I happened down Harvester Avenue just as this "train truck" was passing through the intersection. Workers told me they use it to ride the rails and check for any maintenance issues that need addressed and to spray for weeds.

A basement fire has been reported at 82 Gilbert St., Le Roy.

Le Roy Fire as well as Bergen's ladder truck have been dispatched.

UPDATE 5:19 p.m.: No flames, no smoke. It's an appliance malfunction. Bergen is being put back in service.

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Cathy Nadolinski demonstrates the new voting machine outside the DMV office at the County Building this afternoon. The voting machines will be used, instead of the ancient lever machines, in the next election. The new computerized system uses paper ballots, which are then scanned into the computer. You don't need to use a #2 pencil, though. The marker is a black felt pen. The machines are touring the county so voters can become familiar with the devices. The next stop is Bergen on June 9.

No flags, no wreath, no flowers -- Helen Batchelor looked at the Gen. Emory Upton Monument a couple of summers ago and thought Batavia's most noteworthy war hero, and all the veterans and war dead he represents, deserved something better.

On her own -- Batchelor is not associated with a local veterans group, but is on the board of the Holland Land Office Museum -- Batchelor decided to do something about Upton's "nakedness," as she put it.

She planted spring bulbs this year and through Legislator Hollis Upson managed to get a $20 donation each from each of the county legislators for new flags. That only left the issue of the wreath.

One evening Batchelor ran into local funeral director and veteran Ron Konieczny at Alex's Place and he asked her what she had been up to recently, and she told him about her Upton Monument project.

"What can I do to help?" she remembers him asking. "We need a wreath," she said. "He said, 'I'll take care of it,' and he did. He called Kathy at The Enchanted Florist and we have a wreath."

The wreath is now officially in place and will stay affixed to the monument until Christmas, when a holiday wreath will replace it, and for every year for the rest of his life, Konienczny said, there will be an annual wreath and a Christmas wreath placed on the monument -- all at his own expense.

"The wreath is a symbol," Konienczny said. "It has no beginning. It has no end. And this is how we remember the deaths (of our military service personnel)."

Pictured, from left, are Upson, Konienczny, Nancy Konienczny and Batchelor.

Richard John Abramski, 22, of Main Road, East Pembroke, is charged with disorderly conduct. Abramski is accused of obstructing traffic in the area of 1993 Genesee Street, East Pembroke, by standing in the drive lane, causing traffic to move to avoid hitting him. Abramski was allegedly drunk at the time. The alleged incident occurred at 11:23 p.m., Saturday.

Danny J. Torok, 23, of 12 Elm St., Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd, and endangering the welfare of a child. Torok is accused of slapping, pushing and pulling the hair of his girlfriend while holding his 4-month-old daughter. He was jailed on $2,500 bail.

Jeremy Dean Lyons, 25, of Judge Road, Oakfield, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, unsafe lane change and speeding. Lyons was stopped by Deputy Thomas Sanfratello at 5:25 p.m., June 1, at 14 Weber St., Oakfield.

Joseph Stephen Vernaccini, 34, of Clipnock Road, Stafford, is charged with DWI, failure to keep right and refusal to take breath test. Vernaccini was reportedly involved in a one-car accident 12:44 a.m., Saturday, in the area of 7000 Route 5, Le Roy. Vernaccini was jailed on $500 bail.

Justino Sanchez, 50, of West Ridge Road, Brockport, is charged with DWI, aggravated unlicensed operation, failure to keep right, improper right turn. Sanchez was stopped by Deputy James Diehl at 10:47 p.m., Friday, in the area of Route 98 and Edgerton Road, Elba. He was jailed on $1,800 bail.

A 17-year-old from Clarence was arrested by State Police in Darien at 8:05 p.m., Wednesday. She is charged with DWI, failure to keep right, crossing road hazard markings and unlawful possession of marijuana.

A 16-year-old from Williamsville was arrested by State Police at 8:05 p.m., Wednesday, in Batavia for unlawful possession of alcohol.

John J. Smalley, 47, of Oakfield, is charged with harassment and criminal mischief. Smalley was arrested by State Police at 12:50 a.m., Sunday, in the area of 7020 Macumber Road, Oakfield. No further details were released.

Accidents from the State Police blotter:

4:57 p.m., June 5, Bernd Road, Pavilion, two vehicles; Driver 1: Laurie Jean Lerkins, 33, of Le Roy; Driver 2: Heather M. Coates, 24, of Rochester. One injury reported.

4:46 p.m., June 3, Genesee Street, Pembroke, one vehicle: Driver 1: Jennifer L. Mroz, 49, of Batavia. One injury reported.

10:32 p.m., June 3, Lewiston Road, Batavia, two vehicles: Driver 1: Robert M. Laskowski, 24, of Chaffee; Driver 2: Matthew J. Quinn, 25, of Attica. No injuries reported.

Convicted murderer Scott Doll allegedly tried to smuggle aspirin into the Genesee County Jail.

Chief Deputy Jerome Brewster said that lab results came back this morning on the white powder reportedly found hidden on Doll's body.

Brewster said the green balloon containing the aspirin was taped to Doll's inner buttocks.

"I have no idea why (he hid aspirin on his body), Brewster said.

Doll still faces a count of promoting prison contraband, because even aspirin can't be snuck into the jail.

If the substance had turned out to be any kind of more serious drug, the charges would have been elevated, Brewster said.

Doll was allegedly found with the balloon on his body during a routine jail processing search after he was convicted May 21 of killing 66-year-old Joseph Benaquist by bludgeoning him to death outside his Pembroke home on Feb. 16, 2009.

Doll is scheduled to appear on June 29 in City Court to answer the charge of promoting prison contraband.

He will be sentenced on the murder charge on July 2. He faces a sentence of either 15 years to life or 25 years to life.

City firefighters raised $5,601 in support of the Muscular Dystrophy Association this year as part of its annual "Fill the Boot" campaign.

It's the most ever donated in a single MDA boot drive, according to Greg Ireland, president of IAFF Local 896.

On Friday, off duty firefighters, stood at the intersections of Main and Court and Ellicott and Court with firefighter boots and asked passersby to drop in donations.

"It was an amazing day," Ireland said.

A 46-year-old motorcyclist from Caledonia got a ride to the hospital last night after his bike hit a car on Route 5 in Le Roy and then he was ejected from the bike and struck a pole.

Richard C. Hoag, of 2554 Black St., was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital where he was treated and released.

Hoag was cited for alleged DWI and illegal passing.

The accident occurred about 12:58 a.m., Sunday, in the area of 8503 Route 5, Le Roy. Hoag was behind a 2001 Buick sedan driven by Jeanna Ann Pfalzer, 17, of Elba when Pfalzer apparently stopped to make a left-hand turn.

According to Deputy John Weis, who handled the investigation, Hoag attempted to pass Pfalzer on the left as she slowed to turn.

As she apparently started her turn, Hoag's bike struck her car and Hoag was ejected from the bike. His body hit a utility poll on the north side of the roadway.

Neither Pfalzer nor her passenger, Benjamin G. Carlie, 18, were injured.

I stumbled across this video on YouTube -- it appears to be old home movies, showing mostly their business ventures, from the Mancuso Family.  It appears to be all shot pre-war, 1941.

This Saturday, Heather Ackerman invites you into an alternative universe with alternative theater...

Well, all right, maybe that first "alternative" is a bit over the top...but the second is definitely real.

The venture

Ackerman's new East Bethany-based theater group, "Honesty Theatre," will be putting on their second production Saturday, June 12. It will be made up of a series of individual performances grouped under the theme of "alternate realities."

"All of these stories will be based on different 'what if' ideas," Ackerman said, citing as an example a vignette that has Sophocles' Antigone winding up in New York City.

Ackerman describes Honesty Theatre as "an experimental writing company for the stage." The group is made up of small teams of actors, each responsible for writing, producing and performing a short play...all in one day.

Each teams' play is included in a single, themed performance every month. At Honesty Theatre's premiere last month, the plays that were all about "beginnings." Subjects included Adam and Eve, beginning relationships, the first day in a new town, etc.

Ackerman says this style of theater is good for both audiences and actors; audiences get to see something "no one has ever seen before" (since it's being more or less created and performed at the same time), while actors have the chance to explore their creative instincts.

"Our emphasis is on the creative process, what we learn along the way and being creative with words, rather than on the final product."

Nevertheless, the Honesty Theatre troupe is taking advantage of lessons learned from their last show to enhance the quality of the next one. For example, instead of writing the scripts on the day as the performance, they decided to "workshop" the scripts well in advance this time. Spontaneity will still be very much in play, but with scripts prepared in advance, the actors can focus more energy on the performance aspect of the show.

"Acting on the fly is a lot better than writing on the fly," Ackerman said.

She also encouraged more interaction and reciprocal feedback between the different acting teams, as well as some advance rehearsal time. During the first production, the actors had to rehearse while the other vignettes were being performed. This time, they will be able to see and offer feedback on their fellow actors' work.

The brains behind the operation

Though currently a resident of East Bethany, Ackerman is a Batavia native. She has been acting since she was a youngster and has an impressive repertoire of local theater performances, including roles in Summer Youth Theater productions of "Alice in Wonderland," "Godspell" and "Oliver." She has also worked with a local independent theater company called Something-or-Other Productions, acting in such plays as "The Laramie Project" and "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged" from 2004-2007.

While a student at Genesee Community College, she had starring roles in "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "A Christmas Carol."

In addition to acting, she also has experience writing local theater productions. Her first stage play, an experimental piece about young girls and their perspectives on relationships (love, breakups, etc), premiered at GCC in 2003.

After earning a bachelor's degree from the NY University at Buffalo, she spent six months living in Boulder, Colo. It was there that the seeds of Honesty Theatre were planted.

"I was looking at the want ads and I noticed that there were these people looking for a theater writer," Ackerman said. "I called them right away, got the job, and wrote for them the whole time I lived in Boulder."

The names of the two individuals in question were Erin Kelly and Jesse McDonald, and they ran a spontaneous theater company just like Honesty Theatre. Kelly, in fact, was one of the founders of "L.A. Café," which was the first group to experiment with this type of theater.

"They're actually doing very well in Boulder," Ackerman said. "In the time since I left, they've already become a larger theater company."

Ackerman was so intrigued by their approach to live theater that she wanted to bring it to her own neck of the woods. She asked Kelly and McDonald for their permission, and they granted it happily.

The venue

Honesty Theatre productions take place at the East Bethany Old Town Hall, at 10440 Bethany Center Rd., which Ackerman says has "exactly what (they) need" in spite of its smaller size. The hall contains an old vaudeville stage.

"It has seating for 100, and it's great as a theater because it has an old-fashioned look and bright polished wood."

Saturday's show will begin at 7:30 p.m. and last about an hour and a half. Tickets are $8 and will be for sale at the door.

For more details, call Ackerman at 356-4678.

They call it Monday Morning Quarterbacking -- questioning people who make judgment calls.

There's certainly been a good deal of Monday Morning Quarterbacking going on regarding our decision not to publish the name of a woman caught in a sex act in a public park late Friday afternoon. Some people agree, most are critical of the decision.

When a person makes a decision and doesn't listen to critics, he's considered stubborn and arrogant, or plain stupid for seemingly not listening to reason.

When a person responds to criticism and reverses course, he risks being seen as weak, as caving to public pressure.

The fact of the matter is, if we published the woman's name, there would be people who would be critical of the decision. They call it flip-flopping.

These are some of the no-win situations one faces when involved in a pursuit fraught with judgment calls.

In the end, the only analysis we make is to weigh our decision based on our established policies and past practices.

The Batavian has a policy of publishing the name of every individual arrested, detained or cited by local law enforcement when the name is released to the local media (exception being 17 and under charged with minor infractions and crimes).

(It's worth noting, not every arrest made by either the Sheriff's Office and the Batavia Police Department finds its way into a press release. I sometimes get private e-mails accusing us of showing favoritism because we didn't publicize this or that arrest, but we can't publish what we don't know about.)

In the past year, I've had to publish the name of a friend arrested on a pretty serious charge, and there have been at least two local business owners I know whose names have shown up in the "blotter" (as readers call it, though what we publish is not technically a blotter).

(One notable twist on the sex-in-the-park case: the Batavia PD did not initially release the name of the people involved. The Batavian called and requested the names and it was only after learning from the PD that the woman had children that we decided not to publish the name.)

The idea of having an "all names published" policy is to avoid a perception of favoritism.

Nobody should be able to call me up and successfully lobby to keep his or her name out of the Police Beat. If I do a favor for one person, then why not do a favor for any or all persons arrested?

On Friday morning, I got a call from a young woman who was upset because her name, age and street name were published in the Dave Matthews concert arrest report. She said she was worried about some rapist finding her.

My thought was, "there's lots of ways that some rapist could find you, not the least of which is your name appearing in an arrest report -- it's not my place to predict the consequences of the publication -- I don't have a crystal ball." Also, I thought, "I bet you're really more worried about your parents seeing it." But I didn't say anything more to her than, "Thanks for expressing your concern."

I consider publishing the reports of arrests, and the results of as many court cases as we can follow, to be an important public service. We don't do it to embarrass anybody. The power of the state to detain people is a power that should not go unchecked. It's important to keep tabs on what local law enforcement is doing, both to be as informed as possible and because a good deal of our tax dollars go to law enforcement.

After giving it much thought -- listening to our critics, talking with Billie, considering previous cases -- I've come to the conclusion that our decision Friday night not to publish the name was a mistake.

While I'd like to believe my intentions were noble, the larger consideration is that The Batavian simply shouldn't be in a position of playing favorites on arrest reports. By the standards of past practice, and the foreseeable complications that could arise in the future if we make exceptions, we should publish the name. It's not our place to try to predict the outcome of what publication might mean.

One thing I've learned from many years in journalism is that some of your decisions will be unpopular. Critics are everywhere. The only thing you can do is the best you can. You will make mistakes, but when you do make mistakes, the best thing to do is admit it, correct it and move on.

The previous post has been amended to include the woman's name.

A three-vehicle accident has been reported in Texaco Town, the intersection of Route 63 and Route 20, Pavilion.

Unknown injuries at this time.

Pavilion Fire and Mercy EMS are responding.

UPDATE 1:03 p.m.:  An assistant chief on scene reports no injuries.

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There are two public meetings scheduled to discuss possible revisions to the Genesee County Smart Growth Plan.

One is at 7 p.m., Monday, June 7, in the large meeting room in County Building No. 2, located at 3837 W. Main St. Road in the Town of Batavia.

The other is at 7 p.m., Tuesday, June 8, inside the Le Roy Town Hall, 48 Main St.

The Smart Growth Plan, first adopted by the county legislature in 2001, is required to be reviewed every three years and any recommendations for revision must be made at that time.

The preliminary draft of the proposed revisions can be viewed on the county's website, specifically at:

<http://www.co.genesee.ny.us/dpt/planning/SmartGrowthPlan%202010Prelim.pdf>

The overall plan is intended to mitigate potentially significant environmental impacts of the Genesee County Water Supply Project on agriculture.

To this end, Smart Growth Development Areas were designated based on access to transportation, minimal conflict with county agricultural districts as well as state regulated wetlands.

The plan assesses the feasibility of extending public water service and the potential for extending public infrastructure to support community development.

A possible electrical fire is reported at 419 W. Main St. in the Batavia Commons. The store has been evacuated. Didn't catch the name of the store.

"It's an electrical outlet fire at the register up front," reports a firefighter.

City of Batavia Fire Department and Mercy EMS is responding.

There was a large turn out Friday evening at Batavia Downs for the annual Festival of Hope to benefit Genesee Cancer Assistance.

GCA raised $30,000 this year.

The event featured a 5K walk/run, games for children, music, a Chinese Auction and haircuts and beauty treatments.

On left below, Paul C. Stomper poses with Dr. Kevin Mudd. Stomper was the keynote speaker Friday. The Batavia native has travelled the U.S. working with cancer patients and has authored a book, "Come Sunday, Inspiration for Living with Heart."  Mudd is president of GCA. You can find out more about Stomper and his book at ComeSunday.net.

More pictures after the jump:

At the intersection of Putnam and East roads, crews were harvesting hay this afternoon.

A 41-year-old Batavia woman has been charged with adultery after being caught engaged in sexual intercourse on a picnic table in Farrall Park.

The woman was arrested along with a 29-year-old Oakfield man and both were charged with public lewdness.

The man was identified by Batavia Police as Justin M. Amend.

Because the woman is married with children, The Batavian has chosen to withhold her name.

UPDATE: After more thought (see our post explaining the reversal of the decision here), we've decided to publish the female suspect's name. It is Suzanne M. Corona.

Sgt. John Peck said that Officer Matt Baldwin was dispatched to Farrall Park about 5:15 p.m. after parents in the park called police. Baldwin witnessed the couple still engaged in sex when he arrived.

"There was a little alcohol involved," Peck said. "They initially didn't seem too embarrassed."

Peck acknowledge that adultery charges are rare these days.

"Many people probably don't realize it's still a crime," Peck said.

He said Amend was not charged with adultery because he was apparently not aware the woman was married.

Both suspects were issued appearance tickets for City Court on June 8 and released.

Here's a media release from the Muckdogs:

How would you like to live with the next Ryan Howard or Chase Utley this summer?

The Muckdogs are in need of your help in locating host families. The team comes to Batavia the weekend of June 12th and 13th. There are host families signed up for the season, but there is still a need to house at least 15 more players.
 
This is where you can help. Being a host family to a player has benefits:

1. You have a future St. Louis Cardinal staying in your home.
2. You become acquainted with young men from all around the country who love “America’s Favorite Pastime,” baseball.
3. You also get paid by the player for an amount you both agree upon.

So why wait? If you are interested or know someone in the Batavia area (within just a few miles of Dwyer Stadium) who might be interested in hosting a player or coach, please contact the Muckdogs office at 343-5454.

Thank you for your support!

On Thursday, June 17,  the fourth annual Downtown Batavia Public Market opens at the corner of Ellicott (Route 63) and Center streets. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

This year there are some new vendors, including two wineries which will sell wine and offer tastings. There's also a vendor selling homemade Italian cookies and treats.

Plus, the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Genesee County will offer free nutritional programs and information. The City of Batavia Police Department will provide free child car seat inspections. And other special events are planned.

Shoppers can expect to find a wealth of locally grown produce and foods. These include baked goods, fresh sweet corn, tomatoes, onions, berries, peaches, apples, cheese, honey, maple syrup, cut flowers, herbs, garden accessories and lots more.

Stop by and have lunch, served from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Jackson Street Grill/Belladessa's will offer hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza for sale along with beverages.

"Support the downtown that supports our community," says the sponsor, the Batavia Business Improvement District's Public Market Committee.

For more information, call 344-0900 or visit this website <www.downtownbataviany.com>.