This is part of an old train line that went through Genesee County at one time. I found this old bridge support on Old Creek Road last year and then, over the winter, while playing around on Genesee County's GIS map, I found an old right-of-way in Le Roy that is still owned by Lehigh Valley Railroad (even though Lehigh went bankrupt in the 1950s).

I traced the one parcel I found owned by Lehigh. At one time, it went through most of the county (The right-of-ways are still all separate parcels for the most part, owned by many different people.) The railroad left a permanent scar visible from the satellite images, so it's easy to trace. The line I found passed through this section of Old Creek Road in Alexander.

UPDATE: A caller says that this railroad location was part of the Delaware-Lackawana line, which merged with the Erie Line in 1961. The merger meant this railroad line was taken out of commission. The Lehigh line, he said, is further to the north.

One of the old, giant trees in the Batavia Cemetery fell down yesterday. The massive tree, which broke about 8 feet up its trunk, was located near the front of the cemetery, just south of the Richmond Mausoleum. It doesn't appear that any headstones were damaged.

Volunteers were in front of the Holland Land Office Museum parking lot today hawking hot dogs to raise funds for the International Peace Garden.

The peace garden supporters will be back at HLOM weekend after next.

At least, I think this is a yellow flag iris -- that's the best identification I can do through Google. There's thousands of them off Old Creek Road, as well as other parts of the county. It's a non-native species and considered an invasive weed (it's certainly invaded Old Creek and Hunn roads), from what I found online. I got a little obsessed with getting a picture of this one particular plant around noon today -- trying different lenses, exposures, shutter speeds. This was the best I could do. 

A possible drowning is reported in the creek behind the Log Cabin Restaurant in Indian Falls. The location is 1227 Gilmore Road, by the falls.

It's unknown whether the person is out of the water.

Pembroke and Indian Falls fire departments are responding along with Mercy medics. The Genesee County Rope Rescue Team is called to assemble and stand by.

UPDATE 3:34 p.m.: The person is out of the water. All response units, except Mercy medics, are cancelled.

UPDATE 3:37 p.m.: Person fell about 20 feet into the water and got "the wind knocked out of him." He was in the water for a short period of time and is now on land, conscious and alert. Pembroke fire is continuing to the scene, non-emergency. The man is between 19 and 20 years old and complaining of neck and back pain.

Batavia resident Lisa Barrett is now one of six finalists to have advanced to round five in the international contest, "Best Original Song."

If she makes it through this round, she will be one of three finalists to make it to the last one. One of these three finalists will win the contest.

Voting for Lisa's song, "When You Look at Me," will start at 8 p.m. on Monday, and will continue through June 13. To vote:

1. Go to www.bestoriginalsong.com

2. Click on "Click Here to Listen"

3. Select June 6 through 13 Show Date

4. Vote for and/or download "When You Look at Me."

For previous coverage, see: 

Batavia singer/songwriter has high hopes for very personal song

Singer/songwriter Lisa Barrett advances to next round in world competition

To see a story YNN did on Barrett recently, click here.

LIFT is accepting enrollees. It's a summer program for children ages 5-10 with special needs such as sensory processing disorders, Asperger's, OCD, ODD, pediatric bipolar disorder and ADD/ADHD.

The camp is drop in but registration is required prior to the first day a child attends. The camp runs from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday, June 28 to Aug. 11. The recommended donation is $3.50/hour.

Children will participate in activities that will work on sensory processing, fine and gross motor coordination as well as social and life skills. Additional classes include art, theatre, music, math, reading and writing. Camp takes place at the East Pembroke Grange Hall.

There will be an open house from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Friday, June 10. This is designed for children to attend with a parent/guardian. During the open house, children will participate in activities designed to strengthen their sensory processing skills, social and life skills as well as fine and gross motor coordination.

For more information on the camp or the open house, please call Laura Kauppi at 233-6155 or email <liftschoolofmusic@gmail.com>.

The annual Community Yard Sale is set for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 11 in the City of Batavia. (Rain date is June 18.) Councilwoman Rose Mary Christian is the contact person for this event <Christia@BataviaNewYork.com>. Phone is 344-0276. Call if you'd like to be included in this event.

These are the addresses of the participating households so far:

• 32 Clifton St.
• 39 Otis St.
• 29 Williams St
• 468 Ellicott St.
• 121 Hutchins St.
• 10 South Spruce St.
• 36 Vernon Ave.
• 38 Vernon Ave.
• 19 Richmond Ave.
• 12 Tracy Ave
• 8 North Lyon St.
• 30 Washington Ave.
• 6 Douglas St.
• 13 Edgewood Drive
• 25 Burke Drive
• 315 Bank St.
• 390 Garden Drive
• 54 Walnut St.
• 16 South Main St.

Pavilion Fire Department and Mercy EMS are responding to a call in Covington after a car overturned and landed in a ravine. A 17-year-old is complaining of back pain.

The injury is said to be minor. The location is Silver Lake and Old State roads.

Linden resident Dick Harris bought is first Triumph motorcycle in 1955, and once he got that feeling of the open road and the wind in his hair, he hasn't spent a lot of time looking in the rear view mirror.

Harris, the son of a preacher, owns several versions of the legendary motorcycle now, including six that run and one he's restoring.  

In the room of his home where he stores the bikes, are pictures of Triumphs and places he's been, a shelf full of trophies he's won and a map of the United States. It traces the route to and from California he took during one of his three cross-country trips on a Triumph.

Just yesterday, the 78-year-old Harris went for a 150-mile ride.

"Every day that's nice, I try to get out," said the Linden native.

He left home at 17 and set out for Arizona, where he lived for a year. When he was 21 and discovered he liked riding motorcycles, he didn't exactly consult his preacher father.

"I didn't get on a bike until I was older, so my father didn't have much to say about it," Harris said.

He did get his dad to take a ride on a Triumph much later, when he was 80 years old.

While Harris didn't follow his father into the ministry, three of his four sons inherited his love for motor bikes. The picture below is of his son Dan's house, also in Linden.

Asked why he's enjoyed riding his bikes all these years, Harris kind of shrugged and said, "I don't know. Freedom, I guess. I like to get out on the road."

Rachel Ingutti, a member of the educational staff at the Seneca Zoo brought a collection of snakes, lizards, salamanders and a tortoise to the Interpretive Nature Center at the Genesee County Park in Bethany today.

The turtle below is a new addition to the Interpretive Nature Center, giving visitors a live animal to view (rather than just the interesting collection of stuffed species on display at the center).

Driving down Bethany Center Road, Bethany, this morning, I thought this clump of Queen Anne's Lace with the view behind it looked interesting.

As I was finishing with the pictures, a man in a pickup pulled up, giving me the impression he was the property owner, wanting to know what I was doing. I told him I thought these flowers might make for an interesting picture. He said, "You can call them flowers. To me, they're weeds." And drove off.

Right in the same area, I took the picture of the tree below.

Sam Ferris of Judge Road in South Alabama called me this morning and said there were a pair of large butterflies hanging out in his yard and he thought it might make an interesting picture.

A butterfly with a six-inch wing span? Sounds pretty interesting and I had a little time this morning, so I drove out there.

After getting a picture, I drove out to the Interpretive Center at Genesee County Park to cover an event there. When talking with volunteers there, I mentioned the large butterfly and pulled the picture up on my camera.

A volunteer said, "That's not a butterfly. That's a moth."

It turns out it's a Cecropia Moth (Hyalophora Cecropia). I learned that the moth has no digestive system. Tonight, it will probably fly off, find a mate and then die. Typically, once they molt, they live about three days.

Pictured are John White and Ben Zhao, both of Clarence, who were two of many youngsters who came to Darien Lake Theme Park yesterday to get free tickets.

Why do they get such special treatment? Well, the short answer is that they could be helping bring a fortune into Genesee County.

John and Ben are two of almost 1,600 kids, ages 12 to 18, who are competing in the Darien Lake Baseball Tournament, which starts today and involves youth from all over the Northeast and part of Canada.

According to Kelly Rapone, who works for the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce, there are a total of 106 teams, with 15 kids on each team. Kids from outside of Genesee County will, of course, be accompanied by their families.

This is likely to be a major boon not only for Darien Lake Theme Park -- which is sponsoring the tournament -- but also for the county in general. In addition to Darien Lake tickets for the kids, all visiting families receive welcome packets with visitors' and dining guides.

But what exactly is this tournament, and how did it come about?

According to Rapone, this is a "public-private venture to grow our economy through sports."

It all started a couple years ago with a conversation between Chris Suozzi of Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC), Neil Turvey of A-Turf (a Cheektowaga-based company that specializes in synthetic grass surfacing for sports fields), and former Senator Mary Lou Rath. They met to discuss possible opportunities for Genesee County.

"There are a lot of synergies right here (in Genesee County)," Suozzi said. "Our location is real prime -- right on the New York State Thruway, between Buffalo and Rochester."

Suozzi and Turvey then got involved with Tom Lichtenthal, the Town of Batavia engineer, and Craig Yunker, who owns the Batavia Turf Farm on Bank Street Road.

Up until now, the Turf Farm has mainly been used for youth soccer games. Turvey would like to develop a baseball training center there, as well as space for baseball and softball games next to the soccer field.

Turvey, of Lockport, said this "is just phase one."

"We hope to eventually have 11 fields for baseball and softball."

Before taking on the ambitious task of "taking baseball (in Genesee County) to the next level," as Suozzi put it, he and Turvey wanted to have a baseball tournament  here to see if it would be successful.

Suozzi said this idea came from an observation of how well local soccer teams have done with their tournaments.

With this in mind, and having connections with Darien Lake, he set up a meeting between himself, the theme park's general manager and Turvey. It was agreed that Darien Lake would sponsor the tournament.

"Our hope is that this will be economically impactful," Suozzi said. "When people and families come in, it brings sales tax dollars to our community. That's something people don't realize -- events like this are a real draw for that."

"We're expecting to see somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 people this weekend," Turvey said, "and around 7,500 people total."

The teams are divided into three groups: 10- to 12-year-olds, 13- to 15-year-olds and 16- to 18-year-olds. The 10- to 12-year-olds are playing today and tomorrow at Pembroke High School, at 8750 Alleghany Road in Corfu, and at the Pembroke town park, which is right behind the high school.

Next weekend (June 11-12), the 13- to 15-year-olds will play at three Batavia sites -- Batavia High School at 260 State St., John Kennedy Elementary School at 166 Vine St., and GCC at 1 College Road -- and Barrie Park, just outside of Albion.

Finally, the 16- to 18-year-olds will play Saturday, June 18, and Sunday, June 19 at these same four locations and at Pembroke High School.

Four games are played at each location every day of the tournament. Start times for each game are 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. They are free and open to the public, and food is available.

As difficult and time-consuming as it has been to coordinate this whole thing, Turvey is grateful for the amount of support the tournament has gotten from the Genesee County community.

"Everybody's been fantastic," he said. "The government agencies, the hotels, the chamber...the schools have also been very supportive."

If you have any questions or would like more information, call Turvey at (716) 462-8155. I spoke with him a minute ago, and he said that today's games are still on; they're just waiting for the weather to clear up a bit.

SUPPLEMENTAL PHOTOS:

A rather "impressive" wooden bear guards the entrance to the Darien Lake lodge (right near where the kids came to pick up their tickets). Here he is a bit more close up.

Wires on a pole are on fire at 637 Route 19, behind a building near the railroad tracks, in Pavilion. It's about 50 to 60 feet from the roadway, posing "no immediate danger."

Pavilion Fire Department is responding. National Grid is being notified.

Also, the traffic light is out at the junction of routes 63 and 19. And a fire chief says traffic is "blowing by" without stopping at the intersection.

UPDATE 1:25 p.m.: Pavilion Fire Department has cleared the scene. National Grid's ETA is at least an hour. But all businesses in the area have electricity. State Troopers are handling the traffic situation at the lightless intersection of routes 19 and 63. The Department of Transportation's traffic detail will be responding to the intersection.

A house basement reportedly caught fire after being struck by lightning at 9977 Seward Road in Alexander.

Alexander and Town of Batavia fire departments are responding.

UPDATE 12:42 p.m.: Darien and East Pembroke fire departments are called to the scene.

UPDATE 12:50 p.m.: The Alexander fire chief says other units can respond in non-emergency mode.

UPDATE 1:27 p.m.: Darien is clearing the scene. Apparently, the fire is out.

UPDATE 1:28 p.m.: All units back in service.

A Batavia Nursing Home employee who earlier today was reportedly the subject of a police response to the facility is in jail tonight, accused of threatening to shoot a supervisor.

Parris L. Bryant, 50, of 218 State St., Batavia, was charged with aggravated harassment, 2nd, and jailed on $1,000 bail.

According to Sgt. John Peck, Bryant was the suspect in a case earlier today involving an employee who showed up at the facility drunk and angry over not getting paid, as scheduled.

Police officers who responded to that call convinced Bryant to leave and go home.

According to Peck, Bryant didn't bother any of his coworkers again until about 5:30 p.m., at which time he allegedly initiated a series of calls to a nursing supervisor threatening to shoot her over the non-pay issue.

When police responded to his house, Peck said, there were no guns visible and it's not clear that Bryant actually has access to a gun.

However, because Bryant is still an employee of the nursing home, has access to the building, and was allegedly in a violent frame of mind, police officers were concerned for the safety of the staff, Peck said.

"He must have been stewing about it all day," Peck said.

Peck said nursing home staff told officers that Bryant made five or six calls this evening.

Additional previous articles:

• Owner of Batavia Nursing Home facing federal charges; employees complain of payroll problems
• State dealing with 'issues' at Batavia Nursing Home, but won't release details
• Employees of Batavia Nursing Home tell TV news they can't cash payroll checks

Burglars went to some effort overnight to remove a safe from Neptune's Gardens, 33 Liberty St., Batavia, getting away with more than $2,000 cash.

According to owners Nick and Kathy LaFarnara, the safe was apparently too heavy for the thieves to carry, so they used her office chair to wheel it to a back window.

Nick said it probably took two people to get it out a window and drop it into a pickup truck.

It's the first time during their 25 years in business that it's been burglarized, Nick said.

He's eager to see the perpetrators caught and prosecuted, so LaFarnaras are offering a $250 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the criminals.

Batavia Police Det. Pat Corona said tips can be phoned in confidentially to 345-6370.

Kathy LaFarnara said she was baffled to come into work this morning to find her chair missing from the office and a desk drawer opened with stamps on the floor.

"I'm thinking, 'that's just not right,'" Kathy said.

As she and Nick started to look around, they found a few other things out of place and then spotted her chair near a back window, which was open.

The first thing they checked for were missing pets, but all of the animals were accounted for.  

When Nick went back into is office and sat down, that's when he noticed the safe was missing.

Photo courtesy The Batavian's news partner, WBTA. WBTA also has a story available here.

A three-car accident is reported at Broadway (Route 20) and Warner roads in Darien. Injuries are believed to be minor.

Darien Fire Department and Mercy EMS are responding.

Tyler Thomas Aldinger, 17, of Townline Road, Attica, is charged with criminal mischief, 3rd (more than $250 in damages), petit larceny and trespass. Tyler is accused on trespassing on property on Attica Road in Alexander and cutting up farm property and taking it for scrap. The alleged incident was reported at 12:24 p.m., Thursday. Arrested with Tyler was Daniel Joseph Ognibene, 17, of Alexander Road, Alexander. Daniel was charged with petit larceny and trespass.

Marcos A. Torres, 28, of Jackson Street, Batavia, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and aggravated unlicensed operation, 3rd. Torres was arrested following a traffic stop at 3 p.m. Tuesday on Route 98, Town of Batavia. Torres was jailed on $800 bail.