A fully involved barn fire is reported in Le Roy at 8029 W. Bergen Road. All available Le Roy equipment is called in, including mutual assistance from Bergen and Pavilion fire departments. Le Roy medics are also en route.
A 16-gallon oxygen tank is reported to be inside, according to the homeowner.
UPDATE 8:25 p.m.: An engine from Churchville is called to fill in at Bergen's fire hall. Monroe County Water Authority is to be notified that some of their hydrants will be used in fighting the blaze.
UPDATE 8:29 p.m.: An engine from Stafford is called to fill in at Le Roy's fire hall.
UPDATE 8:43: A pumper truck from Caledonia is on scene, too, and fire police are mustering to handle nearby roadways.
A three-car accident with serious injuries is reported at Route 19 and Perry Road in the Town of Le Roy. Mercy Flight is airborne. Extrication is required for the occupant(s) of one vehicle. Traffic police are needed.
Le Roy Fire and Ambulance Service and Pavilion Fire Department and are responding along with Mercy EMS.
UPDATE 2:38 p.m.: Mercy Flight has landed.
UPDATE 2:44 p.m.: The patient needing extrication is out of the vehicle.
UPDATE 2:56 p.m.: Mercy Flight is airborne, but we don't have the destination.
UPDATE 3:41 p.m.: All units back in service. The roadway is reopened.
SUNY Canton recently recognized students who excelled academically during the Spring 2011 semester.
To receive President's List honors, full-time students must earn a semester grade-point average (GPA) of 3.75 or higher on a 4.0 scale. For Deans' List, full-time students must receive a GPA of 3.25. Part-Time Honors are awarded to students earning at least a 3.25 GPA on six to 11 credit hours.
Among the students who earned honors for academics were:
Tarry M. Fluker, of Oakfield, a Legal Studies major, made Part-Time Honors. Fluker is a 1988 graduate of Le Roy Central School.
Stacy E. Holley, of Bergen, a Criminal Investigation major, made President's List. Holley is a 2008 graduate of Byron Bergen Junior-Senior High School. This student also graduated from SUNY Canton in May.
Nathan J. Herman, of Pavilion, an Alternative and Renewable Energy Systems major, made Deans' List. Herman is a 2009 graduate of Pavilion Central School.
Quinton J. Jensen, of Pavilion, an Alternative and Renewable Energy Systems major, made Deans' List. Jensen is a 2009 graduate of Pavilion Central School.
Justin A. Richardson, of Pavilion, an Alternative and Renewable Energy Systems major, made President's List. Richardson is a 2009 graduate of Pavilion Central School.
A man on a motorcycle is now the subject of a foot pursuit in a cornfield near routes 63 and 20 in Pavilion. The incident began in the City of Batavia. We didn't hear how things started, only that he's being hunted by Sheriff's deputies.
While he was gunning his motorcycle with the law in hot pursuit, the chain on his bike broke. He ditched it, along with his helmet, and ran into a nearby cornfield. They spotted him by a hedgerow and then he disappeared into the field again.
State Troopers are on scene, too, and they are asked to provide a helicopter to locate the suspect. Pharoah, the Sheriff's Office dog, is working the scene as well. The dog hasn't located the guy yet, but did return to his handler, Deputy Brian Thompson, from the west.
The man being sought is wearing jeans and has on a black leather jacket. The motorcycle doesn't have plates.
UPDATE 7:42 p.m.: A "whole family of deer" is hanging out in one area of the search, so they are thinking he hasn't gone in that direction. The helicopter is flying above.
UPDATE 8:10 p.m.: The helicopter is continuing a sweep of the farm fields west-to-northwest.
UPDATE 8:21 p.m.: The "family of deer has been spooked from its location" and so officers on the ground are asked to scour that area. The motorcycle is being towed "to a secure location."
UPDATE 8:27: The motorcycle is a 1990 GST Suzuki with an expired registered out of Belmont. The manhunt has yielded no results. The helicopter is returning to base.
UPDATE 10:14 p.m. (by Howard): Photo, Deputy Thompson and Pharoah. Deputies and troopers cleared the scene about about 9:30 p.m. with the suspect still at large. The chase started when Deputy Joseph Graff performed a traffic stop on a motorcyle that didn't have plates. After Deputy Graff exited his vehicle to approach the motorcyclist, the rider took off at high speed.
A front porch carpet fire, believed to be out at this time, is reported at 11133 Saint Mary's St. in Pavilion. A person there suffered burns to the legs trying to put out the blaze. Pavilion Fire Department and Mercy EMS responded. They are checking the site with an infrared camera to ensure the blaze is out.
The victim is reportedly a 14-year-old who was playing with matches. A Sheriff's deputy is requested to the scene because of concerns of child endangerment.
UPDATE 8:10 p.m.: Those at the scene ask the deputy to "step it up."
UPDATE 8:26 p.m.: Mercy medics are en route to Strong Memorial Hospital with the burn victim. The Sheriff's deputy is back in service.
UPDATE 8:33 p.m.: Pavilion fire is back in service.
Out on Starr Road in Pavilion, on 125 acres of farmland with a view, Randy Starr farms his way.
He's not making a political statement, riding an organic trend -- Starr Farm is not organic -- or trying to reach for some idyllic, romanticized agrarian lifestyle. He just farms according to his own idea of how farming should be.
It's a little bit old school, a little bit high tech, and without the headaches that go with larger operations, but still all the frustrations of a two-person farm using older equipment.
“Once in a while I’ll have somebody say, ‘hey, if I was ever going to be a farmer, I’d be a farmer like you,’' Starr said. "And I think, 'Yeah, but you ain’t doing it, are you?'"
Starr was born to be a farmer. It's all he's even known and what he went to college to study. He's never given a second thought to doing something else.
As the fifth generation to plow and plant the hills along Starr Road, Randy is just pursuing the family tradition.
The farm was started by Noah Starr, Randy's great-great-great grandfather, a Dutch immigrant who bought 270 acres in what's now Pavilion from the Holland Land Office in 1818.
Noah built a log cabin high atop a ridge, married four women during the course of his life (three divorces, one death) and fathered 10 sons.
One of Noah's sons built the first version of the house (about 1890) that Randy and his wife Cindy live in, and it's been added on to and taken away from so many times over the years that now "it's just an old house," according to Randy.
Randy and Cindy both attended Pavilion High School (Cindy was four grades back from Randy) and met when Randy's older brother married Cindy's older sister.
Starr graduated from Alfred College with an agricultural degree in the late 1960s. He said of the couple hundred ag students in his class, only a handful became farmers.
"For some foolish reason I wanted to be a farmer all my life and now here I am. I’m 61 years old. Was that the right move or not? Who knows?"
The Starrs married in the early 1970s and moved into the farmhouse in 1974.
Son Chris, 37, and daughter Sarah, 33, are also farmers. Chris and his wife own a farm on West Middlebury Road, Wyoming County, and Sarah and her husband own a farm off Route 63 in Pavilion. Both Chris and Sarah also work other jobs, and both have children who might some day become farmers.
The Starr Farm sits on rolling hills above Pavilion with a clear view far into Wyoming County. The farm's white house, red barns, glistening silos and well used farm equipment could fit on a picture postcard depicting agricultural life in Upstate New York.
Starr said his son Chris has an even more picturesque farm, but like Chris told him one time, he said, "You can't pay your bills with a view."
No doubt about it, the Starr Farm is a working farm. Cindy helps out as do Chris and Sarah, but Randy does most the work.
On the 125 acres, Randy grows wheat, barley, hay, oats and black beans. They also run about 80 head of cattle -- mostly steers bought as calves from a neighboring dairy, and sold for meat after 18 to 22 months of raising.
Cindy takes care of the hogs, which also go to market.
“Divide that into 125 acres -- we don’t have a lot of anything."
Irrigation is rainwater, so when it was too wet in May, it was hard for Starr to plant, but for the past few weeks, he's been praying for rain.
Life on the Starr Farm certainly has its frustrations.
Just about all of the farm equipment Starr runs is decades old, some of it he bought decades ago (or his dad bought), some of it he finds at auction.
Starr's father, who died 22 years ago, taught him that equipment may become obsolete, but if well maintained, it will run forever.
What Starr needs to buy, he said, he can get at a pretty good price. The equipment he needs is too big for the hobbyist looking to tinker with old farm machinary and too small for the mega-operations.
“It’s an area where you can find things sometimes that nobody else wants. My combine is a good example. It's got a 12-foot grain head and 3-row corn head. It’s a good little combine. I picked it up for $1,400. Sometimes if you’re at the right place at the right time you can get the equipment I need at a reasonable price."
The big operations, of course, are spending $150,000 to $200,000 on a single piece of farm equipment. The plowers and planters are guided by GPS to make perfectly straight rows over dozens of rows.
Big or small equipment breaks down and it's just a different kind of headache.
"My tractor breaks down and their tractor breaks down, theirs is maybe a $50,000 fix and mine is a piece of baling wire and something I can keep it going with."
Why does he farm the way he does? Can't really say. His operation just kind of evolved that way.
When he was young, he said, it seemed like any time he bought a bigger truck or bigger piece of equipment, something would go wrong.
"I can’t be real specific, but it just seemed liked any time I’d jump ahead, I’d got slammed against a wall. It was like, ‘OK, slow down and do it my way.'"
He also watched some of his fellow farmers try to take on too much and it often didn't work out well for the farmer or their suppliers.
He's never going to get rich farming his way, Starr admits, but he'll also be able to keep farming.
"Nothing ventured nothing gained, perhaps, but that’s the way I’ve always been," Starr said. "I’ve seen people go too big too fast and the people they did business with got hurt financially. They file for bankruptcy and these people who put their trust in these farms, building, equipment, whatever it would be, and they lose it all."
Starr's way isn't a complete rejection of technology. He owns a new hay baler because they're now easier to get supplies and parts for, and he grows, for example, genetically modified corn to help control pests and disease (which keeps the farm from being certified as organic).
The reason Starr doesn't spray his crops with a lot of chemicals, has nothing to do with trying to be organic, he usually doesn't see much of a need.
If there was a need, he says he would spray.
He doesn't spray for weeds in his wheat, for example, because the wheat grows so fast, it smothers out the weeds.
As for insects, he tells a couple of stories about what he's learned about using pesticides.
First, there is the story of the army worm.
"A few years ago the alert went out, look out for army worms, and the guys, they had their sprayers and were just flying, but we didn’t spray," Starr said. "I went out looking to see if I could find army worms. I went through all my fields – I had a grand total of I think 40 acres of wheat that year – and I found one little army worm about a quarter of an inch long. It didn’t do any sort of damage at all. We didn’t need to spray."
The second story goes further back and is about a salesman visiting the Starr Farm.
"I had a guy come in years ago and say, ‘I went through your field’ – and I didn’t even know he’d done that -- and he said, ‘Oh, man, have you got insects. We’ve got to spray.’
"Now this was years ago," Starr said, "and I said, 'How much will that cost?' and he said, 'How many acres do you have?' I told him. He said that will probably cost you $3,000 to $4,000. I said, 'Oh my gosh, I haven’t got that kind of money.' I said, 'What would happen if I don’t spray?' He said, ‘Oh, by the time the frost comes, it will kill them all and it won’t be a problem.'”
Starr laughs and adds "He almost got me."
Typical of Starr's demeanor, he's quick to add that he's not criticizing the salesman for trying to make a living or the farmers who think spraying for insects is necessary. He just does it his way for his own reasons.
"I always thought the old-timers knew what they were doing. Work hard, keep your nose clean and you’ll be all right. This is just the way we go. It’s the way we do it. I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody else in the world, but it seems to work for us all right.”
A car reportedly drove into a pond at 12035 Perry Road in Pavilion. Unknown if occupants are inside. Pavilion Fire Department is responding. It's north of Route 20 and on the east side. East Pembroke and Wyoming water rescue teams called to the scene.
UPDATE 7:43 p.m.: Responders are having some difficulty finding the scene. A State Trooper is there. The pond is on the left side of the property, which is located down a winding driveway. No one is inside the vehicle, which is now partially out of the pond. Wyoming is cancelled. East Pembroke is continuing as a precaution.
UPDATE 7:48 p.m.: Pavilion fire is told to stand by in its hall. The site is "...the new house that's up on the hill."
UPDATE 7:51 p.m.: Mercy medics are en route. Pavilion is told to stand down.
UPDATE 7:53 p.m.: East Pembroke's water rescue team is cancelled.
UPDATE 7:58 p.m.: Medics will be put back in service after getting a sign off.
UPDATE 8:05 p.m.: A tow truck is called. The vehicle is out of the pond.
Callers reported seeing smoke in the area of 7450 Boyd Road, Covington, and Pavilion chiefs responded to investigate. Upon approach, they spotted a large column of smoke and an orange glow. Once on scene, the first chief confirmed it is a fully involved garage fire.
The fire has spread to the house.
Besides Pavilion, Alexander, Le Roy and Stafford are responding along with the City of Batavia Fast Team. Mutual aid is also requested from departments in Wyoming County.
UPDATE 12:22 a.m.: City of Batavia's Fourth Platoon requested to stand by at the fire hall.
UPDATE 12:44 a.m.: The fire is pretty much knocked down. Crews checking for extensions and interior firefighters preparing to enter. It is believed all occupants are out.
UPDATE 12:50 a.m.: Red Cross requested to the scene to assist two adults.
As of yesterday, the bridge on Route 20 over Oatka Creek, Pavilion, has been closed for repairs.
The closure is apparently part of a $2.8 million NYS DOT project to repair several bridges in Western New York.
We called the DOT today to try and get more information, but have not received a call back.
No word on when it will reopen (though, yesterday at 6 p.m., traffic was still going over the bridge, even though there were "road closed" signs at Texaco Town.
To be named to the President's List, a student must be attending the university full-time and attain a perfect 4.0 GPA for the semester.
Mansfield University is a member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). For more information visit mansfield.edu <http://mansfield.edu>.
Matt Mondoux, a resident of Grand Island and an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, is walking for Lou.
Mondoux, who passed through Genesee County yesterday, is walking the width of New York, all the way to Yankee Stadium, in order to raise money for research into Lou Gehrig's Disease.
"When you see a bunch of people who aren’t getting the kind of help you think they deserve, you realize they need somebody who isn’t directly effected by the disease to help out," Mondoux.
Lou Gehrig's Disease wasn't something Mondoux paid much attention to until a friend was diagnosed and he started doing a little research.
He said reading the blogs of victims raised his awareness and concern for people who have been afflicted.
"Reading up on it, I got kind of emotionally attached," he said. "It was kind of sad that even though I’m a New York Yankee fan, I didn’t know exactly what Lou Gehrig’s Disease was."
Mondoux served 10 years in the Army, but works now at a Seneca-Niagara casino. While he said his employer has been exceptionally supportive of his walk, the 14 days he's taking for the trek is an unpaid leave of absence.
People along the route have already been incredibily supportive, he said.
While he stopped in Bethany and spoke with a reporter, somebody drove up and handed him $2, apologizing that he didn't have more money with him.
A guy walking down the road in a Yankees uniform gets a lot of attention, Mondoux said.
Once he arrives at Yankee Stadium, Mondoux will attend a game using donated tickets. He hopes to be able to get all of the Yankee players to sign his jersey.
If he can raise $2 million, he said, he would like to donate the jersey to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown to help raise awareness of Lou Gehrig's Disease.
"I'll even give them my lucky hat," he said.
He bought the Yankees cap on Sept. 11, 2001, just outside of New York City -- he could see the towers burning that day from where he was, he said.
"It's been with me everywhere," he said. "It's been with me in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wore it the day my daughter was born. It's been everywhere, from Europe to Las Vegas."
Now it's going to Yankee Stadium.
To donate and to track Matt's progress, visit Walking4Lou.com.
A two-car accident with injuries is reported at Telephone and Cook roads in Pavilion. It's possibly a head-on collision. Pavilion Fire Department and Mercy EMS are responding and the availability of Mercy Flight is being checked.
UPDATE: 1:10 p.m.: A responder on scene says there are minor injuries, including a chest injury and an arm injury. No need for Mercy Flight. Three vehicles are involved.
A two-car accident with injuries is reported at the junction of routes 63 and 246. Pavilion and Mercy EMS are responding. Four victims are involved. Vehicles are not blocking. Law enforcement is on scene.
UPDATE 3:19 p.m.: An ambulance from Le Roy is called to the scene.
UPDATE 3:46 p.m.: Patients are taken to UMMC.
UPDATE 3:54 p.m.: All Pavilion units are back in service. State Troopers remain on the scene.
As the fifth generation to plow and plant the hills along Starr Road, Randy is just pursuing the family tradition.
No doubt about it, the Starr Farm is a working farm. Cindy helps out as do Chris and Sarah, but Randy does most the work.
