(Above, our dog "Pachuco" staring straight ahead. Two other dogs with similar markings are in the background.)

In support of the Genesee County Animal Shelter, Stan's Harley-Davidson and Beds-N-Bones Pet Lodge are sponsoring Hogs for Paws from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Aug. 18.

Bring in an item on the wish list (below) or make a donation and receive a free lunch (hot dog, salad, drink).

Dogs and cats can also be microchipped for $30.

Events include obedience training with Canine Academy, K-9 demonstrations, a 50/50 raffle, T-shirt sale an a "pet photo contest."

Wish list items include: Canned and dry cat and dog food, small blankets, and beds, bleach, laundry soap and paper towels and non-clumping cat litter.

Stan's is located at 4425 W. Saile Drive, Batavia.

A field fire is reported at Maple and Ledge roads. Alabama Fire Department is responding.

UPDATE 4:53 p.m.: A responder on scene says the fire is near the gravel pit on hill or berm.

UPDATE 4:58 p.m.: The fire is out.

In an article July 30 about the Toby Keith concert at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, The Batavian incorrectly stated that concertgoers could walk to the main entrance of the park from property on Sumner Road.

There will be NO pedestrian access at any entrance for the Darien Lake property, including the main entrance, once the new restrictions take effect on Aug. 17.

A motor-vehicle accident, believed to be with minor injuries, is reported at Route 237 and North Bergen Road. Byron Fire Department is responding along with medics.

UPDATE 1:19 p.m.: Law enforcement on scene confirms minor injuries. Two flatbed tows are called.

A bicyclist was struck, how is not clear, but he is conscious. This happened at Ellicott and Hutchins streets in the city. City fire is responding along with police and a medic.

UPDATE 12:56 p.m.: City fire is back in service. Apparently, everything's OK.

A cropduster crashed, but the pilot was not injured, in a field near the junction of Brookville Road and Route 20. This happened at about 10:30 a.m. Alexander Fire Department responded and is still on scene, awaiting a representative of the Federal Aviation Administration (required in all flight accidents). The FAA rep is expected in the next 10 minutes or so.

UPDATE 1:57 p.m.: The FAA has completed its inspection and is releasing the plane back into the custody of the pilot.

A motorcycle accident is reported at 644 Knapp Road. The motorcyclist is in a driveway and is reportedly conscious, argumentative and "possibly combative." Pembroke and Indian Falls fire departments are responding along with Mercy medics. A responder says the gas tank is leaking. The rider reportedly got up and tried to leave, but fell back down. Mercy Flight is on ground standby.

UPDATE 11:52 a.m.: Mercy Flight will not be needed. The male rider will be transported by ambulance.

UPDATE Noon: Mercy medics are back in service. "The patient left by private vehicle prior to our arrival," the medic said.

The following people were arrested Wednesday by the Sheriff’s Department during the WEDG Slipknot/Slayer concert at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center.

David A. Staley, 49, of Shumway Street, Buffalo, is charged with disorderly conduct after allegedly engaging in a fight in the parking lot.

Steven J. Pavone, 27, of West Squire Drive, Rochester, is charged with disorderly conduct after allegedly engaging in a fight in the parking lot.

Richard W. Lee, 23, of North Park Drive, Rochester, is charged with trespass after allegedly climbing a light pole inside the concert venue.

Peter Z. Torok, 51, of Salmon Creek Road, Brockport, is charged with DWI and driving with more than .08 BAC after allegedly driving in the parking lot intoxicated.

The following people were charged with unlawful possession of marijuana:

Jacob C. Berg, 21, of West Morris Street, Bath
Leanne P. Maniscallo, 30, of Point Breeze Street, Angola
Timothy M. Schultz, 31, of Angola Place, Angola
Michael D. Pilger, 40, of Caleb Avenue, Syracuse
Douglas W. Teed II, 30, of Cronk Road, Montour Falls
Gregory M. Crites, 31, of Mitchell Place, Lackawana
Richard A. Bieger, 27, of Longnecker Street, Buffalo

The following people were issued citations for alleged consumtion/possession of alcohol under age 21.

David Z. Custard-Jarosz, 19, of Hopkins Street, South Buffalo (two citations)
Jacob M. Parisi, 19, of Westmar Drive, Rochester
Amanda M. Scheiber, 19, of River Road, Niagara Falls
Timothy M. Zambito, 19, of Ward Road, Sanborn
Chelsea E. Printup, 17, of Poodry Road, Alabama
Joseph M. Nappo, 20, of East Center Road, West Seneca
Ryan J. McMahon, 19, of Towers Blvd. Cheektowaga
John M. Tredd, 20, of Pine Ridge Road, Busti
Chanda L. Germain, 19, of Prospect Street, Portage, Pa.
Tara L. Castle, 19, of Chapin Street, Seneca Falls

Regarding the lower number of underage drinking citations, Deputy Chief Gordon Dibble said Slipknot and Slayer draw a slightly older crowd than say, Toby Keith.

"We still went out looking for violations, we just didn't find too many," Dibble said.

Dibble didn't have the exact attendance figures, but the projected attendance (which the Sheriff's Office uses to guage the size of its enforcement and traffic detail) was 6,500.

CORRECTIONS: County Treasurer Scott German sent along these corrections: The IGT is a federal program, it is a state pass-thru. The amount of the IGT is yet to be determined by the state and the feds. Also, 50% of the IGT amount is paid be Genesee County taxpayers directly, it's a 50% match."

The Genesee County Nursing Home owes $3.2 million to the county's general fund, Treasurer Scott German told the Ways and Means Committee today.

Unless the state does the unexpected and transfers money owed to the nursing home before December, the county will need to seek a temporary loan to make its annual pension fund payment due by the end of the year.

"It's possible (the state payment) could happen this year, but it's doubtful," German said. "It's more likely to happen in the second or third quarter of next year."

The state owes the nursing home about $3.2 million in intergovernment transfer funds, and the county also expects to be paid about $500,000 from the nursing home for the indirect services it provides to help keep the facility operational.

Chairwoman Mary Pat Hancock said she gets a lot of confused questions from constituents about the state of the county's budget, because they read that sales tax is up $540,000 over budget, or the county got more revenue in the tax lien auction than anticipated.

It's situations like this, Hancock said, that put the county in such a dire financial position.

"It’s very hard for our constituents to understand what’s going on," Hancock said. "We should have more money than we do and we have less than anybody thinks."

Hancock added later, "We cling to the good news, but the fact of the matter is this is a crisis, a financial crisis."

The county will need to keep paying the nursing home bills, German said, regardless of how long it takes the state to reimburse the expense.

County legislators OK'd a $1.659 million project to replace the Lyon Street Bridge over the Tonawanda Creek on Wednesday, with a majority of the funding coming from a federal grant.

The resolution passed by the Ways and Means Committee authorizes the county to accept reimbursement for 80 percent of the project, which is scheduled to begin construction in 2015.

The county's share of the project will be $331,800 and be paid for from anticipated sales-tax revenue.

The design phase of the project is expected to cost $95,000. The local share of that expense will be $19,000.

According to New York Bridges Are Falling Down, the steel deck bridge was built in 1910 and is rated at 4.875 (on a scale of 1-7), putting it in the "dangerous" category.

The music industry has apparently found a new source of revenue: taxpayers.

ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) is, according to County Attorney Chuck Zambito, asking local governments to sign a licensing agreement for public performances of music and pay an annual fee for the privilege.

The fee varies based on population.

Legislator Ray Cianfrini called the fee "shakedown money" in the Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday.

The committee voted 4-1 (Cianfrini voted no) to sign the agreement and pay ASCAP an annual fee of $637.

The license agreement will protect the county from an ASCAP-initiated lawsuit over any public performances of music on county property, but also limits what the county can allow without additional licenses.

For example, the county can't host a community orchestra or band on its property without paying an additional licensing fee.

The license agreement also requires regular reporting of any events on county property -- such as the Holland Land Office Museum or the nursing home -- where music is played along with a copy of any program that goes with the event. If a band or DJ performs, the county must disclose the performer, provide contact information, and disclose whether the performer is licensed by ASCAP to perform ASCAP-licensed music.

"This is being discussed in every county in the state and most of them are saying they're just going to do it because it's not that much money and they don't want to fight it," Zambito said. "If we don't sign it, they're going to come around and see us."

According to Zambito, local governments that have refused to sign the agreement have already received visits from ASCAP auditors.

The penalty, according to a brochure published by ASCAP, for performing copyrighted music without permission is from $750 to $30,000 per song.

According to the brochure, a public performance of music is:

The Copyright Law defines a public performance as one “in a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gath- ered.”

The law requires a license for all public performances, whether from a recording or by a live musician. 

ASCAP is only one licensing agency and doesn't own licensing rights to all of the songs currently under copyright. There's also BMI, for example, and Zambito said so far BMI hasn't started contacting local governments.

The license fee is some formula created by ASCAP, Zambito said, based on population and other factors.

"The bottom line is they just came up with some artificial number just to get money out of you," Zambito said.

Press release:

Today, Representative Kathy Hochul (NY-26) voted to preserve and extend middle-class tax cuts to all Americans on the first $250,000 of earned income. This bill would provide tax relief and prevent a tax increase of about $2,200 on working families and small businesses in Western New York.

“At a time when our national debt is approaching $16 trillion, the House leadership has insisted on passing an irresponsible plan to add $1 trillion to the debt to pay for additional tax cuts for millionaires. This extra trillion puts us in even greater debt to the Chinese. Instead, I supported an alternative that would provide tax relief to middle-class families and small businesses, while requiring the wealthiest top 2 percent to pay the same tax rates they paid during the economic boom of the 1990s,” Rep. Hochul said.

“If we are going to effectively address our nation's fiscal challenges, we need a balanced approach that requires meaningful cuts to government spending and the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share. That is why I have worked with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support a balanced budget amendment and to cut $2.4 trillion in deficit spending. It’s also why I supported cuts to wasteful spending, such as aid to Pakistan. There is still work to be done to protect middle-class families and reduce the deficit, and I will continue to work with both Democrats and Republicans to find ways to accomplish that goal.”

The City of Batavia's financial health is looking a lot better, according to Moody's Investor Services.

The bond-rating agency recently upgraded the city to A1, which not only makes it cheaper for the city to borrow money, if needed, but it's also a vote of confidence and affirmation that the city's financial outlook is improving, City Manager Jason Molino said.

"Moody's bond-rating agency downgraded the city in 2005 and the upgrade says we're on the right path," Molino said.

From the upgrade memo:

Moody's expects the city's financial position to improve as of the close of fiscal 2012 given the city's practice of conservative budgeting of both revenues and expenditures. In previous years, the city had failed to maintain a balanced budget and accumulated a General Fund balance deficit, topping $1 million at the close of fiscal 2007, necessitating several years of issuing revenue anticipation notes. A new management team came in and generated four consecutive years of operating surpluses through conservative budgeting, increasing revenues and controlling expenditures.

Last fall, Moody's issued a "positive outlook" report for the city, but did not upgrade the bond rating.

Moody's said the city's strengths are management's ability to restore fiscal health and Batavia's proximity to employment centers.

The city's weakness is "Limited tax base with below-average wealth levels."

In order for the city's rating to go up even further, the city must improve reserves and liquidity and increase the city's socio-economic profile.

The rating could be hurt if the fund balance declines and the city's socio-economic profile declines.

Batavia's median family income is 74.4 percent that of the rest of New York, a ranking Moody's believes needs to improve.

While the city currently carries $7.5 million in debt, Moody's found this amount modest compared to property value of $535.8 million and overall annual revenue.

Moody's anticipates the city's average direct debt burden of 2.0 percent of full valuation to remain stable given the absence of major borrowing plans. Debt service is modest, accounting for 5.1 percent of fiscal 2011 expenditures. No borrowing is expected over the next two years.

"This lays the foundation for us to earn some of the trust back from the public," Molino said. "What's happened over the past several years, because of the finances, that's been lost a little bit. This builds on what it's going to take to stabilize our local economy over the long term."

Press release:

The Genesee County Bar Association, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation formed for the benefit of the legal community, announced this afternoon the launching of its first-ever Web site.

GCBA President Durin Rogers, Esq., said he thinks this type of Web site is the first of its kind in the GLOW region.

The association tinkered with the idea of developing a Web site for several years, but recently pursued the endeavor due to increased member interest. According to Rogers, the newly developed site offers its members a robust platform to access legal information including GCBA directories, associated legal Web sites, and a Members Only section.

Rogers is extremely proud of the site and noted that it also provides the community with information as well, including information about the bar association, its members, and where to go for legal help.

While the GCBA does not make direct referral to clients, the new member directory will give the community a starting point when searching for competent legal counsel.  

The site was developed by Rockhopper Technologies, Inc., a full-service technology firm headquartered in Livonia. Professional photographer Amanda Earl spent many volunteer hours taking and producing the Web site photography.

For more information on the GCBA, please contact Rogers via email at:

durin.rogers@dfa.state.ny.us

Or visit the association Web site at http://www.gcbany.com

Batavia may have experienced yesterday what is known as a 100-year-flood event.

The data is still being evaluated, it appears that within a two-hour period 3 inches of rain fell on Batavia and parts of Le Roy and Darien.

The city's infrastructure held up pretty well under the circumstances, said City Manager Jason Molino.

"That's a small time frame for that amount of volume," Molino said. "You've got to understand that sanitary and sewer systems are not designed to handle that kind of volume."

He said everything worked as it should.

"There were no failures in the system," Molino said. "There were no collapses and no malfunctions. The water pretty much dissipated within 30 minutes (of the rain stopping)."

A couple of dozen property owners, at least, reported flooded basements or flood-related damage.

Residents who witnessed water cascading into their basements may not feel like the system worked as it should, and Molino sympathized and said when your's is the place being flooded "it's tough to understand" that a combination of location (in a flood plain) and heavy localized rain is something no municipal drainage system is designed to handle.

Tim Yaeger, emergency management coordinator for Genesee County, said that such relatively few reports of damage in Batavia may mean that the county can't qualify for an emergency designation that would free up funding for financial help for property owners. But perhaps if the storm damage is grouped in with damage to Elmira and other parts of the Southern Tier last week, an emergency designation might be possible, he said.

If you suffered property damage, Molino said, you should contact your insurance company, but you can also contact the city manager's office to ensure the damage is counted in any reports sent to the state or federal government.

Yaeger cautioned against "false hope" of an emergency designation because "it's a very high threshold to meet."

The map shows rain total estimates for the hours of 4 to 6 p.m. Pink is 2+ inches and blue is 3 inches.

Paul Konieczny wanted to get his home at 144 Harvester Ave., Batavia, insured again, so yesterday morning he bought the material to re-roof the 130-year-old house. Then the rains came.

The water came so fast that it overwhelmed the foundation on the south side of the residence and the stone wall collapsed into the basement. Konieczny said he heard it come down with a big thud.

Without insurance, he isn't sure how he will repair the structure.

"I need a blessing, is what I need," he said.

A few minutes later, he did get some small bit of good news from code inspector Doug Randell. The house is temporarily condemned, but if he can install temporary bracing in the basement today, he can move back in.

Pending repairs, the gas is shut off, but he can continue electrical service.

A friend was there to help Konieczny and they are looking for any kind of assistance, government, charitable or private, they might be able to find to make permanent repairs.

Konieczny's family has owned the home continuously since it was built in the 1870s, he said. In fact, the man who built it, he said, was Anthony Horch, the city's first fire chief.

He said he has a copy of the original deed in a cabinet in his house.

"I don't care what the house looks like, I'm not leaving," Konieczny said. "There are too many memories. Too many memories."

Inset photo, Konieczny with Director of Public Works Sally Kuzon.

A landowner contacted the Sheriff's Office and tipped them that there was a pot crop growing on another property. The caller was told this morning that law enforcement had a helicopter fly over the property to search for the marijuana and none was found.

The insistant tipster called back a few minutes ago, apparently to double-check on the status of the matter. An officer contacted the one who spoke with the caller earlier today and asked what to tell this guy.

The officer, sounding slightly annoyed, said "Like I told him this morning, we had a helicopter fly over the property and saw the plants and they weren't marijuana."

In other words, "There's NO POT growing on your neighbor's land."

Maybe they really are just weeds.

Buffalo News: Too young to drink isn't easy to enforce

With things winding down from the storm this evening, I drove down Harvester Avenue and spotted this long puddle next to the railroad tracks and thought "that might be pretty interesting come sunset time." So at dusk, I drove back and made this photo.