A fire that was supposed to be a conrolled burn got out of hand and became a blaze that required four engine companies to respond.

The fire consumed a barn at 7411 Oak Orchard Road, but apparently not the one intended to be destroyed, reported WBTA on it's afternoon news.

I was unable to get to the fire this morning.

Here's a map of the location:

Jell-O, the jiggly treat that has delighted billions of happy childhood days, is the number one thing that helped put Genesee County on the map, according to historian and Holland Land Office Museum direct Pat Weissand.

Americans love Jell-O. In fact, Americans eat more than 300 million boxes of Jell-O every year and about 160 products are sold under the Jell-O name.   Jell-O is as much a part of Americana as baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet. By proclamation of the state governor, it is the official state snack of Utah. Residents of Utah eat more Jell-O per capita than anyone else.

Jell-O is an American icon. Since the early days of the company, Jell-O has mastered the technique of successful advertising campaigns. They used well-known artists such as Rose O'Neil, Maxfield Parrish, Cole Philips and Norman Rockwell in their print advertising; Jack Benny, Lucille Ball and Kate Smith in radio advertising and Bill Cosby in their television marketing campaigns.

Wikipedia says powered gelatin was patented 40 years before it was dubbed Jell-O in LeRoy, N.Y.

Gelatin has been well known and used for many years. It was popularized in the Victorian era with spectacular and complex "jelly moulds". Gelatin was sold in sheets and had to be purified, which was very time-consuming. It also made gelatin desserts the province of the relatively well-to-do. In 1845, industrialist Peter Cooper (who built the first American steam-powered locomotive, the Tom Thumb), obtained a patent (US Patent 4084) for powdered gelatin.

Forty years later the patent was sold to a LeRoy, New York-based carpenter and cough syrup manufacturer, Pearle B. Wait. He and his wife May added strawberry, raspberry, orange and lemon flavoring to the powder and gave the product its present name in 1897.

Whether invented in LeRoy or LeRoy was merely the launching pad for one of America's most commercially successful food products, Jell-O has contributed much to life and fame for Genesee County.

Tim Rivers disagrees.

Maybe Jell-O is famous, cute and conjures warm fuzzies about childhood (especially when dolloped with whipped cream). But Jell-O hasn't had the same long-lasting local impact as the muckland in Elba and Byron.

The muck is listed No. 21 in things that made Genesee County famous. The 7,000 acres of muck stretches into Orleans County in Barre and Clarendon. The dark, highly organic soil brought hundreds of hard-working immigrants to the community in the 1920s and 1930s.

...

Unlike Jell-O, the muck is still here, still producing crops, still creating jobs, still unleashing human potential. There are 10 farms today working the muck and those farms continue as community cornerstons. Torrey, Bezon, Yunker, Halat, Starowitz, Vigneri, Mortellaro, Panek, Smith and Shuknecht remain, tilling the soil, planting seeds and harvesting crops.

Well, nothing like a little controversy to close out a months-long instructive and entertain journey through Genesee County history. 

Though, Tom left out another key point: The local ball club ain't called the Jell-O Dogs!

If you've never visited the Jell-O Museum, it's worth the time. Here's the museum's Web site.

A few months ago, Philip produced this video:

Yesterday, we posted an item about planned NYPA rate hikes after the authority had agreed to ship $500 million to the state budget.

Now, with criticism mounting, The Buffalo News reports this morning that the authority may be backing away from its rate increase.

In an e-mail entitled "rate cancel advisory," the power authority scheduled a news conference for this afternoon at the Niagara Power Project for what the e-mail would only say involves "an announcement related to hydropower rates."

...

The development follows a statement from Gov. David A. Paterson Monday that the power authority should halt both a planned rate hike for upstate electricity consumers and any plans to give its 1,500 workers salary bonuses, Monday.

Now if we could just get the NYPA do to something about those 200 Google jobs it cost WNY.

At last night's City Council meeting, council members debated whether to continue a $235-per-month car allowance for the city's top-three employees, WBTA reports this morning.

Councilman Bill Cox suggested that the monthly allowance be changed to a per-mile-driven reimbursement for the city manager, police chief and fire chief. WBTA posts audio of his comments.

Mary Ann Clattendburg spoke in favor of the stipend, saying that removing the allowance would amount to a cut in pay. Here's audio of her comments.

Note, yesterday we picked up an item from WBTA about Wanda Frank being inducted into the GCC Alumni Hall of Fame.  Here's the full press release from GCC:

Genesee Community College is inducting four new members to its Alumni Hall of Fame on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at 4:30 pm in the Conable Technology Building, North Lobby at the Batavia Campus.

"The Alumni Hall of Fame serves two important purposes," said Patti Pacino, Alumni Affairs Coordinator. "It recognizes the accomplishments of former students and their exceptional business and civic contributions. And it serves as an example for current students to see these highly successful alumni and know that their remarkable careers began right here at Genesee."

The 2009 Genesee Community College Alumni Hall of Fame inductees are:

Wanda Frank (Class of 1997) - Wanda is currently a radio personality on WBTA 1490 AM radio in Batavia, NY and hosts her own show on Wednesday mornings. Wanda went back to school as an adult student to complete a degree in Theatre Arts from Genesee. She served for 10 years as the executive director of the Genesee Arts Council. She is very active in local community theatre, including Batavia Players, Rotary and Genesee Community College's theatre programs.

Ellen (McCarthy) Ryan (Class of 1976) - Ellen was one of the first supporters of Genesee when it was established in 1965. She completed a Registered Nursing degree and worked for many years at Saint Jerome's Hospital. She was vital to the creation of Hospice Care in the local community and continues to support its efforts. She is active with the Genesee Community College Foundation by attending varying events, as well as supporting two endowed scholarships, the Michael T. Ryan Fund for the Future and the Michael T. and Ellen M. Ryan Scholarship for Excellence.

George E. Schaefer (Class of 1976) - George is currently the clerk of the Norfolk Circuit Court Clerk's Office in Norfolk, Virginia. After obtaining his Bachelor's degree from SUNY Brockport in 1978, he earned his J.D. from Ohio Northern University of Law in 1984, and launched his career in education as a social studies teacher. In the early 1990's, he shifted his profession and began his distinguished tenure within the Virginia legal system. He is a member of the Virginia State Bar Association and the Norfolk and Portsmouth Bar Association. He is very active in his local community, including sitting on various school boards, local churches, and the Knights of Columbus.

Paula (Miller) Schaefer (Class of 1979) - Paula is presently a member of the Virginia House of Delegates 87th District - Norfolk since January 2005. She serves on many committees including the Science and Technology Committee, Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee and the Joint Subcommittee Studying Land Use Development. For several years, Paula was a news reporter and substitute anchor for WTKR-TV 3 in Norfolk, Virginia. She is an active member in the Norfolk community and is a member of Holy Trinity Catholic Church.

Past inductees into the Genesee Community College Alumni Hall of Fame include: Joseph H. Bell '79, Monica Dawson '72, Jerry Reinhart '71, Lori Stupp '89, Paula Savage '76, Margaret Weissend '99, Ann M. Bell '88, Steven G. Hyde '82 and Gary Maha '76.

Gina M. Kalish, 41, or Rochester, was stopped by a Border Patrol agent while driving on I-490 through Bergen Monday night after the agent reportedly observed her vehicle moving erratically on the freeway.  Upon further investigation by a Sheriff's deputy, the deputy arrested Kalish for allegedly operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs.

Laurie J. Lerkins, 32, of LeRoy, was arrested Monday for allegedly biting a child on the arm and throwing items at him. Lerkins is charged with harassment in the second degree and endangering the welfare of a child. Det. John Gondidorio said the charges stemmed from a January investigation after the 10-year-old child, a relation of Lerkins, developed bruises above his arm and on his head. Det. Gondidorio said, "During the investigation it was alleged that Lerkins, during the course of a disturbance with the child, bit the child on the arm causing a bruised bite mark and also threw items at him striking him in the head, bruising his head."  Lerkins was arraigned in LeRoy Town Court and released on her own recognizance.

Fire units are responding to a "good size" brush fire at 8910 Lehigh Road in the Town of Batavia.

One crew on the scene has reported the fire spreading.

No further information available at this time.

UPDATE: A few minutes after this initial post, crews reported the fire was largely put out and clean up was in process.

View Larger Map

Four-legged critters had the Town of Batavia's public works department scurrying around Monday morning.

First there was the passel of sheep munching on trash in the front yard of a house at 2905 Galloway Road, creating a bit of a traffic hazard.

A dozen sheep and a lamb were spotted chomping garbage shortly after 10 this morning. A cow mooed encouragement from the back yard. Forty-five minutes later only crumbs remained.

A public works employee for the Town of Batavia showed up and said the foragers lived behind the two-story white house and had gotten out of the pen again. Usually the owner's home to round them up, the worker said.

The commotion caused the sheep to mosey away from the road and head toward the rear of the property.

A Sheriff's deputy arrived. They reported shortly thereafter that the wooly ones were shooed into their pen, which was then jerryrigged to stay shut. Hopefully.

Meanwhile, a skunk was lolling about in a park tennis court. On the scanner, authorities considered how best to remove it. One suggested shooting it. Another said it would be saved for lunch, prompting another to recommend roasting the skunk. None of the options were exercised.

The next critter call was about dogs in the road someplace, hampering traffic.
 

Claire Gsell, the 27-year-old daughter of County Manager Jay Gsell, was found dead in her Rochester apartment by her parents on Sunday.

WBTA reported this afternoon that Gsell and his wife became concerned when Claire failed to answer her phone on Sunday.

The cause of death is unknown at this time, but foul play is not suspected, according to Dan Fischer.

Our condolences to the Gsell family.

UPDATE: Mary Pat Hancock, chair of the County Legislature, issued a brief statement to WBTA.

Regarding wine in the grocery store:

Who in their right mind would think that this was a good idea? Are the Powers That Be just not going to be happy until they put EVERY last Mom and Pop out of business? This proposal will KILL the small liquor retailer, more people will be unemployed, and there will be even MORE empty commercial real estate! Just what NYS needs.

Currently, liquor stores are only allowed to sell two things....wine and liquor. Why not pass a law that permits the liquor stores to sell food items instead?? That solution would most likely (gasp!) CREATE a few jobs for some folks (a fun job even), and maybe even crank up some much needed tax revenue. Imagine being able to pick up wine AND cheese AND fruit in one stop! Or even a fabulous gift basket for your wine enthusiast friend at holiday or birthday time!

I hope that the Powers That Be sit down with a cheese trolley and a robust red wine and think about the ramifications of what they are proposing!

The Batavia City School district knows the importance of staying updated with technology. In November the district received the Torchlight Award from Promethean Inc, an international award-winning company which creates interactive learning technology to help teachers develop lessons that engage, educate, assess, and motivate learners.

Now the district has formed a committee to go wireless. Pamela Schunk, Director of Learning for Batavia City School District, said this will hopefully save money.

Schunk said the thing about technology is its expensive and  always changing, but the district is doing its best to meet the state’s standards.

New York State standards look at ways schools are developing their mission statements, and are constantly revising the standards.

Schunk said Batavia City School district develops their technology mission statement from the state’s standards and use it to guide everything they do.

The Technology Mission Statement
The Batavia City School District’s technology mission is to provide students with the technology, on-line resources, and bandwidth necessary to acquire the knowledge, develop the attitudes, and master the skills needed to meet the New York State Standards.

Just over a year teachers have been using a software program called Tech Paths. The program uses curriculum mapping which enables teachers to stay organized and communicate with other teachers and administrators.

All classrooms in the district have at least one computer and most have at least four student computers along with an inkjet or last printer. If the school needs new technology it is up to the teachers to apply for it.

Six technology classes are offered at Batavia High School that include, Desktop Publishing 1 and 2, Communications in the 21st Century, Media Production in the 21st Century, Fundamentals of Web Design, and Fundamentals of Java Programming.

“All students have to be engaged,” said Schunk about the goals of a learner centered classroom, “The information has to be relevant, and have meaning.” She continued saying it must be challenging, and teachers really have to know their students background ability, and interests.

Wanda Frank, who started with WBTA in 1967, and graduated from GCC in 1997 with a degree in Theater Arts, has been named to the Alumni Hall of Fame, WBTA reports this morning.

Frank is still on the Air with WBTA, hosting Wednesday's with Wanda.

She will be honored at GCC on Wednesday afternoon.

Here's a video Philip made about Wanda several months ago:

Hard-hitting piece this morning from Donn Esmonde of the Buffalo News about a planned NYPA rate hike following a budget deal to shift $500 million to the state budget.

The rate hike was predictable, Esmonde says, and several WNY legislators went right along with the plan in order to assist down-state interests.

Power Authority officials contend that the spike is not connected to the $500 million it let Albany use to caulk its budget gap. But common sense tells you that when $500 million disappears, there is—one way or another—a price to pay.

“That $500 million was going to come out of somewhere,” said Assemblyman Jim Hayes, an Amherst Republican. “Don’t these people understand how much the average family is hurting?”

The double drilling—the $500 million siphoning, followed by the rate hike —started when state legislators last month OK’d the budget deal. Most of the supposedly “surplus” dollars—which could have been used to cut rates or help businesses—came from the Power Authority’s cash cow, the hydropower plant in Niagara Falls.

On Saturday, we also posted a piece about NYPA blocked Google from opening a 200-job facility in Medina.

Thanks, NYPA.

Andrew J. Ashley, 22, of Le Roy, was arrested in connection with an alleged altercation on March 15 in which Ashley reported punched another person in the face. The victim suffered a broken nose and a cut cornea. Ashley is charged with assault in the third degree.

Neil H. Farley III, 18, of Elba and his 17-year-old brother were arrested at their Ridge Road home Friday evening for allegedly throwing an under-age drinking party. The 17-year-old was allegedly found in possession of marijuana and several marijuana pipes were reportedly found in his room. Both are charged with unlawfully dealing with children in the first degree.

Kevin E. Moscicki, 21, of Oakfield, was arrested Saturday morning in Batavia and charged with DWI. The Sheriff's office reports that Moscicki's vehicle was observed making an unsafe lane change and an improper right turn, which led to a traffic stop.  Further investigation revealed Moscicki was allegedly operating the vehicle while intoxicated. He was charged with driving with at BAT .08 or more.

Gregory L. Brennan, 40, of Batavia was charged with DWI following a traffic stop on Slusser Road in Pembroke. He is accused of driving with a BAT .08 or greater and operating a motor vehicle without a license. Brennan was arrested early Sunday morning.

Robbie J. Stanton, 31, of Batavia, is charged with a felony DWI and operating a vehicle with a revoked license following a traffic stop in Pembroke Saturday morning.

Joseph M. Menas, 30, of Elba, was arrested and charged with DWI Thursday night after the Sheriff's office received a report of a car of the road on Route 98. When deputies arrived, the driver was not with the vehicle. Menas was subsequently found at a nearby residence. He is charged with DWI and aggravated DWI.

 The Batavia boys basketball team prides itself on its defense. And it is because of defense that the Blue Devils nearly shocked Jamesville-Dewitt Saturday morning in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class A semifinals.

J-D has been the top ranked team in the state all season long and has a senior guard that is heading to Syracuse next year on a basketball scholarship, but Batavia's game plan was perfect and they forced the Red Rams to play at Batavia's pace.  Batavia only gave up 40 points, but lost the game 40-32.

The Blue Devils came out and surprised J-D with an early run, taking an early 8-3 lead. Batavia led 10-5 after one period of play, with Andrew Hoy hitting a pair of 3-pointers.

Batavia held J-D star Brandon Triche to just two points in the opening frame.

But the Red Rams went on a 14-0 run to open the second quarter and took a seven point lead. Batavia's defense kept them in the game though and the Blue Devils only trailed 20-13 at the break.

Andrew and Robert Hoy each had 3-pointers in the third quarter and J-D's lead was cut to 24-23.

The Red Rams went on a run after that and opened up a five point lead. Robert hit another 3-pointer and Batavia was only down 32-30 with just two minutes left in the game. Triche answered right back with a bucket and J-D hit some free throws down the stretch, ending an amazing season for the Batavia basketball team.

Triche ended up with 17 points but Batavia did a good job fighting the size disadvantage again. Coleman only scored two points in the contest.

Andrew Hoy led the Blue Devils with 15 points.

Batavia ends the season with a 22-4 record and has the honor of being just the second team in the program's history to make the state final four. Jamesville-Dewitt is now 25-1 and will be playing Peekskill in the finals tomorrow afternoon.

I spent a good portion of the morning reading about Barber Conable. What a good man.

No wonder he made number two on the list of 25 Things that Made Genesee County Famous.

Not only did Conable give us the term "smoking gun" (during the Watergate Scandal), but he was regarded by his peers as the most respected member of Congress (he never accepted an individual campaign contribution for more than $50); he also "put the 'K' in 401(k)" when he helped rewrite the tax code to help protect pensions at Eastman Kodak; and. as president of the World Bank, he transformed the organization into an institution that assisted women and children in poor nations.

Throughout his career, Conable maintained his connection to Batavia, returning home every weekend to meet with his friends and constituents.

My favorite passage in articles I read about Conable came from historian Yanek Mieczkowski:

I noticed framed, meticulous pencil sketches on some walls, and he explained that they were just doodles that he had made while a congressman.

Just doodles? They looked beautiful, and they had been enough to impress Ronald Reagan. The president had heard about the congressman's drawings, and asked to have some. Conable sent a few samples to the White House. In return, the president sent a page of his own sketches, on White House stationery, to the congressman. "Barber," the president wrote. "These are just doodles. Yours are art."

Mieczkowski's piece on Conable is outstanding, I recommend reading the entire piece.

I also found these two notable quotes from Conable:

"He (the first President Bush) thought I should be supporting an American agenda (as World Bank president). I thought I was there to help the poor people. So I got the reputation of not being a team player, and that was the one thing George wouldn't stand for."

"I could have stayed in Washington at six figures if I had wanted to. I considered it. But they wanted a stuffed exhibit and not a lawyer, and I didn't want to be a stuffed exhibit. They wanted to use my name and put me in the firm and give me a special 'of counsel' status. At the appropriate time the senior partner would push a button and I would come into the consultation he was having with his client and he'd say, 'You remember former Congressman Barber Conable, don't you? Remember the great role he played in Ways and Means?' That image frightened me."

Not only did Conable help make Genesee County famous, he should be at the top of any list of things to make Genesee County proud.

OK, Medina is outside of our coverage area, but the Daily News has a story this morning that concerns all of us, because any chance to create 200 good paying jobs in Western New York is an issue that impacts the entire region's economy.

Google wanted to build a server facility Medina, but the New York Power Authority would not help Google get low-cost power to the plant, which is a prerequisite for any of Google's hosting facilities.

The Daily's story fully captures the frustration over the situation.

State Sen. George Maziarz blasted NYPA for denying Google and other companies that have wanted to build in Western New York. Maziarz lambasted NYPA officials Thursday in Albany during a public hearing to raise electric rates by 12 percent.

“I personally worked over two years with a small company headquartered in San Francisco called Google that wanted desperately to locate in Western New York and were told there was no power available to them,” Maziarz said during Thursday’s hearing.

He blamed NYPA “for killing the deals and the jobs that go along with them.”

Maziarz went on to call NYPA officials liars and thieves.

If Niagara power can potentially  be acquired cheaply, as Tom Rivers points out in the story, to spur business growth, how does it possibly make sense for NYPA to thwart business expansion in a region that desperately needs that job growth?

Property taxes in New York are outrageously high. In that context, it's kind of amazing that Gov. Paterson would suggest the STAR rebate checks be discontinued.

Sen. Mike Ranzenhofer held a press conference in LeRoy yesterday to call on Paterson to rescind his plan elimination of the checks. It's not surprising that I was the only reporter to show up, but as a property owner (for now) in New York, I think those checks are kind of important.

Further, when you consider, as Ranzhofer points out, that the checks return $8 million a year in cash flow to Genesee County, the rebate program is exceptionally important to the local economy.  It is ironic that at a time when the Federal government is spending trillions of dollars under what the president and Congress label a "stimulus" program, Gov. Paterson would take money out of the economy as fast as he can.

However, I think weakest among Ranzenhofer's arguments against elimination of the checks is the notion that elimination of the checks could cause people to lose their homes.  This sounds more like a play on emotion rather than reason. According to Ranzenhofer's own press release, the average check is for $335 and $420.  At $420, that's $35 per month. I just wonder how many property owners are gazing at the precipice over $35 per month? Yes, I can imagine a retired person on fixed income finding $35 very hard to muster, but when the alternative is losing your life-long home, you're probably going to find some way to make sure that tax is paid.

That said, the effort shouldn't even be necessary. Property taxes in New York or too high and the last thing Gov. Paterson should be doing is essentially increasing those taxes.

Have you ever knocked on a door only to find out no one was home? Well that was the way it was Thursday night on our night out with Care-A-Van. We headed out the local college GCC to visit the door rooms. We knew ahead of time that it was spring break but we still wanted to be able to go out and brighten the evening for those students that may have not been able to head home for spring break.

Each time we go there, one of the security guards goes around with us. On this particular evening it was a plus to have her with us. She knew what rooms were occupied. Even though a lot of the  94 rooms were empty we still left them a brochure about the ministry, a gospel track, a big bag of cookies and a personal invitation to the Easter Dinner that Care-Van is hosting on Easter Day, April 12^th . This dinner will be held at the Assembly of God church beginning at 2:00 PM. If you have nowhere to go, come join us for Easter Dinner. Paul and Bridget will personally be doing the cooking! I have even heard that there will be a chocolate fountain, now how could one resist that?

Bridget was kind enough to send along Goulash on the bus to feed the hungry workers.

This was a big plus as a few of the students came out to the bus to have dinner with us.

Elder Ron got to spend some quality time feeding them not only physically but spiritually as well. PJ was busy getting bags of groceries to send back to the doom room with these young folks.  Dave and I were busy hitting up the candy bowls that adorn the booths. Dave told me that he calls it the “Calorie Van”. Goodies are readily available for anyone who climbs on board.  Paul kept busy with synching his IPOD into the new stereo system to provide the music entertainment of the evening.

Do you remember the story about how Jesus fed thousands with a few fish and loaves of bread? God did that tonight with the goulash. Just as we were getting ready to leave, three young men came out to get something to eat. Now mind you, I swear that crockpot was empty. There was not much left when I got a chance to eat.  The one young man had eaten 4 bowls! But Elder Ron said sure we have food, come on board! I watched from the back of the bus as he filled 3 bowls to the rim full of Goulash! I truly witnessed how God provides just enough. It still boggles my mind where those last 3 bowls of goulash came from.

When the students arrive back home from spring break, they will find a surprise treat waiting for them. For the students that were home, they got a special extra treat. It truly was a special evening spent at the college. We got to meet some young men from Spain and England. Typically, we do not get to spend this much quality one on one time with the students. God blessed us just as much as he blessed these young students.

So next time you knock on a door and no one is home, I encourage you to think of how you could brighten the occupant’s arrival home. Maybe you could leave a special treat, or maybe a welcome home note, or maybe just a note to let them know that you do truly care and if they ever need anything they can give you a call. This is what Care-Van does. We go forth and let them know we are there because we care! Have a great week-end!