Gas prices dropped 8 cents nationally and 7 cents state-wide from Dec. 11 to Dec. 18, according to AAA.

The average price for regular unleaded nationally was at $3.07 on Monday, and $3.41 in New York State.

“Lower oil prices continue to drive the decline as the average price for a barrel of oil has fallen from the $80s into the low to mid-$70s where it stands today,” AAA said on Monday.

In Orleans County, the average price for regular unleaded is at $3.607 today, which compares to $3.740 on Nov. 6 and $3.871 on Oct. 9.

Here are the average prices in Western New York counties today:

• Orleans, $3.607
• Genesee, $3.477
• Wyoming, $3.625
• Livingston, $3.623
• Niagara, $3.464
• Monroe, $3.421
• Erie, $3.572
• Chautauqua, $3.505
• Cattaraugus, $3.447
• Allegany, $3.655

Diesel prices are also declining, AAA reported. The national average price for diesel is $4.00, down 10 cents from last Monday, and down from $4.78 a year ago. The New York average for diesel is $4.51, down four cents from a week ago, and lower than $5.48 one year ago.

“AAA is forecasting nearly 104 million Americans will drive 50 miles or more from home during the 10-day holiday period from December 23 through January 1 so demand will likely increase through the end of the year,” AAA said. “If oil prices remain low, drivers can expect gas prices to follow suit during the holidays.”

Photos by Ginny Kropf: State Sen. Rob Ortt reads a tribute to Herb Loesch of Barker, who the senator just chose as this year’s inductee into the New York State Senate’s Veterans Hall of Fame. He presented the tribute this morning at Medina Memorial Hospital, where Loesch is undergoing physical therapy.

MEDINA – State Sen. Rob Ortt has chosen a Barker veteran to be included in the New York State Senate’s Veterans Hall of Fame for 2023.

Herbert Loesch this morning was honored for his service to the military and the community in a ceremony at Medina Memorial Hospital.

Loesch, who will be 95 on Jan. 12, is in Medina Memorial Hospital undergoing physical therapy due to a fall.

In previous years, the induction ceremonies have been in Albany, but this year Ortt delivered the honor to Medina Memorial. Ortt explained it is customary every year for each state senator to choose a veteran from his or her district to be added to the Veterans Hall of Fame, which is in Albany.

“By having it here, all his family and friends could attend,” Ortt said. “We make sure each veteran we choose is worthy of the honor, and Herb certainly is. He still wears his uniform proudly and is a member of the American Legion and VFW. I know he is very proud of his service.”

Two of Loesch’s comrades who served in Korea are still alive, and he keeps in contact with them.

“I’m amazed how Herb is a strong advocate for veterans,” said Ortt, who shared he was also in the military.

Loesch said he was honored Ortt chose him for this award.

“It’s wonderful the senator took time out to do this,” Loesch said.

Loesch served in the United States Army in Korea, as a medic with the 24th Division, obtaining the rank of sergeant 12T.

“He exemplifies what it means to be a patriotic American and proud military veteran,” Ortt read from Loesch’s profile. “A dedicated Army veteran, Mr. Loesch’s military career began when he enlisted in 1952, following his education at Alfred University, where he majored in biology and minored in chemistry, receiving a bachelor of arts.

One of the 1,000 toy Jeeps in Herb Loesch’s collection sits on the table at Medina Memorial Hospital’s board room, along with a plaque Loesch received and the poster describing his service in Korea.

“After basic training at Camp Pickett in Virginia, Mr. Loesch received advanced medical training at Fort Devens in Massachusetts. After training, he was deployed to Korea. For his service to our nation, he earned numerous recognitions and accolades, including the Korean Service Medal, Presidential Unit Citation (ROKDA), United Nations Service Medal and the National DEF Service Medal.

“In 1954, Mr. Loesch was honorably discharged from the Army. He became actively involved in the Barker Chapter of the American Legion Post No. 435, as well as a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

“Mr. Loesch collects, maintains and proudly displays military memorabilia at his home, including a collection of more than 1,000 toy Jeeps. He keeps a prominent military display of World War II and Korean War items at Barker High School, utilizing these collections to discuss our nation’s military history and encourage young people to pursue careers in the armed forces.

“During local parades, Mr. Loesch can be found in the lineup with his restored World War II Willys Jeep, wearing his full military uniform. He remains an active member in his community and serves as treasurer in his church and the Western New York John Deere Club. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge No. 639 and volunteers to place flags at military gravesites.

“Mr. Loesch currently lives in Barker with his longtime partner, Grace. His two children also reside in New York state.”

Ortt told Loesch, “It is an honor for me to recognize veterans like you.”

Ortt added how impressed he was that Loesch maintained a military display at his former high school.

“That is such an important thing,” Ortt said. “Young people today get out of high school and don’t consider the military as a career. Herb is one of those veterans who not only served, but came home and advocated for veterans and served his community. Korean War veterans sometimes get lost in the shuffle. Pretty soon there won’t be any Korean War veterans.”

Loesch was suggested for the honor by Peter Morris, a fellow member of the Western New York Two Cylinder (John Deere) Club, where Loesch has served as treasurer for 30 years.

Among those who attended the ceremony in the hospital’s board room were his partner Grace Bodine; Loesch’s two children, son Terry Loesch of Canandaigua and daughter Tracy Stevenson and her husband Mark of Appleton; his pastor the Rev. Tom Gardner; Al Hain, president of the WNY Two Cylinder Club; Bob Gilsanin from the Sheret American Legion Post in Albion; and several other family and friends.

Photos courtesy of Arc GLOW: Public Relations Director Lisa Bors congratulates self-advocate Robert on Saturday during a graduation ceremony.

Press Release, Arc GLOW

ALBION — On Saturday, eight members of the Self-Advocacy All Stars graduated from SANYS U, the school of grassroots advocacy.

SANYS (Self-Advocacy Association of New York State) provide presentations and trainings to self-advocates, family members, support staff, and the community at large.

In 2011, it started SANYS U, a leadership course that teaches self-advocates and their supports about the history of self-advocacy, rights and responsibilities, and promotes ways of strengthening the grassroots and developing strong local and statewide leaders.

These self-advocates proudly showcase their diplomas.

This is the first year the Self-Advocacy All Stars, a self-advocacy group situated in Orleans County since 1986, has gone through SANYS U. For six weeks, Katherine, Deborah, Doreen, Cindy, Robert, Duane, Tyler and Michael learned about what being a self-advocate meant, the history of disability rights and self-advocacy, their individual rights and responsibilities, tips for a strong self-advocacy group, self-advocacy leadership skills, and current self-advocacy issues.

As part of SANYS U, self-advocates presented on topics including transportation difficulties in rural areas, and what agency departments and programs have to offer. Guest speakers included group founder Russell Johnson, Arc GLOW Board President Cheryl Englert, CEO Martin Miskell, Vice President of Self Direction and Community Services Jill Pegelow and Public Relations Director Lisa Bors.

Deborah sits with her daughter during the ceremony at the Trolley Building of the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds.

Advocacy Group Advisor Terry Kingdollar said the program was amazing.

“I’m so proud of everything they’ve learned. Knowledge is power,” the advisor said. Other self-advocates look forward to participating when SANYS U is offered in the future.

Self Advocacy All Stars is 16 members strong.  They are one of three self-advocacy groups under the GLOW Trotters umbrella that includes Friends for the Future and Advocates Coming Together.

In the spring, Self Advocacy All Stars are looking forward to their talent show fundraiser in April and the third annual Jonathan Doherty and Gladys Hopper Self Advocacy Day in May.

Orleans County Tourism Department

KNOWLESVILLE – With an influx of visitors expected for the total eclipse on April 8, the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds will be hosting several events from April 5-8 and making at least 50 camping sites available with RV hook-ups.

The Cornell Cooperative Extension is teaming with the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce, the Albion Merchants Association and Orleans County Tourism Department for the events. The path of totality will pass through Western New York and Orleans County with the duration of the totality about four minutes beginning at approximately 3:18 p.m. on April 8, a Monday. The partial eclipse starts at 2:04 p.m. and ends at 4:30 p.m.

“People are coming from all over to Orleans County to see it,” said Robert Batt, the Extension executive director.

The events at the fairgrounds include:

• April 5 (Friday) – Camp sites available. Visitors will receive Orleans County gift bag with discounts to local businesses.
• April 6 (Saturday) – Chamber Home, Garden & Outdoor Show with food vendors and kids’ activities, and a chicken barbecue by Elks. The day is capped off with fireworks at Fairgrounds at 8 p.m.
• April 7 (Sunday) – Chamber Home, Garden & Outdoor Show with food vendors and kids’ activities. There will also be an Orleans County scavenger hunt with prizes for top three teams and one unique hidden prize. There will be a campfire sing-along with s’mores by the Orleans Koinonia Kitchen from 7 to 9 p.m. The Albion Free Methodist Church will lead a Glow Party at 8:30 p.m. at the pavilion with a DJ.
• April 8 (Monday) – There will be food vendors and kids’ activities from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be kids’ activity from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. featuring the Orleans County 4-H nutritional program leading a session on astronaut food, including hands-on cooking.

For more information about the camp sites and events at the fairgrounds, click here.

Map from I Love NY: The path of totality for the eclipse passes on an arc through Western New York on April 8.

Reporters from Saturday Evening Post, Life Magazine, UPI, Australian Press, nearby newspapers sat in on sessions

Graduating students from Albion’s Santa Claus School serenade their “Dean” Charles W. Howard and his “First Assistant” Mrs. Ruth Howard, the seated couple at the center of this Medina Daily Journal-Register photograph, October 20, 1964.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

Illuminating Orleans, Vol. 3, No. 39

ALBION – This jolly group was assembled at a dinner held at the Apple Grove Inn, Medina on October 16, 1964, to celebrate their graduation from the Charles Howard Santa Claus School and to honor the school’s founder, Charles W. Howard and his wife, Ruth Howard.

Enrollment at the school, which was then in its 28th year of educating department store Santas, was limited to 20. Students from the Class of 1964 hailed from Detroit, Bay City, Michigan, and New York state. In many cases, stores paid the tuition, as they recognized that a graduate of the school was an asset.

Students received a well-grounded training in the philosophy and practice of portraying Santa Claus with integrity during their intensive week-long course. They also learned how to interact with children. Grade schoolchildren from Albion, under the direction of Mrs. Ruth Karns, interacted with the Santa trainees, while students from Medina, Albion and Holley participated in round table discussions.

The fine points of attire were also addressed, while Mrs. Ruth Hazard demonstrated gift wrapping and Mrs. Joy Merkel instructed Santas in the latest dance steps.

The school had elicited much publicity that year. Reporters from the Saturday Evening Post, Life Magazine, United Press International, area newspapers and even the Australian Press sat in on classes and reported on activities.

This celebratory dinner was held shortly before the Howards’ trip to Australia.

On October 25, 1964, the same week as the Journal-Register article, The Sydney Morning Herald of New South Wales, Australia, featured an article promoting their prospective visit. Farmers, a department store in the city, sought six candidates to train as Father Christmas. The store’s fashion coordinator said that the store was flying in “Santa Claus himself,” Mr. Charles Howard, from New York, to supervise the school, the first of its kind in Sydney.

A later article in the Sydney Morning Herald on November 10, 1964, featured an interview with Mrs. Howard, appropriately attributed as “director and instructor-in-chief at the Santa Claus School, Christmas Park, Albion, New York.”

The article continued: “Mrs. Howard is accompanying her husband on a Santa Claus inspection and briefing tour of Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney.”

A November article later that month in a Melbourne publication, The Age, described Howard as “principal of the only finishing school for Santas in the world.”

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Mr. Howard’s death in May 1966.

Press Release, UConnectCare

BATAVIA – During her 4 ½ years as an employee at UConnectCare (formerly Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse), Amy Kabel has worn several hats, and she has worn them well.

Amy Kabel

Hired as a peer recovery advocate in April 2019 to assist those in recovery from substance use disorder, the Batavia resident has been promoted to the director of Grant Management position – a job that is vital to the nonprofit agency’s mission to provide a wide variety of services to those in need.

“We’re excited to announce that Amy has accepted the position of director of Grant Management,” said UConnectCare Chief Executive Officer John Bennett. “Amy has excelled at every level, and the skills she has gained will make her a great addition to the management team.”

Kabel served as the lead peer at The Recovery Station on Clinton Street Road, a supervisory role, before accepting coordinator positions for The Recovery Station, which is under the auspices of the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports and for the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Rural Communities Opioid Response Program.

In 2021, she was promoted to assistant director of Grants & Projects, working closely with Rosalie Mangino-Crandall, the former director of Project Innovations and Expansion.

As director of Grant Management, she will oversee a team of about 10 grant-funded employees while searching for and writing grants to fund key programs.

“Fortunately, I was able to learn from Rosalie, who was a fantastic mentor,” Kabel said. “She set a high bar, and I will do my best to keep these programs going.”

Before joining UConnectCare, Kabel was employed as an aide on the surgical floor at United Memorial Medical Center and at Hope Haven, the hospital’s inpatient agency for those struggling with substance use.

She earned an associate’s degree from Genesee Community College and went on to obtain a bachelor’s degree in Community & Health Services from SUNY Empire State College. Kabel has a daughter, Madison, a social worker in the Buffalo area.

Photos courtesy of Chris Busch

MEDINA – The Medina A’Cappella Choir Community Christmas Concert was held Sunday evening at St. mary’s Catholic Church and a capacity crowd was in attendance.

Rachel Trillizio directs the high school choir.

The A’Cappella Christmas concert is an annual tradition going back many years in Medina. Members of the Oak Orchard Elementary Glee Club also sang in the concert.

Andrea Busch, left, directs the Oak Orchard Elementary Glee Club.

The high school brass ensemble also performed with teachers Matt Jaeger and Kyla Leno.

Photo by Tom Rivers: The light pole in front of the Albion Village Office on East Bank Street is decorated for the holidays. About 40 of the poles in the downtown have been decorated by businesses and residents.

A winter weather advisory has been issued for Orleans, Niagara, Genesee and northern Erie counties from 9 tonight until 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

About 3 to 5 inches of snow is expected in Orleans with winds gusting as high as 30 miles per hour which will produce some blowing snow in open areas, the National Weather Service in Buffalo said.

The forecast today calls for a high of 43 followed by highs of 30 on Tuesday, 39 on Wednesday and 37 on Thursday.

Provided photo: Medina businessman Tom Snyder is one of several volunteers who participated in the Wreaths Across America ceremony Saturday at Boxwood Cemetery.

MEDINA – The 10th annual Wreaths Across America ceremony in Medina is one for the record books.

Organizer Kathy Blackburn reported 1,008 wreaths were placed this year by a local Boy Scout troop under the leadership of John Dieter and volunteers from the American Legion and VFW posts.

“We also had a new volunteer group this year – Boy Scout 86 from Brockport, who heard about our project and wanted to help,” Blackburn said. “The Carpenter Union workers were also out in full force and we thank them all, because we couldn’t do it without them.”

There were enough wreaths purchased to place 200 in St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart cemeteries.  Blackburn encourages members of St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart to purchase wreaths for next year, so they can cover all the veterans’ graves in those cemeteries.

Again this year, the national Wreaths Across America organization will donate one wreath for every wreath purchased from now until Jan. 16. Checks should be made out to the village clerk for $17 and marked for Wreaths Across America, 119 Park Ave., Medina.

Blackburn also thanked local businessman Tom Snyder for his continued support of the Wreaths Across America project. Snyder not only makes an annual donation, but volunteers his time to lay a wreath during the ceremony.

Photos courtesy of Tim Archer

Albion seventh-graders joined a big group in placing the wreaths. Social studies teacher Shawn Ragonese and two of his students pay their respects at the cemetery.

The students are greeted by Nancy Traxler, director of Veterans Service Agency in Orleans County. She is also vice president of the Western New York National Cemetery Memorial Council. She served as the keynote speaker during a ceremony on Saturday.

The group is shown with Elizabeth Haibach from the Orleans County DAR.

Photos by Tom Rivers: There were 1,650 wreaths placed at the WNY National cemetery, which opened three years ago in Pembroke.

CARLTON – The Town Board, in a 3-2 vote on Saturday, approved a contract with Monroe Ambulance, just a few days after the board was deadlocked at 2-2.

The contract needed at least three votes to pass. The board was down a member following the resignation of Debbie Yockel, effective Dec. 1. She was appointed the town clerk on Tuesday following the resignation of Karen Narburgh.

Jeff Gifaldi was appointed to fill Yockel’s vacancy and on Saturday he voted in favor of the agreement with Monroe Ambulance, joining Town Supervisor Gayle Ashbery and Councilman Dana Woolston is approving the contract. Two other board members, Brian McCue and Charlie Ricci, opposed it, citing concerns from residents about slow response times.

Gifaldi, a chief deputy with the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office, also was the Carlton code enforcement officer. He resigned from that town position on Dec. 13.

Carlton was the seventh of the seven towns in a consortium to vote on the contract. It had already been approved by Albion, Barre, Gaines, Clarendon, Murray and Kendall.

Carlton will pay $22,350 in 2024, up from $14,800 this year, the first time the towns have had a contract with Monroe where they paid to have an ambulance based in the county.

The $300,000 contract among the seven towns is divvied up among call volume in the seven towns. The agreement calls for Monroe to station an ambulance in Albion 24 hours a day, seven days a week and one in Holley for at least 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Monroe also said it will draw on ambulances in Monroe County if there is a need in Orleans County.

Provided photos

HOLLEY – Wreaths are placed on veterans’ graves on Saturday during Wreaths Across America. Holley for the first time participated in the event, which is celebrated in about 4,000 communities across the country.

The Holley Rotary Club took the lead in raising the funding and organizing the event at Hillside Cemetery. The club set a goal for 100 wreaths, but doubled that with the 200 on Saturday.

Kim DeFrank, a Holley resident and the Orleans County treasurer, was among about 35 volunteers who placed wreaths at graves.

Craig Lane, an Air Force veteran, spoke at the ceremony before the wreaths were laid.

Wreaths are set at a veterans’ memorial at the cemetery. The memorial includes five granite etched stones for the Marine Corps, Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard. The memorial has a pentagon-shaped concrete base and a 25-foot flagpole.

Laura Bentley, right, of the Holley Rotary Club pushed the wreaths in Holley. She is joined by Kerry Lane in getting the out of a box. Bentley said the group of volunteers were pleased to be out honoring veterans.

Hillside Cemetery has a new look with the wreaths at the veterans’ graves.

Medina placed 1,008 wreaths, with most at Boxwood Cemetery. In Lyndonville, about 450 wreaths will be placed at Lynhaven Cemetery on Housel Avenue in Lyndonville with others put at Yates Center Cemetery, Robin Hill Estate, the Greenman Road Cemetery, Lott Cemetery on Angling Road and a cemetery on Marshall Road.

Lyndonville first joined the Wreaths Across America effort in 2019. Medina has been doing it since 2013.