Reader Patti Williams sent in this picture of an owl that her son, Andrew Williams, took while he was out turkey hunting. She says her son, who lives in Byron, saw the owl several times, then was able to get close enough to take this photo.

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A three-car accident with one person suffering minor facial and leg injuries is reported on the eastbound Thruway at mile marker 383.3. Le Roy fire and ambulance are responding along with mutual aid from Mercy Medics.

UPDATE 3:03 p.m.: Le Roy medics are en route to Strong Memorial Hospital. A second patient complained of back and neck pain and was also transported to a hospital. The Le Roy assignment is back in service.

Press release:

This Saturday, May 10, the Genesee County 4H Swine Club will be holding its 2nd Annual Pulled Pork Fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets are $10 and walk-ins are welcome. It is eat in or take out. The dinner includes pulled pork, potatoes, cole slaw, baked beans, dessert and beverage. It is at the Genesee County Fairgrounds, in the Kennedy Building.

Tim Adams and Heather Weber are heading up this fundraising effort. With Tim being named Genesean of the Year, the Genesee County 4H has recieved great publicity this year, which was well needed and we hope to continue that. Last year, this was the biggest fundraiser in Genesee County 4H history.

This is truly a great fundraiser for these kids. It teaches them team work, accountability, responsibility and most importantly it gets them involved with the community. Our business community has been great to us to for this event as well. More than 20 local businesses donated various items for this event.

They include: Java Farm Supply; Lawley Genesee Insurance; Empire Tractor; D.J. Custom Meat Cutting; Red Osier Landmark Restaurant; Adams Welding and Fabrication; Scott Adams Trucking; Save-a-Lot; Batavia Restaurant Supply; Target; Eastown Beverage; S.J. Starowitz Farm; Oak Ridge Farm; Josh and Heather Weber; Sweet Pea's Cupcakery Cafe; Sweet Endings Bakery; Sweet Ecstasy Bakery & Bistro; Agri-Fab; Bimbo Bakery Outlet; Farm Credit East; H.L.W. Acres; and many more individuals and businesses.

Without the help and support of these businesses and our community, great organizations like 4H would not be as successful as they are.

Press release:

Single-game tickets for all 2014 Muckdogs’ home games at Dwyer Stadium go on sale Monday, May 12 beginning at 9 a.m. at the Dwyer Stadium Box Office or over the phone by calling (585) 343-5454. Normal box office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

The same great, affordable ticket prices are back again in 2014. Tickets range from $7.50 for box seats to just $6.50 for adult General Admission tickets and $5.50 for kids and senior General Admission tickets.

During the season, the ticket office opens on game days at 9 a.m. Monday-Friday and closes at the end of the fifth inning. On Saturday and Sunday, the ticket office will open at 10 a.m. and close after the fifth inning.

Season tickets, coupon books, ticket packages, and group tickets are on sale now.

For more information, visit Muckdogs.com or call (585)343-5454 and press zero, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Muckdogs open their 2014 home schedule on Saturday, June 14 vs. the Auburn Doubledays at 7:05 p.m. The annual Independence Day celebration is on July 3rd this year.

In addition to their Pinckney Division rivals, the Muckdogs will welcome the New York Yankees (Staten Island), Boston Red Sox (Lowell), New York Mets (Brooklyn) and the Detroit Tigers (Connecticut) farm teams to Dwyer Stadium in 2014.

A demolition crew spent the morning tearing down the second house on West Main Street next to Castilone Chyrstler Dodge to make room for the dealership's expansion. Rather than move out of the city, the owners Steve Castilone and Greg Strauss decided to remodel their existing showroom and expand on West Main.

Joseph A. Saraceni, 17, of Linwood Avenue, Batavia, is charged with first-degree rape, a Class B felony. Saraceni was arrested by Batavia PD following an investigation by Det. Charles Dudek and Det. Thad Mart in an alleged incident reported Nov. 11 on School Street, Batavia. No further details released.

Lance Mercado, 23, of Holland Avenue, Batavia, is charged with operating a motor vehicle impaired by drugs. Mercardo was arrested after Batavia PD received a reported of a possible intoxicated driver in the parking lot of McDonald's at 1:18 a.m., Tuesday. Mercardo was arrested by Officer Matthew Lutey.

Eric J. Davis, 36, of Corfu, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Davis was arrested by State Police for an alleged incident reported at 6:52 p.m. Tuesday on Drake Street, Oakfield. No further details released.

Timothy M. Gardiner, 38, and Maria A. Gardiner, 48, both of Scottsville, are charged with criminal possession of stolen property, 3rd. Timothy and Maria were arrested by State Police in connection with an alleged incident reported at 9:39 a.m. Feb. 16 in the Town of Bergen. No further details released.

Heidi H. Stumbo, 48, of Lima, is charged with petit larceny. Stumbo was arrested by the State Police on the Tonawanda Indian Reservation. The alleged theft was reported at 1:04 p.m., Monday. No further details released.

A tractor-trailer has reportedly rolled over in the westbound Thruway in the area of mile marker 380.8 in an accident that also involved a car.

Minor injuries are reported.

The trailer is reportedly a flatbed hauling some sort of equipment. No leaks or fire reported.

A first responder reports a truck on its side and a car off the road.

Le Roy fire and Le Roy ambulance responding.

UPDATE 6:34 a.m.: Mercy EMS requested to the scene. Multiple people reportedly injured. Three people were in the car. The injuries are reportedly minor.

UPDATE 7:05 a.m.: An ambulance is transporting to Strong Memorial Hospital.

Press release:

Rae Frank was named director of Independent Living of Genesee Region (ILGR). She brings 15 years of experience in human services management, including leadership roles with nonprofit agencies in Buffalo, Warsaw, and Perry.

Frank has an MFA degree in Electronic Communications from SUNY at Brockport and a BA degree in Media Studies from SUNY at Buffalo.

She resides in Gainesville with her husband and three children.

Frank becomes the second director of ILGR, a part of the Western New York Independent Living, Inc., family of agencies. For more than four years, the agency has offered individuals of the Genesee Region (Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming counties) four core services including information and referral, peer counseling, independent living skills training, and individual and community advocacy, through empowerment, education and equality for all, regardless of disability.

Town of Oakfield officials today broke ground on a new public water project that will get 60 parcels of land (about 50 residents) off well water. Water District #3 calls for 16,350 feet of water line on Maltby, Fisher and Fox roads and a portion Drake Road. The total cost is $1.129 million, with $750,000 funded by a USDA grant. The rest is packaged in a loan from the USDA. Landowners within the district will see $974 per parcel added to their annual tax bill. Supervisor Carol Glor said the push for public water in the town comes from residents. She said officials have received a lot of requests from residents who want to get off of well water.

Pictured, from left, Supervisor Carol Glor, Alan Dennis, public works administrator, Barry Flansburg, assessor, Mark Mikolajczyk, zoning officer, Cory Neefus, from Clark Patterson Lee, Melissa Haacke, town clerk, James Veazey, deputy supervisor and Jeremy DeLyser, from Clark Patterson Lee.

It's spring and local farmers are getting their fields ready for planting. Photo taken from Lewiston Road of field owned by MY-T Acres.

Press release:

Congressman Chris Collins (NY-27) today announced that the Genesee County Youth Bureau has received nearly $130,000 in AmeriCorps funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS).  

This grant will put 34 AmeriCorps members on the ground to work with the Youth Bureau and several nonprofit and government agencies to provide fitness, nutrition and environmental education programs in Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties. The Genesee County Youth Bureau has been operating an AmeriCorps program since 2004.

“Congratulations go out to the Genesee County Youth Bureau for receiving this competitive grant and continuing to provide children and teens in Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties with critical programs,” Congressman Collins said. “I also want to thank AmeriCorps members for answering the call to serve. AmeriCorps members are an indispensable resource for nonprofits, communities, and the individuals they serve. Citizen service is an essential part of the solutions to many of the challenges our communities face.”

The current year’s AmeriCorps grant cycle was highly competitive. The 2014 competition prioritized investments in economic opportunity, education, veterans and military families, and disaster services.

AmeriCorps engages more than 75,000 members in intensive service annually to serve through nonprofit, faith-based, and community organizations at 25,000 locations across the country. These members help communities tackle pressing problems while mobilizing millions of volunteers for the organizations they serve.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the AmeriCorps program. Since 1994, more than 830,000 Americans have provided more than 1 billion hours of service addressing critical challenges from poverty and hunger to disasters and the school dropout crisis.

A company with roots in New York, but currently based in Connecticut, is looking to build a plant at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park that would convert food industry waste into heat and electricity.

"We make green power out of organic waste," said Paul Toretta, CEO of CH4 Biogas, while presenting his company's plans to the Town of Batavia Planning Board. "Once the digester does its thing, it captures methane and powers an engine that makes green power and puts it on the grid. The engine produces heat that can be used to heat Quaker Muller and Alpina, helping them cut their heating bill."

The cost of the plant is $15 million and CH4 has already secured a $2 million Cleaner and Greener grant from NYSERDA to help fund the project, but is looking to the state for more help.

Toretta said state officials recommended the company present its proposal to the town planning board because the state wouldn't get behind the idea unless it has community support. The state backing would help the company secure bank loans to completely finance the project.

"We're in a holding pattern while looking for help with funding," Toretta said when asked about the timetable for the project.

Once funding is in place, the plant would take nine months to build. The design is already completed because it's the same design used by the company for plants in Wyoming County and Ohio (for Campbell's Soup).

"We only build one plant," Toretta said. "It's the same plant over and over again."

CH4 would use local contractors to build and maintain the plant, which would eventually employ eight people full time, Toretta said.

"When you put that much concrete and steel in the ground there will be a number of people employed," Toretta said.

The plant would be expected to last at least 30 years.

"The project is upfront capital intensive," said Toretta, who is originally from Potsdam. "It takes 15 years to return the money invested to do this. It's a slow, steady project. You borrow money and it takes 15 years to make any return."

CH4 already processes whey and other waste from the Alpina and Quaker Muller (no whey comes out of the Muller plant) in Wyoming County.

A plant in the ag park would reduce transportation cost and the impact on the environment to truck it more than 20 miles away.

The plant would also help the Genesee County Economic Development Center attract more food processors to the ag park, Toretta said.

Chris Suozzi, GCEDC's VP for business development, agreed.

"It would complement what we're already doing," Suozzi said. "It would definately help with the marketing when you have a green ag park. What better way to market the park and bring in more companies?"

The plant would be set up so it could take any sort of organic food waste, including waste from products that were already packaged but were found to be defective in some way so couldn't be shipped to customers. Toretta said the plant could separate the food waste from the packaging and then recycle the plastic or metal containers.

The plant would produce very little waste itself, but what it did produce would go into the local sewer system, but with much less biological chemicals and suspended salts than could otherwise go into the waste stream.

The plant would also produce little in the way of odor, which is important to Alpina and Quaker Muller because the plant would be upwind from those facilities.

"If there was any type of odor, as you can imagine, Campbell Soup would not allow us to operate our plant there," Toretta said.

Maleak H. Green, 21, of Ellicott Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd, assault, 3rd, and endangering the welfare of a child. Green was allegedly involved in a physical altercation with a woman while in the presence of a child. Green was allegedly ordered to stay away from the residence. He was jailed on $5,000 cash bail, $10,000 bond.

Marcus Allen Ciociola, 18, of West Main Street, Corfu, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Ciociola is accused of violating an order of protection.

Lisa M. Vega, 45, of East Main Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Vega allegedly stole items from Dollar General.

New York Times: New study on climate change in U.S.

Voters today approved the Richmond Memorial Library budget by a vote of 238 to 42.

Norm Argulsky was elected to the Library Board of Trustees with 265 votes.

Press release:

The New York State Senate has passed legislation, sponsored by State Senator Michael H. Ranzenhofer, to name yogurt as the official snack for the State of New York. The bill, S.6695, passed by a 52 to 8 vote.   

“Yogurt is not only a delicious, healthy treat; it is also an economic driver for many communities in New York, with yogurt manufacturers located all across the State – from Western New York to Long Island. That is why yogurt is such a suitable choice to be New York’s State snack,” Ranzenhofer said. “I am pleased that the State Senate has approved this bill, and I encourage the State Assembly to pass it.” 

A Byron-Bergen fourth-grade class, while studying the history and government of New York State, wrote to Senator Ranzenhofer to suggest the idea for the bill.

“The idea for this legislation started in a Genesee County classroom, not at the State Capitol. A lot of credit goes to Craig Schroth and his fourth-grade class at Byron-Bergen Central School District for all of their hard work, research and study that went into proposing this bill,” Ranzenhofer said. “Today’s vote to designate yogurt as the State snack is an example of democracy in action.”

New York is the number one processor of yogurt in the United States. Increasing demand for milk, the primary component in yogurt, has helped to support and grow the State’s dairy industry. New York is now fifth in the nation in milk production, producing over 13 billion pounds in 2012, in part fueled by the demand from yogurt processors.

Assemblyman William Magee has introduced the bill in the New York State Assembly. Assemblyman Stephen Hawley is a co-sponsor of the legislation. The bill has been sent to the State Assembly.  

New York State has many other official state symbols, including a beverage, milk; a muffin, apple muffin; a fruit, apple; a tree, sugar maple; a flower, rose; a shell, bay scallop; a fish, brook trout; a bird, bluebird; an animal, beaver; a gem, wine-red garnet; and an insect, ladybug.

UPDATE: The New York Times: Animated Debate in New York State Capital? It’s About Yogurt

One senator, Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, suggested the designation might be inconsiderate to people who are lactose intolerant. Another, Gustavo Rivera, a Bronx Democrat, wondered if yogurt could count as a snack if it were consumed at breakfast time.