Le Roy

A 17-year-old from Le Roy and a 16-year-old from Stafford are charged with petit larceny, trespass and conspiracy, 6th. The two youths were allegedly observed by officers Robert Tygart and Emily Clark of the Le Roy Police Department running through backyards on Hilltop Drive. The two youths were allegedly going through vehicles in the area and taking items from the cars. The suspects were located by following footprints in the snow. A 15-year-old was also involved and he was referred to Family Court. (Note: In most cases The Batavian does not release the names of youths under 18 involved in minor crimes. In this case, the Le Roy Police Department did not release the names.)

Alissa A. Fodge, 21, 7705 W. Bergen Road, Bergen, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and speeding. Fodge was stopped at 3:25 a.m., Saturday, on Ellicott Street by Officer Kevin DeFelice.

Martin F. Jones, 39, of 10 S. Main St., Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Jones is accused of striking a woman at her residence on Spencer Court.

Jamie Marie Hamill, 33, of Lockport Road, Elba, is charged with grand larceny, 4th, and offering a false instrument for filing, 1st. Hamill was arrested following an investigation by Genesee County Social Services stemming from an incident first reported in June 2009.

A tree off Keller Road, Pavilion.

A portion of a barn off Route 19, Le Roy.

More than 15 local vendors were on hand at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Le Roy today for the 2nd Annual Community Holiday Bazaar.

Above, at the bake sale booth, were Riley Chester, 12, Samantha Maurer, 12, and Leslie Ingalls, 13.

A two-car accident has been reported at the intersection of Route 19 and Route 5, Village of Le Roy.

The original call said the cars are blocking and the caller didn't see anybody getting out of at least one of the cars. Now somebody says, "they might have driven down to McDonald's."

Le Roy Fire and Ambulance dispatched.

8:34 p.m.: Property damage only. The cars are in the Walgreens parking lot.

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A barn built in the 1880s is reportedly on fire at 8283 North Road in the Town of Le Roy.

It is believed to have started by an electrical wire.

Le Roy Fire Department is called, along with mutual aid from Bergen and two tankers from Caledonia.

UPDATE 5:07 p.m.: Now they say fire is out. Calls for mutual aid to Caledonia and Mumford have been cancelled. "Everything's under control," says a chief.

UPDATE 5:11 p.m.: A Bergen ladder truck is asked to continue in nonemergency mode, but its tanker is told to return to quarters. National Grid has been notified but no estimated arrival time given. North Road was to be shut down by fire police, not sure if that's still the case. They are going to look at the structure with a thermal imaging camera.

UPDATE 5:21 p.m.: There are no electrical wires hanging anywhere as far as anyone can tell. The thermal imaging camera shows no hot spots.

UPDATE 5:25 p.m.: Le Roy and Bergen are returning to quarters.

The school districts in Le Roy and Oakfield-Alabama have announced that all after-school activities are canceled today due to weather conditions.

A two-car accident with injuries is reported on the Thruway in the eastbound lanes at mile marker 378.4.

Le Roy fire and ambulance are responding.

Traffic is getting backed up.

UPDATE (11:35 a.m.): One person is being transported to Strong hospital in Rochester. Another person is being transported to Lakeside hospital in Brockport.

Here are three pictures from the a late afternoon drive through Le Roy/Bethany/Pavilion.

Above, Oakta Creek near Creek Road and Le Roy-Bethany Townline Road. Below, two barns on Le Roy-Bethany Townline Road.

Batavia-based Christiano Cellular has been sold to a Marion, Ind.-based company, owner Roger Christiano announced today.

The new owner is Moorehead Communications, with 900 locations throughout the United States.

Christiano Cellular has locations in Batavia, Le Roy and Livingston County.

Christiano said with the sale, he's retiring.

A sale price was not announced.

The Christiano locations will be closed for a few days in early December while staff goes through orientation with the new company.

Full announcement after the jump:

Christiano Cellular, a local Verizon Authorized Wireless Retailer with locations in Genesee and Livingston counties, has been sold to Moorehead Communications, Inc., of Marion, Ind.

The announcement was made today by owner, Roger Christiano. Moorehead Communications' cellular division, known as The Cellular Connection, is the largest Verizon Wireless Premium Retailer in the Midwest with over 350 company-owned stores and over 550 owner-operated partners across the nation.

They are currently the fastest growing division in the wireless industry.

"After 20 years representing Verizon Wireless (formerly Frontier Cellular) in Batavia, LeRoy, Avon and Geneseo, I was looking for an opportunity to retire when this offer came along," Christiano said. "I appreciate being the first Rochester area agent to be approached by Moorehead Communications as they continue their expansion across New York State.

"My wife, Sharon, and I will end our career with Verizon Wireless with a feeling of accomplishment. We want to thank our employees for always going the extra mile for the customers of Verizon Wireless. And, of course, we want to thank our loyal customers for doing business with us over the years. We envision bigger and better things ahead when our existing sales staff joins forces with this dynamic new Premium Retailer."

Christiano Cellular stores will be closed for the first three or four days of December while the staff goes through orientation and training and the stores are converted to The Cellular Connection.

A car is reported off the road at 8237 Vallance Road in Le Roy. There are injuries. Le Roy fire and ambulance are responding.

UPDATE (2:36 p.m.): The injuries were deemed minor. No transport needed. Units back in service.

"A squirrel did it," according to a fire chief on scene at Clay and Myrtle in Le Roy.

A caller reported a loud noise and suspected a transformer blew.

There was no sparking, however, though one caller reported a brief power outage.

Le Roy Fire responded and investigated.

No lines down. No fire.

All units back in service.

A motor-vehicle accident with injuries is reported at 8452 Lake St. Road in LeRoy.

The location is between Route 19 and North Street Road.

Le Roy fire and ambulance are repsonding.

With some beautiful weather, I was able to get out of the city for a bit today and take some photos. Here are three of the pictures.

Above, a Ford pickup behind Bruce Scofield's place (Scofield Roll Off Service) on Route 5 in Stafford.

An old windmill on Gully Road, Le Roy.

Silos on Pagen Farms, Gully Road, Le Roy.

In a long conversation today about the need for the Soil and Water Conservation District in Genesee County, Le Roy dairy farmer Dale Stein didn't once complain about an increasingly demanding Environmental Protection Agency.

He just said "Farmers need help."

That help has come for years from the Soil and Water District. Staff members have the expertise to help farmers comply with regulations that protect the land, air and water.

"All of us want to live in a good environment," Stein said. "But we can't do it on our own."

After our talk, Stein walked me across the street, through the mud and over a plank bridge that spans a cement trough, a little creek if you will, of liquid manure.

The manure is fed into a new $170,000 machine that pulls out the solids, drys it, mashes it up and sends it out a conveyor belt into a big pile in a new storage building.

Sawdust, which has served as bedding for cows for decades or longer, is getting expensive, Stein said. Increasingly, it's used in recycled products, which drives the cost up for farmers.

Now, Stein's cows sleep on their own processed manure.

"The cows love it," Stein said. "It's soft and fluffy."

Surprisingly, it has no discernible odor.

The environmentally friendly process was driven as much by federal guidelines to reduce his manure waste as it was by economics.

After a 30-percent federal grant to help pay for the project, Stein said the savings on sawdust purchasing will pay for the operation inside of two years.

Without the help of Soil and Water technicians, Stein said, the project would been a lot harder to pull off. They help identify issues on his farm that might run afoul of regulations, find the right solutions, help secure grants to pay for the projects and then ensure the project is completed within federal or state guidelines.

No farmer, Stein said, has that kind of expertise.

These are tough times, though, and the Genesee County Legislature wants to balance the county's $140.5 million budget without raising property taxes. At the same time, more than 80 percent of the county's revenue is tied up in covering the expense of unfunded mandates.

So, where the county can cut, officials are looking at deep cuts.

For the Soil and Water District, that means a 15-percent reduction -- $26,000 -- in the county's $170,000 allocation.

With the budget cut, there will be at least one less staff member in the district, according to Brad Rodgers, chairman of the Soil and Water board of directors.

"(The cut) would be a real detriment to the agriculture industry in Genesee County," said Rogers. "Even level funding would hurt us."

Scott Page, president of the Genesee County Farm Bureau, believes keeping Soil and Water is critical to protecting Genesee County's economic base.

"If we hurt ag, we miss an opportunity to move forward," said Page. "The more we build off our agricultural base, the better the local economy will do."

Page said his family has been dairy farmers in Le Roy for 50 years, and he's seen the regulations get tighter and more technical. While he doesn't think they are entirely necessary ("What farmer doesn't want to care for his animals?" he says), there is just no way the typical Genesee County farmer can keep abreast of all the regulations without experts to lead the way, he said.

Although Stein's manure recycling project has a direct economic benefit to his business, complying with many of the state and federal regulations adds nothing to the bottom line.

"It's tough for a farmer to lay aside that kind of money for something that is not going to generate profit," Page said.

Banks don't want to loan farmers money to undertake projects that often cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Banks are only willing to help, Stein said, because there are federal grants available to pay from 30 to 70 percent of a project's cost.

And it takes Soil and Water experts to help a farmer through the application process.

"We have a good Soil and Water program," Stein said. "But we will start losing farms in this county pretty quickly due to these regulations without help."

Photos: Top, Dale Stein in front of a pile of manure dust; inset, Stein holding a handful of processed manure; bottom inset, Scott Page.

A Pavilion resident suffered non-life threatening injuries Monday morning when a car he was driving slid off the road in Le Roy and struck a tree.

Charles A. Sisnett, 22, of Creek Road, Pavilion, was cited for allegedly driving too fast for conditions.

Sisnett was in the area of 9845 Roanoke Road, Le Roy, at 9:45 a.m., when he apparently lost control of the 1998 Chevy sedan he was driving.

He reportedly told Deputy Chris Parker that he swerved to avoid an "unknown animal."

(Initial Report)

A Town of Le Roy employee working at the transfer station on Circular Hill Road is being accused of taking money from people bringing in garbage and keeping the cash for herself.

Arrested was 52-year-old Dawn Joy Mancuso, of York Road, Le Roy. She is charged with petit larceny and official misconduct.

After receiving numerous complaints about Mancuso taking money, Deputy Ron Meides, dressed in civilian clothes, began a process of dumping garbage at the transfer facility and getting his dump card punched. On the last week, when Meides was low on available punches on his dump card, Meides said Mancuso allegedly took $10 from him and never turned the cash over to the Town of Le Roy.

Meides alleges in his report that Mancuso has been regularly taking cash from transfer station patrons who did not have enough punches on their cards to drop off garbage.

Mancuso allegedly never turned any of this money over to the town.

Michael Richard Mack, 24, of 72 Main St., Le Roy, is charged with two counts of menacing, 2nd, criminal possession of a weapon, 4th, and criminal mischief, 4th. Mack was arrested by Le Roy Police Officer Kyle Slocum following the report of a disturbance at Mack's residence. Mack is accused of twice threatening a guest at his apartment and damaging the victim's mobile phone. Mack was arraigned and released under supervision of Genesee Justice.

David James Dole, 28, of 610 Kennedy Road, Cheektowaga, is charged with criminal possession of stolen property. Dole is accused of attempting to use a stolen credit card at two retail locations on Veterans Memorial Drive.

Sure there's a free speech consideration, District Attorney Lawrence Friedman said when discussing the arrest of local Democrat activist Chris Charvella on a charge of aggravated harassment, 2nd.

But the statute he's charged under has nothing to do with the content of the phone message Charvella left for Republican Legislator Jay Grasso.

The statute is about making a phone call "for no legitimate purpose other than to harass or annoy," Friedman said.

The content of the message matters only in helping to establish intent, and intent is a matter, ultimately, only a judge or jury can decide.

"That's always true," Friedman said.

Critics of Charvella's arrest have expressed concern that the 30-year-old Batavia resident won't get a fair hearing in Genesee County because of his political affiliation.

Friedman, a Republican, said politics plays no part of it.

"I've been in this job 29 years and I challenge anyone to say politics has played a part in my decision making," Friedman said.

The case is being handled by one of Friedman's five assistant attorneys, and as is often the case, he said he isn't personally involved. Friedman said how the case is handled is entirely up to Assistant District Attorney Kevin Finnell.

Because of the jurisdiction of the case -- a town court, where ADAs handle the caseload -- and the nature of the charges, it's a case that he does not routinely follow.

"I don’t intend to get personally involved in this case, so my political affiliation is irrelevant," Friedman said. "My political affiliation is always irrelevant. I don’t look at anybody’s politics when I get involved in a case, neither the victims nor the defendants nor the witnesses nor anybody else."

He added, "I don't get involved just because a case is in the media."

Friedman said he hasn't read the case file and only knows about Charvella's arrest from what he's read in media reports. 

For previous coverage of Charvella's arrest for allegedly harassing Grasso, click here.

Photo: File photo.

Le Roy Police have arrested a 31-year-old village resident suspected of child sexual abuse.

Gregory A. Jones, of 34 Main St., Apt. #1, Le Roy, is charged with two counts of predatory sexual assault against a child, a class A-II felony.

The alleged victim is under 13 years old.

Included in the predatory sexual assault charge are accusations of a criminal sexual act, 1st, formerly known as sodomy, and coarse sexual conduct against a child, 1st.

The alleged crimes occurred over an 11-month period at his residence on Main Street.

The investigation was conducted by Det. John Condidorio and the Department of Social Services.

Jones was jailed without bail.

Assisting in the case were the Genesee County Advocacy Center, the District Attorney’s Office and the New York State Police Computer Forensic Unit.