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Wednesday, Dec. 7, Center Street Smoke House will celebrate 10 years in business.

To commemorate the occasion, co-owner Cregg Paul is planning a special menu at 1940s era prices -- draft beer for 50 cents and BBQ ribs, for example, at $3.41.

"Not a lot of places that have survived 10 years," Paul noted. "I've seen a number in Batavia come and go, come and go, come and go, so to be around for the 10 year mark is quite an accomplishment."

In 2000, Paul, his brother Scott and friend Tommy Freeman bought at auction a building on Center Street from the City of Batavia that was in a serious state of disrepair.

"It was one of the few free standing buildings that hadn't been torn down by urban renewal or anything else," Paul said, explaining the trio's interest in the location. "It was a great spot, great history, and it needed to be saved. It was about to cave in when we got it."

The renovation to the 1930s-era structure was total.  Workers spent nine months just removing everything from the interior, then contractors installed new wiring, pluming and heating and air, not to mention building a speciality kitchen for southern BBQ.

The group of friends realized their dream of owning and operating a southern BBQ in the heart of Western New York on Dec. 7 when Center Street opened its doors for the first time.

"Ten years ago when we were thinking about it, we realized there wasn’t really any kind of southern food around anywhere," Paul said. "There was nothing here. Rochester was limited. Buffalo was limited.  We always loved going down south and the food was the best part about going down south, so we thought we would bring that back up here."

The celebration started Wednesday at 4 p.m. and runs until 8 p.m.  Besides BBQ beef ribs, the menu will include at $3.41 each, mac & cheese, meat loaf, chicken and biscuit, with hamburgers going for 75 cents and cheeseburgers for 95 cents.

A two-car accident with injuries and blocking traffic is reported at Oak Orchard Road and West Saille Drive in the Town of Batavia.

Town of Batavia Fire Department and Mercy medics are responding.

UPDATE 5:25 p.m.: One person has chest pain. A basic life ambulance is also requested.

UPDATE 5:28 p.m.: Traffic is getting very backed up. A State Trooper is rerouting traffic on West Saille. A fire unit is going to head to the Thruway for further traffic control.

UPDATE 5:38 p.m.: A third ambulance is requested.

UPDATE 5:49 p.m.: So far, one patient is being taken to UMMC.

UPDATE 5:54 p.m.: A second patient is being transported to UMMC.

This information comes from Geoff Redick at WBTA.

A registered sex offender from Batavia will serve two to four years in state prison after sentencing today in Genesee County Court.

Marlek Holmes, 37, pleaded guilty about a month ago to Dissemination of Indecent Material to a Minor and Endangering the Welfare of a Child. Police said he sent an indecent text message to a 16-year-old girl and attempted to engage the girl in intercourse.

Holmes also pleaded guilty for Failure to Register and Failure to Verify his address, as is required by New York State law for all registered sex offenders.

Holmes will serve concurrent sentences on all four charges.

In court today, some details of a pre-sentence interview with a probation officer were released. In the interview, Holmes allegedly told an officer that he considers his sexual conduct "vanilla," and he said his actions are his "normal sexual conduct."

In a rare turn, Judge Robert Noonan did not address Holmes prior to sentencing.

Holmes had nothing to say to the judge.

Patrick Leslie Gugliuzza, 32, of Meadowbrook Terrace, Corfu, is charged with assault, 3rd. Gugliuzza is accused of punching another person in the face several times breaking his tooth and causing other injuries.

Austin L. Wester, 17, of 3373 Pratt Road, Batavia, is charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, escape, 3rd, and obstructing governmental administration. Wester turned himself in to Batavia PD on the above charges and was jailed on $250 bail.

Julious Murphy, 59, of 319 Ellicott St., Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd, and endangering the welfare of a child. Murphy is accused of striking a child multiple times with a belt causing bruising.

A 17-year-old, of East Bethany Le Roy Townline Road, is charged with petit larceny. The youth is accused of stealing a half dozen eggs from Tops Market in Le Roy.

Guadalupe Hernandez, 35, of Bank Street Road, Elba, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, failure to signal turn, speeding and unlicensed operation. Hernandez was stopped at 2:39 p.m., Saturday on Bank Street Road, Batavia, by Sgt. Brian Frieday.

Press release:

The Batavia Area Jaycees will be out driving around on Dec. 18th looking at all the homes that are decorated for the Holiday Season. Judging will take place within the City of Batavia limits.

The following categories will be looked at:

• Most Traditional

• Simple & Elegant

• Most Colorful

• Most Commercial

• Overall

This contest and the awards for it are meant to be given out as a friendly community project. If you have any questions about the contest, please leave the Jaycees a message at 343-5775.

Just in time to meet your Christmas dinner shopping needs, Save-A-Lot is opening in Downtown Batavia.

Planning opening is Dec. 21.

Victor Gautieri, of V.J. Gautieri Constructors, Inc., showed off the space for Save-A-Lot on Friday and said by next week, installation of shelves and cases will begin followed by inventory stocking.

"Save-A-Lot is definately going to fill a need," Gautieri said. "The demographics are perfet for a store like Save-A-Lot. It fits their model perfectly. We’re looking for a very, very successful store."

Gautieri said he expects the customers Save-A-Lot brings to the Ellicott Street location will mean more business for the shops in the immediate area.

"It’s going to be a beehive out in the parking lot," Gautieri said. "There’s going to be a lot of people in the area. We’re anticipating folks that are shopping here at Save-A-Lot, they’re going to go the banks, maybe go to Alberty Drugs, head over to Valle Jewelers, just hit this whole Court Street Plaza area, and hopefully extend out (to the rest of Downtown)."

The Gautieris are also hopeful that Save-A-Lot's success will help attract tenants to the additional 22,000 square feet of retail space available in the former Latina's/Jubilee/Montgomery Ward building.

The family owned construction and real estate company has been buying ads, putting out feelers, doing research and everything they can to find the right tenants for the west side of the building.

"We’re really pushing for retail," Gautieri said. "That’s what downtown Batavia needs is retail."

The 22,000 square feet of space can easily be partitioned into several storefronts, each with windows and doors on the west side of the building.

How the space will be partitioned off depends on what kinds of stores come forward and sign leases.

"We will tailor the space based on the particular tenant," Gautieri said. "It's going to be hard to tell (how the space will be configured). Everybody has their own requirements for their business. We’ll just build it to suit."

Right now the space is filled, both with all of the shelving and cases that will be moved into the Save-A-Lot store, along with leftover fixtures from Latina's. Once all of that is cleared out, Gautieri anticipates they can more effectively show the space to potential tenants.

The first "Taste of the Holidays" in Downtown Batavia wrapped up this afternoon with arts and crafts for the kids under the big tent on Jackson Street, along with live music by Kevin and Bart, and horse-carriage rides around downtown.

Volunteers from Habitat for Humanity were at the former Cristina's location on Ellicott Street this morning clearing out junk from the building so that construction can get started on a Restore location for Habitat.

Habitat for Humanity of Genesee County was given the property by former owner Chuck Brumstead, who decided to deed the one building still standing and the land to a local nonprofit group. Habitat was selected from among several applicants.

Brian Bishop, volunteer and communications coordinator for Habitat said the group recently finalized building permits and will now begin work inside the building to create the retail space necessary for Restore. He said no date has been set yet for when the store will open.

A one-car accident with injuries is reported on Route 33 in the vicinity of Wortendyke Road in East Pembroke's fire district.

Mercy medics and East Pembroke volunteer firefighters are responding.

UPDATE 1:09 p.m.: There are two people involved. One is complaining of back pain and the other is "more shook up than anything." The location is 3487 Wortendyke Road.

UPDATE 1:34 p.m.: East Pembroke is back in service.

Winter is setting in, but local photographer Marlene Morris still found some signs of life in her own backyard yesterday and sent in these pictures to share with us.

Several individuals are reportedly on Thorpe Street, Batavia, fighting.

Batavia PD just arrived on scene.

UPDATE 10:15 p.m.: Police are looking for a couple of named individuals.

After an opening Christmas carol, BID director Don Burkel was given the nod and he flipped the switch, officially lighting Downtown Batavia's Christmas tree. More than 100 people gathered around the tree then joined in singing several more carols to help kick off downtown's Christmas celebration, "Taste of the Holidays."

With the support of WBTA, city firefighters and assorted volunteers, the Salvation Army was able to collect hundreds of toys today for needy children in our community. Today's drop off point was at Ken Barrett's auto dealership. Gift givers can continue to drop off toys at Barrett's all week. WBTA's Dan Fischer said that this year many more girls toys came in than boys toys and so more toys for boys are still needed.

Dorothy M. Baker received the 28th annual Health and Humanitarian Award of Genesee County from the UMMC Foundation during a luncheon at Terry Hills on Friday afternoon.

Baker was recognized for her many years of volunteer work, including at the Jerome Center gift shop and kiosk, the tourism information booth, Office of the Aging, Veterans Administration and St. Joseph's Catholic Church. Baker logged 1,750 volunteer hours in 2010.

The first-ever Taste of the Holidays event in Downtown Batavia kicks off this evening.

Here's the schedule of events for this weekend:

Friday, Dec. 2 (5:30-9 p.m.)

• Lighting of the Christmas tree (5:30 p.m.)
• Sample tastings by area restaurants and caterers (6-9p.m.)
• Entertainment: The OHMS Band (6-9 p.m.)

Saturday, Dec. 3 (11 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.)

• Holiday activities for kids and families
• Divine Dance Group (11-11:20 a.m.)
• Entertainment: Kevin & Bart (12-3 p.m.)
• McMahon Irish School of Dance (1-1:20 p.m.)
• Horse & Wagon Rides Around Downtown (12-3 p.m.)

Also, this weekend, Le Roy has its Winterfest. For more information, click here.

This week the Genesee County Grand Jury issued the following indictments.

Mitchell J. Irish is accused of assault, 2nd, a class D felony, for allegedly recklessly causing serious physical injury to another person on June 9 by means of a deadly weapon and dangerous instrument, a motor vehicle.

In count two, he is accused of vehicular assault, 2nd, a class E felony, for allegedly operating a 1998 Chevrolet in an intoxicated condition on June 9 in the Town of Darien, thereby causing serious physical injury to another person.

In count three, he is accused of driving while intoxicated, a class E felony.

Christian J. Johnson is accused of driving a 2002 Cadillac while intoxicated, a class E felony, on July 23 on Pearl Street in the City of Batavia.

In count two, Johnson is accused of aggravated driving while intoxicated, a class E felony, for allegedly having a .18 BAC.

In count three, he is accused of allegedly operating the same vehicle without an interlock, a misdemeanor, although he was court-ordered to have an ignition interlock device on it.

Press release:

On behalf of city hall, the Batavia Development Corporation (BDC) has distributed a request for proposals to attract developer interest in the former Carr’s warehouse building located on Jackson Square in Batavia. The city has asked for proposals to convert an historic 1880 warehouse into a productive mixed-use, office, commercial or residential building.

“This 6,000-square-foot historic conversion project, considered small to some, could have a real impact in downtown Batavia,” said Jason Molino, city manager. The city acquired the property in 2010 through a delinquent tax foreclosure process.

Consultants have recently indicated a lack of Class A office space availability, a void in certain retail sectors and a gap in modern housing stock for professionals. Each of these uses would be permitted for this project under the city’s C3 zoning law.

Inciting revitalization efforts through public and private partnerships has become the norm for the City of Batavia.

Neighboring to the warehouse, other public-private efforts have resulted in the redeveloped Center Street Smokehouse restaurant and the 19-25 Jackson Street mixed-use redevelopment by the Valle family to house their jewelry store. Habitat for Humanity also acquired a distressed residential property though a unique public-private arrangement with the city.

On a grand scale, the Mancuso Business Development Group wrapped up its multimillion dollar Masse Gateway redevelopment project to improve the product mix, accessibility and infrastructure to the century-old 30-acre industrial site. The city had secured a $1,500,000 RESTORE NY Communities grant that was redistributed to the developer upon satisfactory completion of the project.

“Substantial renovations to more than 100,000 square feet of flex-industrial space would not have been possible without the city’s support,” said Tom Mancuso, president, Mancuso Business Development Group.

Earlier this year, the city submitted a NY Main Street grant request that is expected to leverage a $275,000 private investment to improve 30 downtown commercial and residential properties. And just last month the city applied for a $100,000 grant through the consolidated funding application process to foster job creation at the new Save-A-Lot store prepping to open after considerable renovations to a longtime vacant building. Both of these projects anticipate award announcements this month.

The City of Batavia serves as the regional economic center for Genesee County situated between Buffalo and Rochester at Thruway exit 48. Four State Routes (5, 33, 63 and 98) traverse the city and provide easy access for both consumers and workers. Daily traffic counts top 40,000 vehicles and more than 3,000 people are employed within walking distance of the featured redevelopment site. To request a proposal package, contact the Batavia Development Corporation at 585-345-6380 or jpacatte@BataviaDevelopmentCorp.org.

Joshua Jones, 20, of Sanders Road, Stafford, is charged with leaving the scene of a property damage accident. Jones is accused of his truck hitting a vacuum pump at a car wash on Pearl Street and then driving off. Jones turned himself in to Batavia PD after seeing a picture of his truck on The Batavian. Officer James DeFreze said Jones contacted him a very short time after the picture was posted and said he didn't know he had struck anything. "He was very cooperative," DeFreze said.

Michael David Pacer, 24, of Lake Street, Le Roy, is charged with felony DWI and driving with a BAC of .08 or greater. Pacer was arrested at 2:31 a.m., Thursday, by Deputy John Weis following an investigation into a report of a car parked on Sweetland Road, Stafford.