By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 January 2018 at 2:18 pm
Albion, Holley, Kendall, Lyndonville, Medina won’t open due to cold temperatures
Photo by Tom Rivers: Albion school busses head north on Main Street at about 2:30 this afternoon while snow fell at a steady rate.
All five public school districts in Orleans – Albion, Holley, Kendall, Lyndonville and Medina – have announced they won’t be open for school on Friday due to the very cold temperatures and wind chills at minus 20 degrees or lower.
In Medina, all extracurricular activities and athletics are still on for tonight, but extracurricular activities and athletics are cancelled on Friday.
Medina school officials said modified sports are also cancelled on Saturday but junior varsity and varsity athletics for Saturday will be coordinated by the coaches and athletic director.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 January 2018 at 2:06 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers
GAINES – A fire broke out in a Gaines home on Route 104 just after noon today.
Firefighters were dispatched to a house owned by Timothy Ausman at 14713 Ridge Rd. Ausman didn’t live in the house. He rented it out. The house is on the north side of the road, just east of the Cobblestone Museum.
Several fire departments responded to the scene and had to fight temperatures in the teens and snow.
A firefighter stretches a hose to get near the back part of the house that was on fire.
Darryl Szklany of the Albion Fire Department was among the firefighters who responded to the fire.
Fire investigators are at the scene. No additional information is available.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 January 2018 at 10:36 am
Don and Fonda Carr appreciate community’s help the past year
BARRE – It was just over a year ago when Fonda and Don Carr crawled through a window at 4 in the morning, escaping with their lives while their home on Wilkens Road was engulfed in flames.
The Carrs lost nearly everything in the fire on Dec. 25, 2016. They are thankful to be alive. They consider it a “Christmas miracle” that they survived that night.
Since then the community has responded in a big way, donating $26,000 through a GoFundMe and additional funds at a benefit raffle.
“The people of Orleans County have just been wonderful to us,” Mrs. Carr said on Wednesday evening at the new house. “We’re very grateful and we’ll never forget them.”
People from outside the county also donated to help them recover from the fire.
File photo: The Carr house was destroyed in an explosion and fire on Christmas about a year ago.
The Carrs have been married for 44 years. They lived in an apartment in the Village of Albion for much of 2017. A contractor, Geoff Christian, worked to build them a new house on Wilkens Road. On Dec. 21, four days before Christmas, the Carrs moved into the new house.
“It’s beautiful,” Mrs. Carr said about the one-story, two-bedroom home.
They miss their old farm house, where the Carrs said they have strong memories of raising their two children there.
The couple also feared all of their family photos were lost in the fire, but their son Donny found some pictures that survived. Wet towels and clothes landed on a box of photos and that protected the batch from the fire. Those photos include Mrs. Carr when she was a baby and her parents’ wedding album.
The Carrs are grateful to be back in their neighborhood. Mrs. Carr grew up down the road and Don is a life-long West Barre resident. The road is named for Mrs. Carr’s grandfather, John Wilkins, who was a farmer, just like Mrs. Carr’s father, Arthur Wilkins.
‘The people of Orleans County have just been wonderful to us. We’re very grateful and we’ll never forget them.’ – Fonda Carr
Mrs. Carr worked as a substitute teacher in Albion and Medina. Many of the donations came from her former students.
Mr. Carr is retired as a mechanic and operator from Iroquois Rock Products, a quarry in Brockport. He also is a long-time member of the Barre Sportsmen’s Club. One of the members, Nick Salvatore, organized a benefit for the Carrs. His band, Eagle Creek Band, was one of four bands to play at the benefit.
The Carrs are proud people who have tried to help others and aren’t accustomed to being on the receiving end.
But they said the help, as well as encouraging words throughout the year, have been appreciated.
They recalled fleeing from their burning home about a year ago.
Don Carr heard the ice slide off the roof at about 4 a.m. Then he heard a loud hissing.
Carr happened to be up at that hour going to the bathroom. He thinks the ice severed the propane line. Soon his house was filling with gas. Carr yelled to his wife Fonda to get up.
Carr suspects the well pump turned on in his basement, and that spark ignited an explosion with the house turning into an inferno.
“It was the loudest boom I’ve ever heard in my life,” Mrs. Carr told the Orleans Hub about a year ago. “The house was filling with flames. There was a series of explosions and the wall was buckling.”
The house was rocked by the first explosion, and more followed as the Carrs frantically tried to get out. The front door was jammed and wouldn’t open from the house shifting. The Carrs opened a kitchen window leading to the porch – and got out, barely. As they were scrambling to get away, the house became fully engulfed in flames.
“Your adrenaline is pumping,” Mrs. Carr said. “We just wanted to get out. We didn’t get anything out of the house, because we just knew we had to get out.”
The Carrs made it out wearing their pajamas. Everything else was destroyed including the Christmas presents they had for their family.
Their neighbor, Tom Keeler, heard the explosion and called 911. (Keeler, one of the owners of Keeler Construction, donated gravel and money to help the Carrs rebuild.)
The Carrs escaped the house without any burns. Mrs. Carr was hit in the back of the head by her “Jesus clock” in the living room. She needed one stitch after being taken to Strong Memorial Hospital. After getting hit with the clock, she said she realized how urgently she and her husband needed to get out.
“Jesus was watching out for us,” she said on Wednesday. “Without that I don’t think we would have made it.”
By Kristina Gabalski, Correspondent Posted 4 January 2018 at 9:40 am
Photo by Kristina Gabalski: Kendall Town Board members work their way through 39 resolutions during their organizational meeting Wednesday evening. Pictured from left include: Councilman Wayne Martin, Jr., Councilwoman Lynn Szozda, attorney Andrew Meier, Supervisor Tony Cammarata, Town Clerk Amy Richardson, and Councilwoman Barb Flow. Councilman Bruce Newell arrived later in the meeting and is not pictured.
KENDALL – Town Board members met for their 2018 organizational meeting Wednesday evening and approved a number of resolutions.
Town Supervisor Tony Cammarata, who was re- elected in November to a third term as supervisor, reviewed progress made on his election promises to residents, including bringing public water to more residents, residential and commercial growth, and safety improvements to the town hall and highway garage.
Cammarata reported that two new water districts will be created in the town in 2018 and two additional water districts will be created by 2020. He noted commercial growth with new ownership for the Bald Eagle Marina and the recently opened Dollar General store.
“We have had 20 new residential building permits issued since I took office as supervisor,” Cammarata said. “That’s about five per year.”
The town hall and highway garage will receive new roofs in 2018, and power assisted doors will be added to the town hall in the spring or summer. Additionally, the town will continue to pursue conversion to LED street lighting, Cammarata said.
He explained that taxpayers now have the option of making partial tax payments, and the town expects to adopt the tax exemption for Cold War veterans in the spring.
“I would like to congratulate the recently elected people and look forward to working with them,” Cammarata said.
Town council members Wayne Martin, Jr. and Bruce Newell were re-elected in November, as were Town Clerk Amy Richardson, Justice Debra Drennan, and highway superintendent Warren Kruger.
Council members re-appointed Andrew Meier as town attorney, Patrick Bolton as chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals, Andrew Kludt as chair of the Planning Board, Michelle Werth as Director of Youth and Adult Recreation, Heather Banker as town historian, Eileen Grah as librarian, and Paul Hennekey as code enforcement officer.
Town Councilwoman Lynn Szozda was re- appointed deputy supervisor.
The 2018 salary and wage schedule adopted by council members includes no pay increases for the supervisor, councilpersons, town justices, the town clerk or the code enforcement officer.
The Superintendent of Highways receives a $2,000 salary increase to $53,250. Highway Department employees also receive increases in hourly wages for 2018. Full-time motor equipment operators will now make from federal minimum wage up to $20.60/hour, an increase from $20.20; part time motor equipment operators will receive from federal minimum wage up to $14/hour, up from $13.36; full time laborers will receive from federal minimum wage up to $12/hour, an increase from $11.74; and part time laborers will receive from federal minimum wage up to $12/hour, an increase from $11.70.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 4 January 2018 at 8:05 am
Photo by Tom Rivers: Sandy Creek is pictured on Wednesday in Albion by the Erie Canal.
Temperatures will plummet to “dangerously cold” levels in the next three days in Orleans County, the National Weather Service in Buffalo said.
Today will reach a high of 16 but will fall to 0 tonight. On Friday, the forecast calls for a high of 2 degrees and a low of minus 6, followed by a high of 1 degree on Saturday and a low of minus 3.
The Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory from 10 a.m. today until 7 a.m. on Saturday, when 5 to 8 inches of snow is expected for Orleans, Niagara and Monroe counties.
The Weather Service also issued a wind chill warning from 8 p.m. today until 7 a.m. on Sunday. Wind chills will range from minus 20 to minus 30 at times.
“The dangerously cold wind chills will cause frostbite in as little as 10 minutes to exposed skin,” the Weather Service said. “Winds gusting as high as 40 mph will cause areas of blowing and drifting snow.”
The Weather Service urged people to stay inside. But if people do go out, “be sure to cover all exposed skin.”
Drivers were also urged to “be prepared for rapidly changing road conditions and visibilities.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 January 2018 at 8:40 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers: Lynne Johnson takes the chairman’s seat as the Orleans County Legislature after being elected leader of the seven-member group this afternoon.
ALBION – Orleans County legislators picked Lynne Johnson to serve as the group’s new chairwoman. Johnson has been serving as the Legislature’s vice chairwoman.
She replaces John DeFilipps as the group’s leader and the county’s top elected official. DeFilipps was picked as chairman on Aug. 14, filling a void when David Callard resigned after nearly eight years as chairman.
DeFilipps on Aug. 14 was picked with 4 votes to 2 for Johnson. Today, Johnson was a unanimous pick, including a vote from DeFilipps.
Skip Draper, a new county legislator, made the motion to nominate Johnson. No one nominated DeFilipps.
Draper has served on the board of directors of the Orleans Economic Development Agency with DeFilipps.
“He is a very talented man,” Draper said about DeFilipps. “He is full of good ideas.”
Draper said he has known Johnson much longer, and she has impressed him with her work ethic and leadership on many issues. Johnson has been the county’s representative on the Niagara-Orleans Regional Alliance, which has pushed for expanded broadband or high-speed Internet in the rural areas of the two counties.
Johnson has also been an outspoken critic of Plan 2014 from the International Joint Commission, a plan for regulating Lake Ontario water levels. She worried the plan would cause flooding and shoreline damage before it was enacted. The flooding and damage became a harsh reality in 2017.
Draper said Johnson has tackled tough issues for the county. For example, Johnson was the chairwoman of the county’s Public Safety Committee and helped the county with a major overhaul of its emergency communications system.
“She is a very hard worker,” Draper said.
The Legislature welcomed new member Skip Draper, center, and new County Treasurer Kim DeFrank, left. Legislator Ken DeRoller is at right.
Legislator Bill Eick said Johnson has proven herself. She has been on the Legislature for 10 years. She replaced Jack Beedon after he retired. Her district includes the towns of Yates, Ridgeway and a small part of Shelby.
Johnson is well versed in local government. She has worked as the bookkeeper for the towns of Kendall, Yates, Ridgeway and Alden. She also was president of the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce from 2002 to 2004 and a member of the Lyndonville Board of Education from 2001 to 2004. She also serves on the board for Community Action of Orleans & Genesee and is a past president of the Lyndonville Lions Club.
“She deserves an opportunity as chair,” Eick said. “She is very well known out there.”
She has represented the county at numerous local events, and also in Albany and Washington, D.C.
Johnson is the second woman to serve as the Legislature leader. The late Marcia Tuohey of Medina served 10 years as chairwoman, retiring at the end of 2005. Tuohey and Johnson are the only women to serve on the County Legislature since it started about 40 years ago, replacing the Board of Supervisors.
DeFilipps has been a legislator for four years. Eick said he expects DeFilipps will have another chance as chairman in the future. Typically the chairman has been one of the group’s longer-serving legislators, Eick said.
Johnson said she wants to keep pushing for high-speed Internet access throughout the county. “That’s not dead by any means,” she said about the issue.
She will keep advocating for a change in the lake level plan. “That’s not over,” she said. “We’re still 13 inches over normal.”
Johnson said the seven members of the Legislature are all assets and keys to the county government. Draper joined the group after 24 years as Shelby town supervisor.
“We all work hard,” she said. “It’s about seven of us working together.”
The Legislature also picked Don Allport of Gaines to serve as vice chairman, replacing Johnson. Allport received four votes – Allport, Johnson, Eick and Draper – while DeFilipps received three votes – DeFilipps, Ken DeRoller and Fred Miller.
The Legislature also set the compensation for the group for 2018, giving 2 percent raises. The chairwoman will be paid $17,777, while the vice chairman receives $13,442 and the other five legislators are each paid $11,850.
Don Allport, third from left, was picked to serve as the Legislature’s vice chairman. Others pictured include, from left: Legislator Bill Eick, Legislator John DeFilipps and County Attorney David Schubel.
ALBION – A Rochester man faces multiple drug charges after being arrested today in the Village of Albion.
The Orleans County Major Felony Crime Task Force and Albion Police Department stopped a vehicle on West Avenue and seized a quantity of crack cocaine that was packaged for sale, the Task Force said in a press release.
Rodney L. Scales, 30, of Garson Street in Rochester was the driver of the vehicle and faces drug possession and sale charges.
He was charged with four counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and five counts of criminal possession in the fifth degree, which are Class B felonies.
He was arraigned in Gaines Town Court by Justice Bruce Schmidt, who remanded Scales to the Orleans County Jail without bail due to his previous criminal history, the Task Force said.
Scales is due to appear in Albion Town Court at 9 a.m. on Jan. 10.
He is currently on parole with the NYS Department of Corrections and a parole detainer was filed at the county jail.
Further arrests and charges are pending, the Task Force said.
MEDINA – The Student Council at Oak Orchard Elementary in Medina conducted a coin collection for two weeks in November for the American Red Cross Hurricane relief efforts.
Students were encouraged to bring in spare change and add to the containers. Posters were made by students and displayed around the building. More than $200 was collected. Principal Julie Webber is pictured with members of the Student Council.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 January 2018 at 10:16 am
An Elba resident died Tuesday after a Thruway accident at about 2 p.m. in Cheektowaga.
Edward Torres, 64, of Elba was traveling eastbound behind a tractor trailer that came to an abrupt stop. Torres was unable to stop and subsequently struck the rear of the tractor trailer and was seriously injured, State Police reported today.
Torres was transported by ambulance to Erie County Medical Center where he was pronounced deceased. Multiple people were treated for minor injuries and one person remains in serious condition, State Police said.
There were about 25 vehicles involved in the Thruway accident. Drivers struggled to see in whiteout conditions.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 January 2018 at 9:15 am
Grube and Town Board appoint new historian, attorney
GAINES – New Gaines Town Supervisor Joe Grube and the Town Board started a new year at Town Hall by making a change with the town historian and attorney.
Al Capurso has been replaced as town historian by Adrienne Kirby. She is the daughter of Bill Lattin, the retired Orleans County historian and former director of the Cobblestone Museum.
Grube and the Town Board also brought back Doug Heath as town attorney. He wasn’t reappointed to the job when Carol Culhane started as town supervisor six years ago. She picked Andrew Meier of Medina to serve as town attorney. Heath, a Holley resident, had been in the role for many years.
Tuesday was a day of ushering in some changes at Town Hall. Grube took the oath of office, and so did Town Clerk Susan Heard and Town Councilman Tyler Allport, who were both elected in November.
Susan Heard, who just retired as Orleans County treasurer, takes the oath as Gaines town clerk. Doug Heath holds The Bible.
The board held an organizational meeting on Tuesday evening. The board agreed to change the monthly meeting date from the second Tuesday to the second Monday at 7 p.m. That will better accommodate the schedule for Grube and Heath, who also serves as Carlton’s town attorney. Carlton meets the second Tuesday each month.
The board on Tuesday also made a change to code of ethics for the town’s elected and appointed officials. The previous policy didn’t allow for serving on the Republican or Democratic committees. The policy was changed to allow officials to also serve on the committees. Grube said the other towns allow elected and appointed officials to be on political committees. In small towns it’s difficult to find people who are active and interested in political parties and for many of the town positions, Grube said.
Tyler Allport takes the oath while his father, County Legislator Don Allport, holds The Bible.
The board approved 2 percent raises for the town employees for 2018, except for the two part-time motor equipment operators in the highway department. They were paid $16.46 an hour in 2017, without any benefits. Ron Mannella, the highway superintendent, said that was by far the lowest among the towns in Orleans County. The part-time rates ranged from $18 in Albion to $19 in Murray and Yates. Some towns don’t have part-time staff.
Gaines agreed to raise the pay by 8.6 percent to $18 an hour. Mannella said the two part-timers are critical to the highway operation and they are less costly than full-timers, who are paid about $22 an hour with benefits and vacation.
One part-timer drives a plow truck during the winter and the other starts around Memorial Day, mowing and doing other jobs for the highway department.
Mannella said the two work about 2,000 hours combined a year. The pay increase will cost about $3,000 more over the year which Mannella said can be absorbed in the highway budget.
Two positions remain open in the town. The Town Board has accepted applications for a vacant water billing clerk and vacant secretary for the Zoning Board of Appeals. Grube said the town wants to fill those spots soon.
Bruce Schmidt takes the oath as town justice. He has served in the role for eight years and is starting a new four-year term.
ALBION – Effective January 1, 2018, the Sheriff’s Department Animal Control Division expanded to two full-time Animal Control Officers.
The county in cooperation with the townships, passed a countywide animal control law on October 25, 2017. This new approach will also provide expanded coverage including some evening and weekend hours.
All calls will continue to be handled through the non-emergency number at our 911 center 589-5527.
To view the Dog Control Law of Orleans County, click here.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 January 2018 at 6:26 pm
This photo by Cheryl Wertman shows a toppled tree in Medina during after a powerful wind storm punished the area on March 8.
Orleans Hub continued to grow in 2017, showing gains in pageviews and daily users.
The Hub totaled 8,553,605 pageviews in 2017, which was up 2.6 percent from the 8,334,946 in 2016.
We tend to focus more on average daily users for determining our “circulation,” to use a newspaper term. When we started the Hub in April 2013, we set a goal of 3,000 daily users for an average. That was about the combined circulation in Orleans County for the former The Journal-Register in Medina and The Daily News in Batavia.
Our first nine months in 2013 we averaged 2,100 unique daily visitors. That jumped to 4,700 in 2014 and reached a 6,739 average in 2015. In 2016, we were up to a 7,112 daily average. Last year, we were close to 8,000, finishing the year with a daily average of 7,884, which is a 10.9 percent increase over 2016.
Going back to pageviews, the 8,553,605 total for the year represents a daily average of 23,435.
Orleans Hub went live on April 1, 2013. We had 1,697,887 pageviews for nine months in 2013 and then 5,267,498 pageviews in 2014. In 2015, we jumped to 7,811,345 pageviews.
The Hub operates out of The Lake Country Pennysaver in Albion. We have an office at the Pennysaver building, 170 North Main St.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 January 2018 at 5:36 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers: A truck heads east on Telegraph Road in Ridgeway this afternoon in near whiteout conditions in some spots due to the blowing snow.
A winter weather advisory remains in effect until 1 a.m. tonight for Orleans, Niagara, Genesee, Wyoming and southern Erie counties due to snow and blowing snow, the National Weather Service in Buffalo said.
In Buffalo and northern Erie County, a blizzard warning is in effect until 1 a.m. tonight.
The Weather Service warned of slippery road conditions and poor visibility. In Orleans County today there have already been several car accidents.
The wind blows snow across Beals Road in Ridgeway this afternoon
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 January 2018 at 2:40 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers
RIDGEWAY – Firefighters kept a wood stove fire from spreading in a house at 3402 Bates Rd.
Firefighters were dispatched at 1:17 p.m. to the Bates Road location for a house fire. Medina, Ridgeway and Shelby firefighters all responded in the bitter cold and contained the fire.
A fire investigator from the county was expected on the scene soon to determine the cause.
Rick Tuohey (left), the officer in charge for the Ridgeway Volunteer Fire Company, and Dale Banker, emergency management director for the county, discuss the situation outside the house. Besides the cold, firefighters contended with blowing wind.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 January 2018 at 11:30 am
Photos by Tom Rivers: This Dodge 1500 Ram was pulled out of the Erie Canal in Medina at about 12:45 a.m. on Aug. 18, more than five hours after it plunged into the water, just east of the lift bridge on Route 63. An article about the incident was the sixth most viewed in 2017 on Orleans Hub.
A Nov. 7 article about the death of Ben Kirby, 21, of Albion in a car accident was the most-viewed article on the Orleans Hub in 2017.
Kirby was killed in an accident on Route 531 in Gates on Nov. 6. Kirby was a senior at Rochester Institute of Technology, studying software development.
He was well known in the Albion area. He was an Eagle Scout and was active in the drama, music and sports programs. He picked Camp Rainbow for his Eagle Scout project and led a team of Scouts in installing a new entrance gate, building new seesaws and removing the old ones, and replacing the doors on a tool shed.
Here are the 10 most viewed articles of 2017 on Orleans Hub.
A husband and wife were killed on Aug. 23 in an accident in Barre at the intersection of Eagle Harbor Road and Route 31A, one of several fatal accidents in the county in 2017.
