24 2022
Alumnus publishes collection of essays on ‘characters’ of Alfred U
PAGES 5 – 7
PAGE 12
allegany
FREE
community
JUNE
Graduation Photos for Alfred/Almond and Wellsville
county
Alfred • Allentown • Alma • Andover • Angelica • Belfast • Belmont • Bolivar • Caneadea • Ceres • Cuba • Filmore • Friendship • Genesee Houghton • little genesee • portville • richburg • Rushford • Scio • shinglehouse • Ulysses • Wellsville • west clarksville • Whitesville
Joe Curcio honored as Belfast Citizen of Year BY KATHRYN ROSS
BELFAST — Giving back to the community is what Joe Curcio is doing with his renovation of seven Main Street buildings and his ongoing efforts to purchase the Genesee Canal warehouse. At a recent dinner organized by the Belfast Lions Club, members named Curcio Citizen of the Year. Although he has traveled the world and lived across the country his interests and his heart remain in Belfast, where he grew up, graduated from high school in 1984 and where his family still lives. “I lived in a lot of populated areas, but I long for the environment you used to see in the past and I think Belfast can be that. We have all the pieces,” he said. Once the supervisor of the Town of Belfast, in recent years Curcio has gone a long way into making that dream come true. He has purchased several buildings on Main Street, which he is renovating for both residential and commercial purposes. The buildings, built in the late 19th or early 20th centuries, need infrastructure improvements — water, sewer and electric work as well as roof and structural improvements, which are not highly visible but have been
Photo by Kathryn Ross Joe Curcio (left) was named Belfast Citizen of the Year by the Lions Club. Sheree Gielow presented the award.
ongoing with the help of local contractors. The effort started when the late John Hasper asked if Curcio was interested in purchasing his building. Curcio was and his first project began in what he calls A-block in honor of his deceased daughter Amanda. Curcio and his late wife Jody continued the process with his wife’s dream of creating an artist’s residency program. That’s the building with stick figures painted on the second story windows. Curcio’s wife painted the figures. “I’m doing this because I believe the heart of America is in small rural communities,” he said. There is already a
successful jewelry business among the block of buildings and Curcio has an apartment in an-
other building. He said that he would love to bring a micro brewery to the block and hopes
to get permission from the town to create a parking area at the rear of the buildings. He owns buildings 25, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39 and 41. Recently taking on a project near and dear to the hearts of Lions Club members, Curcio is in negotiations to purchase the Canal warehouse building, which is also near and dear to Curcio, who grew up near the building and played there as a kid. He hopes to stabilize and preserve the building and work with the community to “see what can be done with it,” he said. After high school, Curcio attended Houghton College, earning a degree in business administration. He continued his studies at Alfred
State, where he earned a degree in engineering. He then spent six years in the U.S. Navy — he was trained as a nuclear reactor operator. He traveled the world on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise, which contained eight nuclear reactors. After his stint in the Navy, Curcio worked at West Valley in Cattaraugus County but was later hired to manage projects for a variety of companies in Albany. He worked in Hanford, Washington, cleaning up 500 square miles of nuclear waste. From there he went to South Carolina to manage a company developing pellets to handle waste and, finally, to Richmond, Kentucky, Joe Curcio continued on PAGE 2
Vintage autos in Great Race stop in Wellsville BY KATHRYN ROSS
WELLSVILLE — A good thing for everyone. When the antique and vintage automobiles started rolling past the Alfred State College sign a little after 12:30 p.m. June 20 everyone from the race organizers, government and college officials, car owners and hundreds of spectators agreed the 2022 Great Race running through Wellsville and Allegany County was a great thing.
Starting from Binghamton early in the morning, a circuitous route brought the 127 race cars into Wellsville from the south on Route 19. Leaving Wellsville via Route 417, they were scheduled to spend the night in Erie, Pa., as they make their way across country to Fargo, N.D. While efforts were made to have the race route travel Main Street, race officials refused to alter the route. Even so, Allegany County Legislature Chairman Phillip Stock-
in and new president of Alfred State College Steve Mauro, along with Mike Ronan of Alfred State’s Automotive Trades Department, said the route through Wellsville and the county was beneficial. “It is a great thing for the county. It is good to have the racers see how wonderful and beautiful the county is,” Stockin said. Mauro added, “We’re really pleased to be a stop on the Great Race Route. It is good for the community and good
for the college,.” Ronan said the Great Race stop is good for the college because it brings nationwide attention to the school. “It gives our school national exposure.” Jeff Stumb, director of the Great Race had a special reason for steering the race through the county. He explained, “When we decided that the route would be coming through this part of Great Race continued on PAGE 2
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