batavia

There is reportedly a fight among three or four people at 15 Center St., the City Church Youth Center. Law enforcement is responding as are medics. One person was stabbed.

UPDATE 8:16 p.m.: A male, age 22 or 23, is being taken to UMMC with a cut on his left cheek that is "longer than it is deep." Also, police call for firefighters to respond to wash away blood on the sidewalk. City Engine 12 is responding.

UPDATE 8:25 p.m.: Engine 12 has accomplished its mission and is back in service.

UPDATE 10:20 p.m. (by Howard): Officer Dan Coffey, tonight's shift commander, said at about 9:30 p.m. that officers were still conducting interviews and "sorting things out." No arrests, and there's no description of a suspect available.

From 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 19, the City of Batavia Historic Preservation Commission, in conjunction with the Landmark Society of Genesee County and The New York Landmarks Conservancy, will host free guided walking tours of some of Batavia's historic architecture.

May is National Preservation Month. The guided tour will bring guests to various locations that will highlight the historic significance of the “hidden gems” as well as explain the history behind some buildings that are now “lost treasures.”

The sites include GO ART!, the Masonic Temple, City Church, the Cary Mansion location, the First Presbyterian Church, the First Baptist Church, a couple of houses on East Main Street, St. James Episcopal Church, the Richmond Mansion location, the Richmond Memorial Library, and the Ross Street Historic District.

The First Presbyterian Church, locally designated as historic, and St. James church, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Their participation in the event is part of The New York Landmarks Conservancy’s Second Annual Sacred Sites Open House weekend.

The Cary Mansion location will be receiving an historic marker through the help and research of City Historian Larry Barnes, made possible by a grant from the Pomeroy Foundation of Syracuse.

Guests will also get to enjoy refreshments as well as a special organ performance by Charles Bradley. However, you MUST reserve your space for the FREE guided tour. Call Marcia Gann at 343-8218 to reserve your space.

To close off the event, The Landmark Society of Genesee County will host its 39th Annual Preservation Awards & Dinner that evening at 6 p.m. at St. James. The dinner will honor property owners for the thoughtful care and/or restoration work they have done.

The cost is $15/person. Anyone interested in attending the dinner must call Lucine Kauffman at 757-2455 or Laurie Oltramari at 343-1457 by Saturday, May 12th.

A tree in a field of dandelions on Wortendyke Road, Batavia.

The dedication of the peace garden in Batavia on Sunday will draw a quiet protest from some local residents, according to Mike Barrett, owner of Barrett's Batavia Marine.

The problem, Barrett said, is that the peace garden is a little too closely linked with the United Nations and Barrett and others are no fan of the U.N.

One of Barrett's current concerns is a U.N. push to create an international treaty on the trade of guns, and while supporters of the treaty say it merely deals with the illicit sale of guns, groups such as the NRA fear it's really an attempt to circumvent the 2nd Amendment (Wikipedia).

"(The peace garden is) a noble effort," Barrett said, "but when one of the principles of the peace garden gets an award from the United Nations and they're going to have a torch run via the U.N. from Buffalo to Albany, that concerns us. We don't want anything to do with the U.N."

Barrett is referring to Paula Savage, a Batavia native who organized the first peace garden in Ottawa and is now part of the International Peace Garden Foundation.

Savage was recently honored by the U.N. for her peace garden efforts.

The Batavia garden is adjacent to the Holland Land Office Museum on West Main Street and the protest is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. on the opposite side of the street.

"It will be peaceful. There will be no bullhorns," Barrett said. "We're going to have an informational protest to show that the the peace garden is associated with the United Nations and that we're dead set against what the U.N. does."

This week, a group of Tibetan monks created a sand mandala in the forum at Genesee Community College. The mandala symbolized love and compassion.

Hundreds of people came through the Batavia campus over the past four days to see the creation of the mandala.

Part of the spiritual message of the mandala is that when it's completed, it's destroyed, to symbolize the temporary nature of life. 

The ceremony included chants and then the mandala was swept into piles and a portion placed into baggies for members of the audience to receive, and a portion placed into ceremonial vessels and then carried to the Tonawanda Creek where the sand was dumped into the flowing water.

Previously: Mandala being created by monks at GCC meant to symbolize love and compassion

If you're unable to view the slide show below, click here.

A caller reports seeing flames inside a greenhouse at Pudgie's Lawn and Garden on West Main Street Road, Batavia.

Chiefs on scene report nothing showing.

UPDATE: A chief confirms an LED light inside the building -- no fire.

It's true, one of New York's premier pitcher's will make a final rehab start with the Empire Yankees on Sunday against the Red Sox farm club.

Unfortunately for Batavia baseball fans, the game has been shifted to Frontier Field in Rochester.

UPDATE: Additional information about tickets just in:

All fans holding tickets to the regularly scheduled Yankees--PawSox game in Batavia on Sunday may exchange their tickets for the same game at Frontier Field. The exchange must be made by 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Dwyer Stadium Box Office in Batavia or the Frontier Field Box Office in Rochester. If any ticket holder can not attend Sunday’s game at Frontier Field, they can exchange their ticket for the Yankees game on June 12 in Batavia or any regular season Muckdogs game.

On Tuesday, voters approved the proposed budget for the Richmond Memorial Library in Batavia. This will mean a 3-cent increase in the library tax per $1,000 of assessed property value.

The budget passed by a four-to-one margin:

Yes: 252
No: 63

Also, library Board Member Beth Stich was reelected to another five-year term with 293 votes. She was unopposed.

For more information about the library's services, visit www.batavialibrary.org.

Press release:

Congresswoman Kathy Hochul today announced that Siena Pullinzi, a 10th-grader at Batavia High School, has won the New York 26th Congressional District Art Competition with her work entitled “What’s on the Inside.” The work is a self-portrait consisting of pencil, watercolor and ink.

“I want to congratulate Siena for a job well done, as well as all the students who took part in this competition,” Congresswoman Hochul said. “The arts play an essential part of education and I am proud that so many Western New York students exercised their creativity. While I would have loved to have displayed all these pieces of art in the halls of the Capitol for the next year, we could only have one.”

Pullinzi added, “I’m so surprised I won because some of my friends submitted pieces that were really good. I’m so excited. Yay!”

Over 800 residents of the 26th District voted in this year’s competition, choosing Pullinzi’s artwork to be displayed in the halls of the Capitol for the next year. Pullinzi will also now have the opportunity to visit Washington, D.C., to participate in a ceremony for Congressional Art Competition winners. A photo of Pullinzi’s work can be seen here.

The Congressional Art Competition, now in its 30th year, was created to recognize and encourage artistic talent in each congressional district across the nation. High school students in each district are encouraged to submit original artwork – photographs, oil, watercolor, and mixed-media works are all permitted.

Michael Timothy Van Houter, 21, of East Main Road, Le Roy, is DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, failure to reduce speed, driving left of pavement markings in a no-passing zone and failure to stop at stop sign. Van Houter was charged following the investigation into a motor-vehicle accident at 11:24 p.m., Tuesday, on Perry Road, Le Roy. The investigation was conducted by Deputy Jason Saile.

Rea Anne Leaha Wimmer, 19, of Broadway Road, Darien, is charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs and moving from lane unsafely. Wimmer was stopped at 12:40 p.m., Tuesday, on Clinton Street Road, Batavia, by Sgt. Thomas Sanfratello.

Austin L. Wester, 17, of 3373 Pratt Road, Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd, and criminal possession of stolen property, 4th. Wester is accused of violating an order of protection. During the investigation, Wester allegedly admitted to possessing property he knew was stolen. Wester was jailed without bail pending an appearance in Batavia City Court today.

Latoya D. Jackson, 26, of Batavia, is charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Jackson is accused of screaming profanities in Batavia City Court and then struggling with deputies in the lobby of the Genesee County Courthouse. Jackson was jailed on $2,000 bail.

"House to House: an Epic Memoir of War," a book cowritten by Batavia resident David Bellavia and released in 2007, will get the Hollywood treatment.

Deadline Hollywood reports that Rich Middlemas, who won an Oscar this year for the  documentary Undefeated will produce the film.

Bellavia won a Bronze Star and Silver Star and the book is based on his experiences in 2004 in the second battle for Fallujah.

Currently, Bellavia is running for Congress and is locked in a GOP primary battle with Chris Collins for the NY-27 District.

Yankees ace Andy Pettitte, rehabbing from an injury, is going to make one more start for one of the Yankees' minor league teams before returning to the big club, probably on Saturday or Sunday.

Which team Pettitte will start for hasn't been announced, but one possibility is the Empire Yankees.

The Triple A farm club is playing three games at Dwyer Stadium this weekend against Pawtucket, the farm team of the Boston Red Sox.

So ... there is some chance, perhaps a good chance, that one of the premier pitchers in baseball and a likely Hall of Famer, will be pitching in Batavia on Saturday or Sunday.

Yankees -- Red Sox, maybe Pettitte, warmer weather ... it could be a very good weekend for baseball in Batavia.

Town of Batavia firefighters are scouring the Clarion Hotel on Park Road for any signs of fire after alarms sounded there about 15 minutes ago. The alarm system has been silenced and will likely be reset shortly. They have found nothing so far, other than the odor of cigarette smoke in the northwest stairwell, which a firefighter on scene said "I believe that's associated with employees."

The hotel is now allowed to "be repopulated" and people can go about their business. Alarms sounded for the fifth floor, the penthouse, the duct work and the first-floor atrium.

"Wow, and nothing showing -- how 'bout that!" said the chief in amazement.

UPDATE 5:45 p.m.: The alarm system has been reset.

UPDATE 5:57 p.m.: Town of Batavia is back in service.

Genesee Community College welcomes James Sunser, EdD, as the fourth president with inauguration ceremonies beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 5. They will be held in the Stuart Steiner Theatre on the Batavia campus, located at One College Road.

The keynote address will be delivered by Onondaga Community College President Debbie Sydow, with special remarks by State University of New York Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, and greetings by numerous dignitaries.

All this week, a number of events and activities that are free and open to the public are scheduled to welcome President Sunser.

For a complete list visit: http://www.genesee.edu/gcc/inauguration/events.cfm

The auditorium at UMMC's Cary Hall (next to the YMCA) is all set up for important patient care -- with all of the care stations, instruments and devices of good medical care ready to help heal any teddy bears or dolls that are brought in today.

The event is UMMC's annual Teddy Bear and Doll Clinic, designed to give pre-schoolers, kindergarteners and first-graders an understanding of what is involved in medical care in case they or anybody else they know needs significant medical care.

The clinic is sponsored by Healthy Living Department and is open until 5 p.m.

A structure fire is reported at 4 Kibbe Ave. in the city. Batavia Fire Department is on scene.

UPDATE 7:32 a.m.: This was apparently a very small fire, which is now out. Ladder 15 and Engine 12 are back in service.

Voters in the Batavia City School District will be asked to approve a 1.99-percent increase in the tax levy May 15, Superintendent Margaret Puzio said Tuesday following a public hearing on the proposed 2012-13 school district budget.

The budget -- at least on paper -- increases spending to $40,086,732, up $720,687 over the previous year.

But Puzio said the increase can really be attributed to changes in accounting rules.

In fact, district spending will decrease, according to Gary Stich (top photo), who made part of the budget presentation.

The 1.99-percent increase in the levy is still well under -- according to state formulas -- the property tax cap. The district could have increased the levy by 2.59 percent and still been below the cap, Puzio said.

The budget will include an allocation of $330,000 in anticipated state aid to cash reserves, which have beed depleted in recent years because of increased mandated costs and less state aid.

At one time, the reserve was $1.5 million. This year it dropped to $55,000.

The reserve is necessary to help cover expenses when there's no revenue coming in during the summer months, or to deal with budget-breaking, unannounced cuts in state aid, which has happened at least once in recent years.

One of the biggest mandated expenses for the district is payment into the state's teacher retirement fund, which in recent years has gone from a $916,000 contribution to a $1.9 million contribution.

"That's almost $2 million in expense and it has a huge impact on the district," Stich said. "Again, we have no control over it."

About 45 percent of the district's funding comes from state aid, and another 45 percent from local taxes. 

Last year, a big part of the difference was made up by dipping into reserves.

The district will realize cost savings this year from school consolidation, Puzio said.

At the same time, the distirct is restoring some programs cut in the past year, include the Accelerated College Enrollment (ACE) program and some music programs.

To help students compete in the fast-evolving job market where written communication skills are more critical than ever, the district will focus more education resources on core state standards, which means more text study in all classrooms.

New teacher and principal accountability standards are also being implemented, by state mandate, including a requirement that principals spend 70 percent of their time with teachers in classrooms.

Also on the ballot May 15 is a measure to change student transportation rules, putting all middle-school students on the same transportation eligibility standard.

This will mean an additional 120 students will be eligible for bus transportation, but only about half of the current eligible students use school transportation, so the district doesn't know yet how many new riders will use the bus.

The change is necessary because of the school consolidation plan.

There are also five candidates in the election for three school board positions. The candidates are Gretchen DiFante, Phill Ricci, Gail Stevens, Gary Stich and Dennis Warner.

Polls on May 15 are open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and locations are John Kennedy Elementary School and Batavia High School.