batavia

A hay bale in a farm field off of Bank Street Road, Batavia, this afternoon.

A two-vehicle accident with injuries is reported in the city at Oak Street and Richmond Avenue. One vehicle is blocking traffic. City fire and Mercy medics are responding.

UPDATE 3:03 p.m.: No injuries.

A Batavia man appeared in Genesee County Court this morning to answer to a sealed Grand Jury indictment charging him with attempted first-degree rape and first-degree sexual abuse.

Adam H. Brokaw, a resident of Northern Boulevard, is accused of attempting to have sexual intercourse with a person incapable of consent by reason of physical helplessness and subjecting that person to sexual contact in the City of Batavia.

The alleged incident reportedly took place at 2 a.m., Nov. 11, after a party at a residence on Northern Boulevard, Batavia.

Brokaw is a New York State corrections officer employed in Albion. 

Members of both Brokaw's family and the alleged victim's family were in court this morning for his arraignment before Judge Charles Zambito.

First Assistant District Attorney Melissa Cianfrini asked Zambito to set bail at $10,000.

Brokaw's attorney, Stephen Leonardo, argued that the 43-year-old defendant is not a flight risk because he's lived in Genesee County his entire life, except his service in the Navy, is married to his wife of 11 years and they have a juvenile daughter, and he is gainfully employed as a corrections officer.

Leonardo also noted that Brokaw appeared for his arraignment today voluntarily even though, by the nature of the investigation, he was well aware of the potential charges.

Zambito released Brokaw on his own recognizance.

His next scheduled appearance is at 9:15 a.m., Sept 25.

A car-pedestrian accident is reported at Main and Jackson streets in Downtown Batavia. City fire and Mercy medics are responding.

A caller to dispatch says her children called her and said a male, unknown description since her children provided none, was looking into the windows of their home in the 3200 block of W. Main Street Road. He was last seen eastbound on foot on Route 5.

Sheriff's deputies are responding. The mother is returning home in her vehicle.

When Ted and Patricia Hawley launched New York Craft Malt in 2013, it could have been characterized as an experiment. It was certainly speculative.

The State Legislature had recently passed a law that opened the door to commercial craft brewing and distilling, but it required 90 percent of the ingredients of any craft brew to come from New York.

Malt, created from barley, is a critical ingredient in beer but what legislators apparently didn't realize was that malting barley hadn't been grown in New York for nearly 100 years.

The Hawleys recognized an opportunity and they opened New York Craft Malt in Batavia.

"It was very experimental," Ted Hawley said after giving a tour of his malthouse to about 100 people on Wednesday, including beer enthusiasts, farmers, other malters, and brewers. "I had to educate myself on how to malt. I had to learn how to malt with this equipment. I had to learn the equipment and learn the trade, so I've come a long way in a short time."

Today, New York Craft Malt offers more than 40 varieties of malt with an emphasis on flavor and color, the unique attributes of craft malts. Brewers from throughout New York buy Hawley's malts and he now has customers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Oregon and California.

"The circle is growing," Hawley said.

New York Craft Malt is also no longer the only malthouse in New York. There are 12 now, and each is unique, according to Gary C. Bergstrom, chair of Cornell University's Plant Pathology Department.

"I’ve seen every one of them and I can tell you, every one of them does things a little differently," Bergstrom said. "The word craft really applies here."

The tour of Hawley's operations started with Bergstrom and other members of Cornell's team in a farm field off of Assemblyman R. Stephen Hawley Drive in Batavia where Hawley and Cornell work together to grow experimental barley strains as they try to develop varieties that can not only thrive in New York but also provide what craft malters seek -- a choice of flavors and colors.

Malting in New York fell victim 100 years ago to market forces, the climate (it's not easy to grow barely in New York), and Prohibition. The effort to bring barley back has concentrated on developing strains that can grow well and be disease free in this climate.

"After the legislation passed, we quickly realized that we didn't grow what the whole industry depends on, which is malting barley," Bergstrom said. "We hadn't grown it since Prohibition. We had an immediate challenge and a positive challenge."

Cornell scientists swiftly started studying all of the varieties grown throughout the world to find which might best be adapted to New York.

"We started a breeding project to find our own unique variety of barley," Bergstrom said. "In the meantime, we learned about varieties that do well enough here to grow them and how to adapt them, how to reduce the risks and toxins on them, and how to harvest them to get the best quality we can produce right now."

Hawley has been an integral part of that barley trials, Bergstrom said.

"Ted has been a great partner with Cornell," Bergstrom said. "He's cooperated on trials; he's opened his facility to tours; at the state level he's been a good person to network and share his knowledge with others. He's helped on the education front as well as the research."

After the field tour and the malthouse tour, the group headed over to Eli Fish Brewing Company where master brewer Jon Mager gave a tour of his operation and guests could sample some locally brewed beers.

With a craft beer in hand, Jason Crossett, lead brewer for the New York Beer Project in Lockport, said coming on the tour was an important part of seeing how the whole value chain of craft beer works in New York. It was a chance to meet growers and even though he knows how malting works, he wanted to see how a craft malthouse did it.

"For me, I've done a few beers with Ted's malts but I always wanted to check out his facilities and see how a small malting operation works," Crossett said. "It was very important for me to see how the grain gets from the farmer to the malter to the brewer. To me, it's a cycle. Beer can't be made without the malters doing what they do and the farmers doing what they do and the brewers doing what we do. It takes all of us to make a good product for consumers."

Hawley also emphasized the importance of those cooperative relationships. They are, he said, what has enabled his business to grow and thrive. Early on, a few brewers trusted him enough to work with him and help him develop his product.

"In the beginning, I had bad supplies," Hawley said. "I was learning the trade and now those brewers trust me for quality malt because, without their feedback, I wouldn’t know if I was making something that was good or not. I needed their feedback, their honest, constructive criticism and it has made me where I am today."

More than 90 children from age 4 to age 8 turned out at the Batavia Sports Park on Friday for Ricky Palermo's annual soccer clinic.

This was the 15th year Palermo hosted the clinic.

"It grows a little bit every year and that's exciting," Palermo said.

The clinic helps raise awareness about spinal injury, Palermo said, and shows the kids that even a person with a spinal injury can still do things.

Keeping busy is one reason two seniors believe they are enjoying life into their 90s.

Madeline Harding, of Batavia, turned 90 on June 15, while Mary Tuttle, also of Batavia, was 94 on July 18. Harding was born in Yorkshire and graduated from Wyoming County Academy, where she studied Nursing. She became a nursing supervisor at the former St. Jerome Hospital, then retired from the Genesee County Nursing Home.

She and her husband, Frank, 93, have four children, six grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. They enjoyed traveling all over the world, but aren’t able to do it anymore. England was her favorite destination, Harding said. They have been there several times.

Harding said she joined the Senior Quilters because she has always liked to do crafts and her mother was a quilter.

She still drives, “but very carefully,” she said.

Tuttle was born in Blossburg, Pa., and met her husband when her father moved to Perry for work.

She learned to quilt after they retired to Florida, where they lived for 21 years until moving back to Batavia for his health.

Tuttle has always loved to sing and said she would sing “Anywhere they let me.” She starred in her first operetta at age 5 at PerryHigh School, playing the part of Baby Bear.

“You gotta’ stay happy,” she said.

She and her husband had two children, five grandchildren, and 11 grandchildren.

When decided where they wanted to celebrate their birthdays, Harding and Tuttle chose Fortune’s at Batavia Downs, because it was a favorite spot of their friend and former quilter, Frances Ford. Ford, who would have been 102 a week ago, died in May.

The Senior Quilters have made more than 15 quilts for Quilts of Valor. They donate quilts to the VA Nursing Home, Migrant Day Care Center, Cancer Treatment Center, Social Services and the surgical center at Golisano Children’s Hospital in Rochester.

Their newest quilt raffle will be in September. They are selling tickets for $1 each or three for $2.

New quilters are welcome to join the group from 9 a.m. to noon every Wednesday.

Top photo: The Senior Quilters, who meet Wednesdays at the Genesee County Office for the Aging, celebrated the birthdays of two of their members, Madeline Harding and Mary Tuttle (both seated) this week. Holding a quilt they will raffle off in September are, from left, Cheryl Bauer, Marge Coniber, Linda Nalbach, Donna Tomski, Harding, Tuttle and Irene Pierce.

Two seniors chose to celebrate their special birthdays' quilting at the Senior Center on Bank Street, before going to lunch at Fortune’s in Batavia Downs. Madeline Harding, left, turned 90 on June 15 and Mary Tuttle was 94 on July 18.

A two-vehicle accident is reported at Bank and Main streets in the city. One person has a leg injury. It is blocking traffic. City fire and Mercy medics are on scene.

A motorcycle vs. vehicle accident is reported at 4170 Batavia-Elba Townline Road. The location is between Pekin Road and Batavia Oakfield Townline Road.

Town of Batavia Fire Department and Mercy medics are responding. A first responder asks that medics come in emergency mode. There are two patients.

SATURDAY, July 21st – Farm Bureau Day & Bring Your Tractor to the Fair Day

• 8:30 a.m.      NIOGA Colored Breed Show (Show Ring)
• 9 a.m.           ECYSS—Youth Breed Show (Old Draft Horse Barn)
• 10 a.m.         FARM STOCK TRACTOR – Bring your tractor!
•  Enhanced Tractor & Garden Pullers (Grandstand)
• 10 a.m.          EXHIBIT HALLS & BUILDINGS OPEN
• 10:30 a.m.     NIOGA Holstein/Open Class Dairy Show (Show Ring)
• 1-11 p.m.       MIDWAY OPEN (Amusement Area)
• 12 p.m.          Talent Show (Entertainment Tent)
• 12 p.m.          Cowgirl Couture—Barrel Racing (Horse Ring)
• 3:30 p.m.       Small Fry Tractor Pull (Exhibition Ring)
• 4 p.m.            4-H Market Animal Master Showman Contest (Show Ring)
• 6:30 p.m.       Empire State Puller Tractor Pulls (Grandstand)
• 8 p.m.-12 a.m.  Band - UNDER THE GUN (Entertainment Tent)
• 8 p.m.            4-H Non-Market Animals – Beef, Goat, Sheep & Swine released
• 8 p.m.            4-H Non-Animal Exhibits Released    

*This schedule is tentative and is subject to change at any time.* 

Bright and cheery, warm and inviting, this home features gorgeous woodwork hardwood floors, spacious floor plan, awesome kitchen that will make you want to hang out its just that homey!

Three year tear off roof on house and barn. Electrical and plumbing all upgraded. New bath fitter shower and many other updates. Home was just freshly carpeted and painted as well as exterior and barn! Two-story barn has amazing storage but also finished rec room upper!

Everybody will want to claim for their own private hangout! Back yard is extra deep and fully fenced for privacy and has a pool and landscaping/flowers are spectacular!

LOOK now! Click here for more informaiton on this listing. Call Lynn Bezon today -- 585-344-HOME.

Notre Dame High School sophomores Benjamin Streeter and Krysta Hansen, as well as junior Maddie Payton -- local leaders in exposing what they see as the manipulative and deceptive marketing tactics of the tobacco industry -- have just returned from the annual Reality Check Youth Summit at Cazenovia College in Central New York.

During leadership workshops and teambuilding exercises with 150 other youth from around the state they made plans for raising awareness in their own communities about the impact tobacco marketing has on youth.

“The average age of a new smoker in New York is just 13 years old, and no one wants to see a kid start smoking,” Maddie said.

“It seems like tobacco companies are trying to deceive kids with packaging that looks like candy and thousands of flavors that appeal to kids like strawberry and bubble gum,” Krysta said.“The more kids see tobacco the more likely they are to start smoking. And we’re here to say we’ve seen enough tobacco in our communities.”

“Tobacco companies put most of their marketing in stores where 75 percent of teens shop at least once a week,” Benjamin said. “We’re speaking out in our communities and all across the state to protect youth from tobacco marketing and the dangers of tobacco use.”

Youth Demonstrated How Bright Colors, Tobacco Displays Appeal to Kids

During the Youth Summit, Reality Check members demonstrated how they believe tobacco companies’ deceptive marketing draws kids to tobacco products, using large displays of what would normally be considered kid-friendly items including large cutouts of:

• A kids’ birthday cake with cigarettes for candles, and a banner reading “The average age of a new smoker is 13”;
• A crayon box with cigarettes instead of crayons that reflect startling statistics about tobacco marketing and youth smoking;
• A claw machine filled with packs of cigarettes instead of stuffed animals and toys;
• An ice cream truck promoting tobacco product sales rather than ice cream sales; and
• Open packs of cigarettes on the blades of a working 8’ tall x 5’ wide mini-golf windmill.

At each demonstration, Reality Check youth explained how the supposed kid-friendly exhibits grab the attention of passersby just as the tobacco industry is grabbing youth’s attention with tobacco marketing in stores.

Reality Check empowers youth to become leaders in their communities in exposing what they see as the manipulative and deceptive marketing tactics of the tobacco industry.

The organization’s members produce change in their communities through grassroots mobilization and education.

Reality Check in this area is affiliated with Tobacco-Free Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming counties (TF-GLOW).

#SeenEnoughTobacco is an online campaign with the goal of safeguarding children from the billions of dollars of hard-hitting tobacco promotions in places where children see them.

Parents, community leaders and others interested in protecting youth are encouraged to learn more at SeenEnoughTobacco.org.

FRIDAY, July 20th – “Community Day & Thrill Night”

• 9 a.m.          ECYSS—Showmanship Clinic (Old Draft Horse Barn)
• 10 a.m.        EXHIBIT HALLS AND BUILDINGS OPEN
• 10 a.m.        4-H Livestock Costume Contest (Show Ring)
• 12 p.m.        ECYSS—Fitting Clinic (Old Draft Horse Barn)
• 1-11 p.m.     MIDWAY OPEN (Amusement Area)
• 3:30 p.m.     4-H Cloverbud Show (Show Ring)
• 4 p.m.          ECYSS—Showmanship (Old Draft Horse Barn)
• 5:30 p.m.     4-H Tractor Driving Contest—Via Pre Registration (Kennedy Building)
• 6 p.m.          NIOGA Dairy Showmanship (Show Ring)
• 7-11 p.m.     Band Winner of Battle of the Bands (Entertainment Tent)
• 7 p.m.          COUNTY FAIR GRAND DEMOLITION DERBY (Grandstand)
• 8 p.m.          Cowgirl Couture—Barrel Racing (Horse Ring)
• 10 p.m.        EXHIBIT HALLS AND BUILDINGS CLOSE

*This schedule is tentative and is subject to change at any time.*

Press release:

The Genesee County STOP-DWI and Youth Bureau are having their Annual Night at the Ballpark on Wednesday, July 25^th at Dwyer Stadium.

The first 250 youth under 16 can get in free if they contact the Youth Bureau at 344-3960 to reserve tickets for the event.

Youth can come to the Youth Bureau to pick the tickets up or we will take their information and they can pick them up at the box office.

There will also be free Muckbucks to the first 60 youth, and more than 500 prizes and giveaways on hand. There will also be two bikes from Adam Miller Toy and Bicycle given away, one for a boy and one for a girl.

There will be educational booths on hand, including one with the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office with child ID kits. A juggler will be on hand as well for the kids’ entertainment.

Genesee County’s #1 crime fighting K-9 will be there to assist with the first pitch!

All of this is made possible from our wonderful sponsors and contributors: GCASA, Genesee County Sheriff’s Association, Kiwanis Club of Batavia, United States Gypsum Co., Batavia Lions Club, City of Batavia Police Benevolent Association, The Original Red Osier Landmark Restaurant, Western New York Association of Chiefs of Police, Gerace Realty, Polish Falcons, Tops Friendly Markets, Adam Miller Toy and Bicycle, and Alex’s Place.

Gates open at 6 p.m. and the game starts at 7:05.

After being paralyzed in a motor-vehicle accident at the age of 21, Ricky Palermo, 58, could be bitter.

Yet, he considers himself blessed.

One reason is the support team of family and friends who not only help him day to day, but the dedicated committee members who have volunteered to make the annual Ricky Palermo Spinal Injury Golf Tournament a success.

The tournament scheduled Aug. 4 will be the 22nd, and Palermo hopes it won’t be the last.

He fears as people age and lives get harder, the people who have helped him all these years won’t be able to keep the pace. He cites as an example losing his brother-in-law Joe last year.

The thought of his benefit tournament dying out is almost unbearable. In its 21 years, the tournament has raised more than $1.2 million for spinal injury research.

Annually, money from the golf tournament is donated to four causes – the Emergency Room at United Memorial Medical Center, where Palermo was treated; Strong Memorial Hospital’s Spinal Unit; the Batavia YMCA, where Palermo regularly exercises on a Functional Electrical Stimulation bike; and the Miami Project in Miami, where doctors and research scientists are working to find a cure for spinal injuries.

Palermo was one of the first six patients to take part in the Miami Project after it was established in 1985, just four years after his accident.

A key figure in founding the Miami Project was NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Nick Buoniconti, whose son Marc had been injured playing football. The Buoniconti family vowed that progress in spinal injury research would not be slowed because of lack of funds. To date, their foundation has raised one-half billion dollars.

One of their fundraisers is the Great Sports Legends’ Dinner in New York City, to which Palermo is sent tickets every year.

“I am so blessed that they think of me,” Palermo said.

Another reason the Miami Project is so special to Palermo is because his niece, Batavia native Dr. Annie Palermo, has just been hired there. One of the studies he will be involved in will be led by Annie.

The first study he participated in proved to doctors that someone with a spinal cord injury could stay in shape with proper exercise. Several times a week, Palermo goes to the YMCA, where he rides the Functional Electrical Stimulation bike, which his golf tournament helped fund.

Palermo hopes the golf tournament will continue to be a success. In the past, golfers have come from eight different states. Many plan their vacations around the event, he said.

The first year they set a goal of $5,000, but actually raised $11,500.

“That’s when we knew we had to try again,” Palermo said.

Last year’s tournament raised $74,000. They have had as many as 224 golfers participate in one year.

“We’ve met so many caring, wonderful people,” Palermo said. “I consider myself lucky.”

Terry Hills, where the tournament takes place, has been so good to them, Palermo said. While the scheduled tee-off isn’t until 11 a.m., some start at daybreak to get everyone in.

Genesee Community College is also a big supporter, hosting the dinner, auction and show in the evening.

Cost for lunch, golf, and dinner is $120 per person. Just hors d'oeuvres, dinner and the show is $50.

The show will include a video and a presentation by two doctors from the Miami Project. The video will feature footage shot of Palermo when he was in Miami.

There will also be a live and silent auction and raffles.

Donations of cash, prize items, and auction items are welcome.

To register to golf or for information on making a donation, contact Palermo at (585) 739-8522.

Photo (by Howard Owens): Ricky Palermo with his cousin John Curtiss.

No young man forgets his first new car, especially when it is the car of his dreams.

And few get the chance to own that car again more than 50 years later.

The first time Peter Lockner saw the “Dodge Girl” advertise a 1966 red Dodge Charger, he knew he had to have one.

That was in December 1966, the first year Dodge made the Charger. Lockner had a young wife and had just quit his job at Kodak to get his master’s degree at Cornell University.

“We had several junk cars, but I couldn’t leave Marilyn with a junker while I was at college,” said Lockner, a flight instructor at Genesee County Airport. “I had seen the Dodge Girl on TV and I went to McAvoy Dodge in Rochester and said I wanted a red Charger. They had only one, but it had an anemic 361-cubic-inch V8 engine with a two-barrel carburetor.”

Lockner really wanted a Hemi but was told that would take two months to get.

“So I bought the ‘anemic’ Charger,” Lockner said.

The original bill of sale lists the base price as $3,122.00. With optional add-ons for four-speed transmission, emergency flashers, padded sun visors, power steering, AM radio, white sidewall tires and $51 for shipping, the final price was $3,618.88.

Lockner’s wife drove the car that winter and he got his master’s and returned to Kodak, where he was sent to California for two years. He drove the Charger to California and back to their home in Byron.

Lockner had put a 440 police interceptor engine in the Charger.

“I used to race a Corvette on Ford Road and the third time I beat him, I blew the engine,” Lockner said. “Then I put a Chrysler Imperial engine in it which I had rebuilt with a racing cam and Holley 750 CFN carburetor. It idled real nice and it ran nice.”

Lockner said Marilyn once got ticketed for speeding in Elba. Two state troopers had to chase her to Saile Drive before they could stop her. She told them the car wouldn’t slow down.

Lockner said he once pegged it at 160 mph on the I-490.

In 1985, Lockner’s cousin’s son was graduating from high school and she wanted to give him a car. The Charger had almost 140,000 miles on it, and Lockner was tired of fixing it and treating it with tender, loving care. So he sold it for $1,500.

The car was last driven in 1987 and the registration sticker was still on the windshield when Lockner discovered just over a year ago his cousin still had the car.

“It has been stored in Ohio since then,” Lockner said. “I had sold it with the understanding I had first dibs to buy it back if she ever wanted to sell it.”

In 2017, Lockner paid $6,000 to buy the Charger back and towed it to Batavia, where he and his son Steven have worked nearly a year to get it running again.

That entailed all new brakes and completely cleaning and rebuilding the carburetor. When they were ready to start it, Lockner hooked up a drill to the oil pump and moved the oil around.

“Then she started right up,” he said.

Genesee County DMV helped Lockner reregister the car. He got insurance and now he’s driving it.

Of course, he only gets about 10 miles to the gallon, but doesn’t bother Lockner at all.

It’s still the car of his dreams.

Below: Pete Lockner, of Batavia, shows off the 1966 Dodge Charger he purchased new. He recently located the car in Ohio and purchased it back. He has the original invoice from McAvoy Dodge in Rochester, showing a final price of $3,618.88 with options and shipping. Photos by Virginia Kropf.