batavia

Sunday message from Pastor Roula Alkhouri, Batavia First Presbyterian Church: "What is Saving Your Life Right Now?"

Friends and family of Joshua T. Fullmer Sr., who died Monday following a motorcycle and bicycle accident on Route 5 near Wortendyke Road, was fondly remembered Saturday evening in a candlelight vigil at the site of the crash.

From his obituary:

Josh was a wonderful young man who packed a lot of life in his 27 years, some would say he was an “Old Soul,” friends, he had too many to count but Josh always, always had an ear to listen or a hand to lend. He had an unusual love for snakes, his motorcycle and children, he was wonderful with them and they were drawn to him. Josh was employed at HP Hood in Batavia and was a wonderful husband, father, son and brother.

Top photo: His mother, Joy, stepfather, Joe, and his siblings, Justin, Jeremy and Brittany.

Photos by Jessica Pfalzer

Our local family of dinosaurs reappeared in Downtown Batavia today, this time with a little one in tow.

A skateboarder has been struck by a vehicle at 16 Colorado Ave. in the City of Batavia. The location is between Ellicott Place and Harvester Avenue. City fire and Mercy medics are responding.

UPDATE 8 p.m.: The skateboarder is conscious and alert and being evaluated by medics at the scene. Unknown injuries, if any. The black Jeep in the forefront of the photo allegedly struck the skateboarder.

UPDATE: The patient was transported to Strong Memorial Hospital for evaluation. He is a juvenile. No further information is available. No charges anticipated.

It didn’t take Gail Tenney long to decide who she wanted to help when the coronavirus pandemic hit.

She works for her family’s businesses, McNickel’s Bottle and Can Redemption and adjoining RJ’s Washroom on Ellicott Street in the City of Batavia.

Given her family’s work at the Redemption Center, and because she knows that for most people “bottles and cans are a nuisance,” an empties drive was the perfect choice for an event to benefit hardworking medical providers at United Memorial Medical Center.

Thus was born "Community Strong with Cans." Tenney visited neighbors on Redfield Parkway, Bogue Avenue and Woodrow Road. They were happy to help!

She collected empties with a $200 redemption value initially, $120 with the next round, and then added $100 from her family. This $420 was used to purchase 55 meals for hospital workers at UMMC.

The meals were from local eatery Commit to Well (inside Eli Fish Brewing Co.) and delivered on April 13; the recipients were more than grateful.

“The ongoing support of our community is such an important piece in our fight against COVID-19," said UMMC President Dan Ireland. "As we all learn how to cope during these extraordinary times and rise to the challenge, our team members are working long hours away from their family—many accomplishing tasks they’ve never done before.

"Our community’s acts of kindness, large or small, keep us going. This outpouring of gratitude reminds us why we’re here, and that the community we care so deeply about, also cares for us. There are not enough words to express our sincere appreciation. We are all so thankful for the heartwarming generosity.”

Now Tenney would like to expand the scope of the project and share the benefits with the people who support their businesses as well, while increasing collection efforts throughout the community.

"Let’s support them, they support us," Tenney said. "…My heart breaks for them" because they are truly the people in need during these difficult times.

Along with the hospital staff, Tenney has selected Care-A-Van Ministries and Community Action of Orleans and Genesee to be recipients in the future.

Paul Ohlson of Care-A-Van said that contributions they receive are distributed according to needs, so it is most helpful to provide them with the funds directly.

Similarly, Lisa Wittmeyer of Community Action is anticipating that any money raised will help in upcoming months when many local residents need to catch up on unpaid rents from the early days of the pandemic.

The Tenney family hopes their efforts will bring a bit of much needed relief to those who need it, without overburdening the people they are asking to contribute. They intend to continue matching funds for money raised.

To donate your empties to "Community Strong with Cans," to arrange a pick up, or to help, please contact Tenney at:  getenney@comcast.net or call/text (585) 993-2060.

Visit Tenney’s Blog here.

Top photo, courtesy of UMMC.

Inset photo right, courtesy of Gail Tenney.

Devon A. Wright (inset photo), 18, of Highland Park, Batavia, is charged with: two counts of criminal sexual act in the second degree -- actor 18 years old or more / victim under age 15 -- a Class D felony; two counts of endangering the welfare of a child less than 17 -- a Class A misdemeanor; and resisting arrest. Wright was arrested and arraigned on the charges at 6:43 p.m. April 29 in Batavia City Court. His arrest follows an investigation into sex abuse involving children under age 15, which allegedly occurred the evening of Nov. 26 (location not specified). The investigation is ongoing and there are believed to be additional juvenile victims. Anyone with information is encouraged to come forward by reaching out to Detective Ivison of the City of Batavia Police Department at (585) 345-6312.

Alex Scott Dumbleton, 26, of Pearl Street, Batavia, is charged with: obstructing governmental administration in the second degree; second-degree harassment; and endangering the welfare of a child. The defendant was arrested following an investigation into a domestic incident at 2:46 p.m. on March 26 on Pearl Street in Batavia. It is alleged that the defendant subjected a person under the age of 17 to unwanted physical contact. Subsequently, Dumbleton allegedly became physically resistive and uncooperative during the course of the investigation. He was arraigned in Batavia City Court and and released. He is due back in court on May 29. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Stephen Quider, assisted by Sgt. Dan Coffey.

Katrina Lynn Drake, 30, of Locust Street, Lockport, is charged with second-degree harassment and first degree criminal contempt -- violation of an order of protection -- physical contact. Drake was arrested on April 23 following the investigation of an incident that occurred at 8:06 p.m. on April 1 on Thorpe Street in the City of Batavia. Drake was released on an appearance ticket following arraignment in Batavia city Court and is due to return there June 15. The case was investigated by Batavia Police Officer Nicole McGinnis, assisted by Officer Marc Lawrence. The investigation was completed by Officer Sean Wilson.

Bryant Lee Evans, 39, Frost Avenue, Batavia, is charged with: aggravated unlicensed operation in the first degree; aggravated driving while intoxicated; DWI; drinking alcohol in a motor vehicle; and unregistered motor vehicle. Evans was arrested at 9:21 p.m. on Veterans Memorial Drive, Batavia, following a complaint of a traffic offense. Evans was issued an appearance ticket and is due in Batavia Town Court on June 4. The case was handled by Genesee County Sheriff's Deputy Joshua Brabon, assisted by Deputy Kyle Krzemien.

Lazavia McDaniel Price, 20, of Pearl Street Road, Batavia, is charged with: DWI -- first offense; DWI with a BAC of .08 percent of more -- first offense; open container of alcohol in a vehicle; speeding; window tint violation; no headlights. He was the driver and lone occupant of a vehicle stopped for alleged vehicle and traffic violations in the City of Batavia at 8:29 p.m. April 27 on West Main Street in Batavia. Price allegedly was speeding through the city, had illegal window tint, and did not have his headlights on when he was stopped and arrested on the charges. He was issued appearance tickets and is due in Batavia City Court on May 13. The case was handled by Genesee County Sheriff's Deputy Andrew Mullen, assisted by Deputy Howard Wilson.

Lucretia M. Hayes, 49, of East Main Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Hayes was arrested at 8:30 a.m. on April 24 at a business on Ellicott Street in the city. Hayes was released on an appearance ticket and is due in Batavia City Court on June 2. The case was handled by Batavia City Police Officer Miah Stevens.

This morning a veteran who was treated at the VA Hospital in Batavia for COVID-19 was discharged today, recovered from the disease.

Video submitted by VA Western NY Healthcare System.

On Tuesday, Robin Grandin from Music to Remember WNY made a visit to the VA Hospital in Batavia along with her sister-in-law Jackie Volk to perform "Rockin' Robin" for patients at Spruce Lodge.

The performance was shared with a tablet computer so that proper social distancing could be maintained. 

Submitted by VA Western NY Healthcare System.

Earlier this week, Richard Stone, the nation's head physician for the Veterans Administration, said that the VA is facing a shortage of personal protective equipment.

We asked Evangeline Conley, public affairs officer for the VA Western NY Healthcare System, and here is her response:

VA Western New York Healthcare System stopped using crisis capacity guidelines weeks ago and is currently adhering to the same CDC contingency capacity postures the CDC recommends all health care facilities use.

VA Western New York Healthcare System’s PPE practices have helped limit its COVID-19 employee infection rates to .6 percent of the workforce. Other health care systems such as University of Washington Medicine report 4.4 percent of employees have tested positive and 2.1 percent of Henry Ford Health System’s workforce has tested positive.

Supply levels are being monitored every day to make sure facilities have adequate PPE for the number and types of patients they are seeing. If a facility were to fall below stock levels, the facility would be cross-leveled by another VA facility or region.

When a detainee at the Buffalo Federal Detention Center is ordered released on bond by an immigration court judge, Immigration and Customs Enforcement must release the detainee at the time specified by the court, said Tom Feeley, field office director for ICE, overseeing New York State.

Feeley was responding to recent news reports that accused ICE of treating detainees inhumanely. 

When detainees are released, if they're able to pay for their own transportation, they are taken to the Trailways/Greyhound bus stop at 48 Deli Express on Park Road in Batavia. There is no bus shelter at that location and busses stop infrequently, but on a daily basis. 

"I don't know what people expect us to do," Feeley said. "We don't have the authority to hold them once they're bonded out."

A nonprofit online news site in Buffalo, the Investigative Post, first reported about detainees being released three days ago.

Matt Thompson has seen it happen over and over since he started working at the station four months ago.

“The way they treat them, I don’t agree with,” the 20-year Army veteran told Investigative Post. “They drop them off and they treat them like animals. They kick them out of the van, pretty much, and that’s it.”

Though the reporter said the Post tried to contact ICE for comment, Feeley said he is unaware of any such attempt. 

Once the story was out, Feeley issued the following statement through an ICE public information officer:

The suggestion that ICE would abandon people upon their release is unfounded and is a clear fabrication that takes away from the professionalism of the men and women that work at the facility. ICE detainees who are bonded out of custody at Batavia are transported to an area transportation hub at no cost. If they are unable to cover the costs of transportation to their final destination, the agency will cover the costs. Detainees are transported to the transportation hub consistent with existing route times and schedules. The agency routinely coordinates detainee releases with family members and attorneys.

When detention facility staff becomes aware that a detainee will be bonded out, they suggest the detainee contact family or friends to get a wire transfer of funds for transportation to their intended destination. If the detainee doesn't have that resource available, they ask the detainee to contact his or her attorney. If the detainee is truly indigent, ICE staff will transport the detainee to Rochester or Buffalo with enough money for a train ticket to an intended destination.

Feeley noted that ICE is working with taxpayer money and therefore can't responsibly transport detainees who have the funds for their own transportation to Rochester or Buffalo.  

He also said that ICE isn't responsible for a shelter at the bus stop, or lack of one. It would be up to one of the bus companies or the gas station to build a bus shelter, not ICE, he said.

Press release:

The Batavia Business Improvement District Board of Directors regretfully announces cancellation of Jackson Square Concert Series and Beertavia.

Due to the uncertainty of COVID-19, the need for social distancing, and our concern for the health of the community, vendors, volunteers, and attendees we have decided to cancel these two events for 2020. 

We are hopeful to see everyone back in Summer of 2021 and look forward to the times we can come out and enjoy the music and festivities again as a community. 

For more information on B.I.D. and Downtown events please visit our website. 

Commonly Asked Workers’ Compensation Questions:

 

Press release:

The City of Batavia Police Department has been made aware of small denomination counterfeit bills being passed at local businesses.

The Batavia Police Department is reminding everyone to check their money carefully. If you feel that you may be victim in receiving counterfeit bills, please report it to the Police Department at (585) 345-6350.

A few simple items to check for on U.S. currency that are hard to recreate on counterfeit bills:

• Color Shifting Ink -- the bill denomination on the bottom right-hand corner has the right color-shifting ink.
• Raised Printing -- To detect raised printing, take your fingernail and run it carefully down the collar/jacket. You should feel some vibration on your nail from the ridges. 
• Blurry Borders/printing/text -- significantly blurry borders, printing, or text, it is an automatic red flag.
• Red & Blue Threads -- If you take a close look at an authentic bill, you will see that there are small red and blue threads woven in and out within the fabric of the bill.
• Watermark -- In many of the new bills, the watermark is actually a replica of the face on the bill.

Information on the current counterfeit cases is not being released at this time due to the ongoing investigation.

“Motherhood: if you think my hands are full, you should see my heart.” No matter your age, your mom still means the world to you. Remind her how much you love her with a gift to make her day a little brighter.

For Mother’s Day, Pudgie’s Lawn and Garden celebrates mothers for all that they do or have done. Creative and unique gift ideas are our specialty. We will help you find a special way to honor or remember her.

Stop in our shop Monday - Saturday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m., and Sundays 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Ask one of our staff for ideas or wander our greenhouse for creative gifts. Shop online for Mother’s Day and curbside pickup is available, too! Need a delivery? We will help with that too within a 10-mile radius in the Batavia and surrounding area.

Click here to visit our website or our Facebook page.

We had an electrical fire at our house on Morton Avenue, Batavia, early this morning.

I'm fine. Billie is fine. Rocky is fine (dog). Nellie Bly (puppy) is fine. Fiona (cat) is fine. We're unsure about Maybelline (cat) but she's a survivor and spends a lot of time outside so she's probably fine.

There is a lot of smoke damage but no personal belongings that are important to us were destroyed.  

There is no structural damage.

The fire started with nightlight in the downstairs bathroom at about 2 a.m. and was largely contained to the bathroom because the door was closed.

City fire, Mercy EMS, and Batavia PD responded.

We would like to thank City fire for their quick response and for saving our pets and Batavia PD, as well as all of our neighbors and Alecia Kaus, for their concern and assistance.

UPDATE 7:03 a.m.: Maybelline is safe.

Graham Manufacturing, a publicly traded company, made the decision at the start of the coronavirus pandemic to stop almost all manufacturing operations but keep its entire workforce on the payroll -- including 320 of its Batavia-based employees.

"We continue to pay wages and full benefits to all of our employees," said Jeff Glajch, Graham's chief financial officer.

Keeping employees home helps keep them and the community safe, Glajch said, but also means the company's expenses are exceeding revenue.

When the Payroll Protection Program was announced, with rules that allowed any company with 500 or fewer employees to apply for forgivable loans of up to $10 million to help cover wages and salaries for workers, Graham applied for a loan. There was no stipulation in the first set of rules released by the Treasury Department that discouraged publicly traded companies from accepting the loans.

Graham received a $4.6 million loan.

"We felt at the time it was a legitimate application based on the guidance by the SBA (Small Business Administration)," Glajch said. "Last Thursday, the Treasury changed the guidance on publicly traded companies and suggested that publically traded companies should not receive loans. We felt based on the new guidance that we would return the funds and the funds have been returned, based on this guidance, well before anyone reached out to us."

The loan was repaid along with interest for the two weeks the company possessed the funds.

The Treasury changed the rules for loan eligibility after news reports about publicly traded companies such as Shake Shack and Ruth’s Chris Steak House received loans. The reports helped raise awareness of well-capitalized companies receiving taxpayer money at a time when many small businesses were unable to tap into the initial pool of $350 billion because the first round of loans was oversubscribed.

Congress has since added another $480 billion to the stimulus package but critics have maintained that publicly traded companies getting loans when they have access to financial resources out of reach to very small businesses is against the spirit of the program.

Glajch said he understands the concern. He said many people view the spirit of the program to help very small companies, particularly restaurants and local shops, who have been hard hit by closures. He said many people view companies with one to 50 employees as needing the most help, but the actual rules allow companies with fewer than 500 employees to apply for the loans.

Those companies with fewer than 500 employers include some of Graham's competitors and those competitors are not necessarily publicly traded. Even though those companies are not publicly traded it doesn't mean they aren't well-capitalized, Glajch said.

"My concern is that we have competitors that are privately held with 200 to 300 employees that have access to capital and, especially grants, that we don't," Glajch said. "There are ma-and-pop's that are struggling and they need this funding and if that was the intent, that was great. It makes sense to fund them and but not our competitors who are much larger."

Besides the 310 employees locally, Graham employs another couple dozen people in other locations. 

Graham could have remained operational. It is an essential business according to New York's pandemic rules. It makes equipment essential to the oil industry and to the Navy. Glajch said the company decided it was more important to keep employees safe than to keep the manufacturing plant open. The firm scaled back to about 20 employees working to fulfill its Navy contracts.

"This is a stressful time for everyone and one of the things we didn't want was for our employees to be concerned about was their financial condition," Glajch said. "This is obviously tough of families so we made the decision to continue to pay our employees. It's important for our employees but it's also important for the community. If they aren't making any money they don't have the ability to spend and that impacts the community also."

Graham is phasing in the return of its workers.

"This is a pretty dramatic change in safety practices and cleaning and sanitation practices," Glajch said. "We've put social distancing rules in place and are slowly bringing people back. We thought bringing back everybody at once was too aggressive. We want to make sure our employees are trained and working in a way that meets all of those safety criteria."

Much of Graham's customer base is the oil industry and coronavirus hits at a time when Russia and other OPEC-block countries were in an oil production dispute, driving down the price of oil, and with people traveling less, oil prices have declined sharply on top of that dispute. So far, that shift in the market hasn't affected Graham, but Glajch said "that will take more time to fully play out."

Investors were informed up-front of Graham's plans to stop production but keep paying employees and there has been no push back from investors, Glajch said.

"Investors understand what we're doing," Glajch said. "They understand we're burning cash by keeping people on payroll. I think at the time we had the conversation, no one wondered how long this would be going on, that they felt this would be finite, like a month or two, and they understood what we were doing."

Reader Nya Thomas sent us this picture this afternoon of 9-year-old Gunnar Thomas with his grandpa Dave Twichell grinning alongside Tully the Turtle outside Tully's restaurant on East Main Street in Batavia.

Looks like Tully the Turtle is being a good sport about wearing a face mask in public during the COVID-19 pandemic.