A motor-vehicle accident with injuries has been reported in the area of 266 East Ave., Batavia.
City fire and Mercy EMS responding.
Traffic is blocked.
UPDATE 9:30 a.m.: Mercy EMS: "There's four patients here. So far, only one being transported." The injury is minor.
UPDATE 9:32 a.m.: Both vehicles will need flatbed tows.
Nothing The Batavian has ever published has elicited quite the response as an item we published this morning on cyberbullying.
Whether by comments here, by private email, by Facebook comments or by Twitter, there's been a lot of discussion of the piece.
The feedback has been both favorable and harshly negative, and the negative messages have been fueled by misunderstanding the post, the nature of The Batavian, journalism in general and too much of it, sadly, expressing acceptance of bullying.
One point the critics got right is that a key element of the post was missing -- one of the people portrayed as victimized by bullies has a history -- at least judging from the screen shots sent to us -- of bullying others.
The author admits (remember, as some people seem to have missed, I didn't write the piece), that he didn't see the person's status updates and comments that apparently prompted other people to lash out at her. She deleted them before he saw what he saw on Facebook.
We've both seen those status updates now, and they're pretty ugly.
But the fact those updates were not included in the original post, according to some, made "the story" one-sided.
But it wasn't a story. It was an opinion piece, an op-ed, as I referred to it in the post. As much as anything, it was a public service announcement against bullying. It keyed off screen grabs taken from recent posts by local kids and referred to a recent case, but it wasn't about those incidents. It was about dealing with cyberbullying.
That point was missed by some, appreciated by others.
The reactions I found most troubling:
My position: bullying is wrong, in all cases. There's no justification for it. It's not something you can excuse away or just expect a victim to deal with it. It's morally reprehensible on its face.
And it doesn't matter if the other person was a jerk first. Anybody that would bully under those circumstances would bully under many other circumstances.
One person quoted to me, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." My response: that's a lie. It's a lie told by parents at a time when their kids are hurting. It's not a life philosophy. The fact is, words leave marks. Words can hurt. Words matter.
But it seems there's a group of young people in Genesee County who don't understand that, or don't want to understand it.
And that's the real issue, not who bullied who first, and that point seems to have been lost.
People say the "story" was one-sided, but it was in fact "no-sided." No names were used.
The names weren't used because who the actual participants were, and the actual sequence of events, were immaterial to the real issue that needed to be discussed. If you weren't directly involved -- and most of our readers were not, I'm sure -- you wouldn't know who any of the participants were.
The issue was bullying, not who did what to whom. The examples used were exactly that: real life examples, current examples.
The more readily people grasp the fact that bullying is a serious issue, the easier it will be to deal with it. The best thing that came out of the posting today is it got a lot of people talking about a very important issue, even if some of them didn't see the real issue in their fog of confusion while defending their own actions.
A 13-year-old Batavia boy who was reported missing earlier this week was located today in Cleveland.
A family member reportedly tipped police that Michael's non-custodial mother might be at a hospital in Cleveland seeking treatment, according to Det. Pat Corona, and the teen was located at the hospital.
The father of the teen is driving to Cleveland to pick up his son.
Corona said the teen, Michael Smith, is safe.
Smith reportedly failed to return from a visit with his non-custodial mother at a local hotel. The pair were spotted Monday morning boarding a bus in Buffalo.
A pedestrian has reportedly been hit by a car on West Saile Drive in the area of the State Police Barracks.
The patient is reportedly up and walking around, complaining of side pain.
Town of Batavia Fire Department and Mercy EMS responding.
Press release:
We are pleased and applaud the governor’s support for a constitutional amendment concerning casino gaming during his State of the State address. This will have a significant positive economic affect on Western New York, specifically the 15 counties and two cities, which include Buffalo and Rochester that own Batavia Downs Casino.
With New York facing ongoing fiscal challenges as the economy continues to sputter, now is the time to permit enhanced gaming at the state’s racetrack casinos so that we can reclaim the billions of dollars in revenue – along with spending on travel, lodging, meals and other related economic activity — that flow out of our state every year.
Many thousands of New Yorkers already visit the state’s racetrack casinos, including Batavia Downs Casino. The tracks, which are licensed by the state, have over the past decade created thousands of jobs and provided billions of dollars to the state and local governments for education, agriculture and horse breeding.
Since 2005, Batavia Downs Casino and Western Regional Off-Track Betting have given more than $107 million to New York State Education through the lottery. More than $71 million has been distributed to Western Regional's member counties and cities, helping lower property taxes and contribute to community improvements.
Batavia Downs Casino and Racetrack employs more than 250 people year round. That number increases to more than 300 when racing is in session from July through December.
But the racetrack casinos lack a vital element to keep gaming enthusiasts in our state: live table games. As a result, many are choosing to travel to venues in other jurisdictions, where they leave behind an estimated $3-5 billion and spend hundreds of millions more on hotels, restaurants, entertainment, shopping and travel expenses.
The racetrack casinos have united to form the New York Gaming Association, which will work in partnership with the governor and the legislature on the multi-year process to approve the state constitutional amendment to permit live table games at our facilities.
By enhancing our existing venues with table games, we will attract clientele that now goes out of state and consequently create thousands of additional jobs and generate more revenues to provide even greater support for education, agriculture and horseracing and breeding.
Enhancing existing racetrack casinos to include table games is a good deal for New York, and not simply because of the increased revenues. Association members have already proven to be outstanding and dependable partners with the state, operating with oversight by both the State Division of Lottery and the Racing and Wagering Board. In fact, some have suggested that ours is one of the most successful public-private partnerships in the state, if not the entire country.
There is another reason why enhancing the racetrack casinos makes so much sense for New York: We are not asking for any taxpayer dollars at all. On the contrary, association members, including Batavia Downs Casino are prepared to invest hundreds of millions to upgrade our venues.
Batavia Downs Casino already had an expansion plan in place that will look to break ground this year. By the time the amendment is passed, the facility will be ready to start on an $85-95 million project beginning in 2014. This will include a convention center and expanded gaming, including table games. That means more visitors to our area, helping retail, hotels and restaurant owners along the way. It also means increased revenue to the state, and most importantly, new jobs. The impact of all these would be seen rapidly.
At a time when budgets are tight and taxpayers are rightfully skeptical about untested ideas that promise economic benefits, allowing the enhancement of existing, successful racetrack casinos to include table games is a good bet for all New Yorkers.
Batavia Downs in owned and operated by Western Regional Off-Track Betting, a public benefit corporation. Municipalities that own Batavia Downs Casino include: City of Buffalo, Cattaraugus County, Cayuga County, Chautauqua County, Erie County, Genesee County, Livingston County, Monroe County, Niagara County, Orleans County, Oswego County, City of Rochester, Schuyler County, Seneca County, Steuben County, Wayne County, and Wyoming County.
The track is also home to Batavia Downs Casino, featuring more than 600 video slot machines. Batavia Downs Casino is located less than one mile from Thruway Exit 48 and is open daily from 9 to 4 a.m.
Press release:
United Memorial Medical Center welcomed the first baby born within Genesee County in the New Year, 2012. Craig Michael Meyer Jr., a boy, was born to Jennifer and Craig Meyer, of Oakfield, on January 2, 2012. He weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. He was delivered by midwife, Cecelia Stearns, CNM.
Mr. and Mrs. Meyer are both employed by Applebee’s Restaurant. Mr. Meyer also works as an independent carpet installer.
As the New Year’s baby, Craig and his parents received a gift card to a local department store, an infant snuggler and baby safety items from United Memorial.
There were 545 babies born at United Memorial in 2011, a 4-percent increase from 2010.
With the ringing in of the New Year, local police agencies found themselves dealing with a bit of an uptick in domestic incident calls.
Deputy Chief Gordon Dibble said on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, for example, the Sheriff's Office responded to nine domestic incident calls and, unconfirmed, the State Police responded to six.
"I don't think it should be a surprise to anybody," Dibble said. "I haven't compared this weekend to other segments of the year, but I think there were more calls. It's a highly emotional time of the year. Things are brought to the forefront that haven't been dealt with in the year, there are financial pressures, family pressures and visitation pressures."
Dibble said law enforcement has changed a lot since the early part of his career when he was a deputy on patrol.
There is a broader range of disputes that are classified as domestics. It isn't just the husband and wife fight any longer. Disputes involving people living together, people divorced, people not married but having children together and other family relationships are classified as domestics.
And laws have changed directing how police must deal with some domestic situations.
"There are many circumstances were we must make an arrest by New York State law even when the victim doesn’t want an arrest," said Dibble, explaining the law is in place to protect victims who might be intimidated from pressing charges.
Complicating matters further are orders of protection, which include variations ranging from complete stay-away orders, limited contact and contact permitted, to no offensive conduct permitted. And orders can be temporary, long-term, canceled, reinstated and canceled again, so officers must pay attention to the details.
"Orders of protection are complicated and time consuming issues for us, but they're important issues because when things go wrong, they can go very wrong," Dibble said. "We have to be very careful with those."
A number of years ago, the Sheriff's Office along with Batavia PD and Le Roy PD, got together and drafted guidelines for handling orders of protection so that officers deal with them in a consistent way across jurisdictions.
Local law enforcement agencies, Dibble confirmed, take orders of protection very seriously.
"Is it as consistent across the state or across the country? I doubt it," Dibble said. "Within this county, it should be pretty uniform."
A reader I know and trust to be truthful on sharing something like this, put together the image above and sent it to me. He said it's a collection of Facebook status updates from people being bullied and their tormentors. All of the teenagers involved, he said, are students at Batavia High School. He said knowledge of an increase of cyberbullying against some students at BHS is common knowledge among the students.
One point I want to add: Cyberbullying is a crime.
It can be charged as harassment in the second degree, which is a Class B misdemeanor. Cyberbullies should be reported either by victims or their parents to police. Witnesses can also report crimes, but in most cases it will take a victim who cooperates with the investigation to proceed with criminal charges.
UPDATE 12:34 p.m.: I received an e-mail from somebody familiar with the situation and said students from mulitple Genesee County high schools are involved and one of the targets is not a student of BHS. Any confusion on the school involvement is the result of my own misunderstanding of the original e-mail I received.
He sent along the following op-ed with the image.
In the age of social media and increasing technology, every day people see things on the news about cyberbullying and harrassment and many don't realize the seriousness of what is being done. Sometimes they don't think it's happening to anyone they know. Sometimes they don't think its happening to anyone near them. Sometimes people don't realize how serious it can be until it's too late.
Recently, many students in Genesee County school districts have had their Facebook news feeds, filled with cyberbullying of a few students, and the issue is only getting bigger and more widespread. But only a few are standing up for the victims, while more and more join in to bully, and many of the victims, are sitting back without knowing what to do.
"Like this stuff was bad. Worries me... :/" stated one student's Facebook comment. It "turns your stomache. Doesnt matter what someones done noone deserves that to be said," said another when responding about the nature of the cyberbullying posts.
In the most recent and student popularized bullying case (photo collage), there is one student being bullied, and upwards of 30+ cyberbullies making comments directly or indirectly toward her, while hundreds of students have 'Liked' status updates supporting the bullying acts.
According to the nonprofit website www.stopcyberbullying.com:
'Cyberbullying' is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones. It has to have a minor on both sides, or at least have been instigated by a minor against another minor. Once adults become involved, it is plain and simple cyberharassment or cyberstalking.
Cyberbullying can be done for many reasons. Many times, it's done by someone with insecurities, hoping to boost their social standing. Other times, the power-hungry do it looking to boost their ego. There is also the bullying done as revenge, out of anger, and sometimes students are cyberbullying without even intentionally trying to.
While many students, usually believe their words are harmless, what they say can many times lead to a higher level of misdemeanor cyberharassment charges.
There are two kinds of cyberbullying, direct attacks (messages sent to your kids directly) and cyberbullying by proxy (using others to help cyberbully the victim, either with or without the accomplice's knowledge).
Not only does cyberbullying, include harassment that could bring upon legal issues, but many times, it also turns into defamation. Defamation, which is also known as slander, is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual a negative image. Many times students often take it to the extent of defamation by making up rumors or doing whatever else it takes to make the bullied look as bad as possible.
Parents need to be the one trusted person kids can go when things go wrong online and offline. Yet they often are the ones kids avoid when things go wrong online. Why? Parents tend to overreact. Most children will avoid telling their parents about a cyberbullying incident fearing they will only make things worse.
Parents also need to understand that a child is just as likely to be a cyberbully as a victim of cyberbullying and often go back and forth between the two roles during one incident. They may not even realize that they are seen as a cyberbully.
The message is simple. Don't write it. Don't send it. For more info on cyberbullying and how to prevent it, visit http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/.
A 2010 Attica graduate, Jesse Kern, that is currently serving in the Army, publicly defended one of the most recent victims on his Facebook page and posted this video and commented: "People just don't get it."
Terry W. Strickland, 30, of 110 Lake Park, Waxahachie, Texas, is being held without bail as a fugitive from justice. Strickland is allegedly wanted in Texas on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Strickland was located in Batavia at a residence on Dewey Avenue by officers Chris Camp and Kevin DeFelice during the investigation into an alleged domestic incident. Strickland is reportedly wanted by the Dallas County Sheriff's Office and is being held in the county jail pending extradition proceedings.
A 17-year-old resident of Bank Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. The youth is accused of shoplifting from Walmart at 7:35 p.m., Monday.
Deputies and Le Roy Police are somewhere in the area of the cemetery looking for youths who were throwing snowballs at cars.
There are footprints in the snow to help in the search.
An officer just said, "Well, somebody lost a glove so somebody is going to have a cold hand."
Late this morning, I needed to drive out to Le Roy and since it was a beautiful day, I decided to take the long way. I found myself heading north on Perry Road.
Above is a barn owned by a gentleman named Mel who once had cows, sheep and horses. Now he just has a barn. Nice man. I was happy to meet him.
Below, an old house, and last, a barn on Route 19 at the end of Perry Road.
Two men accused of burglarizing a Maple Street apartment while the resident sits in jail appeared in Batavia City Court on Tuesday and waived their right for a pre-trial hearing.
The waiver means the case will be sent to the grand jury for possible indictment, but also paves the way for a possible plea deal and one of the suspects indicated in court that he is expecting a possible plea bargain.
Both Eric P. Doleman, 41, no permanent address, and Frederick H. Robidoux Jr., 49, no permanent address. are charged with burglary, 2nd.
Doleman, top photo, was also charged Tuesday with criminal mischief, 3rd, and petit larceny.
Doleman is accused of breaking a window on a 2010 Kia on Dec. 13 parked at Tops Market and stealing a laptop computer.
Robidoux is also charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.
The duo was stopped on Walnut Street early in the morning Dec. 29 after a Maple Street resident reported seeing the men carrying items from an apartment at 10 Maple St., Batavia.
The resident of the apartment, Edward R. Freida, is being held in Genesee County jail without bail on drug and weapon charges.
When Doleman's case was called, after he was charged with the Dec. 13 car break-in, Judge Robert Balbick asked Doleman if he agreed to waive a pre-trial hearing. Doleman appeared confused and said he thought the two cases would be combined as part of a plea deal. He kept turning his head toward the back of the room where District Attorney Lawrence Friedman was standing.
After the hearing, Friedman said he couldn't comment on whether or not a plea deal is in the works.
Both Doleman and Robidoux are being held in Genesee County Jail without bail.
If somebody contacts you claiming to be a relative in another country and in trouble with the law, local police are warning: use caution.
Today, according to police, a Batavia resident received just such a call and went to Tops Market with the intention to wire a significant amount of money to this "relative" in Lima, Peru (or claiming to be in Lima, Peru).
Alert employees at Tops were aware of the scam and suggested the resident contact Batavia PD.
A police investigation revealed the actual relative was safe and not in police custody.
The Batavia PD is encouraging residents to be wary of anyone requesting bail money via a Western Union wire transfer.
Police are looking for a 13-year-old who disappeared and may be traveling with his non-custodial mother after she passed through Batavia to visit with him.
Michael Smith was last seen with his mother at 8 a.m., Monday, boarding a bus in Buffalo.
His non-custodial mother is Anna M. Spencer, aka, Anna M. Smith, 49, who has no permanant address and is known to travel from place to place.
Michael Smith was reported missing after not returning from a visit with his mother at a hotel on Oak Street.
Anyone who has information or has seen either of these two individuals is asked to call Genesee County Dispatch at 585-345-6350 and ask for a City of Batavia Police Supervisor.
The driver of a vehicle making a U-turn Monday afternoon at the intersection of Bloomingdale and Akerson roads, Alabama, was injured after being struck by an eastbound car.
Hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries was S.R. Weissenbuger, 55, of Citation Drive, Henrietta.
Weissenbuger was cited for alleged failure to yield right of way.
The other driver, Lola A. Sharlow, 63, of Hopkins Street, Mt. Morris, and her 17-year-old passenger were not injured.
The accident was investigated by Deputy Chris Parker.
City of Batavia responded to a small fire in an RV this morning at 86 S. Main St., Batavia.
The RV was parked near a structure, but was put out quickly.
Ladder 15 and Engine 12 were back in service by 7:45 a.m.
A T-bone accident with injuries is reported in the area of 1069 Bloomingdale Road, Alabama.
Alabama Fire Department is dispatched.
Two cars are blocking traffic.
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