LYNDONVILLE – The Lyndonville community is welcome to attend an ecumenical service at 4 p.m. on Aug. 14 at the Lyndonville Presbyterian Church, 107 North Main St.

“Many in the village are feeling grief from several years of sadness that has befallen this community,” said Martha Mitchell, pastor of the Lyndonville Presbyterian Church. “We have lost too many to accidents and natural causes.”

Many residents have lost loved ones due to Covid-19, she said.

“Covid also made many elderly or people who live alone feel a real sense of sadness because they were, in fact, even more lonely,” Mitchell said. “Some have lost jobs or have struggled with the effects of having to cope with remote learning for their kids. For whatever reason, the last two years have taken a toll on peoples’ mental health.”

Mitchell will be joined in leading the service by the Rev. Craig Rhodenizer from St. John’s Lutheran Church and Pastor Olga Gonzalez from Lyndonville United Methodist Church.

“It will be non-denominational and just a lovely way to bring everyone together, give them a time to share their grief and to restore hope,” Mitchell said.

The 4 p.m. service also will include information about purchasing a memorial brick at the Yates Community Library as part of a memorial garden at the library.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer has issued a statement today, praising efforts in Orleans and Niagara to move forward with broadband internet projects.

“After thousands of rural families in Niagara and Orleans struggled for years to secure broadband service, I was proud to secure the breakthrough funding in the American Rescue Plan needed by the counties to connect them to 21st century broadband,” Schumer said. “I’ll continue to fight for broadband funding until every home and business in New York has access.”

The Orleans County Legislature last week voted unanimously to accept a $3,608,435 bid to make high-speed internet available for the current 1,351 address points that can’t connect to the service.

The Niagara County Legislature on Tuesday accepted a $4,286,325 bid to make high-speed internet in unserved areas of the county.

Both counties selected the proposal from RTO Wireless of Wellesley, Mass.

In Orleans, RTO will co-locate their technology on existing county-owned communication towers. Those sites include at the Emergency Management Office on West County House Road in Albion, Route 31A in Clarendon, Maple Ridge Road in Medina, Route 31 in Albion next to Public Safety Building, West Avenue in Lyndonville, Route 237 in Kendall, Route 237 in Holley by the water tank.

Orleans will use some of its American Rescue Plan funds for the project. The Orleans County Legislature in June accepted $3,918,951 from U.S. Department of Treasury, the first half of the American Rescue Plan Act funds for Orleans.

The county will use some of those funds for the broadband project, but also will be seeking other federal grants, including to help some of the homeowners with the hook-up costs for connecting to the technology.

Niagara also is seeking other state and federal funds to help fund the project.

Press Release, Genesee County Health Department

BATAVIA – The Genesee County Health Department is seeking information about the location of a dog and its owners following a dog bite incident on Saturday, July 17, around noon at Home Depot in Batavia (4181 Veterans Memorial Drive).

The dog is described as a small black dog on a leash. The dog’s owners were described as a male and female, approximately 40 years of age or younger. The employee was near register #2 and asked the owners if they could pet their dog. The owners said yes and the dog then bit the employee on their right hand. The owners were aware that the dog had bit the employee and asked if they were OK. The employee indicated that they were OK so the owners and dog proceeded to leave the store.

It is important to locate the dog to determine whether or not it is current on its rabies shot. If the health status is not identified, post-exposure rabies shots will be offered to the victim.

If you have information about the location of the dog and its owner, please contact the Genesee County Health Department at 585-344-2580 ext. 5555.

It is important to remember that dogs may act protective in unknown places and situations, so “love your own…leave the rest alone.” All wild and unknown animals (even dogs and cats) should be avoided whenever possible since the possibility of exposure to rabies can occur anywhere and anytime.

Press Release, Genesee and Orleans County Health Departments

BATAVIA – The Genesee County Health Department will be hosting a free drive-through anti-rabies immunization clinic on Thursday, Aug. 12, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Genesee County Fairgrounds (5056 East Main Street, Batavia). This event is open to Orleans County residents.

“Animal rabies continues to be a serious public health problem in Genesee County,” said Paul Pettit, public health director in Genesee and Orleans counties. “We remind all residents to make sure that their animals are immunized against rabies and that their vaccinations are kept up to date.”

Vaccinations are free for dogs, cats and ferrets, but voluntary donations are accepted. Animals must be at least 3 months old. Each animal must be leashed or crated and accompanied by an adult who can control the animal. Limit 4 pets per car maximum.

Face coverings are recommended and please follow all social distancing requirements.

To save you time, click here to fill out your registration form in advance. Be sure to print out two copies for each pet to be vaccinated and bring them with you to the clinic.

The next anti-rabies immunization clinic in Genesee County will be held on Sept. 16. For more information, please contact the Genesee County Health Department: 585-344-2580 x.5555 or Health.Dept@co.genesee.ny.us.

“Please take advantage of this opportunity,” Pettit said. “Rabies is a preventable viral disease most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal. Please leave wildlife alone and do not feed, touch, or adopt wild animals, stray dogs or cats.”

There were 349 empty propane tanks collected in August 2019 at the last household hazard waste collection event in Orleans County.

ALBION – Last year the household hazardous waste collection event was cancelled due to concerns and restrictions with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The event will be back on Aug. 14 and there are still many slots available. The registration times are from 8 a.m. to noon with 15-minute slots. Each 15-minute time frame includes up to 20 registrants. To register, call the Orleans County Department of Planning and Development at (585) 589-3198.

The event, which is held in several stations at the Orleans County DPW on West Academy Street, allows residents to dispose of tires, propane tanks, auto/marine batteries and other hazardous household waste in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. Some of the items include oil-based paints, solvents, adhesives & resins, aerosols, motor oil & filters, pesticides, acids, fluorescent bulbs, corrosives, household batteries and antifreeze.

The county typically pays Environmental Enterprises, Inc. of Cincinnati about $18,000 to collect and remove the household hazardous waste, with the state them reimbursing the county about half of the costs.

Orleans County in 2019 accepted tires for the first time. There was a big response from the public with about 1,000 tires dropped off at by the Orleans County DPW on West Academy Street. The event this time is limiting people to 10 tires. The tires must be rimless. Only non-commercial and non-farm tires are accepted.

The collection event doesn’t include explosives, pressurized tanks, ammunition, PCBs, pathologic waste, infectious waste, radioactive waste, syringes, pharmaceuticals, computers and electronics.

Photos by Ginny Kropf: Card players passed the time with a game of euchre as they waited for lunch at the Medina Senior Center picnic Monday at Junior Wilson Club. Clockwise from left are Lee Smith, Larry Morgott, Kathy Ausman and Yvonne Peters.

Becky Karls from the Orleans County Office for the Aging distributed farmers’ market coupons to those eligible at the senior citizens’ picnic Monday.

MEDINA – Nearly 65 seniors from the Senior Center of Western Orleans enjoyed a catered picnic lunch Monday at Junior Wilson Club.

The day provided an opportunity not only for lunch, but for camaraderie, fun and a game of cards.

Becky Karls with the Orleans County Office for the Aging was there with coupons for farmers’ markets to those who were income eligible.

Highlight of the picnic was an auction of bagged gifts each senior was asked to bring. Billy Martin of Medina volunteered as auctioneer, as seniors bid on their unknown prizes, which included everything from gift cards and candles to playing cards, candy and gags.

Kelly Shaw, director of the Senior Center of Western Orleans, reminded seniors the center is closed Monday and Tuesday during August, but still open for cards from noon to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Any interested senior is encouraged to join. Cost for the remainder of 2021 is $5 and a full year’s membership, beginning Jan. 1, is $10.

The center offers exercise from 10 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays and free baked goods on Monday mornings, resuming in September.

Events in the planning include a dinner meeting Sept. 13; a chicken barbecue, eat in or takeout, on Oct. 14; and a basket raffle on Oct. 16. Baskets may be donated any time the center is open. Deadline for donating a basket is Sept. 16.

Seniors line up for lunch at the senior picnic Monday at Junior Wilson Club. From left are Rosemary Eden, Cece Wilson, Marsha Snyder and Sherry Tuohey.

Auctioneer Billy Martin of Medina, left, and Lynn Creasey, president of the board of Senior Center of Western Orleans, auction off brown bags full of surprises at the senior picnic Monday at Junior Wilson Club.

Ten high school seniors in Orleans County were recently selected to receive the first of what will most likely become an annual award from United Way of Orleans County.

Earlier this spring, following a successful year in obtaining grants, the United Way board voted to award $500 scholarships each to two students in each of Orleans County’s five schools.

In July,  the scholarships were awarded to Colburn Spierdowis and Aisha Drisdom at Albion Central School; Andrew Drechsel and Julia Buck at Holley Central School; Ethan Kuhn and Madison Nardi at Kendall Central School; Isaac Becker and Lyndsey Snell at Lyndonville Central School; and Amanda Woodruff and Jacob Velesko at Medina Central School.

“The mission of United Way of Orleans County is be a connector of people, resources, ideas and funding to make our community stronger, and those students reflect and embrace that mission,” said Dean Bellack, executive director of United Way.

Criteria for receiving a scholarship was that each student must be heavily involved in community service and giving back, have good grades (not necessarily straight A’s), and be a good citizen.

“Rather than have students apply to us and we choose recipients, when we don’t know the students, we decided to have the schools pick the candidates,” Bellack said. “United Way is thrilled to be able to reward those who are giving back to their community.”

By Doug Farley, Cobblestone Museum Director – Vol. 2 No. 30

Cary Lattin

GAINES – Most local residents probably don’t remember a time before the Cobblestone Society existed. Nearly everyone in the vicinity can remember a school field trip to the Cobblestone Museum, or has attended an Old Timers Fair or two over the years. But truth be told, there was a definite beginning to the Cobblestone Society and a dedicated team of individuals who created a reality from a dream.

The rest of this article is taken from an interview with Historian Cary Lattin, as shown above, on July 24, 1979, undertaken by Orleans County Historical Association (OCHA) in an effort to record the collective memory of the county’s leading pioneers from the late 19th century and early 20th century. The full audio recording of Mr. Lattin’s interview is available in local libraries and also can be view online using this link.

Forming the Cobblestone Society, as told by Cary Lattin

I’ll try and tell a little bit about the history of the Cobblestone Society, why it was formed and how it was formed during the year 1959, when Gaines had the Sesquicentennial celebration, there was going to be a one day celebration or fair. It took about two months to get ready for this Sesquicentennial celebration.

We wanted to visit the points of interest around the town and we wanted to visit the Cobblestone Church at Childs. We went to the Universalist Board in Albion and asked them if they would open the church for one day so we could see the interior of this beautiful old Cobblestone Church. Two or three of us went down to the church and word came ’round, and we went through the building.

The plaster was bad in the ceiling and it was in kind of rough shape. There were many windows that were broken and the Universalist Board decided that it would be risky to have a bunch of children running around in the church. They might jar some plaster and break somebody’s glasses! So we didn’t have the Church to visit. During the Centennial, and after the Centennial, people commenced to ask, “What’s going to happen to the old church?”

When you tell a damn Yankee that he can’t have something, hell is out for dinner-time. Then they want it! They learned that in Prohibition. When they told the American people they couldn’t have booze, they got booze, one way or another. So, people in the neighborhood were concerned. People in the district were concerned, and in the town. “What’s going to happen to this old beautiful church? We had no organization formed that· could maintain the building or had no Society formed that could operate the thing like it is today.

Bob Frasch, 1961

During the winter of 1959 and 1960, Bob Frasch taught school in Holley, history and English, and he formed a Yorker Club in the Holley High School. One of the projects was to find the cobblestone houses in the Town of Murray and get all the information on these 14 cobblestone houses in Murray. There wasn’t too much information available.

He came into the office when I was County Historian and asked me what I knew about a cobblestone house. I said, “I have lived in on one for about 60 years. And by way of talking about cobblestone buildings, there’s a beautiful church building in Childs.” He said, “Let’s go see it.” So we proceeded to go down to Childs, stopping by Homer Brown’s house to get the key to the church. When Bob Frasch saw the interior of this old Cobblestone Church, he really flipped! He said, “This building should be saved.” I said, “Yes, I know it should be saved but how are you going to save it? We have no organization whatsoever to do this. We have no money.”

Well, people commenced to get concerned. The Historian of the Town of Albion, Katharine Billings, whose ancestors had been attendants of this church and the Historian of the Town of Gaines, Howard Pratt were interested. And that’s the way it hung fire. The next fall in 1960, Charlie Thompson called me one morning about six o’clock and said, “Say, they are going to sell the Cobblestone Schoolhouse. We better do something about it.” So I went down to see Charlie, and he said all the district schools have been centralized in the five schools in Orleans County, Kendall, Holley, Albion, Medina, and Lyndonville.

He says, “You know they are going to sell this building next week Tuesday at Albion Central School. They are going to dispose of it.” “Well,” I said, “Charlie, will you go up to the meeting? You can vote. Vote against selling it; to hold us on the table for six months until we can do something?” And he said, “Sure.” So I took it upon myself to go and see about 12 or 14  people in the immediate district, Gaines  #5, to see if they would go to the Albion Central School meeting and see if we couldn’t save this, stall this off, for four or five or six months until we could get an organization.”

Bob Frasch and I went to the meeting and asked if we could be heard, and we both talked about holding this up until an organization could be formed. Our main purpose was to save the Cobblestone Church and the Cobblestone School. We gave them a pitch and they listened. Walter Balcom was there. He had gone to school at this Cobblestone School. He had attended the Cobblestone Church when they had their meetings there twice each summer. He had a very fine vocabulary of four-letter-words. He got up and said, “I make a blankety-blank motion that this blankety-blank schoolhouse be left on the table for six months, and if you blankety-blank guys can’t get organized in that time, you don’t deserve the damn school!”

And, they voted unanimously to hold the sale up for six months. They tossed us a torch and then we had to do something. So we got an ad hoc committee, so to speak. We had no money. We had no funds, we had nothing! And on this, we wrote a letter, Bob Frasch, it was in his writing. And, we got Katharine Billings, the Albion Historian, and Howard Pratt, who was Gaines Town Historian, and Morris Wilson, who lived next door to the Church and one or two others. Bob Frasch and the committee and myself, signed this letter. We sent this letter out to 100 people. We went through the telephone directory and looked in there and saw names of people we thought would be interested in saving their heritage. Well, the meeting was called at three o’clock on a cold Sunday afternoon in October 1960.

Some of the first officers and directors of the Cobblestone Society in 1960: (left) Maurice Wilson, Vice-President; Cary H. Lattin, Director; Katherine Billings, Secretary; Robert Frasch, President; J. Howard Pratt, Director; and Hannah Thompson, Treasurer.

You know there were 65 people showed up at that meeting, and we had a slate of officers drawn up. We’d asked all these people if they’d either be a director or an officer, and we told them what we wanted to do at this meeting. There were about 60 people signed up to be members. Some of them paid the $2.00 dues right then. So, we had the thing started. We agreed to meet at the Village Inn in about two weeks and get an organizational meeting. We had a dinner meeting over at the Village Inn and we had the west room pretty well filled up.

There were probably 89 to 100 people there who were interested in saving this building. Carl Schmidt was there. He was also at the first meeting. He had written a book about cobblestone buildings in 1944. The little books that he wrote in 1944 are collector’s items today. So, we had a slate of officers drawn up. We had a cross section of our people, we had an attorney, we had two architects, we had school teachers, we had farmers, and we had businessmen on this thing. We had a cross section of what was going on. With the help of the attorney and Bob Frasch, they came up with a set of by-laws and a constitution.

State Education Department Charter

We asked for a charter from the New York State Department of Education. And we were wise. That was our attorney’s advice. “Get this charter from the state Department of Education if you possibly can.” So we had the application for a charter and it was signed by, I think, the directors and the officers. By the end of the six months we had a temporary charter.

So, when the school-house came up for sale, the next April, that was in 1961, we had $129.00 in our fat little hands to pay for the school- house! That’s what we had to pay for deeds and search and the necessary proper papers that has to be signed to transfer the property. So we owned the building.

We were in business. Carl Schmidt came up with the idea that we would have a tour that spring, 1961. And, we held a Cobblestone Tour and made money. It was held right around this vicinity. That fall we had an auction in the schoolhouse to make money, but our main concern was to save the church. We made some overtures to the Universalist Board in Albion, and they were in our corner, so to speak.

John Brush, who was a director on our society, was in the hierarchy of the State Universalist Convention and his influence didn’t hurt a bit. He was a trustee of St. Lawrence University. He has endowed St. Lawrence University very well. It took about two or three years before the final papers came through. After the papers were signed by the Universalist State Convention and the Universalists over here had relinquished what they had in the building, it seems that they sat for six months in Judge Serve’s office. I saw him one day in the courthouse hall and I said, “You know, Judge, why don’t you hurry that up a little bit? We want to get title to that building and we want to do things!” He said, “You know, Cary, don’t try to coerce a Supreme Court Judge. I wouldn’t want to put you in jail.”

So, in about three years we got clear title to the Cobblestone Church in Childs. We were in business for real. The Cobblestone Society put a roof on that building that cost $2,200 before we owned it. That’s how much we thought of the building. So then we had two buildings.

John Brush, early 1900s

Well, our angel, John Brush, is a good friend of mine. I’ve known him as long as I’ve known anybody around Albion High School, and he is a fairly wealthy man. I said, “You know one day we should restore the tower.” There was a tower on that church when it was first built. The tower was removed in 1918 because it was getting deteriorated. The timbers were rotten. So, the Universalist Society decided to take the tower off. And, John Brush said, “I think so too, and I will pay for it.”

Cobblestone Church tower restoration, 1966

So, John and I went to see Hobart Snell who was the only contractor close by, and John and Hobart made a deal, and the tower was restored. And John Brush paid for it himself. I remember when he was up there the terrace in front of the church was in bad shape when we bought the church. They were all covered over with woodbine. Nobody knew there was a terrace there, just thought there were some steps going up there.

So one day when there were some of the directors down there, we decided to pull up some of the woodbine, and discovered there was a terrace. It looked pretty crummy. One day John said, “I think we better do some repair on the front of the church. I will repair the terrace and furnish some landscaping.”

Pasquale DiLaura

So, we went to see “Pat” (Pasquale) DiLaura, who was the last of the Orleans County quarrymen. He was as fine a gentleman as I ever hoped to know. “Pat” DiLaura was Mr. Stone Quarry, Medina Sandstone.

He was 80 years old at the time, and he said he would take upon the job of restoring the terrace. He still had some influence at the quarries in Hulberton, and he went down there with some of his trucks and got a couple loads of stone to re-lay this terrace. With his stonecutter helper, Sandy Malone, “Pat” DiLaura re-laid the stone.

Frankie Swierczynski let us have four or five of his boys over there to do the grub work. They had to dig out the trench and do some of the heavy lifting. There was “Pat” DiLaura and Sandy Malone that made the terrace and that was laid in 1966. It looked pretty nice. These shrubs that were replanted, came from a nursery up in Newfane, and that first summer they were planted there, they guaranteed these shrubs to live. I said, “That’s awful nice, to guarantee these shrubs!” However, he said, “You got to water them this summer.”

I watered them 27 times that summer. I got water for free from Hank Radzinski’s spigot. You know, neighbors are better than money sometimes. When Hank Radzinski was going to get his license for a Liquor store, right next to the church, he was having problems. The Secretary of the Orleans County Liquor Authority came to me and said, “How many times are you going to have service in your church?” It wasn’t my church and I wasn’t having the service, but that’s what he said. I said, “We don’t know whether we would have any service.” “You know,” he said, “Hank is going to have problems getting a liquor store next to a church.”  I said, “If you talk to any Cobblestoner and they try to do anything to stop his liquor store, clobber them!” I told Howard Pratt, and I told a couple of others, “If they wanted to have a liquor store there, he is going to get it. Let’s have his good will.”

So we had his good will. When we wanted water, we had thousands and thousands of gallons of water. I talked to Hank about it and he said, “I know it. I appreciate what you guys didn’t do.” So we were in business.

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Albion firefighters Fred Piano and A.J. Fisher hose down a spot on Route 31 where a car burst into flames at about 1:40 p.m. today near the Transit Road intersection.

The car was being hauled to a scrap yard on a trailer. Something from the car was hanging and sparked from hitting the road. That spark caused the car to catch fire, Albion Fire Chief Rob Conner said.

Provided photo

The car burst into flames and spewed dark smoke. A section of Route 31 from Denmore and Transit roads was closed to traffic for more than a half hour. No one was injured.

ALBION – A Holley man was arraigned this morning in Orleans County Court on 13 counts, including attempted murder in the second degree.

David Simoni, 32, was charged on June 15 after he allegedly lunged at a Holley police officer, attempting to stab him, when the officer was dispatched to the Holley waterfalls on Frisbee Terrace that evening.

Simoni was allegedly walking around with a knife antagonizing people, Robert Barton, Holley police chief, said on June 16.

An Holley officer approached Simoni, who was sitting on a park bench and did not respond to any of the officer’s questions. The officer then spoke with other individuals in the park to investigate the incident, Barton said.

When the officer returned to Simoni, who was still sitting on the bench, a physical altercation ensued as Simoni lunged at the officer, Barton said. During the altercation, the man attempted to stab the officer with a knife, Barton said.

With the assistance of nearby citizens, the officer was able to disarm Simoni and then the officer utilized his taser to cause the male to disengage. The male was taken into custody without further incident.

Simoni has been in the Orleans County Jail on $50,000 cash bail and $100,000 bond. County Court Judge Sanford Church kept the bail at those levels during today’s arraignment.

Simoni also was arraigned on menacing a police officer, reckless endangerment in the first degree, attempted assault with intent to cause physical injury with a weapon, menacing in the second degree, criminal obstruction of breathing, criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, criminal mischief with intent to damage property, acting in an injurious manner to a child younger than 17, and resisting arrest.

Simoni is represented by Public Defender Joanne Best. She and District Attorney Joe Cardone both requested a mental health evaluation for Simoni, and Church agreed to order that evaluation.

Provided photo

BATAVIA – A new billboard has been installed along the Thruway near the Batavia exit, promoting fishing in Orleans County, in particular, the Oak Orchard River.

The billboard is just east of the Batavia exit on the northside of the Thruway.

The County’s Tourism Department has a two-year agreement with Outfront Media in Boston, Mass. for the billboard. The design will change every six months.

Outfront will be paid $28,600 over the two years with the money coming from the American Rescue Plan Act. Guidelines for  using the funds allow the federal dollars to be used to promote tourism.

The county has transferred $67,978 in American Rescue Plan funds to the Tourism Department.

County officials want to better promote the fishery, which is the county’s top tourism attraction.

A survey in 2017 by the state Department of Environmental Conservation put the total economic impact from fishing in Orleans at $27,989,393 in 2017, according to survey results. Out-of-state anglers account for 70 percent of the fishing economic output in Orleans County, $19,620,488 of the $27,989,393. County residents who fish accounted for $1,767,334 in economic activity while other New York state residents outside Orleans represented another $6,601,571.

The DEC report also ranks which species of fish the anglers were primarily trying to catch. The survey reports that 23 percent said they were primarily fishing in Orleans County for Chinook salmon, with 20 percent saying were after brown trout. Another 18 percent said largemouth bass were their primary target and 14 percent said steelhead/rainbow trout.

Photos courtesy of Kathaline Woodruff

LYNDONVILLE – The band Blue Sky performs Monday evening outside the Yates Community Library at the library’s new back patio.

The library is hosting several concerts this summer on Monday evenings. The concerts receive some state arts funding through the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council.

Blue Sky kept the crowd entertained on Monday evening.

The concerts begin at 6:30 p.m. The schedule the rest of the summer includes:

• Aug. 9 – Eagle Creek
• Aug. 16 – Mr. Mustard
• Aug. 23 – Laces Out
• Aug. 30 – Barker Community Band.

The public is welcome to bring a lawn chair or blanket, even a dinner picnic for the events.

Celtic Spirit performed on the lawn behind the library on July 26. The pipe band mixes traditional bagpipe music with various modern instruments, in its own unique arrangements.

The Old Hippies performed on July 19.

The library at 5 p.m. on Aug. 9 also is hosting a book discussion led by Anne Smiley about the three-volume graphic memoir, March, which is about the late Congressman John Lewis and his experiences as a leader in the Civil Rights movement.

The library’s book club, “Renegade Readers,” is reading March and will be participating in the discussion.

Press Release, U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr., Western District of New York

ROCHESTER – U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Philip M. Close, 43, of Rochester, who pleaded guilty to a 74-count indictment, including 61 counts of production of child pornography and 13 counts of possession of material containing child pornography involving prepubescent minors, was sentenced to serve 50 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Charles A. Siragusa.

“As a result of this sentence, this defendant will likely spend most or all of the rest of his life behind bars,” stated U.S. Attorney Kennedy. “Let this case serve as an example to any individual in a position of trust with children—if you seek to exploit children to satisfy your own perverse interests, be prepared to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and potentially to lose your freedom forever.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan K. McGuire, who handled the case, stated that from 2016 to 2019, the defendant owned the Close School of Music on West Ridge Road in the Town of Parma and provided private music lessons to children of all ages.

During that time, Close hid spy cameras throughout the school and secretly recorded the students, parents, and other teachers. Some of those cameras captured videos of the defendant inappropriately touching his students and himself during lessons.

Close also placed two spy cameras in the school’s only bathroom: one under the toilet and one hidden in a watercooler facing the toilet. The defendant intentionally positioned these cameras to record the naked genitals of young girls when they stood up from the toilet. Prior to opening the Close School of Music in 2016, the defendant worked at a different music school. Between 2012 and 2016, he also placed a spy camera in the bathroom of that school and intentionally recorded the naked genitals of young girls when they went to the bathroom.

Between 2012 and 2019, Close produced hundreds of videos of child pornography involving 61 identified minor victims. The youngest victim was four years old. While executing search warrants at the Close School of Music, investigators also discovered 13 devices that contained other images and videos of child pornography.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Child Exploitation Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Stephen Belongia; the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff Todd Baxter; and the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office, under the direction of District Attorney Sandra Doorley.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul has refrained from speaking out about sexual harassment allegations against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, saying she would withhold comment until the attorney general completed her investigation.

Leticia James, the attorney general, presented the findings of an independent investigation today, concluding that Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women, broke state and federal laws, and led a “toxic” work environment.

Hochul issued this statement this afternoon:

“Sexual harassment is unacceptable in any workplace, and certainly not in public service.

“The AG’s investigation has documented repulsive & unlawful behavior by the Governor towards multiple women. I believe these brave women & admire their courage coming forward.

“No one is above the law. Under the New York Constitution, the Assembly will now determine the next steps.

“Because Lieutenant Governors stand next in the line of succession, it would not be appropriate to comment further on the process at this moment.”

Bob Duffy, a former Rochester police chief and mayor, served as lieutenant governor the first four years of Cuomo’s nearly 11 years as governor. Duffy, who is now president and CEO of the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce. Duffy issued this statement:

“I am shocked and dismayed to learn the findings of the investigation led by Attorney General James, and I applaud the courage of the women who came forward to share their experiences. Speaking out about toxic work environments and sexual harassment is difficult under any circumstances, but even more so when such behaviors are carried out by a person in a position of power. ‘Intent’ does not matter. At issue is the impact of actions.

“Everyone deserves a work environment free of harassment, retaliation, bullying, and fear. The responsibility of leaders is to establish a positive and safe work culture. It is unfortunate to see that this investigation concludes the opposite is true.

“While it is not my role to speculate on the Governor’s political future, this comprehensive report provides a path forward for accountability and expectations of our leaders.”

‘No elected official is above the law. The people of New York deserve better leadership in the governor’s office.’

Press Release, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following their call for resignation in March, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) released the following joint statement:

“As we have said before, the reported actions of the Governor were profoundly disturbing, inappropriate and completely unacceptable. Today’s report from the New York State Attorney General substantiated and corroborated the allegations of the brave women who came forward to share their stories – and we commend the women for doing so.

“The New York State Attorney General has conducted an independent, thorough and professional investigation that found the Governor violated state and federal law, had a pattern of sexually harassing current and former employees, retaliated against at least one of the accusers and created a hostile work environment.

“No elected official is above the law. The people of New York deserve better leadership in the governor’s office. We continue to believe that the Governor should resign.”