MEDINA — Firefighters were dispatched to a house fire on Friday night at Orient Street. All the residents in both apartments were able to safely get out of the house, said Steve Cooley, lieutenant at the Medina Fire Department.

The fire was limited to a second-floor bedroom, but both apartments suffered smoke and water damage, Cooley said in a news release. The Red Cross is assisting with temporary housing for residents of both apartments.

Medina firefighters were on scene two minutes after being dispatched at 10:33 p.m. and reported smoking coming from the eaves and a second-floor window. All occupants of both apartments in the house were outside of the building when firefighters arrived. Lyndonville and Shelby firefighters also responded.

Medina fire investigators have ruled the fire accidental in nature. No firefighters were injured in the response.

Also assisting at the scene were the Medina Police Department, COVA EMS, the East Shelby Fire Department and Orleans County Emergency Management.

Press Release, Orleans County Chief Administrative Officer Jack Welch

CARLTON/YATES – Orleans County works closely with Modern Disposal Services to provide out a countywide solid waste program for all of our residents who participate in our program. From time to time, we unfortunately experience some delays in providing this service as scheduled.

There will be some delays in service on the fire lanes in Carlton and Yates today.

“We apologize for any inconvenience this creates for our residents along the affected routes,” said Jack Welch, Orleans County chief administrative officer. “If these residents leave out their solid waste, Modern Disposal will have your items collected as soon as Modern is able.”

Nolberto Martinez Maya, son of farmworkers, wants to serve others as a physician

Provided photo: Nolberto Martinez Maya graduated from Albion in June and now is at Harvard University, where he is majoring in molecular genetics and sociology as part of a pre-med track.

ALBION – A 2021 Albion graduate is on campus at Harvard University, pursuing his goal of a career in medicine.

Nolberto Martinez Maya graduated from Albion on June 25. He was the class vice president. He also earned his associate’s degree from Genesee Community College in May, juggling an extra full load of courses the past year in high school and at GCC, taking all of them online during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He took the GCC classes and earned a 4.0 GPA. At Albion, he didn’t want to coast through to the finish, even when many students backed off with their academics during the pandemic. He wanted tough classes, and completed AP (Advanced Placement) in biology, calculus and statistics, as well as the others at GCC.

“It was pretty challenging,” he said. “I’m not going to lie.”

Nolberto, 18, will be double majoring in molecular genetics and sociology at Harvard, and minoring in Spanish. He is on a pre-med path. He wants to be a surgeon or work as a physician.

He is the first Albion graduate to go directly to Harvard since Michael Patterson in 2013.

“I know it is uncommon for someone from Orleans County to go to Harvard,” Nolberto said. “I wanted to go medical and shoot for the best medical colleges.”

On April 6 it was “Ivy Day” when the elite colleges and universities notify applicants if they have been accepted. The schools send out the acceptance – or rejection – notifications at 7 p.m. that day. Sometimes the applicants are waitlisted, and still have a chance of being accepted.

Nolberto applied at eight colleges and universities. He already knew he had been accepted by the University of Rochester. But he also tried for several others.

He opened up the messages from Yale, Cornell and Columbia – they all were rejections. Johns Hopkins had him waitlisted.

Nolberto checked the application portal from Harvard, the private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Mass.

Nolberto took a deep breath and opened the applicant portal. He was greeted with computer-generated confetti on his screen and a message, “You have been accepted into the Class of 2025.”

He felt immediate elation.

“I screamed,” he said. “I was so happy.”

Nolberto will be part of an exclusive Class of 2025. Harvard had its lowest admissions rate ever – accepting only 3.43 percent or 1,968 students out of the 57,435 who applied.

He contacted his close friends in a group call and they joined in the celebration. He will be attending on a full ride scholarship.

Photo by Tom Rivers: Nolberto Martinez Maya accepts his diploma from Albion Central School during commencement on June 25.

Nolberto is the son of his father Honorato and mother Inocencia. They work trimming fruit trees and grafting them. Nolberto is the youngest of his siblings, who include Everardo, Lorena and Honorato.

Nolberto was born at the former Lakeside Memorial Hospital in Brockport. He attended Pre-K at the ABCD Agri-Business Child Development center in Holley. He then went to Albion from kindergarten through grade 12.

He helped his parents often at fruit farms, especially with grafting trees, where branches from two types of apple trees are cut and tied together to produce a different variety. He helped plant many of the trees and said he feels pride when he goes by them a few years later and sees fruit on the trees.

There is lots of biology involved in grafting trees and working on farms. Biology is a passion for Nolberto. In 8^th grade, he realized math and science were his strongest subjects. Near the end of that school year, he also was notified he was excelling academically. That’s when he found out he was ranked among the top 10 of his classmates.

When he was in eighth grade, a teacher had him and his classmates write a letter to their future selves. Nolberto, in his letter, urged his future self to “get the best grades possible and the be the best person possible.”

He made a list of elite universities and put Harvard on the list for his future education. He hadn’t thought of that letter until it was given back to the students near the end of their senior year.

Nolberto said some of his close friends pushed each other to apply to superior schools. That trio of friends encouraged him to aim very high. Nolberto said he is proud of his friends for also getting into top-ranked colleges. That includes Aisha Drisdom, the class salutatorian who is at Carnegie Mellon University; Ashley Ames, the class valedictorian who is at Geneseo State College; and Claire Squicciarini, who is at Alfred University.

Nolberto knows he has his work cut out for him at Harvard. It will be a steady journey, with years of effort to reach his goal. That is fine with him, a diploma that won’t come easy.

He credited his Albion biology teacher Sandy Climenhaga for instilling a love of the sciences, and for emphasizing students should try “hard things” even if it might knock down their GPA.

Climenhaga is encouraging, but also offers feedback on where students missed the mark, and what they need to do to improve.

Not all students want to hear that, or to see the teacher’s red ink on their papers. Nolberto welcomed the input from Climenhaga.

When he was accepted from Harvard, she was the first teacher he contacted with the news.

“In order to achieve at this type of level, it has to be innate,” Climenhaga said in an interview. “There has to be internally a drive to learn and I have seen that in Nolberto.”

Nolberto Martinez Maya (left), vice president of the Class of 2021, is near the front of the processional from the high school to the football stadium during commencement on June 25. He is followed by Olivia Morrison, class secretary; and Annalise Steier, class treasurer.

Climenhaga has her students in AP biology read two books, and Nolberto said both were influential in him wanting to pursue science. Despite a very busy courseload, Climenhaga had her students read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a book about a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells were taken without her knowledge in 1951 and were used to develop the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization. The book highlights bioethics, race and medicine. Nolberto wrote about this book in his essay to Harvard.

He and his classmates also read The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story, a nonfiction book in 1994 about Ebola and other viruses.

Climenhaga said the two books are “real stories about real people.”

She praised Nolberto for an appetite for learning, and for wanting to educate himself and be of service to others.

“He is such a sweet, mild mannered kid,” Climenhaga said. “He is very selfless and always has been. He really wants to do good. He is a student who makes his community better and wants to pursue a career to make his community better.”

She would like to see more students take the more challenging AP classes at Albion and GCC courses while in high school.

“Hopefully it will encourage kids to get out of their comfort zone and try something hard,” she said about Nolberto’s enrollment at Harvard. “He had a goal and he put everything into it. You have to give him high marks for that. It wasn’t easy.”

Provided photos

MURRAY – Friends of Tom Drennan rallied for Drennan and his family on Saturday during a “Tee Off for Tom Drennan” golf tournament, which raised $25,000 for the Drennan family.

Drennan, a retired chief deputy and investigator with the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office and a longtime Kendall firefighter, is shown with his wife Terri and also getting a hug from Tim Juhrs, one of the organizers of the event.

Drennan was diagnosed with a blood cancer called multiple myeloma in March and received a stem cell transplant in July.

The golf tournament at Hickory Ridge included 144 golfers and 235 dinners sold. There was a basket auction, silent auction and a 50/50 raffle.

Photos by Ginny Kropf: Medina Lions who helped moved props for their annual Scarecrow Fest from Forrestel Farm to the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds on Saturday are, from left, Dean Bellack, Sherry Wheatley, Tom Beach, Jim Punch and Howie Gardner.

KNOWLESVILLE – The Medina Lions Club’s annual Scarecrow Fest will celebrate its 10th year with a new location and a lot of new features.

Scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 9, the Scarecrow Fest will be moved to the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds this year, which gives the Lions a lot more opportunity for new features and events, said Sherry Wheatley.

During its nine-year history, the Scarecrow Fest has taken place in Medina’s canal basin, Robert’s Farm Market, the YMCA and lastly, at Forrestel Farm.

After learning that Forrestel Farm was sold and the riding camp closed, the Lions had to find a new location.

Sherry Wheatley and Tom Beach, members of Medina Lions Club, carry out T stakes from Forrestel Farm’s barn, where they have been stored since last year’s Scarecrow Fest. The Scarecrow Fest on Oct. 9 will be moved to the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds this year.

The fairgrounds was a perfect solution, Wheatley said.

“This opens up new doors for us,” she said, dragging a giant stuffed scarecrow out of her truck on Saturday.

Wheatley and Lions Dean Bellack, Tom Beach, Jim Punch and Howie Gardner met at Forrestel on Saturday morning to move their props out of the barn where they had been stored since last year. This included 300 T-stakes which are used for bodies of the scarecrows.

The Scarecrow Fest was an idea pitched to Medina Lions nine years ago by Wheatley, who has headed the event ever since. This includes annually scouring local thrift shops, especially the MAAC Thift Shop, for donations of clothes, ties, belts, scarves, hats and purses, as well as sheets.

The Scarecrow Fest has become a community event, Wheatley said.

First, Wheatley’s mother Pauline Lanning cuts 300 heads for scarecrows out of sheets and sews them up. Then they were transported to Medina High School, where the Art Department paints faces on the heads.

Iroquois Job Corps has stepped up to have their Carpentry Class cut T-posts out of donated plywood for the standing or sitting scarecrow bodies, and Albion dairy farmer Ed Neal donates bales of straw to stuff the scarecrows.

“Without the help of everybody, there is no way we could have done this,” Wheatley said.

She also said Craig Lacy did them a big favor by allowing them to store bags of clothing in the basement of his former NAPA store on North Main Street in Medina.

“Now that we’ve moved our event to the fairgrounds, we have a lot more space for events,” Wheatley said. “My goal is to have at least 300 scarecrows, maybe 350.”

For the first time, the Scarecrow Fest will feature an indoor flea market and craft show, all under cover in the barns.

“If it rains, we will be inside,” Wheatley said.

The Boy Scouts will be selling homemade corn chowder, chili, smores, hot dogs, hamburgers and pop. Chiavetta’s will have a drive-thru chicken barbecue. The Boy Scouts will also be doing camping demonstrations and the Conservation Club will have the Log Cabin open.

Jim Punch ties down a load of T stakes which he helped Medina Lions move from Forrestel Farm to the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds on Saturday. The stakes are used for bodies of scarecrows at the Scarecrow Fest, which will take place Oct. 9 at the fairgrounds.

4-H Clubs will have a big role in having demonstrations, Wheatley said. She is talking with the horse clubs to have them give rides to children during the event.

Another new event prompted by the location on the fairgrounds is a kids’ pedal tractor ride through a straw maze.

Wheatley said she has access to four barns to use for the event, and encourages everyone to consider renting a space for the flea market.

“It’s the end of summer and everybody wants to get rid of unwanted items,” she said.

A 25’ x 25’ space costs only $25 and vendors can have their vehicle parked next to their booth. A space can be rented by calling Wheatley at (585) 735-5135.

There will be plenty of parking available.

“This is a win-win situation,” Wheatley said.

She stressed all money earned by the Lions goes back into the community.

The Scarecrow Fest is a lot of fun for a $10 donation, Wheatley said. There is no age limit to come and build a scarecrow. Participants pay their fee, then walk down rows to pick out their clothing and accessories.

They next go to the straw pile and stuff their scarecrow. Lastly, they take them to the “operating table,” where “surgeons,” otherwise known as Lions Club members, will tie off the ends of the legs with baler twine and make suspenders to hold the scarecrows together.

No two scarecrows look alike, Wheatley said.

Chicken barbecue tickets can be ordered on the Medina Lions Facebook page, from any Lions member or at Filomena’s on South Gravel Road, the Bank of Castile on South Main Street or Revival Beauty Parlor on Main Street.

Photo by Tom Rivers: Students in Medina High School art classes painted the faces on the scarecrow heads in this photo from Oct. 13, 2019. Iroquois Job Corps students made the stakes for the bodies. The scarecrow fest will be moving to the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds on Oct. 9.

 Joyful Little Flappers

With the highest wing beats recorded at 88 beats/second, it explains why the hummingbird is lucky to boast the highest metabolism of any animal. Good thing since they sure do like to eat a lot of nectar and sugar!

If I could flap my 53-year-old wings that fast I sure could eat all the ice cream I desired. Drawn to color for the nectar they need, they tend to produce bright-colored blossoms with their pollination.

In NY, I never see any hummingbirds at my feeder. I read they like to visit feeders where flowers are not abundant. If it is true, that would explain it. My NY feeder is in the middle of my flower bed, dang. I currently have no flower beds in TN and my feeder has a great deal of hummingbird action. Those little winged stinkers gave me a run for my money trying to capture some photos, but with patience, my camera and I finally outsmarted them. Visit my site Wednesday. I will share some fun footage in my Mid-Week Photo Perk.

Hummingbirds are thought to be native to the Americas. However in 2004, a 30-million-year-old fossil was fond in Germany. This has raised some questions about the true origins of this tiny-winged bird which has 360 species and is able to oxidize sugar so it can hover. They have an average life span of 4 years and most species in the North migrate South for winter. They dissipate heat through unfeathered areas such as their feet. In the cold, they tuck their little toes into their feathers to keep them warm. It’s like having socks as part of your anatomy!

Aztec War Gods believed that fallen soldiers came back as hummingbirds and butterflies. As power and spirit animals, the hummingbird represents and promote many positive attributes. They may be tiny, but they harbor a great deal of energy. If you see one, pay attention to what your striving for and continue your exploration.

This little flapper is also known for flirtation. They don’t mate for life, which does not mean we should be unfaithful, but rather keep things light hearted. Don’t be so serious and never stop widening your circle of support and love. Keep your heart pumping strong like a hummingbird and don’t succumb to the mundane or routine of life.

Never stop evolving and explore that which interest you, because you can’t continue growth if you don’t continue to pollinate and drink the nectar of lots of “colorful flowers.” Their presence reminds us our spirit guides are with us and want us to use all our positive energy to seize the day, keep agile and adapt as your goals require.

They also represent strength, vitality and healing. Always be conscious of how your body is being nourished. Put high energy foods in your beaks to keep your mind and body in a joyful energetic state of being. The hummingbird motto “la dolce vita” which means the sweet life and being in a joyful state will help luck find you. 

How do you relate to hummingbirds? Visit My Blog live online (click here) and catch up on Weekly Photo Perks and past Sunday Posts. Like and share your comments.

Truly,
Debbie London

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The “Rock the Park” festival returned in a scaled-down format today at Bullard Park. The event, renamed “Albion Summer Festival 6.5,” featured two bands today and they performed at the new amphitheater at Bullard Park.

The top photo shows the band, Vette, performing “Nothin’ But A Good Time” by Poison. Vette includes, front, from left: Travis Mackie, Kole Moore and Alex Fitzak. Shelby Starr is the drummer.

There were 18 different food and craft vendors, including Pamela Jenks of Pretty Sweet Bakery in far back. The spot in foreground is Red Check Rustic.

The festival was cancelled last year due to Covid-19 restrictions, but returned today when Albion and Medina played youth football games.

Kyle Webb, right, and Matt Hollenbeck cook hamburgers at the Masonic Lodge’s food stand. The Masons will be at all of the Albion home football games this year at Bullard Park.

The splash park at Bullard was a busy place on a hot summer day today.

Albion beat out Gaines for County Seat in 19^th century controversy

Mansion House, circa 1840, Delineation by H. C. Ruggles

By Doug Farley, Director – Vol. 2 No. 34

GAINES – Orleans County is fortunate indeed to have a beautiful courthouse as a focal point to an impressive, historic, Courthouse Square. However, the location of the current courthouse didn’t get selected without considerable 19th century controversy. In fact, at one point in early history, Gaines was the primary contender for the County Seat.

The sketch at the top shows the first County Court, which was held in the home of Selah Brown, alternatively known as the Mansion House. The stately historic stagecoach stop was a building that former Historian, Cary Lattin, once described as “one of the most imposing buildings on the Ridge Road in the 19th century.”

The Mansion House was described as a large, three-story wooden structure with high Grecian columns as seen in the above sketch. From the record books we know that the first Court of Common Pleas in the county was held in the Mansion House on June 22, 1825.

Built in 1816 by William Perry, the Mansion House was located on the northwest corner of what we know today as Ridge Road and Route 279 in Gaines, shown above. Also called the Gaines Tavern, the Mansion House can be placed in your minds-eye in the vacant lot just south of the still extant former cobblestone schoolhouse on that corner, now occupied by a motorcycle club.

(Left) Portrait of Gen. Winfield Scott painted by Robert Walter Weir in 1855. (Right) Portrait of Senator Henry Clay painted by Henry Darby, 1858.

The history of the Mansion House was unfortunately short lived. It was completely destroyed by fire in 1844. During its short tenure, however, it laid claim to such distinguished guests as General Winfield Scott (above left) and Henry Clay (above right), who entertained local gentry during stops along the Ridge.

The only known memento of the tavern that still exists is a clock that stood on the bar in 1836 before the fire. Former Historian Cary Lattin purchased the clock at Knickerbocker’s Auction in the 1920s. It was said the clock was rescued from the fire at the Mansion House. It had a wooden clock works which Lattin later replaced with an electric works in the 1950s. The clock’s manufacturer was Marshall & Adams of Seneca Falls. A handwritten note insides the clock dates it to c.1833.

History records that at least one momentous decision was made at the court session that took place at the Mansion House that still affects life today. The decision was made at the Mansion House to locate the Orleans County Seat in Albion, thus ending the building’s short reign as the County Courthouse.

The political maneuverings that went into the decision in question is also an interesting story. In 1826, Commissioners were appointed to determine whether Gaines, the more thriving community, or Albion, the approximate geographical center of Orleans County, should be chosen as the County Seat.  The machinations of the local citizenry involved in the decision was described in detail in “Pioneer History of Orleans County,” 1871, as follows:

When the Commissioners appointed to select the site for the Court House came on to fix the spot, their choice lay between Gaines and Albion. Gaines had the advantage of being the largest village, being on Ridge Road, and being well supplied with mechanics and merchants, and of having many of the institutions of old and well organized communities established there. Albion was nearest the geographical center of the county, and was intersected by the Erie Canal and Oak Orchard Road. The west branch of Sandy Creek runs through the east part of the village. Rising in some swamps in the southern part of the town, it afforded sufficient water after the melting of the snow in spring, and after rains to turn machinery a part of the year, but in summer was nearly dry. On this stream two saw mills had been built, one in the village, the other south of it.

The Commissioners came to consider the claims of the rival villages about the middle of the dry season. Mr. Nehemiah Ingersoll, Philetus Bumpus, Henry Henderson, and a few other Albion men, determined to use a little strategy to help Albion. Knowing when the Commissioners would be here the creek would be too low to move the sawmills, and foreseeing the advantage a good mill stream would give them, they patched the two dams and flumes and closed the gates to hold all the water some days before the Commissioners would arrive; sent some teams to haul logs and lumber about the saw mill and mill yard, in the village to mark the ground and give the appearance of business there.

When the Commissioners came to see Albion, having been generously dined and wined by its hospitable people, they were taken in a carriage to see the place, and in the course of the ride driven along the creek and by the sawmill, then in full operation, with men and teams at work among the lumber, with a good supply of water from the ponds thus made for the occasion. The commissioners were impressed with the importance of this fine waterpower and gave the county buildings to Albion before the ponds ran out.

Incredibly, all the buildings illustrated in this 1840 wood cut engraving have been demolished. From left to right we see the original County Court House built in 1827 and removed in the late 1850s. Seen next is an early County Jail erected in 1838 and torn down in 1902.  In the center is shown the first County Clerk’s Office built in 1836 and razed in 1884. The large building to the far right was Phipps Union Seminary demolished in 1882. The steps in the lower right corner were those of the original First Baptist Meeting House, 1832-c1892.  The retaining wall pictured (still extant) was located at the Roswell Burrows residence which became the Swan Library building.

William Morgan (1774-c1826), Unknown artist

The first Court House erected in Albion was built in 1827 in front of the current Courthouse, on land donated by Nehemiah Ingersoll. The initial court session was held there on March 26, 1827.  The courthouse was built with bricks and originally faced west, towards the main street.

It also housed the County Clerk’s Office on the first floor. Cells for housing county prisoners were built in the basement and were used until a new jail was built in 1838. In 1828, somewhat belatedly, the Legislature officially transferred the court from Gaines to Albion.

The first court case conducted in the court in Albion was “People of the State of New York vs. Avery Downer.” The murder case had a great public interest at the time, and still remains an enigma, today. Elihu Mather and Avery Downer were accused of conspiracy to kidnap and abduct William Morgan (shown at right) who had allegedly been spirited into Canada and killed because he was writing an expose of the secrets of Free Masonry. Downer, a schoolmaster, never did stand trial, but Mather did, and was finally acquitted after a ten-day trial. Morgan’s body was never found and to this day the mystery of his disappearance remains unsolved.

With the passing of time, the first Courthouse became too small for the needs of a growing county. Accordingly, in 1856, the Board of Supervisors of Orleans County adopted a resolution to consider the question of building a new Court House. A public hearing was held and as a result, the Board of Supervisors appropriated $20,000 for the building of a new Courthouse. The architect for the project was W. V. N. Barlow.

The new Courthouse was completed in November 1858 and was built facing north on Courthouse Square. The Board of Supervisors noted this accomplishment with these remarks in 1858:

A Court house has been built…which for beauty of design, strength of structure, and completeness of finish, is not excelled if equaled by any similar building of equal cost, in the State. We feel impelled to render this testimony to the thorough and economical manner in which said Commissioners have prosecuted their labors in the erection of said Court House.

Courthouse dome undergoing maintenance, 2019

The dome on the top of the Courthouse comprises the last 36 feet of the building’s overall height of 100 feet.  A trapdoor is found at the top of the dome leading to a platform from which one can see Lake Ontario some 12 miles away.

A quartet of musicians was known to play from this height during the Christmas season. For many years, the Courthouse bell in the tower was rung to mark the opening of court sessions. It was also rung on November 11, 1918 to mark Armistice Day for World War I, and again on January 19, 1959 to celebrate the 100th birthday of the building.

The Courthouse today stands in a beautifully kept square, together with the County Clerk’s building and County Jail. At least one church still stands on each corner as a reminder of the importance of faith to the county’s citizens. In 1959, local attorney, Curtis L. Lyman offered some appropriate words we can use today to close this historical review:

The people of Orleans County are proud of their Courthouse.  They have put it to good use and have taken good care of it. They know that as a result of their continuing care and maintenance the Courthouse will provide many years of useful service. They also know that by preserving this handsome reminder of the county’s past, they are building a strong future for themselves, based on a sense of history, of respect for established institutions, and of faith in the stabilizing influence of even-handed justice in American life.

These words were first given during a ceremony marking the Centennial celebration of the Court House in 1959 when the importance of the building and the institution were acknowledged by the NYS Bar Association.

Photos by Ginny Kropf: From left, Nancy Traxler, head of the Joint Veterans’ Council, Jackie Lonnen, office worker, and legislator Fred Miller pose with a cake honoring volunteer van drivers at Shelby Volunteer Fire Company on Friday noon. Certificates of appreciation were also presented to a dozen and a half volunteer drivers.

MEDINA – A dozen and a half volunteer drivers in the Joint Veterans’ Council’s van service were recognized at a reception Wednesday at Shelby Fire Hall.

The Joint Veterans Council director Nancy Traxler and van service coordinator Phyllis Schrader presented certificates of appreciation to the volunteer drivers.

The drivers are usually recognized annually with a picnic at the Joint Veterans’ Council office, but because 2021 marks the 25th anniversary of the program, it was decided to celebrate with a catered lunch.

The volunteer van service was started Dec. 13, 1996 by Jim Andre of Kendall, who saw a need for such a service in Orleans County, Schrader said. They started with a card table, a phone and one van.

Frank  Tower was head of the Joint Veterans’ Council when Andre went to the American Legion and VFW to help in getting his idea started.

One of the longest serving volunteer drivers is Ralph Clute, who started in 1998. He said he has been amazed at how the program has grown over the years. Clute, who served in the Navy, said all of the drivers are veterans themselves or wives of a veteran.

Clockwise from left, Phyllis Schrader, coordinator of the Joint Veterans’ Council volunteer van drivers, and volunteer drivers Judy Larkin, Irene Braley, Butch Patten, Jean Karos and Lee Plummer enjoy conversation at a reception Friday recognizing the volunteers.

After starting out with one van and two drivers (Ron Weaver and Andre), there are now five vans and 25 volunteer drivers. There is always a need for more volunteers, Schrader said.

“This new generation doesn’t volunteer any more,” she said.

Butch Patten of Albion had been a longtime volunteer until he was forced to quit when he developed diabetes. Then he volunteered to work in the office.

Lee Plummer of Lyndonville became a volunteer because Schrader, a former classmate of his, talked him into it.

Traxler stressed how important the van service is to local veterans. She cited the case just recently when a 90-year-old veteran’s caregiver contacted the Joint Veterans’ Council, saying the man had no relatives or friends who could drive. He needed to get to some medical appointments, and the volunteer van service was able to set them all up and get him there.

“The volunteer drivers provide a great service to our community,” said County Legislator Fred Miller. “Volunteering is not a very thankful job. Our veterans have done so much for us, and these volunteers have my admiration.”

‘Your tireless efforts embody public service’ – Lynne Johnson

Photos by Tom Rivers

BATAVIA – Paul Pettit, public health director in Genesee and Orleans counties, speaks during an appreciation luncheon on Wednesday at GCC in Batavia. He praised more than 400 people in the two counties who volunteered and worked at Covid-19 testing and vaccination clinics so far during the pandemic.

The volunteers and municipal workers teamed with the Genesee and Orleans County health Departments to administer about 30,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines and also do about 10,000 Covid tests during drive-through rapid test clinics.

The volunteers and workers in Orleans County administered 10,736 Covid vaccine doses with most of those at the mass vaccination clinics at the Ridgeway Fire Hall from March through May.

The 117 volunteers and workers in Orleans also administered 3,465 rapid Covid tests at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds.

“It’s been monumental and we couldn’t have done it without you,” Pettit told the group.

Lynne Johnson, Orleans County Legislature chairwoman, addresses more than 200 people at the luncheon at GCC. The photos on the screens show volunteers and staff at Covid testing and vaccination clinics.

In Genesee, there were 279 volunteers and workers who administered 18,675 vaccine doses and 6,659 rapid Covid tests. There were also 49 other volunteers and workers who assisted in both counties.

“You’re tireless efforts embody public service,” Lynne Johnson, Orleans County Legislature chairwoman, told about 200 people during a luncheon at the GCC.

Paul Pettit said the group of volunteers and workers (typically county employees in other departments, as well as some staff from towns, villages and school districts) will likely be needed again to help administer booster vaccine shots. Pettit would also like to see more already eligible residents step forward and get their initial doses of the vaccine.

He also expects the vaccine, currently only approved for those 12 and older, will soon get clearance for those under age 12 and there could be a need for more mass vaccination clinics

“This is an evolving process,” Pettit said. “We’re still in the pandemic. We’re still taking steps to make sure our community is as safe as we can be.”

Johnson said the volunteers and workers have been critical in the community’s response to Covid so far.

Shelley Stein, Genesee County Legislature chairwoman, said many community members have been selfless in serving others during the pandemic.

Shelley Stein, chairwoman of the Genesee County Legislature, also addressed the group and thanked them for their service and courage, with many stepping up over many months to help administer Covid tests and run the vaccine clinics.

“You came forward for others,” Stein said. “You gave so much more than we could have asked for. God bless you all and thank you.”

The Genesee and Orleans County health Departments put a call for volunteers in October to help run the rapid test clinics which started in November. The mass vaccination clinics started in March, although the vaccine supply was low for the counties then.

It took at least 40 people to run the testing and vaccine clinics, with 60 volunteers and staff at some of the clinics.

“So many people put in so much effort,” said Dr. David Bell, emergency preparedness coordinator for the Genesee and Orleans County Health Departments.

The Health Departments continue to run smaller vaccination clinics and offer rapid tests. He thanked GCC and the Ridgeway Volunteer Fire Company for making their facilities available for the vaccinations.

“Having the support of GCC and Ridgeway was invaluable,” Bell said.

State Sen. Ed Rath addressed the group and said he received his vaccination shots at GCC.

“I was amazed at the hard work and professionalism by each and everyone,” he said. “Covid fighters I want to say thank you.”

The volunteers and staff carried on their duties “despite tremendous unknowns,” Rath said.

Paul Pettit speaks from the podium and offer heartfelt appreciation to the staff at the Genesee and Orleans County Health Departments. In addition to assisting at the rapid test and mass vaccination clinics, the staff were essential in planning those events and with contact tracing whenever someone tested positive for Covid, which includes 3,275 cases in Orleans and 5,572 in Genesee since March 2020.

“I truly want to thank the staff in Genesee County and Orleans County,” Pettit said. “You truly are the unsung heroes in this pandemic.”

The Emergency Management Office in both counties, the county manager/administrator and each County Legislature also were very supportive in making rapid tests and vaccinations available to the public, Pettit said.

This photo from late April shows Jessica Sutch, an employee with the Job Development Agency in Orleans County, holding a sticker given to people who get vaccinated at a mass clinic at the Ridgeway fire hall. She was among the volunteers for several months at the vaccine clinics and the Covid testing sites before that run by the Health Department.

Jack Welch, Orleans County chief administrative officer, assisted at a rapid test clinic in early January at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds. He is shown in a driver’s side mirror of a car in line. The volunteers wore lots of personal protective equipment and running the rapid test clinics during the winter.

Dan Doctor, a co-principal at Wise Intermediate School in Medina and the district’s community liaison, served at the rapid test and mass vaccination clinics. He said on Wednesday he felt the testing was the most critical, helping to identify who had the virus and get them and their close contacts in quarantine.

Doctor tested positive before one of the clinics and then had to self-isolate. He was positive despite no symptoms. He said he felt sick after about 10 days but it didn’t last long.

He encourages people to get vaccinated to reduce their risk of getting seriously ill from the virus.

Connie Ferris of Barre has worked as a nurse for 58 years. She agreed to help give the vaccination doses at clinics in both counties.

She said residents, including people from outside the two counties, were very appreciative to get their vaccine doses.

“It’s been wonderful to see the enthusiasm from the people,” she said.

RIDGEWAY – A new bridge on Route 104 over the Oak Orchard Creek will open on Saturday, the state Department of Transportation announced today.

That section of Route 104 has been closed to traffic since late April. The previous bridge that was built in 1954 was removed and a new multi-girder bridge was put in its place.

This project features wider bridge openings, improved guide rails, upgraded shoulders and a sidewalk, the DOT said.

Union Concrete and Construction Corp. of West Seneca was the general contractor on the project. The $2.65 million bridge replacement is 80 percent funded by the federal government with the state paying the other 20 percent. The new bridge is expected to last 75 years.

ALBION – The Orleans County Planning Board on Thursday voted in favor of a proposed 4.5 megawatt solar farm on Route 98 near Lime Kiln Road.

AES DE Devco NC is developer of the project on land owned by Joshua Baird, and Jacob and Melissa Monacelli.

The “Baird Solar Project” will be located at 4360 Oak Orchard Rd., where the developer can tap directly into a 13.2-kilovolt distribution line. The project doesn’t include battery storage.

The site currently is 43.7 acres of farmland and will take 27.11 of active farmland out of production. There will be 14,118 solar panels and they will be surrounded with a 7-foot-high perimeter chain link fence. There will be 40,543 linear feet of low-voltage and 1,258 feet of high-voltage underground wiring. The project also includes a decommissioning plan.

The plan calls for planting 191 deciduous and evergreen trees along with 92 shrubs and pollinators.

The Orleans County Planning Board recommended the Town of Barre approve the site plan and issue a permit for the project.

In other referrals on Thursday, the Planning Board:

• Recommended the Town of Murray approve variances for the Big Guys Camping project at the former Brockport Country Club on the Monroe-Orleans County Line Road in Murray.

In some locations on the property, Big Guys is seeking variances from the 20 feet required for rear and front setbacks, and also is seeking 50-foot lot frontage for RV sites and 30 feet for tent sites when 60 feet are required, per Murray’s code.

The Planning Board in June recommended Murray approve the site plan and issue a permit for the project, which includes three phases, with the first phase 125 full hook-ups and 90 tent sites. Phase two includes 97 more full hook-ups and the third phase is 72 more full hook-ups.

The camping sites will be developed along the existing fairways to preserve as many trees as possible and minimize earthwork, planners said.

• Supported the Town of Gaines request to extend a moratorium on applications for large-scale battery storage systems. The moratorium gives Gaines officials more time to study and develop a local law for the battery storage systems.

• Recommended the Town of Albion approve the site plan and issue a permit for a 4-site private campground at 3440 Transit Rd. Brian and Diane Speers own the property and want to have 4 RV sites for family members.

Joint Veterans Council has run the all-volunteer program for 25 years

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature on Wednesday presented certificates of appreciation to volunteers for the veterans’ van service, a program that has been providing rides to veterans to their medical appointments the past 25 years.

The top photo shows County Legislator Fred Miller, second from left, praising volunteers in the program, including Ralph Clute (second from right) and Frank Panczyszyn. Nancy Traxler, director of the Veterans Service Agency in Orleans County, is at left. Klute is a driver for the program and also helps in the office. Panczyszyn is a driver.

Helen Bilicki, left, also was recognized for her years of service in the office, helping to schedule drivers for veterans’ medical appointments. The program is run by the Joint Veterans Council.

There are currently about 25 volunteers with the program, which operates five vans. The program typically takes veterans to about 1,500 appointments a year. The service was shut down by the VA from April through June 2020, and then it gradually ramped back up.

The volunteers took veterans to 542 appointments from Jan. 1 through July 31 this year.

There will be a reception for the volunteers today at the Shelby fire hall from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.