Buffalo.
The statue was paid for by the Erie County Masonic Foundation as a bicentennial gift on the 200th anniversary of the country’s founding. The base of the statue includes the name of the sculptor, J. Turkalj and notes it was built in 1976.
The statue includes an inscription “1776 * 1976” with the words: “Presented to the people of the County of Erie by the free and accepted Masons of forty-nine lodges in the three Erie districts and various affiliated Masonic organizations as our contribution to the bicentennial anniversary of the United States.”
I saw the statue last Saturday while in Buffalo. There are many statues and public works of art in downtown Buffalo. I think these pieces enliven the landscape, help promote the city and build community pride.
I think Orleans County would benefit with similar projects. The George Washington statue was part of a celebration of the U.S. bicentennial.
Orleans County officially formed when we split off from Genesee County. Orleans should celebrate its bicentennial with a signature project.
I’ve been promoting the idea of a statue and heritage site for the quarrymen who worked in the Medina sandstone quarries in Orleans County for nearly a century. They helped unearth and carve the stone for some of the grandest buildings in the region and state.
Their work continues to stand out more than a century later with many of our churches, chapels and finest homes.
Many descendants of the quarrymen continue to live in the county. The quarry workers did dangerous jobs in perhaps the county’s greatest industry ever. So maybe a signature site in their honor would be ideal for the 200th anniversary of the county. Personally, I’d like to see it happen before the 200th birthday in 2024 (or 2025). The site could be a draw for the county. Why wait?
The statue of Washington notes he was the first president of the United States from 1789-1797, and also served as First Master in the Alexandria Lodge No. 22, Alexandria, Virginia, from 1788-1789.
There are other bicentennial sites and statues around Buffalo.
Poland gave this statue of General Kazimerz Pulaski to the people of the United States in honor of the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Pulaski stands outside the Ellicott Square Building in downtown Buffalo.
The statue declares Pulaski as “Hero of Poland and the United States of America.” Pulaski saved the life of George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. Pulaski would serve as a general in the Continental Army. He died of wounds suffered in the Battle of Savannah. He is one of only seven people to be awarded honorary United States citizenship.
Sculptor Kazimierz Danilewicz created the statue of Pulaski, which shows him standing erect with his hands resting on his sword.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 November 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
BATAVIA – Jim McMullen, the Scout Executive for the Iroquois Trail Council, is pictured inside the Scout Shop at the Council’s new office at 201 East Main St., Batavia.
The Council moved from an office building on Library Street in Batavia to a more visible site in downtown Batavia. The Council serves Boy Scouts in five counties, including Orleans, Genesee, Niagara, Wyoming and Livingston.
The Council moved to the site at the corner of East Main and Bank streets on Nov. 2-4. The building is owned by the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council. GO Art! has offices in the historic building as well as gallery space.
Parking is across Bank Street in a big parking lot shared by the mall and a bank.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 November 2015 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
There are many locally owned businesses in downtown Albion, with several in the historic Pratt and Day buildings. This photo was taken in 2014.
You wouldn’t think Black Friday would be so quiet on Main Street in small-town America, but it is. The shoppers head for the suburban malls, in a spending mood to cross off a lengthy Christmas checklist.
It was awfully quiet in downtown Albion today. I had to go to Main Street twice for errands and there wasn’t much traffic.
That should change tomorrow when Albion merchants will be part of the Shop Small movement around the country. The locally owned retail businesses don’t want all the dollars to go to the Big Box retailers and on-line sites, such as Amazon.
The Wal-Mart Supercenter opened in Albion in 2006. It’s been a nearly a decade, and more chain stores have followed with new dollar stores, and expansions at Rite Aid and other chain-owned stores.
The Orleans County population has decreased during this time. There are fewer shoppers with more corporate-owned sites in Orleans. That makes it tough for the small-town businesses to survive. Many haven’t been able to make the businesses work following the chain store invasion.
Somehow, many of the independent merchants have stayed. People continue to open new businesses and work to retool their existing operations, to compete on Main Street with the chains that often set up on the perimeter of the villages, dodging taxes but having access to the population centers.
This week we’ve been publishing essays about life in Orleans County. We have a lot to be thankful for with so much nature and wildlife in the community, some upstart politicians willing to go against the establishment, hard-working and productive farms, and many citizens who volunteer to make the community better in many ways. We’ll publish another essay on Saturday with another thankful theme.
Today, we celebrate the locally owned businesses. Without them, the Orleans Hub wouldn’t exist. They advertise so we can pay our bills and continue to cover local news. We appreciate their support.
Photo by Tom Rivers
Downtown Medina has experienced a renaissance in the past decade with many new shops opening in the historic business district.
Downtown isn’t what it was a century ago, when the buildings were bustling with activity from the basements to the top floors. But there is still a good nucleus of merchants. They offer items you likely won’t see at Wal-Mart. The local stores often carry locally made products. Buying those items not only supports the store, but helps another local artisan/business owner.
Those sales generate sales tax, which reduces some of the burden on property taxes.
The local merchants also tend to be the ones that donate for the many benefits in the community, and buy the ads in the local yearbooks and school musical programs.
Many of these businesses provide employment for local residents.
Buying from a local business is a vote for a stronger and better community. If you want a vibrant downtown business district, you need to spend some money there. You vote with your wallet.
The business owners do much more than run their shops. Many have banded together in business organizations and they put on concerts, wine-tastings, Beggar’s Night, and numerous other activities to entice people to visit the stores and business districts, and also to provide some fun for the community.
Medina businesses are putting on their big Old Tyme Christmas celebration on Saturday, highlighted by the Parade of Lights at 6 p.m. Click here for a schedule of events. Albion merchants also have specials and raffles on Saturday.
The locally owned businesses aren’t just on Main Street. They operate out of houses, garages, in cooperatives (sharing space with others), and on state roads and country lanes.
The Orleans Hub appreciates their entrepreneurial spirit, and their efforts to make a stronger local community.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 26 November 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Al Capurso is pictured last month with a new historical marker for a former Cobblestone Schoolhouse on Gaines Basin Road. Capurso has led volunteer efforts to save the building from ruin and find a new use for the structure from 1832, one of the oldest cobblestone buildings in the region.
Do-gooders get a bad rap. Look up do-gooder in the dictionary, and it says a well-intentioned person who is naïve and impractical.
We could use more people who don’t let practicality get in the way of effort. People who don’t sit on the sidelines and watch things crumble, deeming them a lost cause.
There are many recent successes in the county that probably seemed like pie-in-sky ideas in the beginning. I think of the group that built the replica lighthouse at Point Breeze, which has become a popular landmark in the past five years. I’m sure there were a lot of naysayers.
Community members and the trustees at the former Swan Library pushed for a new modern library for Albion. They set a fund-raising goal for $990,000. Some may have thought that too ambitious. The community gave more than $1.3 million for the new library that opened in 2012.
There are a lot of recent examples of the community rising above fund-raising challenges. The renovations of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Holley is the latest. Church leaders sought $300,000 for a new roof and other upgrades for the parish that includes St. Mark’s in Kendall. Parishioners came through with more than $585,000.
People have been generous with the new residence for Hospice of Orleans County, and the Education Center at the 4-H Fairgrounds.
This Thanksgiving, Orleans Hub wants to say thank you for a generous community, for the people with the ideas and those that bring projects to fruition. Many would say a bold project is impractical, a waste of money in a struggling community. But many people, thankfully, don’t give up. They dare to do good.
Here are some other examples that don’t involve big dollars, but nonetheless took a can-do attitude, a big heart and some support from the community.
A group of Christians from many different churches in the Medina area provided food for at least 141 families today for Thanksgiving.
Cindy Curtin of Medina is pictured last Friday at the First Baptist Church. Curtin has led the effort the past 11 years, and watched it grow.
People wanted to give, but the effort needed a leader. Curtin and her husband John organize the food drive, and make sure the families will have full stomachs today.
Mary Campbell, right, directs the Kendall Community Choir during last Friday’s concert to benefit the Kendall Food Cupboard. The choir performs at several community events throughout the year.
Campbell, a retired music teacher, wanted to give Kendall area residents a chance to sing together in 2008. She got word out about a community choir, but wasn’t sure how many would show up.
Fifty people joined and that number has been steady since then. The group not only provides fun and fellowship for the singers, but also entertains the community and raises funds for important causes.
For more than a century, the building on Gaines Basin Road, just north of the canal, was used as a one-room schoolhouse. The site was largely abandoned after decentralization in 1944.
Al Capurso of Gaines saw potential in the boarded-up building. This year he rallied the community to clean out the building, put in new windows, replace the roof and put up a historical marker noting that Caroline Phipps taught at the school. She went on to be a distinguished educator and ran the Phipps Union Seminary in Albion from 1837 to 1875. That spot later became the County Clerks Building.
There is more work to do at the building, which Capurso, the Gaines town historian, would like to see used as a meeting hall and a spot to display and store artifacts.
Ashley Wiegele’s mother Danielle Shulenburg holds a ceremonial check for $20,000 given by the West Herr Automotive Group during an Oct. 24 benefit. She is pictured with Scott Green, left, a guidance counselor at Albion High School and Rich Wilkinson, general manager for West Herr.
The guidance counselors and staff at Albion High School have been checking in with Ashley Wiegele and her mother Danielle Shulenburg since Ashley was paralzyed in a June 2014 boating accident, just days before she was to walk across the stage and get her high school diploma.
Scott Green, the high school guidance counselor, was talking with Shulenburg, who said a handicapped accessible van would help get Ashley to medical appointments and be more active in the community.
Green set out to raise $10,000 to buy a van. Green said that might only be a start towards buying the vehicle.
At a benefit on Oct. 24, more than $30,000 was raised with the West Herr Automotive Group giving $20,000 towards the van. The Albion Lions Club contributed $5,000 and many others pitched in.
Bill Lattin, retired Orleans County historian, leads about 30 people on a tour of the Millville Cemetery in September.
There isn’t much glory in preserving a cemetery, but a group of volunteers have been committed to the task in recent years. The Millville Cemetery is a grand site that is recognized on the National Regitser of Historic Places.
The cemetery was established in 1871 as an early Quaker burial grounds. Back then the graves were close together. The cemetery would take on the rural garden cemetery style, with bigger spaces between graves, towering trees and ornamental grave stones.
Volunteers and the Town of Shelby in September unveiled a new historical marker for the cemetery.
The volunteers also completed a big project this year: the chapel was repainted. An anonymous donor gave more than $6,000 to have that done.
Those volunteers, and the many others in the community, deserve thanks for their efforts to preserve our historic sites and take on other important projects in the community.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 26 November 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The rising sun created a blaze of colors this morning in this photo that shows the columns on the Orleans County Courthouse.
It is going to be a warm Thanksgiving with a high forecast for 59 degrees on a mostly cloudy day, according to the National Weather Service in Buffalo.
It will also be warm on Friday with a high of 60. The temperature drops on Saturday when the Weather Service says the high will be 39 degrees.
It was a striking sunrise this morning with colors in the clouds.
I like this tree with its wild branches on Butts Road north of the canal. I’m going to try to get pictures of it in different seasons.
Here is the same tree on Nov. 5 when it was 70 degrees.
ALBION – The Albion Police Department hosted and supervised a multi-agency Orleans County DWI Saturation Patrol on Wednesday and earlier today.
This detail combined the efforts from every law enforcement agency in Orleans County along with state and federal resources.
The agencies involved consisted of the Albion Police, Medina Police, Holley Police, Orleans County Sheriff’s Office, New York State Police, Orleans County Probation, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The detail results include four DWI arrests (3 in Albion and 1 in Holley); one DWI Drugs (in Albion); 79 traffic stops; and 34 tickets issued.
One person arrested also was interviewed by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement related to U.S. entry status. Another person was arrested for disorderly conduct related to vehicle operation
The Albion Police Department and the other law enforcement agencies are committed to making the roadways safe for all those who travel upon them.
Intoxicated drivers do not follow jurisdictional lines, so we decided that we would not either. The Albion Police Department and its partners are planning similar details for the future. We will continue to use every resource and tool available to create a reduction in offenders and arrest those who continue to endanger others by driving while intoxicated.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 25 November 2015 at 12:00 am
The unemployment rate in Orleans County dropped to 5.3 percent in October, which is down from 6.3 percent a year before and 8.5 percent in October 2013.
The State Department of Labor reports that the rate state-wide is 4.8 percent, the lowest rate in New York since November 2007. That includes a 4.8 percent rate in New York City and 4.9 percent in upstate.
The data from the DOL shows that 17,400 people were working in Orleans County in October, up by 400 from the 17,000 in October 2014. The number of unemployed fell from 1,100 in October 2014 to 1,000 last month.
The state’s private sector job count increased by 168,600 from October 2014 to October 2015. In October 2015, the number of private sector jobs in the state reached an all-time high of 7,859,000, according to the state DOL.
Unemployment in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metro area fell from 5.4 percent in October 2014 to 4.8 percent last month. The jobless rate in the Rochester metro fell from 5.1 to 4.5 percent in that time.
Other nearby counties have unemployment rates below Orleans County’s: Genesee, 4.2; Wyoming, 4.4; Livingston, 4.2; Monroe, 4.6; Niagara, 5.2; and Erie, 4.8.
Only two counties in the state had rate a 6.0 percent or higher: Oswego (6.0) and Bronx (6.5).
