Allegany County Community Source 10-7-2022

Wellsville-area county legislators want to restore airport funding

WELLSVILLE —

Sitting in an airport hangar late last month, Allegany County leg islators and residents discussed the need for restoring funding to the Wellsville Municipal Airport in the county’s upcoming budget.

The discussion took place at the County Legislature District IV (Wellsville/Andover) meeting Sept. 27 with legislators Steve Havey and Gary Barnes in the hangar at the airport, where the town board has held its monthly meetings since moving out of the municipal building on Main Street in the village. Several former and current local officials and citizens also attended.

Wellsville Town Su pervisor Shad Alworth, with an assist from Village Trustee Mike Roeske, brought up the subject of restoring county funding for the airport. Since its incep tion it had been solely funded by town and village taxpayers until 2019. That year, and in 2020, the county legisla ture included $50,000 in its budget to help fund the airport.

In 2021, due to COVID-19, the funding was suspended, Barnes said. Both he and Havey support restoring county funding for the airport.

“Back then (2020 and ‘21) we had legislators from across the county who understood how

important the airport is to the county,” Barnes said. “But we have a whole group of new legislators now that we (Barnes, Havey and James Rumfelt) will have to convince that the airport is an asset for the entire county,“ Barnes said.

Barnes managed the Wellsville Municipal Airport for 30 years be fore retiring and becom ing a county legislator. So, when asked why the airport is important to the residents of, for instance, Angelica, he quickly responded.

“There is a busi nessman in Angelica who employs over 100 people,” he said. “He lives in Florida and each month when he comes to Angelica to check on his business, he flies into our airport. There are businesspeople all over the county who do the same thing. The airport supports the economy of the county. Dresser-Rand and Air Preheater businessmen were always flying in and out of the airport.”

Havey added that when he was manager of Kmart, corporate offi cials would routinely fly into Wellsville.

“When business owners come to look at establishing a business in the county, they fly into the Wellsville air port,” he said. “It makes a good impression.”

Barnes noted that several local business es have planes at the

airport, pointing to an Otis-Minnesota airplane parked behind the area where the meeting was taking place.

“I can’t tell you how many politicians have flown into this airport who probably wouldn’t have come here if there hadn’t been an airport,” he said.

In the late 1980s, then Gov. Mario Cuomo landed at the airport and drove to meetings in Alfred. In 2001, after 9/11, Gov. George Pata ki sent his plane to pick up identification kits at the Wellsville airport.

While serving as a U.S. senator for New York, Hillary Clinton landed at the airport while on a fact-finding trip to a Belmont dairy farm.

“The Wellsville Municipal Airport is

an asset for the entire county,” Havey said, “and we will work hard to restore funding by convincing our fellow legislators how import ant it is for the econom ic development of the county.”

Constructed in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, the current air

port, known as Taran tine Field, replaced an airfield located north of Bolivar Road on the line between the town and village of Wellsville. At its present location on West Hill, the Wells ville Municipal Airport covers 382 acres at an elevation of 2,124 feet above sea level.

It has one east-west, 5,302-foot-long asphalt runway equipped with a localizer instrument approach and a medi um-intensity approach lighting system. In the most recent FAA findings the airport averages 25 flights per day, or more than 9,000 per year.

Help needed for auction to benefit SPCA in Allegany County

BY KATHRYN ROSS

WELLSVILLE — A recent development in Wellsville has created a logistical nightmare for the annual SPCA Theme Basket Auction and the organization needs help to get the event off the ground.

For the last few years, the SPCA Serving Allegany County has held its annual auction

in the Kmart building to raise funds to sup port its shelter animals. There they were able to accept donations, wrap baskets and display them all at the same site. This year, Run nings is moving into the building and is current ly renovating it toward an expected opening date in the spring.

The auction, the SP CA’s largest fundraiser,

was suddenly out of a home and assembly area.

The middle school gym at Wellsville Central School on State Street is taking in the auction Oct. 14-15 — but that isn’t the end of the problem.

The baskets and donations still must be collected, wrapped, and labeled. SPCA president Lynda Pruski said a

vacant building in the Dollar General plaza on the Bolivar Road will serve as the staging area and from there the baskets will have to be transported to the gym Friday afternoon.

“Typically, we get people who bring in their donations later in the week,” she said. “We need them to bring

The Wellsville Municipal Airport serves all of Allegany County, according to local county legislators and officials.

in their donations as early as possible, so that we can get them wrapped and ready for transport.”

There are several sites, in addition to the

Bolivar Road building where donations may be dropped off — First Citizens Community Bank in Wellsville and ALCO Federal Cred it Union branches in

Wellsville, Belmont, Friendship and Cuba.

If you cannot drop off a basket during the day, call (585) 593-2200 or email SPCAallegany@ gmail.com and they will pick it up, or go online at www.SPCAAllegany.

org

For more informa tion, follow on Face book for updates.

Volunteers are also needed to wrap the baskets and to load and unload baskets and set up tables in the gym the afternoon of Oct. 14.

The problem of transporting an aver age of 400 baskets from the Bolivar Road to the school is being eased by the donation of a couple of car haulers

thanks to the generosity of Dr. Paul Axtel and his wife Loraine and Kevin Murphy. But loading and unloading help will be needed.

The Annual Theme Basket Auction is the most important fund raiser of the year for the SPCA, which receives no governmental support and operates solely on donations and grants.

“The one thing people don’t realize about our SPCA is that our funding comes totally from donations and grants. We rely on volunteers and without them we couldn’t exist.” Pruski said.

The SPCA Serving Allegany County has been in existence since 1911 and was founded in Cuba. It moved to Wellsville in the 1970s and a few years ago it moved into a state-ofthe-art shelter in the town of Amity after an extensive fundraising campaign. It currently houses more than 50 dogs and 100 cats and

kittens It also operates a low cost spay/neuter clinic at the facility.

Throughout the COVID epidemic, hun dreds of dogs and cats were adopted from the facility, so many that the shelter was able to ac cept animals from other shelters in other states.

“We hope to be able to help shelters hit by the recent storms, but right now we are at capacity with recent cases we have taken in 27 pot-bellied pigs and dozens of chickens,” Pruski said.

All the funds from the Theme Basket Auc tion goes to support the animals in the shelter.

The Auction will start at 6 p.m. and end at 9 p.m. Friday and reopens from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Winners will be called to pick up their items.

Along with the hun dreds of baskets, there will be many special ty items including a specially constructed, roofed, and insulated doghouse, and a pizza

box full of dough of the monetary kind. The Man Cave and the Kid’s Corner will both be back. Three food trucks are also going to be in the parking lot for visitors to enjoy.

“As always, we will have an array of many creative and unique Theme Baskets, so there is always something for everyone. We thank everyone for their continued support of our furry friends at the SPCA,” Pruski said.

Photo provided Lynda Pruski, president of the SPCA in Allegany County, is looking for help for this year’s theme basket auction.

No one is immune to breast cancer. Even men can be diagnosed with breast cancer, though the threat of the disease looms much larger for women. In fact, the World Cancer Research Fund International reports that breast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer in women across the globe. However, the World Health Organization indicates that, as of the end of 2020, roughly 7.8 million women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer in the previous five years were alive. So while no woman wants to receive a breast cancer diagnosis,

millions of women worldwide are living testaments to the effectivenesss of treatments for the disease.

There are various things women can do to increase their chances of surviving a breast cancer diagnosis. Recognizing one’s own risk of developing the disease is especially important, as it may compel women to prioritize screening and make changes that could reduce their cancer risk.

There are many risk factors for breast cancer, and ethnicity is one of them. Data from the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society

indicates that breast cancer rates and survival rates differ among ethnic groups. Though the relationship between ethnicity and breast cancer is complicated and intertwined with other risk factors, data from the NCI and ACS indicates that incidence and death rates are higher among certain ethnic groups than others.

• Highest incidence rate: White, non-Hispanic

• Lowest incidence rate: Korean American

• Highest death rate: African American

• Lowest death rate: Chinese American

The MD Anderson Cancer Center notes that socioeconomic factors such as education and income level and access to medical screening and services undoubtedly affect incidence and death rates among different ethnicities. But other factors, such as cultural practices and beliefs within certain ethnic groups, also affect those rates. Women concerned about breast cancer are urged to prioritize screening for the disease and discuss factors such as diet, physical activity and cultural practices to determine if there’s anything they can do to lower their cancer risk.

Allegany Arts Association seeks artists to help celebrate 40th year

WELLSVILLE — The Allegany Arts Associa tion is asking all artists to help celebrate its 40th anniversary.

The AAA was founded in 1982 by a group of artists and enthusiasts who wanted to see access to the arts in the county expanded. For the last 40 years the organization has worked to develop programming that offers art activities to children through its free sum mer arts program, and programming at the Christmas and winter breaks.

It also helps sponsor artistic programs for adults. In recent months it has offered sponsor ships for art programs, organized a poetry review, and helped to

promote other artistic programs in music and dance.

Beginning at the end of the month, it will hold an art exhibition at the David A. Howe Li brary, from Oct. 27-Nov.

17. All area artists are being asked to partic ipate in the event by exhibiting their work.

All forms of art from ce ramics to photography and sculpture will be accepted at the discre tion of the AAA.

For those interested in displaying their art work pre-registration by Oct. 15 is required. The show schedule and reg istration forms are avail able at alleganyartsas sociation.com and at participating locations.

Email alleganyartsasso ciation@hotmail.com for

more information.

The artwork will be on display in the Exhibi tion Room at the library. Instruction for submis sions requirements may also be found at alle ganyartsassocition.com.

“We are looking for ward to partnering with our local creators, the David A Howe Library, the Fountain Arts Center Orchestra Ensemble, and Steps Dance Studio to make this exhibit a festive cultural event for

everyone to enjoy,” said AAA President Sheila Kalkbrenner.

There will be an opening reception from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27 at the library with refresh ments and entertain ment courtesy of Steps Dance Studio and the Fountain Arts Orchestra Ensemble. Other events are being planned to take place throughout the run of the exhibition and will be advertised as they are scheduled.

home improvement

ing a 30% credit for battery storage systems.

What is an energy storage system?

(BPT) — With rising energy costs and extreme weather becoming almost com monplace, many home and business owners are worrying about every thing from being able to afford their utility bills to lengthy power outages. According to an analysis of U.S. government data by the Associated Press, outag

es due to severe weather have doubled over the last 20 years, straining the country’s aging elec trical grid and leading to 40 states experiencing increasingly frequent extended outages.

Efforts to maintain the power grid and up grade aging equipment are leading to higher utility costs nationwide. With the increase in

electricity costs and the vulnerability of being dependent on an aging power grid, home and business owners can benefit from having more control over their energy. The solution: installing an energy storage system.

Climate legislation recently signed into law by the president is in centivizing the addition of an energy storage system to homes and businesses. Home and business owners will be able to benefit from a number of energy-sav ing incentives, includ

Simply put, an ener gy storage system (ESS) stores power generated from any energy source such as solar panels, a home standby generator or the power grid itself. That power can be used immediately or stored for later use. When it’s time to use the energy, the energy storage sys tem delivers the power from the batteries, even during a grid failure, to keep you and your home or business safe.

For example, the SimpliPHI™ Energy Storage System from Briggs & Stratton can store, manage and con trol energy from multi ple generation sources,

giving users both power security and daily cost savings. Home and business owners are em powered to choose how to use this backup pow er, whether it’s during grid outages, or to charge batteries during non-peak hours when energy is cheaper, and use to offset electrical loads during high rate hours instead of using power from the grid - or to go off-grid entirely.

The SimpliPHI ESS is a scalable, versatile, smart investment that provides reliable energy security for homes and businesses.

How does an ESS work?

The state-of-theart technology of the SimpliPHI ESS achieves seamless integration

with three core com ponents: A 6 kilowatt (kW) SimpliPHI Hybrid Inverter, a 4.9 kWh SimpliPHI Battery and the EnergyTrak™ man agement software. The hybrid inverter works

home improvement

seamlessly with the batteries to deliver an efficient, easy-to-use ex perience for home and business owners. The system offers excep tional flexibility and is ideal for those looking for backup power, or to subsidize utility costs during high-rate hours, or to run their system completely off-grid. Both the hybrid invert er and battery can be installed indoors or outdoors.

Controlling your home’s energy usage in the palm of your hand

Taking control of a home or business’s energy usage has never been easier, thanks to intuitive ESS management systems like EnergyTrak. The EnergyTrak monitoring and control software platform allows users to manage energy usage through a streamlined mobile app that deliv ers real-time status and updates, plus intuitive

control over the entire ESS to meet your energy needs. EnergyTrak lets users know their Sim pliPHI ESS is providing the critical energy they need, wherever they are. With easy-to-un derstand prompts and notifications - plus local and remote system access - the app is the simplest, most accessi ble interface for energy storage systems.

Is energy storage right for your home?

If you think your home could benefit from using an ESS but you’re still not sure, ask yourself:

• Are you interested in having backup power to get through grid outages?

• Would you like to maximize utility savings by minimizing or eliminating your utility bill?

• Would you prefer a net-zero home so you don’t have a utility bill?

• Are you currently off-grid?

• Do you have existing solar power without batteries so that you lose your solar generation when the utility fails?

Energy storage is better for you - and the planet

Being able to store energy for future use not only provides peace of mind, but it’s also better for the planet.

ESS owners can store some of their solar-gen erated (or other forms of) energy and use that during peak times of day instead of buying their local utility’s

expensive fossil fuel electricity. This helps the environment in turn by reducing the utility company’s need to buy expensive electricity from fossil-fueled pow er plants to meet peak demand.

Battery energy storage provides users with a sense of security, prevents the hassle and expense of coping with power outages, and can help you to save money on utility costs.

Learn more about how you can take control of your home or business’s energy usage with an ESS at Brigg sAndStratton.com.

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Women’s rights march planned for Saturday in Wellsville

BY KATHRYN ROSS

WELLSVILLE — Saturday will mark the 106th day since the Supreme Court struck down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, deal ing what many women believe was a crushing blow to their rights and security.

On Saturday, all around the country women will march and rally to show how they feel about that decision and how they intend to make this coming elec tion day their “indepen dence day.”

Locally, women are invited to join the Women’s Wave, Rally and March in Wellsville to show, as one orga nizer said, that women are not going to let their hard-earned rights be taken away.

“This event was organized partly by the same women who orga nized the march against gun violence in June,” said Patty MacEwan one of the organizers and speakers.

It will start at 1 p.m.

Saturday in the Fassett Greenspace, located on Main Street at the corner of Fassett and Main.

After the speakers, the march will proceed to

Pearl Street and return to the Greenspace.

Clarifying who should participate, MacEwan said, “This isn’t just for Democratic women. It is for any woman who feels she has had her rights taken away. It is for anyone who feels it is wrong to have their human rights taken away. It is also for men because men of quality do not fear equality.”

Organizers state, “Locally, we are united in our commitment to freedom and dignity for all Americans and putting failed ‘leaders’ on notice — from Su preme Court Justices, to candidates running for office, to sitting elected officials on both sides of the aisle — we will not stop marching, protest ing, voting, running for office until ALL of our freedoms are protected.”

The organizers emphasized, “We are demanding the freedom to decide how, when, and if we bear children. The freedom to raise children free from the terror of gun violence. The freedom to vote and participate fully and completely in a functioning democracy. The freedom to learn

history and to express that history without book banning and the freedom to live in a country where we are invested in everyone’s prosperity.”

Additional speakers for the event are Rebec ca Weaver Hamm of Alfred, who will speak on family and equality; Victoria Hart, BSN, NP, speaking on reproduc tive rights; Lee Marcus Muse of Hornell, speak ing on “A Dream of Truth, Youth and Ruth”; Sarah Trumpp, speaking on “Living, Voting and Dreaming Beyond Bi naries”; and MacEwan, speaking on equality.

Those attending are invited to bring a sign or come early and make one at the site.

THURSDAY

Tossed Salad w/ French Dressing, Lasagna, Steamed Broccoli, Warmed WG

Butter, Peaches

Photo provided

Patty MacEwan, a longtime activist, helped organize the Allegany County women’s march set for Saturday in Wellsville.