By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 12 November 2013 at 12:19 pm
Absentee ballots make the difference
RIDGEWAY – After the election last week, incumbent Mark Goheen was trailing opponent Raymond Wendling by only 8 votes in the race for highway superintendent in Ridgeway. There were still 33 absentee ballots to be counted.
Those ballots were opened today and Goheen received the votes he needed to pull off the 591-581 victory over Wendling.
This general-election race was a rematch of the GOP primary, also resulting in a win for Goheen. Incumbent Mark Goheen was endorsed by the Republican and Independence parties. Raymond Wendling, after the primary, ran under the Conservative Party and the independent Ridgeway Peoples Party.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 12 November 2013 at 12:00 am
RIDGEWAY – Mark Goheen didn’t go to the Board of Elections today when elections officials spent three hours opening and counting absentee ballots in four close races in Orleans County.
Goheen, the Ridgeway highway superintendent, preferred to spend the morning working on projects as highway superintendent. Goheen started the day eights votes behind Ray Wendling, 570 to 562.
But when 40 absentees were tabulated late in the morning, Goheen ended up the victor, 591-581. He received 29 of the absentees to 11 for Wendling.
“It’s been awful the past week,” Goheen said about the very tight race and the prospect of being out a job. “It’s nerve-wracking, and it’s been hard on my family and the people I work with.”
Goheen topped Wendling, an employee in the Medina Department of Public Works, in the Republican Primary. But Wendling kept up a vigorous campaign, running on the Conservative line and the independent Ridgeway Peoples Party.
“I’m extremely disappointed, but I’m extremely proud that I ran a positive campaign and ran with integrity,” Wendling said after the results were announced at about noon. “I just want to thank the Ridgeway and Medina voters for their support.”
Goheen is finishing his first term as highway chief. When he was contacted by phone this afternoon, he was on Rutherford Road, helping a resident with a water issue.
Goheen said he is thankful he can keep a job that allows him to work with the public.
“You get to do something different every day,” he said. “You’re helping people out with their roads, ditches and water. I want to thank my family and friends for getting behind me.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 9 November 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Gerry Zinkievich is pictured with a plate of quiche during tonight’s wine-tasting event to benefit the Knights/Kaderli Memorial Fund. The kitchen was busy during the 10th annual event.
RIDGEWAY – For 10 years Gerry Zinkievich has summoned an army of cooks, bakers, wineries and donations to raise money for Orleans County residents battling cancer.
Zinkievich and her family are dedicated to an event that raises about $6,000 every year for the Knights/Kaderli Memorial Fund, which assists local residents who are fighting cancer. The fund helps pay emergency expenses and some other bills.
Zinkievich, the retired Shelby town clerk, has seen how the fund can lessen the burdens for a family fighting cancer. Her late husband Jim fought the disease until his death about 12 years ago.
“They’re like the angels that walk among us,” Zinkievich said about the volunteers at Knights/Kaderli. “You just want to give back because they really helped my husband out.”
Her brother-in-law David also died from cancer. His wife Sue Zinkievich is another driving force for the wine-tasting event.
Melinda Vizcarra of Vizcarra Vineyards in Gasport served wine during the event at the Ridgeway Fire Hall. Five wineries were at the event offering wine tastings.
Five wineries offered wine tastings to the 250 people who attended the event. There was also lots of food and baked goods.
Volunteers also collected 102 gift baskets that were raffled off.
A DJ played music and the Hot Country Liners performed several dances for the crowd.
“We try to make it fun,” Zinkievich said. “I just want people to have a good time.”
Jim Owen of Akron is part of Hot Country Liners that performed tonight as part of a fund-raiser for the Knights/Kaderli Memorial Fund.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 November 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
KNOWLESVILLE – The lift bridge in Knowlesville was closed beginning on Wednesday this week so workers could make some repairs. It looked like a crew was working on the deck of the bridge this afternoon.
The bridge was on a 6-ton weight restriction and was limited to one lane. Those restrictions will remain when the bridge reopens in about 10 days, according to the state Department of Transportation.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 November 2013 at 12:00 am
KNOWLESVILLE – The lift bridge in Knowlesville will be closed beginning today so the state Department of Transportation can perform necessary maintenance repairs.
The bridge is expected to be closed for up to two weeks, state Sen. George Maziarz’s office advised.
The bridge, which was built in 1910, has had a weight restriction and is limited to one lane. It will remain at its current width upon reopening.
Press release, Orleans County Undersheriff Steve Smith
RIDGEWAY – Three people were hospitalized this morning following a two-vehicle crash in the town of Ridgeway.
The accident occurred at about 7:50 a.m., in the 11400 block of Ridge Road, just east of Horan Road. Kelly P. Bailey, 51, of Medina was operating a 1998 Jeep SUV travelling east on Route 104. Bailey’s vehicle crossed the center line and collided with a westbound 1998 GMC pick-up truck operated by Debra J. Albone-Gundrum, 62, of Lyndonville.
After the initial collision, Bailey’s vehicle ran off the north side of the roadway and over-turned, coming to rest on its roof. Bailey was trapped in the wreckage for approximately 25 minutes before being extricated by Ridgeway and Shelby firefighters. He was then air-lifted to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester by Mercy Flight helicopter.
Albone-Gundrum (sole occupant) was transported to Medina Memorial Hospital by Medina FD ambulance, as was a front-seat passenger in Bailey’s vehicle, identified as James A. Groves, 43, of Medina.
The cause of the incident remains under investigation by the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office. Witnesses report Bailey’s vehicle operated erratically prior to the crash. The on-scene investigation was conducted by Deputy M.C. Mele, assisted by Sergeant D.W. Covis and Chief Deputy T.L. Drennan.
A Medina man is hospitalized following an early morning rollover vehicle crash in the town of Ridgeway. The incident occurred shortly after 5 a.m., in the 10500 block of Mill Rd.
Tyler J. Heminway, 24, was operating a 2000 Chevrolet Blazer west on Mill Rd., west of Murdock Rd., when he apparently lost control of the SUV. It ran off the north side of the roadway, then came back onto and across the roadway and ran off the south side. The vehicle then overturned several times, ejecting Heminway, before coming to rest on it’s left side in a soybean field.
Heminway, the sole occupant, was flown to Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo by MercyFlight helicopter.
While the incident investigation is continuing, both alcohol and excessive speed appear to have been contributing factors. Charge(s) against Heminway are pending his recovery.
Sgt. D.E. Draper Jr., has the lead in the investigation, assisted by Deputies D.E. Foeller Jr., A.J. Houghton, D.S. Klips, & Investigator K.M. Strickland Jr.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 10 October 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
RIDGEWAY – The flames shot high in the air, and the teams of firefighters drew closer, spraying water and foam on a fuel tanker.
For more than an hour on Thursday evening, firefighters doused a fire. And then it was reignited and they put it out again. And again and again.
About 30 to 40 firefighters, mostly from Barre, Shelby and Ridgeway, trained tonight with a live fire training trailer owned by the state Office of Fire Prevention and Control. The state has been taking the mobile tanker to counties throughout the state, working with fire companies to prepare for an ethanol tank on fire.
There are two ethanol plants in the state – in Medina and Fulton. However trucks and trains are hauling 8,000-gallon tanks all over the state.
“Ethanol is heavily transported in New York State by truck and by rail,” said Dan Baker, a state Haz-Mat instructor.
Orleans County has already had an ethanol explosion. A fuel tanker truck hauling 8,000 gallons of ethanol veered off Route 31A near Mathes Road on June 14, 2011 and crashed into the woods, killing the driving and resulting in several explosions. A team trained in hazardous materials from Kodak helped put out that fire.
Ethanol poses additional challenges for firefighters because ethanol contains alcohol. It requires a foam mix to extinguish and get under control, Baker said.
Firefighters tonight worked in teams of five from three different directions to approach the tanker on fire during tonight’s training exercises. Two teams sprayed water and foam at the fire so another team could approach the tank to turn off the valve letting out the fuel.
“You need to shut off the source,” Baker said.
Firefighters practiced their responses to other scenarios with the tank, including one where the valve was broken. In that case, firefighters sprayed the tank and fuel with the foam mix.
The firefighters moved around different team members during the training, so firefighters from different companies would get experience with their own department members and also in a mutual aid scenario.
Baker said the training tanker is in demand around the state as firefighters want to prepare for an accident with a truck or train hauling ethanol.
“We have a big waiting list,” Baker said about the training.
New York State Department of Transportation today announced two paving projects that are taking place in Orleans County this month.
Work begins this week on a project to resurface Route 104 from the Niagara County Line to Knowlesville Road in the town of Ridgeway through mid-October.Traffic will be reduced to alternating single-lane travel.
Beginning next week, work begins to resurface the eastbound travel lanes on the Lake Ontario State Parkway between Route 237 (including interchange ramps) and Route 272 in the town of Kendall. Work should be complete by late-October. Traffic will be reduced to a single lane in the eastbound direction.The ramps will temporarily close while being worked on.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 September 2013 at 12:00 am
LOCKPORT – A 20-year-old Medina resident, who police suspect in 15 Albion burglaries and five in Medina, has been arrested in Niagara County after a burglary on High Street in the city of Lockport.
Jonathan K. Banks of 4886 South Townline Rd., Ridgeway, has been charged with second-degree burglary after breaking into a house at 5:20 a.m. He was arrested on Thursday.
Police in Albion and Medina have yet to charge him but Albion Police Chief Roland Nenni said Banks is suspected in the rash of burglaries in the two villages.
“He is a person of interest in Orleans County as well as other locations,” Nenni said in an email. “No arrest has been made on the burglaries in Orleans County to date.”
Albion and Medina police teamed with Lockport police in the investigation. They tracked Banks to Tonawanda, where he was arrested by Buffalo police officers and the Lockport Police Department, according to the Lockport Union-Sun and Journal.
The Albion and Medina burglaries all occurred at night, when residents were sleeping. Burglars would enter through unlocked doors or cut out screens to get inside.
Banks was involved in a high-profile crime in May when he took a 12-year-old girl from Albion overnight to Buffalo. The girl was subject to a missing persons report. Banks was charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
He currently is in Niagara County Jail on $15,000 cash bail or $30,000 property bail.
