By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 28 December 2022 at 12:53 pm
Photos courtesy of Gayle Smith
ALBION – Gayle Smith was outside her home on Wood Road in Albion this morning when she saw something she had never seen before.
Snow rollers that looked like bales of snow had formed. They are about 6 to 8 inches in diameter.
“We saw them this morning when we took the dog out for a walk,” Smith said in an email. “At first I thought there were from a snowmobile kicking up snow, but you can see the rolls start out of nowhere.”
A snow roller is considered a rare cold weather meteorological phenomenon when snow balls itself into donut-shaped spirals. National Geographic said snow rollers also are called “snow bales,” “wind snowballs,” or “snow donuts.”
The magazine said they are the cold weather equivalent of tumbleweeds, forming when wind pushes snow across the ground, gathering it into a hollow cylinder.
Smith, the Wood Road resident, said there are many of them in a field near the fairgrounds.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 28 December 2022 at 11:31 am
AAA is reporting that the average price for regular unleaded dropped 8 cents last week. The price today at $3.411 is less than the average price of $3.498 a year ago in New York State.
Nationally the average price is at $3.04 a gallon, compared to $3.29 a year ago.
The average price for diesel, however, is much higher than a year ago. The average price is at $5.361 today compared to $5.428 a week ago, $5.864 a month ago and $3.727 a year ago, according to AAA.
Orleans County currently has the highest average price for regular unleaded among the Western New York counties.
Orleans, $3.595
Genesee, $3.311
Niagara, $3.379
Monroe, $3.473
Erie, $3.493
Wyoming, $3.510
Livingston, $3.518
Chautauqua, $3.568
Cattaraugus, $3.563
Allegany, $3.570
AAA issued the following statement about gas prices:
“New York’s average for a gallon of regular is now lower than it was a year ago. According to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand remains low while stocks continue to rise.
“Increasing supply and low gasoline demand are pushing pump prices lower, a trend that will likely cause pump prices to continue to decrease through next year.
“Oil demand may continue to rise despite ongoing market concerns that a recession or slowdown could occur next year. If economic growth falters, crude demand will likely drop alongside prices.”
Press Release, Albion First Baptist Church & Society
Photo by Tom Rivers: The Rev. Marsha Rivers starts on Jan. 1 as the new pastor at the First Baptist Church in Albion. The church is part of Albion’s historic Courthouse Square.
ALBION – The Albion First Baptist Church is pleased to introduce their new pastor: Rev. Marsha Bolton Rivers.
Pastor Marsha will begin ministry in the First Baptist Church and the Albion community effective Jan. 1.
Pastor Marsha, an Albion native and graduate of Albion High School, has previously provided pulpit supply at Albion First Baptist at various times over the years. She was ordained in May 2017 and most recently served as Pastor of Congregational Care & Discipleship at Northgate Free Methodist Church in Batavia.
She holds a Master of Arts in Theological Studies with a concentration in Nonprofit Leadership & Management from Northeastern Seminary at Roberts Wesleyan College and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a concentration in Social Sciences from Roberts Wesleyan College.
The church invites the community to join them in welcoming Pastor Marsha to their church family. There will be an installation service at the church on Sunday, Jan. 29, at 9:30 a.m. All are welcome to attend and celebrate Pastor Marsha in her new role at Albion First Baptist.
“I am delighted to be able to live, work, and worship in Albion. It is truly a dream come true,” Rivers said. “I thank God for this opportunity to lead a congregation; to listen, learn, and explore new ideas and possibilities alongside all of you, as well as those who will join us on the journey in the coming months and years.”
Regular worship services are held every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. The church is located at 30 West Park St. with the winter entrances through the Liberty Street side door and the handicap accessible entrance off the parking lot on the corner of Beaver and Liberty Streets.
Marsha and her husband Tom have four children and live in the Village of Albion. He works as the editor of the Orleans Hub.
Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) is thanking emergency responders for their actions after Western New York’s brutal holiday snow storm.
Emergency employees are continuing to assist citizens who have been snowed into their homes and vehicles during this historic blizzard. The duties of our first responders are extremely important this time of year, especially the work of our highway crews, snow removal personnel and state and municipal snow plow operators.
“I would like to thank all of our incredible emergency employees and utility workers for their efforts to protect those in our area,” Hawley said. “I hope all of those in my district were safe at home during the holiday weekend blizzards.
“We know how difficult this weather can be in our area, but this is an important reminder that we have individuals who will be outside in these conditions ready to assist us. Thank you to our first responders for delivering blankets, pillows, water and other necessities to those in need. They are true heroes to our region, especially during Western New York’s brutal winter months.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 28 December 2022 at 9:20 am
Photo courtesy of Orleans County Sheriff’s Office
ALBION – Before the Christmas holiday corrections officers at the Orleans County Jail delivered presents from the jail staff to students at Albion Central School.
The photo shows from left: corrections officer Nick Issac, Middle School Principal Brad Pritchard and corrections officer Doug Ashbery.
Stephanie Volpe, a nurse at the school, teamed with counselors and social workers at the school to direct the presents to several local families.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 December 2022 at 9:00 pm
ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature opened up the county wallet last week and approved some funding for the Cobblestone Museum and the Oak Orchard Lighthouse Museum.
The Cobblestone Museum will receive $3,000 and the Lighthouse $1,500 with the funds coming from the county’s bed tax, the 4 percent tax on lodging.
The county has used the bed tax to fund tourism efforts, with the thinking that would bring more visitors to the county who would spend more at local businesses.
County Legislator Bill Eick of Shelby, who moved the resolution for money for the two organizations, said they both welcome visitors to the county and are key assets to the community.
The Cobblestone Museum has received $3,000 before in contingency funds from the county during a year-end meeting. This is the first time the Oak Orchard Ligththouse is getting money directly from the county since soon after the 35-foot-high structure was built in 2010.
Editor’s Note: Peg Wiley, one of the leaders of the effort to build the lighthouse, said the county provided $5,000 soon after it was built to help cover some of the contingencies related to the project.
The Cobblestone Museum has asked to be a line item in the county budget with an annual commitment from the county but that hasn’t happened.
The museum is working on developing a new visitors’ center at the corner of routes 98 and 104 that will be used to promote sites throughout the county.
The museum has raised $800,000 towards the project. Legislator Don Allport of Gaines cast the lone vote against county funding for the two organizations. He said he sees the Cobblestone Museum’s fundraising success as a sign it doesn’t need any help from the county.
He also said the county helped with the lighthouse at Point Breeze when it constructed in 2010.
“They’ve raised close to a million dollars,” he said about the Cobblestone Museum. “The $3,000 was supposed to be one time and it’s become a permanent part of the county budget.”
Eick said the Cobblestone Museum and Lighthouse are both iconic sites in the county, and are attractions.
“This is just to help them out,” Eick said.
The Cobblestone Museum, a National Historic Landmark, is working to development a visitors’ center at the corner of routes 104 and 98 in Gaines. The project would include a new addition to the historic brick house, and will give year-round access to the museum.
The Lighthouse hasn’t been able to raise its usual funding to help with the costs of operating the site.
“They have bills that have to be taken care of,” Eick said.
Chris Manaseri, vice president of the Lighthouse Museum’s board of directors, said the organization also is receiving $1,500 from the Town of Carlton and $600 from the Oak Orchard Neighborhood Association. This is the first time the Lighthouse organization has asked for financial assistance from the town and county since soon after the site was constructed.
“Our organization has operated for a dozen years entirely on donations and grants,” he said.
The organization has about $5,500 in annual expenses with insurance, accounting, reporting and WiFi access.
“We’re very thankful to the town, the county and the Oak Orchard Neighborhood Association for supporting this icon in the community,” Manaseri said. “This will help us to use this year to adjust some things.”
For many years Dick Anderson spearheaded successful fundraisers.
“He was the face of the lighthouse for many years,” Manaseri said.
Anderson passed away on Oct. 3 at age 84. Many of the fundraisers since 2020 were cancelled because of the Covid pandemic.
Manaseri said the Lighthouse Museum doesn’t want to seek annual funding from the town and county, but finds itself in need of some assistance right now.
The group has a dedicated core of volunteers who keep the site open on the weekends during warm-weather months.
“We draw a lot of attention on weekends,” he said. “Often we have 50 people on the weekends who climb the ladder inside the lighthouse and ring the bell.”
The Oak Orchard Lighthouse is a landmark at Point Breeze.
The Cobblestone Museum welcomes the $3,000 from the county, said Doug Farley, the museum’s director.
“I am very pleased that Orleans County is providing a $3,000 tourism appropriation for the Cobblestone Museum,” Farley said. “For our part, we are very committed to increasing tourism in the county as demonstrated by our recent purchase of our Visitors Center which will provide year-round tourism promotion and provide important tourism services to the traveling public.”
The Cobblestone Museum is a caretaker of artifacts from throughout the county. The site is the only National Historic Landmark in Orleans County.
The Holland Land Office Museum, a National Historic Landmark in Batavia, receives $38,554 in direct support from Genesee County.
The Orleans County Legislature on Nov. 30 passed a $93.7 million county budget for 2023. That budget provides funding for the following agencies or organizations in the county: $240,000 for the Cornell Cooperative Extension; $200,000 for the Orleans Economic Development; $95,000 for Soil & Water Conservation District; $10,000 to be shared among four public libraries; $5,000 for Mercy Flight; $4,000 for the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council; and $1,000 for the Sportsman’s Federation.
By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 27 December 2022 at 4:18 pm
MEDINA – Medina’s Comfort Inn and Suites proved to be a refuge for nearly 100 people during the Christmas blizzard.
Employees who reported for work on Christmas Day are still there, working 12-hour shifts. Two front desk employees, two housekeepers and hotel manager Steve Nichols have been running the hotel. Other employees could not make it into work because of the rough road conditions in the blizzard.
The hotel’s 56 hotel rooms were full during the blizzard, with eight other people staying on cots in in the conference room. About 80 others stayed inside at times to get warm until they could be moved to the shelter at the Oak Orchard Primary School.
“After learning how many hotels were closed in the area, including in Pembroke, I’m just glad we were able to help as many people as we could,” Nichols said.
About 15 people from the Iroquois Job Corps were dropped off at the hotel, after the Job Corps’ pipes froze and broke, and the facility was evacuated Saturday with no heat. The Job Corps students and staff have been helping wherever they could, said a hotel employee.
On Saturday morning, the Salvation Army brought an emergency supply of food and Medina Central School gave food from their kitchens to feed those stranded at the hotel.
The hotel usually provides breakfast for its guests, and upped that to three meals a day during the blizzard with the extra food brought from the school.
Nichols said Mayor Mike Sidari and his family lost power at their home and stayed at the hotel. Sidari was instrumental in getting cots and extra food at the hotel, as well as asking the fire department to help transport some of the people to the school, Nichols said.
“The mayor is now an honorary team member,” Nichols said. “He acted as an ambassador for Medina and the hotel. He was awesome.”
By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 27 December 2022 at 4:09 pm
MEDINA – Western New York’s Christmas blizzard is one that won’t be forgotten by many people, especially Medina Fire Department personnel, staff at Medina Memorial Hospital and one Medina family.
Medina Fire Chief Matt Jackson shared one of his department’s most heroic rescues on the department’s Facebook page.
He describes how the storm started on Dec. 23 and increased in vengeance overnight. The crew kept the department clear of snow, and continued to respond to emergencies. In his words, here is what transpired in the early morning hours of Christmas Eve:
“One of these emergencies was for a woman in labor, with contractions only minutes apart. With zero visibility and up to seven-foot snowdrifts in the middle of the roads, this crew determined it was unsafe and next to impossible to transport to a hospital with an OB unit,” Jackson wrote. “After consulting with the professionals at Medina Memorial Hospital, it was determined the best thing was to transport the woman there, where the knowledge and experience of their staff would take over. A short time later, a baby was born and both baby and mama were happy and healthy.”
This is the first baby born at Medina Memorial Hospital in more than 10 years.
In a phone call to the fire hall today, Captain Jonathan Higgins explained the father, with their three children in the back seat, was taking his wife to United Memorial Hospital, when they got stuck in a snow bank on Route 63 in Shelby. After getting the mother to Medina hospital, Higgins and a crew returned to the van and rescued the rest of the family, taking them all to the hospital.
Shortly after that, before dawn, another crew responded to a call and needed a plow to escort them to the scene. There was no way the ambulance would have made it without that plow escort, due to the size of the drifts building up in the streets and roads.
“After conferring with the director of Emergency Management before sunrise, we knew that a storm of this magnitude had the potential for serious and even deadly consequences,” Jackson said about Justin Niederhofer, EMO director. “His coordination and communication with all county entities played an important role in getting out of this thing unscathed. After navigating the streets in the village, I began to wonder if we would even be able to respond anymore without getting stuck and needing to abandon our vehicles. Fortunately, due to the dedication of the members of our team, we were able to continue responding throughout the day as needed.”
Around noon on Dec. 24, a county-wide driving ban was put into place. The only people who should have been on the roads were essential workers, Jackson said. Even in this case, he said many public safety and nursing staff were unable to get to and from work because travel was unsafe. Many people were stranded in the village and some at the Comfort Inn in Medina.
The fire department transported some of the workers to the hospital and nursing homes to ensure they had adequate staffing, Jackson said.
He commended a local woman and her daughter who offered to stay in a warming center at Oak Orchard Elementary School and was there for hours. Another village resident volunteered for multiple hours to oversee the warming center, so the mother and daughter could go home to check things there.
Jackson praised the concern of the mayor, Mike Sidari, and the firefighters and police officers who slept overnight at the firehouse to make sure the next shifts were covered.
“I am grateful and proud of our fire department and I am thankful for every agency and every person who stepped up during these 48 hours that we will all remember,” Jackson said.
During that 48-hour period, during which Medina recorded 15.4 inches of snow, 54-mile per hour winds, zero visibility and sub-zero wind chills, the Medina Fire Department crews handled 58 recorded calls for service, which does not include well over 200 check welfare and civilian assist calls.
Captain Higgins added his gratitude to fellow first responders and hospital staff, who worked throughout the whole storm.
“This was some of the worse weather I’ve ever seen,” Higgins said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 December 2022 at 2:53 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Caleb Beltran, 7, of Albion walks up the sledding hill at Bullard park today. He was there with his father Eladio and three sisters.
They were among about 30 people from Harvest Christian Fellowship who went sledding at Bullard, and then had hot cocoa and snacks at the church across from the park on Route 31.
Hady Belton, 16, of Albion (left) leads a group headed down the sledding hill. Next to her is Christine Tapp, 46, of Albion who said today was her first time sledding in about 20 years.
“It’s awesome,” Tapp said.
The snow won’t last too long because the temperatures will be well above freezing in the coming days with a high of 39 on Wednesday, 45 on Thursday and 53 on Friday.
Jayem Beltran, 7, of Albion made it to the deeper snow on some of her sledding treks.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 December 2022 at 1:37 pm
LOCKPORT – Niagara County Sheriff Michael J. Filicetti has released the name of the man from Lockport who died from carbon monoxide poisoning on Christmas.
Timothy M. Murphy of the Town of Lockport succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning. Kathy D. Murphy of the Town of Lockport remains hospitalized in the ICU at St. Mary’s hospital, Filicetti said in a news release.
The Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to Dogwood Drive at 9:13 a.m. on Sunday after a report that two people were unconscious at the residence.
Responding units found the residence overcome with carbon monoxide. Mr. Murphy was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The sheriff said that heavy snow covered the external furnace causing carbon monoxide to enter the residence.
Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the full reopening of the New York State Thruway (I-90), I-290, I-190 (Niagara County section and Erie County section north of I-290), I-990, State Routes 400 and 219 this morning in the wake of one of the most consequential snowstorms in New York State history.
Department of Transportation and Thruway maintenance forces, in coordination with first responders and local governments, have worked feverishly over the last few days to clear the roads of snow and abandoned vehicles to ensure that these highways could reopen as quickly as possible. Work remains to be done on the remaining Erie County sections of I-190 and State Routes 5, 33, and 198, with expectations of reopening by tomorrow if not sooner.
All border crossings including the Peace Bridge, Rainbow Bridge and the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge have been reopened. Inbound traffic on the Peace Bridge will be directed to I-190 northbound and I-290 eastbound to access the New York State Thruway.
Inbound traffic from the Rainbow Bridge and Lewiston-Queenston Bridge can take I-190 southbound and I-290 eastbound to access the Thruway.
“With today’s reopening of major highways across Western New York, we are finally turning the corner on this once-in-a-generation storm,” Governor Hochul said. “That doesn’t mean we can let our guards down as it will take many more days for the region to dig out. But this is still good news and I urge motorists to drive carefully and cautiously, follow the rules of the road and be safe behind the wheel.”
Even though the weather has improved in Orleans County, the workers for Modern Disposal Services who live in Erie and Niagara counties are unable to get to work as they are still digging out from the weekend storm.
Therefore, Modern Disposal has suspended solid waste collection for Monday and Tuesday.
Modern Disposal will perform double collection beginning this Friday, and then next Monday and Tuesday for those scheduled routes.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this creates for our residents along the affected routes,” said Jack Welch, the Orleans County chief administrative officer. “We are very fortunate that Orleans County has been able to recover quicker than our neighboring counties where Modern Disposal employees live.”
Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) announced that his office will be distributing free fuel weatherization kits courtesy of National Fuel Gas at select libraries in Orleans, Genesee, Monroe and Erie counties.
These kits will help New Yorkers to better afford the costs of heating their homes this winter.
“I am pleased to assist the constituents of my district to be better prepared for the winter this season,” said Hawley. “Living in this region for many years, I understand how difficult it can be to escape the temperatures of Western New York. I hope that these kits will help to protect families from the long winter to come.”
The kits are available at the following libraries:
Community Free Library, 86 Public Square, Holley
Lee-Whedon Memorial Library, 620 West Ave., Medina
Hoag Library, 134 South Main St., Albion
Yates Community Library, 15 North Main St., Lyndonville
Byron Bergen Public Library, 13 South Lake Ave., Bergen
Corfu Free Library, 7 Maple Ave., Corfu
Haxton Memorial Library, 3 North Pearl St., Oakfield
Richmond Memorial Library, 19 Ross St., Batavia
Woodward Memorial Library, 7 Wolcott St., Le Roy
Hollwedel Memorial Library, 5 Woodrow Dr., Pavilion
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 27 December 2022 at 8:27 am
National Grid has restored electricity to all of its customers in Orleans County who lost power during the blizzard.
The county had more than 5,000 customers without electricity during the storm. The last customer without power in Orleans was in Murray on Lake Road. National Grid has 19,624 customers in Orleans.
National Grid is reporting this morning that all of its Genesee County customers also have their power back, while 5,179 in Erie County and 86 in Niagara County are still to be restored.
