The S.C. Genesee Lancers United u19G took first place at the 2009 Greece Cobras FC Tournament July 10-12 in Rochester, NY.

The ladies went 4-0 on the weekend, starting off with a 3-1 win over the Pittsford Mustangs as Jessie Jaszko, Brittany Luckey, and Kaylie Ewers all scored. Game #2 say the ladies defeat the Genesee Lancers Rough Riders 2-1 behind goals from Lindsay wellspeak and Ali Malinowski. Sunday morning the ladies defeated rival Greece Cobras 3-1 as Ewers tallied one and Kasey Welch had two goals.

The Tournament final pitted the Lancers United against Salt City-Syracuse Sensation. Welch's goal with 9 minutes remaining gave the Lancers a 1-0 win and the title. Leslie George made 6 saves for the shutout in goal.

The ladies have now won 9 consecutive u19 tournaments, indoor and outdoor, dating back to last winter, and look to run the streak to ten in the Gates Soccer Tournament July 18-19 in Gates-Chili.

Roster: Lindsay Wellspeak, Emily Starowitz, Emilie Rath, Audrey Rath, Kasey Welch, Jessie Jaszko, Ali Malinowski, Kaylie Ewers, Brooke Mallaber, Jenna Ferrando, Leslie George, Brittany Luckey, Jamie Braswell, Alesha Amend, Julia Medwid, and Jenn Lonnen.

The team is coached by Chris Chilano and sponsored by SJ Starowitz, T.F. Browns, and Lewis and Lewis, PC.

This video captures just a slice of the early hour or so of the 4th Annual Ramble Music & Arts Fest.  By the afternoon, T.F. Brown's was wall-to-wall music fans both inside and on the patio. The spirit of the event is can only be captured if you show up in person, and from all over the country.

The following arrests were reported in conjunction with the Rascal Flatts concert yesterday at Darien Lake Theme Park:

Crystal M. Parmenter, 23, of 111 Lincoln Mills Road, East Rochester, was charged with harassment for allegedly slapping another person who was in a car while exiting the concert venue.

Gaston R. Prattis, 18, of 247 Erb St. E, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, and a 17-year-old from Canada were charged with trespass for allegedly climbing into the backstage area. Each was held on $500 bail.

David B. Terrance, 23, of Wheeldon Drive, Rochester, was arrested and charged with exposure for urinating in public.

Landon B. Zeeman, 21, of 2004 Ten Concession, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, was charged with petty larceny for allegedly stealing a can of beer from a concession stand. He is held on $500 bail.

Melissa M. Thompson, 33, of 100 N. Main St., Medina, was arrested for allegedly stealing approximately $3,000 over the course of four years while working as a manager of food service at Darien Lake. She was charged with grand larceny and issued an appearance ticket.

The following individuals were also cited for ABC violations:

August C. Nienburg, 19, of 477 80th St., Niagara Falls.

Brian K. Drylewski, 19, of 474 21st St., Niagara Falls.

Jason M. Hahn, 19, of 1049 101st St., Niagara Falls.

Mark D. Bigley, 20, of 250 73rd St., Niagara Falls.

Brianna J. Cowell, 20, of 58 Coronet St., Tonawanda.

Jennifer C. Malley, 20, of 3349 Wallace Drive, Grand Island.

Carrie L. Schoeping, 18, of 3349 Wallace Drive, Grand Island.

Danielle R. Bruno, 19, of 195 Deerwood Lane, Grand Island.

Plus three people under the age of 18.

The Stafford Fire Department sponsored its annual waterball and volleyball tournaments Saturday at its facility in Stafford.

Alden's department won the waterball tournament this year. 

Waterball is a competition between two teams with fire hoses trying to shoot a ball on a rope from one end of the field to the other. When a team can push the ball against the other team's backboard, that team gets a point.

The charity event helps raise money for Stafford's health and education fund. The fund recently distributed $500 each to cancer patients so they have fuel money to get to and from treatments. Also, each year the fund provides $1,000 college scholarships to a pair of Stafford high school seniors.

Two teams from Stafford and one each from Alden and Elba participated.

Assistant Chief Scott Kibler submitted the pictures.

More photos after the jump:

The Muckdogs (12-11) got an early 5-1 lead and were able to hold on against a tough Mahoning Valley (15-8) team for the win.

Batavia’s big inning came in the 3rd when D’Marcus Ingram, Devin Goodwin and Alan Ahmady all singled to load the bases.  Xavier Scruggs followed with a double to plate two.  Ryde Rodriguez kept things going with another two-RBI double in the next at-bat.  Rodriguez later came home himself on a single by Beau Riportella.

The Scrappers added two of their own in the 5th and another in the 7th but that was all they could muster.

Kevin Siegrist went four innings in the start with five hits, one run and two strikeouts.  Josh Squatrito (1-1, 1.74) picked up the win in his one and 2/3 innings of relief work.  He let up two hits while striking out two.  Newcomer Joeseph Kelly got his first save, pitching a scoreless 9th.

Goodwin and Ahmady both finished 2-for-4, each with a run scored.

The rubber match between the two teams is tomorrow night. Game time is 5:05.

A person reportedly suffered only a minor injury after being struck by lightening outside of Wal-Mart in Batavia at about 11:30 a.m.

At this time, no further information is available.

Because of the weather, the Ramble Music and Arts Fest has been moved indoors to T.F. Brown's on E. Main St.

There is an indoor stage for eletric bands and the acoustic bands are playing on the patio.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the region.

Josephine A. Boltz, 25, of 174 Burch Ave., of Buffalo, is charged with DWI following a minor property damage accident at Darien Lake Theme Park during the Nickelback concert. Boltz reportedly had a BAC of .08 or greater.

Other arrests associated with the Nickelback concert:

Joshua R. Handy, 25, of 6 Williams St., Mt. Morris, charged with unlawful possession of marijuana.

Nolan R. Boughton, 24, 188 Canal St., Lyons, was charged with harassment for allegedly striking a security officer while being escorted from the concert venue.

A 16-year-old from Hamburg was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana.

Richard W. Randall, 32, of 4349 Cemetery Road, Marietta, was charged with charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly fighting inside the concert venue. He is held on $100 bail.

Benjamin Q. Antonucci, 18, of 4192 Broadway, Alexander, charged possession of alcohol by a person under 21.

Christopher J. Burger, 18, of 9393 Stady Road, West Valley, charged with possession of alcohol by a person under 21.

Erica A. Taylor, 31, of 1802 Lodi St., Apt. 2, Syracuse, charged with criminal possession of marijuana and endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly smoking marijuana in front of her 13-year-old daughter.

Michael Boland, 25, of 1802 Lodi St., Apt. 2, Syracuse, charged with criminal possession of marijuana and endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly smoking marijuana in front of his girlfriend's 13-year-old daughter.

Matthew J. Pentycofe, 22, of 29 Spencer Court, Batavia, charged with harassment for allegedly pushing and fighting with security guards inside the concert venue. He was held on $300 bail.

Peter B. Vanderwall III, 19, of 47 Seneca Street, Waterloo, is charged unlawful possession of marijuana and with endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly smoking and possessing marijuana in front a child under 17 years of age.

UPDATE: Jeremy M. Pysher, 19, of 730 Exchange Road, Attica, was seriously injured and is in critical condition at Erie County Medical Center following a one-car accident on Route 238 this morning at 8:42.

The Genesee County Sheriff's Office is investigating the crash in which Pysher, driving a 1991 Chevrolet Lumina, drifted across the southbound lane and off the west shoulder of the roadway. The car struck a tree "virtually head-on" and twisted around the trunk of the tree before striking a second tree.

The car caught fire, but the fire was contained to the rear of the engine compartment. 

Pysher suffered unspecified injuries as well as burns to his lower legs.

He was transported by Mercy Flight to ECMC.

The location of the accident on Route 238 was appoximately 4/10 of a mile south of Griswold Road in Darien.

The ongoing investigation is being conducted by Deputy Eric Seppala with assistance from Sgt. James Meier, Sgt. William Scott and Investigator Timothy Weis. Also responding to the scene were the Corfu Police Department, the Darien Fire Department and members of New York State Corrections.

Original post:

A car reportedly hit a tree on Route 238 just south of Griswold Road in Darien.

At least one person is trapped in the car and extraction tools are needed. Mercy Flight has been requested. The car was also reportedly smoldering.

View Larger Map

An apparent hit-and-run driver injured two people tonight after reportedly rear-ending a motorcycle as it slowed to pass over an unpaved area of Walnut Street.

A witness, Joe Elmore, of Walnut Street, said he heard a loud crack followed by a woman's "blood curdling" scream, and he rushed from his back yard out to the roadway.  He assisted the driver and his female passenger, trying to get a passing BMW to call 911 and and follow the hit-and-run driver. He doesn't believe the BMW driver did either.

Elmore said he screamed at a semi-truck driver to stop and put on his flashers, and he did, to slow down traffic.

The location of the accident, about 143 Walnut St., is the start of a road construction area where the pavement has been completely removed and replaced by stones. There is an at least four-inch drop from the paved area to the rocky surface.

Both Elmore and T.J. McAllister, who lives adjacent the accident scene, said cars continue to come flying down Walnut as if there's no construction at all.

Elmore said the motorcycle driver told him that he slowed when he hit the unpaved area, but the car behind him didn't and plowed right into him.

"He said he did everything he could to protect his girlfriend," Elmore said. "He broke his leg just trying to hold up his bike."

Just in the five minutes or so Elmore, McAllister and myself stood there talking, after the accident scene had been cleared, at least a half dozen cars passed in each direction driving at or above the normal speed limit. One car hit the bump so hard something fall off of it.

Elmore said he wanted attention brought to the street so that people will be more aware that they need to slow down.

A few minutes earlier, while McAllister and I talked, he pointed to a police car pulling away and said, "This was bound to happen. See how bumpy it is. Look at that police car and how much it's bouncing even as slow as it's going. People come through here going twice as fast. It's just crazy."

No official report on the accident is available at this time.

View Larger Map

Mercy Flight announced job openings tonight, thanks to its new ground ambulance service, which is scheduled to start serving Genesee County Sept. 1.

We received the following announcement from Wade Schwab with Mercy Flight at 9 p.m.:

Mercy EMS, a ground ambulance service operated by Mercyflight of Western N.Y.  is seeking qualified individuals to fill numerous job opportunities.

The company will be providing ambulance service to all of Genesee County as of September 1st.

The positions will be EMT's, paramedics, paramedic shift supervisors and dispatchers.

There will be open job fairs at the Mercyflight Batavia base at 4781 E. Saile  Dr. Batavia on Wednesday 07/15 and Thursday 07/16 from 6pm until 8pm and on Saturday 07/18 from 9am until 11am.

Anyone interested in these local job opportunities is welcome to attend one  of the sessions.

We'll need to wait until Monday to talk with officials with Mercy Flight to see how the open hiring and job fairs squares with statements previously indicating the organization was looking to hire many, if not all, of Batavia's ambulance personnel.

Batavia (11-11) was lack-luster on both sides of the plate, which led to a 8-1 loss to the Renegades (15-7).

Mahoning Valley’s lead was manageable at two runs throughout the game, but a five run 8^th proved to be too much.  One walk and two errors from Batavia and two doubles and two base hits off of Renegade bats accounted for the big inning.

The Muckdogs plated one in the bottom of the 8^th when Ryan Jackson reached on an error, moved to third on a single by Guillermo Toribio and came home on a pass ball.

Andres Rosales (1-1, 11.57) got the loss in one inning of relief work, giving up two runs on two hits with one strikeout.   Christopher Corrigan went four innings in the start with three hits and two strikeouts.

D’Marcus Ingram had half of the Batavia hits, finishing 2-for-4 with a double.  The two teams play again same time, same place tomorrow.

Kelly Kiebala is the new executive director for Go Art!.

She replaces Linda Blanchet, who retires at the end of the month.

Most recently, Kiebala is executive director of the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce, and previously she spent nine years as program director for Go Art!

(Originally reported by WBTA.)

(Note: This almost seems like a trade -- We give Orleans County Pat Weissend (who is becoming branch manager for Bank of Castile in Medina), and Orleans gives back to Genesee County with Kiebala.)

The fire wasn't serious, but a good fire alarm system and regular fire drills certainly demonstrated this morning in Darien how a good fire plan can save lives and protect property.

The 5:30 a.m. fire started in the bedroom of Jeremy Rademacker when a halogen lamp was accidentally kicked to the floor and left on.

The fire alarm in Jeremy's room sounded, but because the alarm is wired into a house-wide alert system, both his father and sister were awakened by the alarm. All three people exited the house safely, with Mr. Rademacker closing the door to the bedroom on the way out, and they met at a pre-designated spot.

The fire caused $10,000 to $15,000 in damage.

WBTA interviewed Genesee County Emergency Manager Coordinator Tim Yeager who credited the family with smart smoke detector installation and prior planning with averting disaster.

Darrick Coleman, a Le Roy resident who often shares his photos on The Batavian, has some of his work on display at the Shirt Factory Cafe in Medina now through Aug. 31.

There is an opening reception July 18 at 6 p.m.

The show portrays "the beauty that can be found in many backyards in Western New York through all four seasons, but in particular Mr. Coleman's backyard," according to the press release.

The exhibit, titled "Out of Doors," is sponsored by The Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council.

The Shirt Factory is located at 115 W. Center Street, Medina.

A Bergen woman is accused of stealing more than $58,000 using Internet transfers from an acquaintance.

Renee E. Rowan, 45, of 7527 Gilbert Road, Bergen, allegedly initiated four different transfers of at least $9,000 each.

Rowan was arraigned in Le Roy Town Court and is held in Genesee County Jail on $10,000 bail.

The investigation was conducted by Deputy Matthew Butler and Investigator Timothy Weis, with assistance from Deputy Joseph Graff.

UPDATE: I'm not sure if this is related or not, but a reader points out that Rowan owns staubitzofbuffalo.com (WHOIS database).  The other domains that seem affiliated with that business are registered via an off-shore source that apparently hides the true identity of the domain owners. Here's the WHOIS for hartmanmodelboats.com and loyalhannadockyard.com and taubmansonline.com. All three sites have contact information for Rowan.

UPDATE: I just spoke to Investigator Weis and he said the alleged theft was unrelated to Rowan's businesses and there is no further investigation going on related to those businesses.  He said Rowan allegedly had direct access to the victim's account, but it wasn't business related.

Karl Matthew Churchill, 29, of 6018 Main Road, Stafford, is charged with harrassment. Churchhill allegedly made a threatening phone call to the Village of Corfu Court after receiving a traffic ticket for allegedly tinted windows.

Robert E. Magoffin Jr., 37, 3717 Broadway Road, Alexander, is charged with DWI with a BAC of .08 or greater. Magoffin was allegedly doing 84 m.p.h. in a 40 m.p.h. zone on Route 20 in Darien when he was stopped.  He was ordered to appear in Darien Town Court on Aug. 18.

Thanks for all the well wishes on my previous post about my cataract surgery yesterday (I even got some well wishes via e-mail from the Daily, which was nice).  It went well -- I've had more painful dentist visits ... like every dentist visit. This was completely painless (here I was freaked out for weeks for nothing). 

A silver-haired guy who came back to the pre-op/post-op room told the nurse that very thing, which I found somewhat reassuring, and then when I was being wheeled out, he said to me, "Hey, it's nothing, buddy."  And he was right. So if you ever find out you need cataract surgery (you don't have to be old to need it, but if you live long enough, you eventually will), just know it's nothing to worry about.

A little pain yesterday afternoon, but I've been fine since.

Dr. Alan Siegel put in a new lens that corrected the vision in my right a little bit, so now my prescription glasses aren't just quite right in my right eye, but I can't see out of my left without them. I'm seeing OK overall. 

I'll be doing a little light work today. I expect I'll be in the office from 1 to 5 p.m. for anybody who needs to pick up gift certificates. I am planning on attending the Muckdogs game tonight (you should, too -- it's always great fun at Dwyer and there are fireworks tonight).   I bet I make it to at least some of The Ramble tomorrow.

If you see me out and about, forgive me my dorky old-man sunglasses (needed to fit over my regular glasses, and apologies to any old men who wear them whom I just offended!).

 Last year on thebatavian.com, you may have read about Dick Gammell of Canadice Construction Corp. and his efforts to make his construction company more cost effective, more independent, and more environmentally friendly by developing a wind/ solar generator that powers hand tools and small pieces of equipment at work sites.  His idea has gotten lots of press in the past 12 months, including news stories on Binghamton, Buffalo and Rochester TV stations, an article in the “Industry News” section of The Rhode Island Builders Report, a front page story in The Journal of Light Construction -- in all, 11 pieces.  You even can see the generator in action on YouTube! 

Now Dick has some new ventures (that you may hear about first right here).

On Saturday, June 6th, western New York’s original off-grid cafe opened in Springwater.  Theresa’s Sunshine Cafe is located at 8148 South Main Street, across from the fire hall, and is open Tuesday - Friday, 6:00 AM - 2:00 PM and for breakfast only on the week-end (closed Monday).  Every part of the Sunshine Cafe is electrified solely by the sun and the wind!  While customers enjoy a solar cup of coffee, they can recharge their electric vehicles!  (see photo)

Canadice Construction also is playing a unique role in this year’s Rochester Homerama which opens Saturday, July 11th at Somerset Hill in Victor.  Eight members of the Rochester Homebuilders’ Association, including Dick, will exhibit their “barkitecture” -- stylish and creative doghouses which will be auctioned off to benefit Lollypop Farm.  Dick’s contribution, called The Big Green Dog House, is a fully insulated doggie condo and short-term, back-up green power generator all in one!  Built with power tools electrified completely from the sun and wind, The Big Green Dog House is constructed with recycled lumber and has an outdoor outlet for human convenience.  Of course, it has excellent curb appeal!  (see photo)

Dick Gammell and Canadice Construction continue to demonstrate innovation and efficiency in energy consumption.  To learn more, head to the company website: 

http://www.canadiceconstruction.com/

Ok so it is not Halloween yet, but according to some young folks at our picnic tonight, they say their house is haunted. They were thankful for the crosses that Pastor Charlie Piscitello and his wife Judy from the Batavian Christian Fellowship church gave them tonight at our weekly picnic.  However, we did hear haunting stories of troubles folks are going through. There were stories of abuse, job loss, broken relationships and so much more. The youth of Elba Baptist church were with us tonight to provide uplifting music.

It was a busy night! We had about 30 folks attend 

Pastor Charlie Prays and gives a young boy hope!

Bridget always has hugs for the kids!

Even the pet ferret made it to the picnic! 

Ok this is me, Miss Public Relations Director with my new friend Joey. He helped me knock on doors to invite people to the weekly picnic. I love where God has led me to with volunteering with Care-A-Van. As you know we are a non profit organization and are  just like other agencies who rely soley on private donations. Paul states if God gives a vision, he gives provision. We all see the hard times folks are facing right now. Care-A-Van goes forth to brighten their days and give them hope. We are always looking for folks to come on board to help us out. If you feel you are being led to volunteer within the community to make a difference, come join us!

We will be going back on Sunday afternoon for street church, where Pastor Glenn Bloom of the Elba Baptist church will be giving the message. Boy, God is good! Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement! We truly do appreciate it!