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A former Batavia High School student is in her third day of a hunger strike to protest the way the University of Rochester has handled sexual harassment complaints against a professor in UR's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Lindsay Wrobel says she won't eat until Dr. Florian Jaeger is removed from the faculty.

Wrobel is not claiming that she was sexually harassed.

Jaeger is at the center of an EEOC complaint filed against the university. 

"Until Professor Jaeger is removed from the university, there’s going to be no trust among the student body," Wrobel said. 

Wrobel graduated from BHS in 2013 and was a Top 10 member of the class.

The sexual harassment allegations have roiled the campus for more than a year but became national news after a long story in Mother Jones. There's also been coverage in The New York Times and Nature.

The university conducted an investigation into the allegations and found no evidence that Jaeger violated its policy. After complaints that the investigation failed to consider all of the evidence or interview all witnesses, the findings were appealed and a dean in another department at UR investigated the appeal and upheld the findings of the original investigation. 

At least one faculty member has resigned in response to UR's handling of the case and others have alleged retaliation for their part in the accusations. The university also investigated these complaints and found no evidence of retaliation.

After seeing Wrobel not looking well, an anonymous person called 9-1-1 on her behalf, but Wrobel reportedly declined medical treatment.

Wrobel said her hunger strike is painful and scary but she intends to persist.

"I fully intend to do this until I’m hospitalized. I think what’s of primary importance is the students on this campus feeling safe. And as of right now, they don’t, and they won’t until Professor Jaeger is removed," Wrobel said. 

Our news partner 13WHAM has been following the story:

• U of R's Seligman responds as student vows hunger strike over harassment case
• Online petition calling for resignation of ill-reputed U of R professor
• Three days into hunger strike, student isn't giving in until professor is gone

The man who robbed the Key Bank branch in Batavia at the end of last year and got away with $10,275 isn't expected to get out of prison before 2025.

Joel Zsebehazy, 33, an Iraq War veteran from Niagara Falls, was sentenced to three to six years in prison by Judge Charles Zambito in County Court this morning.

Attorney Lisa Kroemer, from the Public Defender's Office, requested a two-to-four-year prison term for her client after noting that Zsebehazy was on parole at the time of the robbery, so he now owes the state prison time before he can start serving a sentence on the Key Bank robbery. 

"Given that fact, he's going to be serving a lot of time anyway," Kroemer said.

Zsebehazy apologized for his actions.

"I realize there is no excuse to justify what I did," Zsebehazy said. "I know what I did was wrong. I knew when I went into the situation it was wrong. I know it negatively impacted more people than just myself."

He then apologized to the teller and the court for his crime.

After the robbery, Zsebehazy fled the state. He was eventually located in Lousiana and brought back to Batavia on the bank robbery charge. During his travels, Zsebehazy said, he started attending AA meetings and going to church and felt like he was getting his life back on track.

"I've been making progress in my life," Zsebehazy said. "I know that in no way excuses myself and I stand here ready to make amends in any way I can."

Zambito said he wasn't moved by either the fact that Zsebehazy will spend an even longer time in prison because he was on parole at the time of the robbery or that he was getting his life together. The fact is, Zambito said, he robbed a bank and had to be chased down in order to be brought to justice.

"To say that this has been an opportunity to start a new life by robbing a bank is something I find incredible," Zambito said.

Zambito said Zsebehazy had already received a substantial break on potential prison time when he was offered a plea deal that capped his sentence at three to six years.  To cut it any further wouldn't fit the crime, he said.

Zsebehazy was ordered to start making payments toward restitution while he's incarcerated. Kroemer tried to convince Zambito to delay restitution payments until Zsebehazy is out of prison because Zsebehazy will receive such a minimal allowance for toiletries, writing paper, and other personal items while in prison that any restitution payment would make it difficult for him to obtain necessities. 

She suggested that lack of money for these items is why some prisoners turn to "less than legal activity" in prison.

District Attorney Lawerence Friedman said Zsebehazy should start paying restitution immediately and that prison officials have a formula to take only a portion of a prisoner's money for restitution payments so they still can buy necessities from the prison store.

Zambito agreed.

Photo: file photo

Two vehicles left the scene, and two didn't leave the scene of a motor-vehicle accident in the area of 9548 Alleghany Road, Darien.

A chief on scene reports minor injuries. 

Darien fire responded.

Deputies were advised of the vehicles that fled the scene.

The Kiwanis Club of Corfu/Pembroke/Darien sponsored its annual Classic Car Show at the Pembroke Town Park today.

There was also a basket raffle benefiting Crossroads House.

Photos by Lenora Kohorst.

The Arc of Genesee Orleans hosted the agency's annual 5K run and walk in Elba this morning.

We have not yet received the results of the race.

The Batavia Blue Devils moved to 2-1 on the season with a 28-13 victory over Cardinal-O'Hara at Cardinal-O'Hara this afternoon.

Ray Leach rushed for 179 yards on 21 carries and scored a TD.

Chandler Baker gained 91 yards on the ground, scoring once, on nine carries. He was 7-10 passing for 33 yards.

On defense, John Kindig had seven tackles and a fumble recovery. Josh Barber had seven tackles and two interceptions, including one on Cardinal-O'Hara's two-yard line that he returned for a touchdown to close out the game.

Anthony Ray had six tackles.

After replacing the injured starter at QB, Le Roy's Cole Biggins helped his offense put together two scoring drives in the 4th quarter Friday night to lift the Oatkan Knights from 18-7 down to a 19-18 victory over archrival Cal-Mum/Byron-Bergen.

Biggins capped the second drive with a nine-yard TD pass to Reece Tresco with 10 seconds on the clock.  

After coming in during the 2nd quarter, Biggins was 9-14 passing for 73 yards and gained 65 yards on the ground in eight carries.

Kyler LaCarte gained 48 yards on 13 carries and scored on a 14-yard run for Le Roy's first 4th quarter TD.

Reece Tresco caught four passes for 33 yards and a TD. Gavin Luckey gained 25 yards on two receptions.

Bryce Bordonaro had eight tackles and forced and recovered a fumble.

Photos by Ed Henry.

Top photo: Senior Luke Stella and Coach Brian Herdlein celebrate the Knights’ victory.

Reece Tresco hauls in the game-winning TD 

Reece Tresco (16) and Cole Biggins (22)

Kyler LaCarte

Gavin Luckey with a tackle.

Bryce Bordonaro with a tackle.

Cole Biggins races 31 yards through the Raiders’ defense for a TD.

Craig Gillard sent in this picture of a couple of men fishing the Tonawanda Creek in Batavia this morning.

Zach von Kramer rushed for 250 yards on 15 carries and three touchdowns to lead the Pembroke Dragons to a 48-6 win over Notre Dame.

Von Kramer also had nine tackles on defense.

For the Irish, Timothy Klotzbach was 6-11 passing for 122 yards and one touchdown.

In other games:

• Attica 53, Oakfield-Alabama/Elba 7: Mason Compton had 148 yards, three touchdowns on five carries. 
• Alexander 44, Holley 6: The Trojans are now 3-0. For Alexander, Chris McClinic carried the ball 12 times for 162 yards and three touchdowns. Terrez Smith rushed seven times for 71 yards and two touchdowns.Erik Scharlau, four catches, 70 yards, one TD.

We'll have more on the Le Roy vs. Cal-Mum game later in a separate post.

Top and bottom photo by Thomas Ognibene. The rest of the photos by Jim Burns.

Chapin sponsored a golf tournament Aug. 10 and raised $15,000 for Crossroads House. Today, members of the Chapin team presented a check to Jeff Allen, director of Crossroads House.

Photo: Jeff Allen, Ann Blake, Peg Patterson-Case, Debbie Zawadzki, Norm Hubbard and Chris Rumfola.

P.W. Minor is doing what businesses do periodically, said owner Pete Zeliff this morning -- reorganizing. 

While the company's reputation was built on its orthopedic shoe line, rebuilding the brand and the business in that market is proving difficult, Zeliff said. Meanwhile, the "white label" shoe business is growing and shows promise for more growth.

"White label" means making shoes on the specifications and under the brands of other shoe companies.

Last week, the company laid off eight employees and more cuts are possible, Zeliff said, based on how things go in the coming months.

"We're cutting costs," Zeliff said. "Sales are down. Revenue is down. I can only keep writing checks out of my own pocket for so long. It's ridiculous to keep doing it."

Zeliff said many of P.W. Minor's former customers dropped the shoe line during the company's previous ownership and winning them back has proven tough. Many of those customers have gotten used to buying shoes made in China and seem willing to accept buying a new pair of shoes twice a year instead one pair every two years of a better quality shoe.

And those orders come in two and three shoes at a time, which make them more expensive to produce.

With "white label" contracts, P.W. Minor is able to produce larger runs of particular shoes at higher margins.

It can take 18 months, though, to land a new white label contract. That's how long it took P.W. Minor to go from introduction through samples to production for K-Swiss.

Zeliff said there are more white label deals coming. There's one company P.W. Minor has been working with for 20 months which will likely place an order soon. Another potential contract could mean increasing production by 40,000 to 50,000 pairs of shoes a year.

Before the recent layoffs, the factory was producing 180 pairs of shoes a day, sometimes 200 pairs. Since the layoffs, the factory has hit a production target of 200 pairs a day consistently.

"I think it opened some people's eyes," Zeliff said. "I've told them there will probably be more layoffs in the near future. Now all the production picks up. Nobody wants to be the guys getting laid off."

The 150-year-old company was about to close in 2014 when Zeliff and then partner Andrew Young stepped in saved it. Zeliff has been focused on revamping the business since, bringing in top marketers and designers and investing in new equipment.

In 2015, the company ended all production in China, bringing those jobs back to Batavia, with assistance from New York.

The other part of the P.W. Minor showing promise is the Abram Boots line and Batavia Boot & Shoe Company collection, introduced last fall. Both brands are showing sales growth, especially the boots, he said.

"I think we're on a good path," Zeliff said. "Has there been some pain? Yeah, but I've been sticking 200 grand into the business each month to keep it going and I don't know anybody else in this town who would keep on doing that."

Wyoming County writer and photographer Barbara Knight was on hand Thursday night at GO ART! for an artist's reception featuring her photos of Ireland. Knight has worked for 25 years as a writer and photographer and she traveled to Ireland in April. The photos on display at GO ART! capture the beauty and grandeur of what she saw during her visit.

GO ART! also opened its latest member show, "Guilty Pleasure."

Alex Segouia, of Avon, with his painting, "Lust." 

Lydia Zwierzynski with "Dreams of Fortune." 

Top picture, "West of the Fields" by Kevin Hammon, and "The Fishing Shack" by Julie Lambert.

It didn't take long for a jury, after a weeklong trial, to deliberate and find Charles Schilling, of Pembroke, guilty of counts of second-degree burglary and second-degree criminal trespass.

The charges stem from an incident Thanksgiving Day 2015 when Schilling broke into a house where his girlfriend was living, got into an altercation, and she grabbed a .357-Magnum to defend herself, fired three times, striking him at least once in the leg.

In closing arguments, Public Defender Jerry Ader tried to convince the jury that there was ample reason for a not-guilty verdict based on reasonable doubt.

"What really happened?" Ader told the jury. "Since yesterday, those words keep coming back to me. What really happened?"

He said the only version of events the jury had to go on was the testimony of Schilling's girlfriend, who admitted to being confused on some points.

"She is admittedly not sure about what happened," Ader said. "Anything is possible, she said. When she was asked, she said, 'Anything is possible.' She could remember certain things and she couldn't remember certain things."

Ader said the couple had been together for years with a well-established pattern in a dysfunctional relationship of fighting and talking, and texting, then fighting more, with verbal and physical abuse going both ways.

In order to convict Schilling of burglary, Ader said, the jury would have to find that Schilling went to the house, owned and occupied by the father of Schilling's girlfriend, with the intent to commit a crime once he got inside.

It seemed quite probable, Ader said, that Schilling went to the house on Thanksgiving only to talk, but as usual, the talk escalated into a fight.

If Schilling didn't intend to assault and menace the victim, then he couldn't be found guilty of burglary, Ader said.

"Based on the testimony you heard, reasonable doubt is clear," Ader said.

When Assistant District Attorney Robert Zickl stood to begin his closing arguments, he stepped to the lectern in front of the jury and for a few minutes, just stood there and looked at them.

His point was, he said, that when he approached the lectern, his intention was clear. His intention was to speak. The jury didn't expect him to remain silent. The context explains intent, he said. The jury knew that if he stood up and walked to the lectern, he intended to speak. They didn't really have to guess at his intention.

In the same way, Schilling's intention was clear. He had told a friend that he was angry with his girlfriend because he believed she had performed in a pornographic video that had been posted online. Schilling's intent was also clear because he had been at the house a few days earlier and gave his girlfriend "a stiff beating," Zickl said. Zickl said Schilling's intent was also clear because when he arrived at the house on Nov. 26, 2015, he tried to break down the front door, damaging it, and then gained access by kicking down another door.

"How can anyone say he did not have the intent to commit a crime when he got inside, when the first thing he did when he got inside was commit a crime?" Zickl said.

It was also clear that Schilling was guilty of criminal trespass because he well knew that his girlfriend's father had barred him from his property. Schilling's girlfriend had even warned him on prior occasions not to come over because her father wouldn't allow it.

Schilling will be sentenced at a later date.

Independent Living of the Genesee Region held a fundraiser at Batavia Country Club yesterday, A Taste of Independence.

More than a dozen businesses participated, among them Red Osier, T.F. Brown's, Amber Lantern and D&R Depot.

Independent Living provides assistance to people with permanent or temporary disabilities and funds raised through the event will be used to support those services.

Press release:

Rochester Regional Health is pleased to announce Tara L. Gellasch, MD, has been named Chief Medical Officer for United Memorial Medical Center, effective Oct. 1.

Dr. Gellasch will oversee the medical staff office, graduate medical education, and pastoral care at UMMC. She will focus on the continued support and growth of the medical team and the facilitation of expertise sharing across Rochester Regional Health.

In addition to her role as Chief Medical Officer, she will serve as medical director of the Women’s Care Centers.

"We are looking forward to Dr. Gellasch joining our successful team and bringing her medical expertise and innovative perspective to United Memorial Medical Center,” said Dan Ireland, president. “Dr. Gellasch’s leadership will allow UMMC to further advance our clinical excellence and her passion for caring for each patient reinforces our commitment to the community and families we serve.”

Previously, Dr. Gellasch served as associate chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology and lead physician for The Women’s Center at Newark-Wayne Community Hospital. Prior to that she served as medical director for The Women’s Health Practice at the University of Rochester, where she managed clinical and administrative staff and coordinated continuity clinic for obstetrics and gynecology residents. From 2009 to 2012, Dr. Gellasch held faculty and committee positions for the Rochester General Medical Group (now known as the Rochester Regional Medical Group).

Dr. Gellasch earned her medical degree from McGill University in Quebec, Canada, in 2001 and completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Emery University in Atlanta in 2005. She is a fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Gellasch succeeds Michael Merrill, MD, who resigned earlier this year.

Press release:

New York State Senator Michael H. Ranzenhofer today has launched a 2017 Hunters and Sportsmen Survey.

“Sportsmen and women share their opinions with me every year about hunting issues, and I believe that it is important to listen to their thoughts,” Ranzenhofer said. “That is why I hope that you will consider answering a quick 10-question survey.” 

Residents can complete the survey online by visitingranzenhofer.nysenate.gov. The legislative survey asks questions about hunting and wildlife management in New York State, including crossbow hunting, antler restrictions, and other issues.

“I would like to know how hunters in the 61st Senate District feel about these issues,” Ranzenhofer said. “It is imperative to promote and expand responsible conservation practices while ensuring that future generations have access to quality hunting experiences. I remain committed to working with sportsmen organizations across our state to expand hunting opportunities.”

Sept. 23rd is recognized as National Hunting and Fishing Day. New York ranks third in the nation– behind only Texas and Florida– with nearly two million sportsmen and women hunting and fishing across the state.
 

There's no more benefit of the doubt for Nicole Kimberly Sullivan in Judge Charles Zambito's courtroom.

The 32-year-old Perry resident, already charged with assault, 2nd, and endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person, was arrested on allegations this week that she and a partner concocted a scheme to steal more than $700 in phone cases from Walmart. She's also been accused of continuing to use drugs while in a residential treatment facility.

Zambito canceled her release under supervision contract Wednesday afternoon and ordered her held on $5,000 bail or $10,000 bond. 

While Assistant District Attorney Shirley Gorman argued that Sullivan should be considered a flight risk, her attorney, David Silverberg, argued that she wasn't a flight risk but clearly is having difficulty complying with her release terms pending her trial. He asked for reasonable bail.

Sullivan is accused of fleeing the scene of an accident on Fargo Road in the Town of Stafford on June 10, 2016, and leaving behind a seriously injured person who also had a disability.

      Adner Davila

A 62-year-old man facing multiple drug-dealing charges is being released from jail while awaiting further legal proceedings after a bail review hearing before Judge Charles Zambito in County Court this afternoon.

Adner P. Davila, of West Main Street Road, Batavia, scored well enough on a bail evaluation worksheet that he was deemed not a flight risk and eligible for release under supervision of Genesee Justice.

The bail evaluation is based on numerous factors such as ties to the community, potential jail term if convicted, appearance record on prior charges and prior charges, if any.

In Davila's case, he does have six prior felonies, including three violent felonies, in his past, as well as a failure to appear, but those charges were years ago and were not really a factor in his bail evaluation.

Davila is charged with two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance, 3rd, five counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, 3rd, one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, and one count of criminally using drug paraphernalia. 

During his release under supervision, Davila is confined to his residence at a trailer park on West Main Street Road, except for doctor's appointments. Upon request, Zambito also granted him permission to visit DSS to recertify his Medicaid eligibility, with notification of the trip to Genesee Justice.