Genesee County was well represented in Rochester on Saturday for the 39th annual Ronald McDonald House Charity Basketball Games.

Le Roy's Merritt Holly, playing on the Red Team, was named the game's MVP, scoring 18 points and six rebounds. Braedyn Chambry was awarded the Bob Parker Sportsmanship Award for the Red Team.

Roxanne Noeth was one of the two coaches for the Red Team.  She was honored during the game for playing in the girls' RMHC 1987 game.  She is the first person to play in a girl's game and coach a boy's team. (People have played and later coached in a game, but she is the first female to coach boys and play in the girls' game). 

Victoria Fetzer, a freshman from Le Roy sang the National Anthem to open both the boys' and girls' games.

Don’t pass by this great City home-you will be pleasantly surprised as soon as you pull into drive and see the oversized 3 car garage with 4th pavilion style bay-perfect for your grill and picnic table-Your friends will be jealous! Inside the home features inviting large oak kitchen with loads of cupboard space spacious dining area and large and bright living room. This home was made for large gatherings and entertaining! Not only is there a good size first floor bedroom and bath there is also another large room which would make awesome office/playroom with pretty French doors leading to large and bright heated and fully glassed three season room featuring cozy free standing fireplace to take the chill out! This room features sliding glass doors leading to a large deck which also connects to side enclosed back porch which once held a busy -and still intact-barbershop! Before you go outside don't forget that if you go upstairs there are THREE MORE big bedrooms and another full bath! There is plenty of storage and closets throughout the home, and don’t forget the large full dry basement! This home packs a lot in-you will be amazed!

Jasper Thomas found the Kiwanis Golden Easter Egg in Centennial Park on Monday, with a prize certificate in it for a chocolate Easter bunny from Oliver's Candies.

The Batavia Kiwanis Club is hiding a golden egg daily through Thursday. The ticket can be redeemed at the club's annual Easter Egg Hunt in Centennial Park at 9 a.m. sharp on Saturday.

The early moon of Monday is known as the Worm Moon, the first full moon of Spring.

The naming of full moons comes from Native American traditions.

Upcoming full moons are the Pink Moon (April 23), the Flower Moon, May 23, and the Strawberry Moon (June 21)

Press Release:

In preparation for the upcoming 2024 Solar Eclipse, Genesee County Government will implement a temporary closure for all County Offices and non-emergency services, effective from noon on Monday, April 8 until 8:30 a.m. on April 9.

This decision reflects the county's proactive approach to eclipse readiness. By suspending county operations during the eclipse, the county aims to reduce traffic congestion, enhance public safety, and enable residents and visitors to partake in this extraordinary event. County offices will remain open in the morning on April 8th to accommodate residents who need to conduct business that day. 

"Ensuring the safety of our community is our top priority, and the closure of County Offices during the eclipse will contribute to ensuring a safe environment for all to enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime event," stated County Manager Matt Landers.

To learn about the eclipse in Genesee County, visit: www.geneseetheeclipse.com For important safety information on the eclipse, visit: www.iloveny.com/events/eclipse-2024/safety/

Members of the Pavilion Volunteer Fire Department honored their own on Saturday at the fire hall with an awards and installation dinner.

Ken Weaver was named Firefighter of the Year. Dave Clor received the EMS Person of the Year award. Paul Daugherty received the President's Award.

Tom Garlock, Jason Everett, Chris Holley, and Don Roblee Jr. received a special EMS award for their effort to deliver a baby during a snowstorm in January. The baby was named Cinderella.

Matt Jacobs received the Lifetime Member Award.

Jerry Fitzsimmons was honored as a 50-year member for 2022, and Don Roblee and Ken Weaver were honored for 50 years in 2023.

The 2024 officers:

• Jason Everett, chief
• Bryen Murrock, 1st asst. chief
• Codey O'Neill, 2nd asst. chief
• Chris Holley, captain
• Kelly Murrock, captain
• Jason True, lieutenant
• Dewey Murrock, lieutenant
• Ken Weaver, fire police captain
• Dave Clor, safety officer

Newstead Homes Kings beat Kelly's Holland Inn Stars, 6-1, on Sunday at the David M. McCarthy Memorial Ice Arena to win the Batavia Men's League Hockey Championship.

The Kings came out of the locker room hot, opening the first period with goals by Dan Eckerson, Evan Eckerson, and David Holtz. 

"We knew going in that they were going to come out flying, and we just had to play our game," Evan Eckerson said. "Gary (Schum), our goalie, he played a heck of a game, and you can't really ask anything else of him. He didn't allow a goal until 10 seconds left."

Eckerson said his team scored "not the greatest goal" to take a 1-0.

"But, hey, they all count. They all look the same on the score sheet. That got us on the board and that got us the momentum to keep going through the first period."

In the second period, the Kings took advantage of a penalty, with Shane Wiseman netting a power-play goal, assisted by Mitch Ernst.   

The Stars got some quality shots on Schum in the second and third period, but the goaltender was equal to the task.

"This team has been all about energy, checking the whole season long, and today they did a great job in front of me -- pressuring the puck and resolving the turnovers," Schum said. "Defensively, they were just great in our own zone today."

The Kings' netminder kept the Stars scoreless through four penalty kill opportunities in the third period until, with 9.3 seconds to play, Jason Hauesser scored for the Stars.

Evan Eckerson added two more goals late in the third period, getting the hat trick and securing the most valuable player award for the game.

Kings Coach Charlie O'Geen, the last original active member of the league, won his sixth championship.

"We won the championship with Charlie a couple of years ago," Eckerson said. "There's no better guy who deserves it more. He's one of the first ones. He's been here since the start, and he's still here, still winning championships, picking championship teams."

To view or purchase photos, click here.

Photos by Steve Ognibene

Several bowlers cracked the 700 mark in league action around the Genesee Region USBC last week.

At Mancuso Bowling Center in Batavia, Brian Cline led the way with a 239-268-269--776 series in the Mancuso Real Estate Monday Doubles League, raising his average to 239.

Also at Mancuso's, fellow left-hander Nick Johnson posted a 736 series in the Brighton Securities Tuesday Triples League.

At Rose Garden Bowl in Bergen, Mike Lyons started with 278 on his way to a 743 series in the Wednesday Men's Handicap League, with Scott Gibson next at 715, and Mark Mack registered a 715 series in the Thursday Owls League.

At Oak Orchard Bowl in Albion, four bowlers exceeded 700 in the Sneezy's Monday Night League -- John Beadle 267--748, Brandon Gurnsey 257--711, Troy Fanton 259--710 and Robbie Hanks 246--705.

For a list of high scores, click on the Pin Points tab at the top of the home page.

The Genesee Symphony Orchestra held its annual young artists' competition on Saturday at Batavia First Presbyterian Church.

On hand as judges were board members and Musical Director S. Shade Zajac. 

The winners will be announced prior to the 2024-25 season and be featured soloists in the winter concert.  There were a half-dozen entrants this year, including 14-year-old Tristan Zhang, pictured, from Pittsford, whom Howard Sounder accompanied.

The Easter Bunny visited Batavia First Presbyterian Church on Saturday.

Snow and cold moved the Easter egg hunt indoors. There were also games, face painting, refreshments, and a basket raffle. The event was also a fundraiser for the North Bergen Community Food Pantry.

Photos by Howard Owens.

The hunt for gold Easter eggs hidden in Centennial Park in Batavia continues, with eggs found on Saturday and Sunday.

The Batavia Kiwanis Club is hiding a golden egg daily through Thursday. The egg contains a prize ticket for a large chocolate bunny from Oliver's Candies. The ticket can be redeemed at the club's annual Easter Egg Hunt in Centennial Park at 9 a.m. sharp on Saturday.

A brush fire was called into dispatch in Le Roy, with the caller stating the fire was about 15 feet from a residence.

What the first responders from Le Roy Fire actually found: A metal fire ring with some wood smoldering it, surrounded by snow, about 75 feet from a structure.

CLICK HERE to purchase tickets!!

Last week, in the wake of the death of Sgt. Thomas A. Sanfratello, the Oakfield Betterment Committee distributed blue lights to local businesses and Oakfield residents.

Betterment Committee President Jamie Lindsley stated:

The Oakfield community likes to support one of their own, as was evident ever since the line-of-duty loss of Sgt. Sanfratello, a member of the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department. Last week, caring citizen Kristen Porter decided to show support for Sgt. Sanfratello's daughter Alexis, who is a student at Oakfield-Alabama Central School, by lighting a blue light in honor of the fallen deputy. Another community member, Kate Engle, took this tribute to the entire community by engaging the assistance of Oakfield Betterment Committee members. Together, they contacted local Home Depots, Lowes, and other stores and arranged pickups and distributions to the entire Oakfield area and some surrounding communities. Joshua Schultz took it upon himself to drive all the way from Syracuse with a delivery of 50 blue light bulbs. A dozen bulbs were donated to illuminate all front windows of School House Manor in the middle of the village. In total, over 300 blue light bulbs were donated and handed out to the community, and each night, the night is brightly lit blue to honor our fallen deputy and show our support as a community for Alexis.

The committee shared these photos with The Batavian.

For prior coverage of Sgt. Sanfratello, click here.

Of the 235 representatives from various areas in the healthcare field at a four-county event, student Rylee Serusa-Herndon connected with someone in particular during her visit with BOCES Health Dimensions classmates to Genesee Community College Friday.

“I came to the GLOW With Your Hands field trip to be a neurosurgeon, I’m interested in that, and I came to kind of understand, to know what I have to do to be able to be that,” she said. “I did go to a booth, and one of the girls was actually a neurosurgeon, and she told me it is very difficult; you have to do a lot of schooling. But she said ‘you know, there’s not many girl neurosurgeons,’ and that kind helped me out. I definitely want to do it.”

Rylee was one of more than 500 students in grades eight through 12 from 31 schools in Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, and Wyoming counties. The event was to help connect interested students to a couple hundred representatives from 57 companies, municipal agencies, nonprofits, and educational institutions and further excite, educate, and empower them to seek success in the healthcare field of study after high school.

Educational providers and employers were on hand to demonstrate in the fields of emergency medical services, healthy living, healthcare, nursing, occupational and physical therapy, pharmacy, and the various sciences.

There were mannequins stationed so that students could get some CPR lessons, a physical therapy demonstration, and a virtual reality program to offer more high-tech ways to explore careers, “which is cool,” said Chris Suozzi, Vice President of Workforce Development for Genesee County Economic Development Center. 

“The whole reason that we do these events and career exploration in high school is so kids can really expand their horizons. It's so difficult for someone to really know what they want to do for a career. It's taken me 30-some years to figure out what I wanted to do … but for kids, the more they see the, the better. So they're seeing careers that they would never see in a classroom and in a textbook,” Suozzi said. “And then there's careers that they may look at and say, ‘Oh, I definitely don't want to do that.' And I know it's a good thing. But when you look at the opportunities for what are possibilities, it's almost endless here. 

“So, you know, when you hear about healthcare, you think a doctor or nurse, but then when you look here, there's a lot more than doctors and nurses,” he said. “There's all these technicians and EMTs, physical therapy, and the list goes on and on. So that's the whole idea. Explore their mind, explore opportunities for a great career.”

To view or purchase photos, click here.

Click here for our full list of events!

The city of Batavia has temporarily halted a $120 million expansion project with HP Hood in the town of Batavia due to “violations of the town’s contracted wastewater capacity limit,” and both municipalities are working to rectify the situation, City Manager Rachael Tabelski says.

Tabelski sent the town Planning Board a letter on March 13 notifying the group that the city had not been informed in a timely manner that the town had been established as lead agency for the proposed expansion of process lines at HP Hood on Feb. 13, 2024, and the city did not receive word of that until March 4. The city, therefore, objects to the town acting as the lead agency, Tabelski said.

In addition, ”due to violations of the town’s contracted wastewater capacity limit, the project cannot proceed,” Tabelski said in the letter.

When asked for further comments in an interview, Tabelski said, “As we are in active negotiations with the town regarding a new purchase capacity agreement, I’m going to respectfully decline an interview at this point.”

She did provide the two-page letter sent to the planning board, which includes background about the apparent increased wastewater discharge that was “identified as part of the state environmental quality review (SEQR) for the project application and 2021 SEQR amendment for the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park.” 

“The city was never furnished a copy of the 2021 GEIS (generic environmental impact statement) amendment and is an involved agency,” Tabelski said. 

In 1983, the city and town entered into a wastewater facility agreement that outlined ownership and operation of the new treatment plant. In February 2015, they entered into a wastewater facility agreement and a wastewater metering agreement. The city currently owns 84.55% of the total plant capacity, and the town owns 15.45%. 

Due to ongoing development in the town, including the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park, the town’s sanitary sewer flows are exceeding the contractual limit of .85 million gallons per day (MGD) or 15.45% of the total capacity, Tableksi said. 

Each city and town resolution in May 2023 identified the parties’ mutual concerns about potential increased flow resulting from the Kings Plaza pump station project, and the average sewer flow was 1.2 MGD. In fall 2023, the town advised the city that HP Hood was expanding but that it was only the warehouse and would not create additional demand for water or sewer capacity. Hood already discharges 1.1 to 1.2 MGD. By the end of 2023, the town’s average sewer flow had increased to 1.33 MGD, Tabelski said. 

“This is well in excess of the town’s contractual limit of .85 MGD,” she said. “Consequently, the town has no capacity to allocate to expansion of HP Hood or any other facility at this time.” 

The city also cannot permit increased sewer flows from the town of Batavia until the wastewater treatment plan expansion study is complete, she said. 

“The city and town still need to enter into a proposed wastewater agreement that was circulated in January 2024. However, this agreement will still not allow for increased discharge beyond 1.2 MGD. This pending agreement will be the town’s limit for wastewater discharge.”

As for its objection to the town being lead agency for the Hood project, Tabelski said that “the town has failed to accurately and timely inform the city about the expansion of wastewater capacity demand at the Ag Park.”

“In addition, the town is in breach of the wastewater agreement with the city by discharging in excess of .85 MGD,” she said. “A lead agent under SEQR is responsible for thoroughly and accurately evaluating the potential environmental impacts prior to making a determination of significance on the action.

“The town’s excess wastewater discharge beyond contract limits threatens the city’s discharge limits and has the potential to exceed the city’s (State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit,” she said. “As a result, the city objects to the town’s lead agency designation for this action under SEQR.”

The Batavian sent questions on Wednesday to Planning Board Chairwoman Kathy Jasinski about why the town exceeded its wastewater capacity and what the town would do to rectify the matter so that it could proceed with the Hood project, which has received the blessings of Genesee County Economic Development for the $120 million expansion. 

Jasinski replied on Friday, referring The Batavian to the town engineer. The Batavian has sent questions to Steven Mountain and received an auto-response that he will be out of the office until March 27.

The Hood expansion is to be 32,500 square feet and pledges to create 48 new jobs while retaining 455 full-time equivalent jobs at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park. This project accommodates its automatic storage and retrieval system refrigerated warehouse. It will also include new batching and processing systems and other upgrades, which will allow the company to increase capacity and begin a new production line.

HP Hood’s investment is projected to result in a local economic impact of $49.87 million in wages and tax revenue. The GCEDC approved sales tax exemptions estimated at $4.52 million, a property tax abatement estimated at $549,705 based on an incremental increase in assessed value, and a mortgage tax exemption estimated at $536,000, bringing the value of the proposed financial agreements to approximately $5.6 million. 

GCEDC’s board recently approved the Hood financial package, prompting The Batavian to ask if the agency was aware of the wastewater situation and request comment about the city’s action to put a hold on the project.

“We are aware that the city and town of Batavia are continuing discussions regarding the current capacity at the wastewater treatment plant as our communities plan for the future,” Director of Marketing and Communications Jim Krencik said. “The GCEDC Board of Directors approved incentives that directly support HP Hood’s warehouse expansion. All IDA incentives cannot be approved until the completion of a project’s SEQR.  The non-warehouse project is currently under the SEQR review by the town. Soliciting comments and feedback from interested and involved agencies, such as the city’s letter, is the first step in that process.”

In her conclusion, Tabelski said the city is willing to consider “other mitigation options to decrease wastewater discharge by the town” so that it can remain within the contractual limit.

“Unfortunately, until such wastewater reduction options are implemented by the town, there is no wastewater capacity,” she said.