A two-car accident with injuries is reported in the area of 7720 Lewiston Road, Batavia.
Town of Batavia fire and Mercy EMS responding.
The vehicles are blocking.
Oakfield Fire Police requested to close southbound traffic.
UPDATE 8:04 a.m.: Roadway is reopened.
A statement just issued from Assemblyman Steve Hawley:
“As the retrial of corrupt former Speaker Sheldon Silver hangs over the state, it is shocking that New York City politicians would consciously vote to block the most comprehensive ethics reform package in state history – the Public Officers Accountability Act.
“It is a grave disservice to taxpayers that Assembly leadership continues to vote down and bury legislation that may have prevented corrupt thieves like Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos from committing crimes.
“What we need is an end to Gov. Cuomo’s bid-rigging culture, term limits for legislative leaders, stronger income disclosure requirements and an end to lawmakers using campaign contributions as a golden parachute. Taxpayers deserve a more honest and faithful government.”
Assemblyman Hawley represents the 139th District, which consists of Genesee, Orleans and parts of Monroe County.
CORRECTION: Updated to clarify the concert is at Elba Central School Auditorium.
You are invited to a special afternoon "Romantic Masterpieces" concert performed by the Genesee Symphony Orchestra at Elba Central School followed by fine dining at the Dibble Family Center on Sunday, May 6.
The concert is at 4 p.m. Cocktails are available at the cash bar along with hors d'oeuvres beginning at 6 o'clock at Dibble Center. Dinner will follow at 6 p.m.
Dinner choices are:
All dinners include garden salad, fresh rolls, and butter, coffee, tea, and dessert.
Cost is $25 per person, $45 per couple.
Reservation deadline is May 3 to Roxie Choat at 356-9635.
The Dibble Family Center is located at 4120 W. Main Street Road, Batavia.
While there may still be flurries in the air and icy sidewalks, the Alumni Affairs Office at Genesee Community College is thinking about golf!
Registration is now open for the third annual Cougar Classic Scholarship Scramble scheduled for Monday, July 23, at the Stafford Country Club, 8873 Morganville Road (Route 237) in Stafford.
The Cougar Classic Scholarship Scramble allows up to 36 foursomes for the 18-hole event at the esteemed Stafford Country Club. Sign-in starts 11:30 a.m. with lunch available, and golfers tee off in "shotgun" style at 12:30 p.m.
Registration is $125 per golfer and includes 18 holes of golf, a golf cart, all beer and nonalcoholic beverages during play, lunch and dinner with a cash bar, and much more!
To join the event for dinner only is $25.
Most importantly, all proceeds go directly to GCC Student Scholarship Program, making higher education possible for deserving students in our community.
The golfer registration form is also available online here.
Additional opportunities to sponsor GCC scholarships are available at a number of levels ranging from $100 to $3,000.
Sponsorships for golf games, including a putting contest, longest drive, closest to the pin, and beat the pro and other in-kind support efforts are also being accepted.
A sponsorship sign-up form with all donation details is available here and should be sent to Jennifer Wakefield at jgwakefiled@genesee.edu to reserve a sponsorship level.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS! You have a right to safe workplace. Federal laws state that your employer must provide a work area with no known health or safety hazards. You also have the right to:
Call Dolce Panepinto at 716-852-1888 immediately. We understand how life altering a work injury can be, and we are here to help.
Photo from left, Joy Lyngar, NJC Provost, Hon. Gary Graber, Hon. Benes Z. Aldana (Ret.), president & CEO of National Judicial College, Reno, Nev.
Submitted photo and press release:
Hon. Gary A. Graber, Darien Town Justice, was recognized for 10 years of service as a faculty member at the National Judicial College, Reno, Nev., on April 12.
During that period, Judge Graber taught at 24 classes in eight states in addition to the National Judicial College location in Nevada. The remainder of the classes were either state specific or national Web courses, all of which focused on commercial driver’s license / commercial motor-vehicle topics.
Judges have a vital state enforcement role in the nation’s commercial driver’s license (CDL) safety program. Not only must they take into account the CDL regulations when adjudicating and sentencing drivers, they must know and require their courts to adhere to CDL reporting requirements.
These outreach sessions provided through federal grants minimize the lack of familiarity and education with regard to CDL/CMV regulations. Members of the judiciary at all levels must better understand their roles in the CDL program and the effect their decisions and actions have on state enforcement of highway safety.
James Benjamin Page, 38, of Edgeware Road, Rochester, is charged with petit larceny, aggravated unlicensed operation, driving without an ignition-interlock device. Page was allegedly found by Deputy Jeremy McClellan at 11:35 p.m. Saturday loading scrap metal from a local business into a vehicle without permission. He allegedly had possession of control of the vehicle at the time.
Mallard Akoma Newkirk, 25, of Lake Artesia Road, Faison, N.C., is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Newkirk was arrested after a report of the odor of marijuana coming from a hotel room at the Econo Lodge in Pembroke at midnight, Saturday.
Patricia Lynn Gertis, 57, of Mount View, Arcade, is charged petit larceny. Gertis is accused of shoplifting from Kohl's Department Store in Batavia.
Deborah Ann Scholonski, 48, of Griswold Road, Bergen, is charged with: DWI; driving with a BAC of .08 or greater; speeding; driving a vehicle without valid inspection; and insufficient tail lamps. Scholonski was stopped at 11:30 p.m. Friday on Route 33, Stafford, by Deputy Ryan DeLong.
Andres A. Arteaga, 20, of Batavia, is charged with DWI and driving with a BAC of .08 or greater. Arteaga was stopped at 1:53 a.m. Sunday on Route 98 in the Town of Batavia by State Police.
If gun owners are going to preserve their right keep and bear arms, they're going to do more than just complain about the progressive agenda to confiscate all firearms. So said Second Amendment Attorney Jim Ostrowski at a grassroots meeting of gun rights advocates at the Days Inn in Batavia today.
They're going to need to find allies.
Potential allies include those, he said, who think recreational drug possession should be legal.
"Guns are drugs are the same issue, if you think about it," said Ostrowski, a resident and political activist in Buffalo. "They're both private property."
He said there was a time in this country when there was no thought of restricting either guns or drugs but progressives wanted the power to control other people's lives.
Another potential ally, the #metoo movement. Women should naturally want the right to the self-protection a gun provides, he said.
"What does the government monopoly want a woman do when assaulted?" he said. "Call 9-1-1 where a criminal historian can record the assault."
Native Americans, given the history of government atrocities against them, should also be natural allies of gun rights advocates, he said.
Those whose ancestors were slaves, he said, should also be natural allies of gun rights advocates. He noted that recently progressive historical revisionists have said the only reason early America had militias was to guard against potential slave revolts. He said those who spread that as historical fact ignore the fact that militias existed where there wasn't slavery and that one reason slavery could even survive was that slaves were prohibited from owning firearms. The ancestors of slaves should be among the strongest allies for gun rights advocates, he said.
Among the chief reason to preserve the Second Amendment, Ostrowski said, is because progressives want to take guns away from citizens, which would make it easier for tyranny to take hold in this country.
While the left wants to disarm citizens, they love a government with guns, he said.
"They love guns so much, they want to be the only one with guns," Ostrowski said.
Among his recommendations for activists is convince schools to start teaching students once again about the Second Amendment, its history and its meaning.
"They don't teach the Second Amendment in school," Ostrowski said. "That's crazy. That's why students are out protesting."
People shouldn't think, he said, the United States is necessarily immune from the potential of tyranny.
"Every race we know about has committed mass atrocities," Ostrowski said. "The whole of history is filled with examples of mass murder by the state. The Framers were well aware of this history, that only armed citizens can protect against tyranny. The Second Amendment works against tyranny. That's why the left so desperately wants the entire civilian population disarmed."
Alyssa Wolford, of Colonial Boulevard in Batavia, submitted this photo of the perfect sheet of ice molded by her mailbox cover.
A news photo by Howard Owens, publisher of The Batavian, has been selected by the National Press Photographers Association as the best spot-news photo in the nation for the month of January.
The photo, of Eddie Miles in handcuffs being taken from the scene of an apartment fire on Washington Avenue he is accused of starting, was previously selected as the NPPA's best spot-news photo in the New York/International Region.
The NPPA divides its membership among several regions and photographers are invited to submit photos in regional monthly contests for spot news, general news, sports, features, and other categories. The regional winners are eventually judged in a national contest.
Over the past five years, Owens has had several pictures selected for first, second, or third place in spot news and general news.
He isn't the only Batavia-based news photographer who competes in the contest. Mark Gutman of the Batavia Daily News, is also a frequent entrant. He's won several awards from NPPA and in January captured three third-place awards in sports feature, sports action, and general news. Many of Gutman's awarding-winning shots, which includes prizes from the Associated Press, can be seen on his website.
In an era of fewer local news outlets and smaller photography staffs at newspapers around the country, Genesee County is one of the few news markets in the nation with still-news photojournalists working at competing news organizations.
The photojournalism of Owens is also featured in the current edition of News Photographer Magazine, a publication of the NPPA. A photo he took in October of the Wilson High School Football Team pushing against a school bus that had become stuck on a sidewalk was printed across two pages in a section at the front of the magazine called "Opening Shots." The picture was the region's winner in October for spot news. It took second place nationally that month.
UPDATE: I completely missed this at the times the awards were announced -- the two shots Mark Gutman had for sports feature and sports action that took third place in the regional competition actually moved up to second place in the national competition -- so for January, he had two-second place shots nationally.
Next Saturday, April 21, the Oakfield Historical Society will host its Grand Opening from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the 2018 season, which also marks its 20-year anniversary.
"Oakfield-Alabama Schools Through the Years" is the year's theme and the corresponding exhibit will debut, plus there will be other new exhibits and updated favorites.
Reenactors representing the late 18th and early 19 centuries will be there, too. There will be several knapping demonstrations where OHS Member Bill Chase will work a piece of raw flint, with the goal of creating an arrowhead.
The museum is located at 7 Maple Ave. in Oakfield.
GSO Conductor S. Shade Zajac led a group of young musicians today in a string workshop at the First Presbyterian Church of Batavia.
The students will perform May 6 with the Genesee Symphony Orchestra at Elba Central School on Sibelus, "Andante Festivo."
The program that day includes featured soloist Mimi Hwang on cello joining the orchestra for Elgar's "Concerto for Cello & Orchestra in E-minor."
The orchestra will also perform Wagner's "Siegfried's Death & Funeral March," Howard Hanson's "Symphony No. 2 'Romantic," and Holst's "St. Paul's Suite for String Orchestra."
The concert, "Romantic Masterpieces," begins at 4 p.m.
Tickets are available through geneseesymphony.com or GO Art!, Roxy's Music Store, YNGodess, and Smokin' Eagle BBQ & Brew in Le Roy.
Students from more than a dozen high schools in the NY-27 Congressional District entered the annual Congressional Art Show and when the top four winners were announced at GCC this morning, all four students came from Batavia High School.
Kiara Cherry won top honors and her work, "Out from Underneath," will be displayed in the Capitol Building for 12 months and she will travel to Washington, D.C., for the show's opening.
Rep. Chris Collins was on hand for the awards presentations after visiting with the students in the Roz Steiner Gallery and viewing their work.
Runner-up was Tara Clattenburg and honorable mentions went to Stephanie Hoy and Sophia Dinehart.
The art show judges see only the pictures. They don't know the artists' names or what schools they go to.
Kiara said her work is meant to reveal how people are different and everyone has a story.
The work didn't come together easily. First, she spent nearly three months working on it and as she neared completion she spilled "a ton" of India ink on it. Rather than give up on the project, she reimagined it, using pages from an old dictionary to help frame the painting of the two girls in the picture.
"I had completely different plans," Kiara said. "It was just unbelievable how everything changed, and so quickly, but it actually ended up better than my original conception."
Ask what lesson she learned from that process, she said, "Not to be cheesy or anything, but it’s like the Bob Ross quote, 'we don’t make mistakes, just happy accidents.' That was a happy accident because it paid off in the end."
Kiara wasn't surprised BHS swept the awards.
"At Batavia, everyone there is so amazing and they work so hard for what they do," she said. "We all encourage each other and Mrs. A (Mandi Antonucci) is an amazing art teacher."
Sophia Dinehart tells Collins about her painting, which is a portrait with bees and a honeycomb. She is showing, she said, how we all have ideas and thoughts always buzzing around in our heads.
Stephanie Hoy
Eva Jensen, Perry High School, with a painting of a national park in Utah, where she once lived.
Tara Clattenburg
Press release:
Congressman Chris Collins (NY-27) today signed a letter that will be sent next week to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer urging him to put an end to Canada’s Class 7 pricing program and dairy tariff walls during ongoing NAFTA negotiations. Canada’s pricing program has created an unfair playing field and has essentially eliminated U.S. exports of certain dairy products.
Collins also voiced support for provisions in the draft of the 2018 Farm Bill released on Thursday, which makes the voluntarily Margin Protection Program (MPP) more effective and more affordable. This program was passed into law in the 2014 Farm Bill and has provided milk producers and processors with critical protections as milk and feed prices fluctuate.
“It is an unfortunate reality that our dairy industry has taken a hard hit in recent years due to unfair trade practices with Canada,” Collins said. “Dairy has always been a vital industry in Western New York and I’ve been a staunch supporter of programs that will help our nation’s farmers get by during tough times. We must continue to make reforms that benefit the agriculture industry, in turn, strengthening and growing our nation’s economy.”
In the letter to Lighthizer, Collins stresses the urgency of tackling issues with Canada’s unfair trade practices. While the Trump Administration has condemned Canada’s actions on dairy trade over the past year, Collins emphasized the millions of workers with jobs tied to agriculture and the importance of the dairy industry in Western New York.
The proposed changes to the MPP include higher coverage levels, lower premiums, and providing more flexibility to farmers when it comes to the length of their coverage. Additionally, the draft proposes changing the name of the program to Dairy Risk Management Program (DRMP) for Dairy Producers and authorizes it through 2023.
Collins added: “Holding Canada accountable and demanding fair treatment needs to be top of mind as NAFTA negotiations continue. And as we work in Congress to pass a Farm Bill, we will make sure dairy farmers have the protections they need as we continue to survive in this unfair market.”
Sheriff William Sheron has issued a travel advisory for all of Genesee County because of current and forecasted weather conditions consisting of high winds and icy roads with possibly downed power lines and trees over the next 24 hours.
A person driving a black pickup truck apparently tried to steal a trailer from a residence in Alabama.
The son of the owner followed the truck and managed to get him stopped at Lewiston and Meadville roads. The pickup driver unhooked the trailer and took off.
The plate of the truck comes back to a residence in Niagara County. The Niagara County Sheriff's Office has been notified. Deputies there are familiar with the subject.
With as much as half an inch of ice accumulation in the storm the National Weather Service says is heading our way, County Highway Superintendent Tim Hens is recommending local residents treat this as a significant weather event and "stay put" for the night.
"Most of the area will be getting about half an inch of ice, which will be heavy enough to bring down trees and power lines," Hens said. "Combined with a strong northeast wind, which is opposite of our normal prevailing wind, there is likely to be major tree damage and sustained power outages.
"There is likely only a few hours left to gather last-minute supplies," he added. "After that, I would recommend staying put."
Unnecessary travel, he said, will only make matters worse for highway departments, emergency vehicles an utility crews.
He advises that those running generators use safe fueling and operating methods.
"Do not run a generator indoors under any circumstances," he said.
National Grid also sent out this advisory:
In preparation for strong winds, freezing rain and ice accumulation across much of Upstate New York over the next 24 hours, National Grid has more than 2,000 line, service and tree workers on alert, including additional support from the company’s New England workforce and from neighboring New York utilities.
Crews are being deployed across upstate as needed, particularly in areas where the weather is expected to be the most severe. We urge customers to be prepared and remain safe.
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