Today's Deal of the Day: A $25 gift certificate from Vintage and Vogue Inspirations in LeRoy. The Batavian's Good Deal Price: $12.50 -- HALF off!

If you've not been in Vintage & Vogue yet, it's a new store in the village that is well worth a visit. It features great handcrafted goods for the home.

Rules: The gift certificate must be used by within 30 days of purchase. It is not valid with other offers and has no cash value. Previous winners, within the past 30 days, of this item are not eligible.

How to Win: Purchase using the PayPal "Buy Now" button below. After the first person to hit the "buy now" button completes the purchase, PayPal will let you know that the item has been sold. Ideally, the winner will arrange to stop by my office on Main Street before 5:00 p.m. to pick up gift certificate. Mail is an option, but it would be better to hand you the gift certificate.

If you want to be notified via e-mail of future Deals of the Day, sign up for the Deals of the Day e-mail list by clicking here.

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Sarah and Gretchen Protulipac were popular with their classmates, who are shocked and saddened by their deaths Saturday in a two-car collision at Route 77 and Sumner Road, according to the Buffalo News.

Both girls were honor students and Pavilion Central School. About 100 students gathered there Sunday for a vigil, according to the News.

Sarah was a junior at Pavilion Central. Her sister was a sophomore. Both girls were well-liked honor students who were musically inclined, said Edward Orman, the school district’s superintendent. In fact, Sarah performed earlier this spring in Pavilion Central’s production of “Guys and Dolls.” She also took part in a talent show.

“She always tried to cheer people

up,” said Macy Penders, 16, who knew Sarah since second grade.

“She was a very sweet person,” said Brian Mogenhan, a senior at Pavilion Central who described Sarah as laid-back and compassionate.

Gretchen loved softball and volleyball, her friends recalled. But she wasn’t one of those overly competitive athletes.

The News reports that the girls were returning Saturday afternoon from Darien Lake, where they had gone to apply for summer jobs.

Pictures: Sarah, 17, top, and Gretchen, 16.

Robert D. Wood, 18, of Batavia, in being held without bail in Genesee County Jail and charged with a felony count of burglary. Wood is accused of helping another person enter an apartment so that person could attack somebody inside the apartment.

Tracylee Cayea, 39, of Livonia, is charged with criminal contempt in the second degree. Cayea allegedly violated an order of protection by going to her ex-boyfriend's home in Pavilion.

Michael J. Pask, 39, of Basom, is charged with DWI following a traffic stop in Oakfield. Pask was allegedly driving with a BAC of .08 or greater.

Daniel J. Staebell, 42, of Corfu, is charged with DWI following a traffic stop in Pembroke. Staebell was allegedly driving with a BAC of .08 or greater.

UPDATE: I initially missed the press releases for the following two arrests, so updating this post.

Derek F. McQueen, 21, of Corfu, charged with aggravated harassment and held on $500 bail. McQueen is accused of sending threatening text messages to his ex-girlfriend.

Robert J. Shutt, 26, of Batavia, charged with DWI following a reported traffic stop. He is accused for driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and drinking alcohol in a motor vehicle.

Albion grad Derek Kinder was just selected with the 251st overall selection in the seventh round by the Chicago Bears.

Kinder was a standout running back for the Purple Eagles and was switched to wide receiver at the University of Pittsburgh. He tore his ACL during his senior year and received an injury red shirt.

He bounced back this season to catch 36 passes for 422 yards and three touchdowns.

It was reported that Kinder had worked out for Chicago and Cincinnati in the weeks prior to the NFL Draft.

If you're reading this at 12:50 p.m. on Sunday, and you're in Western New York, Time Warner is not your Internet service provider.

Customers throughout the entire northeast region have been hit with a service outage that has disabled Net access as well those customers using TW for phone service.

The outage started about 10 a.m. in the Syracuse area and spread from there.

The massive outage comes, ironically, after Time Warner tried convincing customers that some of them should pay more money for their service.

This from WHAM 13:

The company says they don't know what is causing the outage but once that is determined they will try to get service back up as soon as possible. 

There is no estimated time for restoration.

UPDATE: Service was restored about 5 minutes after I posted this.

Personally, I find eating at a locally owned restaurant more satisfying. The menus items are generally more interesting, the food preparation more unique, more flavorful and more of my money is staying in the local community.

Starting tomorrow, it's the Greater Rochester Area Local Restaurant Week.

Sponsored by by LocalFoodService.com and the Greater Rochester Chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association, the week is designed to raise awareness of local restaurants, with participating restaurants offering special discounts.

In Genesee County, participating eateries are: Alex's Place, Sunny's Restaurant and Lounge, D&R Depot Restaurant and Red Osier Landmark.  A complete list of participating restaurants can be found here.

Whether a participating restaurant or now, Genesee County is fortunate to have dozens of outstanding locally owned, independent restaurants. So this week, eat out at least one evening and skip the chains. Pick a local restaurant, maybe one you've never been to before, and treat yourself.

And look on The Batavian this week for Deals of the Day from Larry's Steakhouse, T.F. Brown's and Main St. Pizza Company.

Today's Deal of the Day: A $25 gift certificate from Adam Miller Toy and Bicycle in Batavia. The Batavian's Good Deal Price: $12.50 -- HALF off!

Adam Miller's is the best place around that I've seen to shop for a bicycle. You can also get your bicycle serviced at Adam Miller.  Adam Miller's is at 8 Center St. in Batavia.

The gift certificate must be used by within 30 days of purchase. It is not valid with other offers and has no cash value. Previous winners of this gift certificate are not eligible for this offer.

Rules: Purchase using the PayPal "Buy Now" button below. After the first person to hit the "buy now" button completes the purchase, PayPal will let you know that the item has been sold. Ideally, the winner will arrange to stop by my office on Main Street before 5:00 p.m. to pick up gift certificate. Mail is an option, but it would be better to hand you the gift certificate. 

If you want to be notified via e-mail of future Deals of the Day, sign up for the Deals of the Day e-mail list by clicking here.

Merchants: If you would like your business featured in Deal of the Day, call Howard Owens at 260-6970.

Two sisters, age 16 and 17, were killed instantly when their vehicle was broadsided by a pick-up truck hauling a car on a trailer at the intersection Sumner Road and Route 77 in Darien, the Sheriff's office reports.

Sarah M. Protulipac, the older sister, was driving a 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier west on Sumner when she reportedly failed to stop at the intersection.  Gretchen Ann Protulipac was a pasenger in the car.

The accident occurred at 12:35 p.m. Genesee County Coroner Jack Taylor pronounced the girls dead at the scene.

The truck was driven by Robert J. Pool III, 28, of Lockport. His passenger was Trina L. Vekich, 40, of Lockport. Neither Pool nor Vekich were injured.

Deputy Lonnie Nati, Sgt. James Meir, Investigator William Ferrando and Chief Deputy Gordon Dibble along with members fo the Crash Management Team investigated the accident.

Three resolutions enabling Batavia to apply for a RestoreNY grant for the Masse Gateway Project are on the agenda of the City Council on Monday.

The council meets in a special business session to consider the resolutions at 7 p.m.

There is no public comment time scheduled on the agenda of this meeting.

The resolutions authorize the application to RestoreNY, provide for a municipal expense match for the project, and designate the city as the lead agency.

Following the special business session, the council will meet to consider several other items. Among the items on the agenda:

• Batavia Minor League baseball wants to build new restrooms at its facility at MacArthur Park. This would reqire the league to raise funds to build the restrooms, but since the land is owned by the city, the league will be required to donate the restrooms to the city once they are completed. The council will consider a resolution authorizing the project and accepting the donation.
• There is concern that the Bank Street cross walk isn't safe enough, especially for older people going to and from the senior services center on Bank. The council will consider three low-cost options for improving safety at the cross walk, including repainting the cross walk, adding removable "rumble strips" that remind drivers to slow down, and installing a no left turn sign for drivers coming from the YMCA parking lot.

Contrary to the perception that crime is on the rise because of the recession, in the City of Batavia, crime actually went down in 2008 versus 2007.

Calls for service in the city dropped from 17,707 to 15,854; however, serious crime reports were virtually unchanged, with 502 reported cases in 2008 versus 509 in 2007

Motor vehicle accidents involving personal injury increased from 89 in 2007 to 103 in 2008. There were no fatal accidents in 2008.

You can read the full press release (PDF) by clicking here.

Today's Deal of the Day: A $56 gift certificate from Blue Pearl Yoga in Batavia. The Batavian's Good Deal Price: $28 -- HALF off!

Blue Pearl is located in the Masonic Temple on Main Street. With a wide-open fourth-floor location for yoga classes, it provides a great setting for these classes.  The gift certificate provides 7 classes over a seven week session.

Rules: The gift certificate must be used by within 30 days of purchase. It is not valid with other offers and has no cash value. 

How to Win: Purchase using the PayPal "Buy Now" button below. After the first person to hit the "buy now" button completes the purchase, PayPal will let you know that the item has been sold. Ideally, the winner will arrange to stop by my office on Main Street before 5:00 p.m. ON MONDAY to pick up gift certificate. Mail is an option, but it would be better to hand you the gift certificate. 

If you want to be notified via e-mail of future Deals of the Day, sign up for the Deals of the Day e-mail list by clicking here.

Merchants: If you would like your business featured in Deal of the Day, call Howard Owens at 260-6970.

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The downtown carnival was crowded this evening when I stopped by.  It runs through Sunday.

The turn out was OK for a good weather night with the Carnival in town for the Chamber's Business Showcase. There was live music, ice cream and a couple dozen business booths.  Thanks to all who stopped by to say hi at The Batavian booth.

Jeff Gillard, above, was honored as the volunteer of the year for the Business Improvement District, and Kent Ewell, owner of O'Lacy's was given the "Spirit of Downtown" award at today's BID annual luncheon.

St. Joseph School held a "Walk for Education" this morning. Grades 4 through 8 were out walking this morning from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., all wearing St. Joseph's bright-blue t-shirts.

Today's Deal of the Day: A $50 gift certificate from Larry's Steakhouse in Batavia. The Batavian's Good Deal Price: $25 -- HALF off!

Larry's, located at 60 Main St. in Batavia, is one of the newer and finer dining establishments in Batavia. The menu offers many great items, but of course the speciality is steak.  Larry's also features a full bar.

Rules: The gift certificate must be used by within 30 days of purchase. It is not valid with other offers and has no cash value.  It cannot be used, by state law, to purchase alcohol.

How to Win: Purchase using the PayPal "Buy Now" button below. After the first person to hit the "buy now" button completes the purchase, PayPal will let you know that the item has been sold. Ideally, the winner will arrange to stop by my office on Main Street before 5:00 p.m. to pick up gift certificate. Mail is an option, but it would be better to hand you the gift certificate. 

If you want to be notified via e-mail of future Deals of the Day, sign up for the Deals of the Day e-mail list by clicking here.

Merchants: If you would like your business featured in Deal of the Day, call Howard Owens at 260-6970.

SOLD

Nicholas A. Cinquino III, 25, of Batavia, was allegedly observed driving down the center lane of West Main about 2:30 this morning. After a traffic stop, Cinquino was taken into custody. He is charged with DWI, with a BAC of more than .18 and ticketed for improper lane usage.

Misty D. Palmer, 21, of LeRoy, is accused of trying to walk out of Wal-Mart with three DVDs. She is charged with petty larceny. Palmer was reportedly caught after the inventory control sensor was activated as she tried to walk out the front door. She was issued an appearance ticket.

The Care-A-Van Ministry Team headed out to a local widow's home this evening to

help take care of her wood pile. 10 Face Cord of wood was stacked by the team of 5.

The weather was beautiful and a great time was had by all!