batavia

It was a full house at Batavia Middle School on Thursday night for the school's open house.

Above, the Houseknecht family, Mike, Jen and Ella, share a laugh with Ella's sixth-grade math teacher, Andy Reagan.

More than 300 people were at Batavia Downs last night for UMMC's annual Pink Hat dinner, which honors cancer survivors. 

Former Buffalo Bills Special Teams star Steve Tasker kicked off yesterday's Stiletto & Sneaker Walk, a fundraiser and community event aimed at raising awareness about domestic violence. A number of GCC students and athletes, along with some high school athletes, joined in the walk this year.

YWCA Executive Director Jeanne Walton

Andre Gliwski Jr. has moved his retail store, AJ's Crafts, from its original East Main Street location to 240 Ellicott St. The move into the slightly smaller space will reduce his overhead, Gliwski said, and with a city-plowed lot next door, parking will be easier for his customers. With the move, a couple of new vendors added their wares, increasing the store's inventory.

City fire is on scene at the YMCA on East Main Street in Batavia after a report of the smell of smoke in the building. The facility has been evacuated. Fire command reports the smell of something electrical burning. Investigating.

A two-car accident is blocking traffic at Main and Banks streets in Downtown Batavia. City fire and Mercy medics are on scene. No injuries reported.

John W. Walsh, 32, of East Main Street, Batavia, is charged with open container, public lewdness and acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17. Walsh allegedly urinated in Pringle Park, Batavia, at 1:25 p.m. Sunday while children were present.

George G. Johnson, 62, of Scotland Road, Akron, is charged with petit larceny. Johnson is accused of shoplifting at Tops Market.

James E. Wroten, 48, no permanent address, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Wroten allegedly violated a stay away order of protect. He was jailed on $1,500 bail.

Latoya Yalanda Stanley, 27, of Holland Avenue, Batavia, was arrested on warrants for alleged aggravated unlicensed operation, 2nd, and, 3rd. Stanley allegedly failed to appear on the charges. Bail was set at $100.

A cleaner, brighter Aldi's reopened this morning, right on schedule, after being closed for nearly a month for remodeling. A couple of dozen people lined up to be the first in the upgraded store. The biggest visible upgrade, an expanded produce section.

Pictured above are Store Manager Eric Murphy and District Manager Jenna Bruning.

Chrisjon M. Canty, 20, of Rochester, is charged with felony forgery, felony criminal possession of stolen property, identity theft and petit larceny. Canty is accused of making unauthorized purchases totalling $350 with another person's bank debit card. Canty was identified through the use of video surveillance. He was jailed on $10,000 bail.

McKenzie D. Stevens, 21, residence not disclosed, is charged with petit larceny. Stevens is accused of placing three DVDs, burritos and laundry soap, worth approximately $21, in her baby stroller and exiting Walmart without paying for the items.

Joshua Jake Macklem, 23, of Jackson Street, Attica, is charged with driving while impaired by drugs, unlawful possession of marijuana, driving with a broken windshield, side windows non-transparent. Macklem was stopped at 8:16 p.m. Monday on East Main Street Road, Batavia, by Deputy Joseph Corona.

Though she admitted to selling $60 worth of suboxone to an undercover agent of the Local Drug Task Force, Suzanne Corona won't be going to prison, at least so long as she can abide by the terms and conditions of her probationary sentence.

Corona, often in trouble with the law from 2010 to 2014, had never faced a felony charge until her arrest for criminal sale of a controlled substance earlier this year.

She entered a guilty plea to that charge Aug. 3 and though Judge Robert C. Noonan predicted a prison term for Corona, on the recommendation of the county's Probation Department and without objection from the District Attorney's Office, Noonan granted Corona probation.

If she abides by the terms, she avoids time by prison.

Corona made headlines worldwide when she was arrested on an adultery charge in 2010 after being observed in an apparent sexual act with a man not her husband on a picnic table in Farrell Park. Then came accusations of shoplifting from a local restaurant, which led to a disturbance there and Corona being wheeled away on a gurney into a waiting ambulance, and various other shoplifting charges, including an arrest at Target on a day when a Sheriff's deputy was there doing a K-9 demonstration.

For a long stretch after that, Corona seemed to avoid getting into trouble and then came the drug sales arrest.

(Our news partner WBTA assisted with this report.)

City fire is responding to Edwards Street following a report of an explosion in the area.

There is a power outage reported on Edwards Street as well as Ellicott Street.

UPDATE 12:15 a.m.: National Grid reports power is out for 11 customers. A crew has been assigned. No ETA on when repairs will be completed.

Oh, those were first dreamed up, in a fashion, by a Batavia inventor, too.

Charles D. Thomas, born in Batavia in 1910, grew up to be a car designer and his dream car was Thomas Rocket Car. Designed to be sleek and powerful, Thomas also dreamed of a car that was affordable and safe at a time when safety wasn't a high priority in Detroit. 

So he invented the "Ventriscope": a periscope-type of device that gave drivers of the world to their rear. He also came up with the idea of extra padding in the passenger compartment to protect occupants in a crash. Your car has four-wheel independent suspension. That didn't exist in 1938 when Thomas built his Rocket Car, which did have four-wheel independent suspension. 

When Thomas showed off his car in Detroit, experts agreed it was at least a decade ahead of its time.

You might say Charles Thomas was the Preston Tucker of Batavia, but it was also Tucker's failure to bring his own car to market as a mass-produced automobile that also doomed the Rocket Car. When Tucker failed, investors were scared off of such a unique and inventive conception of motoring. 

There was only one Thomas Rocket Car ever made. It was built in an auto shop about where Dunn Tire is now. A group of antique car buffs think it's time for this unique piece of Batavia history be returned to its rightful home, but it will take the cooperation of the City Council to make it happen.

Local businessman Dave Howe, owner of Charles Men's Shop and the Masonic Temple building, and an antique car collector, represented the group of would-be Rocket car restorers at Monday's council meeting and said the group has a simple request: That the city agree to accept the car, once it's fully restored, as a gift and agree to keep it and display it for the public.

Howe said he and the group believe the car will be a tourist attraction since its well known to auto history enthusiasts and car collectors and will give Batavia a unique perspective on the city's history.

The council will consider the request at its next business meeting.

Accepting the car as a gift will cost the city nothing, Howe said, and outside of keeping it clean and acquiring antique car insurance, which Howe described as inexpensive, the ongoing expense for the city will be minimal.

The group interested in restoring the car is really only interested in purchasing it (the car and all its parts have been located, but not yet acquired) if the city is willing to accept the gift.

Press release:

The Batavia Police Department has received multiple complaints of fraudulent posts on social media (Craigslist, Facebook, and other similar Web sites) claiming to be John Gerace, a realtor of RealityUSA with property “for rent.” The postings are requesting a $700 deposit in exchange for keys to the residence. The only contact information on the postings is for sgtmonica000@gmail.com.

The Batavia Police Department with the assistance of John Gerace, would like to remind the community not to give money up front for a rental apartment without first walking through the apartment and signing a lease agreement. If you feel have been part of this scam, please contact the Batavia Police Department at (585) 345-6350 to report the incident.

A two-car accident with minor injuries is reported at 5218 Ellicott Street Road. Town of Batavia Fire Department and Mercy medics are responding. The location is between Bethany Center Road and Sheppard Road.

(Kenny Petterson)

Press release:

Kenny Petterson, pictured above, is one of several musicians to entertain at this year’s Musical Memories, the sixth annual event to benefit Crossroads House. It will begin at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, at City Church, 210 E. Main St., Batavia. Rochester's The Hit Men Brass Band, shown below, just came off winning their DCA World Ensemble championship and are going to be there to show us just what it took to win their fifth world title.

When it comes to tooting his own horn, Kenny Petterson is still at it. He picked up the trumpet in fifth grade and, at 83, regularly practices and performs with musical groups. A resident of Penn Yan visiting family in Florida, he plans to travel north this week to join St. Joseph’s Reunion Brass Ensemble. The Ensemble is part of Saturday's lineup.

“I have been in the drum corps all my life. Music to me is everything. I don’t know what I’d do without it,” Petterson said in a recent interview by phone from Florida. “When you have something like this, it’s important to do. Crossroads is something the people all volunteer to do, and that’s just fantastic.”

Petterson is actually not about tooting his own horn, at least figuratively speaking, organizer Frank Panepento said. Yet he has always been an admired professional as a teacher, performer and mentor.

“This is the guy we were listening to,” Panepento said. “(Kenny) is very unselfish, never condescending, he was always very positive. He’s a teacher you always wanted to have.”

Other featured musicians will be Dave Martin of Rochester’s The Hit Men Brass Band, Steve Cooley of The Hit Men, Jeff Gibbens and Prime Time Brass, the Wendall Brothers with Parkside Avenue Brass. Brad Dewaal, Tommy Cecere, Harold McJury are playing with the Reunion Brass Ensemble. Performers are coming from Pennsylvania, Rochester and Florida for the show.

(Rochester's The Hit Men Brass Band)

St. Joseph’s Ensemble has been rehearsing and is excited to show off some new tunes. “Moon Dance” is a new one for the show. It was arranged by Donny Allen. Listeners will also get his rendition of the “God Bless America” and “Auld Lang Syne,” “Army Medley,” "Never Walk Alone," "Send in the Clowns" among others during the two-hour show.

“It’s very special to have all these guys come from all over to do this,” Panepento said. “This is to raise money to keep Crossroads House operational.”

It costs more than $200,000 a year to run Crossroads House, a home for terminally ill people. The Liberty Street site depends on donations and volunteers to keep the doors open. Musical Memories is an event where the all the proceeds go toward keeping the house open.

Tickets are $5 general admission, $10 preferred seating, and include merchant coupons and a free drink at Center Street Smoke House during the post-event party. They may be purchased at Crossroads House, Roxy’s Music Store on West Main Street, and Valle Jewelers on Jackson Avenue.

There was very little disagreement among council members Monday night when it came to a decision on what to do in regards to a future new police headquarters, but it took a lot of chatter to reach that conclusion.

After about 15 minutes of council members saying much the same thing many times over, the Batavia City Council, without a vote, but by consensus, agreed that the city should move forward with a task force recommendation to select Swan Street as the location for the proposed station.

The big question is how to pay for it, and council agreed to ask city staff to prepare a report on funding options and anticipated costs.

"We have a recommendation," said Councilwoman Kathy Briggs to open to the discussion. "The volunteers on the task force did all this work and so, what are we going to do about it? Are we going to act on this? I think it's time to step up to the plate. The task force gave us all the information, all the facts and figures, so I say, let's move forward with the recommendation and direct the administration to see what kind of grants are out there."

Councilwoman Rosemary Christian said she's received a few calls on the topic from residents worried about how the city is going to pay for it, so she wants to know how the city is going to pay for it. Are taxes going to be raised?

Councilman Kris Doeringer followed: "I move we come to a consensus to follow the recommendation with Swan Street and then direct the administration to come up with a report on how we're going to pay for it ... I think we all pretty much agree to follow the task force's recommendation, so, OK, yes, let's get that on the record and then move ahead and see how we're going to pay for it."

Briggs agreed with Doeringer.

Councilman Pierluigi Cipollone pointed out that options for paying for the station were pretty much spelled out in the task force's report.

"A lot of work has been done already on how we're going to pay for it," Cipollone said. "I think if you follow the report, the plan is we're going to pay down a lot of current debt and cycle that into paying for debt for the new facility. If we can get grants, so much the better, but quite a bit of work has gone into looking at this, and agree or disagree, here's how we're going to pay for it."

Christian: "I agree on the site. I do realize and appreciate that a lot of work went into this, but I'm still up in the air on how we're going to afford this."

Councilman Eugene Jankowski wondered if, given the amount of money involved, "if nine people should decide this." He wondered if the expenditure, especially if loans are involved, shouldn't go to a vote.

There was no answer to that question.

Councilman John Canale said he's heard from constituents who say other municipalities have built new police stations for a lot less than the estimates to build one in Batavia. He suggested those cities be researched and perhaps council members should visit those police stations and see if something similar would be suitable for Batavia.

"There may be some leg work that needs to be done here," Canale said.

The Batavia Centennial Committee and its Legacy Sponsors are ready to present a gift to the city that LeAnna DiRisio, director of Vibrant Batavia, says will stand the test of time -- a sundial.

The sculpture, designed by local architect Ed Smart, would sit in the plaza in front of City Hall. The $15,000 to $20,000 expense is being paid for by the contributions several local businesses made to the Centennial Celebration as "Legacy Sponsors."

There's no expense to the city, but the City Council must approve placement of the sculpture on city property. The council will vote on the proposal at its next business meeting.

Made of steel and teak, with stainless steel lettering, DiRisio said the sculpture will be virtually maintenance free.

"The materials are solid," DiRisio told the council Monday night. "It will last a long time."

The committee hopes to start installation by the end of October and finish the project in early November so it's in place as the city wraps up its year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of the city's incorporation.