Lorenzo is an exquisite line of Argentium sterling silver jewelry with 18-karat-gold accents and semi-precious stones in vibrant colors.

The flexible combination of silver and gold is crafted into bold, fashion-forward designs. The stones display exceptional faceting in complex settings and the result is dazzling yet affordable jewelry.

"Lorenzo offers very fine quality, very current styling," Maria Valle said.

The stones are specially chosen for their rich palette and include citrine, garnet, blue topaz and peridot. Valle said the green amethyst is particularly gorgeous and the color is neutral enough to compliment whatever you're wearing.

"They've been enthusiastically received in the store," she said.

If you've always loved the clean sparkle of silver but gave up wearing it because it bothered your skin, Lorenzo is for you. The company uses a new kind of high-quality sterling silver that's tarnish resistant and is less likely to produce an allergic reaction.

I hope you have taken a look at the LeRoy Pool Poll from Sunday's LeRoy Penny Saver, and maybe even filled it out.

I'm curious to know what everyone's thoughts are on the poll?

I've heard some interesting feedback already, such as why do we have to fill out our names and addresses, asking if you are a homeowner or if you rent could make people feel that their opinion may be weighted or even discounted based on the answer, what about those who may be don't own or rent but who are old enough to have an opinion and to contribute to the economy, it sounds negative and doesn't focus on the earning potential...

What are your thoughts? Do you think it hits the topics? Do you think it accomplishes the purpose? Do you have any thoughts about specific questions? Is it thorough enough? Is it confusing?....

As always, I look forward to the enlightening conversation and thank you in advance for your participation.

A group of Western and Central New York lawmakers continued to push yesterday for up to $4.7 billion in federal aid to construct a high-speed rail system across the state.

The proposed rail system would connect Niagara Falls and New York City.  Moving at 110 mph, it would cut travel time from Buffalo to Albany by nearly two hours.

The rail system would likely bypass Batavia.

Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, and Dan Maffei, D-DeWitt are among those pushing to get the project funded.  Maffei called it "the Erie Canel of the 21st Century."  Slaughter said the track could be laid along an unused CSX line.

The competition is stiff for the announced $8 billion in funding.  California is also seeking $4.7 billion to fund part of its proposed $45 billion project.  Florida and Texas are also seeking funding.

Councilman Sam Barone's effort to push for a new fee system for garbage collection is stalled.

WBTA reports that the proposal went nowhere at last night's City Council meeting, and the issue has been delayed until the new council is in place at the first of the year.

Councilman Frank Ferrando said there is no public demand for changing the current method for paying for garbage collection, which is part of the city property tax.

Barone argues that a fee-based system would be more equitable, since under the current system the city's non-profit agencies that own their own buildings and land don't pay property tax. Those agencies get free garbage collection.

Alex's Place, 8322 Park Road, Batavia, NY: People come from all over the region for a fine dining experience at Alex's. It's best known for its ribs, of course, but Alex's seafood is also a favorite of the restaurant's diners. We have a $25 gift certificate for $12.50.

Delavan's Restaurant and Tavern, 107 Evans St., Batavia, NY: To me, Delavan's is one of those restaurants where you want to eat frequently until you try everything on the menu. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.

T.F. Brown's, at 214 E. Main St., Batavia, NY: T.F. Brown's is a great place for a good meal, good friends and to catch up on what's going on in the sports world. "If it happens in sports, it happens at Brown's." We have a $20 gift card for $10.

Center Street Smoke House, 20 Center St., Batavia, NY: Authentic Southern BBQ, from ribs to brisket with all the fixin's. We have a $25 gift card for $12.50.

Settler's Restaurant, 353 W. Main St., Batavia, NY: Settler's has a 25-year history of serving great, affordable breakfasts, lunches and dinners to Batavians. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.

Jackson St. Grill, 9 Jackson St., Batavia, NY: Try the fresh, skinless haddock fish fry on Fridays. We have a $10 gift certificate for $5.

NOTE: If you've never bought Deal of the Day before, or are otherwise unfamiliar with the rules and process, click here.

SOLD OUT

Note: There won't be a deal of the day Wednesday or Thursday. Look for a big one of Friday.

Three men from Utica have been arrested and charged with burglary for allegedly breaking into apartments yesterday at 5219 Clinton St. Road, Batavia.

They reportedly broke into the apartments during the late morning hours and stole or damaged clothing and electronics.

Taken into custody were:

• Rastafari A. Brown, 20, of 124 James St., Utica
• Kayshawn Jones, 21, of 1556 Elm St., Utica
• Sirdell L. Ruffin, 21, of Faxton St., Utica.

Each of the three men were charged with four counts of burglary in the second degree and jailed on $25,000 bail.

The case was investigated by Deputy John Duyssen, Deputy Bradley Mazur, Sgt. Gregory Walker, Investigator William Ferrando and Investigator Kristopher Kautz with assistance from the Batavia Police Department, the New York State Police and the District Attorney's office.

A state audit of the Batavia City School District found that through apparent accounting errors, some employees have been overpaid and the district has tended to over estimate expenses and under estimate revenue, resulting in an operating surplus of $6 million.

"As a result, we identified $7.3 million which has been inappropriately placed in reserves but rather should be used to benefit taxpayers," the audit report states. "Had these practices not occurred, and had District officials complied with statutory limitations for retained fund balance, the excess could have been used for District operations, or to fund necessary reserves or to reduce the tax levy."

The district plans to take corrective action, according to both the report and a press release from the district.

Those were the only two nicks on the report, which district officials otherwise characterized as favorable audit.

"The audit report delivered to the Board of Education was very positive. No graft, corruption, or misappropriation of public funds was identified," district officials said in a press release.

Our audit compares very favorably to other school district audits across the state. Other districts have been cited for administrative actions without Board approval, weaknesses in internal controls and purchasing, District actions without voter approval.  We have not been cited for any of these issues.  This audit reflects the hard work that has been done in our District to ensure that the public can trust that the District officials and Board of Education take their fiduciary responsibility very seriously.

The payroll errors, as uncovered by The Division of Local Government and School Accountability of the Office of the State Comptroller of New York, amounted to $50,000 in "improper or unsupported payments." 

Auditors reviewed payroll records for 17 employees, and reported, "Ten employees, or 59 percent, were overpaid or received compensation which was not provided for in the applicable contracts or supported by sufficient documentation."

The district's press release:

The Comptroller’s report highlights several payroll findings, which appear to be overstated when the specific findings were investigated by District staff. The actual legitimate findings amount to less than one tenth of one percent of the total payroll processed over the two year period. There is always room for improvement and we are planning to take several steps to reduce any potential risk for error.

As for the surplus funds, the district says:

The essence of this comes down to the simple fact that the District budgets conservatively, never overestimating its potential revenues or underestimating its potential expenses. This practice allows for flexibility should an unforeseen financial hardship arise, but often results in legitimate surplus.  The District has used this surplus to maintain a stable tax levy and to fund authorized reserves.  Even though the Comptroller’s Report views this negatively, there appears to be an inherent contradiction since these accounts are promoted as providing many benefits to municipalities and their citizens (www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/pubs/lgmg/reserves.pdf).  No doubt conservative budgeting practices have allowed us to position ourselves to maintain our educational program even in difficult financial times without turning to tax increases.

Download: Full Audit Report (PDF)

If you are a customer of One Communications and you are having trouble with your telephone or internet service you are not alone.

Voice and data service for One Communications customers has intermittently failed throughout the Batavia area all morning.

Paul Marchese, a local agent for One Communications, said that he was told by the company there has been a wide spread voice and data failure affecting One Communications customers from Albany to Buffalo.

There has been no estimate of when full service may be restored.

UPDATE (by Howard): We received an e-mail indicating the outage is affecting Batavia City Schools, as well.

Buckle up -- that's the message from local law enforcement.

The State Police announced increased seatbelt enforcement and the Genesee County Sheriff's Office will join the effort, according to Chief Deputy Gordon Dibble.

"There have been a number of deaths recently that would not have occurred had the victims been wearing their seat belt and shoulder harness," Dibble said in a press release.

The law requires all occupants in a moving vehicle to be wearing a restraint system that includes lap belts and shoulder harnesses.

From Dibble:

It is also important to understand that both the seat belt and shoulder harness make up the occupant restraint system that is designed to keep a crash victim from leaving their seat. The use of just the seat belt without the shoulder harness is illegal, and greatly decreases the effectiveness of the system. The law requires the proper use of both the seat belt and the shoulder harness. Those that buckle their seat belt, but slide the shoulder harness behind their shoulder, are in violation of the law and will be ticketed.  Unfortunately, too many people believe that wearing just the lap belt is legal. 

Anyone who has a medical excuse for not wearing the restraint system must have a doctor's note with them to show a police officer.

Seat belts and shoulder harnesses reduce injuries and save lives. Put them on and make sure everyone in your car does the same.

Wayne R. Freeman, 33, of 8545 East Ave., Gasport, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and aggravated unlicensed operation in the first degree. Freeman was also reportedly cited for "multiple" equipment violations ("too many to list," states the Sheriff's Office report). Freeman was reportedly driving on Route 77 in Pembroke when Deputy Kevin McCarthy spotted his vehicle with an alleged broken tail light. Upon stopping Freeman, McCarthy discovered that Freeman's license was previously revoked for a prior DWI conviction and that Freeman was allegedly violating the terms of his conditional release. McCarthy then determined that Freeman was allegedly driving drunk. Freeman was jailed on $2,500 bail.

Peter B. Burton, 51, 360 Seward St., Rochester, was arrested and charged on a warrant for aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in connection with an incident on May 22. In its press release, Batavia Police did not specify the nature of the alleged incident. Burton was jailed on $1,500 bail.

Nicole M. DellaPenna, 23, of 3842 Rose Road, Batavia, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and criminal possession of a controlled substance. DellaPenna was allegedly found in possession of marijuana and cocaine during an investigation of a suspicious vehicle parked on Farwell Drive.

William J. Cassidy, 28, of 107 State St., upper, Batavia, is charged with loitering. Cassidy allegedly refused to leave the area of 20 Center St. after being asked to do so by police.

James Joseph Laudico, 19, of 1055 Sliker Road, Pembroke, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Laudico was reportedly a passenger in a vehicle stopped for an alleged traffic violation by Deputy Patrick Reeves. Reeves reportedly found marijuana in Laudico's left front pants pocket.

Kaitlyn Ann Kelly, 22, of 4079 Connecticut Ave., Island Park, is charged with petit larceny. Kelly allegedly stole $53.49 in merchandise from Target.

Allison Irene Thomas, 19, of 15 Robert Quigley Road, Scottsville, is charged wih petit larceny. Thomas allegedly stole $78.47 in merchandise from Target.

Ramon Cortes-Vasquez, 60, of Elba, was arrested by State Police in Elba on Friday at 2:42 p.m. on an unspecified arrest warrant. The State Police blotter item classifies the case as "immigration." It also says it is not a criminal investigation. The arrest took place at State Route 98 and Mechanic Street. Cortes-Vasquez was held without bail.

Alex's Place, 8322 Park Road, Batavia, NY: People come from all over the region for a fine dining experience at Alex's. It's best known for its ribs, of course, but Alex's seafood is also a favorite of the restaurant's diners. We have a $25 gift certificate for $12.50.

Matty's Pizzeria, 4152 W. Main St., Batavia, NY: Matty's is another Batavia favorite for pizza and wings. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.

Kravings Kafe, Valu Plaza, W. Main Street, Batavia, NY: Recently opened, it offers soups, salads and sandwiches, fresh and flavorful; Monday through Saturday. We have $10 gift certificates for $5.

Adam Miller Toy & Bicycles, 8 Center St., Batavia, NY: Feel like a kid in a toy store again, or treat your kids to the greatest toy store they will ever see. We have a $25 gift certificate for $12.50.

NOTE: If you've never bought Deal of the Day before, or are otherwise unfamiliar with the rules and process, click here.

NOTE: These gift certificates won't go into the mail until Dec. 1.

SOLD OUT

The LeRoy Pool Poll is in Sunday, November 22, 2009's LeRoy Penny Saver. Our Village Board listened to the voices of a few concerned citizens about the possibility of closing the pool permanently and created a poll to solicit the opinions of all residents before making a final decision. PLEASE take a few minutes to read the first page, an explanation of the choices and their impact on you, and then honestly answer the questions on the second page.

In order for YOUR OPINION to COUNT you MUST return it to the Village by 12/3/09---that is the Thursday after Thanksgiving (so less than 2 weeks).

PLEASE fill it out and send it back.

Thank you.

LeRoy's 9th annual "Turkey Trot" 5K Run/Walk drew a crowd Saturday morning. People of all ages met at the Summit Street tennis courts to raise money for LeRoy Nursery School.

"Past students and board members come out to run," said current board member Debbie Chipre, "people come back. It's a small community."

With the help of several sponsors, trotters raised $700 in funds that will be used to support the nursery school.

The 5K course, which is the equivalent of 3.1 miles, began at the tennis courts and ran the length of Summit Street and back. All participants received a Turkey Trot T-shirt and the chance to win one of several raffle prizes.

"Our bigger sponsors donated the money and the smaller ones provided the products for our raffles," said Karen Samis, president of the nursery school board of directors.

Race winners took home a turkey and raffle winners got to choice from several prizes including Mary Kay products and gift certificates to local businesses.

LeRoy native 18-year-old Jake Krautwurst was the first to cross the finish line, clocking in at 18.30 minutes. The rest of the participants weren't far behind. While some chose to run, others walked and a few children rode bicycles.

The 10th annual Turkey Trot is already planned for Nov. 6 next year. Until then, you can support the nursery school, of course. The next fundraiser is a special breakfast with Santa on Sunday, Dec. 6 at McDonald's in LeRoy.

A driver reportedly lost control of her car, hit a house on Swamp Road and then left the scene of accident, according to a Sheriff's Office accident report.

She reportedly told Deputy Frank Bordonaro that after striking a tree and a house, a deer ran into her car.

Deborah S. Mayo, 43, of 7008 Swamp Road, Byron, is the reported driver. According to the report, she was not injured.

Mayo was charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, failure to reduce speed for a curve and leaving the scene of an accident involving an animal.

According to the report, Mayo was driving in the area of 6657 Swamp Road at about 11:07 p.m..

There's a local diner here in Batavia called the Pok-A-Dot, you may have heard of it, as I understand it's a Batavia institution. Well, this week's Pet of the Week has lots of friends there, even though he can't go inside, of course, and eat the beef-on-weck that's been sold there since Ike was president (not that Turner guy, the other one).

Copper the "clown" is a 16-month-old English Setter belonging to Sandy Ahl and Fran Phelps of Batavia.

We lost our 11-year-old setter, Blue, one year ago. Anyone who knows the setter breed knows of their gentle, loving nature and we missed Blue terribly and decided to forgo another dog as there could never be another like her.

Without a dog, the house was empty, and three weeks after the loss of our beloved pet we decided to start looking for another dog. That is when Copper came into our life. We traveled to Penn Yann to a big farm house to get him, he was 4 months old at the time and just what we were looking for.

Copper is a clown and loves to show off. He takes a daily ride in the truck and attracts attention wherever he goes. He loves it when people come up the truck to pet and talk to him and has many friends at the Pok-a-Dot, banks and convenience stores. He gathers treats wherever he goes. His gentle nature also attracts children where he sits patiently while they pet him. While we could never replace Blue, Copper has brought joy to us and is just the bundle of energy we needed. He will soon begin training to be the hunting dog his breed is meant to be, but, at heart, is just a big lap dog.

The cast of "The Mysterious Case of the Missing Ring" (photo by Daniel Crofts)

“Terror!”

“Intrigue!”

“Romance, blooming like a lotus in the springtime…”

Entire cast in unison: “What?!?”

“Just kidding.”

There you have it — the opening lines of “The Mysterious Case of the Missing Ring," the latest play put on by the Drama Club at Batavia Middle School. The first performance took place last night.

The show was directed by Matthew Mayne, English/Drama teacher at Batavia High School, and starred 22 BMS students (grades 6-8) in a variety of comedic roles.

From a stage play written by Janie Downey Maxwell, “Missing Ring” centers around a Queen — played by 7^th grader Mica Pitcher — who has lost her royal ring and hires several competing teams of detectives to find it. All of the detectives — from the pratfall-prone, tap-dancing Oliver (Blake Carter) to the nervous, germaphobic Kat (Spencer Hubbard) — prove to be hysterically incompetent.

Mayne, who is certainly no stranger to local theater (see article about his recent Thornton Wilder production at http://tinyurl.com/yknj4bu), began work on the production of "Missing Ring" in late September. He took Maxwell’s play and made of it an opportunity for everyone involved to bring his/her own ideas to the performance.

"We added a lot to this,” Mayne said. “I added some characters that weren’t in the original script. That’s good for me as a director, because then the story has more characters to work with. And it’s good for the kids, because there are more roles available and they can add their own personal touches to the overall performance.”

Additionally, there were numerous jokes and humorous bits that were not in the script.  Mayne said the students “came up with a lot of ideas and put so much of their own unique humor into it.”

In so doing, they drew plentiful laughter from the audience.

Thursday night’s performance was well performed and well received, but the production was far from easy. Because of his extracurricular duties at BHS, Mayne could only devote three days a week to rehearsals. So with a total of only 20 rehearsals, the cast had to exercise a great deal of dedication in order to make the play work.

If this weren’t enough, a number of students became ill during the course of production and had to quit the play. There was even a last-minute cancellation the night before the performance, forcing one of the cast members to learn new lines overnight.

“I’m amazed at how much the kids care about the show,” Mayne said. “They really pulled themselves together.”

The play also featured set designs made by BMS teacher Lucille DiSanto and BMS students Riley Cole, Megan Draper and Kayla Gannon.

“Missing Ring” will have one more performance, this time intended exclusively for BMS students, faculty and staff; this will take place during the school day Monday.

I say it all the time -- if Western New York is going to turn itself around, to really spur a new era of job growth and economic vitality, it's going to take homegrown businesses leading the way. It's not going to happen by trying to recruit out-of-state industries into the region.

Daily Yonder has a post today that backs that supposition. It's about how North Carolina paid Dell a lot of money to locate a facility there, but now Dell is closing. Meanwhile, a locally grown company that got almost no government assistance is adding 600 jobs.

When are we going to halt public expenditures on the "buffalo hunt" for footloose industry and instead focus our resources and efforts on the sector that produces by far most of the jobs -- existing industry and homegrown business?

Note, that the author isn't against the kind of infrastructure development going on at the new agri-business park (though I know some of our conservative readers will take issue with the expenditure). He's talking about tax breaks and outright grants to bring in business.

The scholarly literature on incentives shows that they are a very poor investment of public resources. And, of course, the business sector has become expert at playing off one state against another in something akin to corporate extortion; and who can blame them?

Imagine if the South in general and North Carolina in particular had put all of the money spent on industrial recruitment into education, training and small business support. We would be watching even more Quintiles, Cree, PPD, Southern Seasons, Performance Bicycle and other homegrown entrepreneurial success stories all across North Carolina. And, although there are no silver bullets in economic development, homegrown businesses are more likely to stay put, invest in the local community, provide stable civic leadership and keep the control and wealth local instead of away at some remote corporate headquarters.

I continue to maintain that we need to find some way to spur more entrepreneurship, to encourage people already living and working here to take their great ideas and turn them into businesses. If we do invest (as taxpayers) in job growth (not saying we should, just if we do), it should be in businesses started locally, not in recruitment.

Genesee County's jobless rate continues to be a bit better than New York as a whole, but that's only looking at the glass as half full.

From the half-empty perspective, there were more people unemployed in Genesee County in October than there were in September.

The county's rate inched up from 7.1 percent to 7.3 percent.  (full data from the state here)

Meanwhile, the state rate climbed to 9 percent.

The even less rosy number is the jump over the past year for Genesee County from a 5.2 percent unemployment rate to the current 7.3 percent.