A two-car accident with possible minor injuries is reported on Clinton Street Road, Batavia, in front of Terry Hills Golf Course.

The accident is blocking.

Town of Batavia Fire Department and Mercy EMS responding.

UPDATE 10:21 a.m.: One lane blocked. Debris in roadway. One person complaining of neck pain.

UPDATE 10:34 a.m.: One patient being transported to UMMC.

UPDATE 10:51 a.m.: Town of Batavia fire back in service.

A motor-vehicle accident with four people suffering minor injuries is reported at 7615 Clinton St. Road, just west of Jericho Road. Bergen Fire Department and Mercy medics are responding. All of the victims are out. The vehicle reportedly smashed into a pole.

UPDATE 9:10 p.m.: Because young children are involved in this minor-injury accident, a second Mercy ambulance is called to the scene. 

UPDATE 9:18 p.m.: Responders are asked to stop east of the incident and leave only one lane of traffic open, westbound.

UPDATE 9:37 p.m.: One patient is being taken to UMMC.

UPDATE 9:39 p.m.: Two patients are being transported to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.

During the execution of a search warrant Tuesday at a residence on Junction Road, Pavilion, investigators allegedly found a quantity of psilocybin mushrooms, a quantity of mushrooms and some drug paraphernalia.

The resident, Richard T. Bairton, 52, was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the 5th degree.

The execution of the search warrant was handled by uniformed members of the Sheriff's Office and assisted by the Local Drug Enforcement Task Force.

Bairton was jailed on $25,000 bail.

Speaking of butterflies, Brian Schollard sent in these two pictures of an Eastern tiger swallowtail from his garden. He said "My wife and I planted two butterfly bushes last fall. They were, I thought, killed off this spring, but happily they came back and are working nicely!"

Press release:

City residents and those who work in the city are asked to provide input to the Batavia City Council through a Citizen Survey posted on the city’s Web site at www.batavianewyork.com.

Two years ago the city conducted a citizen survey to gauge how citizens perceive the quality of several city services. The survey also inquired as to whether citizens plan to remain in Batavia in five years and provided an area for general comments.

The data received from the survey was used to develop the city’s Strategic and Business Plan. Last year was an overwhelming success for our first year of implementation as the city achieved or exceeded nearly all of its identified performance measurements and key intended outcomes.

The results of the 2012 survey will again provide the city with information for its strategic planning process 2013 – 2015.

“This past year has been an enormous success for our city,” said City Manager Jason Molino. “It is important that we continue this planning process moving forward, and getting input from our citizens and workforce is vital to the planning success.”

The online survey can be viewed using any computer with Internet access. To find the survey, an individual will need to go to www.batavianewyork.com and click on the link labeled, “Citizen Survey.”

This link will take you directly to the survey which can be filled out online and submitted by the click of a button upon completion. All residents and those working in the city can take the survey, and the survey can be accessed more than once by eligible members of the same household.

For individuals without computer access, the Richmond Memorial Library is encouraging Batavia residents to utilize its free Internet service to take the survey. The library offers several computer terminals from which the survey can be taken. The service is free, however individuals must sign up to become a library member.

Membership to the Richmond Memorial Library is free and requires only a few minutes to provide some basic information. Summer library hours are: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday – Thursday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Residents can also pick up and submit a hard copy of the survey from the city clerk’s office at city hall.

Press release:

In an effort to better serve and protect the citizens of Genesee County, Sheriff Gary T. Maha in conjunction with more than 30 county sheriffs and the New York State Sheriffs’ Association are offering the Yellow Dot Program.

Yellow Dot is a free program available to individuals of all ages that was designed to help first responders provide lifesaving medical attention during the first “golden hour” after a crash or other emergency.

The program has launched in 30 counties across the state.

“When you can’t speak for yourself, Yellow Dot can speak for you,” said Peter Kehoe, executive director of the sheriffs’ association.

The Yellow Dot kit contains a medical information card and a Yellow Dot decal. Participants complete the card, attach a recent photo, place it in the glove compartment of their vehicle, and place the Yellow Dot decal on the rear driver’s side window.

First responders arriving at the scene of an emergency will be alerted by the Yellow Dot decal to look for the medical information card in the glove compartment.  

To obtain a Yellow Dot kit, contact Carolyn Della Penna at the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office at 345-3000, ext. 3510, or visit www.nysheriffs.org/yellowdot.

Yellow Dot materials will also be available at Genesee County fire departments.

The New York State Sheriffs’ Association, Inc., is a not-for-profit corporation, formed in 1934, for the purpose of assisting sheriffs in the efficient and effective delivery of sheriffs’ services to the public. It comprises all of the elected and appointed sheriffs of New York State.

Yellow Dot was started in Connecticut in 2002 by People’s United Bank. Originally developed for senior citizens, the program can be used by anyone of any age.

Deputies investigating suspicious activity last night reportedly found a pair of Attica men in possession of a loaded, sawed-off shotgun at a residence in Pembroke.

Both men reportedly have prior criminal convictions.

Charged with criminal possession of a weapon were Benjamin Lambert, 36, and Kayla Tyoe, 23.

Lambert and Tyoe were jailed pending further proceedings.

A motorcyclist "dumped his bike and has a shoulder injury" and he's sitting roadside at Route 5 and Boyce Road in Pembroke. East Pembroke Fire Department and Mercy medics are responding. The roadway is clear.

UPDATE 2:20 p.m.: He has a lot of road rash on his shoulder. There were no other vehicles involved.

A motorist is failing to stop for law enforcement, which has been trying to get him to pull over for several miles on different roadways. The speed is slow. He's northbound on Swamp Road. The car the guy's driving has a stolen plate.

UPDATE 1:12 p.m.: The older-model Ford truck has a red and silver tailgate. The driver is a white male with a baseball cap worn backward. There's no front license plate and one of the front tires "looks like it's gonna blow." Monroe County authorities have been notified.

UPDATE 1:16 p.m.: Now the pursuit is eastbound on Reed Road. State Troopers are also responding.

UPDATE 1:17 p.m.: The truck drove onto a laneway east of Root Road and the subject is now in custody.

On Memorial Day I took a minute to read the names on the World War I monument in Williams Park.

My assumption was, these where the names of people killed in combat, so when two, possibly three, names looked like the names of women, I was curious as to who they were.

I contacted Susan Conklin, Genesee County historian and records management officer, to see if she knew anything about the monument. She asked me to get the names, which I finally got around to doing for her earlier this week.

Here are the three names that got my attention:

Elva Springer, Florence Carney and Cecelia Cochran.

It turns about both Springer and Carney were men who served in the Marine Corps and Army.

The first name of Springer, a resident of 12 Fisher Park, is also spelled Alva. He was wounded in action some time prior to May 1, 1918. His death as a result of his wounds was reported locally Nov. 22, 1918.

According to a newspaper article from May 1, 1918, Springer was the son of John Springer, who by that time had moved to New York City. John Springer worked for the Batavia Rubber Company. His son had worked for him prior to enlistment.The article says "he was well known among young people here."

Carney, middle name Vincent, was among the first men drafted on Feb. 7, 1918.  He lived at 26 Russell Place. His death was reported Oct. 15, 1918 from pneumonia at Camp Aberdeen.

Miss Cecelia Josephine Cochran, the lone woman listed on the monument, was the daughter of Capt. and Mrs. Elliott P. Cochran of 17 Vernon Ave., Batavia. She had been a nurse in Rochester. She left Batavia Sept. 30, 1918 as a volunteer nurse for the United States Public Health Service. The family was notified Oct. 14, 1918 that she was quite ill with pneumonia at Army Hospital in Huntsville, Ala.

The family held a private funeral Oct. 21, 1918, at home followed by a service at St. Joseph's officiated by Father Gilhooley of East Pembroke.

Cochran was buried with military honors at the Catholic Cemetery in Le Roy.

A press release from Kathy Hochul's office, dated 1 Aug., had this headline:

"HOCHUL CAMPAIGN RESPONDS TO CHRIS COLLINS’ PUSH FOR MORE DEFICIT-RAISING TAX CUTS FOR MILLIONAIRES AND BILLIONAIRES"

Hochul's Campaign Manager Francis Thomas cites a report issued by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities [CBPP] stating:

"Economists say that cutting taxes for the richest Americans would raise the deficit by “nearly $1 trillion” and give the most benefits to people making more than $1 million per year."

Thomas goes on to cite a [CBPP] article dated 7/19/2012 that poses the proposition that maintaining the Bush Tax Cuts for those in the upper 2 percent would, in fact, add deficits of more than $1 trillion to the 2013 budget.

"According to the nonpartisan Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP),
just 2.5 percent of small business owners face top tax rates. In a July 2012 study, they wrote 'allowing the top two marginal tax rates to return to pre-2001 levels as scheduled next year would affect very few small businesses, a recent Treasury Department study found. The study shows that only 2.5 percent of small business owners face the top two rates.' ” [CBPP 7/19/2012]

Although the CBPP does, in fact, claim to be "nonpartisan" on its Web site, further reading clearly disputes this claim. On the page titled "Experts" on the CBPP Web site, my research shows that all but one of those listed on the page have held positions with the Democrat Party. Of the 46 names listed in various positions, not one has held a position in the GOP or any other conservative or moderate think tank of a similar nature. Below are four examples selected from the Federal Fiscal Policy Section.

Jared Bernstein (Senior Fellow) is a Senior Fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. From 2009 to 2011, Bernstein was the chief economist and economic adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden in the Obama Administration. Bernstein is considered to represent a progressive, pro-labor perspective.

Indivar Dutta-Gupta (Policy Advisor) was involved with Amnesty International USA, as a member of its Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Advisory Group and in other volunteer positions. After graduating from the University of Chicago in June 2005, Dutta-Gupta came to D.C. to work with a nonprofit Democratic consulting firm on political campaigns, food and hunger, international development, energy and national security issues. While in college, he interned at the Chicago office of U.S. Senator Richard J. Durbin (D-IL).

James R. Horney (Vice President for Federal Fiscal Policy) was a deputy Democratic staff director at the Senate Budget Committee from 2001 through 2004.

Chuck Marr is the director of federal tax policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He served as economic policy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

Further, the report cited by Thomas has come under fire from nonpartisan and conservative tax policy organizations like the TaxFoundation and the Heritage Foundation.

"While we applaud the CBPP's obvious success at bringing attention to the budget, it paints an incomplete picture to place only certain budget items in a graph of the deficit, as if that demonstrates causality. Why not throw entitlement spending in the deficit category, or defense spending, or certain initiatives from the Clinton years? Better yet, why not simply show the entire budget, and in a larger historical context?

"Indeed, the CBO report on which the CBPP analysis is based does just that. A closer look at the CBO report will help illustrate the relative importance of tax cuts and spending (including spending through the tax code) in creating the projected deficits." The Budget Debate, taxfoundation.org

Clearly the issue is not so black and white.

Complete Hochul press release after the jump (click on the headline to read more).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 1, 2012

HOCHUL CAMPAIGN RESPONDS TO CHRIS COLLINS’ PUSH FOR MORE DEFICIT-RAISING TAX CUTS FOR MILLIONAIRES AND BILLIONAIRES

Extending Tax Cuts for the Richest Americans Would Raise Deficit, Almost Entirely Benefit Millionaires

Clarence, NY – Today the Hochul for Congress Campaign responded to Chris Collins’ call for more tax cuts for the rich, a move that would disproportionately benefit the wealthy and add nearly $1 trillion to the deficit. After ignoring Representative Hochul's calls to join together to support the middle class tax cuts, Collins continues to pursue tax cuts for the wealthy.

“Chris Collins’ call to add nearly $1 trillion to the deficit to pay for tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires shows just how out of touch he is with the 27^th District,” said Campaign Manager Frank Thomas.  “Kathy has always been an advocate for keeping taxes low for the middle class while we work to cut spending and balance the budget.  That is why last week she called on Chris Collins to join her in supporting a package that extends tax cuts for the middle class. If we're going to have a serious conversation about addressing our deficit, we will have to get serious about cutting spending and ask the rich to pay their fair share.”

Economists say that cutting taxes for the richest Americans would raise the deficit by “nearly $1 trillion” and give the most benefits to people making more than $1 million per year. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities wrote:

Extending the tax cuts on incomes in excess of $250,000 would add nearly $1 trillion to deficits over 2013 to 2022, but benefit only about the highest-income 2 percent of households.  The biggest benefits would flow to the very highest-income people…more than 80 percent of the value of the upper-income tax cuts would go to people who make more than $1 million a year. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 7/19/2012]

Hochul has a strong record of cutting wasteful spending.  She crossed party lines to vote for the Balanced Budget Amendment, joined Republicans to vote for a bipartisan effort to cut the deficit by more than $2 trillion, and voted multiple times to cut foreign aid to  countries like Pakistan.  According to Fox News, “the [Budget Control Act] will initially cut spending by $900 billion, it also tasks a new committee with finding another $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction by the end of the year.” [House Roll Call Vote 858, 11/18/2011; Roll Call Vote 690, 8/1/2011; Fox News, 8/2/2011; Roll Call Vote 265, 5/17/2012; Roll Call Vote 510, 7/7/2011]

According to the non-partisan Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), just 2.5% of small business owners face top tax rates.  In a July 2012 study, they wrote “allowing the top two marginal tax rates to return to pre-2001 levels as scheduled next year would affect very few small businesses, a recent Treasury Department study found. The study shows that only 2.5 percent of small business owners face the top two rates.” [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 7/19/2012]

According to the CBPP, the suggestion that raising taxes on the rich would seriously affect small business is based on a “misleading” claim.  They wrote:

The claims that allowing the Bush tax cuts for high-income people to expire would seriously harm small businesses rest on an exceedingly broad, and misleading, definition of “small business.” The definition is so broad, in fact, that under it, both President Obama and Governor Romney would count as small business owners — as would 237 of the nation’s 400 wealthiest people. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 7/19/2012]

Hochul has already been a steadfast supporter of extending the middle class tax cuts and has called on Chris Collins to join her.  On July 9^th, Hochul sent a letter to House and Senate leadership that stated, “I write to strongly urge the House and Senate leadership to quickly schedule a vote to permanently extend the expiring middle class tax cuts.”  On July 27^th she asked Chris Collins to support the extensions of the middle class tax cuts. [Hochul Letter to Congressional Leadership, 7/9/2012; Hochul Press Release, 7/27/2012]

Chris Collins supports tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.  According to a Collins campaign press release, “Collins supports a full extension of the tax cuts.” [Collins Press Release, 7/9/2012]

We have a patch by the side of our house where milkweed started popping up and I decided to just let it grow in hope of attracting monarch butterflies.

When I stopped by the house today, there was a single monarch fluttering around (I couldn't get a good enough picture of it actually on the milkweed).

Hopefully, this is a sign of good things to come.

An ambulance is requested to Route 19 and West Bergen Road where a member of local law enforcement has been bit by a raccoon.

The officer informed dispatch that if they receive calls of a gunshot in the area, it was him killing the raccoon.

A dispatcher asked, "you didn't shoot it in the head did you?" 

Officer: "I don't think so."

The raccoon will need to be checked for rabies.

UPDATE 10:53 p.m.: The animal is being transported to the shelter.

Joshua Denise, the 37-year-old Batavia resident who was identified in a U.S. Attorney press release and in a federal search warrant affidavit as an employee of The 420 Emporium appears to be at least co-owner the the store at 400 Ellicott St., according to documents obtained by The Batavian.

While working on a story Monday about how other locations of The 420 Emporium have apparently reopened while the Batavia store remains closed, The Batavian stopped by the location to take pictures of the store and check for signs of activity.

The mail had apparently not been picked up in a couple of days and clearly visible in the mailbox was an envelope with a return address for New York Taxation and Finance addressed Joshua Denise c/o The 420 Store, LLC.

The 420 Store, LLC was filed with the Secretary of State on Feb. 16, 2012.

This is a separate incorporation from The 420 Emporium, Inc., filed Aug. 29, 2011.

The Batavian then issued a FOIL request with the Batavia Fire Department for any fire inspection documents.

Denise signed the inspection notice as "owner/occupant" of the business location.

A FOIL request was also sent to the Genesee County Department of Health for any inspection records. 

Denise is listed on those documents as "co-owner" of "420 Emporium," 400 Ellicott St.

Federal authorities, assisted by local law enforcement, raided the store July 26 as part of a larger operation hitting all five 420 Emporium locations and arrested Denise along with Michelle Condidorio, 30, of Le Roy.

Both Denise and Condidorio were arraigned in federal court that day and charged with possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of, a controlled substance analog.

They are suspected of selling packages of a product that contained alpha-PVP, a chemical that is an analog to MDPV. MDPV became a controlled substance on July 9. The substances are believed to provide an euphoric type high and be addictive. Side effects seem to include paranoia, hallucinations and agitation.

While Denise and Condidorio were not held by authorities following arraignment, the store has not reopened.

Meanwhile, the 420 stores in Brockport, Fulton and Henrietta have, according to sources, reopened.

The Brockport store has advertised job openings at its location on its Facebook page.

Charles Darwin Fitzgerald is listed in DEA documents as well as the incorporation papers as the owner of The 420 Emporium.  His live-in girlfriend, Amber Snover, has proclaimed herself on Facebook as the owner of the stores in Brockport, Rochester, Henrietta and Fulton.

The feds also searched the Fitzgerald/Snover home in Greece, and reportedly recovered a large bag of cash, but neither subject has been charged with a crime so far.

In an inspection of the 420 store in Batavia on May 31, Denise allegedly told a county health worker that his store didn't sell synthetic cannabinoids.

The health technician reported the following items were on sale: herbal incense brands of "Kryptonite" as well as items labeled "Rain of Fire," "Fuzzy Wuzzy," and "Kush 10x."

Kryptonite herbal incense can be found for sale on what appear to be online head shops and there is at least one YouTube video of a person allegedly smoking a substance of the same name.

"Rain of Fire," "Fuzzy Wuzzy," and "Kush 10x" are all reported on at least one Web site as a form of alleged synthetic cannabinoid.

The health technician issued to Denise a notice that day that the state had banned synthetic cannabinoids of all types.

On July 2, the County Health Department also cited the 420 Store for selling tobacco products that were not either behind the counter with only employee access or in a locked case.

Denise didn't contest the citation and paid a $350 fine on July 16.

The business was also found allegedly to be in violation of city fire codes on July 16, such as accumulation of trash in the back room, a hole above the back door that needed to be properly repaired, lack of properly located fire extinguishers, lack of outlet covers and no exit sign above the rear exit.

There's no indication whether these alleged violations were resolved or are still pending.

Following the dedication ceremony at the new Muller Quaker Dairy plant at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park, Batavia, Gov. Andrew Cuomo met with local and regional reporters to answer a variety of questions.

WHAM13's Sean Carroll and I both wanted to ask about synthetic drugs.

Carroll asked what action citizens can expect Albany to take on the issue and Cuomo replied, "We’ve taken action. I think we have to take more action. It is a problem that is literally exploding. I have been talking with the legislature and we’re going to be taking further aggressive action in the near future."

Next question, why has New York been unable to pass a bill banning analogs to controlled substances such as Kansas, Colorado and New Jersey, among other states, have done?

Cuomo's first response was, "talk to the Legislature."

He then added, "The Department of Health already issued a ban and I'm working with legislature to get even stricter legislation."

I pointed out that after the health department ban, the bath salt problem in Batavia only got worse. The ban seemed pretty ineffective.

"A ban against sale is a sweeping measure and that’s what this ban is," Cuomo said. "We banned the sale of bath salts. The problem is continuing to grow and I’m working with the legislature on having an even more aggressive piece of legislation, which I hope to have next session."

Would that mean an analog bill?

"I'm working with legislature to get the most aggressive, strictest bill that we can get," Cuomo said.

I then asked him, going after the sale of controlled substances is one approach, but some drug treatment experts suggest more needs to be done on the user abuse side, getting people more aggressively into treatment.

Here's Cuomo's answer: "This nation has fought the sale and use of drugs for generations now, right? You have to attack both sides. You have to try and limit the supply and then you have to limit the user. You have to enforce the laws. It’s public safety. And try to stop the source and supply and we’re trying to both."

A two-car accident is reported at 7202 Meadville Road at the corner with Parker Road. Alabama Fire Department and Mercy EMS are responding. There is air bag deployment, extrication is needed. A responder on scene says one victim is "pretty well pinned in. He believes his leg is broken." Another victim says "she hurts all over." Mercy Flight 6 out of Batavia is on standby. Sheriff's deputies are also heading to the scene.

UPDATE 8:24 p.m.: Mercy Flight is dispatched to the scene along with a second Mercy rig.

UPDATE 8:25 p.m.: A rescue unit out of Akron is requested to respond, mutual-aid.

UPDATE 8:55 p.m.: About three minutes ago, the man with the injured leg was extricated.

UPDATE 9:17 p.m.: I think a 32-year-old female was transported to UMMC and a younger female was taken to ECMC. The transmission has been patchy.

A pilot dusting a sweet cornfield off Brooksville Road in Alexander this morning spotted a wire stretched over the field and his attempt to avoid it led to the crash of his plane.

Officials say Louis C. Christie, 48, of Stephentown, was unhurt in the 10:30 a.m. crash.

Christie attempted to avoid the wire by maneuvering quickly to go under it, but his plane bottomed out and a prop was damaged. When Christie attempted to make a turn over trees at the south end of the field, his plane stalled and dropped to the ground.

The fuselage of the plane was largely undamaged and Christie climbed out easily, walked to the roadway and awaited the arrival of emergency personnel.

The plane was a 1974 Piper Pawnee D Spray Plane.

FAA inspectors were called to the scene and the accident is still under investigation by the FAA and the Sheriff's Office.

PepsiCo and Theo Muller officials along with Gov. Andrew Cuomo praised the efforts of local leaders to convince the two international companies to locate their new yogurt plant in Batavia.

The executives, elected officials along with a host of local dignitaries gathered at the new Muller Quaker Dairy plant in the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park today for a dedication ceremony for the new plant.

Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsi, said once it was time to make a decision about the location for the plant, Batavia was an easy choice.

"I must say the Genesee County people and the governor’s office were just amazing in the way they worked with us," Nooyi said. "There was no competition. We love being here. The Genesee County people have to be given a lot of credit, the way they brought the forces of the county together to get everything expedited in such a short time. I think it is a real textbook example of how to attract investment into any community."

Stefan Muller, the CEO of the newly formed Muller Quaker Dairy company, said the day that executives traveled to the Genesee Agri-Business Park, the amount of support Genesee County lined up for the visit was impressive. There were representatives from local government and utility companies making promises on delivery of what Pepsi and Muller would need to build the project.

"I have seen 60 sites that were just locations on a map and I have seen six sites personally, but what we saw here was just outstanding," Muller said. "We were promised to get all of the permissions within weeks and we couldn’t believe it."

Gov. Andrew Cuomo also praised Genesee County officials and said the effort to bring the Muller Quaker plant to Batavia is an example of how New York is open for business.

“We want business in New York," Cuomo said. "Business is the engine that drives the train, providing the jobs, providing the opportunity, providing the career ladder, providing the revenues to local governments. It’s all about making the private sector run and making the private sector run well and government partnering with that private sector. “

Yogurt, Cuomo said, is quickly becoming a big part of New York's economy -- production is up 60 percent in the past few years and there are now 49 yogurt plants in the state. He said the state is committed to ensuring the yogurt industry succeeds.

"We believe in the yogurt story and we’ve invested in the yogurt story," Cuomo said. "It is a big, big business in the State of New York."

He announced an Aug. 15 summit of leaders in the yogurt industry and dairy leaders to help facilitate, he said, the two groups working together to grow the yogurt industry.

"We want this business to do well," Cuomo said. "We want this business to thrive and we want this business to thrive in the State of New York."

Pepsi is committed to growing in the nutritional food categories, and dairy in particular, Nooyi said.

"Dairy products are a $500 billion industry that is expected to grow rapidly in the high single digits," Nooyi said. "We believe that here in the United States the growth potential for dairy is virtually unlimited."

The yogurt market, she said, is "largely untapped." The per-capita consumption of yogurt in the U.S. is half what it is in many other countries."

Muller said the new product is sweeter than what Theo Muller makes in Germany to meet U.S. consumer expectations and Nooyi praised the new yogurt.

"The Muller Quaker Dairy line is going to bring a whole new taste experience to America that’s not like anything that’s available in the country today," Nooyi said. "Try it and you’ll see that it’s more rich than any other yogurt you've tasted.

"It’s creamier. It’s more delicious. It doesn’t have any chalky aftertaste. It's really something you’ll enjoy eating day in and day out, maybe even three or four times a day."

Muller said the online feedback on the new product has been fun to read.

"I read on the Internet, on a blog, one consumer was writing, she tried the product two weeks ago and she is writing it is insanely delicious," Muller said. "This was really, I think, the right comment."

Both chief executives praised their new business partner as the perfect fit for how each company would like to grow.

"I have to say it was good and smart that we took the time because we found the right partner with PepsiCo and the yogurt market is booming," Muller said. "It’s still a very small market compared to other countries and we have products which are very unique and are really outstanding for the American market."

Nooyi said Pepsi has the distribution system to get the new product onto store shelves throughout the United States.

She also said the two companies share a core value in being committed to their local communities.

"One of the reasons this is a great partnership is both companies are committed to growing our businesses and both are committed to growing our local communities," Nooyi said. "When this plant is complete next year, it will be one of the largest yogurt plants in the United States. It’s going to source largely from New York State dairy farmers and other quality suppliers around this great region. The best part is it will create 186 local jobs next year."

(Above, our dog "Pachuco" staring straight ahead. Two other dogs with similar markings are in the background.)

In support of the Genesee County Animal Shelter, Stan's Harley-Davidson and Beds-N-Bones Pet Lodge are sponsoring Hogs for Paws from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Aug. 18.

Bring in an item on the wish list (below) or make a donation and receive a free lunch (hot dog, salad, drink).

Dogs and cats can also be microchipped for $30.

Events include obedience training with Canine Academy, K-9 demonstrations, a 50/50 raffle, T-shirt sale an a "pet photo contest."

Wish list items include: Canned and dry cat and dog food, small blankets, and beds, bleach, laundry soap and paper towels and non-clumping cat litter.

Stan's is located at 4425 W. Saile Drive, Batavia.