Stories from

Organizers planned on selling 750 chicken dinners as part of a fundraiser for the family of Joshua Mouery. They could have sold more.

Joshua was a 16-year-old Stafford resident and sophomore at Le Roy High School who died March 30. 

There were 400 dinners pre-sold and the remaining 350 sold before noon during an event held at the Stafford Fire Hall.

More than $4,000 in gift certificates were donated by local businesses, plus dozens of gift baskets, for the chance auction held during the fundraiser.

Roxanne sent in this picture of the Byron-Bergen baseball team with the Wheatland-Chili team in Cooperstown today. She said, "A beautiful Mothers Day in Cooperstown! Sunshine and baseball!"

Town of Batavia Supervisor Greg Post was among several people attending the Fabulous Females awards dinner at Terry Hills tonight attired in hats that would put Kentucky Derby patrons to shame.

This year's honorees were Loren Penman, the Blossom Award, Elizabeth Myers, the Petal Award and Hannah Durham, the Seedling Award.

The dinner is sponsored by the YWCA and the Friends of the Batavia Peace Garden.

Beth Allen

Martha Bailey

Jeanne Walton, director of the YWCA, and Barb Toal, with the Peace Garden.

Joan and Greg Post

Betsy Grasso, Beth Grasso, Carol Grasso and Lorraine Nolan.

Players from more than 70 teams and their families are in town this weekend for the Empire Cup College Showcase, a premier soccer event for soccer players 15-18 looking to move to the next level. Coaches from more than 100 colleges attend the tournament at the Batavia Sports Park on Bank Street Road. Players travel from all over the Northeast in order to participate. Clor's Meat Market is the official food vendor. Local businesses report seeing an increase in sales during the event.

Soccer continues tomorrow at the park.

Late this afternoon, there was a robust game of basketball at Williams Park. The players were Greg Solomonidis, Dustin Pilc, David Burr, Coty Patrizi, Manny Delrosayrio, Mike Jamil.

In another sign that spring is really here, Darien Lake opened to the entire public today (season pass holders had access last weekend).

This time of year when I drive down Jackson Street, I always enjoy the yellow magnolia tree with the Doty Mansion as a backdrop.

This is certainly a beautiful time of year for Centennial Park. The trees are budding and the dandelions and forget-me-nots are in bloom.

An honest bit of history was parked at the Genesee County Airport for a time this afternoon. Whiskey 7, a Douglas C-47 that actually dropped paratroopers on the beaches at Normandy, June 6, 1944, stopped for refueling on its way back to Geneseo. 

The aircraft "has been all over" said Naomi Wadsworth, the pilot. It's currently owned by the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo. After the war, it was sold to Capital Airlines, then Frontier Airlines, and then it was flown commercially in Alaska then South America before returning to the U.S. to be displayed in museums. The folks in Geneseo acquired it in 2006. 

Wadsworth said they've actually located one of the paratroopers who jumped from the plane on D-Day.

The plane is returning to Normandy on Thursday for the 70th Anniversary of the famous battle. The crew has raised enough money for fuel to make the trip there but still needs to raise money for the return flight. Six bucks buys a gallon of gas. To find out about making a donation, visit www.rtn2014.org.

 

The Genesee County 4H Swine Club hosted its annual BBQ pulled pork lunch today at the Fairgrounds. The event is the largest fundraiser for the club.

Samantha Weber

Cole Carlson

Twins Kyle and Ryan Sage

Habitat for Humanity of Genesee County has made good progress on its latest project, a home on McKinley Avenue for Muriel Austin and her daughter Brooklyn, who were on the job today to help with the restoration.

Alicia Calcote, a student at RIT, with Sarah Harley and Brooklyn.

Batavia Players sponsored a Mother's Day Madness Shopping Spree & Flower Fundraiser outside their playhouse at 56 Harvester Avenue this afternoon.

While I was out and about this afternoon, I thought it would be fun to take in an inning of Little League baseball.

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This very nice photo came in this morning from Larry Trnka. It's of yesterday's storm. He said it's of outside John Riley's farm on Galloway Road, Batavia.

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The Burke family were among the local residents who came out this morning for the community garden open house at the Batavia Youth Bureau. Master Gardener Bob Gray explained how the program worked. The Burkes are Scott, Jennifer, Lilyana and Noah. Denise Young also helped with the open house.

In our story Thursday about Jerald Shea and the winter flooding of his property, we failed to clearly state that part of Mr. Shea's complaint is that the town pumped water onto his property.

Mr. Shea feels this is a significant action by the town that contributed to the damage to his house.

Bethany Highway Superintendent Paul Fleming confirmed the town did pump the water, however, it was to prevent Paradise Road from flooding. The drainage pipe under Paradise Road was frozen solid, Fleming said, so instead of the water flowing under the road as it normally would, it flowed over the road. Either way, Fleming said, the water would flow south to north onto Mr. Shea's property.

 

Photography students at Genesee Community College have created a series of photographs called "environmental portraits." The photos are currently on display at Genesee County Park and Forest Interpretive Center in Bethany. Above, students Jason Dieter and Lynn Homer hold examples of their work during a reception held this evening.

The students were assigned to photograph a subject in an environment that helped illuminate that subject's life and surroundings.

"Creating a portrait of a subject in its natural surroundings adds elements to their character, and therefore portrays the essence of their personality, rather than merely a likeness of their physical features," said instructor Joe Ziolkowski. 

The works will be on display through August.

A lot of snow and ice meant a lot of salt use on roadways this winter, and the nearly century-old Bethany Center Bridge over Route 20 didn't fare well.

The damage is said to be cosmetic, but the sidewalk is chewed up enough that the State Department of Transportation posted a sign and put up barricades closing the bridge to pedestrian traffic.

The bridge isn't scheduled for replacement until next year at the earliest and a spokeswoman for the DOT was out of the office this afternoon and said she couldn't provide immediate information on the bridge's current status.

We also spoke with County Highway Superintendent Tim Hens. He also wasn't in his office at the time and couldn't double-check the paperwork, but said he wasn't aware of any change in plans.

Hens said he doesn't believe the bridge is in any danger of falling down.

Following a student Mass at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church today, Bishop Richard Joseph Malone toured St. Joe's and Notre Dame, meeting with students and faculty along the way.

At St. Joe's, his tour guide was Principal Karen Green; at Notre Dame, it was Principal Joe Scanlan. His aide Rev. Ryazard Biernat accompanied the tour.

As near as anybody could remember, it's been more than 20 years since a bishop came to Batavia to celebrate Mass and tour a Catholic school. Malone said in Maine, there were 20 schools in his diocese and he made a point of visiting each one at least once a year, but in the Buffalo Diocese there are 40 schools. It would be hard to maintain that annual schedule with so many schools, he said, but when a student asked him if he would come back next year, he said, "if you invite me I will."

Before he left St. Joe's, Principal Green gave Bishop Malone a plate of chocolate from Oliver's.