Guy Clark Jr., owner of Cedar Street Sales and Rentals, said that as far as he knows, he has the only test-drive lawn for lawnmowers in the area.

Over a period of months, Clark and his sons Connor (pictured with Guy) and Adam transformed what had just been a strip of weeds next to the store's building into a well-manicured lawn where customers can test drive the complete line of Cub Cadet riding mowers.

Clark went all local in designing and building the test drive area. Jon Ehrmentraut of Le Roy designed the yard. The grass came from Batavia Turf. Tri-County Glass and Armor Building Supply provided materials for a new door from the shop into the yard. Sterling Tent made the awning over the door, and the landscaping was purchased from local nurseries.

Clark figures the little park-like addition to his business will also be suitable for community after-work parties.

A two-car accident, unknown injuries, is reported at the intersection of Gabbey and Alleghany roads. Pembroke and Indian Falls fire departments are responding along with Mercy medics.

Ali is missing. He is a long-haired golden orange cat and is about a year old and weights 10 lbs. He is not fixed. He's been missing since Saturday on Lake Street in Le Roy. He has a collar. If you find Ali or know his whereabouts, contact Rashea Dukes at rashearaniek1@gmail.com -- or at (585) 752-7056.

(To support a local cause, Bruce Gerould wore a Navy jersey and Mark Proia wore an Army jersey for the "Men of Courage." The organization is a ministry of the Batavia Assembly of God Church that coordinates free hunting and fishing trips for wounded veterans. The ministry set up a Facebook page so people could track their progress and make donations.)

Bruce Gerould, of Oakfield, and Mark Proia, of Pavilion, pedaled more than 4,400 miles from Oregon to Virginia in the 2015 Trans Am Bike Race.

They set out to finish the bike race in 33 days and rode an average of 132 miles per day to accomplish their goal. They crossed the finish line on July 9. 

The race started in Astoria, Ore., on June 6 and ended in Yorktown, Va. The course was composed of all roads and went across 10 states.The race was self-supported so there were no entry fees, official checkpoints or prizes. Participants rode at their own pace and were responsible for their own food and lodging.

The two friends started their journey each day at 6 a.m. During the day, they took short breaks every three hours and a longer break for lunch. Their lunch typically consisted of prepackaged muffins and sandwiches from a convenient store. After lunch, they continued biking until they found a hotel around 11 p.m.

Gerould enjoyed riding through the Rocky Mountains and seeing the scenery of each state.

"It's a good way to see the country and can be very relaxing," Gerould said. "There is so much that you see from a bike as opposed to a car whizzing by at 60 mph. We seen moose and had a bear encounter in Virginia. The people you encounter along the way are great, too."

They were constantly biking through mountains and rural areas. The only time Proia remembered biking on flat land was in Kansas but that even proved to be a challenge due to strong winds.

"One particular day going across Kansas there was a 20-mile stretch where we had to jog south directly into the wind," Gerould said. "It took three and and a half hours to go 20 miles."

They also encountered heavy rain and flooding traveling through Kentucky.

"We would get up in the morning and put on our rain gear," Gerould said. "By midday, if we were lucky, it would stop raining but usually by evening it would start raining again. There was a lot of days we would put the same wet clothes back on and start riding again."

Gerould considers it a huge accomplishment to not only finish the race but to do it within their set goal of 33 days. In the beginning, 41 people were riding in the race but only about half crossed the finish line.

Even though they both extensively trained for the race, they still are recovering from minor injuries. Gerould is recouping from a pinched nerve in his right shoulder and Proia spent a couple days in the hospital on antibiotics for an infected foot blister. They are both resting up before they participate in several local mountain bike races later this summer.

Press release:

The City of Batavia recently ranked as the 14th best city to start a business in New York State, according to NerdWallet, a finance Web site which provides information and comparison tools to consumers preparing to make financial decisions.

The analysis was conducted in connection to a dramatic increase in revenue by New York-based businesses, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau. It evaluated many factors, including total population, number of businesses with paid employees and unemployment rates. NerdWallet analyzed 83 cities throughout New York State.

“Batavia’s high ranking as one of the best communities in New York to start a business is reflective of tremendous growth of entrepreneurship and economic development in our region,” said Steve Hyde, president and CEO of Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC). “There are a wide range of small business resources made available to entrepreneurs by GCEDC and our partners at the Batavia Development Corporation, the City of Batavia and the Batavia Business Improvement District (BID).”  

According to NerdWallet, Batavia’s strengths include an above-average economy, a significant number of existing businesses and a relatively low cost of living.

The ranking included criteria gathered for a total of 83 communities in New York State, each with a population of at least 10,000. The analysis calculated the overall score for each location based on each city’s business climate and economic health using data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Additionally, results from the analysis indicate that college towns are “good for business,” noting that most of the top-ranking cities are home to at least one college or university, many of which are campuses of the SUNY system.

“Batavia and Genesee County are fortunate to be located geographically between (the) two major metropolitan regions of Buffalo and Rochester, both of which have a number of prestigious centers of higher education,” Hyde said. “This exposes our residents to many educational and employment opportunities that often are the result of the education and training provided through Genesee Community College.”

Earlier this year, Batavia/Genesee County was also ranked by Site Selection Magazine as one of the top micropolitans in the United States. The ranking recognized the GCEDC for achieving $58.07 million in new capital investments for Genesee County and the creation of more than 140 new jobs in 2014.

Kim M. Mobley, 52, of Hutchins Street, Batavia, is charged with two counts of grand larceny, 4th, criminal possession of a weapon, 3rd, menacing, 2nd, and obstruction of governmental administration. Mobley allegedly possessed a knife and menaced several individuals during an altercation on Hutchins Street. Mobley is also accused of stealing money from an officer who had seized it from an arrestee as property or evidence. She was put in the Genesee County Jail without bail.

Bobby L. Mobley Jr., 40, of Hutchins Street, Batavia, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and obstruction of governmental administration. Mobley is accused of attempting to interfere with a police investigation. The incident occurred on Hutchins Street. He was held in the Genesee County Jail on $1,000 bail.

A 17-year-old is charged with grand larceny, 4th. The youth allegedly broke into vehicles parked in a lot at 56 Harvester Ave., Batavia, and stole items. The youth was put in the Genesee County Jail on $100,000 bail for an unrelated matter.

Christopher D. Hallas, 28, of York Road, Le Roy, is charged with aggravated DWI, DWI, aggravated unlicensed operation, 1st, use of a loaned vehicle without an interlock device, and leaving the scene of a property damage accident. Hallas was the operator of a one-car accident that occurred in Le Roy. He allegedly has two prior DWI convictions in 10 years. He was put in the Genesee County Jail on $15,000 bail.

Jason P. Wickson, 33, of Cedar Street, Batavia, is charged with assault, 3rd, criminal obstruction of breathing and menacing, 3rd, following an alleged domestic incident on Cedar Street. Wickson is accused of choking, threatening and causing injury to the victim. He was held at the Genesee County Jail on $10,000 bail.

Joseph M. Marranco Jr., 44, of State Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny and resisting arrest following an investigation into a shoplifting incident at Tops Market in Batavia. Marranco allegedly fled the store on a bicycle and was located on Redfield Parkway by Batavia Police. After a brief foot chase, he was arrested. He was put in the Genesee County Jail on $2,500 bail.

Dain O. Kilian, 31, of Livingstion Street, Warsaw, is charged with criminal impersonation, 2nd, aggravated unlicensed operation, 2nd, and dark tinted side windows. Kilian was pulled over on Route 77 in Pembroke by Deputy Patrick Reeves. Kilian allegedly gave a fictitious name and was found to have a suspended driver's license. He was put in Gensee County Jail on $1,000 bail.

Julie L. Dutton, 20 of Ellicott Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal possession of a weapon with the intent to use, criminal mischief with the intent to damage property and second-degree menacing with a weapon. Dutton is accused of brandishing a knife and attempting to cause serious physical injury to another person during an altercation at her residence. Dutton also allegedly damaged the victim's cell phone. She was issued an appearance ticket and was already in custody on another matter.

Richard M. Schiersing, 39, of Sand Hill Road, Caledonia, is charged with petit larceny, obstructing governmental administration, 2nd, concealing or destroying physical evidence and criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th. Schiersing allegedly stole and discarded evidence from a pending arrest while in custody. The incident occurred on West Main Street in Batavia. He was put in the Genesee County Jail.

Albert W. Donovan II, 32, of North Lake Road, Bergen, is charged with aggravated DWI, DWI, failure to keep right, moving from a lane unsafely and operation of an unregistered motor vehicle on a highway. Donovan was pulled over on North Lake Road in Bergen by Deputy Joseph Corona.

Latiqua S. Jackson, 21, of East Main Street, Batavia, was arrested inside the courtroom of Batavia City Court on a warrant for a petit larceny charge and unlawful possession of marijuana. Jackson is accused of stealing a computer tablet from a residence on Hutchins Street in April. She was put in the Genesee County Jail on $1,000 bail.

Justine D. McWethy, 28, of Fairway Drive, Batavia, was arrested on the execution of a bench warrant. McWethy allegedly failed to abide by the contract of her release. She was put in Genesee County Jail on $2,500 bail.

Wall Street Journal: N.Y. Panel Is Set to Propose $15 Fast-Food Wage

More than a thousand National Grid customers in Genesee County are without power.

There is a power outage the Byron-Bergen ara that extends south to Le Roy, and almost north and east to the Village of Bergen. More than 1,000 customers are without power. A reader reports a tree is down.

A smaller outage is affecting 44 customers in Alexander, near the county line, east of Route 98. There is an ETA of 7:45 p.m. for power restoration.

A car reportedly crashed into a tree or trees on Council House Road, near Meadville Road, Alabama. Unknown injuries. Alabama Fire Department is responding, along with Mercy medics. An ambulance from Amherst is also called.

UPDATE 4:54 p.m.: No ambulance will be needed, just a deputy and a tow truck, says a firefighter at the scene.

A big accident is reported on the eastbound Thruway at mile marker 397. Unknown injuries. It involves two tractor-trailers and at least two other vehicles. East Pembroke Fire Department is responding along with Mercy Medics.

UPDATE 4:03 p.m.: Town of Batavia Fire Department requested to the scene. Pembroke and Indian Falls fire department asked to shut down eastbound I-90 at Pembroke exit.

UPDATE 4:05 p.m.: A third ambulance, this one from Darien, is called in.

UPDATE 4:29 p.m.: Howard at the scene reports seeing no tractors-trailers; rather, there's an SUV or RV towing a trailer, a pickup truck, and another passenger vehicle involved in the crash.

UPDATE 4:49 p.m.: A responder on scene reports traffic in the opposite direction -- westbound -- is backed up for at least eight miles.

UPDATE 5:19 p.m.: Town of Batavia is back in service. 

UPDATE 5:17 p.m.: Pembroke and Indian Falls traffic control detail is back in service.

UPDATE 5:23 p.m.: A reader reports both lanes are now open.

Reader submitted photos.

Pat Mruczek looked forward to the day all good fathers dream about, when their boys enter the adult world and learn about adult life, start families, gain a new perspective on what it means to be a father, and eventually, care for them in their old age, as they cared for their sons as babies.

Pat Mruczek will never see those days with his son, Nicholas Mruczek.

Nicholas, 20, and a 2012 graduate of Alexander High School, was shot and killed Wednesday at his apartment in North Coventry Township, Pa. He died the next day.

"Sometimes it doesn't seem real," Pat said. "It seems like a bad dream. I just want it to end. I kept thinking he's going to call me at night and tell me, 'Dad, it's all right. I'm here.' ... I know he's not."

Spread out on the kitchen table were pictures of Nick, a smiling boy, a boy dressed as a shepherd for a school play at St. Joe's, his senior pictures in his green Trojans football jersey, holding up a big cheeseburger at the former Jackson Street Grill. Pat, a big man with close-cropped hair befitting a former Army Ranger and corrections officer at Attica, wept some as he pulled pictures from a photo album. "I'm sorry," he said repeatedly as he struggled to hold back the tears.

Then he would remember something about Nick, tell the story, smile and laugh even as moisture glistened around his eyes.

"Sometimes he'd come home and fall asleep on the couch and then I'd put the bear up to his face, like the bear was giving him a kiss and then I'd take pictures on the phone," Pat said as he laughed through the memory. "Sometimes, really early in the morning, and he was sleeping, I would go in there and I used to wake him up. 'Nick, Nick, you gotta get up. You gotta get up.' 'What? What?' 'I'm going to make pancakes,' I told him."

All good fathers love their sons. Nick and Pat called each other, "my best friend."

They fished together, built model trains together, played sports together, worked on cars and tractors together and shared their hopes and fears the way best friends do.  Until Nick went away to school, to study mechanics at Universal Technical Institute in Exton, Pa., Pat and Nick were practically inseparable, and even after he went away, Nick called home every night.

"He would just tell how his day went," Pat said. "He would tell me his problems and we talked about how to solve them. I always told him, 'no matter what we'll work it out together.' We always have. Always have. Right from the beginning. I told him, 'Daddy is always here to protect you. I'll be here, don't worry about it.'"

Nicholas M. Mruczek was born Nov. 26, 1994, in Batavia, the son of Dawn Hinze (now Warner) and Pat Mruczek. He has an older brother, Justin, who at 24 married just a week ago. Nick lived much of his life on Old Creek Road with Pat and Jeanette, whom he called mother, and sister Marissa, now 11.

He took to athletics early and started competing in youth football -- with Pat as one of his coaches -- at age 7.

"We could always tell where Nicholas was on the field because he was the only one who had calves," Pat said. "The other little kids, they had little thin legs, but Nicholas always had these tree-trunk legs so you could always pick Nicholas out no matter where he was."

He loved football, and might have pursued the sport in college, except for a knee injury. He excelled in track and field as a discus thrower and shot putter.

Action was always part of his life, from riding ATVs in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter, to playing Call of Duty with friends on his PlayStation III. Pat describes a boy who just loved life.

"He had a great sense of humor and he had this shitty little grin," Pat said. "His dimples looked like two baby's butt cheeks when he laughed. He gave this little shitty grin. Even when he did something wrong, and he knew he did something wrong, he was hiding something, he would give me that grin and you'd try not to yell at the kid. He would smile with those dimples and it was hard to get mad at him."

Nick also loved to eat, making him a good match for Pat, who loves to cook. In the Mruczek country-style kitchen, a half dozen cast iron skillets hang on the wall above the gas stove. An abundant spice rack hangs on a wall next to the sink.

Nearly every morning, Pat made pancakes for Nick and Marissa. Big pancakes that draped off the plate and were brimming with chocolate chips.

He loved those pancakes, Pat said, and he learned all the words, in Italian, to all the songs on a CD of Italian music Pat played while he cooked breakfast.

"He liked Dominic the Donkey," Pat said. "He loved that one, and Little Pepino the Italian Mouse. He liked Dean Martin."

When Nick was seven and the family was newly settled into the Old Creek Road house, Nick found a hive of bees and was being attacked. Pat ran out and scooped him up in his big arms and wrapped his body around his little boy. CORRECTION: Nick was not living with is father at the time of this incident, as the sentence implies. He was on a visitation.

"I took him around the house and kept getting stung," Pat said. "I kept getting stung he kept yelling, 'Daddy, Daddy,' and I had him with me and I told him, 'It's all right. Don't worry about it.' I said, 'I'll always be here for you. I won't let anything happen to you.' " 

As he grew older, Pat would take Nick out to the barn to work on the family tractor or their cars and small engines. He quickly developed a love for taking engines apart and fixing them.

"The first time he changed oil, he got his hands dirty and he thought that was great," Pat said. "He came in and his hands were all oily and he was a mechanic then."

Nick took mechanics classes and BOCES and did well. When he realized he wouldn't be able to play football in college, he was casting about for what to do with his life. Pat asked him to reflect on what he really enjoyed in school and Nick's mind raced back to those BOCES classes. He decided to enroll at UTI where he could study gas and diesel motors with the hope of returning home to work in a local garage, or perhaps at the Chevrolet dealership (he was a Chevy fan), or he could move to Texas, where he has an uncle, and be a diesel mechanic on oil rigs. He also dreamed of working in NASCAR.

"I always told him his told world was in front of him," Pat said. "He could repair gas engines. He could repair diesel. He could go anywhere he wanted. He wouldn't have any trouble finding a job. He just needed to get good grades. That was most important."

Nick struggled at first at UTI. He hadn't been a great student in public school.

"His study habits were lacking and I told him if you listened to mom and dad while you were in school you would have better study habits," Pat said. "He starts laughing. So we explained to him how to study. We told him, make up a rhyme sometimes. Put something you're doing into a rhyme and you will remember it a little bit better. That's how he would do it. He would make up a little rhyme to remember some of his classes. Then his grades shot up."

In eight months, Nick would have graduated from UTI. 

Besides finding a job after he graduated, he also planned to work on his blue Pontiac Trans Am. Pat went this Nick to pick out the car, which unless you love muscle cars, doesn't look like much at this point, but Nick called it his "dream car." Pat said, "It needs a lot of work." "I can do it, Dad. I can do it," Nick said.

Pat got new rear tires for it and Nick drove it to Pennsylvania. The next time he came home, the tires were already bald. Nick just laughed about, Pat said.

In Chester County, Nick took a couple of different jobs while at school.  He worked at McDonald's, but didn't like the early morning hours. Then he got a job at Longhorns Steakhouse and loved the employee discounts. On days he didn't work, he ate Spam and noodles. On days he worked, he feasted. He would tell his dad, "I'm livin' it. I'm livin' it."

"He called me up a few days after (he started), he told me, 'Dad, this best job I've ever had.' I said 'Why's that.' He said, 'because the food's great.' "

Pat tried to provide his boy with all the tools he would need to succeed in life, including politeness and respect for women.

"I always told the boys in football, always open the door for a lady," Pat said. "Always. Always treat a lady like a lady. You don't ever put your hands on a lady. I always told him, if you ever defended a lady, I'd never be mad at you, Nick. Ever. He did. He always opened a door for a lady."

One of the hobbies Nick and Pat enjoyed the most together was building model trains. In the house on Old Creek Road is a small room dedicated to the display of the trains with a small work bench where Pat and Nick could tinker. The would take trips together, such as to Buffalo, where they could watch the trains and take pictures of locomotives they would later try to duplicate with their models. Sometimes they would go to the sandwash in Batavia and sit near the train tracks collecting pictures of the passing trains and talking. They went to the train shows together and when Nick was still young, Pat bought him old engines, boxcars and cabooses. They would fix them up together and they came up with a name for their own train line. The P&N, which had its own color scheme. Pat still has some of those trains.

The train collection may be the first thing to go, Pat said, as he struggles to come up with the money to pay for Nick's funeral.

"I want to make sure he's buried right," Pat said.

The life of Nicholas Mruczek was cut short, according to authorities in Chester County, by a man who was angry that Nick was dating his ex-girlfriend. On Wednesday evening, the suspect called Nick out of his apartment and after a brief verbal exchange, he allegedly shot Nick at close range with a recently purchased and modified sawed-off shotgun. According to authorities, Zachary Ludwig, 22, of King Street, Spring City, Pa., has confessed to the murder. He is in jail pending further legal proceedings.

Nick was home just a few days before his death for his brother Justin's wedding. Before he left, father and son embraced.

"He always called me his best friend," Pat said. "He always came home and told me, 'You're more than just my dad; you're my best friend.' Jason (Nick's roommate) told me what happened at the end, before he passed, he told Jason, 'Tell my dad, I love him.' It's comforting to know he was thinking of me at the very end."

Funeral arrangements are being handled by the Michael S. Tomaszewski Funeral & Cremation Chapel, 4120 W. Main Street Road, Batavia. Calling hours are Tuesday from 3 to 9 p.m., with services Wednesday starting at 9:30 a.m. 

Because of the tremendous financial stress Nick's death has placed on the Mruczek family, Pat's friend Brian Odachowski has set up a GoFundMe page to collect donations. He's looking to raise at least $5,000 and nearly $3,000 has already been donated.

Putting into printed words what Pat Mruczek said during our interview captures only a portion of the important meaning. Here is an MP3 file containing excerpts from the interview.

Your browser does not support the audio element.

The National Weather Service in Buffalo reports that a moisture-laden, tropical-like airmass will remain in place across Western New York through this evening. A flash flood watch and a hazardous weather outlook are in effect.

This sultry airmass will be favorable for thunderstorms with heavy rain to develop across Western New York, especially late this afternoon and evening when a cold front will bear down on the region from Southern Ontario, Canada.

Since many areas have already been primed with heavy rains from the past several days, additional torrential downpours will worsen an already elevated risk for localized flash flooding.

The combination of oppressive heat and very humid air will produce apparent temperatures in the mid- to upper 90s across a large percentage of the region. These values will approach heat advisory levels and then the chances for heat-related illnesses will increase for those doing outdoor activities.

Two dogs are reportedly locked inside a vehicle parked outside of Denny's restaurant on Main Street in Batavia. An animal control officer is called to respond. It's about 83 degrees.

The Oatka Festival continues today, in Le Roy, until 6 p.m. This morning started with a 30K bicycle race and a fishing derby.  The festival concludes with the Vietnam Veterans' Annual “Duck Derby” at 5 p.m. 

Fishing judge Paul Campbell.

Sisters Mackenzie and Kelsey.

Jackson waiting for the big one.

Another Mackenzie with her fish.

Le Roy PD has spent most of the night searching for a missing female in the area of North and Church streets. The only thing we know at this point is that she became separated from her friends.

Le Roy Fire Department has just been requested to the scene to assist in the search.

UPDATE 7:13 a.m. (By Billie) : Pavilion, Alexander and Stafford fire departments are asked to provide a fill-in for Le Roy's fire hall.

UPDATE 7:21 a.m.: The search continues.

UPDATE 7:35 a.m.: A crew from Caledonia Fire Department is also at Le Roy's fire hall.

UPDATE 7:39 a.m.: Howard is in Le Roy and spoke with Police Chief Chris Hayward who said the woman they are looking for is 22 years old and not from this area. She was last seen drinking with friends at the Smokin' Eagle on Main Street and she left at about 12:45 p.m. Her phoned pinged from behind businesses along Main Street on the Village's Southside. The chief said they are concentrating the search in the vicinity of East Main Street to Clay Street along the banks of Oatka Creek, noting that's the area where the people she was visiting live. "We're just doing our due diligence ... she's not from the area. She'd been drinking. It was 75 degrees. Maybe she decided to take a nap someplace."

UPDATE 7:52 a.m.: Mercy Flight was called to assist in the search but in now being released from the assignment.

UPDATE 7:58 p.m.: The female has been found and she is safe. The mutual aid responders are going back in service.

UPDATE 8:03 p.m.: Howard says she was located at a residence on East Main Street. Authorities said she thought it was the place where her friends live, but it wasn't.

To purchase prints, click here.

A car has reportedly hit a pedestrian in the area of 42 Clinton Ave., Batavia.

The car has left the area.

City fire and Mercy EMS responding.

UPDATE 5:04 p.m.: City fire back in service.

A nonprofit corporation called We R 3C a has devised a curriculum using different techniques to teach students the value of respect and skills needed to create caring communities. 

Robert Purifico, president of We R 3C, and Bart Dentino, program founder, believe school administrators are looking under the wrong rock when it comes to teaching students character education and development. As an alternative to many of the behavior programs that are based on extrinsic forms of motivation such as rewards, Purifico and Dentino, who both come from educational backgrounds, launched the We R 3C curriculum. 

It focuses on developing pro-social behaviors through intrinsic motivation. The goal is to teach students to develop an understanding of values such as respect, empathy and forgiveness. According to Dentino, once students are able to understand and find the value in one another, they will become intrinsically motivated and sincere in their demonstrations.

“Kids learn pro-social behaviors, understand it and do acts of kindness, not for a reward, but because it is an appropriate concrete operational social behavior that they demonstrate 365 days a year,” Purifico said.

The foundation of the curriculum is based on the work of three psychologists, Jean Piaget, Lawrence Kohlberg and Benjamin Bloom. Using principles from their research, the process-based curriculum moves students through the moral stages of development from the egocentric stage to the concrete operational stage.

The first part, "beginnings," teaches children in kindergarten through second grade how to start considering the world outside their ego. The lessons teach the children to think about others around them.

The second part teaches students in grades three through 12 how to understand the value in someone and demonstrate it in the community. The curriculum is divided into five themes, which include the meaning of respect, fixing a problem, self-respect, bullying and communities within communities. Each theme has several lessons and the lessons are broken into approximately 30 learning blocks. In the learning blocks, all of the presentations and activities are written out for teachers.

Dentino has taught several piloting lessons at Elba Central School District.

Dentino recalls talking about a bully during a learning block he taught to a fifth-grade class. He started off the conversation by asking the class what they knew about the boy who was bullying the students. The students shared that his mom works two jobs and his dad is a truck driver who he only sees two weekends a month. Dentino then asked the students how the boy felt and they mentioned how he really missed his dad.

"I looked at one of the girls in the back and she had her head down and I asked her what's the matter," Dentino said. "She responded I feel so sad for him."

From discussing the situation, the students began to empathize with the boy and that understanding made it easier to forgive him. To heal the relationship with the boy, Dentino told the class they had two weeks to let him know he matters.

When Dentino came back, the students shared their stories. One student told of an experience he had with the boy while playing baseball during gym class.

"When the boy came to the plate the student yelled to the pitcher 'you better pitch well to him because he is a really good hitter,' " Dentino said. "This student didn't get a reward for saying it. It was intrinsically motivated behavior to demonstrate kindness to someone whose only relationship to him up to that point was the boy hurting him."

The curriculum has also proven to be beneficial for students at the Lyndonville Middle-High School in grades seven through 12 last school year. Superintendent Jason Smith has received positive feedback from both teachers and students.

"The students thought the curriculum was well needed and the lessons were well run, Smith said. "Students were anxious to have conversations about value, respect and community and teachers commented the lessons proved to be effective as well."

Principal Aaron Slack believes the curriculum is less procedural and rule-based like some other behavior programs. Students learn important skills they can use beyond the classroom.

"The curriculum teaches students how to value others and to look at differences in others as an asset," Slack said.

Due to the success of the curriculum at the middle and high school levels, the district will start using the curriculum at the elementary school level in September.

Dentino's goal is to raise awareness for the curriculum and gauge the interest of as many educators as possible. He is currently working on full implementation of the curriculum at Elba Central School District. School districts that are interested in implementation receive an extensive training workshop and all the curriculum materials.

In addition to New York, Purifico is working on implementing the program in New Jersey and Tennessee. Purifico hopes the curriculum will be used as a character educational tool in schools nationwide in the future.

The Sheriff's Office is investigating the unattended death of a 20-year-old Depew man found in a field at 1756 Chick Road, Darien.

Garry P. Pitz was found in the field shortly after midnight and first responders administered CPR, but were unable to revive him. He was pronounced dead by County Coroner Karen Lang.

The Sheriff's Office was assisted at the scene by troopers, Mercy EMS and the Town of Darien Volunteer Fire Department.