A car collided with a jacknifed tractor trailer on the westbound portion of the Thruway this morning around 6:00am just west of Pembroke, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. The serious crash left the tractor portion of the truck on a guardrail and the trailer in the middle of the highway, blocking both lanes going west.

Other news stations are reporting that Thruway is blocked off between exits 48A and Exit 49. We could not yet find any updates on how long before the lanes reopen. We'll get you an update when that info becomes available.

In other news, Dan Fischer tells us that the Genesee County Health Department will be holding another "Fly Shot Clinic" from 9:00 to 11:00am this morning at the Senior Center on Bank Street. Did you mean "Flu" there, Dan? I think so. Funny typo, though.

UPDATE (9:50pm): WHAM News in Rochester reports that the left westbound lane of the Thruway was, in fact, re-opened shortly after 7:00am this morning, and the right lane was freed up about an hour after that.

 The Philadelphia Phillies are moving on to the World Series after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight, and several of the players on that roster started their professional baseball career in Batavia.

The Phillies were the parent club of the Batavia Muckdogs before the St. Louis Cardinals took control two seasons ago and they developed some quality players that are now going to have a shot to win a Major League Baseball title. 

Philadelphia beat the Dodgers 5-1 in the NLCS and are moving on to the "Fall Classic" for the first time since 1993.

First baseman Ryan Howard hit six home runs in 48 games for the Muckdogs in 2001, including a shot to right field that is often talked about as the longest in Dwyer Stadium history.

Second baseman Chase Utley had a .307 batting average while playing 40 games with Batavia in 2000.

Starting pitcher J.A. Happ started 11 games and went 1-2 for the Muckdogs in 2004 and reliever Ryan Madson went 5-5 in 15 starts for Batavia back in 1999.

 These former Batavia Muckdogs along with the rest of the Philadelphia Phillies will open up the World Series next Wednesday against either the Tampa Bay Rays or the Boston Red Sox.

Tampa Bay currently leads that series 3-1.

Emory Upton was a prominent Batavian, a Civil War general and a traveler to distant realms. Upton commanded men and feasted with royalty. He could charm a dame and pack a rifle with equal assurance. Throughout his voyages away from his native land, Upton sent home many letters home, to his sisters mostly, chronicling his adventures.

Two years ago, a gift was made to the Holland Land Office Museum of 75 letters that Upton wrote during the Civil War and after. Since then, Museum Director Pat Weissend and County Clerk Don Read have diligently and miraculously deciphered Upton's script, transcribing the letters that will, once the project is finished about a year from now, be published in a book. Every couple of weeks, Pat and Don get together early in the morning at Main Street Coffee to pick through another couple of pages. They've nearly finished their first run through of them all.

Pat was kind enough to invite me to their transcription session this morning where, bleary-eyed yet grateful, I produced this video:

RITES OF AUTUMN

          Come autumn, fishing on Tonawanda Creek tends to heat up, particularly the month of October. As the water begins to cool and clear up, both smallmouth bass and northern pike become active. In recent weeks we’ve managed to take a few bass and one big northern. Some years the pike fishing is extremely good right into early November.

            In addition to great angling, the high school grid season has been nothing short of spectacular. Ditto the autumn countryside. Can’t remember the last time I’ve seen such vivid red and orange hillsides. The hickory trees in our back yard are tinted bright yellow and the foliage along the creek bank has made for enjoyable evening canoe rides.

            If the current autumn trend continues, the bow season could be exceptional.

            Saturday marks the beginning of the archery big game season and, with the exception of our canoes, it will be time to stow the fishing gear.              

            In past years the bow season opened on the 15^th. Recently the powers that be saw fit to give us an extra three days to fling practice arrows. That’s okay – some of us need it. I’ve been shooting my Bill Moon longbow for the past month. The bow is ten years old and still a smooth-shooting piece of equipment. The same can be said for the arrows – wooden shafts with turkey quill fletching also crafted by Bill.

            It’s going to be a fun season. Thanks Bill!  

As many area schools face issues with declining enrollment, there is a prime example of what we could see in the future happening at Lyons High School right now.

Lyons had to forfeit last weekend's game against Dundee and today announced it will not be fielding a team for the Class DD playoffs, which start this weekend. The reason is that the team does not have the  minimum of 16 kids that must suit up to play a game.

The eighth-seeded Lions were scheduled to play No. 1 Caledonia-Mumford Friday night.

The only team in the bracket to be pushed into Pool Play is Warsaw, which one would assume would be given that final playoff position. But, it is Wednesday and Cal-Mum and Warsaw have already been working on preparations for the original teams on the schedule. So Warsaw will not be jumping into the playoffs.

This happened two years ago when Holley had to forfeit its final regular season game and opening round playoff game, both against Pembroke.

The Dragons went two weeks without a game and lost in the sectional semifinals because they were obviously rusty and had to play a very good Le Roy squad.

Now Cal-Mum might very well go into the playoffs with a week off and the possibility of facing a solid Avon team in the semifinals.

 Elba felt the need to merge with Byron-Bergen because of the declining numbers, with hopes of avoiding this situation. Unfortunately, this is something that now appears to be a topic we are going to be discussing come playoff time every year or two now.

Here's what we've got from the Daily News for today... Batavia's city fire crews will be flushing fire hydrants most of the day Thursday on and around the following streets: Mill Street, Apollo Drive, Brooklyn Avenue, Franklin Street, Industrial Boulevard, Orleans Avenue, Treadeasy Avenue and Walnut Street. Folks may notice a bit of discoloration in their water in these areas during the flush. In case of rain Thursday, the flush will take place on Friday.

Two of the three stories on the front page were already reported on The Batavian. Ellicott Street's sidewalk project was featured on the site over a month ago. And a story about the school district's request for $2,750 from the city to look at possibly sharing recreation services has been featured in a pair of posts on the site Monday and Tuesday, and again this morning in a post picked up from WBTA.

In other news, Tom Rivers has another enormous article about picking apples featured on the front page... and he'll have another one in tomorrow! Well, New Yorkers do love their apples. Fortunately, Rivers peppers in some human interest throughout his apple saga to keep things interesting. There are only so many paragraphs we can read about apple picking. I especially enjoyed the story at the end of today's piece about a 54-year-old Jamaican laborer who has worked to put his kids through school.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

In case you wondering, those youths walking around downtown Batavia by the side of the road and up and down the sidewalk collecting trash—they're not part of any chain gang, and they're not in any trouble.

Much to the contrary.

They are students from Batavia High School putting in their community service time required for graduation. Don Burkel, who heads up the downtown Business Improvement District, told me that some of the students had volunteered to clean up Main Street. We found a couple of them literally picking up butts in front of Main Street Coffee. It was poignant and sad that as this young man told me about his efforts to help clean up the mess downtown, a pair of fellows smoking cigarettes behind the camera threw their still lit butts right onto the sidewalk.

UPDATE (11:14am): As if everyone wants to do his part to negate the efforts of the students trying to clean up downtown... About a minute ago, I spotted from my window looking out on Main Street a truck that sped through the intersection at Bank Street, likely trying to beat the yellow-turning-red light. Whoever was driving the truck either didn't realize or didn't care that the back door was wide open. Because of the hasty run through the intersection, some trash and such in the back of the truck was tossed out into the street where something large and ceramic crashed in the crosswalk. Some other crud also littered the street, including a bag of wires (maybe). Kudos to the fellow working on the restoration of the Cultural Center on the corner there. He picked up a shovel and a broom and cleared the hazard from the roadway, which could have possibly caused an accident. Geez!

It has been about 8 years since the Notre Dame Boys Cross Country Team won the Division III League title.  The Irish captured the title yesterday after beating Pembroke, Alexander, Attica, and Pavilion at Pembroke High School to finish the regular season at 19 – 2. 

The 6^th, 7^th, 8^th , and 9^th place finishes of Matt Jackson, Kevin Pawlak, Eric Shormann, and Nate Flumerfeldt ensured the victory for the Irish.  Quin O’Connor placed 2^nd in the race.  Taylor Alexander, Marshall Argenta, Conlan Edwards and Matt Sausner all had very solid performances.  Colin Bartholomew of Pembroke won the race, just 1/2 second ahead of O'Connor.  The team scores were as follows:

Notre Dame 23, Pembroke 31

Notre Dame 19, Pavilion 39

Notre Dame 15, Alexander 47

Notre Dame 15, Attica 50

Pembroke 22, Pavilion 37

Pembroke 15, Alexander 48

Pembroke 15, Attica 50

Pavilion 19, Alexander 40

Pavilion 17, Attica 44

Alexander 20, Attica 37

The girls finished the regular season on a strong note, beating Pembroke, Alexander, and Pavilion, while dropping to Attica.  The girls stand in third place in Division III and complete the season at 14 – 7.

Ashley Calarco easily won the race and Jill Marshall took fourth the lead the Irish.  Rachel Berggren had a great performance for the Irish finishing 14^th in the race.  The team scores were as follows:

Attica 23,  Notre Dame 32

Attica 19, Alexander 36

Attica 15, Pavilion 50

Attica 15, Pembroke 50

Notre Dame 26, Alexander 29

Notre Dame 15, Pavilion 50

Notre Dame 15, Pembroke 50

Alexander 15, Pavilion 50

Alexander 15, Pembroke 50

Pavilion and Pembroke were incomplete.

Various teams may be in action this weekend with the Alexander Invitational, at the Field of Dreams, and the Houghton Invitational this Friday night, and the Clarence Invitational at Akron Falls Park this Saturday.  All Genesee and Livingston County Cross Country Teams will be racing in the County Championship Meet at Genesee Community College next week Thursday, October 23.

Batavia's City Council last night postponed a decision on whether to pitch in $2,750 to look into maybe sharing recreation services with the school district and town, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. The Batavian reported earlier this week on the proposal by the school district to fund an $11,000 needs assessment.

Fischer reports that Council members Bill Cox and Kathy Briggs were willing to support the study because "it was keeping with council's to share services among municipalities." Councilwoman Rose Mary Christian was opposed to the plan, saying that we already pay enough in school taxes.

Council will take up discussion again at its conference meeting later this month and vote on the request at its business meeting in November.

I attended a candidates forum in Amherst tonight, it was well attended (I would say about 50 people or so) and featured many candidates, including those seeking to represent Genesee County in Congress and the State Senate. Here's the Rundown:

Alice Kryzan: Check

 Joe Mesi: Check

 Mike Ranzenhofer: Check

 Chris Lee: MIA

I can say that Chris Lee's absence did not play well among the crowd tonight. I overheard one woman, who said that she's a life-long Republican, say that she's voting for Kryzan because she felt that Lee didn't care about her vote enough to show up....ouch.....

 I give full credit to the rest of the candidates, even Mike Ranzenhofer (whom I've been very critical of) for at least showing up, without getting into the merits of their issues, they at least came to present themselves. Where in the world is Christopher Lee? *Crickets Chirp*

Yesterday, we reported an initiative on the part of the Batavia City School District to pursue a jointly funded "needs assessment" that would look at whether or not the school, the city and the town should consider upgrading and expanding its recreational lands and playing fields. That study would cost $11,000. The school district would pay $5,500, and the town and the city would pay $2,750 each.

School Superintendent Margaret Puzio sent a letter to City Manager Jason Molino in the beginning of September asking him to bring the matter before Council. That matter will go before Council at its meeting tonight. A similar letter was sent to the town, which agreed to pitch in the funds for the study almost immediately.

"We heard from the town right away," said Puzio. "They are on board. They're interested. Just waiting on the city."

Where did this all come from? It turns out that the genesis of the idea came in August when Molino sat down with Puzio and a pair of representatives of Batavia's youth football program to discuss short-term and long-term options to find a home for the program that had then been asked to leave Dwyer Stadium.

Says Puzio:

"The opening conversations happened around the whole youth football issue and trying to find a home for them. The district coincidentally owns some property which we were considering whether to develop as playing fields and a recreation area. But we didn't want to do that without knowing everything that was already available. We wanted to get together with city and town and fund a needs assessment and have somebody take inventory of all the recreation areas in the city and town and see if what we currently have is adequate. Do we need more, or do we already have enough?"

Puzio also mentioned in the letter that she was hoping the city could act quickly in its decision—again, this was over a month ago—as a grant opportunity that could help fund such a recreation expansion will expire in December. She could not tell me just how much money was available, but she could say that the Local Government Efficiency Grant was "money that the state has set aside to support municipalities that work together not to duplicate services." In other words, these are funds used to support municipalities that work together to establish shared services.

There would be no more related costs for the "needs assessment," said Puzio, but if the study found that there was a need to, say, construct a new atheltic field at the school district's North Street property, more funds could be forthcoming from all parties involved.

Thanks to Margaret Puzio for getting back to us so quickly and answering all of our questions.

On Thursday, October 16th from 6:30 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. the Batavia Muckdogs will be at the Holland Land Office Museum with the New York – Penn League Championship T-Shirts.

While you’re at the Holland Land Office Museum, bring your camera and get your picture taken with the League Championship Trophy.

The t-shirts are available in black and grey and cost $18 for adult sizes small to extra large and $19 for sizes double x and larger.

Can’t make it to the Holland Land Office Museum on Thursday? The t-shirts are available at Dwyer Stadium, the Holland Land Office Museum, Red Wings Team Store at Frontier Field and on the web at www.muckdogs.com

Poking around YouTube this afternoon—doing some research on Alexander and Attica in anticipation of the next two parts of The Batavian's migration—I stumbled across this video about the Attica Prison Rebellion of 1971. In this video, the prisoners talk about what it was like on the inside leading up to the takeover and the infamous Bloody Monday massacre that resulted in the retaking of the prison by the authorities.

A few of you may remember our efforts to get all of the local candidates running for state Senate and Congress to answer three questions about Genesee County. That was well over a month ago now. We had previously heard back from Chris Lee and Alice Kryzan. We were still waiting on Joe Mesi and Mike Ranzenhofer. In all fairness, however, we were late on getting out the questions to Ranzenhofer, who only received them a few weeks ago.

Well, today Ranzenhofer got us his responses. Here they are:

What is your favorite thing to do in Genesee County?

Play golf at Terry Hills or meet friends for dinner at Bones or Red Osier.

When you meet a person who has never been to Western New York, what is the first thing you tell him or her about the region?

We have the nicest summers on earth.

What is your favorite book about Western New York?

Water For Elephants, by Sara Gruen.

Other responses to the three questions:

• Chris Lee
• Alice Kryzan

Congratulations Oakfield on a great win against Pembroke on Friday night!  It was fun to watch the rivalry between 2 great football teams.  Unfortunately, the students did not get a chance to get together and celebrate their victory at their homecoming dance.  Due to a lack of chaperones, the dance was cancelled.  I find it a little disappointing that not one member of the faculty stepped up to spend 4 hours at the school on a Saturday night.   What,exactly, is homecoming without some kind of celebration? 

Asley M. Chamberlain, 22, of Oakfield, was charged with a felony county of second-degree assault early Monday morning, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. Chamberlain is accused of throwing a cell phone, striking her fiance in the face, and causing an injury that required stitches. She was released and will return to court in November.

Cheryl A. Vagg, 51, of 110 Evans St., Batavia, was charged with driving while intoxicated Friday, city police said. Vagg allegedly drove into a parked car on Center Street and drove off. She was located at Ellicott and Jackson streets and found to be under the influence. She was also charged with leaving the scene of an accident.

Jason R. Armstrong, 36, of East Pembroke, was charged with second-degree criminal contempt Sunday, city police said. Armstrong is accused of harassing a resident of Chase Park in Batavia who has an order of protection out against Armstrong.

Daniel T. Henning, 28, of 432 E. Main St., Batavia, was charged with second-degree criminal contempt Sunday, city police said. Henning is accused of repeatedly telephoning an individual that holds an order of protection against him.

Jeremy M. Erle, 32, and Nicole D. Erle, 27, both of Buffalo, were charged with trespassing Saturday night when they were located on a property in Darien without the property owner's permission, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said.

Matthew R. Lemmon, 43, of Oakfield, was charged with driving while intoxicated early this morning, deputies said. Lemmon was stopped on South Pearl Street Road in the village of Oakfield. He was also ticketed with moving from the lane unsafely and inadequate exhaust.

The YMCA of Genesee County is receiving a $7,500 grant from the Women's Foundation of Genesee Valley, according to the Democrat & Chronicle.

The grant is part of $67,000 the foundation is handing out.  It will support the YMCA's "Power Up! Project."

The Salvation Army has begun its annual Coats for Others donation campaign, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. Folks can drop off their unneeded winter coats at the Salvation Army Center at 529 E. Main St. Those in need can arrange to pick up coats by contacting that same office (343-6284) or by stopping by. No appointment is necessary. The campaign will run through February.

Michael K. Hall, a Batavia resident, reminisces about his dad in the Buffalo News this morning.

My father was interested in politics but he did not have a formal party affiliation. He was more interested in the quality of the man running for president than whether he was a Democrat or Republican. I wonder what he would think of the extreme polarization within our country concerning politics and the two major parties.

I have a general idea of how he would feel about the war in Iraq. He was not a supporter of the Vietnam War, and when my brother Stuart and I were there it must have been hard on him. I think that the year I spent in Iraq would have been hard on him as well. I believe that he would be appalled at the notion one could be labeled unpatriotic if you had a different viewpoint or opinion than the one that was put out by the government supporting the war. He was also a student of history and would wonder why our country does not seem to learn from our past history in this area. He would have little sympathy for terrorists or terrorism as a means of political change. The concept of suicide bombers would boggle his mind.

Emphasis added, because that "year I spent in Iraq" is the kind of thing that could use more explanation in context. Hall is a retired superintendent of schools, so what was he doing in Iraq?  I'm curious.

On September 4, Batavia City School Superintendent Margaret Puzio wrote a letter to City Manager Jason Molino. It begins:

Some weeks ago, you and I were part of a larger discussion regarding expanding usable playing fields and recreation areas for Batavia residents. At that time we talked about a long term plan that might include the development of our North Street property into an official recreation area. This would be a great benefit to the school district, the city, and the town. An added advantage would be to secure funds for this development through grant funding.

Included with the letter is a proposal for a "needs assessment"—a study to see if there is a real need for a recreation expansion—that would total $11,000. The school district offers to put up $5,500 to be matched by the city and town, which would pitch in $2,750 each. It seems implied that the recreation areas would be for use by everyone, not merely school students.

This letter is included in the City Council agenda for the meeting Tuesday. There is no indication that Council has already addressed this topic, and, in fact, earlier today, City Council President Charlie Mallow said he had asked Molino to add the item to the agenda so that Council can discuss it. They have not yet had that opportunity, he said.

In the letter, Puzio writes that "we will need to act quickly" in order to qualify for the grant funding that is available. "Please let me know," she writes, "the earliest date that you would be able to consult City Council to determine their willingness to proceed with a collaborative effort for our recreation needs."

Unfortunately, the schools and city offices are closed today. We left messages with Puzio, Molino and Town Supervisor Greg Post to find out more about that meeting in August and whether or not the city and town will consider pitching in. We would also like to find out more specifics about the expansion, should the city and town get on board.

The complete letter and proposal can be downloaded as part of the meeting agenda here.