Trippany won the annual Batavia High School event on Friday night in front of a capacity crowd in the auditorium.
The event raised in the neighborhood of $5,400 (the final total hasn't been calculated yet). Half of the funds will go to Trippany's chosen charity, Rosewell Cancer Institute.
Will Fulton, representing Genesee Cancer Assistance, came in second, and Kahler Evans, representing Bella's Bumbas, came in third. Their charities will each receive 25% of the proceeds.
Since the first year of the competition in 2013, Mr. Batavia has raised $43,052 for charity.
The event is supported by the Batavia City School Foundation along with local businesses Charles Men Shop, Main St. Pizza, Zach Korzelius at Geico Insurance, LP Graphics in LeRoy, Extreme Streetwear, Beverly's Flowers and Gifts, along with the students and staff at BHS.
This year's contestants where:
The 2025 contestants are:
Cooper Banser: Crossroads House
Jeremiah Childs: The Neri Family through Reece's Rainbow
Kahler Evans: Bella's Bumbas
Greyson Fix: The Ricky Palermo Foundation
Will Fulton: Genesee Cancer Assistance
Cooper Konieczny: Volunteers for Animals
Anthony Kopper: Suicide Prevention of Genesee County
The Goose in Oakfield, 33 South Main St., is Genesee County's new live music venue, thanks to Oakfield resident Thom Jennings and a grant administered by GO ART!
Jennings, a musician himself, got the idea during his wife's surprise birthday party at the Goose last July. Bruce Wojick, a member of the Strictly Hip, played a couple of songs.
"I got to thinking, man, this would just be a really good space for an artist-centric music event," Jennings said. "Because one of the things that's always driven me crazy when I played a happy hour acoustic event, or even as I go to more shows now, the artist isn't necessarily the focus.
It's hard, he said, for a good singer-songwriter to find a place where the audience is there to hear the music more than they are to chat with their friends.
The other inspiration for the idea came from his son Trevor, a drummer in multiple bands. He mentioned playing a gig where audience members could bring their own beer or wine.
So, during the last round of grant applications for state grants for community art projects through GO ART!, Jennings pitched the idea and approved the grant.
Evan Anstey and James Robert Kibby played the inaugural show on Friday evening.
There are shows on May 2 (Steve Novak) and June 6 (Tyler Bagwell), and there is a Christmas concert planned for December.
The Goose is a community center in Oakfield run by Susan Zeliff, Jennings' niece.
The first “We’ve Only Just Begun” Sr. Luncheon of the 2025 season will be Tuesday, April 15 at the South Alabama Firehall located at 2230 Judge Road, Oakfield. Lunch will be promptly served at 11:45 am.
Both guest speakers at the meeting will be from the Genesee County Economic Development Center. Chris Suozzi, Executive Vice President of Business & Workforce Development, and Mark Masse, President and CEO. They will be discussing what their organization does in the County; STAMP project in Alabama, Youth programs, etc.
Come and bring your favorite dish-to-pass OR make a donation at the door! Enjoy lunch and an afternoon with old and new friends. All seniors in surrounding areas are welcome. Contact LaNora Thompson at 630-888-8966 for more information.
There were at least 300 people at the Hands Off! protest Saturday in downtown Batavia -- one of hundreds scheduled across the country -- displaying signs with a variety of causes and concerns, from democracy, social security, education, forests and Medicaid to libraries, LGTBQ, veterans and women's rights, and expressing dissatisfaction with Donald Trump and Elon Musk. There will be more coverage of the protest this weekend in The Batavian. Photo by Howard Owens
Protesters lined both sides of Main Street Batavia for two hours early Saturday afternoon, as several passing motorists honked horns while participants periodically chanted "hey, hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has got to go." Photo by Howard Owens.
Byron-Bergen set the tone early with nine first-inning runs, dominating Holley 18-4 in Holley on Friday.
Lily Stalica started on the mound for the Bees, delivering a strong performance. She allowed three earned runs, struck out seven batters, and walked three.
At the plate, Stalica went 3-3 with a double, four RBIs, three runs, and a stolen base. Natalie Prinzi was 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs, four runs, and a steal. Ava Gray went 1-for-1 with a triple, three walks, and two stolen bases. Jill Weaver, Janessa Amesbury, and Lauren Gartz each had a hit, with Amesbury and Gartz driving in 2 RBIs each, while Weaver contributed three RBIs.
Junior pitcher Skylar Gallagher took the loss for Holley. She allowed four earned runs and struck out 1 in her one inning of work. Alexis Lujan relieved her, striking out three while allowing three earned runs over four innings.
Serenity-Ann Rath led the Hawks' offense, going 2-2 with two runs scored. Desiree McCormack went 2-3, while Gallagher added Holley's only other hit.
Byron-Bergen head coach Steve Ball praised his team, saying, "I'm proud of the girls for coming out strong and taking control of the game early. Last year, we often let teams back into games, but today, the girls played a complete game and earned a comfortable win. It's a step in the right direction, and I hope we can build on this momentum. Lily (Stalica) has been outstanding in our first three games, both on the mound and at the plate, reaching base 11 times in 12 plate appearances. Credit to Coach Ostrom and Holley—after a tough first inning, she really rallied her girls, and they played much more competitively the rest of the game."
Jamie Clark, assistant principal and athletic director at Le Roy Jr/Sr High School, has been named the School Administrators Association of New York State (SAANYS) Region 12 Secondary School Assistant Principal of the Year.
"What a great honor for all the work that Jamie does for our students each and every day," said Superintendent Merritt Holly. "Mr. Clark is student-centered and always prioritizes the success and well-being of every learner."
"Mr. Clark continually demonstrates a positive attitude and team-oriented approach, and his ability to connect with stakeholders and willingness to approach any challenging situation have helped contribute to the success of the Le Roy Central School District," said Dr. David Russell, principal at the high school.
Each year, SAANYS honors exceptional New York State administrators with a state awards program in their honor. This program was established to recognize educators who demonstrate outstanding leadership skills and have contributed exceptionally to the educational process.
Clark will be honored on Monday, May 5 at a SAANYS event in Cheektowaga.
Submitted photo of retiring Iroquois Refuge Manager Tom Roster, far right, during a retirement party with colleagues and friends.
Article by Patti Singer
High on Tom Roster’s to-do list when he arrived at Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge in November 2004 was getting Swallow Hollow Trail in shape and repairing the handicap-accessible boardwalk.
“That was a very big and impressive project that had a lot of hands in it,” Roster remembered. “And then we had a big celebration at the end. No sooner were we done with the celebration and cleaning up, and there was a wheelchair going down the boardwalk. That was kind of neat to see that.”
That initial project laid the groundwork for Roster’s tenure. His formal title is complex manager, but he’s known as the refuge manager. He worked with volunteers and the Friends of Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge on maintaining the 10,000-plus acres for wildlife conservation and human enjoyment and education.
Now, after more than 20 years at Iroquois NWR and more than 37 years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Roster is retiring in April 2025 to find new adventures with his wife and family.
“I’ll be 59,” said Roster, who had planned this day since last fall. “I still have my health and can do a lot of other things. We can travel and do a lot of stuff before anything sets in. We’re still young.”
“Tom Roster has been a steady hand at the helm of the Iroquois refuge for several decades,” said Richard Moss, president of Friends of Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, a nonprofit that supports the refuge. “His tenure spanned at least half a dozen Friends presidents, and he will be sorely missed.”
Many of those former Friends presidents, his colleagues and family threw Roster a retirement party on March 28 at the refuge to thank him for his service.
Roster grew up in northern Minnesota in an outdoors family. His older brother worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “He was doing all sorts of neat things and I thought that’s a great thing to do and get paid for.”
Roster has spent more than half his life with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
His first post was in 1986 as a summer volunteer at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Lima, Montana. He worked as a student trainee at refuges in Wisconsin and Minnesota before earning his bachelor of science degree from the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, in 1990. His first job out of college was as a manager trainee in Sumner, Mo. He moved to Oak Harbor, Ohio, San Diego, Calif., and Chincoteague, Va., before coming to Genesee County.
In those days, moving around was expected. “Get to know a lot of different things before you settle down to your own place,” Roster said. “So that’s what I did.”
Now Genesee County is home, even after his children have graduated from high school.
“The last graduation was 2019, and then we just decided to stick on here. There’s so much going on, a lot of fun and a lot great staff doing a lot of neat work, Friends and volunteers doing a tremendous amount of work and helping us out. The years flew by, and it’s been great.”
Roster said the volunteers help Iroquois NWR fulfill its mission of wildlife first as it has drawn about 100,000 visitors a year post-pandemic.
“There’s a lot of things that we do for the American people, whether it’s hunting, fishing, education programs, and that’s where folks like Friends and volunteers really help us out.”
Volunteers put in between 6,000 and 8,000 hours a year – about 200 40-hour work weeks. Roster said one volunteer has clocked 43,000 hours, and another had donated 28,000 hours. Their work includes mowing, trail work, education and fundraising.
“That is unbelievable that you’re working with people that have the compassion and the passion to do all of that work knowing they don’t get paid for it,” Roster said. “What they get out of it is self-satisfaction and the enjoyment that other people are getting something out of it. The people that have that selflessness and just being able to provide for other people and for the resources has been tremendous. … That deserves a big thank you for everything they’ve done over those years because that makes my life and my job a lot easier.”
Much of Roster’s 20 years at Iroquois NWR were spent at his desk, doing the paperwork and making the phone calls that ensured the refuge was at its best for waterfowl and human visitors.
He said he’ll miss coming to work on crisp fall mornings, and in spring being greeted by squawking geese, ducks and sandhill cranes.
He’ll also miss his staff and the Friends and volunteers — “all the things they do and all the camaraderie. We got projects done and provided for the visitors and resources. The biggest part will be missing those folks.”
It's not too late to register for an informative session about becoming a school board member, says Patrick Burk, executive director of the Genesee Valley School Boards Association.
This is for anyone with interest about serving on your local Board of Education. Local experts will answer questions as well as provide insight into what it is like to be on a board, and prepare you for what to expect when you are elected.
The session is at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Genesee Valley BOCES Center, 80 Munson St., Le Roy.
Mandatory Trainings will be covered and expected duties and responsibilities will be discussed. There will be plenty of time for questions and answers.
"Join us for this informational session," Burk says.
Acclaimed journalist and podcaster Thom Jennings announces the release of Missing Man – The Vince Welnick Story, a six-part podcast series exploring the life and career of keyboardist Vince Welnick, best known for his work with The Tubes, Todd Rundgren, The Grateful Dead, and his own band, Missing Man Formation. The series, produced with support from Go Art! in Genesee County, features exclusive interviews with Laurie Welnick (Vince's widow), Fee Waybill and Prairie Prince of The Tubes, Todd and Michele Rundgren, Mike Duffy, Bobby Strickland, David Gans, Dennis McNally, and Scott Guberman.
The journey begins in May 1985, when Jennings—then a young music enthusiast—encounters Welnick at The Treadway Inn in Batavia after a Tubes concert at Darien Lake. That fateful meeting sets the narrative foundation for a deep dive into Welnick's rise in the music industry, his creative genius, and his personal and professional challenges.
A Career Spanning Decades, Told by Those Who Knew Him Best Each episode of Missing Man sheds light on a different phase of Welnick's career, intertwined with commentary and personal reflections about the four times Thom and Vince met.
Thom released the first episode on February 21, Vince's birthday. Three episodes are available, with three more slated for release over the next six weeks.
While Missing Man celebrates Vince Welnick's music, it is also a deeply personal exploration of his struggles, including mental health challenges, industry pressures, and the isolation that often accompanies fame. Through candid interviews and archival material, Jennings crafts a compelling and humanizing portrait of a musician whose contributions remain underrated yet unforgettable.
How to Listen
Missing Man—The Vince Welnick Story will be available on all major podcast platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, YouTube, and Amazon Music. Listeners can follow the podcast on Spreaker for episode updates and additional content.
Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-24) reintroduced legislation aimed at addressing reductions in Medicare Advantage (MA) access and benefits. The bill addresses reimbursement shortfalls to local MA plans from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Specifically, the bill allows CMS to adjust benchmark amounts based on local wage indices that have increased by 20 percent or more to ensure enrollees continue to receive comprehensive benefits and quality care.
Rep Tenney was joined in introducing this legislation by Representatives Elise Stefanik (NY-21), Nick Langworthy (NY-23), and Mike Lawler (NY-17).
In 2023, CMS made a needed adjustment to the wage index for Upstate New York hospitals, treating geographically rural and rural reclassified hospitals equally. This change led to wage index increases of 20-40% across Upstate New York. While this provided significant relief for hospitals that had been severely underpaid by the fee-for-service program, it inadvertently placed substantial financial pressure on regional MA plans, which are predominantly non-profit organizations.
Because CMS did not account for these new costs in their benchmark rates for 2024, MA plans have experienced significant financial challenges that jeopardize plans’ ability to provide affordable, quality coverage to their beneficiaries. Without relief, health plans will be forced to cut benefits and increase premiums for seniors who can least afford it.
Last week, Rep. Tenney sent a letter to CMS urging the agency to reassess the ongoing misalignment between hospital wage index increases and MA benchmark adjustments in Upstate New York.
“Our community's seniors deserve continued access to affordable, high-quality healthcare. Unfortunately, the payment disparity has already affected local plans’ offerings and limited seniors’ coverage choices. By adjusting the benchmark rates to reflect the increased costs faced by our regional plans, we can restore MA options for our seniors and protect them from higher premiums in the future. This bill will ensure that Medicare Advantage plans continue to provide the robust benefits that so many members of our community rely on,” said Congresswoman Tenney.
The Batavia Society of Artists is hosting artist Pat Tribastone on Tuesday, April 8 at Go-Art/Seymour Place, 201 E. Main St., Batavia, starting at 7 p.m.
She will be demonstrating Pastel Techniques. New members are always welcome, any media or any skill level. Membership for 2025 is $30 for a Single, $50 for a Couple, and $10 for a Student or Veteran. Non-members are welcome for a $5 fee. Light refreshments will be served. Tavern 2.o.1. is open for cash purchases.
If you have any questions please call Teresa Tamfer at 585-506-2465.
The Holland Land Office Museum (HLOM) is proud to announce the opening of three new exhibits in the month of April.
“Embossers and Painters: The Mason Family” is now on display through the end of the year. It features paintings from the members of the Mason Family, (Frank, Nina, Roy and Max), along with items from the F.E. Mason Embossing Factory. The Mason family created nationally known and recognized art, but also a business that allowed growing artists in Genesee County to express themselves with their creativity and their skills. The F.E. Mason Embossing Factory gave way to numerous locally famous artists. Charter members of the Batavia Society of Artists, art in Genesee County would not be the same without the Masons!
“Ingham University” is a new mini-exhibit featuring artifacts from the women’s university that spent much of its 65 year history in Le Roy, 1837-1892. It grew over time, graduated hundreds of students. It was the first women’s college New York State, and the first chartered women’s university in the United States. Though designated as a women’s university, men were also enrolled it its highly regarded Fine Arts program. Many of its alumni went on to teach at institutions like Wellesley and Vassar College. The exhibit features catalogs and bound histories from the 1880s.
“World War II on the Home Front: Propaganda and Rationing” will be opening mid-April and running through December. The Home Front was just as vital to the Allied powers victory in World War II. Poster campaigns and rationing in the United States, instilled by the government, were two of the biggest reasons as to why the Home Front was just as determined and motivated to win the war as the men fighting across the ocean! The exhibit features a wide array of propaganda posters as well as rationing items, along with other aspects of the Homefront.
45 Church Street Elba. Super solid village home with an even better price! This home is situated on nice centrally located lot with a wooded back drop -easily walkable to School, park, diner and Olivers Candy/Ice Cream -what could be better! This home has a super spacious first floor starting with large foyer leading to bright and large living room, attached to front sitting room with pretty glass French doors-would make great toy room or quiet den. There is extra large dining room for big gatherings and updated kitchen with tons of cupboards and newer appliances and full first floor bathroom as well! Upstairs has three good-sized bedrooms and super sized updated bath with a huge walk in closet. Call Reliant today - 585-344-HOME (4663).
William R. Joyce, Director, Genesee County Veterans Service Agency, Byron Brown, President/CEO, Batavia Downs Gaming/ WROTBC, Ryan Hasenauer, Vice President of Business Development, Batavia Downs Gaming/ WROTBC Submitted photo.
Press release:
Byron Brown, President and CEO of Batavia Downs Gaming and Hotel, presented complimentary tickets to William Joyce, Director of the Genesee County Veterans Service Agency. Included were tickets for each of Batavia’s Rockin’ the Downs Summer Concerts.
“This marks the 7th year in a row that Batavia Downs has supported our local Veterans with free tickets to our summer concert series, “said Brown. “We are proud to continue this tradition of giving back to local vets who have served our country.”
Tickets for the concert series can be purchased at BataviaConcerts.com. Performances include:
Friday, June 20 – Queensrÿche
Friday, June 27 – The Allman Betts Band
Friday, July 11 – Almost Queen (Tribute to Queen)
Friday, July 18 – The Machine (Tribute to Pink Floyd)
Friday, July 25 – Little River Band w/Ambrosia
Friday, August 1 – Lou Gramm
Friday, August 8 – The Commodores
Friday, August 15 – Kansas
Over the last seven years, Batavia Downs has proudly donated over 10,000 tickets to Local Veterans.
Henry Banks, 55, of Batavia, has been charged with criminally negligent homicide and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child in the death of 10-year-old Javarius Williams in a fire at 3 Vine St., Batavia, on Feb. 6.
Banks was arraigned in County Court on a sealed grand jury indictment. Judge Melissa Lightcap Cianfrini ordered Banks held in the Genesee County Jail pending further court proceedings.
On the night of Feb. 6, City Fire responded to 3 Vine after a neighbor spotted a fire in the upstairs apartment. The neighbor said he attempted to gain entry to the apartment to help the three children inside escape but was unable to get past the locked door.
All three children were rescued, but Javarius succumbed to the injuries he sustained.
The children, ages 4, 10, and 12, had apparently been left alone in the middle of the night.
According to Chief Shawn Heubusch, Banks is the biological father of the 12-year-old and was legal guardian of the other two children, including Javarius.
He is accused of leaving the children unsupervised for an extended period of time.
The fire started in a child's bedroom. City Fire has yet to determine a cause, Heubusch said.
All three were transported to area hospitals after being rescued by the Police and Fire Departments.
The fire was investigated by Batavia PD along with partner agencies.
The cause and origin of the fire have not been released.
2024 File Photo of Sen. George Borrello at a Le Roy town hall. Photo by Howard Owens
Senator George Borrello has sent out postcards inviting folks to join him for a town hall meeting later this month to hear about the latest updates on state and local issues.
The session has been scheduled for 6 p.m. on April 23 at 10569 Alleghany Road, Darien Center.
Borrello represents the 57th Senate District, which includes Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Genesee and Wyoming counties as well as the western half of Allegany County.
Everyone in the community is welcome to this event. This will also be a time for attendees to share their questions and comments on the material stated.
To contact the senator, email borrello@nysenate.gov or go to borrello.nysenate.gov. His Batavia office hours are noon to 4 p.m. or by appointment at Cornell Cooperative Extension, 420 E. Main St., Batavia, or call 585-507-8139.
Jonathan Haidt, author of "The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness," a New York Times best-seller to be used for discussion at 2 p.m. Sunday at First Presbyterian Church, 300 E. Main St., Batavia. Photo from jonathanhaidt.com.
Have you ever caught yourself as an older adult regaling youngsters with stories of when you were a kid, and how you would spend hours outside playing, finding your own entertainment, and maybe even getting into mischief a time or two?
That’s not so likely with kids nowadays, Roula Alkhouri says, and hasn’t been for quite some time since smartphones came on the scene. These high-tech devices, while useful and convenient, introduced another level of safety that years of research later has proven otherwise, Alkhouri said, citing Jonathan Haidt’s book “The Anxious Generation.”
“I have a daughter who's 25, and she grew up around that time when the smartphones were coming in, and I was like, I wish I had known all of this. Of course, we didn't when they first came out, all the over-parenting, like, 'Oh, you can't go anywhere,' because the fear of strangers and all of that. Comparing it with my growing up years, and how we went out and ventured out and did things, and nobody was checking up on us every second,” she said to The Batavian. “So between those two factors, and I heard about the book, I was like, wow, this is pretty good. I was talking to a friend who works with youth as well. She lives in Ohio. She's a youth pastor, and she was telling me, oh, you know, all these young people, they really struggle, and she said ‘you may want to read this book,’ so I got the book, read it, and started getting into all the research.”
That led Alkhouri, a parent and pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Batavia, to check in with parents at her church to see if there was interest in having a more structured conversation about this topic, and it was a resounding yes.
The church is hosting a workshop this weekend for parents, grandparents, and other concerned adults about the negative impacts of social media and overprotective parenting on the mental and social health of children. This is based on Jonathan Haidt's New York Times best-selling book “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.”
It’s set for 2 p.m. Sunday at the church, 300 E. Main St., Batavia.
A phenomenon called protective parenting grew heavy in the 1990s, when everything had to be monitored by parents, until the dawning of smart phones, and then those parents said “have at it,” Alkhouri said.
“We didn’t police that as we would have policed the content of, say, a gathering for kids. The kids are isolated, in terms of, they don’t really do as much play, unless it’s supervised with adults all the time, and then the social media and the phones, they had access to the Internet all the time, where before 2010, they had to be sitting at a desk,” she said. “There was something where you could have had some control over it, like a TV, but not all the time, but this is with them all the time. A couple of factors came together between that fear of the parents and saying, ‘Oh, it’s safe. They’re sitting at home, and they can be on their phone.’ Well, very, very misleading. We don’t know what content they’re getting exposed to.”
She’s not just talking about the potentially bad content out there but also everyday posts that can prompt kids to compare themselves to popular influencers, producing self-esteem and confidence issues, she said. All of this can lead to — and has, in alarming numbers, according to Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business — anxiety, depression, self-harm, substance abuse, and suicide.
While many school district officials have discussed the possibility of restricting or banning the use of cell phones in the classroom and debating the positives and negatives for doing so, Zach Rausch has culled the statistics and effects of long-term use for adolescents to teens, cited in Haidt’s book.
For example, of rates per 100,000 in the United States, emergency department visits for self-harm in girls ages 10 to 14 in the United States shot up from just over 100 in 2000 to 634 in 2021; visits for boys remained fairly stable, with a slight uptick to 134. The stats for boys changed dramatically for suicides, going from eight per 100,000 for ages 15 to 19 in 1970 to 18 in 2020 and falling to some 14.83 in 2021, with girls remaining under five those entire 50 years.
This weekend’s discussion will include the book's central arguments, exploring:
The Four Foundational Harms: Haidt's framework outlining the key contributors to the current mental health crisis among young people.
The Great Rewiring: The profound impact of smartphones and social media on childhood development.
The Decline of Play-Based Childhood: The shift from free, unstructured play and its consequences.
The Overprotection of Children: The impact of excessive parental caution and the resulting lack of resilience.
Potential Solutions and Pathways Forward: Strategies for parents, educators, and society to address these challenges.
“We rewired childhood and created an epidemic of mental illness,” Haidt says. “After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures.”
Haidt said that he wrote the book because he believes the challenges confronting children and families “are solvable.”
“However, addressing these challenges requires understanding the traps we have fallen into, so we can see the escape routes,” he said. “The main escape routes are four new norms: delay smart phones until high school, delay social media until 16, phone-free schools, and more independence and play in the real world. The solutions are simple, but the work is hard. It’ll be easier if we act together.”
Organizers want this discussion to foster a thoughtful and open exchange of ideas, allowing participants, regardless if they have read the book or not, “to share personal experiences and observations and consider practical steps for creating healthier environments for young people.”
For more information, call 585-343-0505 or go HERE.
Imani I. Hurd, 23, of Buffalo, is charged with attempted grand larceny 3rd and possession of a forged instrument 2nd. Hurd is accused of attempting to cash a forged check at the M&T Bank branch in Batavia. She was arraigned and released.
Dominic O Mogavero, 20, of Batavia, is charged with burglary 2nd, conspiracy 4th, and criminal facilitation 4th. Mogavero is accused of being an accessory to a burglary on Hutchins Street on Jan. 12. He was arrested on March 24. He was arraigned and released.
Leroy Thornton, III, 34, of Batavia, is charged with sex offender failure to report change of address. Thornton, a Level 3 sex offender, was arrested March 27. He allegedly failed to report a change of address within the required 10 days. He was issued an appearance ticket.
Dominic Mogavero
Jonathan C. Perrine, 42, of Batavia, was arrested on March 22 on a warrant charging him with criminal mischief 3rd. He is accused of damaging windows on a vehicle on March 28. He was arraigned and released.
Katelyn L. Walsh, 30, of Batavia, is charged with felony DWI. Walsh was arrested on March 22 following a traffic stop by a Batavia patrol officer on Chase Park. Walsh was issued traffic tickets and released.
Rhiannon J. Graff, 44, of Batavia, is charged with DWI and petit larceny. Graff was accused of drinking and driving on March 21 after police responded to a suspicious vehicle on East Main Street. Graff is also accused of shoplifting at Quicklee's On Oak Street on March 18. She was issued appearance tickets.
Hillary D. Russell, 32, of Batavia, was charged with petit larceny. Russell is accused of stealing merchandise from Dollar General on March 19. She was issued an appearance ticket.
Brandon C. Dodd, 38, of Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Dodd is accused of stealing merchandise from Family Dollar on March 18. He was issued an appearance ticket.
Christine J. Saab, 20, of Batavia, was arrested on March 10 on a warrant. She was initially arrested and charged with harassment 2nd, following a fight at the Mobil gas station on East Main Street. She allegedly failed to appear in court on the charge as ordered. Saab was arraigned in City Court and released.
Michael J. Hilton, 34, of Le Roy, was arrested on March 22 on a warrant charging him with petit larceny. Hilton is accused of stealing merchandise from 7-Eleven on Feb. 26. He was arraigned and released.
The M & M concerts, a local tradition, began in 2009 and continued annually until 2019 when they were paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic. After a five-year hiatus, the concert series is set to return, bringing excitement to the community once again. This area has a rich history tied to the famous Drum & Bugle Corps, Mighty St. Joseph’s of Batavia, which dominated the state VFW scene and maintained a top 10 national ranking for many years.
This year's concert will feature a lineup of talented musicians from across the country. Performers will be traveling from Syracuse, Erie, Pa., Canada, Buffalo, Rochester, and Tennessee. Many of these musicians have previously played for national contenders and champions, and they are eager to return to the stage after the disruptions caused by Covid. This concert holds special significance, marking a return to a cherished tradition.
The concert will also support Crossroads House, a cause that holds deep meaning for the community. This event is a revival of the annual Musical Memories Concerts, which were known for generating extraordinary excitement in the past. Organizers are hopeful that this year’s concert will rekindle that same level of enthusiasm.
The event is scheduled for April 5 at Batavia Middle School, located at 96 Ross Street in Batavia. Doors will open at 5:15 p.m., with the show starting at 6 p.m. This year’s lineup is one of the best yet, featuring the All in Brass Band from Rochester, the Rochester Hit Men, Michael Noce performing Sinatra, the St. Joseph’s Brass Ensemble, the Hamburg Kingsmen Drum & Bugle Corps, musicians from BCSD, the St. Joseph’s Drum & Bugle Corps from Le Roy, and special guests “Brig Juice” from Syracuse.
For more information, contact Frank at 585-409-4364 or Crossroads House at 585-343-3892. Tickets are available for purchase at Valle Jewelers, Millennium Computers, and Crossroads House.
NOW HIRING seasonal agribusiness positions. CDL A & B Drivers to deliver bulk crop nutrients. Potential long-term opportunities. Great for retirees! GENERAL LABOR positions. Daily variety of indoor/outdoor responsibilities. Loader experience a plus. SIGN-ON BONUS and plenty of OT during spring/summer months. Apply in person at: 8610 Route 237, Stafford, NY www.cecrocker.com
