Check out WBTA for these and other stories:

• State Assemblyman Steve Hawley all but likens Governor David Paterson to a "dictator" and says the state is being run like a "monarchy" — listen to the audio clip from WBTA. Dan Fischer writes that Hawley criticized the governor for not doing more about property tax relief and "likened Paterson's directive on same sex marriage to Eliot Spitzer's failed policy on driver's licenses for illegal aliens." Hawley is paraphrased by Fischer as saying both moves were made without the input of the state legislature. I would be interested to hear more about how the two issues are related.
• City Hall released the agenda for the next meeting of the City Council to be held June 9. WBTA says the meeting is at 7:00pm, but the meeting actually begins at 6:30pm, according to the agenda. WBTA provides a link to download the information.
• Erie County legislator Kathy Konst will join the race for the Democratic nomination to run against Republican Christopher Lee for the 26th Disctrict Congressional Seat, soon to be vacated by the departure of Tom Reynolds. Democrats already have three other candidates looking for the party nod: Jack Davis, Alice Kryzan and Jon Powers.

Dan Fischer of WBTA reported today at noon that City Manager Jason Molino "expects" to have a police chief chosen by the end of the week. Molino declined to name either of the candidates — the search is narrowed to two — though he did say that one hailed from Genesee County, the other from somewhere else in the state, but nothing more specific. He apparently did not, for example, say in which part of the state the out-of-county candidate resides.

Lt. Eugene Jankowski has been acting as chief since the retirement in March of former chief Daryl Sehm. Jankowski was not included in the shortlist of candidates.

In an article about the city's vacancies, Buffalo News reporter Bill Brown wrote yesterday:

Complicating the issue is the idea of combining three departments — police, fire and public works — under one director.

A nine-member commission to review the city’s 50-year-old charter form of government began meeting in April. It could recommend restoring the mayor-council system replaced in 1956 with an administrator-council. It is also expected to review municipal operations and conceivably could suggest an overall director of the three departments.

UPDATE: City Council President Charlie Mallow said that the Buffalo News article is not quite accurate. The city would not consolidate all three departments. Rather, the two chief positions could be merged into a single "public safety officer" position, while the public works director would be merged with the assistant city manager post, which has already happened, for the most part. (See comment below)

Previous related posts:

• Lt. Jankowski doesn't expect appointment
• Search narrrowed to two
• City looks for new chief

Police Blotter for Tuesday, June 3:

• 6:22am, 317 Ellicott St. Apt: 4, burglary
• 3:29pm, 23 Harvester Ave., aggravated harassment
• 3:47pm, Court Street, accident
• 5:31pm, 20 N. Spruce St. Apt: A2, larceny
• 5:35pm, 218 State St., trespass
• 5:44pm, 8 S. Main St., harassment
• 7:18pm, 204 W. Main St., harassment

Note: We don't include noise complaints, domestic disputes and routine police business.

And so it goes....Finally, last night after 18 grueling months of campaigning and 5 1/2 months of voting and caucusing, we now have our two Presidential Candidates.  Whew....there has got to be a better way to select the contenders for this office.  I am all for democracy and the people in each party choosing, but does it have to cost hundreds of millions of dollars?  In some states the costs for campaigning for the Primary Election were more than what was spent in the last General Election in each state.  I think we need a change.....

Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain are wonderful candidates and they both rose to the top like cream in a butter churn....but can't the process be streamlined and fine tuned so that there are more Super Tuesdays and more primaries closer together?  Let's make every Tuesday in January and February a Super Tuesday. 

Here is my idea.  If your state touches the Pacific you vote on one Tuesday.  If your state was in the original 13 Colonies you vote another Tuesday.  If your state borders the Gulf of Mexico and does not begin with the letter T you vote on another Tuesday.  If your state has any part of the Rocky Mountains in it  you vote on another Tuesday.  If your state is in the center of the country and you are going to vote for the Republican anyway is another Tuesday.  If your state touches the Mississippi  River and is not part of another group is another Tuesday.  If your state touches the Great Lakes and is not part of another group you vote on yet another Tuesday and last but not least, if you live in a state that begins with T and has a capital named Austin you vote when you damn well please.  We won't count it anyway because that is the price you pay for sending us George Bush II. 

There you have it.  In seven weeks we could get the decision done, our candidates will be picked and we can get on with the campaign for the fall.  So right around Valentines Day we are finished and the national pundits can discuss it and poll it and dissect it and re-poll it until the cows come home.  I like this idea.  I also think that right after the grueling 7 week Primary Season is over, we force the two left standing to go on a 7 week vacation paid for by the taxpayers.  It would be worth it to send them away.  We would not see them, hear them or even think of them until sometime after Easter.  The peace and quiet and interviewless news days would be a breath of fresh air.  This only leaves  about 7 months for the barage of messages, lies, inuendos and false-fact "nonpolitical party" based advertisments.  We also should allow the candidates only so much per diem to campaign.  I'm thinking like $75.  That should cover two meals and some mileage reimbursement (If gas goes up over $5 a gallon my idea would be to increase it to $80 a day).  

So that is the plan...Pure and simple.  Stop the insanity.  Lose the endless commercials and news stories.  Make the politcal pundits look for jobs elsewhere, after all they only speculate and are never right (Remember McCain was all washed up and Hillary was a sure thing??????)  Make the candidates drive from town to town and eat at McDonald's or Burger King in thier 1996 Ford Fiestas.  It would save us a ton of headaches, make our lives more enjoyable and make them at least understand a budget.

And so it goes....phase one is over, phase two begins and phase three........well, I think I will nap until phase five.   That way I will not be upset over all the excessive spending while there are so many people in need.  I won't see the false promises and nasty commercials.  I won't be thinking about puppet masters like Dick "Mr. Shotgun" Cheney,  that will lead the candidates down the path of "political correctness".   I will wake up on November 1st, listen to the two left standing and make a choice.   Until then,  maybe Cindy McCain will release  her millions of dollars tax records and Hillary will send Bill back to Harlem to his office and Barack and Michele can pick a church with a sane leader.  Oh and maybe by then the Fundamentalist Christians will start to understand the whole separate church and state idea and start acting like Christians.  Well a man can wish, can't he??????

And so it goes........

From the Daily News (Wednesday):

• Genesee County's YWCA will hold a domestic violence volunteer training session from 9:00am to noon on June 28 at its facility at 301 North St. Application and registration must be completed by June 20. Call (585) 343-5808 for more information. Read reporter Joanne Beck's article for a well-written inside look at one crisis counselor's experience.
• Leadership Genesee will host its fifth annual golf tournament at 11:00am on June 16 at Stafford Country Club. Teams of four can register before June 9. A $115 per-person ticket includes green fee, golf cart, lunch and a buffet dinner. Dinner-only tickets are $30. Proceeds will benefit Leadership Genesee, "a year-long leadership program of Cornell Cooperative Extension Genesee County." Call (585) 343-3040 ext. 118 for more information.
• Staff writer Virginia Kropf has a fun feature in the paper today on the history of aprons. Check it out.
• Reporter Paul Mrozek writes: "Twenty-three bars, restaurants and stores in Genesee County failed age-compliance checks this year when they sold alcohol to individuals less than 21 years old, the Genesee County Drug Free Communities Coalition was told Tuesday." That was the second highest rate since the program began in 2001. The article did not reveal which businesses failed the checks.
• A letter to the editor by Daniel Jones was featured on the opinion page of the paper today. The same letter was posted here on The Batavian last week.

For the complete stories, the Daily News is available on local newsstands, or you can subscribe on BataviaNews.com.

WBTA, 1490 AM, is gearing up for another of its periodic auctions.  Dan Fischer has loaded the station's web site page with several more items.

Items include:

• Four-pack for Martin's Fantasy Island
• One-price pass for the Attica Rodeo
• Gift certificates for Oliver's Candy
• Bus trip for two to Seneca Niagara Casino
• Birthday blow out at The Gravel Pit
• Gift certificates for O'Lacy's
• Gift certificates for Center Street Smokehouse

Rules here, segment schedule here.

30-year-old Jonathan J. Connolly, of Darien, was sent to Genesee County Jail last night pending $1,000 cash bail and facing three charges and potentially more.

Conolly was accused of throwing a beer bottle at an on-coming vehicle on Sumner Road, causing damage. He was charged with misdemeanor fourth-degree criminal mischief and two violations: consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle and throwing refuse on the highway.

Genesee County sheriff's deputies said that more charges may be pending.

Batavia will host a public hearing later this summer on the state's proposed changes to the open burning law. The Daily Mail in Greene County reported that the town of Athens is right now taking a closer look at those changes and urging residents to get involved.

"There are a lot of small communities in the state, particularly here in upstate New York, where burn barrels are used on a regular basis," said a Council member in Athens.

Open fires are currently banned only in cities, villages and towns with populations greater than 20,000.

Changes being considered by the state Department of Environmental Conservation would "limit agricultural burning to naturally grown products such as vines, branches, leaves and stubble." Exception will be made for "fire training, small cooking, campfires and ceremonial fires."

The hearing in Batavia will be held Juy 2. No other information was given about the session, its location or time.

DEC invites all persons, organizations, corporations and government agencies that may be affected by the proposed revisions to attend the hearings. In addition, written statements may be submitted to DEC until 5 p.m., July 10.

For more information on the proposals, information may be obtained from Robert Stanton, professional engineer, DEC’s Division of Air Resources, at the Albany’s Broadway address or by calling (518) 402-8403.

Is open burning an issue in and around Batavia? It's clear that agriculture has a major presence here. Would any farmers be directly affected by these changes? What is being burned now that would not be permitted if the changes go through?

Check out WBTA for this and other stories:

• Ellicott Street resident Desiree Moore, 37, was charged with menacing and disorderly conduct. Police were told that Moore had allegedly threatened to shoot his girlfriend with an air gun.

Police Blotter for Monday:

• 6:58am, 18 Thorpe St. (Lower Apt), trespass
• 7:37am, Oak Street, accident
• 11:58am, 376 Bank St., burglary
• 12:14pm, 111 Liberty St. (Lower Apt), identity theft
• 1:25pm, 8315 Park Rd., counterfeiting
• 3:24pm, 21 Wood St., larceny
• 7:48pm, 36 Elm St., harassment
• 8:57pm, Maple Street, harassment
• 10:06pm, 127 North St., assault

Note: We don't include noise complaints, domestic disputes and routine police business.

By way of a preface... When I was a reporter in Canandaigua and an editor would assign me a story about any sort of agency (pseudo, government or otherwise) and its finances, procedures or reportings, I cringed. Visibly, I'm sure. Scowling, grumpy and none too sure what was going on, I tried my best to crack the bureaucratic nut and spill out a tidy, readable article. I'm not talking the routine meeting stuff. I mean the hundred-page report in small type with definitions of the definitions of the indecipherable financial jargon. It took me half my shift once to figure out what one word meant on a company's earnings report. All I remember was that the term not only had nothing to do with its meaning but was very much an obstacle to understanding it — maybe like using the word liquid to describe something solid and unmoving.

So I sympathize with reporter Paul Mrozek wholeheartedly in his attempt to write a comprehensible article about an auditor's report on the Genesee County Nursing Home that showed the facility lost $1.7 million last year.

That being said, there is so much information involved in these sorts of articles, that too much is always said and too much is always left out.

Mrozek tells us that this was the second year in a row that the nursing home lost more than a million dollars and had to be bailed out by the county with subsidies — but that right there raises the first question that is never really answered. If the nursing home is a county-run facility, wouldn't the county already be responsible for its funding?

Further, how is the loss measured?

Mrozek tackles that fairly well by breaking down in simple language the facility's costs per resident versus its revenues: $229 to $204, respectively, for a shortfall of $25 (per resident per day). That sounds pretty significant when you consider the nursing home has 160 beds: 160 x $25 x 365 = $1.46 million lost per year if all beds are filled. They aren't. But at 96 percent occupancy, they're close.

So why are costs higher than revenue?

A few reasons are given in a few different places in the article. One, since the nursing home is a public facility it has to accept patients on "public assistance and people who have no health insurance," while a for-profit facility can fill its beds with people who have fully-funded private health insurance. Another reason is overtime for employees, an expense that seems problematic in both the public and private sectors, but not easily remedied.

Mrozek writes that the county legislature is looking at "a possible increase in Medicaid payments" to help offset the imbalance. One of the auditors is cited as saying that the increase would "reverse the trend of increased county subsidies." (That is one of a few instances in the article that Mrozek paraphrases the auditor using language such as reverse the trend or confluence of changes.)

That's really the best as I can do for a summary of this article, though it seems like an issue worth revisiting, or at least further explications. Check out the paper for more details.

A sincere kudos to Mrozek for tackling this tricky topic. Hopefully, we can get an article in the future explaining in simple language how the nursing home is funded — touched on some in this article. Is it all through Medicaid and insurance? What about the folks with no insurance?

I'm a financial dunce and could really use the detailed explanations. And I'm sure I'm not alone.

Also, if the county is putting up the big bucks to bail out the nursing home, what does that mean for us? Does the county just have that money lying around? Where does it come from? How is it managed?

From the Daily News (Tuesday):

• Batavia's Board of Education appointed Shawn M. Clark as principal of Jackson Elementary School last night. Clark will begin July 1 at a salary of $80,000. For a short bio of Clark, see the article by Joanne Beck.
• At the same meeting, the board also looked at switching from paper agendas to a digital version accessed via laptop computers. The decision is still some time out, but the change could save about 200 pages per board member per meeting if it goes through.
• Reporter Scott DeSmit writes that Rochester resident "Anthony E. Sloan, 46, pleaded guilty to two counts of using the Internet to entice a minor to engage in illegal sexual conduct. The conviction carries a manadatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison." Sloan was one of four men indicted for becoming involved over the Internet with the same 15-year-old boy from Genesee County, "who investigators said actively searched for adult men on an Internet Web site."
• With a little help from the clubs of Batavia's Mike Spiotta, the Section 5 golf team took home the state title, beating Section 11 by 14 strokes. It's the first title for the section in 31 years. Congratulations!

For the complete stories, the Daily News is available on local newsstands, or you can subscribe on BataviaNews.com.

For a short while in 1895, the newspaper that proudly proclaimed itself "a good organ" in service to farmer, merchant and tradesman alike shrunk its name from The Progressive Batavian to the simple yet stately: The Batavian. What a pleasure it was for us here at the contemporary Batavian — no less stately, no less of a service to farmer and citizen alike — to discover our progenitor in the drawers of microfiche at the Richmond Memorial Library.

As evidence of our continued service as a good and vital organ of the people, we have initiated this series of revisits to our shared past: that bizarre world of tonics, dames, davenports, milliners, philtres and... pugilists. So we turn back the clock 113 years to August 17, 1895, to peek in on the news of the times on that particular dog day of summer.

Before we delve into the tale of the wife of a pugilist, let us look at some of the other headlines from the day.

"This is Tough: Providence, a Lawyer and a Woman Make an Unhappy Combination for One Man" is a short tale of woe about a man who "had his eyes blown out ... in a lime-kiln explosion" and was then abandoned by his wife who subsequently hooked up with the man's attorney who had moved into his home and taken over his life.

"Grasshoppers Take Free Rides" is a quirky story about a "plague" of grasshoppers that rode a passenger train from Kansas to Denver and "made themselves disgracefully real" there, taking over the town.

"Girl Wife Sues Boy Husband" is mostly self-explanatory. While "Sheriff Sale on Execution" begs a bit more intepretation.

"Beats a Sea Serpent" tells of an 875-pound sea turtle that was believed to have already been an adult when Columbus discovered America. A state Senator purchased the creature for $25 and had plans to

"make the turtle a feature of the babies' parade on the board walk. He will place the monster on a float decorated in the national colors. Upon the back of the turtle will be a little girl dressed as a mermaid, holding ribbon reins extending from the turtle's mouth."

"Free Silver Charlatans Endeavoring to Humbug the People" artfully (and editorially) transposes the image of rainmakers sending dynamite-filled balloons into the sky and cheating Midwestern farmers with a group of citizens attempting to start a "coinage congress."

Near the end of the paper is a first-hand account of a boxer's wife titled: "Wife of a Pugilist: When She Met Him, Fame Knew Him Not. When Notoreity Came, Women Pursued Him — A Story With a Good Deal of Pathos Between the Lines." In it, the wife, a native of Amsterdam in New York, tells of why she decided to divorce her husband. She tells of how Jim went from a bookkeeper to a boxer and became adored by women, and how he was too "gallant" not to pay them attentions. She never wanted for anything, she says, though the couple barely spent a few months out of each year together. Still she kept with him. That is, until Jim began seeing another woman regularly and went as far pretending the other woman was his wife. She says: "To have such a creature as she be passed off for myself was outrageous. I felt no ill will toward her. He is a strange mixture, and few can understand him. I hope that he may be very happy with her, but I fear for him."

Previous "From the Vault" posts:

• Gold
• Sweet Girl Graduates

Look for the next installment in the coming weeks.

    How about a law that would require that no member of Congress, the Senate, the White House would receive a penny more salary than the lowest paid American Soldier, Marine, Airman, Sailor currently in combat?  So long as one ground-pounding, oath-swearing, mother's child is under threat of injury....no one who had a hand in sending them into harm's way should receive one dime more than that service member does.
 
    And, its not retro-active.  So long as your son, daughter, nephew, niece, cousin, grandson, granddaughter, mother, father, sister, brother, neighbor is in harm's way, no one who sent them there will accrue (you should pardon my french) a damned dime more than that hero does.  If  you sit in one of those seats of inscrutable power, you'd better be so thoroughly convinced of the righteousness of your decision that you'd at least wager your salary on it.

   Because the people you're sending into battle wager a hell of a lot more than your political future.  Their oath entails more than a hand on a book.  Their oath takes them into a situation you send them into.  And it better be for more than oil, for more than a political ideology, it better be for more than your re-election chances. This isn't about philosophy.  It's about the genuine dedication and sacrifice of American citizen soldiers and families.

   Given the preponderance of millionaire-members of the Senate and Congress, maybe they can absorb the cost of their decision easier than we absorb the true cost of war.   Is it asking so much that they share a fraction of the financial cost that our service families endure?

   Does this sound like a good idea to you?

The Genesee County Sheriff's Office released an official statement last night citing a smoldering cigarette as the "probable" cause of the house fire at Lewiston Road Friday that claimed the life of 17-year-old Erik Mooney. WBTA reports that Mooney's mother, July Clark,  "told investigators she had been smoking in the enclosed porch where the fire was believed to have started."

Previous related posts:

• Lewiston fire coverage roundup
• Lewiston Road fire claims life
• Teenager dies in house fire

I've been noticing a trend at this particular intersection that is rather upsetting to me. I travel on 98 daily as I work in Batavia and live in Elba. What concerns me is the way the traffic light is set up for North and South bound traffic. When the light is red for South bound there is a green arrow for vehicles to turn left onto Route 5. After a period of time this arrow turns off and the green light for through traffic comes on. The Northbound light also has an arrow that turns on for vehicles turning left onto Route 5. As with the southbound it turns off and the green light comes on for through traffic.

What I have witnessed on numerous occasions are vehicles proceeding to make left hand turns across traffic long after the turn arrow has turned off. At least once a day I have seen near hits at this intersection, with todays incident being too close for comfort.

I am a member of a volunteer Fire Department who has responded to many accident calls over the years. I've seen my share of mangled vehicles with injuries of every description. All it takes is common sense and a couple extra seconds out of your busy day to ensure a safe journey to your destination.

I do have a suggestion that may or may not work. The addition of a red arrow above the green arrow to indicate that it is no longer safe to turn left. My hope is that someone will read this who has the expertise in traffic patterns to see if a change could be made.

The near hits will still happen until either a study is made or drivers take the time to make sure turning into traffic is safe for ALL vehicles at the intersection.

Joseph Mancuso was managing a hardware store when his family charged him with the impossible task of recruiting a tenant for a vacant hulk of a factory that measured nearly a million square feet. Once a foundry, bordered by freight rails and industry on all sides, the building was literally a community investment: the land had been bought in nickels and dimes by the residents of Batavia in the 1880s to attract big business to the area. They succeeded. But by 1956, the factory was finished.

Of course, Mancuso couldn't find anyone to take the space. It was the 1950s. His son, Tom Mancuso, told us a bit about the history that followed, and a funny little story about how the world came to know the business incubator. Enjoy!

When people look at individual posts, we're able to count how many times that happens. That doesn't tell us precisely how many people read that post, because most people probably read a post on the home page and never click-through to the post on its own page.

Individual story counts are probably driven by people leaving or reading comments, or getting the permalink (story URL) to send to a friend.

With that caveat, here's our Top 10 posts for May (the first month of existence for The Batavian).

1. Batavians choose not to live like they do in big cities, by Charlie Mallow
2. Let's keep our culture: A chat with Marianne Clattenburg, by Philip Anselmo
3. News roundup: "Secret" meetings at City Hall?, by Philip Anselmo
4. Today's Question: How are gas prices effecting Batavia's commuters, by Howard Owens
5. Feelin' it: Behind the scenes at WGCC 90.7 FM, by Philip Anselmo
6. Register to Vote, by Daniel Jones
7. You know you're from Batavia when…, by Ryan Sholin
8. Lewiston Road fire claims life of 17-year-old Erik Mooney, by Howard Owens
9. A Commentary on the Upcoming Presidential Election, by Conor Flynn
10. It Is All Just Words, by Patrick Burke

Our most viewed video so far is of the Lewiston Road fire.

They say it's going to be ninety degrees by the end of the week. You'll probably be able to see the Niagara power station glow and hear it hum from a mile away as the pulse of a million or so air conditioners suck its electric stream. At least, that's the apocalyptic look on our upcoming summer heat surge — and anyone who remembers the great Northeast Blackout of '03 will know what I mean.

On a brighter note, sunshine and hot humid days also bring blooming bouquets. Batavia's Downtown Business Improvement District understands that, which is why they've financed the hanging of some 90 baskets of flowers on light poles along Main Street from the post office to Liberty Street. As you can see, they haven't quite bloomed yet, but the pretty purple petals are a pleasant sign of things to come.

BID Director Don Burkel says the flowers will "give color to Main Street" and just make it a better place to be for pedestrians and motorists. City crews mounted the baskets, and they will monitor the irrigation systems attached to the poles to keep the soil wet and the flowers growing.

As long as the weather holds, the baskets should stay out through September, says Burkel.