Even with the West Division title in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League clinched, the Batavia Muckdogs showed no letup on Saturday. They scored 11 runs over the Jamestown Tarp Skunks at Dwyer Stadium in front of a home crowd of 2,143.
Eric Woodley, from Depew, made only his second appearance of the season. He came on in the fifth and pitched 2 2/3 innings, giving up only one hit and striking out three to pick up the 11-4 win.
TJ Morris, in the leadoff spot, went 3-4, driving in two runs and scoring twice. He's hitting .327 on the season.
Jacob Veczko went 1-4 and drove in three runs. Anthony Greco, from Buffalo, was 2-3 with an RBI and run scored. Bryceton Berry, from Batavia, was 1-2 with a pair of walks and three runs scored. Caleb Walker was 2-3 with two runs scored.
The Muckdogs close out the regular season on Sunday at 4:05 p.m. against Newark.
Batavia is 33-8 on the season, nine games ahead of second-place Auburn. In the PGCBL, only Amsterdam, at 35-7, has a better record.
Batavia Downs opened its 2024 summer/fall meet on Saturday night. The 3-year-old pacing filly division of the New York Sire Stakes was in town, featuring two six-horse fields that vied for $58,100 each.
The first division was won by A Few Choice Words (Courtly Choice-Top Choice Hanover), who made every station a winning one.
Jim Marohn Jr. put A Few Choice Words on the point off the gate and skated through fractions of :28.2, :57.2 and 1:25.3 before Stepabovetherest (Braxton Boyd) pulled from third and tried to advance. But the closest she would get to the leader would be second, next to the pocket-sitting Leanne’s Choice (Marcus Miller) because A Few Choice Words turned for home and paced with authority to the line where she won in 1:54.
It was the third win in a row and sixth out of the last seven for A Few Choice Words, who is owned by Clancy Farms and trained by Blake Macintosh.
Then there was an upset in the second division when She’s Epic (American Ideal-Booya Beach) shook loose and flew home late at 15-1.
Camerican (Jim Morrill Jr.) grabbed the lead from Peace Talks (Jim Marohn Jr.) just before the quarter and then tempered the pace to the half in :57.4. Camerican continued her easy lead around the third turn and up the backstretch until She’s Epic (Tyler Buter) pulled from fourth and made her way to second by three-quarters in 1:26.4. She’s Epic pulled alongside Camerican and the pace got decidedly more intense as the fillies matched strides around the final bend and into the stretch. Despite their best efforts, neither girl could get ahead until three pylons from the wire where She’s Epic lived up to her name and rode a :26.4 final panel to a one-half length victory in 1:54.
It was the third win of the year for She’s Epic ($33.40) who is owned by John Cummins and trained by Travis Alexander.
Buter got the hat trick on Saturday after winning two $20,000 Excelsior legs with Hurricaneaphrodite (1:54, $3.90) for trainer John McDermott and Tempville (1:56.1, $4.90) for trainer George Ducharme. Ducharme also trained the winner of the third Excelsior leg, Villannah (1:55.2, $13.80) driven by Jim Morrill Jr. who also had a hat trick on Saturday night.
Live racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Tuesday (July 30) at 6 p.m.
The Tarp Skunks look to bounce back following the loss in Jamestown yesterday to the Muckdogs. Batavia is looking to continue to add to their franchise record in wins this season which sits at 32 coming into tonight.
For the second year in a row, Oakfield hosted its own Box Car Derby on Saturday, this time using Bennett Avenue as the track.
The event was organized by the recently formed Oakfield Box Car Derby Association.
Here are the racing results:
Sport Division (Ages 7-10yrs) :
1st - August Rindell
2nd - Eli Pamer
3rd - Brynn Shildwaster
Super Stock Division (Ages 11-13yrs) :
1st - Cody Pangrazio (winner 2nd year in a row)
2nd - Forrest Franklin
3rd - Lincoln Puls
First-place winners in both divisions won:
The Sue D’Alba Memorial Trophy
$100 cash (courtesy of RKK Construction and Smith’s Outdoors)
1 free Large pizza per month for one year (courtesy of Santino’s Pizza)
An Oakfield Box Car Derby Association t-shirt (courtesy of XO, Sassy Parties)
Second and third-place winners also received a trophy, and all participants received a gift card for 1 free ice cream (courtesy of Blondie’s Sip n’ Dip).
Batavia Downs Gaming & Hotel has announced that on Friday, December 6, Marsha McWilson will return to Batavia Downs as she performs her yearly Christmas Concert.
Marsha brings a high energy show that features Christmas Classics and other favorites. She and the other performers have entertained concert goers for many years inside the Park Place Room. Doors are at 6:30 p.m. with music beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 and concert go-ers will receive $10 in Free Play.
Tickets for this event are available at www.BataviaConcerts.com. The Hotel Deal for this event is live at this time and links can be found on Facebook or https://www.bataviadownsgaming.com/hotel-deals/.
Howard Owens, publisher of The Batavian, and Dylan Rendon, winner of The Batavian's eagle drawing contest. Photo by Debra Reilly
The Batavian awarded the grand prize in its eagle drawing contest at the Genesee County Fair to Dylan Rendon, 15, from Batavia.
Dylan received his new Harley-Benton, Les Paul-style eclectic guitar during BB Dang's set at the fair on Friday evening. He started playing guitar six months ago and said the new guitar is an upgrade on his first guitar.
The contest ran from opening day to Thursday, when The Batavian's staff selected its favorite drawings from entrants who were 17 years old and young and then randomly selected the winner from among those best drawings.
The Batavian conducts eagle drawing contests with guitars as prizes to help promote music appreciation among the community's youth.
Voting in the People's Choice Award, which gives visitors to the Media Center Booth in the Exhibition Hall at the fair a chance to pick one of their favorite drawings among the 20 drawings selected by staff. Voting continues until 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Eagle drawing by Dylan Rendon
Marc Tillary, a staff member of WBTA, completed a drawing for The Batavian's eagle drawing competition, but because WBTA is a news partner, and Media Center partner, with The Batavian, we recognized a possible conflict of interest in including his drawing in the contest. We also recognized that his drawing would be very popular so we awarded him a special honorable mention, a $50 gift card to T.F. Brown's.
Lorie Longhany’s mind was on personal business that Sunday afternoon six days ago when a history-making decision was making news. Then she got a phone call from the county’s Board of Elections deputy commissioner.
“She told me that President Biden bowed out. And as soon as it happened, even before I could get on Twitter or Google anything I had already decided in my head, it’s got to be Kamala Harris, I don’t care what anybody says, I’m backing Kamala Harris. And so I guess I was thinking the way most everybody else was,” Longhany said during an interview with The Batavian. “I felt strongly about Joe Biden, and I feel even more strongly about Kamala Harris, I’m excited.”
Longhany will get that chance since, in December, she was nominated as a delegate for New York State’s 24th Congressional District to the Democratic National Convention. She didn’t apply for the role, but was recognized for her years of service and involvement to the party.
This won’t be her first rodeo, so to speak, as Longhany, Genesee County’s Democrat election commissioner, was also a delegate for former President Barack Obama at the Charlotte, NC, convention for his second term and was on the ballot for the 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
She didn't make it that time.
“I got beat. Not by a lot. I got beat because they pick a female, male, female, male, and the male got in, and I didn’t get in,” she said. But I went to that one, too. That was in Philadelphia. I went just as a Hillary supporter.”
This one has so far been somewhat different, however, since Harris hasn’t actually run for the position and has been preliminarily nominated on a Zoom call.
“I’ve had mixed feelings about it because I really think that Joe Biden has been the most consequential president, maybe not of my lifetime, but a good part of my lifetime. He's accomplished so much. And most of it is just not even recognized by people,” she said. I look around Genesee County, and there's a lot going on. And maybe none of it has to do with some of Biden’s, with the infrastructure bill and the Chips and Science Act, but I have a good idea that some of it does. I think he's made a lot of good things happen in four short years.”
Although she’s a big Pete Buttigieg fan, Longhany also believes that Harris, as a former attorney general and prosecutor in a major city, brings a lot to the table.
“I like her a lot; I’m very energized by this candidacy right now. And even though I love Joe Biden and I think the world of him, and I think he’s the most compassionate man that I’ve ever seen in public office, I didn’t have this kind of energy. I wasn’t that excited about going to Chicago. I’m excited to go to Chicago now,” she said. “I think she carried a lot of Biden’s good stuff with her. She’s a woman, or she’s a woman of color; it’s that we’re ready for this. And we don’t have to sugarcoat it anymore. I think she can bring so much to the table.”
The first Monday she’s in Chicago, there's an early delegate breakfast meeting, and that week, she rolls through a convention that she will be “learning as I go,” she said.
“I don’t know the process for this; it's different from the last two,” she said. Because I am a pledged delegate to Joe Biden, I think he has to release all the delegates because it’s huge. Well, I’m not going to guess; it’s just, I’m gonna play it as it goes.”
She hasn’t landed on who she thinks Harris should pick as her vice president, but the right names have been bandied about: Josh Shapiro from Pennsylvania, Mark Kelly from Arizona, Gretchen Whitmer from Michigan, and maybe even Buttigieg will get some consideration — any of them would be a good choice, Longhany said.
She said she would definitely strap in for a debate between Harris, the Republican contender, whoever Harris picks for a V.P. and the newly announced J.D. Vance. She has cringed at the level that political discourse has sunk to lately.
“We shouldn’t be doing this to each other,” she said. "I don’t like the tone, the tenure, or the rhetoric—I don’t like any of it.”
She will be packing for a week-long convention in mid-August, with the event wrapping up with what members hope is a final nomination for Harris. There might not be a world wrestling icon up on stage as there was for the Republican convention, Longhany said, but there might be Carole King, James Taylor, and — who knows — Taylor Swift and her Swifties, perhaps? coming out in solidarity against recent politically charged comments about single, childless “cat ladies.”
New York’s 307-member delegation includes 268 pledged delegates who are eligible to vote on the first ballot at the convention. If Harris wins at least 1,976 votes in that first round, she would win the Democratic presidential nomination outright.
According to cityandstateny.com, an unofficial survey of delegates by the Associated Press found that Harris had the support of at least 1,640 pledged delegates, not including New York’s delegation, prior to the vote. With the support of New York’s 268 pledged delegates, Harris had the support of at least 1,908 delegates – putting her fewer than 100 delegates away from securing the nomination in the first round of voting.
Shortly after the New York vote, California’s delegation held its own vote, and its more than 400 delegates unanimously pledged to support Harris. That put her well over the 1,976-vote threshold needed to secure the nomination, cityandstate.com stated.
There were so many delegates crammed onto the Zoom call that only four or five faces could be seen at once, Longhany said. As far as she could tell, that vote was unanimous for Harris.
If Harris somehow fails to reach 1,976 votes in the first round at the convention, then New York’s other 39 delegates would come into place. They are “automatic” delegates, also known as “superdelegates,” who can only vote if no candidate gets enough support the first time around.
Longhany is a former Democratic County Committee Chair and currently serves as one of two Genesee County election commissioners. Both major parties are represented at the Board of Elections. The Republican commissioner is Richard Siebert.
As election commissioner, Longhany wants folks to know that she’s careful to leave politics at the doorstep when she enters the Board of Elections office. It's her job to ensure that everyone’s vote counts no matter what side of the aisle they’re on and who they’re voting for.
“I don’t want people to worry about elections in Genesee County, that everybody can vote easily,” she said. “I want people to trust that I care about this job, even if they’re not voting who I want them to vote for … when I’m in the office, there’s no politics in that office.”
Saturday, July 27th - KIDS DAY TAKE TWO & HP HOOD DAY at the Fair •. 8 AM Summer Kickoff Classic Open Horse Show Showmanship & Western ( Horse Area) •. 8:30 AM – NIOGA Dairy Showmanship Show (Main Show Ring) •. 10 AM – Exhibition Halls & Buildings Open •. 10:30 AM—NIOGA Dairy Show (Main Show Ring) •. 12 PM – 9 PM—Midway Opens Kids 16 & Under Ride for $20/wristband from 12 PM—4PM •. 1 PM – Color Wars (Grassy Area behind I-Got-It) •. 3:30 PM- Small Fry Tractor Pull (Exhibition Building) Sponsored by Upstate Niagara Cooperative, Genesee County Pamona Grange, In Memory of Duane Schmigel •. 7 PM – Screaming Diesel Shootout Semi Pulls, Modified Pick up, Street Pick up, Mini Mod Tractors •. 7 to 11:00 PM – Nerds Gone Wild – (Entertainment Tent) **FIREWORKS at the completion of the Screaming Diesel Shootout** •. 10 PM – Exhibit Halls & Buildings Close
Daily at the Fair:
Air Sculpture (Balloon Display and Demonstrations) (All Day Every Day)
Fame Racing – Radio Controlled Car Racing (SAT 3pm, 5pm & 7pm; SUN 3pm, 5pm & 7pm; MON 3pm, 5pm & 7pm; TUES 3pm, 5pm & 7pm; WED 1pm, 3pm, 5pm & 7pm; THURS 3pm, 5pm & 7pm; FRI 1pm, 3pm, 5pm & 7pm; SAT 1pm, 3pm, 5pm & 7pm)
Fair Trivia Hunt – All Day (July 20th-26th) – Exhibition Building – DAILY PRIZES Events & times on the schedule are subject to change. Follow us on Facebook to keep up to date with changes.
Saturday July 27th at 7pm come out and enjoy the Saturday Night Screamin’ Diesel Spectacular! Come check out the Semi’s, Diesel pick ups, and mini modified tractor pull! Sponsored by Scofield Transfer & Recycling
The Elba Betterment Committee is coming up on week 4 of our summer concerts in our beautiful Village Park. Up next on August 1, is the Batavia Swing Band. A professional 17 piece jazz/swing band, they will be bringing us everything from standard jazz and swing tunes to more modern and contemporary sounds.
We love our local musicians, and we know you will too. And perhaps there will be dancing!
The fun begins with food and beverages from Agatina’s Italian Restaurant, More Than A Mouthful, Ice Cream and Chill and Circle B Winery starting at 5:30 p.m. with the music starting at 6:30 p.m.
The 50/50 Raffle that night will help to provide a scholarship to Go Art’s Creative Art Camp to help support underprivileged children who may not be able to afford it.
All concerts are made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the NYS Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the NYS Legislature and administered by GO Art.
As always, we are collecting non perishable food and hygiene items and selling raffle tickets for your chance to win up to $5000. This is gonna be such a fun time – you know you gotta be there!
Graham Corporation (NYSE: GHM) (“GHM” or “the Company”), a global leader in the design and manufacture of mission critical fluid, power, heat transfer, and vacuum technologies for the defense, space, energy, and process industries, announced today that it has been awarded $2.1 million for the expansion of its welder training programs and related equipment.
The contract was awarded by BlueForge Alliance, a nonprofit, neutral integrator that supports the U.S. Navy’s Submarine Industrial Base initiatives.
Daniel J. Thoren, President and CEO of GHM, commented, “These are exciting times for our Company as we build out our capabilities and capacity to support America’s defense industry as a part of the U.S. Navy’s Submarine Industrial Base.
These funds will help us develop and grow our welder workforce and provide additional equipment needed to improve the efficiency of our production processes. We are proud to be a strategic supplier for the U.S. Navy’s Submarine Industrial Base.”
Budd, who put on more than 100,000 miles as a driver for his family, is now grazing happily at Cherry Hill Farm Sanctuary. Submitted Photo
Budd was a standardbred whose original destiny was to become a racehorse. At two years old, he didn’t make the required time and instead became a working horse. He ended up as a driver for an Amish family for the next 18 years.
He click-clacked his way for more than 100,000 miles over those years, and when it became evident that Budd could no longer perform his daily tasks due to old age, his family didn’t really want to send him to auction. Lucky for Budd, his family came across the Cherry Hill Farm Sanctuary business cards that President Pamela Harmon had scattered throughout nearby harness shops and community centers.
“We received a call this spring from a family looking to place a 21-year-old standardbred that had been their daily driver for 18 years. Budd was a part of their daily lives, and they wanted him to have a chance to retire in pasture," Harmon said to The Batavian. "As a tattooed standardbred, we were able to look up Budd’s history and found that he was born and trained here in Corfu, NY, before making his way to be a buggy horse. Budd, along with his original pasture mate at the Amish farm, is now retired at Cherry Hill Farm Sanctuary.”
Obviously, a much less traumatic and far more humane way to — quite literally — put Budd out to pasture to loll about and enjoy his remaining days as reward for many hard years of work, his new caretakers believe.
There are 60 acres for him to forage and practice “being a horse” with his fellow kind, go for walks with Cherry Hill volunteers, get bathed and groomed and receive the special treatment he deserves.
Cherry Hill officially became a nonprofit in 2022, with the primary purpose of helping senior equines live out their lives in peaceful and healthy comfort after serving their work lives and having no other place to go except to auction, where they are sold for meat.
More than 100,000 horses in the United States are shipped off to Canada and Mexico each year for their meat, and the journey is often “pure agony” for these animals, according to the organization’s mission statement. That’s why Cherry Hill supports horses that are overcoming immense odds such as blindness and starvation by providing a haven for them to live out the rest of their lives in a compassionate, loving and dignified existence.
Delilah is another such case, only she brings with her a twofer, having been studded before being deemed no longer serving her purpose on an Amish farm. And the Morgan mare, in all of her glistening black-coated glory in the Corfu sunshine, is ready to give birth any day now, Harmon said.
“She’s over 20, and she’s partially blind. We actually took her in only three months ago. She was already bred sometime in the summer to a Belgian, which is a draft horse, and she’s a lot smaller, so there’s a lot of concerns that she’s not going to be able to deliver appropriately. We’re kind of in this full watch right now,” Harmon said. “We took her on mostly because of the fact that she’s older, and there’s a good chance that she’s gonna have some complications, rightfully so because of her age and because of the size of the stud that she was bred to.”
As with any noble cause, it takes money — a hefty $2,000 per month winter feed bill for the grain necessary to feed senior equines with either poor teeth or no teeth, plus the other costs for shelter and medical care, such as with Delilah, who “our goal was to make sure that she had the proper health care during the end of her pregnancy and that we could see it through to make sure that she stays healthy,” Harmon said.
Cherry Hill has 20 rescue equines, plus several goats and two cows. The nonprofit takes on many draft horses that were once used on Amish farms, and they drive up the feed bills, Harmon said.
That’s why Cherry Hill is throwing its first big fundraiser, a Cornhole and Basket Raffle, from noon to 4 p.m. Aug. 11 at Lancaster Elks Lodge, 33 Legion Parkway, Lancaster. There will be at least 100 theme baskets and gift certificates for various local businesses, plus a 50/50, food for purchase, cash bar and a DJ. Winners need not be present at time of drawing.
The cost is $25 for participants of the corn hole tournament, and they are asked to arrive at 11:30 a.m. Use the Scoreholio app or call/text 716-901-3445 to register.
A very pregnant Delilah, a Morgan mare turned over from an Amish farm, is ready to give birth any day now, as she grazes peacefully at Cherry Hill Farm Sanctuary in Corfu. Submitted Photo
AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 1ST CITY OF BATAVIA 4-5 bedroom Duplex apartment with 1 Bedroom, Living room, laundry room, dining room, bathroom, and small kitchen on first floor. 4 bedrooms 2nd floor. Newly painted. Some new carpet. Basement storage. 1/2 garage use for storage/ not parking. Large yard. $1,100/month includes trash pickup, Refrigerator, Gas Stove. You pay gas, electric, water. No dogs. Good references required with background check. Pathstone approved. Near ARC. Mike 585-993-4002
