Alexander

Information provided by the Western New York Maple Producers Association.

This weekend and next weekend (March 17-18 & 24-25) is Maple Weekend as the sweet tradition continues. Two of the many maple producers in the region are in Genesee County and will be participating from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. They are:

• Randall's Maple Products, located at 10307 Smithley Road in Alexander;
• Sweet Dream Maple Farm, located at 1116 Reynolds Road in Corfu.

According to the Maple Producers Association, maple syrup has become a powerhouse crop for New York State farmers. In the last decade, production of syrup has tripled, while the crop value has quadrupled.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, NY Maple Producers manufactured 760,000 gallons of maple syrup last year, the highest production rate ever. It's an increase of 7.5 percent from the previous year.

The 2016 crop in New York was valued at $31.3 million, with an estimated economic impact of almost $141 million. The value for the 2017 crop will be released in June.

There's plenty of room to expand production because the U.S. Forestry Service data shows that more tappable maple trees are in New York than any other state in America.

The 22nd annual Maple Weekend is family friendly and free to the public. Take a tour and learn about tree tapping and boiling, see displays and best of all -- taste some of America's greatest maple syrup.

A complete list of participating sugarhouses, site maps and more information about Maple Weekend can be found here.

How Sap Becomes Syrup

Syrup is produced as the sugar maple holds starches in storage during the winter, which change to sugars as spring approaches. These sugars are released into the tree sap.

When a tree is tapped, a clear liquid runs out. When that liquid is boiled down, approximately 44 gallons of the sap produces a gallon of maple syrup.

Techniques vary from producer to producer -- some use state-of-the-art methods while others are traditionalists.

During Maple Weekend, many maple producers also offer additional activities including horse and wagon rides, snowshoeing, guided walks in the woods and kids' corners. And across Western New York, all-you-can-eat pancake breakfasts will abound over the next two consecutive weekends.

Did You Know?

Also, there's more to maple syrup than its delicious taste. University of Rhode Island researchers recently found 20 compounds in maple syrup that possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which have been shown to help fight cancer, diabetes and bacterial illnesses. Other established health benefits of pure maple syrup include its calcium and potassium content -- a quarter cup of maple syrup has more calcium that the same amount of milk and more potassium than a banana.

New York is the second-largest maple producing state in the nation, with 2.65 million taps, producing 760,000 gallons of syrup, and accounting for 18 percent of the maple syrup in the United States in 2017.

Besides pure maple syrup, products that contain maple syrup include: maple cream, maple sugar, maple candy, maple jelly, maple mustard, maple tea, maple coffee, maple cotton candy, maple oatmeal bread, maple apple butter, maple walnut fudge, maple suckers and maple butter.

After six days missing, an Alexander farmer today spotted Blue, the English pointer we reported missing over the weekend.

Christina said the farmer called today with the good news he had found Blue.

"We are happy to say he is home now," she said. "We are grateful to have him home safe."

Alexander volunteer firefighters along with the hazmat team for Genesee County Emergency Services and with the county's emergency management coordinators responded to a train derailment in the Town of Attica today.

The accident was in the area of Route 238 and reported at 4:05 p.m.

Emergency Management Coordinator Tim Yaeger said the accident was in a pretty inaccessible location in Wyoming County and because of that, an engine fire was being allowed to burn itself out. There was no hazmat concern other than the diesel fuel of the engine. The hazmat team set up booms to contain any potential fuel.

As a precaution, the City of Batavia was contacted to temporarily close the water intake from the Tonawanda Creek.

Eleven cars derailed along with two engines from the Norfolk Southern line.

Two crew members self-extricated and were transported to an area hospital. They suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Yaeger said.

Town of Batavia fire responded to Alexander's hall as a fill-in.

UPDATE 8:14 p.m. (By Billie): All Genesee County responders are clearing the scene. Federal, state and local officials involved at the scene will remain for now. Heavy equipment will be forthcoming to remove some train cars so that Route 238 and Main Road in Attica can be reopened. Train crossing sites should be reopened by 10 o'clock tonight. The diesel fuel is allowed to continue to burn.

UPDATE: Press release from the Wyoming County Sheriff's Office:

On Feb. 15,  at 4:03 p.m. hours, the Communications Division at the Wyoming County Sheriff’s Office received a 9-1-1 call of a train derailment near the East Main Road intersection in the Town of Attica.

The Attica Fire Department responded to the scene. Attica Fire Chief Jay Myers reports, “two engines and approximately 10 railroad cars derailed of the Norfolk Southern Railroad. The railroad cars were carrying new cars as cargo.” 

Chief Myers also stated there were two railroad personnel on the engine who were injured. They were taken to Erie County Medical Center. 

“The lead engine is on fire and in coordination with the Norfolk Southern, the engine will remain burning, primarily due to the difficult location of the derailment,” Myers said. 

Wyoming County Emergency Services Director Anthony Santoro is on scene, coordinating efforts from the federal, state, local and railroad resources.

Wyoming County Sheriff Gregory Rudolph says “an initial investigation was conducted and we are turning over our investigation to the Norfolk South Railroad Police and the Federal Railroad Administration and a cause has not yet been determined.” 

Director Santoro says, “the mutual-aid resources that responded and assisted were the: Alexander Fire Department, Varysburg Fire Department, Bennington Fire Department, Wyoming County Emergency Services and Hazmat Team, Genesee County Emergency Services and Hazmat Team, the New York State Police, the Attica Fire Department and Wyoming Correctional Facility.” 

Norfolk Southern personnel are on scene and making efforts to clear the Route 238 and East Main Road intersections with an estimated time of 10 p.m. The long-term cleanup of the damaged engines and railcars will be days.

Photos: Reader submitted photos.

Alexander wrestler Nick Young won a Section V title yesterday at 132 pounds and will advance to the state championship rounds.

Young beat Le Roy's Andrew Englerth on a 7-2 decision.

He was one of two Section V champions representing local schools. Josh Barber won at 285 pounds for Attica/Batavia.

Young now has four class sectional championships making in the most decorated active high school wrestler in the area. 

He's qualified for the state tournament four times. Earlier this year he placed fourth in the Eastern States tournment. He's ranked #2 in the state in his class.

Besides winning the title yesterday, he won the Brad Paddock Memorial Scholarship Award and Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament.

Submitted photos.

Coaches Tom Aldinger and Dee Gugel with Nick Young.

Blue is missing. Blue is a 2-year-old English pointer who went missing Friday afternoon around Stannard Road, Alexander. He ran off chasing a deer and hasn't been seen by Ben and Christina since. He was last seen wearing an orange collar with an ID and a red collar with a big bell.

If you can help Blue get home to Ben and Christina call either (716) 572-2591 or (910) 382-0341.

A motor-vehicle accident with possible serious injuries is reported in the area of 11128 Alexander Road, Alexander.

The location is near Stroh Road.

Mercy Flight out of Buffalo is being put on in-air standby.

Alexander fire and ambulance and Mercy EMS dispatched.

UPDATE 12:03 p.m.: One patient, leg and back injury. The other driver out of vehicle and walking. Road is completely blocked.

UPDATE 12:10 p.m.: Injuries not believed to be serious. Mercy Flight can stand down.

UPDATE 12:31 p.m.: Alexander 10 is transporting one patient to UMMC.

UPDATE 1:15 p.m.: The patient is an 18-year-old female driver who was seat-belted and complained of left and right leg shin pain and back pain.

At $197 per user per year, the price Village of Alexander residents would be asked to pay for a new water system seemed quite a bargain to at least one person who attended an information session at the Alexander Fire Hall on Thursday night.

"When I compare this to my cable bill, and water is an essential of life and cable isn't, this is cheaper than my cable bill," said Dawn Townsend at the end of the hour-long meeting.

Consultants Steve Mountain and Jeff Smith laid out for the residents the engineering and financing of the project and then answered questions.

The goal of the project is to replace an aging and break-prone water system that is also susceptible to spreading contaminated water, with all new water lines from the water source in Attica to and around the Village.

In all, 30,000 feet of water main would be replaced with new eight-inch and 12-inch PVC pipe. The Village would also receive new fire hydrants, a new pump station, and new water meters at each residence.

As a result, asbestos would be eliminated from the system and the potential for lead contamination would be eliminated. Water quality would likely improve and residents -- and fire hydrants -- would receive increased water pressure.

The total cost of the project is an estimated at $3.97 million. While that's an estimate contingent on final plans being drawn up, Mountain said he feels comfortable with the estimate based on what he's observed with the Village of Elba recently undertaking a similar project.

Village officials have identified a water infrastructure grant that would cover $2,382,000 -- or 60 percent -- of the cost.

The Village would borrow $1,588,000 through a program that would reduce the interest rate by a third, making it approximately 2.26 percent over the 30-year life of the loan.

The annual debt service per water customer then would be $197 each.

Without the grant and without the low-interest loan, the cost would have been $568 per user per year.

While the Health Department has put the Village on notice about low levels of contamination, particularly for haloacetic acids (HAA), a byproduct of the water cleaning process, concentrations are low enough that there is no health threat.

The new pipes wouldn't trap HAA the way metal pipes do currently, thereby reducing the amount of the chemical in the water system.

The other benefit for residents is that the new system and new hydrants should help improve the insurance service rating, which should mean lower insurance premiums for homeowners.

"We're going to make sure everything we do increases this rating as high as we can," Mountain said.

Smith said Village officials will continue to pursue grants that may come available to help reduce the per-user cost further.

There was a water main break in the Village awhile back that cost $200,000 to repair. In that case, an emergency grant helped cover the repair cost, but Smith said Village residents can't always count on those kinds of funds being available to cover future breaks.

The new system should have a practical useful life of 80 to 100 years.

Alexander Central School hosted a Health and Wellness Fair on Thursday night sponsored by Alexander United Teachers.

Meghan Ripstein said the organization was looking for a way to give back to the community and she hoped families and vendors would find something at the fair that they could get involved in or find something missing from their lives.

She said the response was beyond expectations.

"We have a great turnout," she said. "We have so many incredible vendors here and so many people have given so much. I’m very impressed and overwhelmed by the support that we’ve gotten."

Press release:

The Village of Alexander will be hosting a public meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb 1, at the Alexander Rec Hall. The purpose of this meeting is to inform the public about plans for the possible replacement of the entire village water system.

Anyone receiving water from the Village of Alexander is encouraged to attend.

The Rec Hall is located at 10708 Alexander Road (Route 98), Attica.

The Alexander United Teachers Union will be hosting a Community Health and Wellness Fair, open to the public, on Thursday, Jan. 25.

It will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Alexander Central School’s High School Cafeteria, located at 3314 Buffalo St. in Alexander.

There will be sensory tables, gross motor challenges, food samples, face painting, balloon animals, bounce houses, giveaways and more. All ages are welcomed and there is no admission fee.  

This is the third biannual Health and Wellness Fair hosted by the Teacher’s Union.

There will be representatives from:

• Balanced Fitness
• Body Sense
• GCASA
• RRH UMMC
• Pampered Chef
• Cross roads
• Independent Living
• Rainbow Preschool
• YWCA
• GLOW
• Young Living
• Paige’s Bounce Houses
• Sheriff’s Department
• Genesee County Health Department
• Mental Health
• Fidelis Care
• Gateway Home
• Alexander Volunteer Fire Department
• Batavia Cross Training
• Pure Haven Essentials
• NYS Troopers
• Genesee County Parks and Forest
• Sweet-n-Fit
• Wegmans
• Tops
• Uncle Bud
• The Spa at Artemis
• Pembroke Family Medicine
• UNITS
• PTA
• Refuse 2 Lose Martial Arts
• Alexander teachers

Meghan Ripstein, AUT vice president

The weekend before last, I had the pleasure of attending the Alexander Volunteer Fire Department's annual installation and awards dinner.

The next morning, before I had a chance to post the pictures, I got sidetracked by the blockade and fire situation on Washington Avenue, then I had an afternoon event to attend. By the time I got home that night, it didn't even occur to me that I hadn't posted the pictures yet.

Apologies to the folks in Alexander. Here are the pictures.

For 2018, the Firematic Officers are: Chief Marshall Merle, Deputy Chief Paul Hirsch, 2nd Assistant Jim Burkhardt, 3rd Assistant Dean Hendershot, 4th Assistant Tom Green, Ambulance Captain Todd Fleenor, Ambulance Lieutenant Darlene Merle, Truck Captain Aaron Hirsch, Truck Lieutenant Carl Homer, Training Captain Sean McPhee, Training Lieutenant Ryan Hinz, and Safety Officer Nate Fix.

Administrative Officers: Dean Hendershott, president; Tom Green, VP; Amanda Donnelly, recording secretary; Jennifer Merle, financial secretary; Jackqueline Lowe, treasurer; Bob Spiers, chaplain; and trustees Sean McPhee, Darlene Merle, Deb Green, Amanda Donnelly, Ryan Hinz, Matt Pietrzykowski and Nate Fix.

Ladies Auxiliary Officers: Donna Rhodes, president; Ann Buckenmeyer, VP; Kate Goodman, secretary; Colette Guarino, treasurer; Marge Kelsey, flag bearer; Donna Rhodes, chaplain; and directors Sandy Homer; Marge Kelsey and Linda Higley.

Top photo: Ryan Hinz, Firefighter of the Year.

Jenny McPhee, EMS Provider of the Year.

James Burkhardt, EMS Non-medic of the Year.

John Meier received the President's Award.

A rollover accident is reported on Route 238 near Bowen Road, Alexander.

No word on injuries.

Alexander fire and ambulance dispatched.

UPDATE 11:55 p.m.: Minor injuries.