Sgt. Andrew Hale with a Jeep involved in a rollover accident on Route 77 in Alabama. Photo by Howard Owens.
Dispatchers are checking on the availability of Mercy Flight after receiving a report of a possible serious injury accident in the area of 6218 Alleghany Road, Alabama.
UPDATE 5:37 p.m. Joanne Beck: Mercy Flight en route to Erie County Medical Center. Howard Owens is at the scene.
UPDATE 6:32 p.m. Joanne Beck:
In a one-vehicle accident, considered to be one of those “freak” occurrences when not wearing a seat belt actually may have saved the driver’s life. The driver was ejected from his Jeep early Monday evening and is expected to survive, said Genesee County Sheriff’s Sergeant Andrew Hale.
The 39-year-old driver was flown by Mercy Flight to Erie County Medical Center with serious injuries.
Hale said the vehicle was heading northbound on Route 63 towards Medina at approximately 4:50 p.m., where there was some road construction, when, for “some unknown reason,” the driver drove through road-closed construction signs.
“It’s out of the Alabama area here right on the county line, at which point it blew through some construction signs here, and overcorrected and went off the shoulder of the roadway. The construction crews are doing work in the area,” he said. “So from our preliminary investigation, we determined this vehicle rolled at least two times, possibly a third. And the individual was not wearing his seatbelt. And that's ultimately what probably led to him surviving the motor vehicle crash. Had he been wearing a seatbelt, he would have been probably trapped and crushed by the rolling of the Jeep. So, in this instance, it appears that being ejected from the vehicle is what ultimately saved him.”
Hale confirmed that the driver was conscious and alert when responders found him and was able to “talk briefly.”
“But he did have severe injuries,” Hale said.
He did not suspect that alcohol was involved in the accident, he said, but added there's no way of telling if drugs were involved at this point.
There will be an investigation as to why the driver went through the construction signs because “at this time, we don’t have an answer as to why he did that,” Hale said.
“We’ll definitely follow up,” Hale said. He’s got some things he’s got to tend to for right now, but when the time comes, we’ll probably ask him those most important questions.”
There was an off-duty volunteer fireman who lives just up the road who heard the accident and and, along with his father, also responded to the scene.
It is still being determined at what point the driver was ejected from the vehicle, Hale said. He was just lucky in this case that he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, though Hale encourages everyone to wear one.
“Absolutely wear a seatbelt. You know, 99 percent of the time, it will only benefit you and help save your life and help save others’ lives,” he said. This was just one of those rare freak accidents, and in this case, it played to his benefit.”
The driver’s fiancee had been notified of the accident, Hale said. The driver's name has not yet been released.
July 29, 2024 - PGCBL West Division Semi-Final: #4 Jamestown Tarp skunks @ #1 Batavia Muckdogs
Join Austin Mendes and Landon Washburn as they breakdown the 2024 PGCBL playoffs and today's West Semi-Final match between the Jamestown Tarp Skunks and the Batavia Muckdogs
The City of Batavia Police Department is looking for assistance in locating a dog that may have been stolen from a residence on Masse Pl. "Beau" is a 15 month old Corgi who is white with black and gray spotting on his back end. Beau is also deaf. Beau is believed to have been taken during the morning of July 27th. If you have any information to the whereabouts of Beau, please contact Officer Quider at 585-345-6350.
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.”
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