batavia

Press release:

The GLOW YMCA on Tuesday announced a second year of record-breaking support as they raised just over $106,000 in its annual Strong Communities Campaign, exceeding a $104,000 association goal.

“We had so much incredible support," said Rob Walker, CEO of the GLOW YMCA. "We couldn’t have done it without our volunteers, members, vendors, staff and community supporters. I would like to publically thank the 559 contributors that helped us exceed our goal."

Walker offered special thanks to Joseph Bellardo, Elizabeth Skakowski, Lance Mark, Wayne Purdy and Christopher White, all of whom volunteered their time, treasure and efforts to lead this year’s campaign.

The Genesee Branch specifically raised $45,113 or 101percent of its 2018 goal. With 85 new donors and 194 renewed donations we had 279 very generous donors help us to achieve this year’s campaign record.

The money raised helps the YMCA meet its charitable mission by offering scholarship support to children, families and seniors in our community that otherwise could not afford to experience the many benefits of the YMCA.

“The Genesee County YMCA is dedicated to identifying the needs of our community and helping to be a part of the solution,” said Jeff Townsend, YMCA executive director. “In 2017 we supported over 650 children, adults, families and seniors with YMCA scholarship assistance.

"So far in 2018, we are on target to help over 700 individuals and families in our community.”

As a leading nonprofit for strengthening community, gifts made to the annual Strong Communities Campaign help the Y advance programming and services that support youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. More importantly, 100 percent of gifts made will make a direct impact on the residents in our communities.

To find out more about how you can help volunteer for the Annual Campaign at the Y or to make a donation that will have a meaningful, enduring impact right in your own community, visit www.glowymca.org or call the GLOW YMCA at 344-1664.

Reader John Michaels submitted this photo of a tree down at the Terrace Apartments.

A reader reports this bicycle was stolen from his father about 1 p.m. yesterday. It was parked in front of the laundry on Ellicott Street in Batavia.

If found, spotted or you have information to help lead to its recovery, call Batavia PD at (585) 345-6350.

A dog is locked in a car with the windows up in the Walmart parking lot in Batavia. It is described as a red Honda Pilot, which is an SUV, parked in row 10. An animal control officer is responding.

City Council President Eugene Jankowski, right, congratulations former firefighter Jeff Stevens on his retirement after 20 years of service to the City of Batavia during Monday's City Council meeting.

Below, Councilwoman Kathy Briggs reads a proclamation from the Council recognizing Stevens for his service.

A transformer blew up -- or had some kind of meltdown -- on Center Street, resulting in a power outage. National Grid is notified and asked to respond in emergency mode; no ETA. The transformer was leaking oil or fluid, which reportedly got on a vehicle parked near it.

The vehicle was moved to a parking lot. Center Street was closed at East Main and School Street. City fire and police responded. The city fire assignment is back in service. Not sure if the roadway is reopened.

Press release:

Genesee County Office for the Aging will be distributing Farmers’ Market Coupons to income-eligible seniors, 60 years of age and older.

The coupon booklets will be available at 2 Bank St., Batavia, on the following dates/times:

• 10 a.m. -- 12 p.m. on Tuesday, July 10
• 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. on Thursday, July 12 
• 1 -- 4 p.m. on Monday, July 23
• 10 a.m. -- 12 p.m. on Wednesday, July 25

**Before these dates, if you live in senior housing, a flier will be posted about when the Office for the Aging will be at your location.

Anyone 60 or older in your household can have a coupon booklet; you must still be income eligible and the booklet must be given to each person individually.

Coupons will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis, until they are gone.

If you have any questions call please call 343-1611.

• You must be age 60 or older. Please bring ID.
• If you reside in public/subsidized housing, you qualify regardless of income, but please bring proof of address.

***  2018 Income Guidelines  ***

Household of 1 = $ 1,872/mo.

Household of 2 = $ 2,538/mo.

Household of 3 = $3,204/mo.

Erik Saluste is looking for some help from the city in keeping people off his property at 5 Walnut St., Batavia.

He said trespassers are a huge and consistent problem. 

His property backs up to the Tonawanda Creek and he doesn't want people on his land when they want to sightsee, fish, or kayak on the creek.

"People think that all the houses on Walnut Street, Route 98, that back against the creek allow public access," told the City Council last night during public comments. "There is no public access. My property line extends to where the creek ends. I’ve posted no trespassing signs on my property."

He said he's had to call police about trespassers four times already this year.

He said he brought the issue to the City Council four years ago and nothing happened. He said he applied for a building permit to install a fence on his property line and it was denied.

He took that as the city asserting easement rights but he said the city has no easement rights. The state has easement rights 50 feet in from the creek and that he was told he could build structures within the easement, but if the state needed the structures removed for flood control measures he would have to remove the structures.

Interim City Manager Matt Worth said he will need to research it but he believes the state might be concerned about a fence catching tree limbs and other debris that could contribute to a flooding issue.

Saluste thinks a fence from the footbridge to 1 Walnut might help alleviate the problem and said he would be willing to help pay for it. He said the problem is a huge privacy and liability issue for him.

"You do have to realize that until I have satisfaction in this area I’m going to continue to call Batavia Police Department every time I have somebody (trespassing)," Saluste said. "I’m not going to confront them anymore because they’ve almost become physical on certain occasions and I don’t want that to happen."

The council instructed Worth to look into the issue further.

UPDATE: Felipe Oltramari, county planning director, brought this to our attention:

Per DEC’s website (https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/8371.html): “If a waterway is navigable in fact, the right to public navigation authorizes a boater to get out of the boat to pull it around obstacles or to get around obstacles by portaging over private property, so long as the portage is by the most direct and least intrusive safe route possible.”

This property is right at the dam so a kayaker or canoer could come ashore legally on Mr. Saluste’s land for the purposes of getting around the dam while navigating the creek.  

PHOTO: Screen grab from county's GIS map, shows, from the top, 1 Walnut, 3 Walnut, and 5 Walnut.

A grass fire is reported at DeWitt Recreation Area on the north side of the pond.

Access would be behind WNY Concrete.

City fire responding.

UPDATE 1:04 p.m.: A dispatcher got WNY Concrete on the phone and confirmed it is behind their building but they don't know if the fire department can get to the location from behind their building.

UPDATE 1:06 p.m.: City crew on scene at WNY Concrete confirms there's no good access from that location.

UPDATE 1:07 p.m.: Best entrance, a crew member reports, probably behind Upson Maybach.

UPDATE 1:16 p.m.: There are several small fires. Firefighters are extinguishing with water cans now.

UPDATE (By Billie) 1:43 p.m.: They ended up using a tanker to put out the fire. The assignment is back in service. Parks personnel on at the scene.

The chaos, confusion and emotions of a mass causality situation had a serious impact on students who went through the simulation at M&S Tactical last night, said owner Jeff McIntire.

Participants in the simulation first sat through a class, "Active Assailant Awareness for the Concealed Carrier," before confronting a realistic scenario dealing with several shooting victims.

The goal was to give those with concealed carry licenses practical tips and the psychological experience on what to do both to deal with the threat of an active shooter and how to assist victims.

The class focused on the Observe, Orient, Decide, Act (OODA) loop. They also received instruction what to do once law enforcement arrives on scene.

After dinner, a New York State Certified Tactical Paramedic taught field expedient first aid using supplies in which they would have readily available to them, as not every average citizen carries with them a tourniquet, an occlusive dressing, or hemostatic gauze.

"One by one, class participants entered the company's Active Home Invasion System and were confronted with the aftermath of a mass casualty shooting," McIntire said. "Chaos ensued and they were tasked with finding and triaging patients to either attempt to save or give some sort of potential life-saving intervention to using the skills they were just taught."

In the training room, participants found about a dozen role players covered in blood. Some of the role players were injured while others were just covered in blood. M&S Tactical staff assigned each role player a specific character to portray. Some acted as severely wounded people with injuries to the femoral artery, sucking chest wounds, gunshot wounds to the head, and other injuries. Children ran around hysterically screaming for their mother, and requesting each student to help them.

"This class was able to reach into the souls of each participant," McIntire said. "The environment created was all too near reality."

Photos and information submitted by Jeff McIntire.

Joshua David Sumeriski, 33, of Buffalo Street, Alexander, is charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, uninspected motor vehicle, driver's view obstructed, and disorderly conduct. Sumeriski was charged after Deputy Mathew Clor responded at 3:21 a.m. Thursday to Transit Road, Bethany, to investigate a complaint of a man lying in the roadway.

Carrie A. Poray, 40, of Oatka Trail, Le Roy, was arrested on a warrant for alleged failure to appear. Poray was located by the Monroe County Sheriff's Office and taken into custody for failure to appear on two traffic tickets in City Court. Poray was ordered to pay a fine before her next court appearance and released.

Jordan S. Thomas, 19, of East Avenue, Batavia, was arrested on a warrant. Thomas is accused of failing to comply with conditions of supervised release. Thomas was arraigned and jailed.

Joseph D. Berry, 32, of Bank Street, Batavia, is charged with menacing, 2nd, and harassment, 2nd. Berry allegedly held a large rock and threatened to inflict bodily harm to a store clerk at 7-Eleven in Batavia at 8:15 p.m. on June 6. He was jailed on $2,500 bail.

Maya Samanta Wright, 23, of East Ridge Road, Rochester, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Wright allegedly struck a patron of a business on Park Road, Batavia.

Chelsea Lorraine McEwen, 19, of Fleetwood Drive, Brockport, is charged with harassment, 2nd. McEwen is accused of punching another person in the face during an argument reported at 8:53 p.m. Sunday at a location on Bloomingdale Road, Tonawanda Indian Reservation.

Laura Jean Santiago, 55, of Hundredmark Road, Elba, is charged with DWI and driving with a BAC of .08 or greater. Santiago was stopped at 8:56 p.m. Friday on Main Street Road, Batavia, by Deputy Mathew Clor.

William George Horner, 67, of Bank Street Road, Batavia, is charged with criminal obstruction of breathing and harassment, 2nd. Horner is accused of grabbing another person by the throat and applying pressure and pushing that person during an incident reported at 10 p.m. Friday on Bank Street Road, Batavia.

Todd A. Rich, 47, of Webster, and Justin T. Rich, 24, of Webster, are charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. The two men were stopped by State Police at 1:15 a.m. this morning on Route 19 in Le Roy.

Press release:

Members of the Batavia City Firefighters from IAFF Local 896 will fan out across the streets of Downtown Batavia with boots in hand on Friday.

This year's Fill the Boot drive for MDA is June 15th and it's organized by firefighter Chris Morasco.

“In 2017, we set out to break the $10,000 mark," he said. "Our members, with the help of our generous community were successful and able to raise $10,651 for the MDA! Look for us Friday!”

From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., city firefighters will be at the intersection of Main Street (Route 5) and Court Street AND at Ellicott Street (Route 63) and Court Street.

Photo: File Photo

Veterans residing at the Batavia VA Medical Center were honored today as part of a Flag Day ceremony that included the reading of three essays about the flag by students of Batavia Middle School.

The winning essay was written by Harrison Southall (second photo):

What the American Flag means to me? Well, it stands for hope in my eyes. In America's history, when battles were fought there would be a flag bearer who would hold our flag with his life. If he got shot, he still held it. If he got killed, someone else would just drop their gun and pick up the flag because they knew they were fighting for our country. The flag shows that America never gives up and shows brave soldiers that hope is never lost even in the worst times, and that is what makes the flag special.

Organizing the event was spearheaded by Frank Panepento and ended with a medley of patriotic songs from a brass band.

Assistant Principal Maureen Notario with a binder full of all the essays submitted by students of Batavia Middle School. The book was presented to World War II veteran Leo Pelton, who is 99 years old (below).