batavia

At a time when there’s a big focus on equal rights, even animals — from dogs and chickens to goats, horses, and even therapy animals — and their owners have to be considered.

That was one conclusion during Tuesday’s city Planning and Development Committee meeting.

After discussing and debating issues of what constitutes a nuisance, how to enforce restrictions, and which animal species should or should not be allowed in the city, the group covered a gamut of options and repercussions.

Animals prevailed, for the most part. In the end, the group agreed to put forth a recommendation to use City Manager Rachael Tabelski’s drafted resolution, plus a few alterations. That will go to City Council for review and eventual vote. There will be a public hearing set before a final decision is made, Committee Chairman Duane Preston said.

“We only make some recommendations to the City Council. At that point the public hearing will be open for anybody that would like to come and voice their concerns,” Preston said. “So they need to set a public hearing. Those who have animals that would like to attend can come and voice their opinions to City Council.”

Jill Turner and her Burke Drive neighbor Teresa Potrzebowski each believe they have a valid argument for one side of the matter or the other. They disagree on whether Turner’s goats should remain on her property.

Turner told The Batavian previously that when she moved into the westside neighborhood, there was no law pertaining to her four goats. Her daughters spend time with the goats, one is in 4-H and the other girl uses the animal for therapeutic purposes, Turner said. Furthermore, she doesn’t believe they are destructive or threatening to her neighbors as some have claimed.

That’s not Potrzebowski’s experience, she said before Tuesday’s meeting. When she moved in, there were no goats, and “I wouldn’t have moved in if there had been,” she said. There’s noise, bad smells and goats constantly getting out of their small shed, she said. Turner also has chickens and ducks, and all three farm animal types come into her yard.

“I came home bringing groceries and two big ones walked into my garage,” she said.

The goats have eaten neighbors’ flowers and relieved themselves on their properties, she said.

“It smells like you’re living next door to a farm,” she said.

City Councilman John Canale raised the issue during a recent council meeting, based on resident complaints of those goats. He attended the Planning and Development meeting, but would not comment because he will have to vote on a resolution in the future and lives in the neighborhood, he said.

Committee member Matt Gray did his own research on “a number of towns and cities in the same boat,” and found that a lot of those municipalities came to a decision to restrict animals.

“I found a lot of them leaning the same way we are,” he said.

About 17 out of 25 cities had restrictions, particularly on roosters, Gray said. He suggested adding them to a list of animals not allowed in the city. That brought up other issues about if animals are allowed, how many should be allowed? What measures would be put in place to ensure proper enforcement when the restrictions are violated?

“The city would be responsible for quite a bit in terms of enforcement,” member David Beatty said. “I think whatever we recommend, enforcement is the biggest thing. How do you enforce it? How do you get cooperation of people who own animals? How problematic would that be?”

At one point he offered the suggestion to not allow any animals in the city.

“There’d be an uprising,” Beatty said.

Code Enforcement Officer Doug Randall explained that a law cannot just pertain to one segment of the population. It has to cover everyone, he said. Right now, however, a dog owner can receive repeated tickets for its continuously barking dog if the issue hasn’t been resolved.

For a goat?

“No tickets. We don’t have a law for it,” Randall said.

About an hour later, the committee agreed to forward a resolution with the additions of limiting chickens to six, banning roosters from being kept in the city, and requiring city residents to register their animals by a certain date, to be determined by council if it adopts the recommendation, or not be allowed to keep the animal on their city properties. Registering the animals will allow folks that already have chickens, goats and the like to keep them, and should make it easier to track who has what and where, Randall said.

The resolution "restricts people from owning, bringing into, possessing, keeping, harboring or feeding farm animals, cloven-hoofed animals, equine or fowl, including but not limited to cattle, horses, sheep, goats, pigs, swine, lamas, alpaca, ducks, turkey, geese, feral cats, ponies, donkeys, mules or any other farm or wild animal within city limits."

Exceptions include:

• Chickens, as long as they are penned appropriately, do not accumulate feces or cause odor or an unsightly or unsafe condition. The addition, if approved, would limit them to six.
• Harborage, including transport to and from race tracks and all associated grounds.
• Special events with the approval of an event application.
• Animals in transit through the city.
• Transport to and from veterinary hospitals/clinics, including short-term boarding for medical procedures/conditions.
• No person shall permit an accumulation of animal and/or fowl feces on any property resulting in a foul odor or unsightly condition that makes travel or residence in the vicinity uncomfortable, or which attracts flies or other insects of animals, thereby creating an unsanitary condition and may facilitate the spread of disease of which endangers the public comfort and repose.

The registration requirement would be for people already with farm animals on their properties. If they don’t register an animal by the deadline, it would have to go.

Potrzebowski doesn’t want to have issues with any neighbor, she said, but the recommendation didn’t fill her wish not to have to deal with the animals at all.

“It defeats the purpose to have to register them,” she said.

Top photo: City Planning & Development Committee members Matt Gray, left, David Beatty and Chairman Duane Preston discuss the possibilities Tuesday evening for what to do with farm animals kept in the city. File photo of Jill Turner, pictured with one of her daughters in front, is a city resident with goats, and some of her neighbors have complained that they don't want the smell and noise created by goats, chickens and other farm animals. Committee member David Beatty makes his case for restricting, or maybe even banning, farm animals from city properties. Photos by Joanne Beck.

Raymond Stanley, Jr., 46, of Trigon Park, Le Roy, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .18 or greater, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, and leaving the scene of a property damage accident. Stanley was allegedly involved in a hit-and-run accident reported at 10:04 p.m. July 23, at 71 Wolcott St., Le Roy.  Stanley was arrested by Emmalee Stawicki.  He was released on traffic tickets.

Benjamin Rachow, 39, of Gilbert Street, Le Roy, is charged with harassment 2nd. Rachow was arrested by Le Roy PD Officer Emmalee Stawicki at Strong Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for an injury sustained in an alleged incident reported at 1:40 p.m. July 22, on Gilbert Street, Le Roy. He was arraigned in Town of Le Roy Court and released on his own recognizance. A stay-away order of protection was issued.

Jeffrey Ellinwood, 63, of Genesee Street, Le Roy, is charged with harassment 2nd. Ellinwood is accused of continuing to contact a person on July 24 after being told to cease all communications with the individual.  He was arrested by Officer Curtis Miller. He was arraigned in Town of Le Roy Court and released on his own recognizance.  An order of protection was issued.

Name redacted upon request, 29, of Dewey Avenue, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. xxxx is accused of shoplifting $76.84 in merchandise from a store on Veterans Memorial Drive, Batavia. xxxx was processed at the Genesee County Jail and released.

James Robert Cooper, 39, of Buell Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument 1st. Cooper is accused of passing a fraudulent $20 bill at a location at Harrington's Produce on Clinton Street Road, Batavia, at 12:29 p.m. Dec. 27. He was arrested on July 22. He was arraigned in Town of Batavia Court and released on his own recognizance.

Shannon Lee Guiste, 51, of West Main Street, Batavia, is charged with burglary 3rd and petit larceny.  Guiste is accused of skip-scanning items at Walmart at 4:21 p.m. July 21. In 2015, Guiste was reportedly banned from entering Walmart. Guiste was arraigned in Town of Batavia Court and released.  

Eric Charles Dockstader, 37, no address provided, is charged with strangulation 2nd. Dockstader was allegedly involved in a disturbance at 4:55 a.m. July 24 at a location on Council House Road, Alabama. He was arraigned in Town of Alabama Court and released under supervision.

Antionette A. Pierre, 24, of Nassau Bahamas, is charged with petit larceny. Piere is accused of stealing in the Town of Batavia at 2:27 p.m., July 23. She was arrested by State Police and released on an appearance ticket. No further information was released.

Joshua D. Quaintance, 33, of Byron, is charged with criminal trespass. Quaintance was arrested by State Police in connection with an incident reported at noon July 17 in the Town of Bergen.  No further details released.

Press release:

GLOW With Your Hands is hosting a “Night at the Ballpark” in conjunction with the Batavia Muckdogs on Friday, July 29^th at 7 PM. Participating companies and businesses from the GLOW Region will be in attendance to showcase activities that will be on display at the 3^rd annual GLOW With Your Hands event on Tuesday, September 27, 2022, at the Genesee County Fairgrounds.

GLOW With Your Hands Committee members will be on site to share information, giveaways, and assist with hands-on activities during the game.

Among the vendors attending and the activities they are promoting include:

• Allegheny Farms: Heavy Equipment Display
• Bricklayers and Allied Contractors Local #3: Brick Wall Activity
• Summit Street Physical Therapy: Demonstrations
• Genesee Valley BOCES: Clean Hands Activity
• Transfer VR: Virtual Reality Career Exploration

“We invite all of our past and future GLOW With Your Hands participants and our entire GLOW community to join us for both a great game and the opportunity to see some of what makes our event so impactful,” said GLOW Workforce Development Board Executive Director, Jay Lazarony. “We also hope the event at the ballpark will generate more interest among businesses and companies to join us at this year’s event.”

“We want to provide the best day possible on September 27^th for GLOW region students by having high-quality vendor activities in order to create a fun, educational, learning environment,” said GLOW With Your Hands, Co-Chair, Chris Suozzi.. “The hundreds of students who will be attending GLOW With Your Hands are the next generation of skilled laborers and professionals, and we are confident that based on the past success of the previous events that area companies will find well-qualified and highly trainable candidates for employment.”

There’s a lot of transition going on for Tom Turnbull, former president of Genesee County Chamber of Commerce, he says.

The Batavia resident’s wife Michelle just retired, their son T.J. graduated from college this year and is working in Buffalo, and now Turnbull is back in the saddle at the chamber — temporarily.

“It’s a temporary interim position just to fill in,” he said Tuesday. “Erik left … I’m filling in the presidential duties.”

Former president Erik Fix’s last day was Friday. He left to assume the role of assistant city manager this week. Although Fix gave notice, it still can take time to assemble a search committee, advertise, interview and hire for the position, Turnbull said.

“So they asked if I'd be willing, and I was kind of flattered, actually,” he said. “I love the staff here. And I mean, they're great to work with. So I said, sure, as long as it was gonna be temporary. So we're kind of  ballparking it for three months.”

His life for the next few months will be filled with parades, ribbon-cuttings, a chamber 50th gala celebration, the yearly Ag tour, a Leadership Genesee visit, and business after-hours mixer at The Game of Throes.

“That should be fun,” he said. “That's the type of stuff I always loved about this job. You get to go and do things and see things that you normally wouldn’t.”

He has already broached the topic of grant money and a contract that was just cancelled by Genesee County due to changes in the original proposal and fact that Fix would no longer be at the agency. Turnbull talked with County Manager Matt Landers and was reassured that the branding initiative plan and grant funding can proceed when the details are ironed out and a new president is in place.

“We’ll work with the new president so they’ll be up to speed; we’re the ones to do it,” Turnbull said of the branding initiative. “I love this staff. I mean, they're all talented. They're all professional. I've worked with them before and loved working with them, so it made it a really easy decision to fill in here for the time being.”

He will work approximately 20-25 hours a week and plans to be in the office every weekday.

Turnbull was president for seven years before retiring from his post.

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While waiting for her case to be called Tuesday at City Court, Cassandra Elmore sat masked and sniffling, whispering to a companion.

She was called before Judge Thomas Burns about 10 minutes later, and slowly walked forward and took a seat. She said very little, except for yes or no answers. 

Judge Burns read brief descriptions of three charges from Section 353 of the Agriculture and Markets Law. They all have to do with her alleged abuse, torture and/or neglect of her bulldog, which was diagnosed in June of overdosing on some type of narcotics while at her residence.

Elmore had previously indicated that she wanted an attorney, and Burns needed to clarify whether she wanted to hire one or ask for one to be provided to her, per law, and represent her during this case. Elmore said that she was asking “to hire one” for herself.

Burns granted her two weeks and asked if that would be sufficient time. She nodded and quietly said yes. The judge entered a not guilty plea on her behalf and she was released on her own recognizance. Jenna Bauer, representing the county District Attorney's office, agreed to the terms.

Elmore is to return to City Court at 1:30 p.m. on August 11.

“You have to be back with or without an attorney,” he said.

He warned her that if she did not show up, he would issue a warrant for her arrest, and that bail could be modified. She was also asked to provide her full contact information and to go to the jail and get fingerprinted as other conditions of her release.

Volunteers For Animals member Wendy Castleman sat watching the continuation unfold. Castleman was there for Oddey, the canine victim in the case. Although she couldn’t offer a comment about the case specifically as a volunteer, she said, she was able to give an update about Oddey, believed to be a French bulldog.

“He’s doing really well,” she said.

Oddey was taken to Genesee County Animal Shelter after Elmore was charged earlier this month. It has not yet been determined if he will be returned to 30-year-old Elmore or signed over to the shelter for adoption.

Elmore faces three counts of injuring an animal under New York Ag and Markets Law Section 353, which states:

A person who overdrives, overloads, tortures or cruelly beats or unjustifiably injures, maims, mutilates or kills any animal, whether wild or tame, and whether belonging to himself or to another, or deprives any animal of necessary sustenance, food or drink, or neglects or refuses to furnish it such sustenance or drink, or causes, procures or permits any animal to be overdriven, overloaded, tortured, cruelly beaten, or unjustifiably injured, maimed, mutilated or killed, or to be deprived of necessary food or drink, or who wilfully sets on foot, instigates, engages in, or in any way furthers any act of cruelty to any animal, or any act tending to produce such cruelty, is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

For prior coverage, go to Cassandra Elmore.

​

 

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With construction season in full swing, progress on the Ellicott Station development is more visible.

Crews have begun framing apartments in the four-story complex that is part of the $25 million project. 

Besides the apartments, other buildings on the property -- a combination of the former Della Penna building and the Santy Tire location -- will include office space and a restaurant/brewery.

The four-story apartment building will contain 55 units, including 52 with balconies, and nine units meeting Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. There will be 37 garage parking spaces and 44 surface parking spaces, a laundry room, an elevator, a community room, bicycle storage, and an enclosed ADA playground.

The developer is Savarino Companies, a firm in Buffalo that specializes in rehabilitating brownfield properties and old industrial buildings. 

The apartments are expected to house workforce residents with $30,000 to $40,000 in annual earnings.

Photo by Mike Pettinella.

Press Release:

The City of Batavia Water Department will be shutting down water service today in the area of Richmond
Avenue and Prospect Avenue for emergency water main repairs..

The length of time the water will be off is unknown.

As always, when the water is restored it may be discolored. Please refrain from doing any laundry until
the water runs clear.

We apologize for any inconvenience and the public’s patience is greatly appreciated.

A talent show at Genesee County Fair seemed like good entertainment for Webster resident Paul Wallach and his date, Jackie.

It was their third time together, as they sat watching various age groups of children to adults take to the stage for some instrumental, dance, comedy and aerial acts.

Wallach didn’t need to see any more after the aerial act, performed by 13-year-old Corinne Rhoads of Le Roy on Saturday afternoon.

“It’s the best act of the day,” he said, after quietly yet audibly judging each performer. “Hard to top that.”

Corinne began with ballet and tap classes around 5, she said, followed by freestyling and hip-hop, finally onto aerial arts — her rest stop for now. She enjoys the movement and believes it’s good exercise.

“It’s something people don’t typically see; I get to teach people new things,” she said just after her performance. “My mom’s a massage therapist and she knows about muscles. She’s told me everything I need to do.”

Her time to shine wasn’t actually on the stage, but on a large hoop suspended in the air by a metal support structure alongside of it. She moved within the circular showpiece, doing a combination of ballet and gymnastics moves. She has won this talent show once before with aerial arts. It’s something the teen wants to continue, she said.

“I would like to pursue a circus camp that goes around the world,” she said.

During her performance, Wallach gave high marks for her flow of movements. He also critiqued one young pianist who jumped off the bench once the song was finished — “She should have held that note” — and complimented another one who held that last note and sat still for a moment before getting up to leave.

The Webster couple wasn’t the only one to travel for the talent show, some fair treats, animal shows, rides and exhibits. Lisa Oberer of Oakfield was with her daughter and granddaughter Natalie, 3, from North Chili, and a mom and son duo in the talent show drove an hour from Buffalo.

Natalie seemed to be enjoying the show — especially the music — as she smiled and clapped to the beat. Valeria Owens had been looking forward to the competition, which featured her son Avantae playing “Cuckoo” as a solo on piano, and later “Lightly Row” as a duet with his mom.

Avantae, 9, has been taking lessons from “Miss Laura” Kauppi of Corfu, the main organizer of the talent show. After performing in some of his teacher’s recitals and scoring a "perfect" during a graded event, mom was encouraged to enter him in the fair show.

“She’s been an amazing teacher for him,” Valeria said. Avantae added that he practices “probably almost every day.”

The show went well, and they walked away with prizes (more on that in a minute), but mom was looking forward to other entertainment as well.

“I want to get on some rides, I want food, I’m a thousand percent excited,” she said with a big smile while pointing east of the yellow-and-white big tent. “I want to get on that Ferris wheel, and the upside-down ride.

“I wanted to support Miss Laura,” she said. “We’ve never been to Genesee County Fair, I’m so excited.”

Fair Committee co-organizer Norm Pimm didn’t have exact numbers just yet but reported good news as of Sunday evening.

“Saturday was our best opening day in years,” he said. “Sunday was very strong as well.”

The fair continues every day through Saturday. Here's the schedule 

And the winners were …

Tiny Tot (6 and under): 

1st Place was a tie for

• Maisie Kho - piano
• Azalea Sieczkarski - piano

Mini (7-12):

3rd Place was a tie for

• Hiba Waqas - piano
• Kataleaya Slaughter - piano

2nd Place was also a tie for

• Avantae Owens - piano 
• Kataleaya Slaughter and Azalea Sieczkarski - dance 

1st Place

• Chelsie Kho- piano

Maxi category

3rd Place was a tie for

• Haris Waqas -piano
• Shane Coast- piano

2nd Place

• Corinne Rhoads - aerial arts

1st Place

• Gabriella Zocco - dance

Adult category

1st Place

• C.M. Waide - comedy 

2nd Place

• Valeria and Avantae Owens - piano duet

Top photo: Comedian C.M. Waide of Batavia delivers some laughs during the talent show  Saturday at Genesee County Fair. Le Roy teen Corinne Rhoads performs aerial arts; Valeria and Avantae Owens of Buffalo perform a duet; Natalie Oberer of North Chili claps to the music with Lisa Oberer of Oakfield; other participants in the show, with piano teacher and event organizer Laura Kauppi behind in black. Photos by Joanne Beck.

A group of protesters displaying signs lined both sides of the road in front of Cornerstone Church Sunday morning on Bank Street Road.

The protesters expressed their distaste for a group of people that are scheduled to speak at the location next month. The ReAwaken America Tour was recently cancelled in Rochester due to pressure on the venue operator from musical acts that canceled their appearances and pressure from the public. For prior coverage, go here for protest and here for the tour.

The tour has since relocated to Batavia at Cornerstone Church in the Town of Batavia. Many Christian leaders issued a message that they were against the event due to the controversial content talked about during the event. That reportedly has included unproven conspiracy theories and racist themes.

Jim Burns, organizer of the Batavia protest, said the protest group was created with the help of local pastors in the GLOW region, and they are hoping to reach members of the Cornerstone Church as they arrive for their Sunday morning sermon at 10 a.m.

"This group was put together and spearheaded by them," Burns said. "They were very upset and moved emotionally. Some were brought to tears saying they could not believe a church was hosting (the ReAwaken tour) to come in and talk like they are going to talk."

Burns says he wanted to be involved and organize the protest because of the division he is seeing along with the devaluation of human life.

"It's unbelievable to me, the people that are coming to this church in a couple weeks are sowing division. We need to stop this as a country," he said. "The Democratic party does it, the Republican party does it. It's time for it to stop, and as American citizens, we need to stop it. This is all about division and the hatred that comes with it. We are all Americans and shouldn't be enemies to ourselves."

Burns said he has no political or religious affiliations. He believes people have the right to assemble.

"Most people here are not going to like my view with that. We have the right to be here and the church has the right to host them, we all have the right to be heard, and that's the way America should work; it's not one side or the other saying the other side can't do that," he said. "I am out here protesting the people who are coming and their beliefs, absolutely one hundred percent. I am absolutely a nobody. I am just a citizen. Everybody here has their own personal reasons to be here, some are affiliated with other groups. They are here because of the racism; they are here because they think Batavia is a better town and shouldn't be hosting this."

Many protesters had their own reasons to show up to the Sunday protest.

"We've been here holding our signs spreading a message of love and tolerance. It's very encouraging because there are a lot of people in Batavia who don't stand for these terrible fascist, racist ideas, it's really good to see," said protester Logan Cole.

The protest started about 9:30 a.m. on Sunday as members of the Cornerstone Church were arriving for a 10 a.m. sermon. The church had security on hand and did have to intervene after a woman from the Cornerstone property crossed the road and attempted to pull a sign down from another woman’s face and take her photo. A member of the church with a radio responded across the street and collected the woman, telling her to not engage with protesters. She was escorted back onto the church property, which was roped off with yellow tape. The protest ended at about 10:15 a.m.

Top photo: Protesters displaying messages to members of Cornerstone Church as they arrived for service Sunday morning. A short time later a church member tried to pull down one woman's sign and take her photo (on the left). Otherwise, it was a fairly uneventful, peaceful protest for about 45 minutes at the Bank Street Road, Batavia church. Church security escorted the member back to the church as protesters continued on with their mission. Photos by Alecia Kaus.

There was one part about an upcoming boxcar race that especially appealed to Mason Dominiak, he said.

The 13-year-old likes speed.

“I like racing,” he said Saturday at Jackson Square in Batavia. “The adrenaline of going fast, I like going really fast.”

He and Adrian Tabelski were watching Adrian’s dad work to gradually put together a boxcar for them. The boys are participants of a first-ever Batavia Business Improvement District Boxcar Derby. Handmade creations will take off down the Ellicott Avenue hill at 9:30 a.m. sharp on Aug. 27.

Saturday was “Build Day,” and about 10 kids and their parents picked up their car kits and took them home to work on while the remaining 20 stopped by throughout the day to put their cars together with hands-on support from many BID committee members and community volunteers.

In between sounds of construction equipment, Adrian, 10, said that his participation was sort of a surprise.

“My mom signed me up,” he said.

Adrian in turn invited Mason to come along. They are sharing the initial duties of assembling and decorating a car, and both agreed that Adrian would be taking the wheel on race day. He has never been in a boxcar, but has “learned a lot about construction” during the day, he said.

Mason didn’t think he’d know as much as he did. Then again, he has worked on vehicles — four-wheeling is his favorite ride — and once had to take an entire engine out for a piston issue, he said. He will be there on race day to root on his friend. They began to brainstorm their car's exterior: how about black and gold with flames for a design, they agreed.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Mason said.

Committee member Lydia Schauf had telltale signs of sawdust on her black outfit. Using a saw, perhaps? No, drilling into wood.

“So we found out that they're doing the boxcar thing, and they were doing a build day. So we all came out and said that we’ll volunteer and help cut out templates, like my dad said, and just help build wherever we can with these kids,” she said. “It was fun to get out and try my hand at it.”

Lydia gave her dad, Rich Schauf, a nudge to join her in the effort. She also brought friend Marianne Pautler with her.

When asked if there had been any mishaps yet, Pautler smiled and nodded yes.

“I might have added a couple extra pieces here and there,” she said. “Those two extra pieces slid in. But hopefully it's been rectified. We went back through and pulled them out,” she said. “So yeah, just putting the kits together so that they're ready for the people to pick up or build here.”

Looking like he was ready to hunker down for some work, Rich Schauf, wearing a thick gray headband, happily obliged his daughter’s request, he said. He saw lots of enthusiasm during his time there.

“I thought it was a very worthwhile project,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of kids. And it's been really great to see these young kids and their excitement. I don't know if memory is still serving people about it, or if this will be new to people, but it's pretty exciting. And if you remember back in the day, it was quite good.”

There were stations with various tools and materials set up for the project, and several committee members and volunteers on hand to help. Participants each received a car kit, and BID merchants have been supportive of the idea, Executive Director Shannon Maute said. The race will be double elimination, which means several — about 50 — races on event day.

She and the others encourage spectators to join the fun and root for the kids. There will be tents set up and pizza and beverages for sale afterward as a “picnic in the park” BID style at Centennial Park, she said.

“We would like to make this a really large event. I mean, how fun cheering on these kids going down the hill, because what a feeling of a park filled with people cheering you on when you're going down this ramp,” she said. “I have challenged every child that I've come in contact with, because I built a car and I have challenged them to race me, so it's gonna be fun.”

She joked that she threw the gauntlet down to committee member Chris Suozzi, but believes that “he’s afraid to race me.”

The actual race is not in the downtown business district, she said, but merchants were OK with that. Ellicott Avenue has not only a nice hill that’s in the city but also was used years ago for similar races, she said.

“We had talked at length if anyone minded us doing (this) actually outside of the downtown area, but everyone was all for it because it's really more about the kids and not the district,” she said.

Other members Saturday included Jim Krencik, Lauren Becht, Gail Tenney, John Roche, and volunteers Don Cunningham, Jay Steinbrenner, Ron Galdun, Derek Ells, and TJ Henderson. Genesee Lumber cut and delivered the wood needed for the car kits.

The adults have taken care of all of the “logistics,” Krencik said, so that “the kids can focus on the hands-on skills that they’re learning by building the boxcars.”

“And then having a lot of fun racing them,” he said. “Our goal really was, for Build Day, to see the kids, their smiles as they’re walking away with these projects that they’re gonna dive into. And it’s going to be several hours of memories that I think are gonna really inspire them as they go through middle school, high school and, for my hat with GCEDC, to integrate into careers.”

As for the fun of it, someone suggested to him to think of the Little Rascals movie, in which the impish kids race boxcars. That sealed it for Krencik, he said, and that movie has fueled his zeal for the grand finale next month.

“It's really gonna be fun on August 27, to see these kids take off … it’s right at the corner of Centennial Park. But I liked that the race kind of goes towards the heart of the BID,” he said. “Because I think that's the energy that's right there. And it's getting more memories for those kids coming downtown like they are today.”

Parents, committee members, volunteers, and kids got together to build some boxcars Saturday at Jackson Square. Photos by Jim Krencik.

^'

The Genesee County Sheriff's Office Teen Academy Class of 2022 graduated 14 members on Friday afternoon at the Conable Technology Building at Genesee Community College in Batavia. 

Filling in for Sheriff William Sheron who is under the weather,  Chief Deputy Brian Frieday started the ceremony with a moment of silence for a 29-year veteran of the Rochester Police Department, Officer Anthony Mazurkiewicz, who was ambushed by gunfire overnight in the City of Rochester and lost his life in the line of duty.

"This serves as a reminder that, unfortunately, there is danger in police work; not trying to push you away, that is the reality of the job," Frieday told the graduates.

After a pause in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, the Teen Academy was moved to GCC and is now being run by Academy Director Deputy Richard Schildwaster. Deputy Matthew Butler started the program as the School Resource Officer at Byron-Bergen High School in 2018, and in 2019 Butler retired.

"Many people and organizations make this work, it's not put together in a week or even a month, this has been worked on for several months," Schildwaster said.

Frieday thanked GCC Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Karen Wicka for helping coordinate and provide the facilities, along with Genesee County Stop DWI for the funding and the county Legislature for supporting the Academy.

Frieday told students he was very thankful they chose to get involved in the criminal justice system.

"Without you guys we wouldn't have this program. You volunteer your time, take time out of your summer. It's nice and sunny out there, who wants to be running in 90-degree heat," he said. "You put forth the time and hard work and you came together as a team. Thank you for participating, it's what makes this a sucess."

Top photo: Celebrating their status as Teen Academy graduates are, from left to right front row: Quinn Woeller, Wendy Lagunas Perez, Kaylee Tundo, Mary Engelhardt, Lea Donofrio, Michael Ehrmentraut, Hannah Spencer and Grace Slocum, and left to right back row: Lukas Volkmar, Christopher Zastrocky, Ian Kepple, Halie Deville, Joey Schnitzer and Michael Covert. Genesee County Legislators Rochelle Stein and Gary Maha, also former county Sheriff, in the front row during a portion of the Teen Academy Friday, and a group of students listen during a related class at GCC. Photos by Alecia Kaus.

 

For registration or more details on this year's race - click here

You may not like baseball, or have been to a Muckdogs game here in Batavia, but, from all appearances, the Muckdogs seem to make Batavia a better place when they interact with the community, and today was no exception.

Batavia Muckdogs and GLOW YMCA volunteers held the Challenger Baseball Series Saturday at Dwyer Stadium. The event was for children with developmental or other disabilities between the ages of 5 and 21. Even though YMCA has had this event before, again, by all appearances, it seemed as though the Muckdogs players enjoyed the event as much, if not more than, the kids did. 

In case you missed the event this afternoon, you can still see the kids at 7 p.m. tonight. Each child that participated received four free tickets to the game, a team hat, and will be on the field with the team for the National Anthem.

Photos by Jim Burns.

Press release:

Rochester Regional Health has made the decision to close the Batavia Urgent Care at the Jerome Medical Center effective August 1, as it prepares to offer reimagined urgent care services in the Batavia Medical Campus on Oak Orchard Rd. opening next year.  Our community’s health and wellbeing is extremely important to us, so while that new four-story, 115,000-square-foot state-of-the-art building is under construction, RRH continues to offer urgent care services through primary care offices, telemedicine and at United Memorial Medical Center.

Every staff member from the Batavia Urgent Care is moving into another position within the RRH system while the organization works through the Urgent Care redesign.

“Rochester Regional Health and United Memorial envision a future healthcare model with many complimentary services under one roof that provide reliable high-quality care,” said United Memorial Medical Center President Dan Ireland.  “Existing demands for staff and resources require new thoughts on how to operate services like Urgent Care. Now is the time to reflect on the future of healthcare and thoughtfully redesign the model of care that will serve our community in the years to come.”

• Primary care offices remain open, and providers aware of the changes ahead are prepared to see any patients with urgent needs 
• RRH ExpressCare offers patients immediate, on-demand virtual appointments with providers through patients’ MyCare accounts.  https://www.rochesterregional.org/services/telemedicine
• UMMC’s Emergency Department as always, is ready 24/7 to see any patients with true medical emergencies

In the coming days and weeks, patients will receive letters with more information and there will be new signs at the Batavia Urgent Care site about the changes.

The new Batavia Medical Campus building is slated to open in the Spring of 2023.

Genesee County Chamber of Commerce will be a little short in the wallet for a new branding initiative that the former president had proposed.

The county’s Ways and Means Committee voted this week to rescind the $139,500 advance payment because Erik Fix had requested a material change in the original proposal, and then shortly after resigned his position. Fix had initially requested $240,000 from the county to establish a branding initiative that would meet American Rescue Plan Act requirements. ARPA was established in 2021 to shore up American businesses and organizations that lost revenues due to the pandemic.

County Manager Matt Landers said that due to the change in terms from the chamber, county legislators and he agreed to terminate the contract.

“After the contract between the County and Chamber was executed, and the Chamber started the work on the contract, they suggested some changes on how to utilize the ARPA funds, which would require a contract amendment,” Landers said to The Batavian. “The County and the Chamber were in the process of exploring an appropriate contract amendment when the Chamber President announced he was leaving his post. Since Erik was the driving force behind this initiative, we felt it was appropriate to void the current contract altogether and hopefully bring forward a new one once a new president is on board.”

The budget will be amended by decreasing ARPA contractual expenses in the amount of $139,500, to be offset by a decrease in federal aid in the same amount.

The branding initiative stemmed from a template “that worked well in Livingston County” and seemed likely to also work well in Genesee County, Landers said.

“We are supportive of this effort that supports local tourism and local businesses,” he said. "Assisting local tourism efforts that suffered greatly during the pandemic is one of the areas targeted in the regulations on the ARPA funds.”

The money is to be reimbursed to the county in one lot, he said.  

Genesee County received a total of $11,125,969 in Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds made available through the federal ARPA, signed into law in March 2021.

It seems fair to say that Daniel Calkins was persistent when it came to applying for a job with Genesee County.

The former Marine Reservist, pastor and residential coordinator had wanted to be executive director of the Youth Bureau, and he applied once before attempting it again this year. The position has been temporarily filled by Interim Director Chelsea Elliott, and county officials wanted to permanently fill it.

As someone who has enjoyed working with and encouraging youth, Calkins finally snagged what perhaps he’d call the perfect position.

“I think it's a dream job for me being able to work with the youth and influence their development and their lives,” he said by phone while driving to his home in Attica. “Also, it's a great move for my family. It's a stable position and I think it's something I could do for quite a while.”

The 2007 Batavia High School graduate had grown up on Batavia’s south side, attending Genesee Community College before enlisting in a six-year leg with the U.S. Marine Reserves. After that, he completed his studies at GCC and obtained his bachelor's degree in Community and Human Services at Empire State College.

Calkins has always wanted to be a social worker, he said, but slightly strayed with a Master’s of Divinity Degree from North Eastern Seminary at Roberts Wesleyan College. It was either go for a Master's in Social Work or Divinity, and he chose the latter, still with a heart to work with youth, he said.

“But then I just decided to do a Master's in Divinity at the time because I was working at the church with the option of going back and actually getting my bachelor's in social work,” he said. “I was just really open to how I felt, the world was leading me and God was leading me into what you want to be working on at that time. So I didn't really have a plan per se.”

Calkins was pastor of the Next Generation program at Northgate Church in Batavia for four years, and more recently worked at Arc GLOW as residential coordinator for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He begins his new job as Youth Bureau executive director August 1.

“So I took a job when it became available at Arc; I had applied for the Youth Bureau position in the past, and I didn't get it. But, you know, I always had my eyes on it because I love working with the youth,” he said. “I think it's important that people are intentional about the development of the young people in the world. Rather than letting the world shape them, we have to take an active approach in making sure that their development is meaningful, and that it's on the right path.”

He doesn’t believe that enough emphasis is put on the amount of development that takes place during one’s childhood and adolescence. That’s the crucial time that “you become the person that you're going to be,” he said.

Calkins, whose Facebook page has a backdrop of a cheese-and-pepperoni pizza, married his high school sweetheart, Deanna. They have two boys, with another one on the way, and are expected to have a birthday in early September.

The pizza, you might wonder, is significant as part of the many hats that Calkins wears, he said. He and a buddy make pizzas for wedding receptions as a “little side hobby.” That’s due to his appreciation for “learning how to do new things.”

There might just be a pizza activity once he’s on board at the Youth Bureau, he said, along with many other recreational ideas he has in store. The 34-year-old's leadership style may seem a bit more peer than the boss.

“I like to lead next to people, I like to walk beside people in life. Rather than tell people what to do, I like to help them figure out what they want to do,” he said. “And I love humor and use humor quite a bit. I can be very silly and childlike myself. But I also have a passion for justice and just making sure there's a relative fairness in life and helping the people that may feel behind or put behind by society or whatever, to have an opportunity as well to be the best person that they can be called to be.”

There were four candidates for the position, County Manager Matt Landers said. Dan stood out with his enthusiasm, energy, noticeable preparation for the interview and experience, Landers said.

“(Those) were all factors in the search committee unanimously recommending Dan for the position. The search committee was made up of representatives from the County Legislature, Human Resources, DSS, the Manager’s Office and the Genesee County Youth Advisory Board,” Landers said. “Dan has a good amount of experience working directly with youth and developing youth programming that reaches kids, especially at-risk youth. Dan has spent his professional career working with youth and people with disabilities, striving to make meaningful improvements in the quality of their lives.”

Landers also acknowledged the two veteran employees and Chelseas — Chelsea Elliott and Chelsea Green — who have “stepped up big time during this period of transition, none bigger than Interim Executive Director Elliott,” he said. 

“I look forward to Dan working with our two Chelseas to learn the ropes and put his stamp on the department,” Landers said. 

That’s exactly what Calkins plans to do, in an effort to build relationships, and allow people to learn who he is and about his intentions, so they can see “that I'm safe, and I'm here to help them.”

“And I'm there to provide more meaningful experiences for the youth in the county, and the families as well. I think the best way to reach youth is for their parents to trust you,” Calkins said. “I have a passion for working with people. So we're not going to duplicate any services that are already happening in the community, we’ll work in partnership with them, and help them make what they're doing better.

“I feel ecstatic. I'm so excited. I feel like I am bursting with ideas,” he said. “And I don't have a particular agenda. It's just to be helpful. And make sure that people's lives in the community are meaningful and that they have the opportunity for education.”

Submitted photo of Daniel Calkins.