Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today signed into law a new measure providing death benefits to the families of frontline workers who lost their lives fighting the Covid-19 pandemic in New York.
The bill, S.8427/A.10528, establishes a Covid-19 death benefit for the families of state and local government employees who have been on the front lines of response to this public health emergency.
“This new law will provide death benefits to the families of state and local government frontline workers who died from Covid-19 and gave their lives for us,” Governor Cuomo said. “It is the least we can do to say thank you, and we honor you, and we remember you. We will be there to support your families going forward. And we say to their families, we thank you, we grieve for your loss, and we will always be there for you the way your loved one was there for us.”
The governor called the frontline workers, “modern day heroes.” He praised them for going to work at a time when people were encouraged to stay home as much as possible due to the danger of Covid-19.
“What would have happened if the doctors didn’t show up and the bus drivers didn’t show up and the subway conductors didn’t show up and the food delivery people didn’t show up and the pharmacists didn’t show up and the delivery women and men didn’t show up?” Cuomo said. “What would have happened if there was no food on the shelves? What would have happened if there was no one in the emergency room when you showed up? You want to talk about crisis, you want to talk about pain.”
The workers continued to do their jobs, putting themselves at risk for others.
“They were New Yorkers, they were linked by the commonality of humanity and their better angels said get past your fear,” Cuomo said. “Get past your weakness. Don’t stay home. Rise up. Be strong. Be better than you think you can be yourself. Get in touch with your strength and hear that strength and they did it. We acted as one. This diverse community of New York, people from all over the globe. Different languages. We acted as one. Many of those people gave their lives for us during that time. They gave their lives because we asked them to show up for us and they did.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 May 2020 at 4:32 pm
There are four more confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Orleans County, with one of them a community resident and the other three at the Orchard Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Medina.
Orleans County has now had 225 confirmed cases of Covid-19. The Orchard nursing home now has now had 40 cases among its residents.
Genesee County also has two new confirmed cases, both community members, bringing the Genesee total to 188, the Genesee and Orleans County Health Departments reported this afternoon.
Contact tracing has been initiated and all who have had direct contact with the individuals will be notified by Health Department staff. There is currently no further information to release on ages and location. Mapping to include the positive cases from the weekend will be updated on Monday afternoon by the Health Departments.
“Now that we are in Phase 2 we ask residents to continue social distancing, mask wearing, and proper hygiene even in the company of whom we trust the most – family, friends, and co-workers,” according to a news release from the Health Departments. “We also ask residents to be respectful of the business owners and wear masks while you are in their establishment. If you are unable to wear a mask due to a medical condition, call the business and ask for curbside delivery. We can all show people that we care and respect them by continuing these practices to keep everyone safe.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 30 May 2020 at 9:44 am
Pettit urges businesses to work on plans for reopening: ‘My advice is everybody should be ready’
Paul Pettit
Paul Pettit, the public health director for Genesee and Orleans counties, said start of Phase 2 for the two counties and the Finger Lakes region is “something to celebrate,” especially in the wake of discouraging news about so many community festivals and events being cancelled.
“I want to thank the residents of Genesee and Orleans counties,” Pettit said on Friday during a weekly press briefing. “It’s not easy. It’s not anything anyone wants to do.”
Pettit was speaking about residents being encouraged to stay home as much as possible the past 10 weeks. They have needed to adhere to social distancing and now must wear masks or facial coverings when in stores.
Pettit said residents have overwhelmingly met a new challenge of civic duty.
The public health director knows the restrictions and the shifting guidelines from the state can be frustrating for the community. Friday was much anticipated as the start of Phase 2 for the region. But the announcement from Gov. Cuomo didn’t come until 1 in the afternoon.
Pettit said the local officials often find out the governor’s directives during his daily press conferences. There typically isn’t any lead time for the public health officials, and then they have to wait a few days for more details from the state. Pettit said the frequent directives, with clear guidance, “makes it very challenging” for the local officials.
The businesses that open in Phase 2 will do so differently than before the Covid-19 pandemic. They will have to reduce capacity of people inside their businesses by 50 percent, and will need to insist that people wear masks and maintain social distancing. There needs to be hand sanitizer available and business owners will need to frequently clean spaces used by the public.
The Phase 2 businesses include offices; real estate; in-store retail; vehicle sales, leases and rentals; retail rental, repair, and cleaning; commercial building management; and hair salons and barbershops.
Pettit urged local businesses to have plans ready that include precautions to protect employees and the public from Covid-19.
“To reopen, every business or organization needs to have a plan to reopen,” Pettit said. “The plans need to incorporate all aspects of social distancing, capacity, face masks, and enhanced cleaning to protect employees and people who use the facilities.”
The plans need to be customized to reflect the layout and square footage of the buildings and the public spaces.
“My advice is everybody should be ready,” Pettit said.
Four other regions besides the Finger Lakes also moved to Phase 2: Central New York, North Country, Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley regions.
Local officials from the five regions were vocal in criticizing the state for how Phase 2 was unveiled. The officials said the governor should have given more notice so businesses could schedule employees, order inventory and be ready.
Cuomo, speaking at his news conference on Friday, said experts were continuing to study the data to make sure the Phase 1 opening from May 15 didn’t lead to a spike in hospitalizations from Covid-19.
“Their data has been reviewed and the experts say to us it’s safe to move forward, because people have been smart and you haven’t seen the spike,” Cuomo said about the five regions.
Orleans County Legislature Chairwoman Lynne Johnson on Friday afternoon, during a weekly news briefing, said she looks forward to seeing the economy be reopened.
“We are feeling the economic devastation here,” she said. “We have a lot of mom and pop businesses. It’s going to take a long time to recover.”
She praised local agencies that are organizing food distributions and trying to meet peoples’ basic needs. Many people, who have been self sufficient, are lining up at the food distributions, she said.
Bob Duffy
Bob Duffy, the former state lieutenant governor with Cuomo, is leading the Finer Lakes control room, made up of officials from nine counties.
He responded to criticism about the governor’s roll-out of Phase 2.
“The governor always said it would be at least two weeks in between phases,” Duffy said during a Friday afternoon call with reporters.
He said Cuomo wanted to study the data to make sure it was safe to move to Phase 2, without a surge in cases that could overwhelm the hospital system.
Duffy urged the community to continue social distancing, wearing a mask and taking other precautions.
“I think we are on a roll right here,” Duffy said. “We just have to keep going.”
By Matthew Ballard, Orleans County Historian Posted 30 May 2020 at 8:34 am
“Overlooked Orleans” – Vol. 2, No. 28
ALBION – Over 100 years ago, “Womanless Weddings” were commonplace throughout the United States. Dating back into the 19th century, faux nuptials were held in the South as a means for raising money for charities, churches, and community organizations. As interest in their inherent humor began to rise, the events spread like a wildfire across the entire country.
The Womanless Wedding was an opportunity for men to dress up as women, don some makeup, and over exaggerate femininity. These gentlemen would kiss members of the crowd (men and women alike), flash their garters, adjust whatever they may have rigged up for breasts, and act in a generally “naughty” manner all for a few laughs.
Naturally, these became popular events as community members had no qualms about paying a little money to see their neighbors dressed as women. Publishers eventually developed scripts for such programs and each event became a true dramatic performance. One such set of lines from a 1936 program closes with the minister introducing the newlyweds:
Minister: “Then, in the name of I-wouldn’t-‘a’-thought-it, I pronounce you man and…Two dollars and seventy-five cents, please?”
Groom: “What’s the seventy-five cents for? You promised to splice us for two dollars.”
Minister: “That’s for having to look at the bride all during the ceremony…”
This image shows Eugene W. “Bud” Wilcox, Jr. dressed as Theda Bara for a Womanless Wedding hosted by the Albion Rotary Club for the benefit of the Crippled Children Fund. Quite the saucy personality, Bara was an early silent film actress who became well known as one of the earliest sex symbols in U.S. cinema.
Wilcox was born on February 20, 1891 to Eugene and Alice Wilcox, growing up on West Park Street in Albion. Following graduation from the Albion High School, Wilcox enrolled at Lehigh University where he became a prominent athlete while studying business and participating as a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity.
After he completed his degree in 1915, “Bud” enlisted with the U.S. Navy during the First World War and was stationed in New Orleans as a Chief Storekeeper. Five days after the conclusion of the war, he was commissioned as an Ensign and remained in the U.S. Naval Reserves until the end of 1919. Upon his return to Albion he worked as a clerk in his father’s hardware store located at 98 Main Street, eventually taking ownership of the business. The building and hardware store still exist today, now as Family Hardware owned by Fred Miller.
Wilcox was a charter member of Albion’s Rotary Club, an active member of the Presbyterian Church, and a member of the Elks and Renovation Lodges of Albion.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 May 2020 at 9:24 pm
Photo by Tom Rivers: Peggy-Jo Gabalski carries a 20-pound box of produce to a vehicle today while it was raining during a food distribution at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds.
KNOWLESVILLE – The 1,200 boxes of produce were in demand today at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds.
The cars started to line up by 7 for a food distribution that was scheduled to start at 10. But with cars lined up on Wood Road and getting near Route 31, the distribution started early.
There was steady demand for the next several hours. At 3:50, the last box was set into a trunk and all 1,200 boxes were gone.
Staff and volunteers from the Cornell Cooperative Extension organized the event and provided the brawn, putting the boxes in trunks and in the back of trucks.
The distribution was a USDA farmers-to-families produce initiative. The boxes included potatoes (1-5 pounds), oranges (1-4 pounds), apples (1-3 pounds), onions (1-3 pounds), green vegetables (1-3 pounds of broccoli, cabbage, green pepper, etc.), and carrots (1-2 pounds). The cabbage, apples and onions all came from Orleans County farms.
James Desiderio Inc. of Buffalo served as the distributor of the produce.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 May 2020 at 5:42 pm
Orleans County has suffered two more deaths from Covid-19, both residents of the Orchard Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Medina.
The county has now had 36 people die from Covid-19. Orchard has had nine of its residents die from Covid-19.
The county also has 10 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, bringing the total cases since mid-March to 221.
One of the new positive individuals resides in Albion, three live in Ridgeway, one is a resident of The Villages of Orleans Health & Rehabilitation Center in Albion, and five of the new positive individuals live at Orchard Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.
The Villages has now had 89 of its resident with confirmed cases of Covid-19, while Orchard has had 37 cases.
Of the new confirmed cases, one is under age 20, one is in the 20s, two are in the 50s, two are in the 60s, three are in their 70s, and one is in the 90s.
Two of the new positive cases were on mandatory quarantine prior to testing, the Genesee and Orleans County Health Departments said.
One more person has recovered from Covid-19, bringing the total recoveries in the county to 73.
Nineteen people from the county are currently hospitalized from Covid-19.
In Genesee County, there is one more confirmed case, bringing the county’s total to 186. The person who tested positive lives in Batavia and is in the 20s. The person was on mandatory quarantine prior to becoming symptomatic.
Two of the total active positive cases in Genesee are hospitalized.
Click here to see an online map with information about the confirmed cases in Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties.
From the Genesee and Orleans County Health Departments:
The facility breakdown only shows the total positive cases from those facilities from there has been a positive swab for COVID-19.
Phase 2 is now open in the Finger Lakes region! There are still limitations. We encourage business owners to go to the NY Forward website and click on Phase Two for more information.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 May 2020 at 3:58 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – About a dozen picketers were outside The Villages of Orleans Health and Rehabilitation Center in Albion today for about an hour.
They said they wanted to show support for the staff and residents at a nursing home where 26 people have died from Covid-19. The Villages has had 88 of its residents test positive for Covid-19.
Picketers faulted management of the facility for not providing staff with enough personal protective equipment (gowns, masks, N-95 respirators) to prevent workers from becoming infected and spreading the virus.
Richard Brakenbury holds a sign that says, “I Miss My Wife” during the picket. His wife of 61 years, Connie Brakenbury, died on May 12. The family said she contracted Covid-19 at The Villages while in the rehab section. She was trying to build back her strength after being dehydrated and feeling weak. She was at The Villages for 20 days.
Mr. Brakenbury said his wife was put in a room with someone who was Covid-19 positive.
The facility has had nearly all of its residents test positive for Covid-19. Those that are negative have recently been moved to a sister facility in Williamsville that is also owned by Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services LLC.
The nursing home in Albion used to be owned by the county. It was sold for $7.8 million on Feb. 6, 2014 to Comprehensive.
Angelo and Ondrea Pate were among the picketers today. Connie Brakenbury is Mrs. Pate’s mother.
Ondrea Pate worked 7 years as an LPN at The Villages. She picketed several times in 2013 when the county announced it would be selling the facility due to the deficits that topped $2 million.
Pate worried then that privatization would result in frequent staff turnover and less accountability to the community.
She left 18 months after the sale, became an registered nurse and now works in Brockport.
The management at The Villages has done a poor job communicating with the community about what’s going on inside the nursing home, and sharing a strategy to slow the spread of the virus and save residents’ lives, Pate said.
She started an online petition for a change in the director of nursing. That petition has 1,400 supporters.
Pate said the deaths were unnecessary if the proper precautions were taken.
“It should never have happened,” she said about the high loss of life. “It’s heart-breaking.”
Amanda Dixon, a former employee who worked in human resources, was among the picketers today.
The State Attorney General’s Office, Orleans County Sheriff’s Office, Orleans County District Attorney’s Office, and State Department of Health are all investigating how The Villages has responded to Covid-19.
The Villages passed a state DOH inspection on April 29, but in a May 9 inspection the facility was cited for immediate jeopardy, where noncompliance puts residents in serious harm, according to a May 27 article in The Buffalo News.
The Villages took action and the immediate jeopardy was lifted, although the state DOH continues to closely monitor the nursing home, The Buffalo News reported.
Pate wants a leadership change at The Villages, particularly with the director of nursing.
She hopes the picket today, across the street from the nursing home, sent a message to staff and residents that community members are pushing for a safer nursing home.
“We want to support the residents and staff and show them we are here for them,” Pate said. “We want to make it better.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 May 2020 at 1:48 pm
Orleans County and the other eight counties in Finger Lakes region was given the go-ahead by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to proceed to Phase 2 of reopening the state’s economy.
Cuomo made the announcement during a 1 p.m. news conference. The reopening is effective immediately.
The businesses that open will do so differently than before the Covid-19 pandemic. They will have to reduce capacity of people inside their businesses by 50 percent, and will need to insist that people wear masks and maintain social distancing.
The Phase 2 businesses include offices; real estate; in-store retail; vehicle sales, leases and rentals; retail rental, repair, and cleaning; commercial building management; and hair salons and barbershops.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 May 2020 at 12:36 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers
KNOWLESVILLE – Boxes of produce are stacked on pallets at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds this morning as part of a distribution from the USDA farmers-to-families produce initiative.
Their were cars lined up on Wood Road by 7 this morning for the distribution that was scheduled to start at 10.
By 11 a.m., about 800 boxes had been picked up out of the 1,200. Each box weighs about 20 pounds.
John Gabalski carries a box to one of the vehicles. He volunteered to help with the distribution.
Jose Iniquez, a member of the board of directors for the Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension, loads a box into a truck of a car. It started raining hard at about 10:30. Iniguez is vice president of Lamont Fruit Farms in Waterport.
Aeddon Cayea of Medina also volunteered during the distribution.
The USDA farmers-to-families produce boxes include potatoes (1-5 pounds), oranges (1-4 pounds), apples (1-3 pounds), onions (1-3 pounds), green vegetables (1-3 pounds of broccoli, cabbage, green pepper, etc.), and carrots (1-2 pounds). The cabbage, apples and onions all came from Orleans County farms.
James Desiderio Inc. of Buffalo served as the distributor of the produce.
Robert Batt, CCE executive director, urged people to call the office today at 798-4265 to see if boxes are left. Given how fast the boxes were going at the beginning of the distribution, he didn’t expect they would last too long during the day.
Some of the boxes went to Community Action’s food pantry, Calvary Tabernacle’s food pantry in Medina and some to the Arc of Genesee Orleans.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 May 2020 at 9:32 am
Photos by Tom Rivers: Orleans County Historian Matt Ballard leads a tour and historical presentation to about 200 people on Sept. 13 in downtown Albion. Ballard gave frequent community presentations about local history, wrote a weekly column and worked behind the scenes to modernize the Department of History.
ALBION — Matt Ballard is five-plus years as Orleans County historian took the Department of History to new levels, county legislators said.
He wrote a weekly column highlighting local history, gave many community presentations, developed an online presence for the department, and catalogued the records in the office.
He did it in a part-time role, while working another full-time job and finishing a master’s degree in American History from Brockport State College. (He also has a master’s degree in library science from the University at Buffalo.)
Ballard is leaving Orleans County next month to take a position at the college in North Carolina. He will be assistant director of Collection Strategies at Davidson College.
The seven-member County Legislature on Wednesday presented him with a “Special Recognition Award” for his “outstanding service” as county historian.
Matt Ballard sported an unusual beard style during the June 30 Barre Bicentennial Parade. Ballard competed in a beard contest later that afternoon.
“Your dedication and expertise in modernizing the County’s Department of History along with presentations, articles and tours provided outstanding history to put residents that will forever be widespread, long lasting and extremely appreciated,” the certificate states.
Ballard, 31, started as historian on Feb. 26, 2015. He served in the part-time role while working full-time at Roberts Wesleyan College in North Chili, where he is director of library services.
The historian’s job paid $8,600 in 2019. Ballard said he needed to pick a career, and the library position pays better.
Ballard has been dedicated to the position. When he was on his honeymoon in July 2017, he and his wife Christine planned a trip to England, France and Poland. They visited the Somme American Cemetery in Bony, France and paid their respects at the graves of local soldiers who trained with Company F at the former Medina Armory.
Ballard is the former director of the Cobblestone Museum and then served as its board president. He has been president of the board of trustees for the Orleans County Historical Association and an active member of the Knights of Columbus.
Ballard is an Albion native. He joined Orleans County Genealogical Association when he was 18 and served as treasurer for more than a decade, and was a frequent speaker at the organization’s meetings.
His interest in genealogy led to him pursuing career as a historian and archivist. Ballard added to the Department of History’s digital presence, adding a laptop, email address and updated content on the website.
He has expanded the number subject files from 250 to about 1,400, and that doesn’t include about 750 family files for gathering genealogy materials.
Ballard was named a “Friend of Education” by the Albion school district on April 1, 2019 in appreciation for several projects with seventh-graders. Ballard teamed with Albion’s service learning class to secure a headstone for Civil War veteran John Frost at St. Joseph’s Cemetery on Brown Road in Gaines.
They also added a historical marker at Hillside Cemetery in Clarendon for Charles Herbert Taylor, the only known Orleans County resident killed in the Battle of Gettysburg.
Ballard also helped secure a historical marker for Lemuel Cook of Clarendon, the last living pensioner from the Revolutionary War. That marker is at Cook Cemetery on Munger Road. (Another marker is expected to be dedicated in Holley for home that was a safe house on the Underground Railroad.)
Ballard and the seventh-graders also had a large bronze tablet from World War I placed back at its original location on the Orleans County Courthouse. The historian and students also created interpretive panels in Albion about the Erie Canal and the former Poor House on Countyhouse Road in Albion.
Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) voted “yes” on a bill that proposes residential healthcare facilities be more proactive and responsible when dealing with pandemics moving forward.
The regulations will be reviewed and enforced by the state Department of Health. Hawley’s “yes” vote was made the night of May 27, with the bill being passed by the Assembly that same night.
“This pandemic has taught us much; one of the unfortunate lessons we have learned is that the health and well-being of our senior citizens is sometimes squandered by unprofessional and irresponsible senior living facilities,” Hawley said. “With this bill being passed, it looks likely that the sins of yesterday committed by both the managers of these facilities and the state government through their inaction will begin to be redeemed, one step at a time.”
Assembly Bill A10394, introduced on May 27, was drafted and developed in response to the staggering loss of life throughout senior care communities across all New York state. It determines what bodies of government can be authorized to intervene in cases where quality of life standards are not stringent enough.
The bill requires the following:
residential health care facilities must submit an annual pandemic emergency plan to the commissioner of health
requires such plan to include a communication plan with families, and plans to protect staff, residents and families against infection, and
plans to preserve a resident’s place at the facility if he or she is hospitalized.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 28 May 2020 at 10:48 pm
Many businesses in Orleans County and in the rest of the Finger Lakes Region have been gearing up to open for the first time in more than two months on Friday (May 29).
But the official word never came from Albany with the green light.
The Finger Lakes was among five of 10 regions in the state that opened for Phase 1 on May 15. The expectation has been that Phase 2 would start two weeks later, as long as there wasn’t a spike in hospitalizations and deaths from Covid-19.
The Finger Lakes continues to meet the state’s seven metrics for the reopening, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today he wants an international team of experts to look closer at the data. The Covid-19 incubation can be up to two weeks. The governor thinks some more time may be needed to see if Phase 1 causes cases to increase too fast.
Phase Two would include professional services, retail with in-store shopping, real estate services, and administrative support. Some of the professional services would include limited barbershop and hair salon services.
Those businesses, instead of opening on Friday, were urged by Robert Duffy, the former lieutenant governor, to have plans ready so they can reopen when the time is right. Those plans should include safety precautions to keep employees and customers safe. Duffy heads the reopening team for the Finger Lakes Region.
State Sen. Robert, Ortt, R-North Tonawanda, criticized Gov. Cuomo for changing the rules for the reopening and creating so much uncertainty for businesses.
“This shows a contemptuous disrespect to small businesses and underscores the absurdly arbitrary nature of one man running the state’s economy,” Ortt said in a statement this evening. “Worse than the lead-up to Phase One, where businesses anxiously awaited the state’s guidelines on how to reopen, is the Governor reversing – without explanation – his own reopening policy mere hours before thousands of businesses planned to reopen their doors and pick up the pieces of economic wreckage.
“Whether it’s fixing our broken unemployment system, protecting our most vulnerable in nursing homes, or stimulating our devastated economy, Democrats in the State Legislature seem perfectly content to provide the Governor with sole possession of state policy-making. Even though Senate and Assembly Democrats refused to reassert their powers yesterday, I believe that this further highlights the need for constitutional balance to the Governor’s unchecked edicts.”
Jason Garnar, Broome County executive, said his region, which includes Binghamton, was expecting to reopen in Phase 2 on Friday, but the approval didn’t come.
“This is absolutely frustrating,” Garnar said on Twitter. “The people of Broome County did everything they were asked to do. Our local businesses cannot wait any longer.”
By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 28 May 2020 at 9:03 pm
KNOWLESVILLE – It is with a lot of sad hearts the Orleans County 4-H Fair Board, chaired by Zack Welker, announced tonight its decision to cancel the 2020 Orleans County 4-H Fair, citing health and safety as the primary reasons in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
The fair was scheduled for July 26 to 31. The event usually draws about 25,000 to 30,000 people.
“As a former 4-Her I understand the impact this will have on our county’s youth, and we are working very hard to put alternatives in place to help them stay plugged in and help them with their fair projects,” Welker said. “Although difficult, we feel this is the most responsible decision to make in keeping both those involved in the fair and the public safe and comfortable. We are here to answer any questions and look forward to helping our youth and looking ahead to the 2021 fair.”
Robert Batt, executive director of Cornell Cooperative Extension for the last five years, has been involved in 4-H since he was 8 years old as a 4-H member.
“Never in our wildest dreams did any of us think the day would come when we would have to cancel the fair,” Batt said. “This would have been the 73rd year of the fair.”
Fair manager Marty Zwifka echoed Batts disappointment, as they reminisced about previous fair experiences.
“We won’t be sleeping in the llama trailer this year,” Zwifka said.
“I’m already saddened about not eating fair cheeseburgers for two years,” Batt said. “It’s the little things like that clicking through my mind, which made the fair so meaningful. It’s all the little pieces which made the experience so unique.”
Batt said the board shed a lot of tears, as have the volunteers and vendors who were active at the fair.
“Our fair board did everything in our power to try and have this fair,” Zwifka said. “Our volunteers have worked countless hours trying to find a solution, and I haven’t slept in two nights.”
Sun streams into the cattle barn in this photo from July 30, 2016.
Batt said they have been talking about the fair for two months and had many meetings.
“We’ve been through a lot of emotions, because the fair means many things for all of us,” he said. “We moved the entry deadline, but finally realized we couldn’t wait any longer.”
Ultimately, they all felt canceling was the best decision.
Batt said that doesn’t mean there won’t be any 4-H activities. He said the fair was always a way to showcase projects of 4-H youth, bring the community together and support agriculture. They are hoping to be able to have some event or events, such as a virtual livestock auction.
“A virtual auction may be better than a live one, because we can reach new people.” Batt said. “At the fair, people have a few hours to attend the auction, where with a virtual one they will have an entire week.”
They are also looking at ways for livestock youth and consumer sciences clubs to show off their projects.
Batt said they may also try and have a drive-through version of the fair’s famous chicken barbecue, pending approval from the Health Department.
Batt and Zwifka said they can understand how they would have felt as kids if the fair were canceled.
“It’s the coolest thing when teens joke about what they used to do and how they would run the fair,” Batt said.
As many as 500 youth are involved in 4-H at Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension. Some clubs have been able to meet online, such as the dog and horse programs, Batt said.
“I have had Senior Council meetings online every week because I wanted the kids to stay connected,” he said.
Batt said a study was done several years ago determining the impact of local fairs on their county, and it was significant, although he said revenue from the Orleans County 4-H Fair all went into programming and projects for the next year’s fair. He said it would, however, be a big loss to their vendors, many of whom will lose their entire season this year.
Like everyone, Batt said they will have wait for another year to gather around the giant apple pie tin, eat something unhealthy and deep fried, show kids how cows are milked and just be together.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 28 May 2020 at 6:54 pm
ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature has eliminated three deputy sheriff positions following notification from the state that the deputies will no longer be needed for security in courthouse after June 30.
The state has contracted with the Sheriff’s Office for many years to have deputies at the county courthouse providing security in the courtroom and at the entrances to the building.
The most recent annual contract had the state paying the county a maximum of $344,704 annually for security. That contract ran from April 1, 2019 through March 31, 2020.
After June 30, state court officers will provide security at the courthouse. Andrew Isenberg, district executive for the 8th Judicial District of the Unified Court System, notified Orleans County Sheriff Chris Bourke of the change in a May 4 letter.
Isenberg said the contract, which expired on March 31, will not be renewed, but the county will be reimbursed for security services for three months, from April 1 to June 30.
Bourke said he doesn’t anticipate laying off any deputies because three positions are currently unfilled, including two deputies and a supervisory position. The Sheriff’s Office was in the process of trying to fill those positions.
Bourke said the state revenues and the impact on the county government remain very unpredictable and could affect the workforce in the Sheriff’s Office.
“This could change by the week and by the month as things unfold,” Bourke said.
ALBION – Over 100 years ago, “Womanless Weddings” were commonplace throughout the United States. Dating back into the 19th century, faux nuptials were held in the South as a means for raising money for charities, churches, and community organizations. As interest in their inherent humor began to rise, the events spread like a wildfire across the entire country.
