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All but a few of about 200 residents were on board with creating Water District #5 in the Town of Bethany, and after the Town Board approved a resolution for a revised water district Wednesday evening, those property owners have 30 days to challenge the move or let it ride into the next phase of development, Supervisor Carl Hyde Jr. says.

As town officials and residents work through a water shortage brought on by drought, all of them have said it has been the worst they have ever seen since living in Bethany, many of them for decades. Fill dates are being scheduled week by week from a tanker that was provided by the state Office of Emergency Management.

Santa came early again for a visit Friday morning in the form of a donation of four pallets of bottled water all ready to be distributed to residents, Supervisor Carl Hyde Jr. said. Operations Manager Eric Santos of Casella Waste Systems had heard about Bethany's plight and showed up with his crew and the much-welcomed donation of water at town hall, Hyde said.

Tuesday afternoon was unexpectedly busy and gleeful for Bethany Town Supervisor Carl Hyde Jr.

And while still being embroiled in town residents’ plight of dry wells and being in need of daily water supplies, he found something to smile about, he says.

“We’re on the list,” he said about the town’s placement on the state’s Water Infrastructure Improvement Award approvals. “My phone’s been ringing off the hook. I heard from Steve Hawley and J.W. Cook from the governor’s office. He called to say congratulations, you got your grant. I’m very happy.”

Declaring a State of Emergency hasn’t produced a miracle in terms of water for the dehydrated town of Bethany, Supervisor Carl Hyde Jr. says, but it has established the seriousness of what town residents are facing for their future needs.

Water donations kept coming to the Town of Bethany on Saturday, as 18 pallets of bottled drinking water were delivered by Food Link from Wegmans Food Markets and four pallets of drinking water came from Tops Friendly Markets to the town hall. 

Town Supervisor Carl Hyde Jr. has said

Water — whether there’s too much of it through flooding out west or not enough with the drought right here in Bethany, or the materials used for it, such as the case in Newark, NJ, which spent nearly $200 million to replace residents’ lead water lines, and now has become

With so much talk about global warming and climate change, that would seem to be the likely culprit for drought so extreme it has dried up dozens of wells in pockets of Genesee County.

However, Stephen Shaw, associate professor for environmental resources engineering at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, says it might be much more random than that.

Shaw has just completed a 20-year analysis and a report about dry wells across the entire northeast. He found that a drought in 2016 was “pretty intense,” especially across Western New York and Buffalo in particular. That didn’t match what these towns — the volume of households — in Genesee County have experienced, he said.

Genesee County's agriculture community came together at the Alexander Fire Hall on Saturday for the Celebration of Ag Dinner, with more than 300 people in attendance.

This was the 20th year for the event.

The Cupicha Family Farm of Bethany was this year's Conservation Farm of the Year.

The

If you’re planning to visit Genesee County Park  to see the total solar eclipse on April 8, you might want to take some refreshments, a blanket, and for certain — Alexander Hamilton.

County Highway officials have suggested charging $10 per vehicle for parking that day due to the expected surge in visitors and the need for additional staffing, overtime, traffic control, and related additional expenses. 

It was another busy news year in Genesee County, with lots of big stories, such as the ongoing saga of Ellicott Station, which even cast a shadow over a planned development for Pembroke.

That wasn't the only sign of economic growth in Pembroke, which is the site