Photo by Tom Rivers: This banner displayed in May 2020 by City Hall features Dell Stork, who served with the Marine Corps during the Korean Conflict. He later served as Medina’s fire chief.

MEDINA – A new group of Hometown Hero banners will go up in Medina next year. Mary Woodruff, coordinator of the effort, is planning for 40 new banners.

Those ones will replace the 38 in the first group of banners that went up in 2019 as well as two others. The ones being cycled out after three years will be given to the original sponsors.

After 38 were displayed in the first group in 2019, 69 were added in 2020 and then 132 this year for 231 total. Most of the banners are on a three-year cycle, and they are in different spots each of the three years.

The banners go up in May before Memorial Day and come down in November just after Veterans’ Day.

The 38 original banners will be given back to the sponsors on Nov. 15 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Village Office. Those unable to stop by to pick up the banner can have it mailed to them at cost.

Applications for new banners in 2022 will be available by Aug. 31 through heroesofmedina.com. That website includes options for people to donate to the Hometown Heroes, with funds going to some of the costs beyond the expense of the banners and to help pay some of the cost of a banner and hardware for families and friends who don’t have the full amount.

Woodruff also is working on a printed yearbook of Medina Hometown Heroes.

SOMERSET – A member of the Hartland Volunteer Fire Company was killed on Tuesday night when a fire truck backed into her at the scene of a field fire.

The Niagara County Sheriff’s Office said a Barker Fire Department rescue truck was backing southbound on Quaker Road at 8:38 p.m. when it struck and ran over a fire police member from the Hartland department. That fire police member was acting as a spotter for the vehicle driver.

The fire police member succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the rescue truck was uninjured, the Sheriff’s Office stated in a news release.

The names of the parties involved are being withheld at this time pending notification of family. Investigation by the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office Accident Investigation Unit is continuing.

New governor also wants teachers to be vaccinated or tested weekly

Gov. Kathy Hochul delivers an address to New Yorkers at the State Capitol this afternoon. (Photo by Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)

Gov. Kathy Hochul, in her first address as governor of New York, said fighting the spread of Covid will be a top priority especially with the start of a new school year.

Hochul said the state will be requiring masks for students, and she is pursuing options to have teachers and staff either be vaccinated or tested weekly for Covid.

“My number one priority is getting children back to school and protecting the environment so they can learn safely,” Hochul said. “I am immediately directing the Department of Health to institute universal masking for anyone entering our schools, and we are launching a Back to School Covid-19 testing program to make testing for students and staff widely available and convenient.”

Hochul said the state will use $335 million in federal funds for the Covid “Testing in Schools Program” in partnership with local health departments and BOCES in New York State outside of New York City. In addition, New York City has received $225 million directly for Covid testing in the schools.

The state also is launching a back-to-school Covid testing program in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Rite Aid and BioReference to make testing more widely available. Testing appointments will be available to students in grades K-12 at the 115 Rite Aid drive-through locations.

In addition to the new testing programs, the state has more than 4.3 million child-sized clothed face masks, about 10 million adult-sized clothed face masks and almost 55 million non-surgical face masks to provide to students and teachers in schools across the state.

Andy Pallotta, president of the New York State United Teachers, issued a statement in support of Hochul’s announcement.

“Gov. Kathy Hochul brings a breath of fresh air to Albany, and she already is taking decisive action to bolster health and safety in our schools,” Pallotta said. “We support universal mask wearing as part of a layered mitigation strategy that also includes robust Covid testing, contract tracing, proper ventilation and other strategies recommended by public health experts. We also support the governor’s move to require regular Covid testing for school staff who are not yet vaccinated. It’s critical that educators continue to have a voice in the implementation of vaccine requirements and other Covid policies at the local level.”

State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said 95 percent of the Covid cases currently in the state are confirmed to be the Delta variant. He said the Covid cases in the state are up 10-fold since early July.

“While a simple measure of prevention, requiring masks now is crucial for protecting the health of our children and ensuring we can get our students back in their schools this fall,” Zucker said in a statement.

Hochul said other top priorities will be boosting vaccination rates throughout the state so fewer people and communities are at risk of Covid. She also will push to make Covid booster shots available and distributed quickly and reliably, which could mean reopening mass vaccination sites.

She also said Covid relief money for renters, landlords and workers has been secured for the state but hasn’t been fully released.

“I am not at all satisfied with the pace that this Covid relief is getting out the door,” she said. “I want the money out—and I want it out now. No more excuses and delays.”

The state will be hiring more staff to process applications to get the relief funds to landlords, renters and people through the Excluded Workers Fund.

Hochul also vowed for a “dramatic change in culture” in the way Albany operates. She is directing an overhaul of state government’s policies on sexual harassment and ethics. All training will be done live in person, instead of allowing people to click their way through a class, she said.

She also said the state government would be more transparent with an expedited process to fulfill all Freedom of Information Act requests “as fast as possible.”

She also is signing an executive order requiring ethics training for every state employee.

“To recap, these are the highest priorities of my Administration in its first days: combatting Delta, getting direct aid to New Yorkers more quickly, and beginning to change the culture in Albany,” Hochul said.

ROYALTON – The Niagara County Sheriff’s Office is reporting a fatal accident today on Royalton Center Road at 1:18 p.m.

There was a 2-vehicle accident in front of 4955 Royalton Center Rd. Preliminary investigation shows that one vehicle crossed over the center line while traveling south on Royalton Center Road.

The second vehicle was traveling north on the road and was unable to avoid the first vehicle. The vehicles collided head on.

The driver of first vehicle was pronounced deceased at the scene. The driver of the vehicle traveling northbound was transported to Eastern Niagara Hospital by Tri Town Ambulance for non-life threatening injuries.

The investigation is continuing by the Niagara County Accident Investigation Unit. The names of the drivers involved are being withheld at this time pending notification of the families, the Sheriff’s Office reported.

The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory in Orleans County on Wednesday between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. when heat index values as high as 100 are expected.

The advisory also includes Niagara, Monroe, Genesee, Livingston, Wayne, northern Erie, northern Cayuga, Oswego and Ontario counties.

The temperatures near or above 90 and high humidity may cause heat illnesses to occur, the Weather Service said.

The highs for the rest of the week include 85 on Thursday, 76 on Friday and 82 on Saturday.

Photo by Tom Rivers: Kathy Hochul is shown at the Erie Canal in Albion in this photo from 2012 when she represented the community in Congress. Hochul is very familiar with the local small towns and many of the elected officials.

Kathy Hochul takes the reins as governor of the state today. She is facing major challenges on many fronts, including the reopening of schools in a safe manner during the Covid pandemic.

Many businesses still are reeling from the pandemic and state-imposed restrictions last year. The economy has been battered, especially in New York City which is fueled by so many tourists and the travel industry.

The rural areas of the state are seeing a major population exodus. Orleans County is down 5.9 percent of its population from 2010 t0 2020, or a drop of 2,540 people from 42,883 in 2010 to 40,343 in 2020. The percentage loss is the steepest in Western New York and among the highest in the state, where 39 out of 62 counties lost population, despite an overall increase of population of nearly 800,000 in the state. Those gains were mainly in the bigger counties.

Hochul will give an address at 3 p.m. today, outlining her priorities as governor. She won’t have much of a grace period. She is filling out a term that ends in about 16 months on Dec. 31, 2022. The gubernatorial race has already kicked into gear for next year. Hochul is the 57^th governor in the past 244 years and the first woman.

She is also a rare statewide official from Upstate New York, and even more rare are her connections and knowledge of small town New York.

Soon after she became lieutenant governor in January 2015, Hochul reached out to me to talk about Orleans County. We met at the Village House in Albion. She meets with many people in diners across the state.

My top issue for her to consider was the gross disparity in AIM funding, or Aid and Incentives to Municipalities. The Orleans Hub has written about this often with charts showing how little local villages receive compared to cities, despite offering similar services. (Click here to see a previous article about the AIM disparity.)

Villages with police and fire departments receive about $7 per capita in AIM, while cities with similar levels of services receive well over $100. In Buffalo’s case, the per capita aid is over $600. In the Village of Albion, it’s $6.41, about 1 percent of what Buffalo gets. Bumping the villages up to $100 per person in AIM funding would result in about a 20 to 25 percent tax reduction for the local villages.

The AIM rates should be tied to a level of services offered by a village or town, and should also consider a community’s wealth. The state ties its school aid to a community wealth ratio. If it did in a similar way with AIM, our most poverty-stricken areas – the villages – would get significant relief.

The AIM distribution hasn’t improved for towns and villages under the Cuomo Adminsitriation. In fact, he made it worse by grabbing some of the sales tax from counties and using that to pay part of the town and village AIM share, instead of using state funds. In this case he robbed from the poor to pay the destitute.

I’ve brought AIM up to Hochul other times over the years when she makes local appearances. She has cited state attention for the small towns through the $750 million annually available through the regional economic development councils. Some of that money includes $10 million for downtowns on an upswing. Medina has tried for this grant several times but has been denied so far.

The regional economic development grants are a competitive process, with communities vying against each other for the money. The grants tend to go to wealthier municipalities which have an army of city managers, economic development specialists, grant writers and in-house engineers. They can put together more compelling aplications.

In Orleans County, none of the villages or towns have administrators or dedicated economic development staff. The county as a whole has a staff of three working on attracting and retaining businesses. The regional economic development councils have favored the communities with more resources.

A simple way to helping the small towns would be giving them more AIM funding, at levels close to what the cities are getting.

Just look at the villages of Albion and Medina. In the 2010 census Albion had 6,056 people and Medina was at 6,065. Albion receives $38,811 in AIM or $6.41 per capita. Medina gets $45,523 or $7.51 per person.

The City of Sherrill, the state’s smallest city with 3,071 people in Oneida County, receives $372,689 or $121.35 per capita. Another small city, Salamanca in Cattaraugus County, gets $928,131 for a city of 5,815 people or $159.61 per capita.

Orleans County has the added disadvantage of not having a city in the county so none of our municipalities get propped up by the state with AIM funding. That hurts us when all of the neighboring counties have at least one city, where the property taxes are much lower than in our villages, mainly due to the state’s AIM formula.

This is an issue that should be near the top of the agenda for Hochul if she wants to help give the villages and smaller counties a fighting chance.

Gov. Kathy Hochul

Local state legislators are all welcoming Kathy Hochul as the state’s new governor and wishing her the best in leading the state’s government.

Hochul is a Democrat who previously represented part of Western New York, including Orleans County, in Congress. She is well connected with local officials through her time in Congress and in nearly seven years as lieutenant governor.

The local state legislators – Rob Ortt of North Tonawanda, Steve Hawley of Batavia, and Micke Norris of Lockport – are all Republicans who have been frequent critics of Andrew Cuomo when he was governor.

Ortt, the State Senate Republican leader, issued this statement: “Congratulations to our new Governor and Western New York native Kathy Hochul on her inauguration as New York’s 57th Governor, and the first female to hold the office in state history. I am looking forward to working with this new administration to try to improve the lives of New Yorkers all across the state.

“Governor Hochul takes office in the face of many challenges. It is my hope that she will work with elected leaders in both parties to address pressing issues like the pandemic, rising crime, continued outmigration and other threats to the future of our state. Saving our state will require input from across the political spectrum, not just the most radical voices from one region of our state.”

Assemblyman Norris said: “Our state begins a welcomed new chapter, turning the page on a dark period in our history. It is special for us here in Western New York to see one of our own now become governor for the first time in over a century and to hold the distinction as our state’s first female governor.

“I would like to congratulate Gov. Kathy Hochul, and I welcome the opportunity to continue working with her to restore trust and confidence back at our state Capitol and to deliver on Western New York priorities.

“Though I am upbeat about a new beginning in Albany, I remain skeptical that downstate-driven progressive policies will continue to be advanced in the new administration. I am more than willing to work in a bipartisan manner with Gov. Hochul on mutual matters of concern such as infrastructure and ethics reform, but please know that I also will proudly stand up for my constituents and our region when needed to voice our displeasure on radical left wing agenda items such as “bail reform” that negatively impact our state.”

Assemblyman Hawley issued this statement: “By swearing in a new governor, I remain hopeful we can use this moment as an opportunity to correct the course set by our former executive.

“Given her experience in local and county government, I hope that her tenure will be free of the burdensome mandates on small businesses, schools, places of worship, and other institutions which characterized her predecessor’s style of leadership and were so harmful to the people of our state.”

Gov. Hochul, however, expected to make them mandatory

Photos by Tom Rivers: The Lyndonville Board of Education met Monday evening approved a reopening plan for 2021-22 that makes wearing masks optional for students, except on busses wear the federal government is making them mandatory. Ted Lewis, left, is president of the Board of Education.

LYNDONVILLE – The Board of Education on Monday voted to make wearing masks by students optional, even if the community is in a “red zone” with high Covid community spread.

The board went against recommendations from the State Department of Health, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the federal Center for Disease Control, which are all recommending students, teachers and staff wear masks, regardless of vaccination status.

Lyndonville board members were unanimous in voting to make masks optional for students, saying the choice should be up to parents.

“I understand that this is a complicated issue and people’s opinions vary greatly to the point of anger and frustration,” said board member Susan Hrovat. “I know each person won’t be happy about this. My goal is to allow each parent to make a decision for their child as much as possible. If you choose to mask your children, that is great. If you choose not to, that is your decision as well.”

The board said it expects new Gov. Kathy Hochul will issue a mask-wearing mandate before the start of the school. If she does, that would be the requirement in Lyndonville.

Board member Steve Vann urged the board to vote on the issue on Monday evening and not hold off until hearing from Hochul and the state. He wanted Lyndonville to make its position clear about masks for students.

“Don’t hide from it,” Vann told the other board members. “I think we should vote on it tonight regardless of what the state sends down so all of our constituents know where we stand on the issue.”

The board on Monday reviewed a chart that was similar to one used by other districts for wearing masks. The chart was developed with the four other districts in Orleans County and the Orleans-Niagara BOCES.

Although masks are optional inside Lyndonville school, face coverings will be required for students on busses, per a federal directive.

The chart also was going to make wearing masks a requirement in common areas where there are many students. But the board, in a motion from member Steven Vann, changed the draft plan to make masks in those high traffic areas such as hallways as “recommended” rather than required. Vann said Covid needs 15 minutes of exposure to spread and hallways interactions are much briefer.

The proposal also had that masks would be mandated to wear in classrooms if the county was in a red zone with the highest community transmission. (Orleans County is currently in the orange zone for “substantial” community spread, just below the highest level.)

Lyndonville will welcome students back for the first day of school on Sept. 8. The board voted to make wearing masks optional for students, but the state is expected to make them mandatory throughout New York for students.

Vann and the other board members voted to make masks “recommended” inside the classrooms if the county is in a red zone.

Vann said the Orleans County numbers aren’t evenly spread out throughout all communities. He said the cases tend to be lower in Lyndonville compared to Albion and the more populated parts of the county.

The board didn’t have the numbers available during its meeting about Covid cases per school district last year. Jason Smith, the district superintendent, said Lyndonville had its first student test positive in October. Lyndonville saw more cases in December and January, before the cases declined, which very little Covid in May and June, he said.

A state database shows the Covid cases per school district for the 2020-21. Here is the breakdown for each district in Orleans County:

• Lyndonville (enrollment 639) had 20 students test positive for Covid (15 in-school and 5 remote) and 13 teachers and staff. The Lyndonvile students included 17 in junior-senior high school and 3 at the elementary level.
• Albion (enrollment 1,768 students) had 86 students test positive (75 were in-person students and 11 remote-only). Those students included 33 in high school, 26 in middle school, and 27 in elementary school. There were 26 teachers/staff that tested positive.
• Medina (enrollment 1,396) had 87 students test and the state database says 4 were in-person students and 83 were off-site students. Those students included 43 in high school27 at intermediate/middle school, and 14 at elementary school. The district also had 31 teachers/staff test positive for Covid.
• Kendall (enrollment 698) last school year reported 37 students tested positive for Covid with 35 on-site and 2 as remote-only students. That included 19 at junior-senior high school and 18 at elementary school. Kendall also had 4 teachers/staff test positive.
• Holley (enrollment 902) reported 45 students who tested positive last year, including 43 in-person students and 2 who were remote-only. Those students included 34 in junior-senior high and 11 at elementary school. The district also had 17 teachers/staff test positive.

Jason Smith, the district superintendent, encouraged the board to wait on voting about the mask issue until hearing if there will be a directive from the state. But Vann and the board members wanted to go on the record in support of making mask wearing a parental choice.

The district’s reopening plan will continue in-person education for five days a week, just like last year. However, there won’t be remote learning unless there is a documented medical reason for students.

Lyndonville will continue to do daily temperature checks of students, and will use some partitions in classrooms.

The district is waiting for final guidance from the local and state Department of health about quarantining students. One benefit of students wearing masks is there is less chance of students being in a 10-day quarantine if someone next to them tests positive for Covid, Smith said.

He noted of all the students who were quarantined last year after being identified as a close contact of a student who tested positive, none of those students quarantined ended up with Covid.

Lyndonville will have some rapid Covid tests available at school. The district used those last year to test some teachers and staff and Smith said the tests identified one staff member with Covid. Students can also be tested with a rapid test at school with a parent’s permission.

Smith said a message will be sent to the Lyndonville community today with details about the reopening plan for 2021-22.

Hrovat urged the district and community members to “respect the decision” by Hochul and the state if masks are required for students.

She also urged people to tone down the rhetoric with the masking issue.

“I would just ask that we all be kind to one another and respect each family’s decision to carry out the way they choose to protect themselves through this Covid crisis, and we just move forward the best that we can,” she said.

Photos by Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul

ALBANY – Kathy Hochul was sworn in as New York’s 57^th governor just after midnight. She takes over for Andrew Cuomo, who resigned over pressure he had sexually harassed 11 women.

Hochul was sworn in by Chief Judge Janet DiFiore during a ceremony at the New York State Capitol. First Gentleman Bill Hochul holds the Bible.

Hochul has served as the state’s lieutenant governor for nearly seven years. She takes over with about a year and four months left in Cuomo’s term. Hochul intends to run for election for a full four-year term as governor. She is the first woman to serve as governor of New York.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signs the oath of office for governor. Also pictured are First Gentleman Bill Hochul, Katie Hochul and Matt Gloudeman, and Will and Christina Hochul.

Hochul will hold a ceremonial swearing-in ceremony today at 10 a.m. and will be joined by immediate family members, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.

At 3 p.m. today, Gov. Hochul will deliver a virtual address to New Yorkers.

Orleans County currently has 49 active Covid cases, which is the same since Thursday when the Genesee and Orleans County Health Departments last updated the local Covid data.

Orleans has had 28 new reported cases since then – and also 28 recoveries where previous positive individuals completed their 10-day isolation and were removed from mandatory isolation.

Those 28 new cases are in the age groups of 0-19, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. There are three Orleans County residents hospitalized due to Covid.

Orleans currently remains in an orange zone from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That signifies “substantial” community spread of Covid, but is down from being in a red zone for “high” community spread.

Genesee County is currently in a red zone, like 89 percent of the counties in the United States, according to the CDC database.

Genesee is reporting 39 new positive cases of Covid since Thursday, and 35 more recoveries. That increases the county’s number of active cases to 53. The new cases are in the age groups of 0-19, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s.

There are 10 Genesee residents currently hospitalized due to Covid, the Genesee and Orleans County Health Departments reported this afternoon.

District won’t offer remote learning as option in 2021-22 school year

Mickey Edwards

ALBION – School district leaders are holding off on making a decision on mask-wearing for students until waiting to see if there will be a mandate about masks from Kathy Hochul, who takes over as governor on Tuesday.

Hochul has already indicated she expects there will be masking mandates from the state. That could be tied to the level of community spread of Covid-19. Mickey Edwards, Albion school superintendent, said what could be mandated by the state is currently “unclear.”

Therefore, the district is waiting to make a decision about masking for students until late August, “when it becomes clear what our new Governor will require,” Edwards said in a letter to the community today.

The new school year is scheduled to start for classes on Sept. 8. Today was the first day of practice for the fall sports.

Edwards said a decision has been made about remote learning and it won’t be an option this coming school year. Last year Albion had students on remote learning for Wednesdays, and an alternative schedule of two days in-person each week and the other two days remote for most of the school year. Many students also were fully remote every day of the school year.

“We have made it our priority to get our children back in school safely, in-person, every day,” Edwards wrote in the letter. “We appreciate your patience and support throughout the pandemic and look forward to working closely with all our Albion families as we reopen for the 2011-22 school year.”

Provided photos

CLARENDON – Melissa Ierlan, Clarendon town historian, leads a tour of Hillside Cemetery in Clarendon and Holley on Sunday evening.

It was part of a series of Sunday evening tours this month organized by the Orleans County Historical Association.

The Historical Association planned five programs on Sundays in August. They all start at 6 p.m. The series ends this Sunday with a presentation by Bill Lattin, retired Orleans County historian. He will present “Telling Tales Out of School” from his book, “Trivial Tales.” This program will be at the Gaines Basin School, 3286 Gaines Basin Rd. in Albion.

The tour on Sunday in Clarendon included a look inside the chapel at the Hillside Cemetery which has received significant preservation work in recent years with work on the roof, repointing and repairs to the windows.

The time inside the chapel included music played by organist Scott Schmidt, who shared old and familiar tunes.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Chris Jacobs (NY-27) and Congressman Tim Ryan (OH-13) introduced the Reservists Opportunity Act to give more flexibility to members of the National Guard and Reserves.

The Reservists Opportunity Act introduced by Jacobs and Ryan would allow for National Guard and Reserve members to access the Army’s Tour of Duty system, which serves as a military job board, from personal devices. Currently, this service is only accessible on devices connected to Department of Defense (DoD) networks limiting the ability for some members to easily find active-duty opportunities in a timely manner.

“Making the decision to serve our country, especially on active duty, is an honorable and selfless one, so when members of our Reserves and National Guard decide to volunteer for active-duty assignments, they should not be met with red-tape,” Rep. Chris Jacobs said. “This legislation removes an unnecessary barrier and allows these members to easily find opportunities from their own computers. Streamlining this service and increasing access will improve our military readiness and retention of qualified service members.”

“When our soldiers want to step up to serve full-time, the last thing that should stop them are technological barriers,” Rep. Tim Ryan said. “This bill will ensure that these soldiers can access the opportunities available for active-duty service from their personal devices. Not only does this make sense, it improves readiness and retention. I look forward to its swift consideration in the House.”