It was the first time in the history of New York State basketball that two coaches with over 500 career victories guided teams against each other.

Notre Dame's Mike Rapone earned career victory 513 while Prattsburgh's Jim Burke was held at 502 as the Fighting Irish picked up a 60-53 win.

The evening started off with Notre Dame's court being dedicated to Rapone and girls volleyball coach Rhonda DiCasolo. Rapone followed it by presenting Burke with a plaque in honor of his 500th victory, which happened in Prattsburgh's first game of the season.

Then, the teams that play a pair of non league games with each other every year, took the court. The Fighting Irish took an early lead.

Kevin Francis had a steal and basket, Tommy Rapone had a basket with an and-1 and Kevin Schildwaster scored to give ND a quick 7-0 lead.

But Francis picked up a second foul midway through the first quarter and had to go to the bench, which allowed the Vikings to creep back in the game.

Ryan Caron scored nine points in a three minute stretch, with the only Fighting Irish basket coming on a 3-pointer by Matt Thompson.

Brandon Bulley scored the final basket of the opening period and Notre Dame had a very slim 18-16 lead.

Prattsburgh took the lead right away when Patrick Wightman drained a 3-pointer to open the second period.

It was back-and-forth for the second quarter until the end when Francis, Nick Wetherwax and Schildwaster had baskets to give the Fighting Irish a 32-28 halftime lead.

Notre Dame opened up a 12-point lead when Vinny Zambito and Thompson hit consecutive 3-pointers, but the third quarter ended with ND leading 51-41.

The fourth quarter was a series of free throw attempts that dragged on, but Notre Dame held on for the win and improves to 4-0.

Francis had 18 points with 10 assists and Thompson hit four 3-pointers to score 14 points.

Rapone and Zambito had eight points each.

Caron had 18 points and Garrett Parker added 17 for Prattsburgh (4-3).

VIDEO + INTERVIEWS FROM THE GAME

GREAT VIDEO OF THE COURT PRESENTATION AND RAPONE HONORING BURKE

Today's example is on Walnut St. and a great example of color and variety. 

Joe Lawrence grew up in the Town of Batavia countryside where the Tonawanda Creek flowed along the edge of the family property. As might be expected, he became a fisherman at an early age. It was in that same time frame, and under the watchful eye of his father, Bob Lawrence, when the hunting phase of his life began.

           Much of what Joe learned from his father has been passed on. Expeditions to Black Lake and the pursuit of bass, walleye and crappie have become yearly events for the Lawrence family and their friends.   

            Taking to the outdoors since the fifties, Joe Lawrence has no doubt stashed away plenty of fond memories, a good number being of the father & son variety.

            The younger Lawrence, son John, has developed into quite an outdoor tactician. Be it fly-rod, shot gun, or bow, John obviously paid attention during early years afield with his father. With the elder Lawrence as his mentor, John Lawrence mastered trap shooting relatively early in life, garnering All American honors by the age of fifteen. He would duplicate the feat three years later.

            While there have been many high points for the father and son tandem over the years, in speaking with John recently, it seems this autumn will be ranked among his favorites.            

            John put venison in the freezer early on in the bow season, bagging a very nice 8 pt. in October. For those who know John, that’s not so much of a surprise as it is his custom. Filling an archery tag early on enabled him hunt waterfowl and pursue pheasants  with Kaylee, his two year old Vizsla.

 And while John doesn’t take outdoor moments for granted, it was the season finale which had him buzzing. John and Joe Lawrence were deer hunting with friends Andy Webster and the Ficarella brothers, Billy and Jimmy. It was the tail end of the muzzle loader season and the group was hunting a parcel of land they own in north central Genesee County.   

            It seems fitting that, while in the company of his son and good friends, Joe Lawrence closed out the deer season in grand fashion. His hunting and fishing adventures have spanned six decades, yet it was on this outing last week when Joe took the biggest deer of his life, a brute whitetail sporting nine points, an inside spread topping 22 inches and main beams stretching 27inches. Early estimates put the deer well over 140 points on the Boone & Crockett scoring system. If so, Joe Lawrence will be listed in the annals of the New York State Big Buck Club. 

            Being able to share such a moment with his son and friends only enhanced the experience. What a great way to wrap up the season.  

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for Sunday.

"Watch" is a little more manageable than the "warning" level issued prior to the storm that hit Genesee County yesterday.  That storm dumped as much as 12 inches of snow on parts of the region.

But that doesn't mean there won't be significant accumulations of snow through Sunday night (starting tonight).

SNOW WILL DEVELOP FROM WEST TO EAST ACROSS THE REGION LATE SATURDAY NIGHT... WITH THE STEADIEST SNOWFALL EXPECTED SUNDAY MORNING INTO THE EARLY AFTERNOON. THE SNOW SUNDAY AFTERNOON WILL THEN BE ACCOMPANIED BY STRONG SOUTHWEST WINDS... WHICH COULD GUST TO BETWEEN 30 AND 40 MPH. THIS WILL PRODUCE AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW WITH GREATLY REDUCED VISIBILITIES AND THERE COULD EVEN BE THE CHANCE FOR HIGHER GUSTS WHICH COULD PRODUCE MINOR WIND DAMAGE.

WHILE THERE WILL BE THE POTENTIAL FOR SNOWFALL IN EXCESS OF 6 INCHES ON SUNDAY... LAKE SNOWS SUNDAY NIGHT COULD PRODUCE MUCH MORE SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS.

Here's what the Thruway looks like at the moment:

The Daily just put up 11 photos from yesterday's storm coverage.  The photo gallery set up is a little awkward to navigate, but there's some good shots.

Roger Muehlig writes this morning about Bella, a two-year-old Staffordshire-bull mastiff mix, belonging to Tim and Julie LaPorte of Stafford, who gave birth last week to 15 puppies.

A normal litter is is about eight puppies.

Mother and pups are doing just fine.

Mom doesn't play favorites.

"She's wonderful (at feeding). She rotates them. She stays with them all day," Julie said.

It sounds like Bella is a designer dog.

We're really proud of the coverage that Philip Anselmo and Brian Hillabush provided today. If you liked the coverage, please e-mail all of your friends -- be sure they know that a visit to The Batavian is worthwhile because we're going to provide complete and timely coverage of the important and interesting news of Genesee County.

 Five-year old Andrew and two-year old Kate Ricupito didn't mind the storm Western New York was hit with today.

Here are the two youngsters enjoying some good old fashioned sledding at Centennial Park in Batavia.

Yeah, that's right... thunder snow. But more on that in a minute. It looks like this storm will hang on throughout the afternoon bringing more of the same, according to the National Weather Service out of Buffalo. Here's what the most recent weather statement has to say on the matter:

The steady moderate to heavy snow that was falling across the Niagara frontier will continue through the remainder of the afternoon... Expect snowfall rates to generally be around one inch per hour. There may be a brief period of heavier snow and thunder as a squall line develops and moves through the region between about 4:00 and 5:00pm. Snowfall for the remainder of the afternoon will be between 3 and 5 inches.

That's right, folks: thunder snow. For those of us south of the Thruway, it seems we'll see the weirdest of the weather, although the snow showers themselves "will be more scattered in nature." That almost sounds like relief, but...

Breaks of snow (will be) followed by brief heavy snowfall and possible thunder. Snowfall amounts will be highly variable this afternoon, with some locations receiving a quick 2 to 4 inches, while other locations receive less.

Winds, too, will be kicking along, gusting between 15 and 25 mph, causing blowing and drifting snow. Travel conditions will remain "hazardous" for the rest of the day. So stay off the road, if you can.

Here's how things look on the radar right now. Visit the Weather Channel online to get up-to-date radar views. From that site, you can see that the tip of the storm has just passed by Erie, Pennsylvania.

 I am surprised that in my 4-5 hours of driving I didn't find any cars off the road. But I did manage to find somebody that parked on Main St. Batavia that is probably going to have a difficult time getting out.

UPDATE (by Howard): Interesting, the Daily picked up on the same shot.

City police have come out with more charges against the parents of the 6-year-old boy who brought a loaded handgun onto a school bus Wednesday morning. Carolyn Claudio, 43, of 335 Bank St., Batavia was charged with second-degree criminally using drug paraphernalia, seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and endangering the welfare of a child.

Police allege that during a search of Claudio's residence Wednesday, a small amount of cocaine and drug paraphernalia were found in the "living area" of the home where they would have been "easily accessible to the children." This is the same residence in which Claudio's 6-year-old son located the loaded handgun that he brought to school with him Wednesday morning. Carolyn Claudio will appear in court to answer the charges on Tuesday.

The boy's father, Juan Claudio Sr., 40, of 108 Jackson St., Batavia, received another charge of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Following the news reports of Juan Claudio's arrest, two Batavia residents came forward to claim that Claudio attempted to sell them a gun this past Saturday at a home in Batavia. When the two were shown the gun that the boy brought on the bus Wednesday, they confirmed that it was, in fact, the same gun that the father had offered for sale.

A report in the Daily News filed this morning by Scott DeSmit states that the boy found the ".22 caliber handgun" at his mother's home under her bed and "tucked inside a velvet Crown Royal whiskey pouch."

For more details, please see our previous coverage. You can also view the response from the city police and school superintendent in our video coverage.

Update at 3:47pm: We spoke with Batavia Det. Richard Schauf to find out more on the status of the two young children, the 6-year-old who brought the gun onto the school bus and his 7-year-old brother who had alerted the bus driver to that fact. Schauf told us that Carolyn Claudio could not be arraigned in court today as it was closed due to the weather. Both children "will remain in the custody of the mom," said Schauf. At least, for now.

The Department of Social Services is supervising the situation. They have been notified of the charges filed against Carolyn Claudio today. Whether they take the children away—"That's their call," said Schauf.

Try as they might, the city snowplows are having a difficult time keeping the roads clear. If you are driving on Main St. Batavia, it isn't too bad. But pretty much every side street gets filled with snow minutes after the plows have been through.

I'm not sure if it is good news or bad news, but it just came over the scanner that there is sleet starting to mix with the snow. This will limit the amount of blowing snow, but is going to potentially make it more slippery and make the snow that you have to shovel more heavy. 

DO NOT DRIVE ON COLLEGE ROAD TODAY!

I cannot stress this enough. I figured I would take the trip and attempt to get a photo of the college from the road. I couldn't go any faster than 5-10 miles per hour and literally couldn't see anything.

When I got close enough to the school, there was nothing but white. So I took a photo of my car in the middle of the road. Or, at least I think it was the middle.

You couldn't ask for more perfect timing on this one folks—that is, as long as you've already got the ingredients in the house. In this fifth episode of Cooking With the Dairy Princess, Anika Zuber shows us how to prepare a rich, white chocolate, hot chocolate.

Mmm.

The Daily News has posted the following notice on its web site:

DUE TO STORM: Your Friday paper may be delivered with Saturday's edition.

Also, here's the Daily's latest storm story by Scott DeSmit and Joanne Beck. Key bit of information, GCC was shut down today.

When Eric Herrmann's shift ended at Graham Manufacturing, he called his wife Heather for a ride home. The problem was, the family vehicle was trapped in the driveway and was not going to move.

Unable to get a ride, Herrmann decided to take the walk to his Clinton Street home. I noticed what looked like a snowman walking, so I stopped and took his photo for The Batavian. And of course, I gave him a ride home so the poor guy didn't freeze to death.

Update at 2:13pm: Route 77 (Alleghany Road) is still closed off in the Corfu area.

Emergency crews will temporarily close down Route 77 (Alleghany Road) north of the Thruway to clear a tractor trailer that was in an accident there, according to the Genesee County sheriff's dispatchers. Crews need to be able to get in and get out with the tractor trailer. The road should be opened back up shortly after the vehicle is removed. 

View Larger Map

We've had so many posts so far today that some of our earlier posts have flowed off the home page.

And we've got more posts coming from Brian Hillabush and Philip Anselmo.

If you're just hitting the site for the first time today, or might otherwise have missed some coverage, please scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "next" link on the pager to see any coverage you might have missed.

Also, we continue to welcome any weather pictures or stories you might want to post.

See the Flickr set below.

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UPDATE (3:00pm): More pictures added!

Nothing stops the United States postal service.

Even with massive amounts of snow, the mail is still on its way. I would guess that some carriers might be a little behind schedule because of the conditions, but they are out there.