batavia

Extreme dirt track racing is getting bigger in Batavia. The WNY EDT committee brought in a regional race Saturday that attracted racers from as far away as New Jersey, and on Aug. 11, a national professional race will hit the track.

Amy McNutt said there's been ATV racing at the track -- which is about 50 years old -- for the past six or seven years, but a reconstituted race committee has been working hard to grow the sport locally.

"We're trying to grow the sport and let people in Batavia know the track is here so we get more spectators," McNutt said.

Batavia Motor Sports is located on Harloff Road next to Polar Wave.

The next closest track that runs extreme dirt track ATV races is in Geneva, McNutt said.

The race in August will bring racers from as far away as Oklahoma and South Dakota and points will count toward a national championship.

If you're unable to view the slide show, click here.

An ambulance has been dispatched to Main Street, in front of Tim Horton's, for a person with a shoulder laceration.

Batavia PD is on scene.

Earlier, there was a report of a group of people who may have been preparing for a fight on Washington Avenue.

One person was reported to leave the scene, heading toward Main Street, who was shirtless and carrying a knife.

Some 30 minutes before that, there was a group of people were reported fighting on State Street. When police arrived, the group had dispersed.

It's unknown if these events are related.

UPDATE 1:38 a.m.: One female being transported to UMMC with multiple minor cuts. Batavia PD clear of Tim Horton's but staying in the area until "this all breaks up."  Meanwhile, in Le Roy, an ambulance is requested to Pizzaland in Le Roy for the victim of an assault who suffered facial injuries. At the same time, police requested to the Stafford Fire Hall for a person who wants to make a complaint about a group of people harassing her.

Ducks are in a drain in front of the Holland Land Office Museum at 131 W. Main St. in the City of Batavia. City fire Engine 12 is responding to attempt to rescue the waterfowl.

UPDATE 7:23 p.m.: Engine 12 is back in service. Didn't hear whether they accomplished the mission.

UPDATE 9:26 p.m.: The ducklings were rescued and placed back into the Tonawanda Creek.

A caller reports a man in his 20s is in the area of Union Square (off Union Street), Batavia, going door-to-door asking for cash to start a business.

When he is refused, he demands to know why.

The man was reportedly just in the area and was also there earlier today.

Batavia PD and a State Trooper are in the area looking for the subject.

A 4-year-old child has locked himself (or herself) in the bathroom of a residence at 9 Cherry St. in the City of Batavia and the mother has called for help to get her child out. Engine 12 is on location, which is between Jackson and Liberty streets.

UPDATE 8:04 p.m.: Presumably, the tyke has been sprung from the bathroom. Engine 12 is back in service.

The Batavia City Fire Department tested the oldest piece of equipment the department owns today -- a Bresnan distributor.

The device is designed to be lowered into a basement that is on fire, but too hot for firefighters to enter. 

Though, as one firefighter explained, if the fire is burning that hot, you wouldn't want firefighters standing on the floor above and making the hole necessary for the hose and nozzle.

It could also be inserted from below into an attic.

However, one firefighter said in the 25 years he's spent with the department, he's not aware of the nozzle ever being used.

The brass nozzle is somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 years old. It was manufactured by Grether Fire Equipment Co., of Dayton Ohio. As near as I can tell from Google searches, the company was in business from the turn of the early 20th Century until 1930, though maybe through at least 1974. The company made a variety of small firefighting devices, such as nozzles and lanterns.

In case it ever is needed, firefighters today wanted to see if it still works and what its water distribution pattern was like.

UPDATE 3:33 p.m.(by Billie): I searched on Google for "Bresnan distributor" and found this from a retired firefighter named Bill Bresnan who is now an artist. The inventor of the device for firefighting in hard-to-reach places was his great-grandpa. Here's what he says:

"My great grandfather, Battalion Chief John J. Bresnan was a truly dedicated man who served in the New York City Fire Department in the 1800s. He was an inventor and among his many inventions was the Bresnan distributor, the hose roller and a harness for the horses that was designed to facilitate faster response times during those days.

He was passionate about making improvements to the fire service and enhancing safety for the citizens.

Sadly, he was killed in a building collapse at a warehouse fire in Manhattan on a freezing cold night in late December of 1894, leaving behind three young children and an entire city who mourned his loss. Little did he know that generations after him would serve the department and the city he loved. My grandfather, father, uncle, brother and two cousins all proudly served in the F.D.N.Y.

It certainly was a privilege to be part of the New York City Fire Department. This is a special brotherhood. I met great men, real heroes who carried themselves in a humble way. I also met great leaders, knowledgeable and aggressive officers of all ranks. Despite all the tragedy I have seen over the years, I am grateful to have witnessed humanity at its best."

Press release:

The Town of Batavia Republican Committee has endorsed two candidates to run in November. Incumbent Town Justice and local attorney Tom Williams has been endorsed and former councilman Chad Zambito has been tapped to fill a vacant seat on the town board.

Zambito, a town resident for 12 years, also serves on the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He has served on an advisory board for Genesee Community College’s BEST Center and the GLOW Region’s Workforce Investment Board. The seat was left open after John Gerace resigned in May. Both Zambito and Gerace were first elected in 2003.

“We are fortunate to have two good candidates and are happy that there was significant interest in the open town board seat,” said Town Republican Chairman Andrew Young. “I think it shows we have a great board and support staff that many are interested in working with.”

The committee will hold its annual picnic June 22 at Kiwanis Park. Senator Mike Ranzenhofer and Assemblyman Steve Hawley are both expected to attend and longtime Republican supporter Sharon White will be honored for her service. Tickets can be purchased from any committee member.

Note: The board vacancy was created when John Gerace resigned abruptly and without explanation in April.

Doris L. Mayl, 59, of 2 Manhattan Ave., Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Mayl is accused of taking bulk trash stickers from items on South Main Street. The stickers are purchased from the city to put on large items that need trash pick up.

Andrea M. Whitbeck, 23, of 196 Henderson Drive, Penfield, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and speeding. Whitbeck was stopped at 3:20 a.m. Thursday on Church Street, Le Roy, by Le Roy PD.

A Porter Avenue resident was arrested Thursday morning, accused of being a lookout for a burglary at a new head shop on Ellicott Street, Batavia.

Police responded at 4:20 a.m. to a report of a burglary in progress at 400 Ellicott St. and arrested Edward R. Loper, 24, of 19 Porter Ave.

A second suspect, the person believed to have been inside the business, remains at large.

An alert neighbor reported suspicious activity after hearing the sound of glass breaking at the business.

Police determined entry was made by the suspects throwing large rocks through a window.

A quantity of disposable pipes were taken out of the business. The merchandise was recovered by police after the suspect discarded the items as he fled the scene.

Investigators are working on identifying and locating the second suspect.

Loper was charged with burglary in the third degree and was jailed on $15,000 bail.

Text and photos submitted by Steve Ognibene.

Today at Jackson School, friends, family, teachers and staff had their awards assembly and also payed tribute to Shawn Clark principal of Jackson who will move next fall to Batavia High School. 

Many students spoke about Mr. Clark and his contributions over the last four years as principal. They recounted how he was a great proponent of down with bullying and how he served to instill in them all the values that they will carry into the future. 

There was a photo slide show of Mr. Clark with students. They ended with farewells, hugs, but not goodbyes, as they will see him someday at the high school. This afternoon followed with a school-wide picnic day and outdoor fun with bounce houses.

This afternoon, workers needed to replace the "C" on the City Hall sign.

It was a ceremony of celebration more than remembrance as the students and staff of Robert Morris School said goodbye to their decades-old institution and walked into a new future of consolidated classes at three Batavia city schools.

"They're excited and they're ready," said Robert Morris Principal Diane Bonarigo of the students who walked out of the doors of Robert Morris for the last time today. "They'r in a very good place. It's important that we close our year knowing that they will be looking forward to going to their new school next year."

The district's consolidation plan will make Jackson a pre-K through first-grade school and John Kennedy will contain classes for second, third and fourth grades. Fifth-graders will move to Batavia Middle School.

Bonarigo said students felt more comfortable with the transition after a series of open houses where they ran into friends from other schools that they met through sports and other activities and realized they will now all be in the same school.

"We will be one city school family," Bonarigo said.

Press release:

United Memorial Medical Center is pleased to announce that Urgent Care Services will open at the Jerome Center located at 16 Bank St., Batavia on July 2. Urgent Care will be co-located with Laboratory and Medical Imaging Services.

Urgent Care services are a cost effective and convenient way for patients to receive quality medical care when their primary care physician is unavailable and they do not want to spend time waiting in an emergency room to be treated for a non-life-threatening injury or illness. Co-payments for urgent care are typically less than emergency room co-pays.

UMMC’s Urgent Care Center in Batavia will be well equipped to treat a variety of ailments, including sprains and fractures; cuts and lacerations, animal and insect bites and stings, cold and influenza symptoms; ear infections, pneumonia, bronchitis, urinary tract infections, asthma, sore throats/strep and mono and influenza vaccines.

Urgent Care at the Jerome Center will be supported by United Memorial’s state-of-the-art medical imaging services, the most advanced in Genesee County. The Jerome Center is conveniently located in the heart of Downtown Batavia. It offers handicap accessibility, convenient parking, a gift shop and refreshment kiosk.

In July 2010, United Memorial opened Genesee County’s first Urgent Care Center at 3 Tountas Ave., Le Roy. There were more than 5,000 patient visits to the Urgent Care Center in Le Roy during 2011. This volume had no noticeable impact on the number of emergency room patients treated at United Memorial during the same time period.

Both Urgent Care centers will operate from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.

A worker from CY Farms applies pesticide to the border area of Batavia Sports Park, off Bank Street Road, Batavia. The pesticide is being used as a precaution to protect the fields from armyworms. The actual playing fields were not sprayed, but soccer teams will be kept off the fields for at least 24 hours.

Investigators have ruled out homicide as the cause of death for William Hastings, 52, who fell to his death from the seventh floor of 400 Towers on Tuesday.

In a press release, Batavia PD detectives said today that thorough examination of the apartment building's surveillance system and interviews, Hastings was alone at 2:52 p.m. when he fell out of the window.

Detectives, in cooperation with the Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office are still working to determine whether the death as an accident or suicide.

"It's just hard to know what happened," Det. Pat Corona said. "I don't know if we ever will determine if it's a suicide or an accident."

No note was found in the apartment, Corona said, but "it sure was nice that 400 Towers had the surveillance system installed so we could sit down and review those tapes and determine he was alone at the time."

Witnesses said they heard no sounds indicating a disturbance in the apartment prior to Hastings' fall.

Corona said the M.E.'s office has also not yet determined whether Hastings had any sort of medical issue prior to his fall.

Monroe County has yet to complete toxicology tests, which could take 90 days or more.

The nets on two tennis courts at MacArthur Park, Batavia, are damaged and a third is missing, according to a maintenance worker.

Batavia PD is being dispatched to take a report.

A Batavia man may be lucky to be alive after falling more than 30 feet from the top of Buttermilk Falls on Thursday evening and landing on a small rock ledge rather than dropping another 40 feet into the churning waters below.

More than 60 of Genesee County's emergency responders were on scene within 30 minutes of the 6:54 p.m. 9-1-1 call, which initially indicated a juvenile male had fallen over the falls and was being swept downstream.

Brandon C. Smart, 34, of Batavia, was taken by ground ambulance to Strong Memorial Hospital with a head injury, a cut and complaint of neck pain.

The cause of Smart's fall, according to the Sheriff's Office, is a combination of drinking and Smart trying to pass a case of beer to another person further down the cliff.

Buttermilk Falls is less than a mile east of Route 19, and just north of North Road, where the road makes a sharp turn in an area where it crosses Oakta Creek. Crocker Ace Hardware is nearby.

Based on the original information given to dispatchers, Le Roy Fire responded and sent one rescue team downstream and positioned another team near the top of the falls. When Chief Tom Wood (on the right on the top inset photo) learned the victim had landed on the ledge, he requested the county's rope rescue team respond.

Smart, who was initially reported as being unconscious, was on the ledge until 9:11 p.m.

Initially, Mercy Flight was requested to the scene because of the possible serious injuries, but once Smart was brought back to the top of the falls, responders decided to take him to Strong Memorial Hospital by ground ambulance.

After Smart's fall, Michael C. Hayes, 24, of Rochester (wearing the Sheriff's raincoat top photo; shirtless in the picture below), climbed down to his position.

Although Hayes was uninjured, the rope team needed to rescue him as well.

Sgt. Steven Mullen (bottom inset photo), Sheriff's Office, said Hayes getting on the ledge himself just made the rescue that much more dangerous for all involved.

"As these gentlemen have spoke about, a technical rescue like this on the face of a waterfall, which is slippery and overgrown with moss and vegetation, is nothing that I would suggest," Mullen said. "It makes their job that much tougher when you have two people that need to be rescued as opposed to one."

When rescuers were ready to try and hoist Smart back to the top of the falls, he reportedly became uncooperative.

"It was a little bit of a precarious situation considering that these rescuers are on a ledge with a 40-foot drop below them," said Tim Yaeger, Emergency Services director (on the left in the top inset photo), "We had a situation where we tried to talk to that individual for a while to help him understand the situation so we could secure the person into a harness to bring him back up to the topside. That was deemed to be unsuccessful, so law enforcement was asked to assist."

Mullen made his way to the ledge and talked with the Smart for 10 or 15 minutes and convinced him to get into the harness.

Yaeger said officials were unsure if Smart was uncooperative because of his head injury -- patients with head injuries often become combative -- or if other factors played a role.

Mullen said Smart had been drinking prior to the fall.

"He wasn’t making a whole lot of sense," Mullen said. "He was somewhat irrational. That’s one reason he was transported by ground ambulance. If he becomes aggressive, he would be much easier to handle."

The two men who were rescued were apparently part of a group of at least seven people who went to the falls Thursday and Mullen said all appeared to have been drinking.

Seven people have been charged with trespass. They are, Hayes; Tatijana M. Kacurovski, 19, of Everwood Run, Webster; Sara M. Gianni, 20, of Quincy Street, Rochester; Donald E. Hayes, 27, of Quincy Street, Rochester; James A. Sharpstene, 25, of Morrow Road, Pavilion; Nathanial D. Clark, 20, of Milburn Street, Rochester; and, Melany M. Schlicker, 18, of Countess Road, Henrietta.

All seven suspects were issued appearance tickets.

Charges are pending against Smart.

Buttermilk Falls is owned by Carla Crocker, a Le Roy resident.

Yaeger said people trespassing at the falls not only put themselves at risk, but all of the people who need to respond when an accident occurs.

"That’s something to think about," Yaeger said. "The fact that these kids may be sightseeing and walking and seeing the falls from both sides, but if something were to happen, they’re putting a lot of individuals at risk."

Chief Wood said during his 12 yeas with the department, there are been three people who fell from the top of the falls. The first two victims died as a result.

Eric Friedhaber, a Le Roy resident whose property abuts the top of Buttermilk Falls, said trespassers are common on both sides of the creek around the falls.

"There's no guard rails so you can get pretty close to the edge," Friedhaber said. "When you go back there, there are lots of beer bottles and cans and graffiti on the bridge. Any time the weather's nice and there's water in the creek, people go back there and hang out. It's a party spot for kids."

Friedhaber said he's seen people get pretty close to the edge of the falls, even dancing at the edge of the falls.

"Every day three or four cars are parked out here and people go back there all the time,"  Friedhaber said. "I’m kind of surprised it (people falling) hasn’t happened more often."

Responding to the scene today: Le Roy fire, Sheriff's Office, Mercy EMS, Mercy Flight, Bergen fire, Genesee County Emergency Services and the rope rescue team.

Bottom photo of Buttermilk Falls taken by Eric Friedhaber on an earlier date.

Another of the five defendants rounded up July 9, 2009, as part of a local and federal investigation into the distribution of methamphetamine in Genesee County entered a guilty plea today in federal court.

Andrew Chapman, 42, of Batavia, admitted to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute,  methamphetamine.

He faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine, or both.

Chapman received the meth he sold from Donald G. Vanelli II, 49, of Le Roy, who is serving more than 17 years for his role in the sale and distribution of meth locally.

Also charged as a result of the investigation by the Local Drug Enforcement Task Force, the FBI and the DEA, were David H. Cohen, 51, of 918 Goodman St., Rochester, Donna L. Boon (aka Donna McAuley), 46, of 3658 Batavia-Oakfield Townline Road; and Kerry A. Ball, 53, of 7202 Meadville Road, Basom.

The status of Ball's case was not released, but the case against Cohen is still pending.

Boon's charged related to the initial arrest were later dismissed and Boon proclaimed her innocence, but she was subsequently re-arrested.

Chapman will be sentenced Sept. 17.