While the pace of work at Ellicott Station has slowed to a crawl since August, when Sam Savarino announced he was closing his development company, there continues to be the occasional contractor on the site doing some work.

On Wednesday, there was a two-man crew putting more siding on the front of the apartment building under construction.

There has yet to be an announcement from local officials or Savarino about the future of the project.  There is reportedly a search underway to find a new contractor to complete the project, which is potentially hampered by a very low-income requirement for renters from the Office of NYS Homes and Community Renewal, but officials have yet to reveal any progress on that front.

For previous coverage of Ellicott Station, click here.

These are photos taken on Judge Road in Alabama on late Wednesday afternoon.

Photos by Howard Owens.

Shop Oliver's Candies. Shop the Sweet Life Country Store

Batavia PD is seeking the public's assistance in identifying a person of interest in relation to a theft investigation.

The police did not release details on the alleged crime -- its location or what may have been stolen. The police did not say whether the photo above directly corresponds to the incident under investigation.

Anybody with information that could help police identify the person in the photo are asked to contact Sgt. Christopher Lindsey at 585-345-6365.

The police department also accepts tips through an online form.

Press Release:

Byron-Bergen Elementary School doubled down on its commitment to reducing food waste in landfills and instead producing clean soil for gardening and farming. This was done through a partnership with an earthworm named Lloyd and 1.8 million of his friends. 

Lloyd lives in a compost facility operated by Impact Earth, a not-for-profit organization out of Rochester that works with the community to repurpose food waste and paper products into nutrient-rich soil. The composting program is a school-wide effort under the leadership of the third-grade students.

“Byron-Bergen Elementary is one of the first schools in the area to undertake this kind of project,” said Impact Earth Educational Manager Doug Carney. “Instead of going to the landfill and doing nothing useful, this waste will compost into nutrient-rich soil to grow better food. It’s an investment in the future.”

Each day at lunch, students sort their uneaten food items and disposable paper products into blue buckets next to the garbage cans. 

At the end of all the lunch periods, a rotating group of third-grade students, the Compost Crew, assist Cleaner and Lunch Monitor Nancy Smith in loading the buckets onto a cart and emptying them into Impact Earth dumpster totes behind the cafeteria. 

Smith then washes the buckets, and the Compost Crew dries them and stacks them for the next day.

Every Friday, Impact Earth removes the waste from the dumpster totes to be mixed with wood chips and added to the piles for Lloyd and his friends. 

“It’s something we can do to try to help the environment,” said Smith. “The soil needs the nutrients, and (the students) are going to be the helpers.” 

Byron-Bergen's third-grade student Mackenzie Wilcox is looking forward to participating. “I think (composting) is great! I like it. The best part is that we get to feed our leftover food to the worms at the composting plant.”

The idea for the composting program began at the Earth Day 2023 assembly. Each grade level collected their trash from lunch and discovered that each class produced an average of 15 pounds of landfill waste per lunch. The discussion of how to reduce this amount led to a waste survey carried out by the student council in October of 2023.

Impact Earth Educational Manager Doug Carney helped the students separate their lunch-time waste. According to Carney, 60% of the cafeteria waste assessed from one day of lunch, over 115 pounds, could be composted or eaten later. Carney noted that “anything that is unopened should be taken home or saved for a snack.”

“I’m really excited for kids to use the compost bins and put our waste to better use, especially being in a community affected by waste management,” said Elementary Principal Kristin Loftus. “I think it will be great for us to do our part to reduce what we are sending to the landfill.” 

Part of the Impact Earth partnership includes a soil give-back. Byron-Bergen will receive a delivery of composted soil in May to use in or around the schools or in the greenhouse.

“It’s a great opportunity for the adults and students to work together to have a positive impact on the earth,” said Byron-Bergen Facilities Director Roger Caldwell. 

“The students are very excited about this project. We will continue to reinforce that the priority is for them to eat their lunches,” said Loftus. “Lloyd and his friends will get plenty of food. Only after the students are full should we add their leftovers to the apple cores and napkins in the compost bins.”

The composting program serves as a leadership opportunity for the third grade as well as a chance for all students and staff to take a moment to look at what is in their lunch, how it is packaged, and the best choices for their food waste. The waste assessment and assembly were sponsored by the Byron-Bergen S.T.E.P. Booster Club.

Updated Feb. 23: EVENT CANCELED

Press Release:

Genesee Cancer Assistance (GCA) is adding a new fundraising event on March 2. The Bowling Event will be a fun-filled day of bowling, contests, and shenanigans supporting GCA! This event is for everyone, so bring your friends and family! 

The event will take place at Strikeforce Lanes, 49 S. Pearl St., Oakfield. To accommodate everyone, there are three shifts available: noon, 3 p.m., and 6 p.m. Entry for teams of four is $120 and teams can register online at www.geneseecancerassistance.org. 

There will also be additional raffles, including a cooler of booze available, and Rusty Rail Bar & Grill will be offering food and drink specials! Come out and have some fun while supporting GCA. All money raised will stay in Genesee County.

Sponsorship opportunities are also available! Can’t make it to bowl? You can still support the event as a sponsor. Lane sponsors will have their sign above each lane for the duration of the event at $150, with only twelve available!

Additionally, Strike and Spare sponsorships are available, please visit the website or contact Event Coordinator, Kathy Antinore, at kathy@geneseecancerassistance.org.

For more information about this event, future events, our services, or how to volunteer, please visit www.geneseecancerassistance.org or call the office at (585) 345-0417.

Press Release:

Genesee County is seeking input from residents and users of its website, co.genesee.ny.us, to improve the overall citizen experience online. The County is committed to making the website more user-friendly and relevant to the community's needs.

The survey, accessible at this link: https://bit.ly/GenCoWebSurvey, is designed to gather feedback on various aspects of the current website, such as layout, content organization, and functionality. Genesee County encourages community members to participate and share their thoughts on improving the website.

"We want to make our website more efficient and user-friendly, and we need the input of those who use it most – the residents of Genesee County," said Steven Falitico, Public Communications and Web Design Specialist for Genesee County. "This survey is a straightforward way for people to provide their insights and help shape the future of the online platform."

The survey will remain open through Feb. 26, and all responses will be confidential. At the end of the survey, there will be an option to sign up as a “test user.” This test would take approximately 5-10 minutes to complete.

Individuals who sign up as test users will receive an email in early March. Genesee County appreciates the community's involvement in this effort and looks forward to implementing changes based on the feedback received.

As Genesee County Democratic Committee chairman, Michael Plitt’s message is clear and simple.

Anybody can run for local office. It’s not overly complicated, and you don’t even need a ton of background or experience or spend oodles of money on the campaign, he says. 

“I think people are reluctant to get involved in today's society, which is unfortunate. Because the fewer people that are on the ballot, the fewer choices people have in November. You know, it's not a secret, Genesee County is predominantly Republican. And, you know, it can be difficult at times to run as a Democrat. Most of the seats are incumbent Republicans,” he said. “But, as a party, we want to try and encourage new voices and new faces, if they're interested in running for office, to — why not at least — have that conversation? You know, it's not for everyone. But we want to present the options and see if maybe running for public office is something that's right for you, so we just keep reaching out every year.”

There’s a long list of positions open for the 2024 election, including:

• U.S. Congress District 24
• New York State Senate District 54
• New York State Assembly District 139
• Genesee County Sheriff
• Genesee County Treasurer
• Genesee County Coroner
• Town of Batavia - Town Justice
• Town of Byron - Town Justice
• Town of Byron - Town Clerk
• Town of Elba - Town Justice
• Town of Oakfield - Town Justice 

The Batavian asked Plitt if he had a sense of why it is difficult to get a good dose of candidates to run for office. Is it a feeling of being the lone wolf in a heavily Republican count or being up against the odds? 

“I think it’s a combination of all the above,” he said. “There are 6,000 Democrats in Genesee County. But running for office as a Democrat requires a time commitment because you’re going to have to do the work of the voters to get elected. So I think people, they may be reluctant to do that. We had some good candidates this last cycle, for sure. I'm very proud of the people we did put on the ballot. And then this year, we have a lot of the state and congressional races and, obviously, running for Congress takes a different level of commitment than running for Byron town justice.”

The Democrat Party will support and encourage new candidates and provide them with training and assistance to help craft a campaign, he said. 

“And how to talk to voters. No one would walk alone,” he said. “That's our job as a committee is to support people who are running for office, especially those running for the first time. We’ve had some successful campaigns on the local level, and even at the higher levels for Senate and Assembly, it’s pretty easy to get on the ballot. I don’t think most people realize that. And our job as a committee is to show people how to do that, how to participate in democracy.”

The requirements do vary depending on the level of government one is interested in, but for something such as a town board position, it may take only 20 to 30 signatures to get on the ballot, he said. And some towns still have caucuses when a candidate expresses interest for a position.

 “Last year we did have interest in Alexander and we had a caucus, we filled a Democratic candidate for town board last year in Alexander, so that was exciting,” he said. “So Alexander voters had a choice.”

For this year, the focus is on the high-level races, he said, such as county coroner, sheriff, and treasurer, with four-year terms. Incumbency has its advantages, he said, and having vacancies, such as with the sheriff position, it “does create opportunities for people to run.” He added a note to Sheriff William Sheron who has announced that he will not run for reelection, that “we wish him well in his retirement.”

Plitt would not disclose if there were prospective Democrat candidates for offices other than David Wagenhauser, who has publicly announced his challenge to Claudia Tenney to represent the NY-24 Congressional seat.

Plitt advised anyone interested in running for a seat to observe and/or talk to the person doing that job now to better understand the responsibilities, what it entails, and how much time it takes. You don’t need to be a millionaire or know a secret handshake to get involved; just spend some time.

“You can contact me or contact the Board of Elections; they'll tell you how to run for town board or any of the seats and how many signatures. It's not that hard to run for local office. Congress, obviously, is much harder. But financially, yes, you can run a campaign for one of the justice seats pretty easily, and if you're a registered Democrat, and you get the Democratic Party's endorsement, the party will help you run for local office,” he said. 

 He reminds folks about what President Barack Obama once said: "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

To express your interest or for more information, email the Genesee County Democratic Committee at geneseenydemocrats@gmail.com. Deadline is Feb. 14.

Music has been a big part of Melzie Case's life since she was four years old when she first started piano lessons at Roxy's Music Store.

Along the way, she's had teachers and mentors to guide her, and one of the most important was Roxie Choate, the former president of the Genesee Symphony Orchestra, herself a retired teacher, who died in October.

Case, who first served on the GSO board as a high school student, has stepped in to lead the GSO.

"Roxie was a passionate and unabashedly determined leader," Case said. "Under her guidance, I learned how to positively steer the GSO Board and how to be a leader in music ministry. We connected and bonded over music, from appreciating classical music to playing piano and organ duets together, and forged a seemingly unlikely friendship through our love for music in the community. Her influence continues to serve me well on a daily basis."

In addition to working together on the GSO board for a number of years, Choate and Case became well acquainted with one another musically at the Batavia First Presbyterian Church, where Coate was an organist, and Case played piano.

Coate had been a music teacher in Oakfield-Alabama. After graduating from Batavia High School, she earned a degree in music education from Buffalo State University.  The 30-year-old Case is now a music teacher at Batavia Middle School.

Her musical journey has prepared her well for both roles.  Starting with those piano lessons at Roxy's Music, she participated in musical theater as a child, was a member of the chorus in middle school and high school, and along the way, she became a percussionist to go along with singing, playing the piano, and organ. She first joined the GSO as a percussionist while still a teen, and then Choate asked her to be a student rep on the GSO board.  Following a break for college, Case rejoined the orchestra and the board as she wrapped up her education in 2016.

"I like GSO because you meet so many people in the community, people from all ages and backgrounds. That is what really drew me in," Case said. 

The orchestra, she said, is comprised of “local folks, people from surrounding counties, music teachers and people with jobs outside of music.  It’s such a wonderful group of people. We have a wonderful time rehearsing together and putting on concerts together.”

Obviously, Case is passionate about music.  She thinks music helps bring people together.

"Music has a unique way of connecting people like nothing else. Music is healing, exciting, joyful, engaging," Case said. "I see every day the impact that music has on people of all ages and how it is a creative outlet in so many ways. Music is a part of nearly every moment of my day, whether I’m singing, playing, teaching, or listening."

One reason GSO has thrived in recent years is the leadership of music director and conductor S. Shade Zajac, Case said.

“I enjoy working with Shade," Case said. "The whole board does. We appreciate that he comes to board meetings when he can or gets on a call with us and that he brainstorms with us about concerts. We really have a great time working with him. He has a great vision when it comes time to select repertoire. The music he picks pushes us all as musicians, and we feel grateful to have him at the helm.”

As president of the board, Case, of course, has a role in ensuring the GSO continues to build on its success, and she that can happen through collaboration with other arts groups in the community and making connections with young people who are interested in music.

Entertaining programs, such as the one Zajac has programmed for Saturday at GCC, will also help garner growing support for the orchestra.

"The program is a blend of emotions," Case said. "There are some familiar pieces and some new ones that people will enjoy."

One of the new pieces is a composition by Paul McCartney.  Yes, the former Beatle writes more than pop songs.  He has composed a number of classical pieces, including Spiral, which the GSO will perform at the concert.

"I'm a huge Beatles fan, so I'm excited to play one of Paul McCartney's lesser-known works," Case said.

The rest of the program is comprised of pieces by other English composers, as Vaughn-Williams and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

The anchor piece of the program is Elgar's “Enigma Variations.” 

"It's one of my favorite pieces in the entire literature," Zajac told The Batavian at the start of the season. "It's a very special piece. I've conducted only one movement from it (previously). It's a remarkable piece of music. Every note and every bar sounds like English music, which is incredible because you can trace every note to some other composer. You can hear the influences of Beethoven and Bach and Wagner. But somehow, he makes it all sound like English music."

Choate is, as they say in show business, a tough act to follow, Case acknowledged.  She led the board. She often handled concert publicity. She was also the personnel manager.

"Roxie did so much.  We find things all the time we didn’t even know about," Case said. "As a board, we say all the time, 'Oh, Roxie did that, and she did this, and she did that.' She was a huge advocate for GSO and for music education.”

The GSO, with what it has achieved and how it can yet grow, will carry on because of a lot of people over the past eight decades, but Choate certainly contributed to GSO's success.

"I have so much pride in GSO," Case said. "We have a professional orchestra right here in Batavia. We can offer to our community that experience. You can go to Buffalo and Rochester and hear those orchestras, or you can stay right here in Batavia and hear a professional orchestra."

The GSO concert on Saturday at GCC begins at 7 p.m.  Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors, and students with an ID can get in for free.

Photos by Howard Owens.

Press Release:

The Genesee County Board of Elections announces a change in the party enrollment deadline for the 2024 primary elections, including the April 2, 2024 Presidential Primary. All  applications for party enrollment must be received by the Genesee County Board of Elections no later  than February 14, 2024. Any requests received after this date will be processed on July 5, 2024. 

For those wishing to make changes to their party enrollment, the Genesee County Board of Elections  encourages prompt submission of applications to avoid any processing delays.

Sammy DiSalvo has been no wallflower when it comes to speaking his mind about city matters, and the Batavia resident wants to be a conduit for anyone with concerns about the current City Council budget before a final vote later this month.

DiSalvo wants to invite any interested city residents to discuss their concerns during a meeting this weekend. It’s at 10 a.m. Saturday at Holland Land Office Museum, 131 W. Main St., Batavia.

I reached out to some of my connections that I had around Batavia and then people that I've just known for awhile in Batavia, about what the council is proposing, specifically for the water and stormwater tax. And just general unhappiness about it, and then just about some random other things that have been proposed," DiSalvo said to The Batavian. "And some people want to get together and talk in a more unified way to present something to council, as opposed to a bunch of people just saying unified things that have mixed messages. And some of them have said that they talked to their council members about various aspects of either the water one or just other things proposed in the budget. So it's really going to be kind of an open floor discussion to bring together something in a unified front."

The idea is to have a discussion, gather citizen concerns, and then present those during the next council meeting, which is at 7 p.m. Feb. 12 at City Hall. 

DiSalvo has been personally prompted to get involved in the proposed $37 million 2024-25 budget as a new home owner who doesn’t want to see an increase in taxes, whether they be for property, water or a potentially new stormwater tax being proposed by city management.  

The budget as is includes a two-cent property tax increase per $1,000 assessed value and a 19-cent per 1,000 gallons of water increase per household. City Manager Rachael Tabelski has raised the possibility of tacking on

 a stormwater tax for every property owner, but no decision or definite amounts have been finalized.

“I don't think, given our city's relatively stable population, and just kind of how the economy is going right now, that taxing people more with a brand new tax that in the future is probably going to be increased, and also adds barriers for homebuyers to have to pay additional taxes when they buy a home, especially as a young homebuyer who just bought a home and knows the huge hurdle that we climb to do it,” he said. “And it's just another barrier. But then in general, in terms of their other stuff they want to do. I'm also concerned about the number of new positions they want to add. I think that they need to be added, but they need to be added over time, not all at once, because it's a huge strain on the budget, essentially.”

As one who has spoken his mind at prior council meetings and run for a council position, DiSalvo has no qualms with sharing his thoughts and opinions with city leaders. 

He believes there may be others wanting to express their varied thoughts as well, and everyone is invited to attend Saturday’s meeting so that perhaps a more “unified front” can be presented at council’s meeting. The meeting should last between 6o to 90 minutes, he said. 

The Batavian asked if DiSalvo had any wanderlust for another run at a council seat, and he had no definitive answer at this time, he said. He is working on his doctorate, and “I don’t really know what is going to come after that,” he said. 

“This is not me trying to do something like that,” he said. “Again, this is me now that I’m a homeowner having different concerns that definitely are at the forefront of my mind. And people, I think, because of my previous runs, probably trust me to be able to speak eloquently about this, and at least moderate Saturday’s conversation.”

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Press Release:

The FEC released fundraising totals for NY-24. Rep. Claudia Tenney’s, numbers showed:

• About 340k raised for the 4th Q 2023 and $1.1 million for fiscal year 2023
• Tenney’s “Victory Fund”  brought in an additional $290k for the year
• $200,000 of the Victory Fund was from a billionaire energy investor and over $70k from another
• Of Tenney’s total take, over 70% was from Big Corporations, Corporate PACS,  lobbyists, and their officers

“This is just wrong,” said David Wagenhauser, who is running to unseat Tenney. “We work for the people signing our paycheck - the people signing Tenney’s check are not the people of NY-24; they are Pfizer, billionaires, bankers, and Wall Street elites,” he said.

“Tenney’s fundraising totals won’t tell you who will win the election, but a review of her donors will tell you who’s got their money's worth and how she will vote this year,” Wagenhauser stated.  

He pointed to Tenney’s previous votes for Big Pharma (she voted against price caps on insulin for diabetics and other efforts to make prescription drugs more affordable); her votes for Big Insurance and against covering people with pre-existing conditions and to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), that would have left millions uninsured; and her votes to cut tax rates for billionaires and Big Corporations, causing the national debt to skyrocket.

While raising big PAC money, Tenney’s campaign also spent huge sums: $845 thousand dollars last year. “Hundreds of thousands of dollars to slick DC consulting firms and $750 meals at exclusive DC insider haunts such as the Capitol Hill Club show just how out of touch Tenney has become and the respect she shows for other people’s money.” Wagenhauser continued, “They go in rich, they come out richer.”

Wagenhauser’s fundraising totals for 2023 were also released yesterday.  They showed he raised over $6k in a very short time after his Christmastime launch. He noted he is significantly above that amount now.  He also noted that unlike Tenney, his campaign will not accept money from Big Corporations, Corporate PACS or lobbyists. “We are working for the people of our District, and will fight for our neighbors, not Wall Street, not K Street lobbyists and not Big Pharma.”

“I can guarantee you that we will be outraised and outspent by Tenney.” he said, “But we will not be outworked or out-organized, or beaten in November by a career politician who no longer represents the interests or values of the people of this District.”  

He concluded, “Tenney once campaigned on fighting for people, not PACS. Her FEC filings and the video I am releasing today tell a different story.  She’s changed and the lines she’s crossed tell us who she’s really fighting for.”

Press release:

Batavia Downs gaming operations had a record-setting weekend from February 2-4, with more than $14 million in credits played at its gaming facility, according to Dennis Bassett, Chairman of the Board of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. and Henry Wojtaszek, President & CEO of the organization.

“In a highly competitive market for not only gaming dollars but overall entertainment spending, consumers are time and again choosing Batavia Downs,” said Bassett.  “It is clear our marketing efforts that show our venue as the best value and best gaming experience in the region have been successful.  The numbers don’t lie.”

The facility reported $14,048,499 of "coin in" or credits played on its gaming floor. That was nearly 5 percent more than $13.379 million the facility took in during the 2023 New Year’s Eve weekend.

Wojtaszek pointed to several factors, including the facility hosting back-to-back sold-out BBQ and Bourbon events on Feb. 2 and Feb. 3, which drew over 240 people inside its events center.  Local Band Highway 31 played to a packed 34 Rush Sports Bar on Saturday night.  Sunday’s Cookware giveaway promotion saw more than 775 guests claim the item. The 84-room hotel was sold out all weekend, while good weather and no football playoff games gave plenty of opportunity to those seeking some fun over the weekend.

"As I walked our gaming floor this weekend, it was clear that a lot of the turnout was from word of mouth, as many patrons told me they had heard great things about Batavia Downs and had been wanting to check it out,” said Wojtaszek.  “That type of grassroots publicity is invaluable in raising the recognition of our brand.”

The busy weekend stands as a snapshot of how Batavia Downs has become a major regional draw and destination, not only creating a business within the venue but also a spin-off business for the Batavia economy.

Other weekend highlights include:

• Attendance of nearly 11,000
• Net Win was $1,023,184.21
• The New York State Education Fund, via the State Gaming Commission, received $501,360, which is 49% of the Net Win.
• The  "Purse Fund" that supports on site racing operations received $102,381.  Batavia’s Winter Racing meet has set several records in handle this year already.

“Over the last five years, we have been on a path of significant, consistent growth,” said Bassett.  “When we make strategic decisions, like buying the hotel or launching a concert series, we do so with future growth in mind. You are seeing the tremendous results from that long-term planning. I think this tells everyone we are doing things the right way.  As the weather clears and our events schedule picks up, we look forward to generating more revenues for our member municipalities and the state’s education fund.”

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Take any object -- a house, office building, highway, bridge, car -- all will eventually fall apart if not properly maintained. 

The same is true of war memorials, the monuments communities erect to honor their war dead and help tell the history of their hometowns.

Rep. Claudia Tenney has co-authored a bill she hopes will help communities preserve those sacred monuments so the legacies they are meant to honor live on well after we're all gone.

The Remembering Our Local Heroes Act, co-sponsored by Rep. Chris Pappas from New Hampshire, allocates $2 million a year over five years that will act as matching funds for community groups to mount efforts to preserve war memorials as well as monuments honoring those who served in law enforcement and fire services. 

If a community group, such as a veterans group or a Boy Scout troop, can raise $10,000, for example, the group can apply for a grant of up to $20,000, which would result in a total of $30,000 for the project. If $150,000 is needed for the project, the group would need to raise $50,000.  The maximum federal grant under the bill, which is still pending in committee, would be $100,000 per project.

"We really would love to be able to do this," Tenney said. "There are so many areas where you go to, especially throughout my district, where you see these beautiful old monuments, including your Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines Monument that you have here, the Upton Monument, that could definitely be upgraded and cleaned and maintained. A lot of these monuments really aren't being maintained, especially the monument for our heroes."

Tenney stopped in Batavia on Saturday to visit the Upton Monument and discuss her bill with The Batavian.

"This (bill) would allow the federal government to participate in helping maintain veterans memorials and remembering local heroes," Tenney said.

In order to unlock access to the federal grant, all of the money to preserve a monument would need to come from private donations. Local governments could not help fund the project.

The bill combines twin interests and passions for Tenney, recognizing the sacrifices of those who have served their nation and their communities, and history. During the interview, she talked a good deal about Upstate New York's rich history and its contributions to creating the nation during the Revolution, the abolitionists of New York who helped free the slaves, most notably with the Underground Railroad, but also leading figures Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman, and New York's efforts to preserve the union during the Civil War and its role in the War of 1812.

"I brought Burgess Owens (to New York), who is a Republican, former football player, a Black Republican, whose hero is Harriet Tubman, his whole life, and he never knew that Harriet Tubman had a house in Auburn," Tenney said. "So I brought him in, and we went everywhere. He was amazed. We did the full tour. We went to all the different sites. And he was like, 'Wow, I can't believe this.' You know, we have such a rich history."

The germ of the bill began when Tenney served in the New York State Legislature, and she learned that Vietnam Veterans often have a hard time unlocking support that's available to other veterans groups because of the lingering controversies of that war.  During that time, she visited a group that wished to build a Vietnam memorial, but they couldn't access federal funds.  When she was first elected to Congress, she introduced the first version of this bill designed to allow any community group that takes on the task of ensuring local heroes are appropriately honored to tap into a small pot of federal funds to assist the effort.

"We (New York) were critically important in all the wars, whether it's the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the War of 1812," Tenney said. "I think it's important that we know our history."

The Upton Monument was dedicated in August 1919 (see the 100th-anniversary documentary produced by The Batavian embedded below), with construction funded by donations and contributions from the city of Batavia and Genesee County.  It was constructed by Wardon Monuments, a company that built monuments throughout the northeast, including Gettysburg, and had its headquarters on Evans Street in Batavia.  Officially, it is the Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines Monument, but it carries a bronze statue of Civil War hero Gen. Emory Upton, who was from Batavia.

At 105 years old, it shows some age -- discolored bronze and cracks in the stone, including a large chunk of granite missing from the base.  There has been no known effort over the past several years -- and The Batavian has made inquiries -- among either private groups or the county government to take steps to ensure it is maintained and preserved.

That isn't unusual in her NY-24 district, Tenney indicated, because local governments are so cash-strapped these days.

On Memorial Day and Veterans Day, Tenney said she often goes for a ride on her motorcycle through the district and will stop at various memorials along her route.

"I'll drive around to the monuments and just kind of place a little flag or just kind of see what condition they're in," Tenney said.  "I did that a couple of years ago, I didn't last year, but I did that, and it was just really interesting to see how many people actually do care about what's in their community. But there's no money, and all these local governments are strapped with unfunded mandates from the state and all these other issues, so we have this as something that is supplemental."

When we remember our history, Tenney noted, it binds us to our community and it teaches our children the value of their community.

"If you don't remember the people who really founded your community, the principles that it was founded upon and that people actually served, died, sacrificed, lost life and limb, I think that really sends a message," Tenney said. "We want to send a message to our young people that their community is worth something and that they should be proud of their community, of the people that founded it."

Photos by Howard Owens.

Public Health Director Paul Pettit took a deep breath before launching into his annual report for Human Services Committee members Monday, covering everything from lead and radon poisoning to drug and virus wastewater analysis, skyrocketing preschool transportation costs, and some good news for Genesee and Orleans counties’ accreditation progress.

The  GLOW-based health department will be working from a $1.3 million grant for the next five years to detect homes with radon, mold and lead and remediate them for safer, healthier places for families — children in particular — to live. 

That program adds to a heavy advertising initiative to educate folks about the potential presence and dangers of lead in older homes. The department uses technology that can evaluate paint layer by layer — even six and seven layers deep — to sense if there is lead present, Pettit said. 

“Do you get a lot of calls to do this?” Legislator John Deleo said.

“We do,” Pettit said, underscoring that by telling the group there were 31 cases of children this past year with elevated blood levels of lead. 

The warning level has been a five, which the Centers for Disease Control just lowered to 3.5, he said. New York State has yet to catch up with that rating.

“New York State has not adopted that yet. But that is under discussion and consideration. If it does, that will increase the potential action in need, you know, for kiddos that may be poisoned, and we’ll need to go in and do more work within the homes,” he said. “So basically, if it's above five, we provide education information, but we don't really get involved from the action level on the environmental, the home side.”

Other funding measures have included a $10,000 grant for radon education, homeowners were reimbursed $145,857 through 2023 for a septic repair program, and a $250,000 grant will go toward a GLOW region interactive healthy neighborhoods program that runs through 2028.

The department also received a federal HUD lead educational and remediation grant of $2,455,000 to be used through 2028, and $248,266 from the Centers for Disease Control for lead education and assistance to homeowners, to be used through 2026; a $95,514 annual Healthy Neighborhoods grant for the city and town of Batavia through 2027; and $131,738 from the CDC for infrastructure, namely for staff retention and development. 

The department has been collecting data from wastewater for analysis about the types and amounts of opioids and various drugs used here and has been doing the same for viruses of COVID, flu, and RSV. The public can actually go online to the health department’s website and see the results of the virus collection to see a resident county's current status. 

When it comes to finances for the department, preschool transportation is taking much of the heat. The bill was $862,000 to bus those kids this past year, and “we will probably be pushing $1 million for busing preschool” this year, he said. Costs for transportation and center programs have been on the rise as an "underfunded mandate," he said.

“One of the drivers that’s really expensive is that more kids get referred.  You probably saw on the governor's proposal, she's proposing a 5 percent rate increase across the board. And then there's a 4 percent rider for rural counties, which we would fall under that bucket. So that'd be a 9 percent rate increase for early intervention,” he said. “And this is one of those programs that, again, we don't have a lot of control over the services that are provided … we do sit at those meetings, we send someone to all the meetings to have a voice, but ultimately it's a full committee decision on what services are provided, and then we are the payer. That's the way the system is set up in New York. You don't get full decision, but we pay the bill locally.” 

He shared enthusiasm for this year’s push to get the department nationally accredited with the Public Health Accreditation Board. (See also GO Health pursues national accreditation.) 

“So it's national standards. We haven't been accredited. We have not. We had about 93 percent of all of our measures fully and partially met in the initial push last fall. So they just want a little bit more,” he said. “We're close. Staff, I think, wants to get there. I want to get there. It's been a long ride. COVID slowed us down. And we're close, I think we'll get there pretty soon.”