By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 July 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Norma Chambers opened a hair salon in her Shelby home last week at 4503 Mill St. She has been in the hair-cutting business for a half century.
SHELBY – Norma Chambers started cutting hair more than 50 years ago. She started at her small shop – “The Shelby Center House of Beauty.”
With a growing clientele, she moved the business to downtown Medina, changing the name of the business to “Clip Joint.” She started hiring people.
She was successful, and would own and operate five Clip Joint hair salons, with businesses in Medina, Albion, Holley, Middleport and Lockport.
Chambers, now 77, employed many people out of beauty school. That gave them the basics of the business, but Chambers said she worked with them to do more and really hone their skills.
“I trained people how to cut hair successfully,” she said today.
Norma Chambers isn’t ready to retire. She is pictured outside her home and the location for her hair salon.
She is semi-retired now, but still wants to cut hair. Chambers last week opened the Norma Chambers Buzz ‘en Cut. Her great-granddaughter, 9-year-old Nevaeh Mae Roberts, thought of the name for the business.
Chambers works out of her home at 4503 Mill St. She takes customers by appointment only.
“I can’t retire,” she said. “I’d rather work. It’s too much fun.”
Her daughter, Rita Scupien, worked at Clip Joints for about 30 years. She recently moved back to Shelby after living in Florida. She said her mother was a mentor to many women in the hair-cutting business.
Chambers enjoys the history of the Shelby community. She has collected some key artifacts, including this millstone from a former mill. She had a friend, the late Tony Kozody, move it to her house with a loader.
“She is a trusting ole’ soul who believes in people and wants to give them a chance,” Scupien said. “Because she went through some hard times herself, she was always willing to help the young girls. She is a very giving person.”
Chambers said she has made numerous friends through the years with so many customers.
“I love the people,” she said. “I like to make people look good.”
Chambers is available by appointment only. Call (585) 318-4561 for more information.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 May 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Emil Smith is pictured doing a blacksmith demonstration in August 2012 with his friend George Borelli. Smith hosted the event at his property on Route 63, just south of the Village of Medina.
A new season has begun with exhibits and demonstrations to highlight local painters, sculptors and others in the creative arts.
Emil Smith was a mainstay at these events in recent years, as both a supporter of the artists and an exhibitor of his metal sculptures. The art community has been mourning his loss since his death on April 15. Smith, 54, was driving a truck in Wyoming County when he was killed in an accident.
“All artists are united,” said Arthur Barnes, a painter and long-time friend of Smith’s. The two grew up in Shelby and knew each other since they were kids. “We’re kind of a brethren.”
Smith created this cross with a crown of thorns. It’s in his front yard on South Gravel Road.
Smith’s work was immense, heavy and tall and that made it difficult to set up in local galleries.
But some of his smaller sculptures – a pinecone candle holder, a cattail and roses – were exhibited and they were popular with the public, said Noelle Wiedemer, co-owner of Wide Angle Art Gallery on Main Street in Medina.
“There was a ton of interest in his rose,” Wiedemer said.
Some metal sculptors will engineer their work and have very polished pieces. Smith created on the spot.
“He used a very organic process and he sometimes he brute-forced pieces into place,” said Kim Keil, co-owner of the Wide Angle gallery. “He was learning new techniques.”
Some of his work – metal creations of large crosses, birds, lady bugs, swamp scenes and flowers – have been on display for about a decade in his front yard and across the street on Route 63.
Emil Smith created these 11-foot-high iron crosses as a memorial to his father, Garra Smith. They are pictured on the Smith Farm, on the east side of South Gravel Road.
Smith put the crosses up in 2003. They were intended to be temporary, but the community gave him such good feedback he decided to keep them up year-round.
The three crosses are a traditional cross (center), an Oync cross (left) and a Celtic cross.
Smith took up the blacksmith arts after taking a welding class. He wanted the welding skill so he could do more projects on the farm.
Smith took old metal pieces – sometimes rusted corrugated water pipes, CO2 cylinders, ice tongs, a ball hitch, and other scrap pieces – to create animals out of metal.
Wide Angle Art Gallery was trying to keep permission from village officials to have some of the larger pieces on display on Main Street, Keil and Wiedemer said.
Smith wasn’t just an artist. He was one of the biggest cheerleaders for other artists. He attended almost every artists’ reception. He was generous in praising their efforts.
“People that support the arts are hard to come by,” said Kim Martillotta Muscarella, owner of Marti’s on Main, an art gallery on North Main Street in Albion.
“Not only was Emil an art appreciator, he was an artist,” she said.
Smith was a regular at the First Friday art openings at Marti’s. After seeing that exhibit, he liked to go listen to live music at the former Elsewhere Café in Albion. He was also a regular at the Boiler 54, which featured live music in Medina.
Smith enjoyed opera, playing the blues harmonica and liked to quote Shakespeare, sometimes while wearing a kilt. He loved Celtic culture. He was one of the leading performers in the Highland Games, where competitors throw heavy stones, sheafs and large poles. Smith could outpower many of the competitors who were half his age.
But he was a “gentle giant” who loved nature, his family and the arts, his friends said.
“He was one of those characters who will be missed,” Barnes said. “He really liked people and he liked to talk to people. He was a good guy.”
The local artists are interested in pursuing one of Smith’s ideas. He talked to the galleries about an art trail that would run along the canal villages from Lockport to Brockport. He wanted to see the galleries on the trail work together for an art festival.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 1 May 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
SHELBY – Shelby, long before it was officially the Town of Shelby, was once home to the only double palisaded fort in New York State.
The Neuter Indians built the fort with two walls in the 14th Century on Salt Works Road, south of Route 31 near Blair Road.
There is a historical marker by the property that was put up in 1932 by the NYS Department of Education. The sign says the fort was destroyed by the Iroquois Indians in 1650. This area is an ancient Indian archeological site.
Provided Photo – The Shelby firefighters pictured above, at a controlled burn last month, include, from left: Tim Fearby, Justin Myhill, Marcus Watts, Scott Petry, Jessica Reigle and Chuck Arnett.
The Shelby Volunteer Fire Company is putting on its annual pancake breakfast this Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. as part of the Maple Sunday celebration. Pancakes will be served with real maple syrup from Wolfe Farms in Middleport.
The event will be at Shelby’s recreation hall on Route 63, just south of the village of Medina.
The fire company is hoping to raise $5,000 at the event, which would pay for two sets of turn-out gear for firefighters. The fire company is required by the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration to replace turnout gear every 10 years, firefighter Michael Lamar said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 25 February 2015 at 12:00 am
The Village of Lyndonville and Town of Shelby have both gone on the record in asking the State Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to distribute municipal aid in a fairer way, rather than the current lopsided approach that directs an overwhelming majority of the funds to cities in Upstate New York.
The Medina Village Board passed a resolution on Monday calling on fairness in Aid and Incentives to Municipalities. The state allocates $714 million in AIM funding, and 90 percent goes to upstate cities. That gives the average city resident about $277 per capita in aid, while town and village residents only get an average of $7 per person.
“It should be equal for each resident, across the board,” said Ken Schaal, a Shelby town councilman. “This is very unfair to rural residents.”
The Shelby Town Board passed a resolution on Feb. 10, calling for more aid for the towns and villages.
“We are tired of the millions of dollars that are given to upstate cities. We believe it is time for our fair share,” Town Clerk Darlene Rich said in an email to State Sen. Robert Ortt, Assemblyman Steve Hawley and Assemblywoman Jane Corwin.
Shelby passed the resolution after a vote to dissolve the Village of Medina was rejected by village residents on Jan. 20. Schaal said the Town Board wanted to show support for more aid for the villagers.
He said the town and village have many of the same issues as cities with aging infrastructure and the need to provide services and push for economic development, initiatives that don’t come cheap.
The Lyndonville Village Board passed the resolution on Jan. 12, one week after Orleans Hub proposed a draft resolution, urging the local elected board to pass resolutions for more AIM funding. Click here to see “Here’s a resolution that every elected official in Orleans should support.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 22 February 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Valerie Childs
SHELBY – This house on Telegraph Road in Shelby was taken down in a controlled burn this morning by firefighters from the Western Battalion.
Valerie Childs, a Ridgeway firefighter, took the pictures.
Shelby has been using the vacant house for training drills, including bail-out exercises and interior firefighting skills.
Today, Shelby was joined by firefighters from Lyndonville, Ridgeway and East Shelby in burning down the structure, which has been vacant for several years.
About 30 to 40 firefighters were part of the controlled burn, which took about two hours.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 12 February 2015 at 10:04 am
Provided photo
SHELBY – A Shelby plow truck is on its side after tipping over at about 9:30 a.m. this morning on South Gravel Road between Fletcher Chapel and Oak Orchard Ridge Road.
The Town Highway Department is on site and firefighters are assisting with traffic control.
Contributed Story Posted 8 February 2015 at 12:00 am
Provided photos
SHELBY – Four junior firefighters with the Shelby Volunteer Fire Company were out this morning clearing the deep snow from 24 fire hydrants.
The top photo shows, from left: Tiffany Petry, Mike Busch, Vinny Viterna and Samantha Dawn.
Here is the group after clearing a path to the hydrant.
Three other firefighters – Scott Petry, Jim Way and Serina Blair – also helped with the snow-moving task. Petry is shown with back to camera in this photo.
Firefighters from other departments have also been shoveling snow from near hydrants. Residents are welcome to adopt a hydrant in their own neighborhoods to make sure hydrants are accessible in case of an emergency.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 February 2015 at 9:30 am
Provided photo
SHELBY – A section of Route 31A in Medina was closed this morning after an accident on the road near BMP America and Takeform Architectural Graphics. There were no injuries in the accident, but the road needed to be closed so tow trucks could be brought in, an Orleans County dispatcher said.
Shelby firefighters are providing traffic control.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 January 2015 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Ridgeway Town Supervisor Brian Napoli talks with reporters after dissolution was defetated on Tuesday. Napoli said the town can find cost savings for the village through shared services
MEDINA – With residents casting a decisive blow against dissolving the village, Medina Mayor Andrew Meier and town leaders from Shelby and Ridgeway say they will work towards cooperation to reduce the costs of government in the community.
Meier pushed dissolution, seeing it as a way for a more efficient government for the Medina area, while also bringing in much-needed state aid.
The dissolution plan was fiercely opposed by the leaders from the two town governments, as well as village employees and many village residents. The referendum – “Shall the Village of Medina, New York be dissolved?” – was defeated, 949-527. By law, the issue can’t be voted on again for at least four more years.
Meier said the village faces the same challenges after the vote as it did to start the day.
“We still have a declining tax base, a shrinking population and climbing costs,” he said shortly after the results were announced. “Our sustainability predicament remains.”
Medina Mayor Andrew Meier said he looks forward to seeing proposals from the two towns on how to reduce government costs in the Medina community.
Ridgeway Town Supervisor Brian Napoli said he wants to have serious talks with the village and Shelby town officials about shared services. He believes that cooperation among the municipalities can reduce taxes for village residents.
“The residents (through this vote) told us they want us to look at shared services,” Napoli said in the Senior Center, where many village and town officials, and other residents were gathered to hear the results of the vote.
David Stalker is a member of the Ridgeway Town Board who lives in the village. He sees the village is struggling and needs some help.
“We’ve been ready and willing to talk,” Stalker said about the Ridgeway officials.
He was among the group that waited for nearly 1,500 ballots to be counted, by far the most of an village vote in at least a generation.
Election Inspector Judy Szulis announced the results at 10:35 p.m. The polls closed at 9 p.m.
Stalker was like many of the residents who worried about the fate of the Fire Department and Police Department if dissolution had passed.
“I like having them and knowing they can be there in 3 minutes,” he said.
That was a common refrain from voters interviewed by the media on Tuesday. Residents said they don’t like their high taxes, but they said they didn’t want to lose a responsive police force and fire department.
“Taxes you can deal with, but the proper time for emergencies can’t be compromised,” said resident Peter Kaiser, 31.
He was one of several residents who wasn’t able to vote because he wasn’t registered. He said he assumed he could vote as a village resident, but he wasn’t recorded as registered by the Orleans County Board of Elections.
Tracy Cody had the same situation. She lives in the village, but unbeknownst to her, she wasn’t registered to vote.
She also owns land outside the village in Ridgeway. She went to the polls on Tuesday, concerned her town taxes would go up if dissolution went through. She also didn’t like the uncertainty with the police and fire department.
She supports the idea of one government for the community, with the two towns merged and a village dissolution to follow. She thinks consolidating the two towns is the first step.
“Combine everything into one,” she said.
It was a busy day for election inspectors with nearly 1,500 people voting at the Senior Center. Election inspector Norma Huth is at left wth inspector Judy Szulis at right.
Mayor Meier and supporters of OneMedina see merger of the two towns and elimination of the village as an ultimate goal for the community, providing a streamlined government, more state aid and a stronger political voice.
OneMedina saw dissolution of the village as a first step, but folding the village services into the towns, different taxing districts and an LDC for sewer services proved confusing to many people.
One woman, a life-long Medina resident at age 74, said there were too many unknowns if dissolution had passed.
“Everything is so unclear to everybody,” said the woman, who declined to give her name. “It’s been back and forth with the facts and there’s been too much fighting.”
Crystal Petry, 22, is a Shelby volunteer firefighter who lives in the village. She voted against dissolution. She said the Medina Fire Department, which includes paid firefighters, is critical to western Orleans County. She also thought it was unfair to residents in Shelby and Ridgeway outside the village who faced tax increases if the referendum had passed.
“There’s other ways of going about doing it,” Petry said. “Give the towns a chance.”
Steve Seitz, a Shelby town councilman, said Shelby welcomes the village officials for ongoing dialogue about sharing services.
“Hopefully we can get back to the table,” Seitz said.
Meier said he was encouraged by the 527 “yes” votes, 36 percent of the total. The 527 tops the number of people who voted in the last village election. Only about 400 voted last March.
He said dissolution could loom again because of the difficult situation the village faces. It has limited options for boosting revenue to pay for the services the community values so much. Meier said the village shouldn’t just raise property taxes. The $54 rate per $1,000 of assessed property (village, town, county and school taxes) is one of the highest in the state.
Election inspectors Mary Ann Arder, left, and Norma Huth count ballots. It took about an hour and half to record all of the votes.
Residents and businesses can save significant money in taxes just by moving outside the village and avoiding the village’s $16.44 tax rate. Dissolution would have chopped the overall rate by about $6 per $1,000, saving $420 for a village property owner with a house assessed at $70,000.
“Sometimes it takes time for people to warm up to this kind of transformational change,” Meier said. “We voted tonight. I can’t say if this will be the last vote on the issue. This is a conversation that will continue for years to come.”
He noted a vote to abolish the village court failed in its first vote but sailed through the second time in 2010.
Village Trustee Mark Irwin supported dissolution and was disappointed to see it be rejected. He noted a strong push from the dissolution foes – “They preyed on peoples’ misunderstanding.”
A dissolution plan would have preserved existing village services, realized $277,000 in efficiency saving and $541,000 in additional state aid.
“Right now the ball is in the towns’ court,” Irwin said.
Meier said he looks forward to seeing the ideas and plans from the two towns.
“I think we really need to figure out what the towns’ proposal are,” he said. “They have said, ‘There are better ways, there are better ways.’ All eyes are on them to follow through with what they said.”
The 1,476 who went to the polls on Tuesday is about half of the people who were eligible to vote. The village has 6,065 residents, according to the 2010 Census. Judy Szulis, an election inspector, was pleased by the big turnout.
“We’ve had people come out who had never voted before in a village election,” Szulis said. “There have been a lot of new faces in here today, which is a good thing.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 January 2015 at 12:00 am
‘Dissolution has divided friends, neighbors and families. This cannot go on.’ – Ridgeway Town Supervisor Brian Napoli
Photos by Tom Rivers – Shelby Town Supervisor Skip Draper, right, responds to a question about village dissolution. He is joined by Councilman Dale Stalker during a meeting at the Medina High School Auditorium attended by more than 300 people.
MEDINA – A big crowd of about 300 people attended a public meeting by the Town Boards in Shelby and Ridgeway on Wednesday night. The town officials stated their strong opposition to the dissolution of the Village of Medina.
Villagers shouldn’t expect the towns to pick up the level of services currently provided in the village, officials from both towns said.
Medina Mayor Andrew Meier and other supporters of the dissolution plan see it as a restructuring of services that eases the tax burden on village residents, shifts some costs to the towns and brings in much-needed state aid.
But Jeff Toussaint, Ridgeway town councilman, called it a divisive effort that will only push costs onto the towns. He said the plan has residents outside the village fretting about “unbearable tax hikes.”
“The dissolution plan promoted by One Medina will not unite Medina but ruin it,” Toussaint said.
Ridgeway Town Board members David Stalker, right, and Paul Blajszczak both voiced their opposition to village dissolution. Stalker lives in the village and he said he enjoys the heightened services which come at a higher cost.
Village residents will vote on dissolution from noon to 9 p.m. on Jan. 20 at the Senior Center.
Residents won’t be voting on a specific dissolution plan. They will decide whether or not the village government will continue.
Shelby Town Supervisor Skip Draper and Ridgeway Town Supervisor Brian Napoli both said the dissolution plan doesn’t save nearly enough money to justify eliminating the village government and creating new layers of government bureaucracy, including special districts, a local development corporation and additional burdens on the two towns.
The plan identifies $277,000 in cost savings and $541,000 in additional state aid for $818,000 in overall benefit. (Click here to see the dissolution plan.)
But with combined budgets of more than $10 million, the $277,000 was called a small amount in operational savings.
“I don’t trust the math,” Draper said. “It’s very clear these are all estimates.”
Draper said he is dubious there would be any savings at all because the plan only calls for adding one full-time position to the police department, which would go from covering the village to both towns, or from 3 square miles to 98. If four police officers were needed that would offset the $277,000 in identified cost savings.
Gary Lamar, president of the Shelby Volunteer Fire Company, said the Medina Fire Department is critical to ambulance and fire service for Western Orleans County. He doesn’t want to see the Medina Fire Department disrupted through dissolution.
The town officials said they want to recommit to shared service discussions. Draper said the communities have established a record of cooperation before through courts and assessing services. He sees benefits to the village if the towns took over all plowing and street maintenance. However, if villagers want sidewalk plowing, they could pay for that and other “enhanced services,” Draper said.
The Shelby town supervisor sees the two towns providing “baseline services,” with village residents paying for additional services such as police.
Meier has said shared services don’t do enough to ease the significant tax strain on village residents. Villagers pay a combined tax rate of $54 per $1,000 of assessed property. Moving outside the village can knock about $12 off that combined tax rate, a significant disparity and major disincentive to invest in the village, the mayor has said.
The village tax rate would drop about $6, according to the dissolution plan. Ridgeway residents outside the village in 2013 paid a $6.71 rate for town, lighting and fire protection. That would rise 46 percent to $9.83 if the village dissolves and services are picked up according to the plan.
Shelby residents would see a 10 percent increase with dissolution with the 2013 rate for outside-village residents going from $8.36 per $1,000 of assessed property to $9.17. That would raise taxes for a $70,000 home from $585 to $642.
But the town officials don’t buy the numbers, particularly with the costs for police.
Paul Hendel served as moderator for the meeting at Medina High School.
Shelby Town Councilman Steve Seitz said the plan wasn’t well thought out and didn’t include input from the town officials. He told the village officials they shouldn’t quit on the village. He urged them to come back to the table and find more ways to share services and cooperate.
Ridgeway Town Councilman Paul Blajszczak described the dissolution plan as “radical and premature.”
He urged village residents “to elect candidates interested in productive collaboration.”
The town officials were asked to be specific in how the taxes could be cut for village residents. Shared services was a refrain among the two towns.
Napoli, the Ridgeway supervisor, said the dissolution push has stirred the passions of the community – for the wrong reasons.
“Dissolution has divided friends, neighbors and families,” Napoli said. “This cannot go on.”
Ridgeway Town Supervisor Brian Napoli speaks against dissolution, saying the community should preserve the village. Jeff Toussaint is at right.
Ed Weider is one the proponents of “One Medina,” an effort that seeks to dissolve the village and merge the two towns. He spoke after several residents and town officials spoke about the beautiful downtown and historic flavor of the community.
Weider said there is another part of Medina, and it is growing: decay. He travels the village in a motorized wheelchair. He sees lots of vacant houses and properties being neglected.
Dissolving the village and merging the towns would lower government costs and bring in much needed state aid, helping to pay for services and lower residents’ tax bills, Weider said.
“i don’t think we can afford to maintain the status quo,” Weider said.
Weider praised the two town boards for their presentation on Wednesday night. The boards have proven they work well together and are willing to face community challenges. Weider urged them to support the village dissolution, to bring a unified and streamlined voice to local government.
Ed Weider addresses the two town boards before about 300 people on Wednesday night. Owen Toale is at right, holding the microphone for Weider.
The town officials were asked if they had been approached about a merger of the two towns. They said they hadn’t. Blajszczak said they would have to consider the issue if there was a citizen petition.
But he doubted there would be significant savings because there would still be the same amount of work with water, sewer, street maintenance and plowing, and other services.
“Would a merger save money?” Blajszczak said. “That’s an assumption.”
Some of the residents asked the town officials what the village residents get for the $1.1 million villagers pay to the two towns annually. Draper noted assessing and court for sure.
“The amount of service from the town is minimal at best,” resident Dick Berry responded to Draper.
Berry said he wished more of his local taxes could be directed to the village, which is doing the bulk of the work.
“There has to be a better way,” Berry said.
The town officials were also urged to press for more sales tax revenue from the county and to demand more municipal state aid from New York.
Proponents of dissolution will have a public meeting on Friday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Medina Theatre. That meeting will include Don Earle, Seneca Falls town supervisor. He will share his community’s experience with dissolution, discussing impacts on taxes and services, and the community’s reaction to the changes.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 January 2015 at 4:29 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers
GAINES – A driver slid off Route 98 in the Town of Gaines, about a half mile north of Route 104, at about 3 p.m. today, one of several accidents after the roads turned slick due to freezing rain.
Dan Ryan, an employee for Waters Autobody and Paint, arrived with a flat bed truck and pulled the car out of the ditch.
The driver of this car, Donald Rosario Jr., was taken by ambulance to Medina Memorial Hospital for minor injuries. Rosario, 22, of Waterport snapped a fire hydrant off when he slid off the east side of the road. The Gaines Highway Department responded to the scene along with emergency personnel and the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department.
Several other accidents have been reported, including on Ridge Road in the Town of Ridgeway when a car hit a pole and knocked down wires. Crews also are responding to an accident in the Town of Shelby on East Shelby Road, where the vehicle went off the road into trees. The driver reportedly has a head injury.
Updated 5:30 p.m.: Additional accidents have been reported on Marshall Road in Ridgeway with a vehicle overturned in a ditch and on Lyndonville Road in Ridgeway with a car in a ditch.
Updated 7:02 p.m.: Additional accidents have been reported on Ridge Road in Gaines between Sawyer and Lattin roads where a passenger reportedly has a broken collarbone, and on Route 31E (Telegraph Road) in Shelby where a vehicle went off the road.
SHELBY – An Alden man is in stable condition at a Buffalo hospital after crashing his car this morning in the Town of Shelby.
The incident occurred shortly before 7 a.m. in the 5200 block of South Gravel Road (Route 63), just south of Fletcher Chapel Road. Jonathon R. Hull, 23, was operating a 1998 Volkswagen sedan and travelling north on Route 63, when he lost control of the vehicle.
The car ran off the east side of the roadway and struck a drainage ditch, causing it to become airborne. After grounding, the car rolled several times before coming to rest on its roof.
Hull, sole occupant, was removed from the car by Shelby firefighters and transported to Erie County Medical Center by Medina Fire Department ambulance.
The incident was investigated by Deputy K.J. Colonna, assisted by Chief Deputy T.L. Drennan. While the investigation continues, it does not appear that either alcohol or drugs were contributing factors.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 December 2014 at 12:00 am
John L. Miller thanks firefighter friends for support
Photo by Tom Rivers – John L. Miller returned as a Shelby volunteer firefighter on Dec. 11 and also returned to work last Monday as an emergency medical technician with Mercy EMS in Batavia.
SHELBY – John L. Miller has made a life and career out of helping other people, volunteering as a firefighter with the Shelby Volunteer Fire Company and working as an EMT with Mercy EMS in Batavia.
He has proven his dedication. In 2012, he led all firefighters in Orleans County by taking 10 training classes and accumulating 176 hours of training. He is the EMS captain for Shelby.
The roles were reversed on Aug. 1 for Miller. The man used to helping others needed emergency assistance after his 2000 Chevy Suburban was in an accident with a dump truck just before 8 a.m. on Maple Ridge Road in Medina.
Miller, 36, was badly injured. He flown by Mercy Flight to ECMC. His right femur was fractured. So was his right hip, and his neck. His aorta was torn.
It looked like it would be a long road to recovery. Last week Miller returned to work at Mercy EMS. He was given his medical clearance on Dec. 11 to return as a volunteer firefighter and responded to two calls in his frst week back as a volunteer.
“It meant a lot to me to be on that first call back when I could get back out there and do what I love to do, helping my community,” Miller said.
Photos by Cheryl Wertman – John L. Miller suffered multiple broken bones and a tear in his aorta in a Aug. 1 accident. Miller was driving a 2000 Chevy Suburban in an accident with a dump truck on Maple Ridge Road in Medina.
He has pushed himself with physical therapy, and he said he has benefitted from the support of his firefighting friends. Many cooked meals for his family, visited him at the hospital and watched his children during the early stages of his recovery so his wife, Miranda Miller, could be with him at ECMC and help with his recovery. Mrs. Miller is an LPN and helped take care of some of his wounds when he came home.
“As far as being a fire company, we’re a family at Shelby,” Miller said. “I knew I had a long road ahead of me, but I had a great group of friends with me along the way.”
Miller has titanium rods and six sets of screws in his leg and hip. He started his recovery with a walker, and then graduated to crutches and cane. He still has a slight limp. Miller said he has more physical therapy to do. But he is thankful for his progress so far. Doctors told after the August accident it might be a year before he was able to walk again.
“I had to be a couch potato for a little while,” he said. “That was the hardest. I’m not one to sit around.”
Miller looks back on the accident with an attitude of thanks. He knows it could have been worse. He said the firefighters and ambulance crew were soon on the scene to help him, and Mercy Flight transported him quickly to ECMC.
He’s grateful the dump truck driver wasn’t hurt.
“If it hadn’t been a dump truck, someone in a smaller vehicle could have been hurt,” he said. “For the events, I couldn’t have asked for a better scenario and outcome.”
Miller also thinks it has made him a better EMT and firefighter. He has more empathy for victims in serious car accidents.
“Now I know what it’s like on both sides,” he said. “This will help me in the long run to relate to people with traumatic injuries.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 December 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – There will soon be about 250 signs out in Medina, urging village residents not to support dissolving the village government on Jan. 20. This sign is on East Center Street.
MEDINA – Dissolution opponents are stepping up their efforts to sway village residents not to support a dissolution vote on Jan. 20, saying the village will lose critical services and won’t see promised tax savings.
About 20 people, many of them village employees, met to distribute yard signs and talk strategy on Tuesday night at the Knights of Columbus. The group said they expect to soon have 250 signs out against dissolution.
They will be going door to door, and may put out a mass mailer.
Cindy Troy, president of the CSEA union for Orleans County employees, was at the meeting in Medina. She wants to see the village government stay intact.
“You can lose the things that make you identifiable as a community,” she said. “The Village of Medina could lose control over things they hold dear. They have a density of population. They have needs the people in the country do not.”
She worries if the dissolution goes through, other local villages will follow.
“We as a whole community need to be concerned about this,” she said about the dissolution vote. “Medina won’t be the last to look at it.”
A second anti-dissolution sign also has been put out.
A dissolution plan put together by a committee with help of a consultant suggested many of the village services be taken over the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway. The committee also proposed a new debt district, two lighting districts, a water/sewer local development corporation, and a new fire district. Ridgeway would take over a town police force that would be contracted to include Shelby, according to the committee’s report.
Mike Maak, a Medina firefighter, said there is no guarantee the town officials would put that plan in place. He is among the dissolution opponents.
The dissolution plan sees $277,000 in cost savings and $541,000 in additional state aid for $818,000 in overall benefit. But with combined budgets of more than $10 million, the $277,000 is seen as a small amount in operational savings.
Village Trustees Mike Sidari and Marguerite Sherman both oppose the dissolution. Sidari is running a Facebook page – “Medina, This Village Matters.” Sidari also is helping to get anti-dissolution signs to residents. He said some of the signs have been stolen or damaged.
Sidari and Maak both would like to see the village push for other revenue without disrupting the village government and services. They want to see Medina press for more state aid and county sales tax dollars. Maak said the village should work to become a city, which would significantly boost its state aid and also spare village residents from paying town taxes.
The state hasn’t allowed a new city since the 1950s. Medina Mayor Andrew Meier sees little chance in the state approving Medina as a city, and the county has shown no openness to giving more local sales tax to villages.
Dissolution is one way to secure more state aid, and also run a more efficient local government, said Meier, who is part of the “One Medina” group that would ultimately like to see the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway merge into one town – “Medina.”
“One Medina” has had many signs out for months. The group also has a Facebook page with Dean Bellack and Meier fielding questions from the community, and trying to provide them with answers.
Meier sees dissolution as a way for village residents to shape their destination, without pleading for aid from the county and state, assistance that Meier thinks is unlikely to materialize if the village government remains. The state is providing incentives for dissolution, but gives very little to villages for “Aid and Incentives to Municipalities.” Most villages get less than $10 per person in AIM funding, while the state gives most cities at least $100 per person.
Maak thinks the county and state could be swayed to share revenue with the village.
“We haven’t tried,” he said about that effort. “With dissolution, we’re cutting our nose off to spite our face.”
Owen Toale, a former village trustee, believes the village and towns of Shelby and Ridgeway could reach sizable tax savings by sharing services and consolidating services. He faulted the village for setting a dissolution vote while there was still the prospect of shared services for the trio of municipalities.
“One Medina pushed for the vote while they were still in the middle of the (shared services) process,” Toale said. “That to me is poor.”
He is helping to get out the anti-dissolution signs.
“I’m interested in helping my village,” said Toale, a retired newspaper publisher.
Many village residents have been called in the past two weeks by PAF Opinion Research in Albany. The firm asks a series of questions about dissolution, seeking residents’ opinions.
Meier and “One Medina” say PAF makes many misleading statements. The firm, in a taped phone call to a local resident, says it was hired by “one of the larger unions in the state.” CSEA has denied hiring the firm. Orleans Hub hasn’t been able to verify who hired the firm.
In phone calls to village residents, PAF tells villagers that they will lose their local police. The service might be picked up by the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department, but response times will more than double. PAF attributes that claim to Meier.
The mayor said he never said that. He was on the Dissolution Committee that recommends a town-wide police force.
PAF makes a number of claims about the future of the village in a dissolution goes forward. The firm tells villagers there won’t be any tax savings if the village government dissolves.
“In villages that voted to dissolve themselves, the promised property tax savings never happened,” a survey worker told a village resident in a phone call. “Does hearing this make you lean against dissolving Medina or for dissolving Medina?”
A CSEA representative said the union didn’t put out the phone messages. However, the union said it knows about the phone calls and sees them as a way to gauge public opinion, and not influence village residents with their vote.
Meier has decried the calls as “push polling,” an attempt to intimidate and confuse residents into voting against dissolution.
