Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia), a former farmer and member of the Assembly Committee on Agriculture, has written a pair of letters to Gov. Kathy Hochul and Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon urging them to stop the implementation of a reduction in the farm labor overtime threshold from 60 to 40 hours. 

Last Friday, the Farm Laborers Wage Board voted 2-1 to lower the threshold. Power now rests with Gov. Hochul and Commissioner Reardon to enact the overtime threshold reduction. 

“Farmers from all corners of our state have spoken about how dangerous this policy would be for them, for their families, and for their communities alike. The time has come for Gov. Hochul and Commissioner Reardon to decide whether they stand with farmers or the special interests who’ve worked behind the scenes to advance this proposal,” said Hawley. “As the consequences of this decision have clearly been laid out for them, I sincerely hope they’ll recognize how disastrous this decision would be for farming as we know it in New York and take action to prevent its implementation.”

Press release:

The City of Batavia Water Department will be repairing a water main break on Oak Street, in the southbound lane in the area of Noonan Drive on Wednesday, February 2, 2022.  There is the potential that the water may need to be shut off on Oak Street, from Union Street heading north to the City line.  In addition, the water shut-off would also impact all of Noonan Drive.

The length of time the water will be off is unknown.

Traffic will also be impacted in the area of Oak Street and Noonan Drive in the form of lane closures or lane shifts while the repairs are being made.

As always, when the water is restored it may be discolored.  Please refrain from doing any laundry until the water runs clear.

We apologize for any inconvenience and the public’s patience is greatly appreciated.

Dispatchers have received at least two calls about a car striking a pedestrian, including a call from the driver of the car, in the area of 306 West Main St., Batavia.

The location is at Lyon Street.

City Fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.

UPDATE 4:38 p.m.: Sgt. Mitch Cowen said it appeared the pedestrian, a male, was not in a crosswalk and crossing "against traffic."  An eastbound vehicle apparently stopped him to cross blocking him from the view of another eastbound vehicle in the other lane.  The pedestrian sustained a non-life-threatening head injury and was conscious. He is being transported to UMMC for evaluation and treatment.

The Hornets continued their unbeaten ways -- now 14-0 on the season -- with a convincing win over Pavilion on Monday night, 87-31.

Scoring for Oakfield-Alabama:

• Gaige Armbrewster, 19 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists
• Kam Cusmano, 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals
• Jordan Schlagenhauf, 10 points
• Cooper Colantonio, 9 points
• Kaden Cusmano, 8 points, 4 assists

Also in boys' basketball on Monday:

• Byron-Bergen beat Attica, 65-45
• Geneseo beat Alexander, 54-53
• Le Roy beat HAC 71-56

Photos by Kristin Smith. For more photos, click here.

Press release:

Due to snow removal efforts Christmas tree pick up has been delayed.  For this reason we are extending Christmas tree pick up through February 18.

Important information regarding Christmas tree removal:

• We can only pick up real trees.  No artificial trees.
• Residents are to place trees in the parkway near the curb.  Keep trees out of the roadway and clear of sidewalks.
• Residents placing trees out will need to strip the trees of all decorations, lights, stands and bags. These items damage chipping equipment. Contact your waste disposal company for information on the proper disposal of these items.
• If high winds are forecasted, delay putting trees out until after winds have subsided.  Trees in the road and across sidewalks are a hazards to motorists and pedestrians.
• Keep trees free of snow and ice so they are visible and do not become frozen to the ground.

Press  release:

As 2021 has drawn to a close, the City of Batavia Fire Department has evaluated the services and programs provided throughout the year in its continuous quality improvement process.

“The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected the City Fire operations and we continue to develop our operational model and service delivery in response.  Our mission calls us to protect and preserve life, property, and the environment and we do a great job providing professional service at the highest level to residents of the City of Batavia,” said Dan Herberger, City of Batavia Fire Chief.

As a result, the department is regularly evaluating policies, procedures, and service delivery programs and began the hiring process in October of 2021 to fill several firefighter vacancies.  Below is a year-end summary for 2021.

Total alarms for 2021                                                             2390

• Fires, 66
• Overpressure Rupture, Explosion, Overheating, 7
• Emergency Medical Services, 1580
• Motor Vehicle Accidents, 63
• Pedestrian Struck, 17
• Extrication (vehicle, machinery, building), 5
• Elevator Rescue, 4
• Ice / Swift Water Rescue, 2
• Hazardous Conditions, 90
• Service Calls, 132
• Good Intent Calls, 110
• Fire / Carbon Monoxide Alarm Activations, 301
• Severe Weather, 7
• Special Incident Type, 6
• Mutual Given, 25
• Mutual Received, 15
• Busiest Month, December (234)
• Busiest Day, Tuesday (375)             
• Busiest Time of Day, 1000 – 1059 hrs. (160)
• Slowest Month, January (150)
• Slowest Day, Sunday (280)
• Slowest Time of Day, 0400 – 0459 hrs. (38)
• City Response Time (Time of Dispatch to on-scene arrival):
  • 10 minutes or less         99%
  • 8 minutes or less           97%
  • 6 minutes or less           90 %
  • 4 minutes or less           61 %
• Times two or more calls for service simultaneously, 519
• Fire prevention programs – 31events, 104 adult / 2124 children Points of Contact  (Includes: station tours, fire drills, school visits)
• Fire Extinguisher Training, 19 events, 691 points of contact
• Smoke Alarm / CO alarm installs, 29
• Smoke alarm / CO alarm battery replacements, 21
• Juvenile Fire Setter Interventions, 2
• Car Seat Installation / inspections, 158
• Special Events Inspections, 80
• Commercial Building Inspection, 334
• Multi-family Dwelling Inspections, 38                              

Overall, the total call volume for the year was up by approximately 5%. 

“I want to thank all of the City of Batavia Fire Fighters, staff, partners in other City departments, County emergency service partners, mutual aid partners, residents, and businesses for their support and assistance to the department.  I look forward to a safe and healthy 2022,” said Dan Herberger, Fire Chief. 

As always, you can contact the City of Batavia Fire Headquarters for any questions that you may have at 585-345-6375.

Some sort of vehicle passing through Oakfield heading toward Batavia has taken down power lines across Main Street in Oakfield.

The roadway is being closed in the area of Dollar General.

Oakfield Fire is responding.

UPDATE 12:25 p.m.: A National Grid crew, apparently not the assigned crew, is on scene: "happened to be in the area and is going to check it out."

However, if the both parties – especially the victim – are willing, it’s worth the effort, says Diana Prinzi, the new coordinator of the Genesee Justice restorative program that is a division of the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office.

“We’re working on our first restorative justice reconciliation meeting in the near future and it’s something I would like to see more of,” said Prinzi, a retired U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement supervisor who started in her county post on Jan. 3. “It’s one of the items on my bucket list.”

Prinzi (pictured at right) was hired to replace Catherine Uhly, who retired last February.

The Le Roy native and current resident of Alexander spent 22 years in various capacities with ICE, mostly at the federal detention center in Batavia, before taking a part-time victim’s advocate position at Genesee Justice early last year.

She said she has been doing her best to learn about the various programs that Genesee Justice has to offer, including victim advocacy, offender accountability, DWI conditional discharge, release under supervision and risk assessment.

Being able to “restore” broken relationships is at the heart of Genesee Justice, an innovative approach to navigating the legal system that has been a hallmark of Genesee County for about 40 years.

“We haven’t had any instances of where the victim, offender and a facilitator have gotten together in quite a while,” Prinzi said. “It’s a process that takes place after the fact, after sentencing, where we try to get them back on track; to be able to move forward with their lives, but the victim has to want it.”

A 1986 graduate of Notre Dame High School with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Brockport State College, Prinzi said she enjoyed her time as a victim advocate and jumped at the chance to lead the agency, which is located at 14 West Main St.

“I’m excited for the opportunity and feel that the qualifications of the job fit mine pretty well,” she said, noting that she scored well on the Civil Service exam that preceded the interviewing process. “Being in law enforcement, I understand that you have to follow the laws, and I believe that my 15 years of supervisory experience is an asset.”

Prinzi oversees a department that, when fully staffed, has 11 full- and part-time employees – case managers, community service victim’s assistants, victim advocates, DWI conditional discharge specialists, principal clerk and financial analyst. Currently, three part-time positions are open.

Genesee Justice serves the community in a number of ways, she said.

“We offer victim advocacy – services to crime victims, such as help with court proceedings, orders of protection, compensation claims, emotional support and referrals to other agencies,” Prinzi said. “Then there is community service, where a person’s sentence might include working at a nonprofit agency with complete oversight by Genesee Justice.”

Services to victims are provided at no charge, Prinzi said, adding that the department interacts with 450 to 500 persons annually.

She said the agency’s first-time DWI offender program has enabled those charged with driving under the influence the chance to complete several requirements over a year to possibly gain a conditional discharge, with a judge having final say in the matter.

Prinzi said the state’s bail reform has affected, to some extent, other programs such as pre-trial release (RUS) and risk assessment.

“Bail reform is being debated (by state legislators) and we’re still reviewing and researching that,” she said.

Outside of the office, she said that she and her husband, Samuel, look forward to spending time with their five grown children and one grandchild, and enjoy hiking and walking outdoors.

For more information about Genesee Justice, go to www.co.genesee.ny.us/departments/geneseejustice/index.php.

Photo by Mike Pettinella.

Without a facility to provide intervention services for pre-school children in Genesee County, annual costs to transport these young people to regional facilities are exceeding a half-million dollars, County Public Health Director Paul Pettit said on Monday.

“We still do not have any local center-based services in Genesee County, and once Rainbow Preschool was shut down a little over a year ago (due to financial difficulties) that has resulted in having nothing available for our kiddos,” Pettit said at the Genesee County Legislature’s Human Services Committee meeting at the Old County Courthouse.

“So, any kids in the county that require full-day, center-based services, they're getting bused out, which is partly why our transportation services are as costly as they are.”

Calling it a “very challenging” situation, Pettit said it costs about $550,000 in 2021 to bus these children to programs and services in neighboring counties – to places such as the Mary Cariola Children’s Center in Rochester and centers in Livingston and Erie counties. He said last year’s cost likely was less than anticipated due to COVID-19 and the curtailing of travel.

Pettit said about 25 children participate in the county program that offers services such as speech, occupational and physical therapy.

“It’s unfortunate when you look at the cost, typically our transportation is as much as it is for the actual services,” he said. “It would be great to have some more local services, but we’re looking at different things.”

He said the merger of GLOW ARC into a regional organization could open a door to services in Genesee County.

As far as reimbursement on some of the preschool programs, the county receives 59 ½ percent of the cost from New York State.

“The program costs for preschool, in general, are about $2.1 to $2.2 million, which includes the transportation piece (and) related services,” he said. “Kids may be in their home environment, or where they are just in need of speech (therapy) or OT, center-based are usually more involved, where they're receiving the full cadre of services.”

Pettit said the out-of-county children’s centers have a larger population of kids and are financially stable to the point where they could be – with more funding – persuaded to open a site in Genesee County.

“But, at the moment, we haven't had anybody knocking down the door. But I mean, we're definitely looking at it,” he said.

In an effort to control busing expenses, the health department is looking into creating a transportation coordinator that would work with Orleans and Livingston counties.

“This actually would be a three-county collaborative to oversee the busing program that we have and to try to keep costs in check and make sure we're routing and doing the best to get kids where they need to be in the most fiscal appropriate way,” he advised.

Speaking via a Microsoft Teams webcast, Kaylen Olwin and Wendy Kingsland, project managers, and Katie Chapman, senior project manager, said the Houston, Texas-based renewable energy company is in the early stages of the process of developing the solar farm.

Anticipated to be operational in 2025, the project would fall under the NYS Office of Renewable Energy Siting Section 94-c guidelines (a revamped version of the former Article 10).

About 24 people were on last night’s videoconference, including Town of Alabama board members, residents and the company officials.

Olwin said EDP Renewables currently has 58 wind and nine solar projects in North America, with five wind systems in New York producing 704.65 megawatts of power and 66 permanent jobs. She said the Alabama Solar Park Project would create 250 construction jobs and four permanent positions.

A look at the map presented last night shows the project covering several roads, including Batavia-Oakfield Townline, Galloway, Macomber, Maple, Gorton, Hutton, Wight, Judge, Morgan and Knowlesville, plus the vicinity of Maple Avenue.

Olwin said the company has 2,000 acres under lease at this time but the current plan is to have 940 acres of solar panels “inside the fence.” She added that EDP Renewables plans to comply with state and town setback regulations – up to 300 feet from homeowners’ property lines.

“Putting solar panels too close to homes is not a good thing,” she said.

The timeline for 2022 as proposed lists completion of land leasing – they did not disclose the current number of leasing agreements – as well as commencement of project design and finalizing environmental studies pertaining to winter grassland raptor surveys, breeding bird surveys, wetland delineations, archaeological studies and geotechnical studies.

The EDP Renewables reps said they plan to conduct quarterly meetings, preferably in person, while waiting for completion of the New York Independent System Operator study.

If all goes according to plan, an application to ORES would happen in 2023, construction would start in 2024 and the project would be online in 2025, they said. Olwin said the financial benefits to the Town of Alabama, Oakfield-Alabama School District, and Genesee County have yet to be determined.

Similar solar farms in Byron and Oakfield/Elba are at various stages, also as part of the Article 10/ORES process.

Contacted by The Batavian this morning, Alabama Town Supervisor Robert Crossen said the Town Board has been communicating with the three EDP Renewables’ managers for more than two years about the project.

He said EDP Renewables was one of three solar companies that provided input into the town’s solar law that was adopted in 2020.

While not opposed to the project, Crossen said he and the board are aware of the power granted to ORES to override any local solar regulations.

“The biggest thing the town board is wrestling with is the (compatibility with) our Comprehensive Plan and the loss of farmland – prime farmland and prime farmland when drained,” he said. “There could be up to 25 to 50 percent more land needed than what is inside the fence.”

Crossen said the major question is “how do we rectify agriculture and our Comprehensive Plan and the loss of farmland? It’s contrary to that plan.”

One provision of the town’s solar law is that it puts a cap of 2,500 acres for solar panels.

“We figured if we made it less than that, they (ORES) would just throw it out,” he said.

While the town does allow for more than 50 percent of prime farmland for solar, the law stipulates that if the solar developer exceeds that percentage, then it has to go somewhere else in the town and purchase development rights on a farm so it can’t be used for anything other than farming, Crossen added.

“We’re hoping that 94-c won’t throw that out,” he said.

Crossen said he understands that EDP Renewables “is serious” about this project as at least one of the three project managers attends each of the board’s monthly meetings.

Photo from EDP Renewables website.

Previously: In the hopes of curbing some state power over solar farms, Town of Alabama adopts solar ordinance

Oakfield Fire responded to Crazy Cheap Cars on Main Street for a report of smoke in the building.

The building was evacuated.  The involved building was apparently a storage area on Water Street.

The fire is believed to be out now.

UPDATE 8:48 a.m.: Oakfield assignment is back in service.

A car into s pole accident is reported in the area of  5380 Fotch Road, Stafford

There is reportedly airbag deployment. 

Stafford Fire and EMS dispatched. 

UPDATE 3:58 a.m.: Law enforcement has cleared the scene.  The vehicle gas been towed.  

That’s what Paul Pettit, public health director for Genesee and Orleans counties, communicated to members of the Genesee County Legislature’s Human Services Committee today as he presented his department’s annual report.

“Ever since I’ve been in my position, we’ve been seeking an increase in Article 6 funding,” said Pettit, (pictured at right) speaking about the section of the Public Health Law that authorizes funding for core services delivered by local health departments. “But, if anything, that has deteriorated over the years as they’ve (state lawmakers) have made more things ineligible.”

Things seem to be changing for the better, Pettit said, as a result of his review of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed 2022-23 state budget.

“As this is our main funding stream … we continue to advocate for (increased funding) on an annual basis,” he said. “Now, (for) the first time the (governor) actually proposed increases in Article 6 funding in her executive budget.

“Again, this is fairly unique. It's never been in the executive budget; we've always lobbied the legislative side for when they put their packages together and it never makes it to the end. So, we are very happy to see that it is in on the front end. And it's fairly significant.”

Pettit said that Article 6 funding for full service health departments (such as Genesee-Orleans) is set to increase from $650,000 to $750,000, and money for “fringe reimbursement” also will go up.

“Public health through Article 6 has never received fringe reimbursement on any of our costs,” he advised. “It's all been local or written off on different grants. We’ve always advocated for it, but it's never been realized. So, the biggest thing in here is that it included up to 50 percent fringe reimbursed on any eligible expenses.”

Fifty percent translates to about $230,000 more to the county health department – bringing the total of state funding through Article 6 to around $1.1 million. Pettit said that kind of money will enable his department to implement key programs, such as lead immunization.

While not official yet, Pettit said he has attended advocacy days in Albany and “everyone we've talked to seemed very supportive; there doesn't seem any appetite of reducing it or taking it out.”

In addition, county health is set to receive $22,000 in performance incentive funds this year, which also can be used for any Article 6-eligible reimbursement, Pettit said.

Pettit touched upon several other aspects of the Genesee and Orleans department, which has been a merged agency for nearly 10 years:

-- Lead poisoning intervention: With the Centers for Disease Controls dropping the permitted levels to 3.5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood (and NYS expected to adopt that measure), more people will be eligible for the county's lead program.

Pettit said the department is receiving three grants for its lead program: $1.3 million from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, $250,000 from the CDC and $100,000 annually for five years from the Healthy Neighborhood program that is targeted for the City of Batavia.

“That’s … where you can go in and work with landlords and homeowners ..., making sure their house is safe – smoke detectors, fire extinguishers and those different things,” he said.

-- Cross Jurisdictional Services: The shared services agreement with Orleans County has worked well, both financially and programmatically, Pettit said.

“I think our response to the pandemic and how we've been able to leverage resources and just share our media and our … information that we share with the public -- our public interface with a website -- those have all allowed us to be more efficient and streamlined with our responses,” he said.

Financially, he said the CJS agreement (shared staffing and programming) has saved $275,000 a year over the 9 ½ years – which equals $2.5 million over that time.

Pettit said he hopes that both counties will receive full accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board by early next year.

-- Community health assessment: Every four years, local health departments are required to conduct a full community health assessment. In Genesee’s case, it is being done in conjunction with Orleans and Wyoming counties.

“This is a very collaborative process where we work with all the health systems in the counties, and we bring in our different community partners and other departments … to put together our assessment of basically what's going on in our community, as far as access to health care, other types of services that are available,” Pettit said.

A spinoff of that is the Community Health Improvement Plan that utilizes a survey to obtain the public’s views on health care, transportation and other vital health-related subjects.

-- Septic replacement program: More than $110,000 has been given to Genesee County residents in eligible areas in reimbursement costs for upgrading their septic systems, and that program will continue this year.

“These are along definitely some of our higher tributaries and creeks and streams in the county where, again, we don't want to see incidental discharge occurring,” Pettit said.

-- Adult use of cannabis: The state is ramping up its marijuana legalization guidelines, meaning that the health department will be called upon to provide educational information and, possibly, compliance checks along the lines of tobacco enforcement.

Cases of people who have contracted the omicron variant of the coronavirus are trending in the right direction, giving Genesee-Orleans Public Health Director Paul Pettit cause for optimism that COVID-19 could become an endemic rather than a pandemic in the coming months.

“We’re seeing that decline … which is good,” Pettit said at this afternoon’s Genesee County Legislature Human Services Committee meeting at the Old County Courthouse. “The numbers now are the same that we saw in October and November.”

Pettit said that typically in the spring – when people get back outdoors and “change behaviors” – the numbers will stay low.

“Hopefully, we will see it go down back to a baseline level,” he said.

When asked by legislators if the pandemic could be over, Pettit said that he and his colleagues were talking about the endemic stage last summer, before the new strain came into being.

He said that he thinks that COVID will not go away totally, but eventually would be treated like the flu or other respiratory illnesses.

Pettit said the local health department is focusing on education and the utilization of “tools that we have now that we didn’t have last year,” primarily vaccine boosters, anti-viral medications and natural immunity as well as the continued practice of layered mitigation strategies such as staying home when sick, distancing and masking as indicated based on current public health guidance.  

“We’re providing an ongoing component of education; knowledge and information on how to protect yourself,” he said.

Responding to Legislator Gary Maha’s observation that servers and patrons at many restaurants are no longer wearing face coverings, Pettit said the mask mandate instituted by Gov. Kathy Hochul remains in place – at least for a couple more weeks due to a stay on a decision by a downstate judge who ruled that Hochul did not have such authority.

County Manager Matt Landers said that he is expecting another 2,500 in-home rapid antigen test kits by the end of the week and will be reaching out to towns and villages to see who wants to distribute them to their residents.

According to data on the county health department website, the number of new cases from Jan. 19-25 was 745, down from 1,848 from Jan. 5-11 and 1,104 from Jan. 12-18.

Article by Coach Nick Burk:

The Batavia indoor track team competed on Saturday in the Monroe County Championships at Brockport State College and had a phenomenal meet! The boys' team came away with the championship beating out 21 other schools, scoring 74 points with Rush Henrietta finishing in 2nd place scoring 63 points. The meet came down to the very end with one point separating the two schools with three events left to compete.

Austyn Fernandez earned the Monroe County Championship in the Shot Put with a throw of 43-8 and finished 4th in the Weight Throw (50-0).  The 4x200m Relay of Fabian Vazquez, Aidan Anderson, Parris Price, and Cole Grazioplene also won a Monroe County title and tied our school record with a time of 1:35.61.

Other scorers for the boys' team included Jesse Reinhart finishing in 2nd in the High Jump (6-0) and 6th in the 55H (8.9), Fabian Vazquez finished 2nd in the 55 Hurdles (8.19), and 4th in the Long Jump (19-10), Carter Havens finished 3rd in the Triple Jump (39-11), Ifran Armstrong finished 5th in the 55 Hurdles (8.82), Luke Geiger finished 2nd in the Weight Throw (51-2), and Dan Saeva finished 6th in the Shot Put (39-2).

The 4x800m Relay of Cody Harloff, Noah Pickard, Dom Grillo, and Nate Canale finished in 2nd place (8:44.39), and the 4x400 Relay of Donovan Solis, Carter Havens, Ifran Armstrong, and Cole Grazioplene finished 4th (3:42.99).  To have all three of our Boy's relays finish in the top four is a clear testament to the balance and depth of our program this season.

For our Boys to win the Monroe County Championship as one of the smallest schools, against some very tough competition can be considered with the finest accomplishments for our Batavia Track and Field Program to date.  The Monroe County league has so many gifted athletes and to earn this championship is very impressive for our Blue Devils.  The Batavia coaches, Dan Geiger (Throwers), Rich Boyce (Distance, High Jump), Bill Buckenmeyer (Distance, Hurdles), Breanna Clark (Pole Vault), and Amanda Mikiciuk (Sprints, Jumps) all did a tremendous job preparing our athletes to compete at such a high level.

The girls' team had some excellent individual performances led by Gavin Konieczny's 5th place finish in the Pole Vault (8-6).  Emma Radka finished in 5th place in the Shot Put (28-10), and the 4x800m Relay of Campbell Riley, Makayla Andalora, Jadyn Boyce, and Izzy Scott finished in 4th place (10:50.96)

The Blue Devils have two more prep meets before Sectionals and then will look to have significant success to close out the season at our additional championship meets in February.  Both the boys and girls have continued to improve this season and the team is embracing the opportunities to maintain and build upon the reputation and traditions of Batavia Track and Field.

To view or purchase photos, click here.

Photos by Steve Ognibene

Up to nine inches of snow are possible from a storm headed to the area that could hit sometime Wednesday evening through Friday afternoon.

A winter storm watch is in effect for all of western and north-central New York.

"Travel could be very difficult to impossible," advises the National Weather Service. "The hazardous conditions could impact the morning or evening
commutes."

Matthew Zakrzewski, 42, of Batavia, is charged with arson 3rd and criminal mischief 3rd. Zakrzewski, already in custody on unrelated charges, was arrested on new charges stemming from an incident reported at 9:30 p.m., Jan 16, on Bank Street, Batavia. He was jailed on nominal bail. Previously: Batavia man accused of setting fire in Washington Towers, stealing a bike

Laura Lee Pacer, 36, of Batavia, is charged with harassment 2nd. Pacer is accused of harassing a neighbor at 10 a.m., Jan. 24, on Jackson Street. She was issued an appearance ticket.

Bleyke Z. Culver, 25, is charged with harassment 2nd. Culver is accused of hitting another person in the face during a fight on Pringle Avenue at 5:31 p.m., Jan. 11. He was issued an appearance ticket.

Heather Nicole Holbrook, 36, of Ellsworth Avenue, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Holbrook is accused of stealing merchandise from Walmart in Batavia at 3:49 p.m., Jan. 28.  She was released on an appearance ticket.

Michael David Hazzard, 31, of Morgan Road, Scottsville, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, aggravated unlicensed operation 3rd, driving with an open alcohol container. Hazzard was stopped at 4:11 a.m., Jan. 23, on Dublin Road, Bergen, following a complaint of a disturbance by Deputy Trevor Sherwood.

Joshua M. Bratcher, 31, of Pavilion, is charged with driving while impaired by drugs. Bratcher was stopped at 5:24 p.m., Jan. 30, by State Police in the Town of Bergen. He was issued an appearance ticket. No further information released.

Alonzo A. Dillard, 29, of Medina, is charged with DWI and driving with a BAC of .08 or greater. Dillard was stopped at 2:46 a.m., Jan. 30, by State Police in the Town of Alabama. He was issued an appearance ticket.  No further information released.

Jordan E. Brodie, 32, of Le Roy, is charged with possession of sexual performance of a child. Brodie was arrested in connection with an investigation that started on Jan. 13, 2020 by State Police. He was arrested on Jan. 29 and released on an appearance ticket.  No further details released.

Bobbi M. Bane, 45, of Batavia, is charged with welfare fraud 3rd and three counts of filing a false instrument 1st. Bane was arrested by State Police in connection with an investigation that began Jan. 25 in the Town of Albion.

John M. Toal, 46, of Oakfield, and Andrea L. Osborne, 37, of Oakfield, are charged with petit larceny.  Toal and Osborne were arrested by State Police in connection with an incident reported at 4 p.m., Jan. 28, in Albion. They were issued appearance tickets. No further details released.

Kenneth Harris, 26, of Tonawanda, is charged with two counts of grand larceny 4th. Harris was arrested in Cheektowaga by State Police in connection with an incident reported at 10:24 a.m., Oct. 23 in the City of Batavia. No further details released.

Jordan R. Rose, 21, of Oakfield, is charged with criminal contempt  1st. Rose was arrested by State Police in connection with an incident reported at 3:10 p.m., Jan. 25, in the Town of Royalton. He was ordered held. No further details released.

The Sheriff's Office is investigating a fatal motor vehicle accident that occurred at 3:05 a.m., Saturday, on Route 77 in the Town of Pembroke.

Jordan E. Terkel, 32, of Corfu, was the sole occupant of the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Terkel's vehicle was reportedly southbound on Route 77 when it traveled off the south shoulder of the roadway and hit a utility pole. 

Coroner Karen Lang pronounced Terkel dead at the scene as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.

The Sheriff's Crash Management Team is investigating the accident. 

Pembroke Fire and Indian Falls Fire assisted at the scene.