EDA approves $454K in tax savings for project in next decade

Photo by Tom Rivers: John Ivison, branch manager for Helena Agri-Enterprises in Ridgeway, said the $4,275,000 addition will be an asset to the local agricultural community. Ivison is speaking at today’s Orleans EDA meeting. County Legislator and EDA board member John Fitzak is at left next to Gabrielle Barone, vice president of development for the EDA.

ALBION – The Orleans Economic Development Agency gave its final approval for tax incentives for a $4,275,000 expansion at Helena Agri-Enterprises on Allis Road in Ridgeway.

Helena is planning a 15,000-square-foot addition. The company hopes to start construction next month and be done in October, said John Ivison, the branch manager.

The company in 2017 moved from a warehouse in Albion to Ridgeway, building a new facility. The latest project will give Helena more capacity to serve farm operations of all sizes, especially the larger ones in planting season where there is often a small weather window to get fertilizer in the ground.

“It is designed to be high output for the growers of the future to get to the fields quickly,” Ivison told the EDA board today. “We can be precise with the nutrient needs of the crop.”

The addition will include $1 million of blending equipment. It also will have storage for 4,000 tons of product. That is enough plant food and fertilizer for about 30,000 acres.

The EDA approved $454,663 in incentives over 10 years while Helena pays $158,288 to local governments in a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes).

The company will get a sales tax exemption, saving Helena $261,200 or 8 percent on $3,265,000. It will get a sliding scale tax abatement over 10 years, with $35,175 exempted the first year and then 10 percent added over 10 years. That exemption will save the company $193,463 in property taxes on the new facility over the decade.

Helena employs 15 people in Ridgeway. Ivison said the company could add six more employees with the addition, with a person in information technology, two truck drivers, a skid steer operator, a salesperson and an employee with soil testing.

John  Misiti, the EDA board chairman, said the Helena expansion reflects confidence in the agricultural economy in Orleans County.

Photos courtesy of Becky Persons: Community Acton of Orleans and Genesee was presented with donations of cash and toys from ABATE on Sunday as a result of their annual toy run. Pictured from left include Chuck Persons, president of ABATE in Orleans County; Katrina Standish, director of community services and reporting for Community Action; and Ricky Standish, Community Action’s facility manager.

MEDINA – The Orleans County Chapter of ABATE held its annual toy run on Sunday, with 20 bikers riding 50 miles in the county.

The trip started at the Ridgeway Volunteer Fire Company and ended at the VFW in Medina. About 45 people were part of the event and they contributed more than $600 and also donated toys to Community Action of Orleans and Genesee for the organization’s annual toy drive for local families.

ABATE member Al Schumacher dressed as Santa for the ride.

ABATE has been doing the toy run for about 40 years. Here some of the participants head out for the start of the 50-mile journey.

Secret to longevity: ‘hard work, good life living on a farm and no smoking or drinking’

Photos by Ginny Kropf: Brian Napoli, left, supervisor of the town of Ridgeway, presents citations to Doris Marchner in honor of her 100th birthday from the town of Ridgeway, Assemblyman Steven Hawley and State Senator Rob Ortt. Looking on at right is Marchner’s son Don Marchner of Medina.

MEDINA – Doris Marchner has no doubt what has attributed to her long life.

“It was hard work, good life living on a farm and no smoking or drinking in our house growing up,” said the Medina resident, who celebrated her 100th birthday Saturday at a reception at Abundant Harvest’s Fellowship Hall in Knowlesville.

Doris Marchner of Medina greets her brother Darwin Welker of West Walworth during a celebration of her 100th birthday Sunday at Abundant Harvest’s Fellowship Hall in Knowlesville.

Marchner was born Sept. 6, 1924 in Penfield, the middle child in a family of 11. She and a younger brother, Darwin Welker of West Walworth, are the only two surviving. Welker attended her party on Saturday, along with her son and daughter-in-law, Don and Pat Marchner; two granddaughters; three great-grandsons; one great-granddaughter; two great-great-granddaughters; and several nephews.

Marchner met her husband Donald at a square dance and they were married for 60 years before he died in 2005. They moved to Medina in 1961, where she worked at Fisher Price.

She lives on her own in an apartment in son Donald’s house and cooks most of her own meals. She loves to bake and insisted on making cookies for her party Sunday.

After she turned 90, she told her family, “I think I might hang on to a 100.”

Although her eyesight is failing and she doesn’t hear as well as she used to, she is still active, trying to take a short walk every afternoon.

“I read somewhere you should put in 200 steps a day, and I try to do that,” she said.

Her days are spent watching TV – game shows in the morning and Westerns in the afternoons, her son said. She does enjoy a glass of wine before bedtime every day.

“She was a stern, but reasonable mother,” Don said.

The afternoon included citations presented by Ridgeway supervisor Brian Napoli on behalf of the town of Ridgeway, State Assemblyman Steven Hawley and State Senator Rob Ortt.

Provided photo: Doris Marchner poses for her 100th birthday with, from left, her granddaughters Kristin McAdoo and Laurie Marchner and son Donald Marchner.

Photos by Tom Rivers

RIDGEWAY – Orleans County Historian Catherine Cooper leads a tour last month at the West Ridgeway Cemetery on Route 104 at the Marshall Road intersection.

The cemetery opened in 1810 when the area was still under jurisdiction of Genesee County. (Orleans County became independent of Genesee in 1825. Next year is the bicentennial of Orleans.)

Catherine Cooper highlights some of the early settlers who are buried at the cemetery.

The first burial was in 1810 after a 12-year-old girl died from rabies after getting bitten by a dog. She is in an unmarked grave.

The first marked grave was in 1814.

The site was known as the Barrett Cemetery until 1870, when it became the West Ridgeway Cemetery.

Cooper said the early pioneers needed to tame a wilderness. Seymour Murdock is one of the pioneers in the cemetery. He camped for six weeks in a wagon while building a house. It also took him 2-3 days each way to get to Batavia and the Holland Land Office to buy land for $2 to $2.50 an acre, Cooper said.

Those early settlers were drawn by the prospect of cheap land. Others were refugees from the War of 1812 who had their homes burned out by the British and then moved east into Ridgeway and Orleans County, Cooper said.

Catherine Cooper talks with Gordon Grimes, president of the cemetery association that oversees the active cemetery. Grimes said there is typically about 11 burials a year at the cemetery, but that is down to three this year with two cremations.

The tour on Aug. 4 started at a chapel in with windows in a Gothic architectural style on the back side and Romanesque in front. The building was constructed in 1899. From left include Catherine Cooper, retired county historian Bill Lattin, and Todd Bensley, Medina historian.

Catherine Cooper shared about some recent community leaders in the cemetery.

Charles R. Owen, a staff sergeant in the Army during World War II soldier, was a recipient of Purple Heart and a prisoner of war. He shared his POW experience during community talks, including with local schools. He died at age 90 on Nov. 21, 2012

Richard Knights, who died of cancer in 1984 at age 39, continues to be honored by his family as part of the Knights-Kaderli Memorial Fund that supports families battling cancer in Orleans County.

Richard’s father William C. Knights (1917 to 1973) also is buried at the cemetery. He was elected to the State Assembly and died from injuries in a car accident on Feb. 5, 1973, just a few weeks into his term.

Warren P. Towne, a principal at Medina, was a leader of a school after centralization in the 1950s. Medina named one of its school buildings in his honor.

Milford Phinney, who led the Phinney Tool & Die company in Medina, also is at West Ridgeway. He was a prominent community leader with the Boy Scouts, Lions Club and Shelridge Country Club.

The Mason monument is one of the most striking at the cemetery. Cooper shared how Oliver and Martha Mason endured the loss of three young daughters to sickness. Their son Theodore died at Great Bend, Nebraska on Nov. 28, 1874 at age 24. Martha travelled by train to Kansas to bring his body home. She went about 3,000 miles in seven days.

The tour on Aug. 4 was one of four of local cemeteries last month organized by the Orleans County Historical Association.

RIDGEWAY – A Lyndonville woman was killed in a car accident on Thursday afternoon on Route 104 in Ridgeway, State Police said today.

Sandra J. Gapa, 64, of Lyndonville was driving a 2021 Subaru, going northbound on Knowlesville Road at about 3 p.m. She stopped at the stop sign at the intersection on Route 104. State Police said she then entered the intersection of 104  and was struck by a 2004 GMC traveling westbound on Route 104.

Gapa was pronounced deceased at the scene by an Orleans County coroner.

The accident shut down traffic on Route 104 between Knowlesville and Culvert roads, and Knowlesville Road between Porter and Oak Orchard River roads.

The State Police Collision Reconstruction Unit and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation assisted in this investigation.

Photos submitted by John Dieter, Scoutmaster of Troop 35

RIDGEWAY – Boy Scouts and parents from Troop 35 in Medina this past Saturday organized a garbage cleanup at the Canal Culvert, the spot where the road goes under the canal on Culvert Road.

Scouts picked up litter at the Culvert, and also along the towpaths both east and west to the nearest canal bridges.

Several bags of garbage, plastic chairs, and a bicycle were removed from canal banks. This event was part of the Canal Sweep cleanup program that is held annually.

Photos by Tom Rivers

RIDGEWAY – Art Doldan, owner of ArtyParty716, spins the wheel on Friday night during a meat raffle fundraiser for the Medina Rotary Club. Gary Lawton of the Rotary Club is at right in back.

Rotary held the event for the first time as a fundraiser to support community projects.

About 150 people attended the raffle at the Ridgeway Fire Hall.

The crowd holds up $2 to have a chance in one of the rounds. They would get four chances to win different meat products for those $2.

There were 12 rounds in all with chances to win chicken fingers, pickle chips, pizza logs, bacon, burgers, state fair sausage, strips, prime rib, pork chops, pork butt, chuck roast, ribeye steak, shrimp, poppers, stuffed chicken, boneless breast, turkey breast, surf/turf and wings.

Art Doldan pulls the 50/50 ticket in a bucket held by Stephanie Mason from the Rotary Club, and the lead organizer of the meat raffle. The 50/50 split was about $800.

Mason has been to other meat raffles and she said they are fun events, while raising money for a good cause.

The Rotary Club expected the event raised $3,000 to $5,000 last night for the club to give towards community causes.

Carl Tuohey and his son Jackson get the meat ready for the winners.

Art Doldan walks past baskets up for raffle. He said the meat raffles are soaring in popularity. He is based out of Williamsville. Last year he did 37 meat raffles from Jan. 1 to June 1. This year he is scheduled to have 65 in those five months.

The events raise an average of $6,000 to $8,000, and some top $20,000.

“These events have really blossomed,” he said. “People love it.”

Zoning change recommended for truck terminal in Shelby

ALBION – The Orleans County Planning Board is recommending the Town of Ridgeway approve a business that stores and rents trailers for road use.

Reginald Cichocki wants to park and store empty trailers at 12620 Ridge Rd. in a general business district. Cichocki could have up to 100 empty trailers on the site.

He also will have a 6-foot-high chain link fence along the roadside that would be 350 feet long with a 30-foot sliding gate.

The fence will provide a barrier for safety and offer some privacy from the surrounding area and passing vehicles, county planners said.

In another referral, the Planning Board on Thursday recommended the Town of Shelby change the zoning at 11697 Sanderson Rd. from agricultural/residential to general commercial.

This 6.3-acre property has been a truck terminal for at least 50 years, planners said. The property should have been zoned for business many years ago but Dan Wolfe, the Shelby code enforcement officer, said the town appears to have made an oversight.

Planners were concerned the change could be seen as “spot zoning” but the property is near the ethanol plant on Route 31A and touches a light industrial district.

“It should be rezoned general business,” Wolfe said about the property that is listed for sale. “It gives more options to prospective businesses.”

Planners also voted to keep Brian Napoli of Ridgeway as the board’s chairman and Dan Strong of Carlton as the vice chairman.

Provided photo

RIDGEWAY – Kevin DeHollander is shown with a freshly painted historical marker on Presbyterian Road. He is shown on Tuesday after Melissa Ierlan delivered the marker to the site in Knowlesville.

The marker notes that the first religious society in the Town of Ridgeway was organized in August 1817 and the first church was dedicated in 1832. This marker originally was put up in 1932.

Irelan has now scraped and repainted nearly 40 of the markers.

ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature on Tuesday approved a bid for $678,014 to replace the County Line Bridge over Jeddo Creek in the Town of Ridgeway.

J. Bognar Construction of Sardinia submitted the lowest bridge for the project. The bridge replacement is funded 95 percent by the federal government, with the county picking up the remaining 5 percent, county legislators said.

Construction is expected to start in the spring.

Provided photos

RIDGEWAY – The Crusaders Motorcycle Club will be racing today as part of the 66^th season of flat track racing on Culvert Road.

Today’s events are highlighted by the annual memorial race in honor of past friends and family. The gates opened at 7:30 a.m. with practice starting at 11:30 a.m. and racing beginning at 12:30 p.m. at 3312 Culvert Rd.

Our 2023 events include the Men’s Mad Dawg Race on June 18, the Women’s Mad Dawg Race on July 9, the Men’s Mad Dawg Race on July 23, and a rain date for Aug. 27 if needed. The Crusaders have updates on the club’s Facebook page and website.

Jude Lacy of Medina is pictured on a 125 4-Stroke from a race on May 21. He placed 2nd overall in the 125 4 Stroke Class in our 2022 race season.

The Crusaders also had their Kiddie Kamp on Saturday. The 50cc Kiddie Kamp participants are shown with Brad Hazel and Austin Luczak, who are local pro riders who taught the class.

The training session is for riders ages 4 to 8. The class provides young riders with basic riding and racing skills. The participants are taught what all the different colored flags represent, how to watch for the green race light and to practice their starting skills.

They also learn how to maneuver around the corners. By the end of the day all the riders pick up their speed and increase their riding skills.

Provided photos

RIDGEWAY – Scouts from Troop 35 cleaned up garbage on Saturday around the Culvert Road tunnel under the canal. They also picked up garbage on the towpath from the culvert to the Beals Road bridge. The effort was part of the 18^th annual Canal Clean Sweep.

Scouts in picture in front of culvert from left to right include Nicholas Reese, Vinny Gray, Briley Allen, Jimmy Dieter, Kam Kassey, Jake Gidley, Scoutmaster John Dieter and Cole Herman

The Scouts filled some big bags with trash.