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Picnic planned at Kiwanis Park July 26 to celebrate 26th anniversary of ADA, must RSVP

By Billie Owens

Press release:

Batavia’s premier consumer-run human service and advocacy agency for people with disabilities, Independent Living of the Genesee Region (ILGR) will hold an ADA Picnic to celebrate the 26th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Open to the general public, and offering FREE food, fun, and games, the event will take place from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 26, at Kiwanis Park, 3808 W. Main Street Road, Batavia.

To ensure that we have enough, if you plan to attend, please R.S.V.P. to Donna Becker at (585) 815-8501, ext. 411.  

At the time the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed in 1990, a patchwork of laws existed to protect the civil rights of citizens with disabilities only in certain situations, such as access to airports, fairness in housing, and non-discrimination by federally funded institutions.

The ADA broadly bars disability-based discrimination in employment, telecommunications, by state and local governments, in places of public accommodation such as stores, restaurants, banks, theaters, hotels, and stadia, among other protections. This has made it the single most important body of law for a particular population, the disability community, since the protections for racial and ethnic minorities and women of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which inspired some of the ADA’s provisions.

No announcement expected today for $10 million development prize

By Howard B. Owens

City officials expected the governor's office to announce today the winners of the statewide contest for grants to assist in downtown economic development, but City Manager Jason Molino said this afternoon that he's received word not to expect the announcement today.

The city is competing with other municipalities in the Finger Lakes Economic Development region for a $10 million prize.

Pair of Roy Mason paintings dedicated to memory of two longtime supporters of Richmond Memorial Library

By Howard B. Owens

In a ceremony at the Richmond Memorial Library yesterday, two original works by Roy Mason were dedicated to the memory of Ted and Rosemary Surowka, who both dedicated many years of service to the library and the NIOGA library system.

Director Bob Conrad said library officials have been looking for a way to honor the Surowkas after Rosemary's death a year ago and when they realized one of the Mason paintings at the library had hung in Ted's school district office for 30 years, before Rosemary had it moved to the library after his retirement, it seemed natural to rededicate the paintings in their honor.

Plaques will be affixed to the wall next to the paintings.

Ted, who died in 2001, was the business administrator for Batavia City Schools for 36 years and served on the NIOGA Board of Trustees. Rosemary was a trustee of the library from 1995 to 2011 and board president from 1997 to 2011.

Mason is a significant American artist who worked mainly in watercolor. He moved to Batavia as a child when his father took over a family label-making business. After pursuing a career as an artist for a time, he returned to Batavia to work in his father's business. He retired in 1959 and moved to La Jolla, Calif., (San Diego County) and lived there until his death in 1972.

Martha Spinigan, director of the library for 28 years, said both Ted and Rosemary were steadfast in their work for the community and support of the library. Ted was a force behind moving the library expansion forward and getting it completed in the 1970s.

 

Beth Stich, current board president, read two resolutions dedicating the paintings.

Child possibly injured after car accident in Darien

By Billie Owens

A child may have an injury and will need evaluation by medics following a two-vehicle accident at Colby and Sumner roads. Darien fire and Mercy medics are responding.

UPDATE 11:38 a.m.: An adult female is complaining of mild back pain and a child has arm pain.

West Virginia's strong 7th inning ends Muckdogs streak

By Steve Ognibene

Pictured above, Pablo Garcia watching two West Virginia runs being scored.

A quiet start but energetic night coming into tonight’s second game versus West Virginia Black Bears, but the Batavia Muckdogs ended a three-game winning streak losing at Dwyer Stadium 9-4.

After the first few innings being tied, in the bottom of the sixth, Isaiah White stirs the field on a forced out grounder advancing Rony Cabrera to third who scored on Aaron Knapp’s single next at bat taking the game lead by one. Pablo Garcia hit a sacrifice fly to left which brought White in to score leading the Muckdogs after six innings 3-1.

Top of the 7th Muckdogs Justin Langley comes in, West Virginia unloaded on Batavia, scoring six runs runs by, George, Krause, Baur, Craig, Pabst for the Black Bears. Ty Provencher replaced Justin Langley, Provencher  escaped the inning allowing two runs by Leffler and Owen which brought West Virgina’s lead 9-3.

No change until the bottom of the ninth with two outs Batavia’s Jhonny Santos homers on a fly ball to left field to eventually end the night with Batavia losing 9-4, tying the series 1-1.

Muckdogs will play tonight ending the three-game home stances against West Virginia game time 7:05.

Accident reported on Ellicott Street Road at East Road

By Howard B. Owens

A two-car accident is reported at Ellicott Street Road and East Road, Bethany, with injuries.

The accident is not blocking.

Bethany and Stafford fire departments and Mercy EMS dispatched.

UPDATE 9:24 a.m.: A first responder reports traffic is backing up.

UPDATE 9:30 a.m.: Photo submitted by Jordan Fleming showing the wheel from the passenger vehicle jammed under the tires of the tractor trailer.

Two from Rochester allegedly caught in midst of drug transaction in Walmart parking lot

By Howard B. Owens
     Antoine Clark    Kristina Kretchmer

Agents of the Local Drug Task Force report that they interrupted a crack cocaine sale in progress in the parking lot of Walmart on Wednesday afternoon and took two Rochester residents into custody.

Arrested were Antoine T. Clark, 32, of Lake Avenue, Rochester, and Kristina M. Kretchmer, 34, of White Swan Street, Rochester.

Uniformed deputies of the Sheriff's Office assisted in the arrest.

Clark is charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance, 3rd, criminal possession of a controlled substance, 3rd, criminal possession of a weapon, 4th, and unlawful possession of marijuana.

Kretchmer is charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance, 3rd, conspiracy, 4th, criminal possession of a weapon, 4th, unlawful possession of marijuana and aggravated unlicensed operation, 3rd. 

Both suspects were arraigned in Batavia Town Court and Clark was held without bail and Kretchmer was held on $5,000 bail.

Sponsored Post: The Le Roy Regatta is July 17th. Register today!

By Lisa Ace

The 2016 Oatka Festival Regatta Information is Sunday, July 17th, at 2 p.m. at the Oatka Creek Bank on Wolcott Street in Le Roy. For registration: You may bring your boat the day of the event. Registration/check in table will open at 12:30 p.m. on the creek bank. Cost: $15 per person. Please make checks payable to Oatka Festival and mail to: Sam Vagg, 72 North St., Le Roy, NY 14482. The deadline to register is July 8th.

Please mail payment, the completed team registration form, the 2016 Oatka Festival regatta application, statement of physical condition, and waiver & release of liability form for EACH MEMBER OF YOUR TEAM. All documents are available for download at: http://www.oatkafestival.org/. Please register your team together.

Please contact Sam Vagg at svagg@bhcg.com with any questions. The Regatta Steering Committee reserves the right to close registration due to volume of registrants.

Child injured in car accident on Ellicott Street

By Billie Owens

A child is reportedly injured after a car accident at 300 Ellicott St. City fire, police and Mercy medics are responding.

UPDATE 10:52 a.m.: This was a mini-van vs. semi-truck accident. The passenger vehicle was northbound on Liberty Street and the semi-truck was westbound on Ellicott. Three witnesses told responders the passenger vehicle failed to stop at the red light. The vehicles clipped one another as a result. The child inside the mini-van was not injured and "was ambulatory" when medics arrived, but a front-seat passenger was taken to UMMC for evaluation. 

UPDATE 11:29 a.m.: At the same location, there is now a report of a truck that hit a power line "and something else" and now the caller can smell natural gas. City fire dispatched.

Pavilion All Stars finish second in tournament

By Howard B. Owens

The Pavilion U-10 baseball team had its best post-season finish in a decade, coming in second in a tournament held in Perry.

Pictured are: Christopher Doody. Mason Gilkes, Cole Harding, Grayson Harding, Landon Stoddard, Case Cummings, Zach Tillotson, Cameron Beck, Noah Hudson, Tyler True, Evan Kingdon, Ryan Williams, and coaches, Brandon Gilkes and Jason Tillotson, and head coach Tim Kingdon.  Coach Michelle Forti was unavailable for the photo.

Photo and information submitted by Ed Doody.

Elba youth beat Chili for championship

By Howard B. Owens

Photo and story submitted by Drew Muehlig.

A four-run fourth inning was the difference as Elba downed Chili 8-4 Saturday to win the youth major league baseball championship.

The Lancers were leading 4-2 heading into the fourth, but the insurance runs in that big inning proved to be the difference. Zach Howard led off the inning with a single, scoring on Randy McIntire’s double on the very next pitch. Jake Engle added an infield single and then Nate Esten connected on a two-out single to score McIntire, putting runners on the corners. Brendan Thompson then sent a hard grounder through shortstop that took a tremendous bounce over the approaching fielder. Thompson took advantage, stretching the hit into a triple to score two runs putting the Lancers up 8-2.

Chili would score two runs in the top half of the sixth but their comeback fell short.

Elba’s CJ Gottler struck out nine in earning the win on the mound while Howard fired seven strikeouts to collect the save. Gottler and Zach Marsceill had huge run-scoring singles to keep Elba in the game early. Anthony Zambito also singled for the Lancers, who finish the year at 15-1. 

Photo: Front row -- CJ Gottler, Anthony Zambito, Zach Howard; second row, Frank Warriner, Jake Engle, Randy McIntire; third row, Tyler Kauffman, Brendan Thompson, Gage Chamberlain, Arron Wyder, Nate Esten, Caden Muehlig, Zach Marsceill; back row, coaches Drew Muehlig, Brian Engle and Vern Howard.

Law enforcement to make special effort during 4th of July holiday to crack down onto impaired driving

By Billie Owens

Press release:

Genesee County STOP-DWI Coordinator Matt Landers announced that the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office, City of Batavia Police Department and the Village of Le Roy Police Department will participate in a special enforcement effort to crackdown on impaired driving.

The statewide STOP-DWI Crackdown efforts start on July 1st and will end on July 5th. The Fourth of July extended weekend is historically a deadly period for impaired driving. This year the 4th of July falls on a Monday, so we expect heavy traveling to begin on Thursday, June 30th and festivities to begin on Friday, July 1st and run through Tuesday, July 5th.

Americans love to celebrate the Fourth of July with family, friends, food and fireworks, but all too often the festivities turn tragic on the nation's roads. The fact is, this iconic American holiday is also one of the deadliest holidays of the year due to drunk-driving crashes. According to data from NHTSA, during July 4th holiday period over the five years (from 2010 to 2014), 752 people lost their lives in crashes involving drivers with a BAC of .08 or more.

These fatalities account for 42 percent of all motor vehicle traffic fatalities over this same five-year period. The New York State Police, County Sheriff and municipal law enforcement agencies will collaborate across the state and will be out in force in this coordinated effort to aggressively target those who put lives in danger.

Genesee County Undersheriff Bill Sheron wants you to know “The fourth of July holiday is for family gathering and celebration, let’s keep our families together, please celebrate responsibly.”

The July Fourth Weekend Crackdown is one of many statewide enforcement initiatives promoted by the New York State STOP-DWI Association. The Statewide STOP-DWI Crackdown Campaign also targets Labor Day Weekend, Halloween and the national Holiday Season in December.

While STOP-DWI efforts across New York have led to significant reductions in the numbers of alcohol and drug related fatalities, still too many lives are being lost because of crashes caused by drunk or impaired drivers. Highly visible, highly publicized efforts like the STOP-DWI Crackdown Campaign aim to further reduce the incidence of drunk and impaired driving.

Attorney in embezzlement case pled guilty on Friday

By Howard B. Owens
      Randolph Zickl

Updated at 2:22 p.m.

Randolph Zickl, the 81-year-old attorney, charged with grand larceny 2nd for stealing $75,000 from a former client, pled guilty to the charge in County Court on Friday, The Batavian has learned.

Since police departments only release information on arrests, and not court activity, that information wasn't available in the initial press release.

The guilty plea was uncovered by our news partner 13WHAM in a conversation with the Erie County District Attorney's Office and confirmed by The Batavian through a local source. 

Zickl will be sentenced Sept. 20.

Through court sources, 13WHAM learned that Zickl's victim was the widow of a client who died and Zickl handled the estate. He reportedly double-billed the client and then continued to withdraw money from the victim's account over a three-year (not two as previously reported) period.

If Zickl is able to make full restitution by Sept. 20, he will likely receive a probationary sentence.

He also resigned from the New York State Bar Association.

Because Zickl has two sons working the Genesee County District Attorney's Office, the Erie County office handled the prosecution and Zickl appeared in Genesee County Court, but an Erie County judge presided over the case.

Previously: Respected local attorney accused of stealing from elderly client

Silicon supplier makes investment in 1366 Technologies

By Howard B. Owens

A Boston-based company that has picked Genesee County for the location of its silicon wafer plant announced a major strategic move today that officials say will provide a tremendous positive impact on cash flow.

Wacker Chemie, a supplier of highly purified silicon, is making a $15 million equity investment in 1366 Technologies through the supply of the silicon that will be used by 1366 to manufacture its advanced silicon wafers.

The silicon wafers will be manufactured in a plant at the Science, Technology & Advanced Maufacturing Park (STAMP) in the Town of Alabama through a process that officials with 1366 say will greatly reduce the cost of solar power.

The partnership will also include a technical collaboration between the two companies. Wacker Chemie will provide expertise in silicon as well as facility design, engineering and construction.

“We see the potential for the Direct Wafer technology to provide an excellent contribution to accelerate global solar adoption," said Ewald Schindlbeck, president, Wacker Polysilicon. "1366 has developed a commercially valid answer to a longtime manufacturing challenge. We’re eager to add our high-quality products and bring our expertise to the effort.” 

Frank van Mierlo, CEO of 1366, said the partnership is a good sign for the future adoption of his company's groundbreaking solar wafer solution.

“Commercial traction is gained when technical success and financial support are established within the industry," van Mierlo said. "This partnership with the world’s most technically advanced silicon provider clearly demonstrates market acceptance for the Direct Wafer technology. Wacker’s silicon is the best in the industry and has been a crucial competitive edge for Wacker’s customers. It will do the same for 1366."

The manufacturing solution developed by 1366 offers a significant advantage over traditional ingot-based production technologies, according to company officials. The process makes wafers in a single step, pulling them directly from molten silicon instead of today’s multistep, energy- and capital-intensive approach, resulting in significant wafer production cost savings.

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