It appears that there is even more to the communist/socialist turn of the U.S. than even I had previously thought.  Gorbachev, former Soviet leader and map head, believe that the west should adopt a plan that is more concerned with the welfare of the public and less so with the "super-profits and hyper-consumption".  He, like Obama, wants a plan "that will emphasize public needs and public goods, such as a cleaner environment, well-functioning infrastructure and public transportation, sound education and health systems and affordable housing."

My comrades rejoice, Perestroika is coming!

We've covered the resignation of Chief Tom Dillon pretty thoroughly, but just to put an exclamation point on the explanations given by Jason Molino and Karen Marchese on the reason for the 211 waiver denial, we draw your attention to this story from the Buffalo News.

A new attitude in the governor’s office toward double dipping is likely to cost former Niagara County Sheriff Thomas A. Beilein—the current head of the State Commission on Corrections — about $110,000.

Five months after Beilein was named head of the state panel, the commission requested that he be allowed to collect his full $101,600 state salary as well as his full $66,148 annual pension — retroactive to the day he got the job in mid- August.

But four months later, before the waiver request was acted upon, and with the governor’s office discouraging double dipping among top-level employees, the request was withdrawn.

“It was withdrawn when it was clear it would not be granted,” commission spokesman John M. Caher said.

Beilein will likely be required to pay back some of his pension.

At least a dozen times in the past week, city residents have gone out to their cars only to find somebody has stolen valuables from their vehicles, according to Batavia Police Department Detective Pat Corona.

Corona said the suspect, or suspects, appears to be operating on foot, confining his criminal activities to the city, and preying primarily on unlocked cars and taking easy-to-pilfer items, such as wallets, credit cards, loose change and portable GPSs.

Only once has a car stereo been stolen from a vehicle.

"There isn't a lot of dismantling of vehicles," Corona said. "They are taking items that are easily accessible."

There may be more than one suspect. This morning an investigator reported over police radio: "Who's ever breaking into these cars probably has a lookout. They left their walkie-talkie behind."

Corona confirmed that the thief has left items behind, but didn't want to discuss specifics.

"If we find any evidence that's been left behind, that could lead us to suspects, we'll certainly take that and gather whatever evidence we can from it," Corona said.

This morning, I've heard three reports of larcenies, the latest just as I was writing this post: A car on Bank Street, just outside of city limits, had a GPS stolen.

Corona's advice: Lock your cars. Don't leave valuables in your cars. And call police with your tips that might help catch these criminals.

"Should people see anything suspicious, don't be shy about calling us," Corona said.

UPDATE: Right after I posted this, the PD put out a press release with a couple of additional details. The larcenies started on June 7. From last night, larcenies were reported on Walnut Street, Swan Street and State Street. The number to call for suspecious activity or to tip the police to a suspect, 345-6350.

Today's Deals: Two places to eat and two places to shop:

Delavan's Restaurant & Tavern, 107 Evans St.  One of Batavia's hidden gems, off any main drag, Bill Cultrara's recipes makes Delavan's well worth the visit any Tuesday through Saturday, for lunch or dinner.  Try the homemade sausage! We have a $25 gift certificate for $12.50.

Larry's Steakhouse, 60 Main St.  The name says it all -- when you want a good steak, Larry's is an excellent choice.  Not only is the food good, but it's a great dining atmosphere and the service is always great.  We have a $50 gift certificate for $25.

Essence of Candles, 201 Liberty St. Another of Batavia's hidden treasures.  Scented jar candles are convenient and easy to use. Each candle is hand poured so the fragrance lasts all through the burn of the candle. We have a $25 gift certificate for $10.50.

Present Tense Books and Gifts, 101 Washington Ave.  Whether your taste runs to local authors, the finest in fiction or non-fiction or you're looking for a unique and special gift, this charming store in a cozy Victorian house on the edge of downtown is a great place to stop and shop. We have a $25 gift certificate for $12.50.

All transactions include a $1 PayPal service fee.

Rules: The gift certificate must be used by within 30 days of purchase. It is not valid with other offers and has no cash value.  People who have won a certificate in the past 30 days are not eligible to win a certificate from the same business as before.  By state law, gift certificates cannot be used for alcohol purchase.

How to Win: Purchase using the PayPal "Buy Now" button below. After the first person to hit the "buy now" button completes the purchase, PayPal will let you know that the item has been sold. Ideally, the winner will arrange to stop by my office on Main Street before 5:00 p.m. to pick up gift certificate. Mail is an option, but it would be better to hand you the gift certificate. 

If you want to be notified via e-mail of future Deals of the Day, sign up for the Deals of the Day e-mail list by clicking here.

Merchants: If you would like your business featured in Deal of the Day, call Howard Owens at 260-6970.

Larry's Steakhouse

SOLD

Delavan's Restaurant and Tavern

SOLD

Essence of Candles

SOLD

Present Tense Books & Gifts

SOLD

Care-A-Van Ministries held their weekly Thursday night cookout at Central Avenue tonight. It was an awesome night. The rain did not keep anyone away. We had approximately 82 people come out. Now that is alot of hotdogs and hamburgs to grill!  How about all those ice cream cones that were served.

During the summer Care-A-Van goes out to a different neighborhood on Thursday nights. On Sunday afternoon we return to the same neighborhood for street church. This Sunday Pastor Eric Shepard of the

Church of the Rock in Attica will be delivering the message and Paul Beitz from the same church will be providing the music.  Our own  Care-A-Van provides music every Thursday night. This Saturday we will be at Central Avenue for grocery and clothing distribution from 10:30 until 12:00. if you know of anyone that needs a little help.

Now I just love this little gal. She is enjoying delicious chocolate chip cookies that were donated by Creative Foods.

These picnics and all of Care-A-Van's events are free. We thank all of you in the community who help make this possible. If you ever want to enjoy a fun time, come on out and join in the fun.

Robin Walters
Public Relations Director
Care-A-Van Ministriies.

Bill Moon is a man with varied interests.  Since his retirement from the Genesee County Health Department, Bill divides his time between photography - he takes group photos of sports teams as well as nature pics – canoeing, camping and a bit of fly-rodding.  Through the years he has participated in at least thirty stage productions with Batavia Players, Batavia Rotary and the Forum Players.  But first and foremost among Bill’s endeavors is a lifelong interest in the sport of archery.

Bill was given his first bow by his Uncle John. Not long afterward, at the tender age of four, he scored his first bull’s-eye.  There was one minor problem – at the time he was standing inside a relative’s home.   With bow in hand and looking for a suitable target, he spotted a window. Taking aim at one of the small panes of glass between the mullions, Bill let fly and scored a direct hit. Despite having his bow taken away for a spell, Bill’s fascination with archery continued. A few years later his interest in the sport rapidly accelerated.

Bill was twelve when an uncle took him to see “Tembo” a movie featuring famed archer Howard Hill on safari in Africa. The footage made quite an impression, as Bill came out of the theatre with an infatuation for the sport of archery which has lasted to this day.  “Even if you had no fascination with archery or Howard Hill,” he said in reference to the film, “you will come away with an appreciation of the photography from the film,” said Bill in regards to the cinema work. He went on to explain, saying, “With no zoom lens available, they used an eighty pound camera mounted on a turret lens – 3 lenses in one.” 

Growing up in Hamilton, in New York’s Leatherstocking region, Bill made his first bow while still in high school. “It was a stick bow made from a hickory plank,” he stated. A forerunner of the bows he turns out today, that prototype proved to be a capable weapon afield. And it wasn’t far from home where he honed his shooting skills. ” There was a small woods down the street with rabbits, woodchucks, squirrels, snakes, tin cans, anything that presented a target,” he said.

Presently Bill enjoys attending various bow shoots, including the Great Lakes Long Bow Rendezvous and the Traditional Bowmen’s Rendezvous. Closer to home, he shoots with the Hawkeye Bowmen in Alden.  Needless to say, Bill also spends time shooting at targets in his backyard. Come autumn, it’s time to take to the woods.   

In addition to the longbows, Bill has crafted a number of recurves, and he also turns out wooden arrows, complete with turkey quill fletching.  Each piece of his equipment is – no pun intended - naturally good shooting. Conscientious and meticulous in his work, he’s been known to scrap a nearly completed bow and start from scratch.  The finished product speaks for itself. Well crafted and sweet shooting, Bill’s longbows are presently used by archers in five states – soon to be six as a Californian has one on order. Bill emphasized the making of bows is in no way a business. “Besides the desire to hunt, there was a longing to craft my own bow,” he said.  When friends and fellow archers saw the results, requests for a Bill Moon custom longbow began piling up. 

If you see a green pickup/ camper with a canoe loaded on top and a license plate reading “ARCHERY,”  its Bill enroute to a favorite getaway. And don’t let the canoe fool you – he probably has one or two bows along just in case.  

Purple will not become the official Genesee County color any time soon. Yahoo! has taken a pass on our fine county and instead chosen Lockport as the location of its planned WNY data center, reports the Buffalo News.

Town officials announced this afternoon that Yahoo! will present a site plan to the Town Planning Board at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. A public hearing will be held June 30.

Yahoo! also has applied for a property tax break from the town Industrial Development Agency, Town Attorney Daniel E. Seaman said.

Supervisor Marc R. Smith said the 190,000-square-foot computer center will take about 13 months to build, and Yahoo! would like to break ground in August.

Brian "Elvis" Dengler, a Rochester resident, takes a practice swing off the 10th tee at Stafford Country Club where a three-day invitational tournament got underway at 12:30 p.m. today.

It's the 58th Annual Jon Lynn Invitational, which allows members of the private club to bring in non-members for the big tournament.

Jon Lynn was pro at the club for 25 years, according to current pro Eric Haille, who has been with the club for 12 years.

Eric will be sending us results for the tournament over the next three days, so look for them in the sports section.

Local deputies will soon be equipped with Tasers courtesy a federal grant to help law enforcement agencies buy the non-lethal weapons.

The County Legislature approved an application for a $23,000 grant last night than will enable the Sheriff's Office to purchase 28 guns.

Under-Sheriff Bill Sheron spoke with WBTA about the taser purchase (audio).

The department currently owns no tasers.

Former Batavia baseball standout Chris Page is going to get his shot at pro ball.

The Genesee Community College pitcher/first baseman was drafted in the 50th round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Cincinnati Reds. He was the 1499th overall player selected.

"I was supposed to be working but I was watching the draft," said Page, who was picked at about 3 p.m. today. "It was the 49th round and I decided to watch one more. When they called my name, I was speechless."

The Reds have been scouting Page since high school, where the big 6-foot-4 lefty set two Batavia records in his senior season with a .534 batting average and 11 doubles. He also had 31 hits, three triples, two home runs, 19 RBIs and 15 walks in his senior season.

He was also 5-2 on the mound, earning him a chance to play at GCC, where Cincinnati continued to monitor his progress.

The Cougars went 25-13-1 this spring with Page leading the squad at the plate. He had a .456 batting average with 18 doubles, five home runs, 34 RBIs, 52 hits and 33 walks.  He did not pitch due to elbow problems.

He is expected to start his professional career in the Florida Gulf Coast League.

"I am honored to have been followed and drafted by a great organization like the Reds," Page said.

We haven't been able to confirm it, but a reader reports that bears may have been spotted in the area of Platt Road and Kelsey Road in the Town of Batavia.

Mike Wasilco, regional wildlife manager for the Department of Environmental Control, said if there are bears in the area, nobody has called the DEC.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Wasilco said. "Bears have been seen recently in Wyoming County, which isn't that far away. What happens is young male bears strike out looking to find their own territory. This time of year you see bears in areas where you haven't seen them before."

His advice: Don't leave out food, no bird feeders, garbage, BBQ grills or pet food.

"Bears will behave themselves until they figure out that people are a nice and easy source of food," he said.

Meanwhile, while speaking with Wasilco, I asked him about the beavers building a dam near Creek Road in Bethany, which we covered Monday.  He said the local property owners can apply for a permit to relocate the beavers, which they can then either do themselves or higher a specialist.  Of course, one problem: The property owners with the problem don't own the land where the beavers are building, and that property owner is happy with the dam.

Today is Fun Day at Oakfield-Alabama, but unfortunately for two students, it was a little more painful than fun.

One student suffered a reported facial cut and another a broken collar bone, resulting in ambulance calls to the school.

Principle Lynn Muscarella said the accidents were unfortunate, but unusual. This is the sixth year of the event, which comes right before finals.

"We've had minor cuts and scrapes before, but nothing like this," said Muscarella.

The day starts with an awards program, is followed by lunch and then fun and games in the field.

Muscarella praised the quick response and professionalism of the ambulance personnel who responded to the calls for the minor injuries.

She also praised the student council which organized the event and said the students have done a great job each year of putting it together.

"They do a tremendous job of putting together a structured program," she said. "This year we had lots of students participate, which I was happy about."

This year’s legislative session began with a lot of talk about the need to put in place property tax relieving measures, such as a property tax cap or circuit breaker.  Despite calling for a cap, Governor Paterson did not include this measure in his budget proposal, nor did either house in the final 2009-10 State Budget.

As the end of the regularly scheduled legislative session draws to a close, no property tax relief has been enacted.  In fact, the “three New York City men in a room” have actually added to the burden homeowners, businesses and farmers are facing already.  With no regard for the current dismal fiscal climate, these three men set records when it came to budgetary spending and earmarks.  On top of that, they reduced STAR benefits and brought to the floor cumbersome legislation which passes more job-killing mandates onto businesses and agriculture, such as Assembly Bill 1867, the “Farm Death Bill.”

All of these measures have come from New York City state legislators who know little to nothing about the rural communities or agricultural industry that these bills will truly affect.  In their skyline apartments, issues like property tax reform are not pressing concerns, but as a collective body they have an obligation to help make the entire state a better, more affordable and safer place to live and work.  That obligation is not currently being met.

Clearly, the current partisan turmoil in the State Senate is a distraction for all lawmakers, lobbyists and the media.  However, it is incumbent upon lawmakers to put partisanship aside and keep our promise to the people.  We must enact meaningful property tax relief before the end of the month.

BATAVIA - Corinne Phelps of Basom received the Self- Advocate Achievement Award at the 2009 Western Region Self-Advocacy Conference held June 4 – 5, at the Batavia Holiday Inn. She was joined at the awards luncheon by her parents, Dana and Bryan Phelps.

The following achievements were outlined in Corinne’s awards nomination form: Corinne has been a member of Friends for the Future Self-Advocacy Group for three years and is in her second term as Secretary; she is encouraging to her peers, empowers others and has taken part in many presentations and public speaking opportunities.

Along with self-advocacy, Corinne is active in her church choir and Sunday School and is a volunteer for the Down Syndrome Parent Support Group of Genesee County, Inc. As a member of Genesee ARC’s PREP for life program, she volunteers at the Genesee County Animal Shelter, Nursing Home and the Richmond Memorial Library. 

“Following Your Dreams” was the theme of this year’s conference. Workshop topics included empowered living, transportation, employment, disability awareness and legislative advocacy.

The Western New York Self-Advocacy Conference has been held in Batavia for the past several years due to its central location between Buffalo and Rochester. An impressive 430 people registered for the two-day conference.

With all this talk about Lamb Farm, I went hunting and found their website.

It is well worth the time to look through it all.  Make sure you click on the videos of the clipper and the milking merry go round.

Fascinating.

http://lambfarmsinc.net/index.html

Stanley Parker, 23, of 6480 Buffalo Road, Riga (pictured), is accused of selling cocaine to an undercover agent with the Local Drug Task Force. He is charged with two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance. He is being held in Genesee County Jail on $20,000 bail. Assisting in the investigation were uniformed deputies of the Genesee County Sheriff's Office and the Monroe County Sheriff and the District Attorney's Office.

Joshua Kitchen, 20, of 174 Hagadom Road, Broadalin, is accused of stealing a t-shirt from the Flying-J. He is charged with petty larceny.

A reader found a dog and wants to help reunite it with its owner.  Her's what he says:

A dog just wandered down my street (Montclair Ave.) in Batavia, and walked right up on my porch where me and my dog were sitting. I had never seen this dog in my neighborhood before so Ii put a leash on him and walked around the surrounding block asking everyone i saw if they had ever seen the dog and nobody recognized her. So I called the shelter and they said nobody called about that one yet but to bring it in. The dog is a female looks somewhat like a jack russel white with black and tan patches, I was just wondering if you could post that this dog is safe at the shelter so if the owner or someone who knows  the owner might have a good lead for a happy reunion.

UPDATE: The owner saw this post and recovered his dog, according the the reader who sent this in.

County Legislators received a memo from County Manager Jay Gsell this evening suggesting that the legislature appoint a volunteer committee to review the idea of changing legislative terms from two years to four and to stagger the terms of the nine members.

The suggestion comes from the imposingly-long titled "Genesee County Comprehensive Plan Government Administration Focus Group," a committee of 11 administrators and community leaders.

The group met May 19.

The consensus was a larger group of volunteers who fairly represent the community should study the idea further and seek broad community input before fashioning a ballot proposal for the 2010 election.

"It is suggested that this volunteer focus/study group be carefully constructed to represent all aspects of the county; i.e., geographical, agriculture, business, construction, municipalities, political, health care, etc., and perhaps each Legislator could propose one group member with the Chair then submitting additional members to represent the various constituencies that should be involved" the memo reads. "There should be careful consideration of selecting a chair for the focus/study group who would provide, as far as possible, an impartial administrative-oriented position to the process."

A 2010 election is preferable, the memo states, to give the proposal a more deliberative process and ensure no changes are made prior to the 2010 census.

Participating in the May 19 meeting were Gsell, Frank Ciaccia, Lorie Cleveland, Susan Conklin, Scott German, Chester Kaleta, Lucine Kauffman, Ester Leadley, Karen Marchese, Don Read and John Rizzo.