Provided photos

HOLLEY – Julie Berry of Medina, front, met with Holley 10^th graders last Wednesday for a presentation on her book, Lovely War. Berry addressed about 65 students during a presentation, where she also played ragtime music on the piano.

The sophomores are reading the book in their English classes.

Berry in her presentation covered the major themes in the book such as segregation, trench warfare, Greek gods and ragtime music.

Berry, owner of Author’s Note in Medina, also signed copies of the book for students. The book is set in World War I & II.

The book averages a 4.25 star rating out of 5 with 46,070 ratings and 8,862 reviews on Goodreads, the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations. Click here to see the reviews.

Julie Berry played ragtime music and discussed her book with Holley students last week.

District seeks upgrades at 3 school buildings, plus bus garage

Conceptual renderings from Medina Central School: This shows a proposed new media center in the Oak Orchard Primary School.

MEDINA – The school district will seek the community’s approval on Feb. 14 for a $34,357,277 project that includes significant work at the three school buildings, plus the bus garage.

There won’t be any new taxes as part of the capital project. District officials said the cost will be covered through $29,895,213 from state building aid (87 percent of the total cost), $2,750,000 from capital reserve and $1,712,064 by retiring debt service payments, resulting in a “tax neutral” financing plan, district superintendent Dr. Mark Kruzynski said in a letter to the community on the district website.

“Major reconstruction and mechanical upgrades for our aging pool were identified among our most critical asset preservation needs,” Kruzynski said in his letter. “In addition, key educational program goals of this project include renovations to our music, technology, and STEAM spaces. The project will also address important safety and security improvements at all school entrance vestibules and main offices. Rehabilitation and reconstruction of our intercampus roadways, parking areas, and bus loops will further improve safety and circulation for parents, students, and staff.”

Doing the projects as part of a capital plan will make the district eligible for state aid, covering the majority of the costs. If the project is voted down, Medina would still need to proceed with some of the “critical safety requirements and building preservation needs,” Kruzynski said. However, not doing the work in a capital project would put the full cost on district taxpayers, he said.

There will be a public information meeting on Monday, Feb. 6, at 6:30 p.m. at the junior-senior high school auditorium. The vote will be from noon to 8 p.m. on Feb. 14 in the district office board room.

Eligible voters must be at least 18 and a resident of the school district for at least 30 days prior to the vote.

Here is a breakdown of the capital project:

Junior/Senior High School – $17,324,760

• Reconstruct secure entrance vestibule
• Reconstruct Main Office including lock-down security notification
• New Choral Room (including new office and practice rooms)
• New Band Room addition (including new offices, practice rooms, and storage)
• New Music Storage Room with stage access
• Replace stage curtains and add stage outlets
• New STEAM Classroom
• New Technology Computer Lab
• New Technology Wood Shop addition (including exterior dust collector system)
• New Greenhouse addition
• New first-floor connector link to provide access to new classrooms
• New first-floor classrooms at former District Office
• New 8’ wide corridor including new single ADA-compliant toilet rooms
• New first-floor boys’ and girls’ toilet rooms
• New second-floor boys’ and girls’ toilet rooms
• Reconstruct existing roadways and parking areas
• New shared bus arrival/dismissal parking area for Jr/Sr High School and Intermediate School

This shows a proposed new band room in the junior-senior high school.

Clifford H. Wise Intermediate – $9,769,533

• Reconstruct secure entrance vestibule
• Reconstruct Main Office including lock-down security notification
• Reconstruct existing Pool (including pool tank, gutter, deck, mechanical equipment, and lighting)
• Reglaze and reseal windows with failed seals
• Reconstruct select mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems throughout the building, including generator replacement, panel board replacement, sanitary piping replacement, sump pump replacement and crawlspace drainage improvements
• Reconstruct existing roadways and parking areas: reconstruct existing exit onto Gwinn Street and expanded parking and roadway configuration

Oak Orchard Primary School – $6,198,091

• Reconstruct secure entrance vestibule
• Reconstruct Main Office including lock-down security notification
• New District Office in former Media Center
• Reconstruct Girls’ Locker Room to provide ADA-compliant toilets adjacent to Cafeteria and Gymnasium
• New Media Center
• New Computer Lab
• Reconstruct select mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems throughout the building, including panel board replacement, sanitary piping replacement and rawlspace drainage improvements
• Reconstruct existing roadways and parking areas
• New parking lot at relocated District Office
• Bus loop paving restoration

Bus Garage – $1,064,893

• Roof replacement
• New staff parking area

If the project is approved by voters, the school district will work on final designs to be submitted to the State Education Department this fall, with SED approval expected in early 2024. The project would then go out to bid with the bulk of construction expected to start in summer 2024, according to a timeline from the district. Medina school leaders anticipate the entire project would be completed in early 2026.

MURRAY – Two resolutions were scheduled for a public vote today for the Murray Joint Fire District. But that special election has been moved back to Feb. 21.

The commissioners for the fire district had set a public vote from 6 to 9 p.m. today at the fire hall at 7 Thomas St. in Holley.

The commissioners are seeking voter approval to spend up to $680,000 to purchase a pumper and up to $220,000 to refurbish a mini-pumper.

The fire district will pursue financing through serial bonds or statutory installment bonds up to 20 years, and may utilize bond anticipation notes for up to five years for the $680,000. For the $220,000, the financing would be for up to 15 years.

Eligible voters must be at least 18 and live in the fire district for at least 30 days prior to the vote on Feb. 21.

Male residents outnumbered females by 3 to 1; 23 deaths reported that year at site

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

Illuminating Orleans, Vol. 3 No. 2

ALBION – “Superintendent of the Poor” and “Overseers of the Poor.” These quaint job titles were still in use in New York state 100 years ago, when care of the poor and indigent was considered a local responsibility.

The Orleans County Almshouse or “Poorhouse” was located on West County House Road in the Town of Albion. The three-story building built in 1878 accommodated 140 inmates (“inmates” was the term used at that time) and included a residence for the Supervisor who lived on-site. An infirmary was added in the early 1900s. People with a variety of needs and misfortunes were accommodated – paupers, the homeless, the abandoned, the old and the infirm who had no one to care for them.

The Orleans County Superintendent of the Poor in 1923 was Journal E. Salisbury, (R), Barre. His salary for this elected position was $1,300. He was responsible for maintaining the County Almshouse and coordinating the care of the poor of the county.

He was required to maintain records on each inmate, and report to both the State Board of Charities as well as the Orleans County Board of Supervisors, the forerunners of the Orleans County Legislature.

His annual report to the Board of Supervisors for 1923 is very detailed and includes personal information that is surprising to us in the age of HIPPA. The names and ages of the inmates from each town are listed, along with the number of nights they were cared for.

Town of Kendall

George G.* – 365 nights

George L.* – 23 nights

Laura P.* – 365 nights

(*Last names withheld)

In 1923, a total of 120 people were cared for, this included 17 people identified as “tramps.” Male residents outnumbered females by 3 to 1.

Twenty-three deaths were recorded:

Aged 90 to 100 – 3

Aged 80 to 90 – 9

Aged 70 to 80 – 4

Aged 60 to 70 – 4

Aged 50 to 60 – 3

The Towns were responsible for paying the expenses of the care for their residents. This example is for the charges incurred by the three inmates from the Town of Barre in 1923:

“121 days board at $1.3289289…………….$160.80

Physical Examination by Physicians………$41.00

Inmates in Outside Institutions…………….$604.36

TOTAL…………………………………….$806.16

Operating costs for the home and hospital in 1923 totaled $50,713.23. These included:

Food supplies………………$3,991.62

Wearing apparel……………$486.45

Caskets and burials………..$815.45

Heat, Light, Power…………$7,024.88

Labor………………………$7631.59

Able-bodied inmates worked on the 155-acre farm which produced food for the facility as well as a surplus which provided income. Three hundred fowl yielded 1,069 dozen eggs and 300 pounds of poultry meat. Twenty-three pigs yielded 7,295 pounds of pork. Potatoes and beans were grown, as well as a variety of vegetables and fruit.

Journal E. Salisbury was Superintendent of the Poor for nine years. He died in 1930 at age 60. He was succeeded by John Derrick.

As the state became more involved in health and welfare, the euphemisms “social services” and “social welfare” replaced the more direct “poor”, “poorhouse” and “pauper”.

(Source: Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors for Orleans County, 1923)

Photos by Tom Rivers

SHELBY – The Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge is always a striking place to visit. The few inches of snow that stuck to trees and branches gives it a feeling of a winter wonderland.

The top photo shows trees at the Ringneck Marsh in Shelby.

These trees are also by the Ringneck Marsh Overlook. This area is just off of Oak Orchard Ridge Road and half a mile east of Route 63. The refuge said the overlook provides a vantage point to see great blue herons, mallards, geese and sometimes even ringneck ducks for which the marsh is named.

A recreational vehicle heads south on Route 63 through the refuge in Shelby on Saturday afternoon.

The refuge says the Ringneck Marsh provides “a picturesque view of its brilliant seasonal colors.”

A bench gives a spot to sit and look out on the Schoolhouse Marsh Overlook. This is just east of the Ringneck Marsh Overlook. The Schoolhouse Marsh is named for the schoolhouse that once existed in this location, it is a great spot to view shorebirds, American wigeon, and discreet marsh birds, according to the refuge’s website.

The Oak Orchard Ridge Road provides a path through the refuge in the Town of Shelby. For more information on the 10,828-acre refuge, click here to be directed to its web site.

Photos courtesy of Murray Joint Fire District

MURRAY – Firefighters were dispatched to a chimney fire at about 10 this morning. The fire at 2925 West Kendall Rd. in Murray spread from the chimney into a partition wall and into the attic, Murray Fire Chief Rick Cary said.

There were three occupants at the house and none of them or any of the responding firefighters were injured, Cary said.

Murray was assisted by the scene by firefighters from Kendall, Albion and Hamlin. The fire was knocked down in about 15 minutes, Cary said.

Orleans County fire investigators also responded to determine the cause.

The residents are currently displaced due to the fire.

ALBION – This screen shot was taken at about 9:20 a.m. today, showing a real time view of the Albion Main Street lift bridge.

A camera has been mounted up high on the Pratt and Day building on Main Street, with a live stream available on YouTube (click here).

The “Bridging Albion” group pushed to have the camera installed so people can watch the progress of an extensive rehabilitation of the historic bridge.

The group wanted the camera in place before a large crane arrives and removes the trusses of the bridge next week. That is expected to happen on Tuesday.

The bridge closed to traffic on Nov. 14 and isn’t expected to reopen for 18 months.

Photo by Ginny Kropf: Rob Robinson of Medina toasts to being cancer free for 100 months.

MEDINA – Rob Robinson’s whole life changed in 2014, after what he thought was a routine visit to his doctor.

Robinson, 66, has always suffered from allergies, so kept regular appointments with Dr. Surinder Bath in Medina, during which Robinson routinely had blood work done. It was after one of those appointments that he got a call from the doctor’s office saying he had to come back to the office, “Now.”

“I arrived to find Dr. Bath with tears rolling down his cheeks,” Robinson said. “He had me booked at Roswell at 9 the next morning.”

His blood work showed he had multi melanoma, a cancer of the bone marrow.

“What has happened since is a series of miracles,” Robinson said.

The first few months were really rough, he said. He had to be driven to Roswell once a month, where he spent an entire day having his stem cells collected. Often, they couldn’t harvest enough and he would have to return again and again. Once, he had to go 12 straight days, arriving at 6 a.m. and lying in bed for six hours while hooked to a machine.

“I would lay there and watch the Rockford Files,” Robinson said. “When the show was over, I knew the procedure was half way through.”

His pastor, the Rev. Vince Iorio of the Calvary Tabernacle Assembly of God, arranged for someone to take him and come back and get him each day.

This regimen has continued for eight years, which includes taking three chemo pills a day and visiting the clinic at Roswell once a month.

“I’m in my 100th cycle now, meaning Jan. 26 will be my 100th monthly visit,” Robinson said. “The nurses have told me people rarely make it to the 100th month. All my numbers are miraculously normal.”

Robinson volunteered to be in a study, so the treatments don’t cost him anything. If they did, he would have passed the $1 million mark long ago, he said.

Robinson and his wife Cindy are eager to share his story to tell people the importance of early detection. Robinson, whose mother Virginia Bishop used to play piano at the Apple Grove, inherited his mother’s love of music, and has played piano in big-name area bands all his life.

When he decided 10 years ago to form his own band, which he calls the “A” Band, he decided to use the band to spread the word about early detection. His first wife died of cancer in 2006, and he has since played gigs on what he calls the “Kill Cancer Tour.”

He believes God’s hand is in his life, which is why he has been able to attain total remission. He also has a philosophy.

“It’s all about attitude,” he said. “There’s no laying around feeling sorry for myself. Besides my band, I started the Busker Festival during Ale in Autumn last fall. It was so successful, we are making it an annual event. I’m still involved in Scouting and work at my job as an electrical inspector.”

On Feb. 10, Robinson and his band will perform at Lee-Whedon Memorial Library in Medina for the Finally Fridays concert series at 7 p.m.

There isn’t a day goes by that he doesn’t give thanks for his miraculous life.

Press Release, Catholic Charities

Looking for more fulfillment or a way to make the world a little better in the new year? Catholic Charities of Buffalo is seeking volunteers to make a difference in the life of an older adult through its Home Visitation and Friendly Phones programs in Genesee and Orleans counties.

Both programs depend on dedicated volunteers to provide one-hour weekly visits or phone calls to isolated seniors aged 60 or older who live independently or with family.

“The primary focus of this social-based program is to bring a renewed sense of friendship to older adults in our community,” said Linda Chadderdon, program manager, Catholic Charities. “Through weekly, one-hour visits, our goal is to decrease feelings of social isolation and bring a sense of community connection it its participants.”

During visits, participants and volunteers often engage in friendly conversation and partake in activities such as board games, puzzles, and crafts. Volunteers do not provide personal care, transportation, or banking assistance. Visitation schedule is flexible.

Interested volunteers must be at least 21 years old, and an interview, background check and proof of Covid vaccination are required. Volunteers do not need to reside in Genesee or Orleans counties.

Training will be provided upon acceptance into the program. For more information on volunteering or to request an application, please call Catholic Charities at (585) 343-0614, ext. 3804. Additionally, if you or someone you know would be interested in a weekly visit and reside in Genesee or Orleans counties, please contact Catholic Charities at the same number listed.

MEDINA – Two Medina school students are winners in the Medina Lions Club’s 2022 Peace Poster Contest.

This week, Jim Hancock, a Lions Club member, and Lions’ president Jim Punch presented awards to winner Jordan Olsen and runner-up Eyrn Meacham.

Thirty-two entries were received and judged by the Lions Club Board of Directors. Jordan’s poster was then sent to the district competition, where he finished second.

The contest is open to 11- to 13-year old students at Medina Junior-Senior High School and is coordinated by art teacher Jen Scott.

This is the 10th year for the Peace Poster Contest, and is one of Medina Lions Club’s community service projects.

Cheryl Kast

ALBION – Orleans Community Health’s Albion Healthcare Center has expanded its primary care team with the addition of Cheryl Kast, physician assistant certified, to its family medicine/primary care team.

“After serving many area families over the last decade, Cheryl has developed the trust and comfort we strive for at Orleans Community,” said Scott Robinson, director of Marketing at Orleans Community Health in a news release.

Kast brings more than two decades of experience to the growing team at the Albion Healthcare Center. She specializes in family medicine with experience in primary care (including pediatric patients), pulmonary, otolaryngology and internal medicine.

She is a Western New York native, and grew up on a dairy farm in Wyoming County. She now resides in Albion with her husband John. They have three children.

“We’re thrilled to have Cheryl on our team,” said Mark Shurtz, CEO of Orleans Community Health. “She is well-known and has a real passion for the community.”

Alana Palone, clinic administrator at the Albion Healthcare Center, said X-ray services said returned last week and now they are excited to share this added good news with Kast’s hiring.

“Cheryl is going to be a great asset to our primary care team, one that greatly benefits all of us,” Palone said.

Press Release, Congresswoman Claudia Tenney   

WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-24), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, today reintroduced H.R. 348, the Transparency in Covid-19 Expenditures Act, alongside Representatives Mike Gallagher (WI-08), Jake LaTurner (KS-02), Darrell Issa (CA-48), and Chris Smith (NJ-04).

This bill requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to audit the funding provided by the COVID-19 relief bills Congress passed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Specifically, the GAO must audit and report on the use of funding provided by:

• the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020
• the Families First Coronavirus Response Act
• the CARES Act
• the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act
• Divisions M and N of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, and
• the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

The United States has spent over $4 trillion in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, much of which was spent without proper oversight, Tenney said. In fact, the New York State Comptroller reported that over $11 billion in fraudulent unemployment insurance payments were made during the first year of the pandemic alone.

Following the release of H.R. 348, Tenney released the following statement:

“Taxpayers deserve to know where their money went and how it was spent,” she said. “Now that we are in the Majority, House Republicans are leading to charge to make the government more accountable and transparent, and that starts with how American’s tax dollars were spent. The financial fraud following the Covid-19 pandemic was unprecedented and we must ensure we never give out a blank check and make these same mistakes again. I’m honored to lead this charge to create a more transparent government.”