Matthew O'Neal Bader, 41, of Batavia, and Jennifer M. Shaffer, 41, of Batavia, are each facing several charges. Bader is charged with two counts of petit larceny, burglary, and identity theft, two counts of grand larceny, two counts of criminal possession of stolen property, unlawful possession
Four friends who have a lot to say, and they say it through song -- sharing their stories, their ups and their downs, and their secrets -- is the motif that makes Four the Record, a cabaret show, an entertaining show at Main St. 56 Theater this weekend.
The four-person cast features four Harvie Award winners: Deacon Smith, Jocelyn Coburn (not available for photos), Sarah Hill and Sophie Houseman.
The show opens on Friday at 7:30 p.m., with performances on Saturday at 7:30 and on Sunday at 2 p.m.
To purchase tickets, click HERE.
Even as he heads off into retirement after 40 years in business, Bob Chiarmonte wants to ensure that many of the 1,500 backstock of eyeglass frames he has go to his former customers and other local residents before sending them to auction.
Chiarmonte is offering the remainder of his inventory of eyeglass frames for $10 to $25 per frame, which can be filled with prescription lenses by any optometrist shop. That's a good bit less costly than the typical retail price of $100 to $150, Chiarmonte said.
Chiarmonte is keeping the shop open into sometime next week in order to sell as many frames as possible. He's also selling all of his store fixtures -- and if there's an optometrist looking for examination gear, he's got that, too.
Classic Optical is located at 44 Batavia City Centre, Batavia.
Previously: Optician sets his sights on family, travel in retirement after nearly 40 years
Photos by Howard Owens
The Le Roy Central School District is planning to ask voters to approve a $31 million spending plan that won't increase the tax levy.
The total budget is 2.7 percent, or $821,312, more than the 2023/24 budget.
The plan to not increase the total tax levy is based on anticipated state aid for the fiscal year.
The budget will create 5.4 new full-time equivalent positions, including a part-time physical therapist (currently contracted at 0.6 FTE through BOCES), a new full-time speech therapist, and three new teacher assistants.
There is an anticipated 0.6 FTE reduction in a teacher for "language other than English."
Other factors driving increased spending are higher health insurance premiums and an increase in state-mandated retirement and contractual obligations.
Last week, the school board approved the proposed budget on a 6-0 vote (with one member absent).
Total spending for 2024-25 is projected to be $31,048,820, an increase from the 2023/24 budget of $30,227,508.
There will be a public hearing on the budget at 6 p.m. on May 14 in the Memorial Auditorium.
The budget vote for district residents will be on May 21 from noon to 8 p.m. in the Wolcott Street School Library Media Center.
Notre Dame pulled out the close league matchup over Alexander behind the pitching of senior Loretta Sorochty.
Sorochty pitched a complete game, giving up just 3 hits, no earned runs and striking out 18 batters.
Emily Pietrzykowski pitched a strong game for Alexander as well, going the distance and only giving up 4 runs on 7 hits, striking out 3 batters.
Offensively for ND, Sorochty helped her cause with two hits and two RBIs. Katie Landers added two hits and a run scored. Mia Treleaven (double), Anna Panepento and Amelia Sorochty each contributed a hit, with Treleaven and A. Sorochty each adding a run scored. Sofia Falleti added a sac fly RBI, while Clairissa Milliman added a run scored.
"Tonight was a good test against a very strong Alexander squad," said Coach Otis Thomas. "I'm proud of the way the girls battled the entire game and can't say enough about our ace Loretta. Our bats were a little cold, but Loretta kept us in the game until we could score a few insurance runs. We have to put this one behind us and prepare for a tough league game vs Lyndonville on Friday."
Submitted by Matt Landers, ND scorekeeper.
Two days after more than 100 local residents turned up at a town of Pembroke board meeting to protest increased property assessments, the board voted in an emergency session on Saturday to roll back the increase for 2024.
Assessments will remain at the 2023 levels for 2024, said Supervisor Thomas C. Schneider Jr.
Property owners will receive written notice of the rollback to the 2023 assessments.
All scheduled meetings with the town's assessor have been canceled. A taxpayer information session scheduled for Wednesday was also canceled.
So many people turned out at Thursday's board meeting that the session was relocated from the board's chambers on Main Road to the Town Hall in the village of Corfu.
Rachel Doktor attended the meeting and provided The Batavian with photos of the full house. She said people are reporting the same experience she's had -- an astronomical assessment increase.
"Ours was raised over $100,000 just last year, and now they want another $84,000," Doktor said on Friday. "Basically, they're raising our assessments like crazy, and they're doing it again ... everyone is pissed about the assessment."
Doktor said she thinks property values have been going up because people are moving to the area from Buffalo and Rochester and "overpaying" for their new homes.
"All of these city people, they buy a huge home for $250,000 that in Rochester could cost a million dollars," Doktor said.
Realtor.com currently lists one house for sale in Pembroke, a three-bedroom, one-bath, 2,208-square-foot residence on South Lake Road for $249,500. A newer but smaller home sold in March for nearly $370,000, but other home sales in the area have been below that price.
Schneider said his own assessment has gone up $350,000. He said the factors driving up home prices include the desirability of the Pembroke Central School District, Pembroke's proximity to Erie County, and easy access to the Thruway.
Pembroke has been a hotbed of growth the past couple of years, with new apartment buildings going up, a new mixed-use development opening, a new distribution center by the interchange, and a planned new travel plaza.
Property by the interchange, Schneider said, is going for $30,000 an acre. He expressed concern that those high commercial property values may have played too big of a role in determining residential property assessments. That was why he suggested on Friday, before the emergency meeting on Saturday, that a rollback to 2023 assessments might be in order.
"That needs to be looked at as part of the increase in her calculations," Schneider said.
The assessor is appointed for a seven-year term, and outside of hiring the assessor, the town board has no role in assessments, Schneider said.
"The board should remain independent of the assessor," Schneider said. "We don't want politicians assigning values to properties in my opinion and in the state's opinion, too."
The rollback, Schneider said, will allow a reassessment of the assessments.
"We need to dig into the data and see if there are structural deficiencies (in the calculations)," Schneider said. "We will roll it back for a year and talk with the assessor about where things might have gone awry."
Alexander resident Sandra Wolfley won The Batavian's prize drawing Sunday at the Genesee County Home Show, which was on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the David M. McCarthy Memorial Ice Arena in Batavia.
Wolfley won a pair of VIP Pilot's Lounge Tickets for the Wings Over Batavia Air Show, set for Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 at the Genesee County Airport.
There were more than 160 people in the contest, which required home show attendees to fill out an entry form and stamp it with The Batavian's logo.
Thanks to Wings Over Batavia for partnering with us on this promotion.
For 2023, the Firefighter of the Year in the Stafford Volunteer Fire Department was a collective award, going to the Top 10 responders (11 members, counting a tie) for the year.
The Firefighters of the Year are Brian Breemes, Randal Henning, Tim Eckdahl, Chris Penkszyk, Mark Dougherty, Ashley Swartzenberg, Jason Smith, Ken Collins, Brian Pocock, Don Hall, and Ben Pocock.
The firematic officers installed for 2024 are:
The administrative officers:
The dinner was held on Saturday at the Batavia Country Club.
Photos by Howard Owens
These are photos from Saturday's Genesee County Home Show, which the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce hosted and organized.
The final day of the home show is Sunday (today), and it runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Saturday's show was well attended, and about a dozen new vendors, plus many of the usual locally owned home improvement-related vendors, were on the floor of the David M. McCarthy Memorial Ice Arena.
Photos by Howard Owens.
As part of Fan Appreciation Night on Thursday, the Buffalo Sabres honored Sgt. Thomas A. Sanfratello as the team's Fan of the Year.
Sanfratello, a 34-year veteran of the Genesee County Sheriff's Office, died in the line of duty on March 10 while dealing with a disturbance at Batavia Downs. Two Batavia residents are accused of resisting arrest. Michael Elmore is accused of using a heavy piece of jewelry, a chain necklace, to hit Sanfratello during a struggle.
The tribute included a video highlighting Sanfratello's career in law enforcement and the bond Tom and his son Ian shared through their love of the Sabres. Ian and his sisters, Kyla and Alexis, were on the ice for a presentation of a memorial jersey to the family. The Sheriff's Office Color Guard presented the colors and the National Anthem was sung by by Buffalo resident Cami Clune, who also has a bit of a connection to Batavia in that she has performed at Eli Fish Brewing.
For previous coverage of the passing of Sgt. Sanfratello, click here.
Elba beat Alexander 10-4 in Girls Softball on Wednesday.
Adi Norton had three hits and an RBI. Brianna Totten had two RBIs.
Brea Smith fanned five Trojans.
The Lancers were down 4-1 going into the top of the seventh inning and scored nine runs.
Photos by Kristin Smith.
Two people did different things, but the right things, which led to Walmart being evacuated Wednesday afternoon even though there was no threat to life or the safety of people at the store, said Chief Deputy Brian Frieday.
A local man had purchased a pellet rifle and, after apparently throwing out the packaging, decided to return it to Walmart. Frieday said the man did the right thing. He called the store in advance to let them know what he was doing.
A customer saw the man get out of his truck and walk into the store with the gun. That customer called 9-1-1 and reported a person had loaded a shotgun and was walking into the store.
"Patrols converged on the Walmart store," Frieday said. "In that response, we're able to clear the store, locate the individual and locate what was not a shotgun. It turned out to be a pellet gun that they were returning to the store that didn't work properly. There is no fault whatsoever. I'm glad the person called in because that's the 'see something, say something.' I'm glad they called it in. I know it creates a little bit of an inconvenience for patrons of the store, the store itself, and anybody around, even traffic around. But that's a great outcome. It's just a little bit of an inconvenience compared to everything we're seeing around the country now."
The man was located by patrols outside the store without the gun. He had left it at the gun counter in the store. He is not facing any charges.
"It seems very innocuous," Frieday said. "It's a misunderstanding. It was an observation by somebody that they rightfully called in because it appeared that it could be something threatening."
The Sheriff's Office was the lead agency on the call, assisted by Batavia PD and New York State Police. At least 10 patrol units responded, according to a witness.
During the incident, the store was evacuated -- all employees and customers were asked to leave the building. Once police officers determined there was no threat, employees and customers were allowed back in.
Photos by Howard Owens.
While the man did the right thing by calling the store in advance, Frieday suggested people who need to return a potentially threatening item that isn't in its original packaging can go a step further by asking an employee to meet them outside with some sort of bag or packing for the item.
The Batavian is among more than 150 local news organizations supporting the passage of the Local Journalism Sustainability Act.
We are all part of the Empire State Local News Coalition.
The work of the coalition has raised awareness of the importance of local journalism and the challenges facing the local news industry. (New York has lost half of its newsrooms since 2004.)
In just the past month, the coalition rallied in Westchester, where residents were stunned by the abrupt closure of three community newspapers. We went directly to Albany to appeal to lawmakers and rallied with elected officials from the Senate and Assembly. Numerous localities have adopted resolutions expressing their support for legislation that would support local journalism, and more municipal resolutions are in the pipeline. Even unconventional allies like Microsoft have joined our calls to save local news.
Thanks to these collective efforts, the Local Journalism Sustainability Act – which would provide tax credits to local news organizations for retaining and creating newsroom jobs – was included in the State Senate’s recent budget proposal for fiscal year 2025. This is a key step for inclusion in the state's final budget, which is currently being negotiated by the Senate, Assembly and Governor Hochul.
However, there is a lot of work to be done over the next few days, when the final budget will likely be announced, to ensure the bill is actually included in the state's final budget. It is crucial that the Local Journalism Sustainability Act is included; otherwise, communities throughout the state risk thousands of newsroom jobs being lost and even more important stories going untold.
The Local Journalism Sustainability Act is sponsored by NYS Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal with the bipartisan support of Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner and more than 70 co-sponsors. As newspapers shutter and layoffs roil the industry, the bill is necessary for incentivizing job creation, returning reporters to many of the state's emptying newsrooms. The bill is content-neutral and designed to ensure that truly local news outlets will receive this assistance. The leadership of the Legislature’s Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Caucus has also endorsed our bill, which is a major testament to the fact that this bill will improve access to news for all communities.
New Yorkers are standing with local news, and now lawmakers must answer the people’s call to save community journalism. To get the Local Journalism Sustainability Act across the finish line, lawmakers must hear from you about why our newspaper matters and why this bill is meaningful to you and your family.
So, if keeping local news alive in our state is important to you, please contact Governor Hochul and your local representatives to let them know you support local news. Budget negotiations are wrapping up imminently—the time to act is now!
Photos by Philip Casper.
If you were in Genesee County on Monday were teed off that you didn't get to actually see the total eclipse that passed over the region, at Terry Hills, they were really teed off.
In the midst of the darkest minute, golfers hit glow-in-the-dark balls of the first tee, apparently just to say they played golf during a total eclipse of the sun.
Terry Hills Golf Course hosted an eclipse party, including a special menu with food items such as Total Eclipse Burger, Blackout Caesar Salad, and Supernova Nachoes.
Golfers also received a commemorative "I Saw the Eclipse at Terry Hills April 8th 2024" golf ball.
Danielle Rotondo said about 150 golfers hit the links on Monday, with about sixty playing during the eclipse. The three people teeing off from the first tee during the totality were Mary Brown, Casey Brown, and Rotondo.
"It was a great day, an amazing experience playing and teeing off during totality," Rotondo said. "My aunt, Mary Brown, had the idea to use the glow golf balls, which make for an epic tee shot! We had people come from all over New York State to experience it at our facility."
Photos and video submitted by Danielle Rotondo
Even with a forecast of clouds, the dim prospects of actually seeing a fairly rare total solar eclipse were enough to draw a few visitors to Genesee County and the Genesee County Fairgrounds to see what they could see.
There were a couple of dozen groups of people at the fairgrounds on Monday to see the eclipse.
Denise Auker, of Lancaster, Pa., and her family of six picked Batavia because it seemed affordable and the five-hour drive was reasonable.
"The Genesee County Chamber of Commerce's website was very helpful and had a lot of information," Auker said. "We were at the maple farm this morning. They (the chamber) recommended that, and then they had this location on (the site). They had several locations to choose from, but we picked this one."
For Mike from Northern Virginia and his friend Aram, Genesee County seemed like it might be a place with fewer crowds, easier to get to and leave after the event.
"We also wanted to go somewhere where there were we knew there were places to see the eclipse," Mike said. "We didn't want to get stuck in the middle of a place with just roads and no cleaning, no place to park and see it. We figured this was a good place to end up."
Video by Steve Tufts
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