EAST SHELBY – Horses pull a wagon of people for a ride today during Old Tyme Day at the East Shelby Community Bible Church. About 2,000 people attend the annual event, where pie, hot dogs, lemonade and other activities are offered for a penny.

Kids and some adults fire gum balls with a sling shot at a giant cutout of Goliath.

Sophia Johnston of Batavia takes a break with a mule named Lucy, which gave rides to kids during Olde Tyme Day.

These four kids watch a group do square dancing in the center of the recreated West Jackson Corners hamlet.

Jonathan Wasnoch, 17, of Medina works in the blacksmith shop.

Bob Murphy of Oakfield checks on the team of horses before they took another group on a ride. Murphy attends the East Shelby Community Bible Church and works with the horses on Olde Tyme Day.

David Green and other East Shelby firefighters were busy with traffic control during the day.

Church volunteers built this mini replica of the church for the West Jackson Corners hamlet. It was among the new additions to the day’s festival.

Today’s Olde Tyme Day had a Wild West theme and included a holdup of this stagecoach.

Elaine Renouf, left, and Alice Root were among the church volunteers who baked and served 300 pies – 2,400 slices altogether that sold for a penny apiece.

Jane Corwin

Jane Corwin, who represents an Assembly district that includes the Town of Shelby in Orleans County, announced today she won’t be seeking re-election to a fifth two-year term.

Corwin of Clarence is among the Republican leaders in the State Assembly. She ran for Congress in 2011, losing a close election to Kathy Hochul, who is now the state’s lieutenant governor.

Corwin’s district was mostly in Erie and Niagara counties, but did include the one Orleans town. She appeared at some functions in Orleans, mostly Republican political events.

“I pride myself in leading by example,” Corwin said in a statement this evening, “and I firmly believe that instituting term limits on state officials will go a long way in ending the corruption and dysfunction in Albany.”

File photo – Assemblywoman Jane Corwin joined former State Sen. George Maziarz and Nic Culver, then 14, during the dedication of a historical marker in September 2014. The marker highlights a famous murder case in West Shelby, when an illiterate German immigrant nearly was executed for a murder he didn’t commit. Corwin helped pay for the marker.

Corwin said she was going to “term myself out” from the State Legislature and give someone else have “the opportunity to represent our community and bring Western New York values to the ‘people’s house.'”

Recently she has pushed for a stronger state response to the opioid overdose crisis and also the “zombie house” problem, where banks own houses but let them sit vacant for many years.

The Republican Party will have to move quickly to find a candidate for the position. The Buffalo News is reporting Corwin’s announcement is just two days before the Thursday deadline for submitting nominating petitions for the Sept. 13 state primary elections.

SHELBY – A fire this afternoon in a garage damaged a house owned by Kasmier “Mike” Szulis. This photo shows Shelby firefighters Jason Watts, top left, and Andy Watts.

The 1979 house, built by Mr. Szulis, may have suffered smoke damage inside, in addition to the more extensive damage in the garage, family members said.

Medina firefighter Steve Cooley uses a chain saw to cut through the garage door. Jonathan Higgins of the Medina Fire Department also assisted at the scene.

Mr. Szulis was out watering berries when he noticed smoke in the garage of the house at 12335 Maple Ridge Rd. Family members say they are grateful no one was injured in the fire and that the fire was mostly contained to the garage.

The fire is under investigation.

150 attend debut event on Saturday

SHELBY – Raymond James of Medina dances with his daughter Tanaya, 2, during the Father-Daughter Dance on Saturday at the Shelby Volunteer Fire Company.

The Ladies Auxiliary put on the event for the first time on Friday. The event was sold out with 150 people attending.

“It’s nice for the dads to be able to do something nice with their daughters,” said Julianne McGrath, one of the event organizers. “It’s by far exceeded our expectations.”

The rec hall was transformed into a dance floor for fathers and their daughters on Saturday.

Tim Elliott of Medina dances with his daughter Madelyn, 7. Tim said he was thankful for a chance to take his daughter out on a date.

Gary Watts poses for a silly photo with his granddaughters, Charlotte and Makenzie McGrath.

Tim Zeiner of Medina poses for a picture with his kids, from left: Taylor, Madison and Morgan (in back). “I want to take them out and show them a good time,” Zeiner said.

Fathers and daughters have fun on the dance floor. Event organizers said they wanted to put on a family-oriented outing near Father’s Day.

Photo by Thom Jennings – Pictured with the Trac-Fab wheelchair, includes, from left: Joe Pionessa, Peter Zeliff Jr., Ed Spence and Jim Tignanelli.

By Thom Jennings, Correspondent

SHELBY – The Warrior House of WNY has access to a new vehicle that will allow them to serve more injured soldiers thanks to a phone call and five anonymous donors.

Last week Jim Tignanelli, president of the Police Officers Association of Michigan, presented a specially modified wheelchair to former US Marine Corporal Ed Spence of Operation Injured Soldier,  Peter Zeliff Jr. of The Warrior House of WNY and Joe Pionessa of Christian Bow Hunters.

The Trac-Fab wheelchair is designed to assist persons with disabilities so they can participate in hunting and fishing. The $15,000 price tag makes it prohibitive for many individuals and organizations but when Spence gave Trac-Fab’s Ed Humpert a call, he reached out to Tignanelli who found five anonymous donors, all of whom are military vets themselves, to pay for the chair that is now in Orleans County.

“It’s going to continue, we will keep looking for the next place to give one away,” Tignanelli said. “Last week I saw this 17-year-old kid at McDonald’s when we were on the way to deliver one of the chairs and he told me it restored his faith in humanity. Hearing that from a 17 year-old restored my faith in humanity.”

Tignanelli noted he is “a car guy that can take a transmission apart” but does not hunt. “It’s guys like you that drive us to do this, we love the things you are doing here with The Warrior House. It is very gratifying, we would not have a place to bring these things without guys like you.”

Zeliff owns the property on Salt Works Road that has become The Warrior House. He makes the property available for veterans, many with injuries, to go hunting. Zeliff has assembled a team of volunteers to provide the veterans with food, and also to serve as guides while they pursue geese, pheasants and deer.

The Trac-Fab wheelchair saw its first action this past weekend as The Warrior House hosted a turkey hunt. Spence said he plans to make use of the chair as often as possible and it will soon be a familiar site at The Warrior House of WNY’s weekend hunts.

“This will give us an opportunity to reach more veterans and expand our program,” Zeliff said. “There are a lot of people behind the scenes that make this possible, especially all our wives.”

For more information on The Warrior House of WNY email Zeliff at nyfarmer@me.com.

SHELBY – A Winnebago that left the road on Route 63, south of the Village of Medina, took down telephone poles, forcing the shut down of the road for several hours today.

National Grid crews have been on the scene putting up at least two new telephone poles.

The accident occurred at about noon on a section of Route 63 known as Coleman’s Curve. No one was seriously injured in the accident. This photo shows the RV after it was towed to Lyon’s Collision in Medina.

National Grid works to restore power and put up new poles.

SHELBY – Nearly two years after the last public hearing for a proposed quarry in Shelby near a wildlife refuge, the issue will again come before the community.

Frontier Stone LLC is proposing a limestone quarry on 215 acres, which the company wants to excavate on 172 acres in four phases over 75 years. The new quarry would be on Fletcher Chapel Road, several hundred feet east of Sour Springs Road.

During a public hearing on April 30, 2014, residents expressed concern about the impact on the wildlife refuge, property values, roads and a peaceful rural life, among many issues.

Frontier Stone has been working for nearly two years to respond to those concerns raised at the hearing as well as written comments.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation will have a legislative/public comment hearing at 6:30 p.m. on March 8 at Medina High School, 2 Mustang Drive.

The community is invited to comment on the draft environmental impact statement, the mined land reclamation and water withdrawal permit, and the draft combined permit.

Frontier, which is based in Wilson, is proposing that quarrying would be conducted by standard drill and blast technology with front-end loaders and excavators feeding a primary crusher with shot rock, the DEC said in a notice.

Frontier is proposing to use an on-site processing plant and to mine below the water table. The project includes dewatering of the quarry area with a maximum water withdrawal for mine at 554,264 gallons per day, which would be discharged at the southwest corner of the site to an existing agricultural drainage ditch.

The reclamation objective will be to create open space with two lakes for recreation or wildlife habitat. The two lakes, separated by an existing utility line, would be approximately 35 and 156 acres, the DEC said in the notice.

DEC Administrative Law Judge D. Scott Bassinson will conduct the hearing on March 8.

“All persons, organizations, corporations or government agencies that may be affected by the proposed project are invited to attend the hearing and to submit oral or written comments on the Draft EIS, the mined land reclamation and water withdrawal permit applications and the draft combined permit,” the DEC said. “While it is not necessary to file in advance to speak at the hearing, lengthy comments should be submitted in writing and summarized for oral presentation. Equal weight will be given to both oral and written comments. Reasonable time limits may be set for each speaker as necessary to afford all attendees an opportunity to be heard.”

The DEC also has scheduled an issues conference for Bassinson, as administrative law judge, to determine if issues need additional work and explanation from Frontier. The conference will be begin 10 a.m. on April 26 at Ridgeway Town Hall, 410 West Ave., Medina and will continue throughout the day and on April 27 if necessary.

“The purpose of the issues conference is to determine party status for any person or organization that has properly filed a petition (as indicated below), and to narrow and define those issues, if any, that will require adjudication in this matter,” the DEC said. “Participation in the issues conference shall be limited to DEC staff, applicant, and those persons or organizations requesting party status.”

For more on the public hearing and issues conference, click here to see the notice from the DEC.

Industrial cleaning company also fined $50K

MEDINA – Western New York Energy, owner of an ethanol plant on Bates Road in Medina, has been fined $87,000 for violating the State Environmental Conservation Law.

The State Department of Environmental Conservation reported today that the company was fined in Shelby Town Court on Jan. 14 for illegally disposing of industrial waste on its Shelby property.

The fine stems from a 2013 investigation into illegal activities at Western New York Energy by the DEC’s Police’s Bureau of Environmental Crimes Investigation unit.

The investigation, lead by DEC Investigator Chris Didion, determined that WNYE and Hydro-Klean, LLC, a company based in Iowa that specializes in industrial cleaning operations for the ethanol industry, were disposing industrial wastes generated during bi-annual plant cleanings.

WNYE processes corn into fuel grade ethanol, and high-pressure water is used to clean burned corn out of the evaporators used in production. The resulting waste wash water, which included trace amounts of ammonia and diesel range organics and is considered an industrial waste, was loaded into a vacuum truck and transported to an area at the rear of the facility and dumped into the ground, the DEC said in a news release.

The case was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s office. In addition to the fine for Western New York Energy, Hydro-Klean pleaded guilty in the Town of Shelby Court in August 2015 to the unlawful disposal of industrial wastes and was fined $50,000.

WNYE has since changed its practices and now collects all waste water from cleaning operations and disposes of it at a local waste water treatment plant.

DEC encourages anyone with information on environmental crimes and violations to call its 24-hour hotline, at 1-844-DEC-ECOs (1-844-332-3267). An online form also is available by clicking here.