batavia

Press Release:

The Zonta Club of Batavia-Genesee County has continued their mission to tackle Period Poverty in our community. In January, the club donated $1000 worth of period products to Community Action and The Heart of Kindness Center. 

According to a 2023 YouGov survey, 37% of all menstruating American females say they or their family have struggled to afford menstrual products and almost half (47%) agree that the current economic climate causes them stress about their ability to afford period products. 

These donations are a continuation of the Zonta Club’s initiative to combat period poverty from last year when $1000 in products were donated to the Richmond Memorial Library Comfort Boxes and Community Action. For more information, please reach out to the Zonta Club at Zontabatavia@gmail.com.

Buy 2, get 1 FREE puzzle sale going on now. Stop by & get yours today!
Adam Miller Toys and Bicycles, 8 Center St, Batavia

It was 1988, and our youngest daughter came home from Batavia Middle School all excited about an author she had met as a guest speaker in her English class. She was telling us about a murder that happened not far from us. As a result, we got in the car and drove to Linden to see where this murder took place. She still has a copy of his book, Linden Murders: UNSOLVED, first published in 1984. This author inspired her to be excited about reading mysteries. 

The first time I met the author, Bill Brown Jr., was when we were on the Holland Purchase Historical Society Board. After meeting him, I asked if he would be a guest speaker in my fourth-grade class. That began our friendship. He was an excellent addition to my classroom. He talked about being a writer and answered the children's questions. He then would return weekly to work with the children.   

That year, when my class did their Famous Batavian Project, they chose Bill to be their class's famous Batavian. Part of their project was to draw a picture related to their person. The child, who was researching Mr. Brown, drew an image of the home he lived in with his family using an Opaque Projector. I just found out the picture hangs in the house of Bill's daughter, Betsy.   

In 2000, I met someone very special to me, Ida Spiotta, a neighbor, and we would talk about what it was like to work on the muck.   That gave me the idea to interview people and hear their stories. That was when I contacted Bill, and we worked together to write the book The Story of the Muck As Told by Those Who Worked There. 

For those that have not heard of the muck, it was a part of Batavia's history that spanned from 1932 to 1952, when hundreds of men, women, and children worked on the muck, planting and nurturing crops and, months later, harvesting lettuce, spinach, onions, potatoes, and carrots. I presented my idea for a book to Bill, and he said, "You research it, I will write it." That was the beginning of a very special friendship with Bill Brown. I learned so much from him as we created this book together. The book was published in 2003. 

These are the books Bill authored:

• The Batavia Downs Story, 1940-1990,
• A Legacy of Opportunity
• The Mancusos of Batavia 
• WBTA: My Words are My Own
• Genesee's Rich & Famous
• A History of Notre Dame High School: The First Fifty Years, 1951-2001 
• History of St. Joseph's Parish 
• The Story of the Muck
• St. Joseph's Church: A History of Genesee Area's Oldest Catholic Parish, 1849-1999
• The First One Hundred Years, 1890-1990: The Story of Crickler & Houseknecht
• The Story of John Brown and Other Irish-Americans 
• Three Times is True
• Murder, He Wrote! 
• The Linden Murders: Unsolved!

William F. Brown Jr. was born October 25, 1923, in Batavia, the son of William F. Brown Sr. and Monica Sellinger Brown. He graduated in 1941 from Batavia High School and graduated from Canisius College. He also studied at Yale and Fordham Universities. He served in WW II and worked for the Armed Forces Radio Service in Kokura, Japan. 

He worked as public relations director for Batavia Downs and Buffalo Raceway for several years before becoming co-owner and manager of WBTA radio in 1968. 

He won 16 statewide best editorial awards in his career from the New York State Broadcasters Association. He was a United States Harness Writer Association member for over 55 years, introduced into the Hall of Fame in 1991.   He was the first chairman of the Board of Trustees for Notre Dame High School, a Saint Jerome trustee, and a board member of the Catholic Education Diocese of Buffalo.  He was a lecturer and Eucharistic Minister at Resurrection Parish. 

Mr. Brown married the former Elizabeth Farrell in Stamford, CT in 1947.  She died in 1993. He was the father of four children, William F Brown III, survived by his wife Deborah,  Elizabeth A. McGee (John), Robert F. Brown (Katie), and Bonny Peacock (Bob). 

After a brief illness at 91, Bill passed away on Nov. 29, 2014.

Bill will be remembered by my daughter, my students, and myself as a very special friend. His involvement in many civic organizations, his awards, and the books he authored truly made him a famous Batavian.

Richard James Burdick, 46, of Clinton Street Road, Batavia, is charged with criminal possession of a narcotic drug with intent to sell, criminal possession of a controlled substance 3rd, and aggravated unlicensed driver. Burdick was stopped at 6:22 p.m. on Jan. 30 on Clinton Street Road, Batavia, by Deputy Nicholas Chamoun. Burdick was allegedly found in possession of 62 grams of cocaine. He was held pending arraignment.

Teresa K. Hillin, 41, of Batavia, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance 7th, driving without insurance, and driving a vehicle without an inspection sticker; Peter Dercqu, 46, of Lyndonville, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance 7th; and Steven Hadden, 43, of Pembroke, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance 7th. Hillin was reportedly the driver of a vehicle stopped by a deputy at 2:25 a.m. on Jan. 29 in Pembroke. Deputies reportedly found cocaine in the vehicle. All three occupants were processed at the Genesee County and Released.

Brevin J. Mast, 27, of Batavia, is charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, 3rd and two counts of menacing, 2nd. Mast allegedly threatened two people on Jan. 15 at a location on Trumbull Parkway, Batavia. He was jailed following his arrest.

Tyler James Bull, 22, of West Main Street Road, Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt 2nd. Bull, who is incarcerated, is accused of calling a person 142 times in violation an order of protection. he was arrested on Jan. 15. He was scheduled for arraignment.

Jacob Herbert Tillotson, 25, of Walker Road, Pavilion, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, drinking alcohol in a motor vehicle, and moving from lane unsafely. Tillotson was stopped at 8:58 p.m. on Jan. 17 on Linwood Road, Le Roy, by Deputy Zachary Hoy. He was issued traffic tickets and released.

Julie Lynn Dutton, 29, of East Main Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny and criminal mischief 4th. Dutton is accused of stealing and damaging property from the La Quinta Inn & Suites at 8200 Park Road, Batavia. She was held at the Genesee County Jail pending arraignment. Dutton was also arrested by Batavia PD on Jan. 15 and charged with two counts of petit larceny. She is accused of shoplifting from Tops. She was arraigned and held.

Jordan Nicholas Wieseltier, 43, of Route 20, Pavilion, is charged with DWI and driving with a BAC of .08 or greater. Wieseltier was stopped at 6 p.m. on Jan. 20 on West Main Road, Le Roy, by Deputy Nicholas Chamoun.

Sergiy Borkowski, 44, of Branch Street, Rochester, is charged with felony DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, and moving from lane unsafely. Borkowski was reportedly involved in a one-car motor vehicle accident at 9:22 p.m. on Jan. 9 on Reuben Road, Tonawanda Indian Reservation, and arrested by Deputy Matthew Wesolowski following an investigation. He was processed at the Genesee County Jail and released.

William Stanley Pyszczek, 72, of Pembroke, is charged with menacing 2nd and harassment 2nd. Pyszczek is accused of brandishing a knife and threatening the life of another person at 1:57 a.m. on Jan. 27 at a location on South Lake Road, Pembroke. Pyszczek was held pending arraignment.

Joseph Michael Degweck, Jr., 52, of Pine Street, East Aurora, is charged with criminal contempt 1st. Degweck is accused of violating a stay-away order of protection at 1:20 p.m. on Jan. 24 while incarcerated at the Genesee County Jail. He allegedly made third-party contact with the protected party.  He was scheduled for arraignment at a later date.

Bryan Francis Walczak, 42, of Ellicott Street, Batavia, is charged with DWI and moving from lane unsafely. Walczak was stopped at 11:43 p.m. on Jan. 26 on Alexander Road, Alexander, after the Sheriff's Office received a report of an erratic driver from a witness. Walczak was held pending arraignment.

Michael J. Difalco, 37, of Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt 1st, resisting arrest, obstruction of governmental administration 2nd, and harassment 2nd. Difalco was allegedly involved in a disturbance on South Main Street on Jan. 9. He is accused of violating an order of protection. He allegedly fled on foot when officers attempted to take him into custody. He was arraigned in City Court and jailed.

Joseph W. Freeman, 40, of Batavia, is charged with trespass. Freeman was allegedly on the property of the Budget Inn on Oak Street after previously being told he wasn't allowed on the property. He was issued an appearance ticket.

Joseph Hagen, 41, of Batavia, is charged with DWI. Hagan was reportedly involved in a motor vehicle accident on Jan. 9 on Highland Park, Batavia. His vehicle reportedly struck multiple objects. He was issued traffic tickets and released.

Sean M. Conway, 47, of Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Conway is accused of shoplifting from Harbor Freight on Dec. 17. He was arrested on Jan. 11. He was arraigned and released.

Michael R Marchese, 34, of Honeoye Falls, is charged with DWI. Marchese is accused of driving a vehicle on Nov. 6 at an undisclosed location in Batavia that struck a tree, light pole, and another vehicle, before leaving the scene. Marchese was issued multiple traffic tickets on Jan. 9.

Press Release:

Thanks to the generous support of the Rotary Club of Batavia, Arc GLOW was able to purchase the necessary equipment for the Genesee County Meals on Wheels program.

Since 2012, Arc GLOW has contracted with the Genesee County Office for the Aging to deliver meals to Genesee County residents over the age of 60. Meals are delivered between 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and are prepared by the agency’s culinary team. 

Through the grant, Arc GLOW was able to replace outdated equipment including utility carts, heating stones and coolers. It was also able to update to a new steam table, allowing for larger quantities of food, improving efficiency and ensuring meals are served at proper temperatures.

“We are very thankful to the Rotary Club of Batavia and their generous support,” said Martin Miskell, Arc GLOW CEO. “With this support, we will continue to provide top quality service to our area seniors.” 

Arc GLOW serves up to 2,000 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming counties, and is the largest geographic Arc chapter in the state. For more information on Arc GLOW, visit ArcGLOW.org. To make a referral to the home delivered meals program, call (585) 343-1611.

Submitted photos.

Batavia sustained its 13th loss of the season, against one win, on Friday in Girls Basketball.

Honeoye Falls-Lima won 62-40.

For the Lady Devils, Jaimin Macdonald scored 15 points, and Ali Tomidy scored 12.

To view or purchase photos, click here.

Press Release:

Join GO ART! on Saturday, February 8, from 6 to 8 p.m. to celebrate the accomplishments of GO ART! member artists and staff members who participated in the annual members show and honor the awardees, including the President’s and Peoples’ Choice Awards winners.

The public is invited to share this evening with us and view the visual art of local, regional, and GO ART! staff member artists. In addition to viewing the exhibition, visitors will be treated to light refreshments and live music, meet the awardees, and access the GO ART! bar.

This annual art show features work in all media created by GO ART! member artists and staff members. GO ART’s! Board of Directors, members, and staff look forward to this special exhibit each year that has become a signature event that wraps up all our fantastic events for the last year and kicks off the New Year’s exhibition series.

Don’t miss this opportunity to consume this multi-media exhibit that will evoke pleasurable emotions of joy, happiness, and peaceful contemplation. It is also an opportunity to purchase a unique gift for your special Valentine!

The GO ART! member artists and staff exhibition opened on December 12 and will close with the awards reception on February 8. So, come celebrate with us, and we look forward to welcoming you. This event is free, but the experience will be invaluable! 

Click here for more information.   Click here to purchase event tickets!

Press Release:

Batavia Lion's Club inducted new members at their monthly meeting, Dr. Ross Fanara led the induction.

Coupled with a discussion about the astronomical rise in healthcare costs Monday evening, City Manager Rachael Tabelski and City Council members also kicked around the idea of paying a larger portion of gym memberships for city employees and council members.

The proposal was to pay from $100 to $500 toward a membership to one of three city facilities, with the $500 going to the brand-new Healthy Living YMCA. Employees already receive the $100 perk for gym memberships, and the $500 and adding council members is new. 

The money would come from a slush fund of sorts, Tabelski said. 

“So as the city continues to incentivize health and wellness of our employees through various programs, such as our premium reduction for their health screenings, physical fitness incentives for firefighters and police officers and the $100 gym reimbursement, I believe the city should partner with the new Genesee County YMCA and offer a discounted membership for all city employees, including council members," Tabelski said during the conference meeting at City Hall. "I've had many employees come to me, council members come to me, saying, wouldn't it be great if we could provide some kind of membership or incentive towards using the new facility. 

"So I went and looked at this year's budget. We have interest in earnings right now at about $24,000 that might pop out around $50,000, so we could cover the majority of employees and council members if they were to sign up for this incentive," she said. "So I leave it to you to discuss and determine if this is something you'd like to move forward with.”

Meanwhile, the remaining budget talks included increasing the tax cap with an override that will require a future public hearing to deal with about $1 million more in expenses for healthcare and retirement this coming year.

The only council member who vocally seemed to have an issue with the proposal was Bob Bialkowski, who apparently was one of the people who asked Tabelski about such a perk.

Paying $100 to the other gyms and $500 to the YMCA, and all are “paying property tax, local tax,” seems “discriminatory,” he said.

“We could get rid of the $100 and force them to join the Y. It’s just an offering,” Tabelski said. “You're actually the council member that asked me about joining, right?”

To clarify, YMCA is a nonprofit and is exempt from paying county, city and school taxes. 

Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr. and Kathy Briggs were in favor of the gym proposal.

“It’s a perk for employees, I like it,” Briggs said.

Jankowski said that a YMCA membership is from about $600 for a single to $1,000 for a family membership per year, so the person would still have “some out-of-pocket costs.”

“I think it's a great idea. I think you could get rid of the $100 if you'd like, and just do the $500 to the Y. I don't know that we'd want to incentivize $500 to any gym across America, you know what I mean, because it'd be way too hard for us to track,” Jankowski said. “I like the idea. I like where we're going with it, because in the long run, when you stay healthy, it saves us money.”

No one brought up the inclusion of council members in the package. If they are covered and all of them choose YMCA, that would mean an additional $4,500 in the budget, plus their annual salaries of $5,000 per council member and $7,000 for council president.

Council took a vote to move the topic to the next business meeting on Feb. 10, and approved it by 6-1. Members Briggs, Jankowski, Al McGinnis, Rich Richmond, David Twichell and Derek Geib voted yes and Bialkowski voted no. Paul Viele and Tammy Schmidt were absent.

With all of the availability of artificial intelligence — AI for short — and the myriad apps available to help with research, to answer questions, and figure out how to do most anything, comes a new dilemma for educators wanting to ensure their students aren’t misusing the technology, State University of New York Chancellor John King says.

“We actually just added artificial intelligence to our general education requirements around information literacy, because we think our students will need to understand how AI works, how to use it ethically,” King said during a recent visit to Batavia. “And so we’re now building that into the general education requirements for all undergraduates across SUNY, and we’re doing a lot of professional development with faculty thinking about both, how do you teach students about using AI, but also, how do we think about the role that AI plays in the classroom?”

That might change how teachers dole out homework, he said, moving them from at-home assignments to asking students to complete them during class time.

“Because you want to make sure that students are engaging with the material themselves and not just relying on AI. You know, some of the work is actually helping students understand how best to use AI, you know, the prompt development, for example, the kind of question you ask matters a lot with what you'll get back from AI, and so helping students think about, how do you design the right question?” he said. “Also helping students be skeptical readers of what they find, whether it's on the internet or from AI, they have to ask, is this right? How do I know? Let me go check these sources.”

There are so many interesting things that college faculty members are working on with AI, he said, including simulated conversations in foreign languages.

“It’s such an incredible tool if used well,” he said. 

The State University of New York — of which Genesee Community and Empire State colleges are included — will require undergraduate students to take courses in AI and civic discourse as part of their general education curriculum beginning in fall 2026. 

The courses will be part of the university’s effort to prepare students to engage with emerging technologies and evaluate information, as King said, ethically. 

According to SUNY's website, students will be learning how to use AI tools to locate information, evaluate that information from different sources, understand the ethical implications of using AI, how to weigh information for bias, truthfulness and other factors and how to navigate and assess the impact of AI in society. 

Monday night's heavy winds snapped a utility pole in the area of 434 East Main St., Batavia, just before 9 p.m. causing a power outage in the area.

National Grid was on scene quickly to begin repairs.

Eastbound lanes of East Main Street were closed during repairs.

A high-wind warning is in place until 6 a.m. with winds of 30 to 40 mph and gusts up to 60 mph.

Currently, the largest power outage in Genesee County is centered in Elba, stretching south into the Town of Batavia, affecting 327 National Grid customers.

Photos by Howard Owens.

Nichole Dykstra is missing her "sweet boy" Max, a 90-pound German shepherd, who was last seen on Naramore Drive in the city of Batavia. If anyone spots him, please call her at 585-250-3891.