This is my interview yesterday with LeRoy 2nd Asst. Fire Chief Tom "Woody" Woods.

Woods was the chief overheard asking for more help yesterday, saying if he didn't help quickly, "we're going to lose this truck and us."

When I first spoke to Wood yesterday, he said it was quit a battle with the fire jumping out of the woods quickly before he and his crew beat it back.

Wood said the recent spate of brush fires have kept firefighters pretty busy and he said the only way the fire season is going to slow down is if people stop burning stuff.

Sheriff's deputies and members of the Drug Task Force executed a search warrant last night at 5430 School Road, Apt. A, in Stafford last night and reportedly found $1,500 worth of cocaine and $500 in cash.

Taken into custody was Derek R. Leach, 29, of Stafford.

He is charged with two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance.

Leach was locked up in Genesee County Jail and is being held without bail.

No so fast. Two days ago, we picked up on a D&C story that said Time Warner Cable was dropping it's plan to set up a tiered pricing model for broadband usage in the Rochester (which includes Batavia) market.

Now Evan Dawson at WHAM 13 has Time Warner officials putting a rather different spin on their plans.

Robin Wolfgang of Time Warner said, "We really didn't think the customers were educated very well on what the plans were, and there's a lot of information in the marketplace. We want to take some time. We want to give them a chance to understand our plans."

Wolfgang says there is no timetable for how long the company will take to re-evaluate its plan to charge customers based on Internet usage.

But Time Warner is certainly not giving up on the idea.

"As we tried to tell you, in the first phase of the trial we found that most customers were able to right-size and pay less based on their usage,” Wolfgang said. “It takes a lot to use five gigabytes of space. A lot of emails, a lot of songs. So most customers would not be affected."

It's hard not to read between the lines here and conclude: Time Warner customers can expect, at some point, to get a new pricing plan, and it will likely attempt to punish heavy users with higher prices.

A tipster told me the other day -- you should go over to Mill Street, by the GCEDC and see what's going on.  She mentioned trains.

With all this talk of a possible new Albany-Buffalo passenger rail, trains were a bit on my mind. And up until this point, it had been a slow news day.

At this point, I knew there used to be a roundhouse or train turntable in Batavia, but I frankly didn't know where it was. And I had forgotten that New York Central System Historical Society was going to be in town today for an open house at the facility.

When I arrived at the Genesee Valley Transportation Co. complex on Mill Street, sure enough, there was a big piece of equipment digging a big hole.

Doug Eisele, director of operations for GVTC told me later his company is building a new train-to-truck warehouse. When completed it will employ 10 people.

As I walked to a big brick building, I began to suspect that this was part of an old roundhouse and that there was a tour going on. There were several men milling about and a few were snapping pictures.

It turns out, it was indeed the historical society, and by the time I got inside they were watching a video about the old train station.

After Doug finished showing me around the facility, explaining the history and showing me some pictures, he suggested I head over to Lehigh Avenue and take a look at the old New York Central train station, which is owned by CSX (and it's next to CSX track, which might the the route of the proposed new rail system, so if Batavia turns out to be a stop, might be the location of a future train station?).

A man in the neighborhood told me is the old train station (and hardly suitable to be a modern train station).

Across the street I found this old train rail sticking out of cement and a pile of track ties, which struck me as interesting subjects for pictures, so here you go:

As I left the office this afternoon in search of some news, I found Pastor Marty MacDonald operating a fork lift, hoisting a large container of adult diapers into a small pick up truck.

A whole crew of people were outside The City Church warehouse loading up cars, vans and trucks with food, household cleaners, shampoo and other necessities.  MacDonald said his church was distributing about 50,000 lbs of items today.

Representatives from churches from throughout WNY were retrieving the good to distribute in their communities.  They came to Batavia from Niagara, Penn Yan, Arcadia, Akron, Rochester, Churchville and North Tonawanda, and other towns.

"They will take these items back to their communities to help people in these tough economic times," MacDonald said.

He said distributions of this scale happen about every six to eight weeks.

Even though the New York Yankees couldn't get a victory to open up their new stadium Thursday, it was still a pretty big day for 1995 Notre Dame graduate Dave Pero.

Many of the former greats made an appearance, the weather was great for baseball and the local man made history.

 Pero - a high school teacher in Syracuse - was the first guy to ask his girlfriend to become his fiance at the new Yankee Stadium when he proposed to Heather DeCarolos.

"There's nothing better than to kick off this opening day and this stadium by making a commitment to my future wife," Pero told the New York Daily News.

Pero, 31, got down on one knee and popped the question while The Skycoasters - a band out of Rochester - was playing the Earth, Wind and Fire song "September" nearby. DeCarolos said yes.

"I'm stunned," DeCarolos, 23, told the Daily News. "I'm on top of the world. I can't think of a better place for this to happen."

Firefighters are scrambling to fight a fire near in the LeRoy/Caledonia area, with firefighters responding to Asbury Road and Flint Road.

One firefighter in asking for more manpower said, "They better get out here quick or we're going to lose this truck and us."

When a dispatcher asked another dispatcher about more crews responding, the second dispatcher said, "Send everybody you can get. They need lots of manpower."

I'm heading out that way now.

UPDATE 4:50 p.m.: The fire was declared under control at 4:09 p.m.  The fire was actually in Mumford, but LeRoy found the fire first (units were returning from covering another fire), while Caledonia was out covering an other fire. Crews from Genesee County (I saw trucks from Bethany, Pavilion, Stafford and LeRoy on scene and spoke with a firefighter from Bergen), Livingston and Monroe counties help battle the flames. The fire was contained to a wooded area that covers a couple of acres.  I'll have pictures shortly, and a video in a couple of hours.  The video is an interview with LeRoy 2nd Asst. Chief Tom "Woody" Wood, who found the fire and was the one mentioned above asking for more crews quickly.

UPDATE 5:17 p.m.: Most of my photos turned out to not be very interesting.  Here's this one (video TK).

Fire crews are responding to a field fire at 2893 West Main Road, between Hopkins and Powers.

The nearby house is not threatened, according to reports.

A man from Hermitage, Penn., driving a 1996 Ford sedan reportedly didn't see a car ahead of him northbound on Route 63 and hit a utility poll after swerving to avoid rear-ending the lead car.

David M. Doxtater, 56, suffered minor cuts on his face, according to a police report.

The accident occurred at 10:05 a.m. at Route 63 and Batavia-Oakfield Townline Road.

National Grid was called to the scene to deal with the damaged utility poll.

The other vehicle, and no other vehicles were involved.

Deputy C.A. Parker investigated the accident.

A driver pulling out of a parking lot at 189 Pearl St. reportedly failed to yield the right of way and collided with an Alden man driving a 2008 Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Injured was Patrick G. Schwab, 42. He reportedly suffered a serious leg injury and was transported by ambulance to an area hospital. No further information on his injury is available.

The driver of the car, Lynn E. Sanders, 38, of Batavia, was cited.

The accident occurred at 3:24 p.m.

This is a follow up from a post we did yesterday.

A controled burn reportedly got out of control at 9363 Warsaw Road in LeRoy.  Units are being dispatched now.

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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.

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

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.

SOLD.  Next Monday, look for a gift certificate from our newest sponsor, Main Street Pizza.

Andrew V. Mohawk, 20, of Batavia, is accused of going onto another person's property on Clinton Street Road and damaging a series of walkway lights. The alleged incident occurred yesterday morning about 1:45 a.m. Mohawk is charged with criminal mischief in the fourth degree and trespass.

Denis N. Pirincci, 21, of Batavia, was arrested early this morning following a complaint of an erratic driver on Oak Street. Pirincci is charged with DWI with a BAC of .08 or higher, and possession of alcohol in a vehicle.

Derek G. Thomas, 32, of Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt in the first degree and harassment in the second degree following an alleged physical altercation with a person he had been ordered to not contact. The alleged incident took place yesterday evening around 7:30 p.m. on South Main Street. Thomas is in jail in lieu of $2,500 bail.

What a beautiful spring evening it was for Care-A-Van to be out! The newness and freshness of spring was in the air at our local college GCC as we pulled in. The basketball court was busy and in full swing with a game going on. Students were busy milling around enjoying the evening.

We got busy knocking on the doors- I believe 94 in total. The music was blaring and I swear the whole building was shaking as we knocked on the one door. A young man opened the door and stood there with a couple of his friends. They knew us and were happy to see us. We asked them how they were doing and if they needed prayer. He stated well we do have something going on that maybe you can help with. We are having an argument about something they said I did and that I was wrong about. We just can’t settle it. Can you help? Well, we knew that we could not settle it, but we knew with a little prayer that someone bigger than us could settle the dispute. We offered to pray with them.

Paul, Dave and I gathered around with the 6 students held hands and prayed. In the prayer Paul prayed that God would bring peace over the room and that the situation at hand would be settled. As the prayer ended, another student came out of the bathroom and said Amen! The young man said “well now what do we do”? Our reply was wait, don’t argue, and let God settle it. They seemed to be a bit stunned, but said ok.  You see there is someone who knows all and sees all. All of the arguments, all the dissention, the Lord knows exactly what is going on and who is at fault.  If we seek and pray, answers will be shown. 

Just like at another room, someone refused the brochure about the ministry, the cookies and the message booklet. One has to wonder in this type of situation, exactly what is going on inside of this person. Who or what is at fault that this person is hurting so much that they refuse any type of assistance? Now please understand, we know that there are folks including college students have their own beliefs and values. We respect that. However we also know behind those doors, are some very lost hurting souls.

One young gal was from Canada and her home is 30 hours from here. She was so thankful that we stopped by to give a little cheer. Another young gal, said “so you got those church cookies for us”? We like those cookies; we even crunch them up and put them in cakes. She even gave us a bag of donated clothing for the ministry. Here admist all of her trying times in college, she took time to give back to others. How awesome is that!

On May 9th, Care-A-Van will be holding their annual college cookout at GCC. The fun will begin at 4:00 PM. There will be hotdogs, hamburgs and all the fixings to go with them. There will also be music provided. It will be held in the parking lot of the dorms.

If you are interested in coming out and helping we would love to have you join us. This is the end of the year bash for them. Each month from September through May, Care-A-Van makes a monthly visit to the college dorms. We have built wonderful trusting friendships with the students. We go forth and let them know that we care, but most importantly that the Lord cares about them and their well being while they are students here in our local community.

Thank you to all of you who partner with us to take forth the light into the darkness of the college campus and all other areas of the city. As the bus headed back home down Main Street, we looked ahead and there right in front of us in the bluish, black sky was a huge orange cross! Our Lord is an awesome God!  Seeing that cross, gave this writer such an inner feeling of peace.  May you all have a very peace filled day!

We can be reached at 585-343-0328 if you are interested in volunteering or know of someone in need.

A brush fire has been reported well behind the residence at 3693 Maltby Road in Oakfield.

Funds earmarked for the GCEDC to develop an agri-park off Route 5 in the Town of Batavia has finally been released and construction could resume within weeks, according to Chad Zambito.

Immediately, GCEDC is getting $2 million from Empire State Development and another $1 million is expected to come from the DOT.  The phase 1-funding will be used for building infrastructure for the park -- roads, sewer, water, gas and electricity.

“To some extent it’s old news because it was announced, but it is a huge relief because we didn’t know where we stood with the state under its current situation," said Zambito.

The funds were originally committed to the project by former Governor Elliott Spitzer and in anticipation of securing the money, some construction work has already begun. Zambito said the GCEDC hopes to complete phase 1 by the end of the year.

A Canadian firm is hoping to open a $15 million processing plant, employing 100 people, Zambito, pending securing its own financing.

Last year, CCEDC staff told the Batavia City Council the Agri-Park, when fully built out, could be worth $1.5 billion in economic growth Genesee County. 

Phase 1 development covers about 200 acres, while the park could eventually cover 300 acres.

SOLD

On Tuesday, we offered a $25 gift certificate to the Batavia Downs Casino Grandstands Bar and Grille, and two people who expressed interest in the gift certificate have been unable to pick up and pay for the item.

So I'm taking this as an opportunity to try something different with Deal of the Day.  I'm using PayPal to allow the first person who wants to buy it for $12.50 to do so paying immediately online.  Once the item is purchased the next person will not be able to buy the certificate.

When you complete your purchase -- if you win -- let me know if you will be able to come by the office to pick up the gift certificate.

SOLD

Reports are coming in that a person suffered a serious leg injury in a car vs. motorcycle accident at Pearl and River in Batavia.

Ambulances are arriving now.

BREAKING: We've had some discussion about Time Warner's tier pricing plan, so here's the latest news: The cable company has raised the white flag, according to the D&C. The D&C story states flat out that TW is bowing to the negative reaction of customers.