Every morning I get online and go mining for news, mostly Batavia news, because thats why I'm here: to inform Batavians. I plug in keywords in search fields. I read through the news briefs at WBTA's timely-kept Web site. I scan the digital newspapers in the area for anything (geographically) of interest to our readers here in Batavia and, more and more, around other parts of Genesee County as well. Nevertheless, some days, no matter how many information wells I plumb, no news comes up.

That being said, Monday's are almost always a guarantee for news. Something had to happen over the weekend. Someone must have done something worthy of that half-inch bold font headline. A party somewhere must have gone wrong, and now someone — or a few someones are cooling it in the clink.

Today, that wasn't the case. We heard from the county sheriff's deputies and the city police, but they were all about alcohol busts over the weekend. Whether that meant selling it to people who shouldn't have it or driving after drinking too much of it, that was all they reported about the weekend — to us, anyway.

So it got me thinking. What makes the news?

Well, without turning this into a debate about how we the media need to focus more on positive, happy, make-you-feel-good news — because there really is plenty of that; it just doesn't make the front pages all the time and more often than not isn't written well so isn't worth reading — the news I find in my morning searches will fall pretty cleanly into one of a few categories: bad news (car crashes, crime, high profile death), news released by Genesee Community College, finance or sports. But there wasn't much of any of it this morning.

So when Batavia's downtown business director Don Burkel walked into Main Street Coffee this morning and asked me what the scoop was, I told him: no scoop. I told him I searched and searched and couldn't come up with anything. What happened over the weekend, I asked him. Didn't stuff happen? Wasn't there news?

For sure, he said. Good news.

Batavia's Public Market opened for the season Saturday morning. Despite the weather threats of hail storms and the like, the market was a raving success. Folks came out to buy from vendors who were eager to sell their wares. And I can understand his elation. Public markets make me feel the same way, and it isn't even my job to get excited about downtown business. Public markets have seen a real resurgence in the past decade or so. For good reason. They're an intersection of culture and finance that harken back to the Greek agora, the public gathering place where everything happened. Whenever I get the chance to visit the market in Rochester, I get giddy. They've got good cheap eats. Fresh produce. You can typically hear at least three languages spoken. And somehow the otherwise avaricious act of purchasing for a small moment in time turns cultural. Unlike, say, big box retail shops, that mostly smell of plastic and make me feel more neurotic than usual and sometimes even hostile towards my people.

So there was that. But also...

Jackson Square hosted its second Friday night concert of the season. The Ghostriders played, the square filled, people danced. And the whole evening seemed a foreshadowing of the weekend to come — Ramble Music and Arts Fest.

Downtown was good cheer, straight up and down, this weekend. And Don told me all about it with a beaming smile. Because it really was a good weekend for Batavia. And that was the news. Summer arrived, and Batavians got out and took advantage. They stayed close to home, and close to home proved worthy of sticking around for.

All this to say, sometimes good news is exactly that and deserves its place in the cycle of crime, death, finance, sports. Not that all good news is real news. I bought a pair of sneakers recently, and they're comfortable, and that's good news for me. But I doubt anyone else would care, and they shouldn't.

There are so many ways a community gets out and acts like one, and when it does it so blatantly and in a way that blots out the bad that gets the front page most every other day, it's worthy of shining a light on.

So, if you've got a keyboard and an Internet connection, and you know that your town, village, city, neighborhood, hamlet got out and manufactured some good news that just doesn't seem to get the credit it deserves — blog about it. Write a post. Write it in a way that you think is interesting. Put yourself in the story. We're not journalism teachers. We won't call you out for that. Just tell the story. Because sometimes the news cycle lets us down, and we could all do with a good story told well of folks doing good things.

Friday:

• 4:44am, 500 E. Main St., criminal mischief
• 3:25pm, 565 E. Main St., accident
• 4:46pm, 627 E. Main St., criminal mischief
• 5:46pm, 413 W. Main St., larceny
• 6:48pm, Walnut Street, harassment

Saturday:

• 3:55am, 11 Wood St., larceny
• 10:11am, 200 Oak St., larceny
• 12:54pm, 125 Liberty St., criminal mischief
• 2:37pm, W. Main Street, accident
• 6:34pm, 21 Holland Ave., harassment
• 6:49pm, 2 Olyn Ave., harassmemt

Sunday:

• 8:32am, 639 E. Main St., larceny
• 10:01am, Ellicott Street, accident
• 10:53am, Cedar Street, criminal mischief
• 12:42pm, 23 Birchwood Dr., accident
• 3:32pm, Ellicott and Liberty streets, accident
• 9:28pm, 17 Holland Ave., criminal mischief

Note: We don't include noise complaints, domestic disputes and routine police business.

From the Daily News (Monday):

• Batavia High School's Class of '08 walked the stage Sunday at Genesee Community College for the school's 126th commencement ceremony. The school's new principal, Christopher Dailey, officiated most of the ceremony and gave the class advice courtesy of Dr. Seuss (seriously): "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. You are the one who will decide where to go."
• A guest article from Anne Marie Starowitz of the Holland Land Office Museum takes a look at the history of the Wind Plow Company in Batavia. An interesting bit of history, the article is part of a monthly series called: "History on Display at HLOM."
• The annual Safe Summer Children's Carnival is slated for July 17 at Fellti Ice Arena at 22 Evans St. Cheap pizza, sno-cones and soda will be available, along with "carnival games, balloon sculptures, charactures (sic), face painting, bounce house and educational booths." The festivities start at 10:30am and wrap up at 2:00pm. Call Jennifer Waldron at the Genesee County Youth Bureau at (585) 344-3960 for more information.
• Threats of hail storms scared away "many participants" at the Rotary Rods and Rock & Roll car show and beer festival fundraiser Saturday, writes reporter Joanne Beck. Great quote from the owner of a 1977 Pontiac Grand Prix who did come out for the event. He says of the car: "It's our all-weather car. But it doesn't get driven in the winter." Funny... While the car show — usually the big hit — only drew 350 people, Batavia's Beer Festival brought in 400. More than just a beer tent with a couple kegs of Genny Light, the festival had a slew of fine beers on tap to sample.
• The Batavia Muckdogs and Jamestown Jammers game that was rained out yesterday will be played tonight instead at 7:05pm at Dwyer Stadium. Tune in to WBTA for the full broadcast.

For the complete stories, the Daily News is available on local newsstands, or you can subscribe on BataviaNews.com.

From a press release issued by Genesee Community College:

A defensive driving course is scheduled for July 16 and 23 from 6:00 to 9:00pm at Genesee Community College's Medina Campus Center, located at 11470 Maple Ridge Road (Route 31A). Participants may receive up to a four-point reduction on their driving record and a minimum 10% reduction in the base rate of their automobile and motorcycle liability insurance premiums each year for three years.

Points will remain on participant's records but are not counted in determining administrative actions. Point reduction does not affect mandatory actions such as license revocation for three speeding convictions within 18 months or existing suspensions or revocations. To receive lower insurance rates, participants must be listed as the principal operator of a vehicle.

Sponsored by the National Safety Council, this six-hour course has a fee of $44. Register online or call the Medina campus at (585) 798-1688.

Batavia police conducted what they call "a compliance check" Friday night in the city to see if alcohol was being sold to minors. Seventeen stores were visited by underage youths working with the police. Three were in violation.

• Laura A. Smith, 49, at CVS on West Main Street.
• Rachel Chaddock, 19, at Southside Deli on Ellicott Street.
• Tsige Tamirat, 46, at the M & T Express on West Main Street.

Summons were issued to the individuals for violating the Alcohol and Beverage Control Act that addresses the prohibited sale of alcohol to persons under 21 years of age. The compliance check was funded by the Genesee Council on Alcohol and Substance Abuse.

Less than one week, now, to the one and only Ramble Music and Arts Fest in Jackson Square. But for those of you who just can't wait — and I wouldn't blame you — make sure you check out the Ramble Web site, which is chock full of goodies, such as the message board for Ramblers to gather and wax nostalgic about past years or talk about how geeked up they are for this year's superstar lineup.

You can also find a list of performers, photos and videos from past Rambles, other news and... well... anything you want to know about the Fest. So go check it out.

In the meantime, here's another video as part of our Countdown to the Ramble. This one is of the Cheer Daddies performing (aptly) "Stormy Monday." We'll feature another video every day of the week until Saturday, when The Batavian will be on the scene at Jackson Square to shoot some of our own footage of this year's Fest. Expect to see the fruits of our labor sometime next week.

Genesee County sheriff's deputies were kept busy on the roads this past weekend.

• Thomas J. Foster III, 20, of Clarendon, was charged with driving while intoxicated Friday night after he was stopped for speeding on Route 19 in LeRoy, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said.
• Deputies joined with Corfu police to set up a DWI checkpoint in the village Friday. Six motorists were charged with driving while intoxicated: Kelly A. Honsberger, 39, of Clarence Center; John E. Mielko, 51, of Lancaster; Jeremy L. Snover, 31, of North Collins; Dwight A. Clark, 25, of Cheektowaga; Corey R. Blair, 28, of Rochester; Marcella M. Kaminski, 55, of Depew.
• Chantal M. Labelle, 42, of Rochester, was charged with driving while intoxicated early Saturday morning after she was stopped on Route 33 for making an unsafe lane change, sheriff's deputies said.
• Dennis J. Mills, 45, of Varysburg, was charged with a felony count of first-degree aggravated operation of a motor vehicle Saturday morning following a traffic stop on County Line Road in Darien, sheriff's deputies said. The charge was a felony because Mills was driving with a license that had been revoked due to prevous DWI convictions. He was also ticketed with drivig while ability impaired by alcohol, moving from the lane unsafely, failure to submit to a breath screening device, consumption of alcohol in a motor vehicle and speeding.

Note: All of rhe above arrests were reported in published releases from the sheriff's office.

Check out WBTA for this and other stories:

• Darien Lake State Beach Park will remain closed pending further water tests that will continue today. The park was closed this past weekend because of high bacteria levels.

So... we've ticked off the first two "things" that made Genesee County famous: John Kennedy and the Thruway. Number 23 went up on the Holland Land Office Museum Web site today, and it looks like we've moved from pavement to people to edibles with Kutter's Cheese Factory taking up the next rung in the ladder. (If you have no idea what we're talking about, check out our post from last week that discusses the "countdown" in a little more detail.)

Opened in 1947 on Route 5 in Pembroke, Kutter's was soon supplying stores all over the area with its cheese, explains Patrick Weissend, director of the Holland Land Office Museum.

Kutter's core of cheeses include cheddar, muenster, colby, edam, gouda and havarti. In the 1960s, writes Weissend, the business expanded to include some sour creams and cottage cheeses. These days, they've even got a Kosher line of dips and cheeses.

After the Kutter sons retired, the place was bought by Yancy's Fancy. Says Weissend: "Today, they employ 45 people who make 30,000 pounds of cheese 24 hours a day, five days a week."

Be sure to visit the Holland Land Office Museum's main Web site, and then check out the special countdown page to get much more interesting information than what we include here.

Hmm. I wonder if we can get a little contest going to see who can guess the next on the list. Hmm.

From the Daily News (Friday):

• Genesee County "officials" told reporter Paul Mrozek that the investigation into the murder of Janet Kirkup will focus on Darien or Pembroke. Robert Kirkup recently confessed to the murder of his wife, Janet, during a cross-country trip in 1992, and it is believed that her body is buried somewhere near a campsite in Darien. Genesee County District Attorney Lawrence Friedman said that the cause of death "may be strangulation." The search for the body has not yet begun.
• Batavia Downs celebrated the grand opening of its new restaurant, Grandstands, on Thursday. Reporter Tom Rivers was there to get some color and chat with the officials about the Downs' continued success. In a sidebar to the story, it's reported that the Downs recently warranted a check from the state for $286,274, "money that will be used to offset some proerty taxes." It sounds as if the money goes to the communities: to the county, the city and the town. The city is supposed to get nearly $500,000, and the town should receive a little more than $175,000. I wonder how that works. Where does that money come from? Tom Rivers and Paul Mrozek write that the state gives money to "host communities with video gaming centers." Doesn't that sound strange? Hey, community, good job promoting gambling, here's some cash to do with what you please. Am I being too cynical or misunderstanding this?
• "Officials" from Genesee and Orleans counties had "the beginning of a discussion" about potentially creating a regional jail. It seems people are interested in talking about it, but little else is really decided at this point.

For the complete stories, the Daily News is available on local newsstands, or you can subscribe on BataviaNews.com.

Batavia's Public Market will open for the season tomorrow at 9:00am in the Center and School streets parking lot. It will run every Saturday from then through October 11, from 9:00am to 2:00pm.

Belladessa's & Jackson Street Grill will be there with pizza and hots. Vendors will provide everything from produce and bread to cookies, cupcakes, pies, coffee, flowers, pottery and more. Batavia's Public Market accepts "NYS Farmer's Market Checks."

Call (585) 344-0900 for more information.

The Batavian will be out and about most of the day today. Right now, I'm working on a user guide to bring around to all of the funeral homes in Batavia. Once that's finished, I'll make the rounds so we can start to see regular obituary postings of area deaths right here on The Batavian.

That being said, I was hoping that our readers could help out if they see, hear, experience, think up or taste any news today. If you do — post it! Put up a photo, a blog post, a comment, a video, whatever you can. Otherwise, just be aware that I may not be posting as frequently today as usual. Though you can be sure to find the Daily News roundup on the site this afternoon.

Thank you for your understanding.

Your pal, Philip.

Forty-two-year-old Raymond J. Radley, of Pavilion, was arrested and sent to Genesee County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail late last night, sheriff's deputies said. Radley was charged with first-degree coercion, a felony charge, and second-degree harassment. Deputies were told that Radley kicked a woman in the head, then took her cell phone so that she could not call for help. The attack happened during a domestic dispute at Radley's home on Cook Road in Pavilion.

Note: The above arrest was reported in a published release from the sheriff's office.

Check out WBTA for this and other stories:

• Richmond Memorial Library will be closed today and tomorrow as the facility undergoes electrical upgrades. The doors will be back open Monday.

I love baseball, so with a certain amount of pride, I walked into Dwyer Stadium today and snapped this photo of The Batavian sign out in right field.

We're proud to be a 2008 sponsor of Batavia's legendary minor league baseball team.

This summer, we're also a sponsor of the BID's summer concert series.

We're looking at a couple of other sponsorship opportunities over the next couple of months.  If your group or organization is putting on an event and need local business sponsors, let us know, because we'll certainly consider it (we can't sponsor everything of course, but we have some money left in the budget for a couple of more sponsorships this summer).

Community Leader #1: "I'm eager to see the Daily News today to find out what they say about the youth football program."

Community Leader #2: "Why? I've already found out all I need to know on The Batavian."

I'm hiding the identities of the two people in the conversation because it was just casually mentioned to me, but it's been on my mind all afternoon.

That's exactly what we want people to get about The Batavian.  We're timely and complete and trustworthy.

Philip has done a great job of covering the controversy surrounding where youth football should be played, and we've gotten useful and informative comments from people on the posts to help supplement the coverage. 

We're not a big believer in people relying on just one source of information for news -- that's why we always encourage people to subscribe to the Daily News and listen to WBTA -- but we also want to be as complete as possible (which is why we also tell you about the Daily News and WBTA coverage).

The other aspect of the conversation is the value of word-of-mouth promotion.  That's something you can't buy, so it's great to hear about people spreading the word about the work we're doing.

We're very happy with the results of our advertising in the Genesee Valley PennySaver and on WBTA, and I just did a post about our community sponsorship efforts.  Without that advertising, it would be hard to get the word-of-mouth marketing going.

Still, if you think The Batavian is good for Batavia, good for Genesee County, please tell your friends, neighbors, co-workers.  There is strength in numbers, and the more people who visit the site the better for our business, but just as important, the better for the community conversation and the better for keeping all of us better informed.

Post our web site address in your school bulletin or group newsletter.  And let people know they can send us news, too, or post it themselves.

If you're new to The Batavian, follow this link for previous posts about who what we do and why.

From a press release issued by Genesee Community College:

Two Genesee Community College students in the Tourism & Hospitality Management program have been awarded scholarships. Dana Landers received a $500 scholarship from the New York State Business Travel Alliance and Nicholas Bennett received a $1500 award from Destinations of New York State.

You can find more information about Dana and Bennett at ReadMedia.

In a press release issued by the campaign for Congressional candidate Jon Powers this afternoon, Powers criticizes his rival Jack Davis for his close ties to "Big Oil" — including Davis' financial disclosure that he owns $35 million in "oil and energy stocks."

"We now know Jack Davis has up to 35 million reasons to vote against lower gas prices.  Exxon Jack is no different than George Bush and the politicians in Washington, DC who are already bought and paid for by the oil companies.  Western New York needs a Congressman who will look out for their interests, not Exxon/Mobil's bottom line" stated Powers Campaign Manager, John Gerken.

Powers released his own energy policy that says the candidate would support legislation that would reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2020. He also says that oil companies should be required to install bio-fuel pumps at 25 percent of their stations and that the country should get 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2025. Rather than giving so much in tax credits to oil companies, Powers wants to provide "tax credits to investors who empower scientists to develop renewable energy."

For more about Powers' energy policy, download the full document here.

UPDATE: Note, Davis has been invited to respond. 

The Batavian picked up a story from the Daily News earlier about Robert Kirkup, a 68-year-old man from Big River, California, who was extradited to Genesee County Jail following Kirkup's recent confession to the murder of his wife during a camping trip back in 1992.

We thought to poke around a bit more online to see if we could dig up some more details on Kirkup, why the 16-year-old cold case was reopened and how detectives got a confession out of a man who admitted nothing for so long.

WHEC News-10 NBC in Rochester had the story posted on its Web site.

The Michigan State Police opened an investigation into the disappearance of Janet Kirkup because at the time, the Kirkup’s were living in Jackson, Michigan. Eventually Robert Kirkup moved to Big River, California, which is located in San Bernardino County. Until this June, Janet Kirkup’s whereabouts and the circumstances surrounding her disappearance were unknown.

After Robert Kirkup relocated to Big River, California, the Kirkup’s daughter, Susan Waller persuaded the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department to interview her father into the disappearance of her mother.

While being interviewed by officers from the Sheriff’s Department, Kirkup revealed that he was responsible for Janet Kirkup’s death. Members from the New York State Police Troop A Violent Crimes Investigative Team flew out to California and interviewed him. The investigation revealed that in August of 1992 while camping in Genesee County, Mr. Kirkup killed his wife, Janet Kirkup. 

The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, California, explained that the murder of Janet Kirkup may have been solved thanks to the renewed efforts of cold-case homicide detectives in San Bernardino County's sheriff's department. Ontario, California's Inland Valley Daily Bulletin profiled the detectives and their two most recent successes earlier this week.

I like this time of year and I always feel that with the summer comes wonderful times of outdoor activities that all can enjoy in this area.  I also like the idea of High School Graduation and seeing the culmination of all the students who are going out into the real or collegiate world.  I really like the summer...I never complain it is too hot, always dress reasonably comfortable and work on our Summer Youth Theater Program.  The summer for me is indeed a very creative time.

In preparation for the summer vacation and the 4th of July weekend, it also becomes a time to say "so long".  Many people come and go through our lives but this year, I need to pass on some kudos to two wonderful people that have served this area for quite some time.  I know that they are not actually gone, in fact they are all moving onto different roles in other communities or at home.  It is just the idea that Batavia will miss them.  It is the idea that they served our community so well... it is the idea that they truly loved our schools and our children.

This is the last graduating class for Superintendent Richard Stutzman.  At the time of his appointment he was a radical choice that shocked some people.  In his words, Dick was always a "bean counter" that cared more for the dollar and cents and the bottom line.  We need those types of people in a successful education setting.  They are the ones that rein in the tide of spend, spend, spend and to put reality back on the plate before projects and programs go out of wack and costs escalate.  Dick was a champion "bean counter" who had spent time in the classroom at his Mt. Morris Central School. 

The Board of Education at the time decided we were not seeing anyone with Mr. Stutzman's abilities in the mix of candidates for the job.....so we asked him to step up and become our Superintendent.   Dick Stutzman turned into the best person ever for this district.  He truly became an advocate for all students and prudently turned our City of Batavia School District into a First Class Educational Facility that is one of the TOP 15 High Schools for Technology through the Prometheum Corportation.  Winning awards and providing training for schools from across the United States and doing it all with a sense of student caring and an "education for all" attitude. 

All I can add is, "Mr. Stutzman - Thank You" ..... you truly are a champion in the field of education. 

Bette Rung has always been involved with Batavia City Schools.  She attended Robert Morris and the old East School (where the Salavation Army Citadel is now.) and she continued working in the district as the Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent of Schools.  She worked for three different men and was also the Clerk for the Board of Education.  Bette was and still is a huge proponent of our School District.  She was always efficient, kind and helpful.  She was also a friend.  There have been many times when my health has not permitted me to be as involved as I should be with the City Board of Education.  Mrs. Rung was right there for me, bringing me information, making sure things were getting signed and issues were being addressed. 

Mrs. Rung has also retired and to those who know her, they will tell you of her dedication to the children of this district.  She has worked with three superintendents, hundreds of Board of Education Members, thousands of staff members and over 50000 children.  She is truly an angel for this district. 

Mrs. Rung, my personal and professional gratitude.  Your kindness will always be cherished, your caring will always be appreciated and your concern for our City School District will always be remembered. 

As these two close the door on one career and look at the future, I wish them luck, love and much health.  I pray they will stay safe and free from care and I hope, and just for one brief moment that they will stop in and say hello.   It is hard to forget those that have left such a huge imprint on one's life.....all we can do is remember the gentle impression and be grateful that you met, you worked together and you did well.

Mr. Stutzman and Mrs. Rung...... you did well..... Happy Retirement!