batavia

City firefighters are on scene at 14 W. Main St., Genesee Justice, after the smell of smoke was reported coming from the attic. Command says it is electrical in nature and that they "will be here awhile" investigating.

UPDATE 8:16 a.m.: The smoke is coming from a burned out motor of some kind in the attic. Maintenance personnel will handle it. City fire is leaving the scene. Assignment back in service.

Now about six males are reportedly hanging out behind Batavia's Original Pizzeria, "suspicious activity." City police are responding to the location, 500 E. Main St.

UPDATE 7:31 p.m.: Police have cleared the scene.

It's easy to spot customers who have never been in Adam Miller Toy and Bicycle. They tend to point at things and ooh and aah -- a lot. That's because the inventory is comprised of an amazing array of classic toys and amusements not usually found in one place, certainly not in Big Box stores.

Spinning tops, a stuffed menagerie that can include bats, otters, zebras, squirrels, not just bears and bunnies, and models, kites, puzzles, bikes, trikes, and metal cars of the future as envisioned in the Atomic Age. Games anyone? Remember Mystery Date? Stratego? Or SNL's beleaguered Mr. Bill? Cap guns, authentic Silly Putty?

But more important than retro toys that don't require batteries or electricity is the sublime customer service and personal attention that is more or less lost in the nexus of retail commerce today.

Reason enough, perhaps, that this 96-year-old institution on Center Street in Downtown Batavia is the 2013 Retail Business of the Year, so designated by members of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce.

"I think it's cool," said owner John Roche of the unexpected accolade. "I guess being nominated by a friend of ours (attorney Michael Rivers) and getting people to vote for us -- it's a task and can't be the easiest thing to do. But I think it's cool. It's a good thing."

So is the toy biz in general, he says, because "It's not a real job. I guess it's one of those jobs where you go to work and it's not work. You have fun and you never work a day in your life."

He and his wife, Cathy, bought the business in 2002.

The enterprise began as a "wheel goods store" in 1918 owned by Walter J. Davis. The building was constructed at 8 Center St. in 1929. Back then, people went to places for specific services; no one-stop-shops existed. There was, say, the baker, the blacksmith, the dry goods merchant, the green grocer, and a place where items with wheels were purchased and repaired. Davis also sold a few toys and tobacco products. He sharpened ice skates, lawn mower blades, and even strung tennis rackets to keep the business running.

In 1946, Adam F. Miller bought the Davis Wheel Goods store, which became Adam Miller Wheel Goods. In the mid-'50s, he put up the distinctive neon sign hanging out front. The business expanded in the 1960s to include toys and hobbies "for kids of all ages" and a year-round full-service repair shop.

Adam retired in the '70s and handed the business over to his children, Joyce Masse and Gary Miller, who ran it for 25 years during which time it garnered the reputation of being "The Neatest Store in Town."

The neon sign was restored in 1990. Long gone was the antiquated term "Wheel Goods" (although the legal corporate name remains Davis Wheel Goods).

Adam continued to visit regularly to make sure all was running smoothly. He died in 2000 at age 90. Subsequently, his children decided to retire themselves and the business was sold to the Roches, of Corfu. The families had known each other for years and were associates in the bicycle industry.

The tradition of quality customer service continued seamlessly.

Moreover, "You don't have to deal with someone who can't make change if the register goes down."

They gladly do special orders, offer free gift wrapping, free layaway, and help with selecting the right gift or choosing the best bicycle.

"Ninety percent of our customers are loyal, repeat customers. They tell their friends, tell everybody about us. That's who I have to thank are these customers for keeping us around so long."

And he doesn't mean just his customers, but also those who've been patrons for 30 or 40 years.

"They bring their kids and grandkids and show them what a real toy store is."

Being available to chat and help select something special results in practically zero returns. They had two after last Christmas.

"I like to tell people, if you buy something and they don't like it -- keep it for yourself, and they often do."

The challenge in bringing in new customers is overcoming the assumption by some that because Adam Miller is a small, family-owned business it's therefore pricey.

"Once they come in here they get it. They can see that's not the case. It's just getting them in the door. We don't have a million dollar advertising budget, so for us, it's definitely by word of mouth that you get people in."

And when they walk through the door, the fun begins.

"You see the smiles on their faces, or the memories that come back to them that make them smile and have good thoughts."

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A fight involving about 12 subjects was reported at Batavia's Original Pizzeria at 500 E. Main St. A caller to dispatch said a baseball bat was involved and one person was struck in the head. The group subsequently left and went to Harvester Avenue. Multiple city police units are on scene and Mercy medics are staging in the area.

UPDATE 1:08 p.m.: So far no victim has been found, although now police are going to check inside the restaurant.

UPDATE 1:10 p.m.: No word on a dozen subjects; police are having I.D. checks done for four people at the scene.

UPDATE 1:12 p.m.: A victim with a laceration to the head was found inside the restaurant and medics are given the go-ahead to enter and treat the person.

UPDATE 1:24 p.m.: At least two people will be taken into custody.

UPDATE 1:34 p.m.: The victim declined transport to the hospital. Police are taking subjects to police headquarters to speak with them further.

Ellen M. Martinez Brayley, 26, of West Main Street, Batavia, pled guilty to one count of falsifying business records first degree in Genesee County Court this afternoon.

Martinez Brayley pled guilty on an Alford plea, which means she does not admit guilt, but does admit that sufficient evidence exists to convict her of the offense.

Martinez Brayley was charged in October of 2013 after an investigation found that she had falsified business records to wrongfully obtain benefits through Pathstone Section 8 HUD and Social Security Administration.

Martinez Brayley agreed to pay restitution to Pathstone in the amount of $10,059.
She will also pay restitution to Social Security Administration in the amount of $13,086.

Martinez Brayley could face up to six months in jail when she is sentenced in Genesee County Court on April 22 at 1:30.

Volunteerism is a way of life for Laurie Mastin.

It is a way of life made possible because of two things. Her employer and her family.

Laurie has been working with National Grid (Niagara Mohawk) for almost 35 years. She started as a steno clerk in Dunkirk.

After transferring to the Batavia Office 31 years ago, and taking the necessary math and electrical theory courses needed to become a consumer representative, she says her life has come full circle.

"I believe in paying back," Mastin says. "That's how I was raised."

Her volunteer work in Genesee County all began with her kids, she says.

"In the 1990s I was the soccer mom."

With three boys playing in the Pavilion Amature Soccer Association and being heavily involved in Boy Scouts and a regular volunteer at St. Mary's in Pavilion, Laurie and her husband, Randy, were always on the go outside of their everyday jobs.

Laurie and Randy have been married for 31 years and their sons are, Gregory, 30, Andrew, 28, and Michael, 25.

Laurie, who is originally from Fillmore in Alleghany County, met her husband at the age of 15. They became friends after working a Rotary Camp in Pike with their fathers. They never dated until they were 21. They married at 22, and Laurie had their first son at age 23. Randy is originally from Dansville.

When they married, they decided that Pavilion would be a great place to settle down and live because it was located in between Randy's job in Dansville and Laurie's job in Batavia.

In 2002, Laurie's employer asked her if she would like to go through Leadership Genesee.

It's a 12-month course that works on team building and networking. She says this course was a pivotal, life changing time for her. It was also a springboard for Mastin.

"It makes you look at what is going on in your community. It makes you look at the mirror and at your strengths and weaknesses and what you want to change and how to get there."

Mastin says she did not feel very outgoing at the time and did not like to go outside of her comfort zone.

After completing Leadership Genesee, Mastin says she has taken some chances professionally and is a lot more confident. She joined the steering committee for Leadership Genesee and was the editor for their newsletter and helped with curriculum planning.

A classmate sponsored Laurie for Rotary in February of 2003.

"Rotary does so many things -- it's not just having lunch once a week, we raise a lot of money that goes right back into the community," Mastin says. "We fund 15 to 20 organizations for different grants they ask for on an annual basis."

Mastin is currently the Rotary board secretary and says over the years the Rotary Genesee County Nursing Home Christmas Party has become her favorite event. The event is in its 93rd year and began when the home was located in Bethany. 

All the nursing home residents who are able to attend are brought to the atrium and Bill Pitcher and the Ghost Riders entertain everyone while each resident in the facility gets a Christmas present. Mastin says, "Each time I've gone to this event and had someone say 'this is the only present I got this year, thank you so much.' "

Mastin has also been involved in the past four Rotary theatrical shows and is an active Rotary chairperson for the Youth Exchange Selection, Girls basketball tournament, Oktoberfest, Christmas at the County nursing home and the United Way Day of Caring.

In recognition of her tremendous Batavia Rotary volunteer efforts, Mastin was awarded the Paul Harris Fellow Award.

Membership in Rotary then led to her being asked to be on the board for the Genesee Orleans Regional Arts Council (GO ART!). She spent two three-year terms on the board and is very proud of the revamping of the GO ART! building at Main and Bank streets in Donwtown Batavia in 2005.

"It was a huge undertaking," Mastin says. "Getting the money and figuring out how to get it done, it was very meaningful." 

During her term at GO ART!, Mastin was then recruited as a Junior Achievment presenter at John Kennedy School in Batavia. She volunteered in the kindergarten class for seven years.

In 2008, Mastin was the recipient of the YWCA Fabulous Female Award. The award is given out each year to a female in the community who is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice and freedom and dignity for all people.

In addition to being a volunteer for education, the arts and business, Laurie shared her volunteer skills with those who are less fortunate in the community.

Laurie provided leadership to the Genesee-Orleans Ministry of Concern by serving on its board of directors from 2009- 2011. The Ministry of Concern works with people to provide emergency services for the poor and encourages needy members of the community to become independent and self-sufficient members of society.

When Laurie's mother became ill in 2011, she decided to step down with the Ministry of Concern and devote her time to taking care of her mom in Fillmore.

Mastin lost her mother this past year. Her 89-year-old father, who is also a Rotarian, still lives in Fillmore.

When Mastin's boss, Paul Kazmierczak, nominated her for Geneseean of the Year, she says she felt she did not deserve it this year.

"I am just doing Rotary now," Mastin says. "I feel uncomfortable about getting this award. I have worked with so many people on all these different avenues."

Kazmierczak says, "Laurie Mastin is a volunteer 'leader' who keeps on giving to all facets of Genesee County. She is a special person and a unique asset and ambassador."

"People are doing the work here in Genesee County," Mastin says. "I think that's what sets us apart from other counties across the state. Other counties don't see the collaboration we have here with local governments and economic developement.

"We have infrastructure here. We can disagree on things, but come to a table and hash things out and not stonewall things and that is how things get done here."

Over the last 31 years National Grid has allowed Laurie to do her job largely unsupervised, but if she needs help her bosses are always there.

"They kind of let me do what I do here to be successful not just in my job, but in the community, and I support that. I am very grateful." 

Photo by Howard Owens

Press release:

The Genesee County Baseball Club will hold its annual Batavia Muckdogs Hot Stove Dinner and Auction on Saturday, March 22nd, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Clarion Hotel at 8250 Park Road in Batavia. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children 12 and under.

The evening will begin with a cocktail hour followed immediately by dinner. The Hot Stove Dinner is a time for good food, friendship and baseball talk. The night also features silent and live auctions of baseball-related memorabilia (including signed bats and balls), work by local artists, and gift certificates from a variety of local businesses. This year’s dinner will also benefit the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department K-9 Unit.

Tickets may be purchased in Batavia at Dwyer Stadium, Gerace’s Hair Care, the Williams Law Firm, and the office of Dr. Alan Barcomb.

A car slammed into a pole at 201 Liberty St. and injuries are reported. Fluids are leaking. City fire, Mercy medics and police are responding.

UPDATE 1:42 p.m.: National Grid is notified about the damaged pole. No ETA given.

UPDATE 2:34 p.m.: The assignment is back in service.

A possible electrical fire in the wall is reported at the McDonald's restaurant on West Main Street. City fire is responding. An employee told dispatch that the business was not being closed.

UPDATE 10:47 a.m.: Small electrical problem in the office. The breaker has been tripped. Maintenance will be responding to fix it. City fire is back in service.

Alex's Place has been serving mouth-watering ribs, succulent prime rib, perfectly grilled steaks and fresh seafood, along with a blend of American steakhouse specialties and Italian classics to satisfied guests for 25 years.

The winner of the the NY Award at the Taste of Buffalo, the Democrat & Chronicle's Best of Rochester Award, Best Ribs at the Art of Ribs in Lewiston and the Best Ribs at the Roc City Ribfest for the last four years running, Alex's Place is the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce 2013 Service Business of the Year.

Owner Matthew Gray is humbled by the recognition and credits his employees with the success of the restaurant.

“My staff of 50, including an executive chef, eight cooks, four managers and a multitude of servers, bussers and hostesses are the ones who make the restaurant successful every single day,” Gray said. “When I took over the restaurant in 2007, it was an easy transition for me because it was already run so well by the staff.”

Alex's Place has built a loyal following by serving delicious food and providing excellent service. That winning recipe is key to their strategy for growth as they build upon the restaurant's reputation and recruit new customers in Buffalo, Rochester and beyond.

Since Gray, along with his business partner Matthew Boyd, purchased the restaurant, there has been major growth in all areas of the business, including sales. Gray, who handles the marketing, has aggressively marketed and advertised the business by participating in events like the Taste of Buffalo and Roc City Rib Fest. Billboard advertisements along the Thruway have brought customers into the community from all over Western New York.

His joint venture with more than 80 grocery stores throughout the region to sell Alex's Heat-N-Eat Take Home Ribs has been a huge success and has brought more customers into the restaurant and into the community. Their ribs are now available nationwide through their Web site at http://alexsribs.com as well.

The Curbside To Go service that began in 2009 has brought in customers who don't want the traditional sit-down restaurant experience.

Located at 8322 Park Road in the Town of Batavia, the small building started out as a “track” stop for Batavia Downs racers and players in 1988 as a one-room eatery offering classic comfort food. As it grew in popularity, the building became a 100-seat restaurant with an open-kitchen design, yet it has retained the comfortable and cozy atmosphere that diners have come to love.

There are 50 full and part-time staff who serve between 2,500-3,000 guests each week. Some of them have been there since Alex's Place started.

"I have a handful of staff that have been here for 20 years or more," Gray said. "One of my servers, Kelly McDonald, has been here for 26 years. That says something about the business, it's like family here."

Alex's Place is also dedicated to being a good neighbor and actively supporting the community. Last year they held fundraisers for a number of charities, including Hospice and the Russell Bugbee Memorial Culinary Scholarship.

Last April the staff had a fundraiser in which all the servers donated half of their tips from a busy Saturday night to the Justice for Children Advocacy Center, raising more than $2,500.

They support several nonprofit groups, including the WNY Aviation Camp, St. Joseph's School, the City of Batavia Community Garden and the Business Education Alliance. Alex's Place was awarded the 2013 Business Partner of the Year by the BEA. Managers are active members of Leadership Genesee and participate in the United Way Day of Caring as well.

“We are committed to getting the word out that Batavia is a destination for food and entertainment that is worth driving to,” Gray said.

By using a combination of radio, TV, newspaper, billboard and online advertising, as well as working with festivals in Buffalo and Rochester, 60 percent of Alex's guests are now from outside of Genesee County.

Photos by Howard Owens

Two Batavia women accused of mistreating their dogs were in City Court today, but both of their cases were rescheduled to a later date.

City Court Judge Michael Del Plato has a conflict of interest on one case. He was also filling in for Judge Robert Balbick, who is already presiding over an unrelated case for one of the defendants, so that case was delayed as well.

Lauren K. Pellegrino, 32, of West Main Street, Batavia, is charged with abandonment of animal and failure to provide sustenance for an animal. Officers allegedly found a malnourished dog in her residence.

Nina Kelso, 29, of Hutchins Street, Batavia, is charged with torturing or injuring an animal/failure to provide sustenance and owning/harboring an unlicensed dog.

Del Plato has a conflict of interest in Pellegrino's case.

Balbick is already handling an unrelated case on Kelso. She's charged with unlawful possession of marijuana.

Assistant District Attorney Robert Zickl indicated he is seeking compensation from both defendants for the care and feeding of their dogs while they're in foster care.

Kelso and Pellegrino will next appear in court Feb. 27.

Amir Alivy Barulich, 34, of Pearl Street, Tampa, Fla., is accused of failure to pay fine imposed by the court. Barulich allegedly did not appear as ordered in Genesee County Court on April 28, 2011. He was arrested on a warrant by New Rochelle PD and turned over to the Sheriff's Office.

Joseph T. Burr, 20, of Oak Orchard Road, Elba, is charged with DWI and driving with a BAC of .08 or greater. Burr was stopped at 3:41 a.m., Sunday, on Washington Avenue, Batavia, by Sgt. Thad Mart, following a report of a suspicious condition in the parking lot of St. Paul Lutheran Church.

Timothy G. Taggart, 23, of Brigham Road, Fredonia, is charged with DWI and driving with a BAC of .08 or greater. Taggart was arrested following an investigation into an suspicious vehicle parked at Bank of America on Main Street, Batavia, at 2:27 a.m. Friday by Officer Stephen Cronmiller.

Kyle D. Clark, 23, of Hyde Park, Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Clark was arrested on a bench warrant on a harassment, 2nd, charge stemming from an incident in which he allegedly held a woman down and slapped her several times.

Bishop Edward Williams, 20, of Lake Street, Le Roy, is charged with petit larceny. Williams is accused of shoplifting from Walmart on Friday. He was located Saturday by Le Roy PD at a location on Bacon Street.

Juan Michael Chavez, 27, of Gaslite Lane, Batavia, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, speeding and driving wihtout a proper license. Chavez was stopped at 9:19 p.m. Friday on Clinton Street Road by Deputy Joseph Corona.

Edward Dexter McDonald III, 24, of South Street, Le Roy, is charged with DWI, speed not reasonable or prudent, moving from lane unsafely and refusal to submit to breath test. McDonald was arrested by Sgt. Michael Hare after his vehicle was allegedly found buried in the snow along East Main Street, Le Roy. McDonald allegedly failed to negotiate a turn onto South Street at 1:18 a.m. Saturday. McDonald was jailed on $1,000 bail.

It's kind of a perfect day for sledding -- the sun's out, not too cold, the snow at Centennial Park is compacted and slick, yet Isaiah Circiola and his sister Maya had the sled run all to themselves about midday today.

Both the boys and girls track teams from Batavia High School won Class C Section V championships in a meet at RIT last night.

Le Roy boys won the Class D title and the Le Roy girls came in second.

Batavia boys finished with 117.50, edging out Aquinas Institute, 74.50. The girls had 113 points and Wayland-Cohocton came in second with 110.

Le Roy boys beat UPrep Rochester 86-79, while the girls came in behind Marion, 71-60.

Individual event winners from Genesee County:

• Kimmy Lovett, Byron-Bergen, girls 600 meter run
• Batavia girls, 4x800 meter relay
• Kristyn Mott, Batavia, girls pole vault
• Julianna Lauricella, Le Roy, girls 600 meter run
• Becca Schwan, Le Roy, girls 1000 meter run
• Raelynn Moskal, Alexander, girls 1500 meter run
• Le Roy girls, 4x400 meter relay
• Le Roy girls, 4x800 meter relay
• Alex Egeli, Batavia, boys 55 meter dash
• Alex Egeli, Batavia, boys 55 meter hurdles
• Batavia boys, 4x200 meter relay
• Batavia boys, 4x400 meter relay
• Devon Koepp, Batavia, boys shot put
• Ryan McQuillen, Le Roy, boys 55 meter dash
• John Woordworth, Le Roy, boys 1000 meter run
• D.J. Ohlson, Alexander, boys 55 meter hurdles
• Le Roy boys, 4x800 meter relay
• D.J. Ohlson, Alexander, boys high jump
• Ryan McQuillen, Le Roy, boys long jump
• Ryan McQuillen, Le Roy, boys triple jump

Photos submitted by Nicholas Burk

Batavia residents Ed and Floreen Hale were married for 60 years and for all those years, according to family members, they were inseparable.

A week ago, they spent their final hours together in the same room at UMMC. Mrs. Hale died Feb. 7. Mr. Hale passed the next day.

“He was a gentleman right up to the end, waiting for her to go first,” said the couple’s daughter Renee Hirsch.

For the full story, visit Orleans Hub.

The way Jeff McIntire and Matt Smith see it, Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave their business idea a nice boost when he pushed through the SAFE Act.

Cuomo, with the stroke of a pen, created more reasons for people interested in self defense to buy guns.

And many of those people have never been properly trained on how to handle a weapon, how their particular weapon works and exactly what to do if confronted with a dangerous situation.

"The SAFT Act put a rush on gun stores," McIntire said. "A lot of people go to buy a weapon and you're in the store and you hear them say, 'I want to buy a shotgun.' 'Well, you ask, why do you want to buy a shotgun?' 'I don't know. I just want to buy a shot gun.' They ask all sorts of questions. That SAFE Act completely allowed us a reason to be in business because people need to know this."

McIntire, Smith and Dave Eick are combat veterans and experienced Marine Corps instructors. Together, they've opened MandS Tactical Solutions with an office in the Harvester Center.

They teach a variety subjects around personal protection and civilian weapons use, shotgun personal defense, home defense, pistol defense, rape prevention and improvised weapons defense.

Opening a civilian defense course business just seemed like a logical step for the former Marines, McIntire said.

"You sit back and think, what am I going to do with an infantry background in the civilian world? What am I going to do? Why wouldn't we do this? We get to go to the range every day and do something we love. We know this more intimately than anything else."

McIntire and Smith met their first year in the Marines and served much of their career together. They were both wounded by an IED in Iraq in 2007 and both received Purple Hearts.

They've also trained other Marines in combat techniques.

McIntire grew up in Batavia, as did Eick. Smith is from St. Louis.

What they teach civilians consists of proper weapon handling, safety and care, but they also teach combat mindset.

If you're going to own a gun for self-defense, you better be prepared to use it. Just holding it in the hopes an intruder might retreat could be more dangerous than not having a gun at all.

"If I can show it to a person who is breaking in, maybe I can show it to them and maybe they'll run away," said McIntire taking on the role of a new, first-time gun owner. "Well, what happens if they don't? 'Well, I don't know what to do.' That's where we come in."

The combat mindset is necessarily about how to pull the trigger. It's also about not pulling the trigger.

"If we teach you everything we need to teach you, you won't ever need to pull the trigger because hopefully you will deter the intruder," Smith said. "The intruder will be like 'maybe I need to leave. This person is serious.' "

If you don't learn that mindset and you do need to pull the trigger and you freeze up, Smith said, "you might not be around much longer."

"We train people so that hopefully they never have to pull trigger," Smith added. "With the training, if comes down to that, they will know exactly what to do."

The training, in fact, may help a person later with the law. Your best defense if you shot a person who is a threat to you is if you can explain what you did, how you did it, why you did it and your confidence that you had no other option.

"The law may say you're justified, but you might not want to take that shot," McIntire said. "We're not teaching anybody to shoot anybody. We're teaching you to be prepared. We're teaching you how to go through the steps until you reach the point where you feel your life is in danger. Hopefully it helps a person, if they ever get in that situation, where they can intelligently say, 'I pulled the trigger. I shot him because I had no other choice.' "

McIntire and Smith are not offering, per se, a set course list. They have a list of topics they cover, subjects they can teach, but they like to meet individually with their clients and make sure they understand their needs.

Instruction can be in a group environment or one-on-one, especially if a client needs or desires privacy.

"We ask, you want to do this? OK, what do you want to do with it?" Smith said. "They might want to take something out. They might want to put something in. We try to customize it rather than just what an overall person might want.

"We pride ourselves the fact that we're not a cookie-cutter organization," he added.

For more information, visit the MandS Tactical Web site.

An Army field hospital during the Civil War must have been a horrid place to be. The stench of curdled blood. Limbs piled under the surgeon's table. The moans of the injured and dying. The acrid aura of death hanging in the air like a fog. The distant sounds of cannons turning more boys into fodder.

Hades holds more joy.

Warfare will always be a horror show, but it will never be like that again. The primitive conditions of a Civil War field hospital are just part of history now.

It's a history that can be found in museums, but not often quite in the way it's on display now at the Holland Land Office Museum.

Through April, visitors to HLOM can glimpse a time long ago in color and in 3-D, and in 1/32nd scale, when there was never enough morphine, scalpels were blunt and gangrene left a generation of young men crippled beyond repair.

In a display of dioramas and models created by local artist Dave Armitage, the Civil War comes to life in a way that mere photographs and historians' voluminous accounts can never capture.

We call Armitage an artist because like an artist, he creates, he imagines, he takes the formless and fills a void with a world that we all can share. He's more than just a model maker, though he might be too humble to call himself anything else.

The field hospital, part of a exhibit of dozens of models and dioramas at HLOM, all meticulously pieced together by Armitage, is such a work. It's creative and emotionally charged.

Armitage is originally from Williamsville but has lived in Batavia for a number of years. Since childhood, he's built more models than he can count. "Thousand and thousands," he said.

"People say, 'you've got too much time on your hands,' " Armitage said. "I say, 'no, I haven't got enough.' I've got (a) room in my house filled with unbuilt model kits that filled up two SUVs when I moved. Several thousand dollars worth of unbuilt kits. Some go back to the 1950s, the 1940s and some are made out of wood, not plastic. I figure someday, if I live long enough, I'll build them."

The only models that interest Armitage are those that depict something old, and old means before his lifetime, before the end of World War II.

"Anything after that is in my lifetime," Armitage said. "I mean, I saw it and I've been there. I'm interested in old things. When I was a little kid I was interested in old cars. I always used to draw pictures of old cars."

When he was a kid, his father's friends and relatives would come over to their house and the group would work on old cars. The boy was given model kits to work on -- the Revell Pioneer Series of the 1950s.

By the time Armitage was 17 he had worked enough and saved enough to buy his own Ford Model T, which he restored and still owns, along with three other vintage cars (a 1919 Model T Touring car, a 1925 Model T Depot Hack and a 1926 Star Station Wagon).

The 64-year-old Armitage is also a musician and Civil War reenactor, as is his wife, Donna. He's retired and he spends his time with this hobbies.

"I don't go out for sports. I never did," Armitage said. "I don't watch television very much. I spend all my time building models or playing music or working on old cars."

The Civil War isn't the only war that interests Armitage. He's built models and dioramas for battles scenes from the Crimean War, the American Revolution, the Russian Revolution, World War I and World War II.

"I don't like painting figures from the Napoleonic Era and back because they're too complex," Armitage said. "Their uniforms are too difficult with all the straps and buttons. The Civil War is bad enough."

And war isn't Armitage's only subject. There's old cars, of course, but Armitage also remains fascinated with the horror films of his youth - "Frankenstein" and "Dracula," and even "The Munsters."

In fact, Jeff Donahue, the director HLOM, is talking about displaying Armitage's monster collection around Halloween.

Donahue has been aware for some time that Armitage built models of history and had seen a couple, but never considered a display until Armitage approached him after one of his Civil War music performances at the museum.

"He asked me over to his house and I walked in and I was in shock," Donahue said.

What's on display at HLOM is only a portion of the Civil War collection.

"I had them stacked three or four high at home," Armitage said, "and Donna said, 'you're not building more stuff are you?' and I said, 'yeah.' 'Where you gonna put it?' 'I don't know.' "

The collection has rarely left his home. He's displayed some models at the train museum in Medina and he's taken a few to the Civil War reenactment camps, but they don't draw much attention there.

"I think most of the time people are more interested in watching the battles and the things going on outside," said the soft-spoken Armitage, whose gray mustache is as much a throwback to the 19th Century as some of the models he builds.

The Civil War collection at HLOM covers the panoply of the Battle Between the States. There are miniatures of historical figures from Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis to Ulysses S. Grant and Abe Lincoln; there are scenes depicting historic events; scenes depicting behind-the-lines life; and models of the machinery of war, from cannons to submarines.

"Dave has reproduced this to the finest minute detail," Donahue said. "It's shocking in a way, but of course war is shocking and the Civil War was a very horrible time. The man is a very gifted artist and this is artistry."

For many of the models, Armitage has typed up captions in the hopes that people will read and learn a little more about the Civil War.

"If they read half of what I typed up, they might learn something," said Armitage, a man of few words who gets right to the point on any question asked.

It's fascinating to see the old ships of the era, but what's interesting is the variety and number of ironclads and submarines on display.

We grow up learning about the Monitor and Merrimack, but have you ever seen the USS Alligator or the CSS Hunley?

Some of what Armitage builds comes from kits -- the ships and ironclads, for example, but what is often most fascinating and amazing are the scenes he depicts using a combination of kits and scratch-built pieces

The field hospital scene, for example, began with a model kit for a Union ambulance -- a wagon that could carry four wounded men and two medics.

Armitage didn't want to build just an ambulance. He wanted to put it in context.

A good portion of the scene springs from his own imagination and ingenuity, such as the tent, the scalpels and medicine bottles, the light by General Grant, or repurposed pieces, such as the surgeon that was originally a 1930s-era gangster, but Armitage shaved off his overcoat and put a blood-stained smock on him.

The black man sitting all bandaged up was created by Armitage from modeling clay.

On another model, the oars of a rowboat are shaped from soldering iron.

"You've got to think outside of the box," Armitage said. "You see something and think, 'I can make something out of that,' like I save the little brass rings from the ends of guitar strings and all kinds of junk."

Armitage said he has boxes and boxes of junk -- what model makers often call a boneyard -- waiting to be made into something.

When it came time to depict The Andrews Raid (the basis for the Disney movie, "The Great Locomotive Chase"), Armitage used toner from a copier cartridge to get the charred, burned out look on the blown-to-smithereens train station and littered the scene with repurposed former toy trains.

"I couldn't find any suitable Civil War soldiers in fatigues so I used Russian soldiers and shaved off their pockets," Armitage said.

Some of the scenes created by Armitage are inspired by photographs, such as the Matthew Brady picture of skulls and body parts being exhumed from the battlefield at Cold Harbor, Va.

"A lot of the soldiers pinned their names into their coats because they knew they weren't going to survive," Armitage said. These were the days before dog tags. When they dug them up, if they could identify the remains they notified somebody back home and if the family could afford it, they shipped the remains back home and buried him. If not, they reburied him there."

The scene might be shocking to some, but then war is shocking.

"As we've often said, history is not Hallmark," Donahue said. "History is not pretty. The Civil War was perhaps the ugliest times in our country's history.

"(The scene) brings a realization to people of what it was all about. What this country went through at that time. Families were literailly torn apart. The old saying brother fighting brother, well, happened. You didn't know if you would ever see your family members again or what kind of condition they would be in. The amputations, the horrific wounds of the war, due to the type of weaponry being used. Unfortunately, when a person was shot in the arm, many times it exploded the bone and there was nothing left to do but amputation. People died of shock from their injuries.

"It certainly brings home the cruelty of war. Very often people think, it's romanticized. They see the banners and the soldiers all dressed up and they think of maybe 'Gone with the Wind', but even later on in that movie, they showed the cruelty of war, how people were torn up, their lives were disrupted and never the same."

Armitage's work so masterfully captures a time and a place that is part of the fabric of our history that it's easy to get lost in the exhibit.

"I've had visitors come in, and you know, they normally spend five minutes or so to walk through," Donahue said. "With this, they come in and and you get busy working and you realize I haven't seen these people in a while and you go up and you look and they're in here an hour later, just examining every minute detail."

Armitage is grateful HLOM is providing a place for people to come and see his work.

"I'm glad to have stuff on display here because most of the time it just sits around my house and nobody sees it," Armitage said.

Spock had his tri-corder, a device at his fingertips that could provide him with information quickly in any emergency situation.

City of Batavia firefighters now have an iPad and as the saying goes, "there's an app for that."

In this case, there's apps that can map their calls and tell firefighters where all the hydrants are in a neighborhood, and an app that tells them how the batteries are configured in hybrid cars, and an app to help them deal with hazmat situations.

Last week, Lt. Bob Fix installed a special iPad in Engine 11 as part of a pilot project to see if such a device can assist firefighters in emergency situation.

The iPad uses an app called Active911 that ties in with the county's emergency dispatch center (soon to be replaced by a new app tied into the new communications system). When City fire receives an alarm, all the details go to Active911 and the scene commander can have at his fingertips all of the information about which firefighters are responding (especially in a multiple alarm situation) and help him position trucks based on the location of hydrants.

The hybrid car app is useful in auto accidents, since hybrids have both areas that are reinforced and too hard to cut through and places pulsing with high voltage that a firefighter wouldn't want to cut. With the iPad, a commander can punch in make and model and get a copy of the schematics for the car.

The hazmat app, created by the Federal Government, lists 438 chemicals that are potentially hazardous. If a firefighter doesn't know the name of a chemical, he can punch in the characteristics and the app will help him identify the chemical. The app uses wind speed and direction to map an evacuation area and provides information on how to fight any related fires and how to treat any victims with possible exposure to the chemical.

Fix said if the trial goes well, iPads will be installed in the department's other emergency vehicles.