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Opening night of "Sally Cotter and the Censored Stone" SOLD OUT its first performance at Batavia High School last evening. Students from the Drama Club performed their 16th annual show and had the crowd laughing and on their toes throughout the performance.

Director Caryn Leigh Wood has worked with many students but this was challenging, especially toward the finale. Sorrow was still resonating for the cast, who lost a former BHS student, Tori Nigro, in a sudden accident last week. 

The Drama Club ended the performance with a tribute honoring the memory of Tori.

There are two remaining shows, tonight at 7:30 and a matinee tomorrow at 2 o'clock. Tickets are $8, and $6 for students and seniors.

For more photos go to: http://steveognibenephotography.zenfolio.com/p419033762

Downtown Batavia will be filled with holiday cheer and family fun tonight as local merchants host Christmas in the City.

Main Street, from Ellicott Street to Liberty Street, will be closed to vehicle traffic starting at 7 p.m. in preparation for the Christmas in the City parade at 8:15 p.m.

The festivities start at 5 p.m. and include horse and buggy rides, music, crafts, food, and other family-oriented activities.

Stop by the WBTA studios at Main and Center for a Christmas Party co-hosted by WBTA and The Batavian. Bring your smartphone or tablet, show the staff of The Batavian our mobile app installed on your device and you can enter a drawing for a $100 prize (no purchase necessary). We’re serving chili and grilled cheese catered by Dibble Family Center. 

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A third-generation carwash operator is breathing new life into a car wash on West Main Street Road, Batavia, that has sat empty and unused for years.

Bobby Marchenese, whose family has long operated a car wash in Canandaigua, said he and his crew are replacing all of the equipment in the car wash with the latest high-tech car-washing machines.

This is the fifth location for Marchenese. Besides Canandaigua, he has locations in Tonawanda and Geneva and will soon open a location in Auburn.

"We had our eye on the market for a while," Marchenese said. "We tried to contact the previous owner several times, no response, then we noticed the for sale sign one day so we called and we were able to put a deal together."

The location operates under the brand name Auto Wash and Marchenese believes he and his team will have the facility ready for its first wash within three weeks.

The car wash will be fully automated. When vehicles pull in, a computer will profile the vehicle's height so the wash area can be adjusted. This eliminates the need to hand-prep the car for the wash. The machines themselves are variable speed with soft starts. All of the lighting is LED.

"We will have the most energy-efficient car wash out there," Marchenese said. 

The end of the wash is fully automated, too.

"With the advanced technology we’ll be using we won’t actually towel dry cars,"  Marchenese said. "We have an automated drying system at the end of the car wash after the blowers, so that will dry the vehicle as it goes through."

Photo: Greg Farkas, Ryan Schmeer, Bobby Marchenese, and Zach Letta. Letta will manage the Batavia location.

The Richmond Memorial Library hosted a Local Author Book Fair on Thursday evening with about two dozen local authors participating.

The evening included a panel discussion about writing and publishing featuring Steven Huff, JoNelle Toriseva and Bill Kauffman.

The library also hosts a monthly Writer's Group, which meets the second Wednesday of each month, 6:30 p.m.

Sean A. Semprie Jr., 25, no permanent address, is charged with two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance, 3rd, and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, 3rd.

Semprie allegedly sold crack cocaine to an agent of the Local Drug Task Force.

He was charged under a Grand Jury indictment and extradited back to Genesee County from Augusta, Maine, where was being held on unrelated charges. 

He was jailed on $10,000 bail.

A number of asylum seekers being held by federal authorities in Batavia must be granted bail hearings and the chance to be released on parole while their asylum petitions are pending, a Western New York District Court has ruled.

In a legal proceeding brought by the attorneys for two asylum seekers who were held for a time at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia, the plaintiffs argued that the facility was violating a directive from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to review parole applications.

The attorneys also said their clients were being denied their legal right to a bail hearing within six months of detention.

Both procedures, the plaintiffs contend, changed in January, after President Donald Trump took office.

United States District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford wrote the court's opinion that stated even though the ICE directive was an internal department document, it addressed specifically the rights of individuals and so, therefore, the detention facility was obligated to abide by the directive.

She also wrote that the asylum seekers retained their Constitutional rights, in accordance with prior court rulings, to a bail review hearing within six months.

Federal authorities argued that the asylum seekers should be considered as if they had been stopped at the border, and therefore not subject to Constitutional guarantees of due process, even though they were being held in Batavia, more than 3,000 miles from where they originally allowed into the country as asylum seekers.

Wolford noted "this decision does nothing to erode the Attorney General's discretionary authority to grant or deny parole. However, if Respondents follow the ICE Directive, individuals who are not likely to be a flight risk or a danger to the community will have been released on parole before six months has passed. Where an individual is detained for six months, Respondents should, under the ICE Directive, have a good reason for the continued detention and should, therefore, be able to readily meet the clear and convincing evidence of the standard of proof with respect to the denial of bond."

The primary plaintiffs in the case were Hanad Abdi and Johan Barrios Ramos. 

Abdi is a 26-year-old native of Somalia. He and his family were members of a minority tribe. Members of a rival tribe killed his father and captured Abdi and beat him. He managed to escape and fled his home country in June 2016. He arrived at the U.S. southern border Oct. 12, 2016, seeking asylum. Officials who interviewed him found there were credible reasons to believe he would be at risk if returned to Somalia so he was transferred to Batavia. Once in Batavia, his repeated requests for parole were denied. He was only released in August after he commenced litigation.

Ramos is a 40-year-old citizen of Cuba where he was involved with political opposition to the current regime. He was imprisoned for 11 months for his political activities. He fled Cuba in December 2016 and arrived in Mexico by raft. He traveled to the U.S. border and requested asylum on Jan. 14, 2017. He passed what is called a "credible fear" review, a finding that granted him preliminary asylum seeker status. Once transferred to Batavia, his repeated requests for parole were denied until litigation began. He was released Sept. 14.

The legal claim by the plaintiffs also sought class-action status so that any ruling might also apply to other asylum seekers being held in Batavia without being granted bail and parole hearings. Court documents list at least 20 such individuals.

The Attorney General's Office argued that with their release, Adbi and Ramos no longer had standing to pursue their legal claims nor to act as stand-ins for the class of asylum seekers being denied a chance at release.

Wolford disagreed, noting that the Attorney General's office could withdraw parole from Adbi and Ramos at any time. In fact, Adbi's parole already has been revoked. ICE, however, has no intention "at this time" of taking Adbi into custody.

The phrase "at this time," Wolford noted, is further evidence of the arbitrary nature of the government's handling of these cases, as is the fact that Thomas Brophy, acting director of the Buffalo ICE Field Office, did not articulate a reason for revoking Adbi's parole. Wolford also wrote that the ability of the AG's office to release individuals who bring suit shouldn't be a tactic for avoiding a class action ruling dealing with all the asylum seekers' cases.

When was the last time you were at GO ART!? Well the Genesee Orleans Regional Art Council has been very busy over the last year. You may have noticed the Picnic In the Park on July 4^th was a little larger and had more activities. 

GO ART! has been busy behind the scenes, too. At Seymour Place, where GO ART! is located in Batavia (201 E. Main St.), they have increased the galleries from one to four, tripling the amount of art on display at any given time. Currently all four galleries are filled. 

For Christmas in the City, and throughout the month of December, GO ART! has assembled more than 150 pieces of classic and contemporary art, including sculpture and jewelry that are offered for sale.

“GO ART! has been very lucky to have had many great works donated to us through the years," Director Gregory Hallock said. “So much so that we don't have room to store it all and for the first time we are offering those without stipulations and owned by GO ART! up for sale to the public."

They have not just been busy with art. GO ART! has reworked the kitchen, complete with four new Viking ranges, for culinary classes. The ovens received a bit of a workout yesterday as they made cookies for Christmas in the City.

Starting at 5 p.m. on Friday GO ART! will be hosting a Slavic Christmas complete with Santa Claus and an accordion band; sandwiches from Red Osier Landmark Restaurant will also be sold at Seymour Place for the event.  

The New York-Penn League has blocked a proposal for the Rochester Red Wings to return to Batavia in 2018 as the operators of the Batavia Muckdogs.

This past season was the end of a 10-year agreement and sources say the league said it would not approve an extension.

What that means for the future of the Batavia Muckdogs is unclear. The 2018 NYPL schedule has already been released and it includes the Muckdogs.

Brian Paris, president of the Genesee County Baseball Club, the community group that owns the team, wasn't immediately available for comment.

Naomi Silver, president, and CEO of the Red Wings confirmed this morning that the Red Wings would not operate the team in 2018. She said he had no idea what the league or the owners planned for 2018.

"We offered to stay but the league could have prevented us from operating the team 10 years ago and they allowed us to operate it for 10 years, so I can't really fault them," Silver said. 

The agreement between the Red Wings and Genesee County Baseball includes a provision that if the team is sold, the Red Wings would receive 5 percent of the proceeds for each year the organization ran the team. That agreement, Silver said, survives this decision by the league.

Silver said it was a pleasure for the Red Wings to operate the team this past decade.

"I hope things work out," Silver said. "It's a wonderful community. It's just not as well-populated a community that it has to be, to be able to support a team and so you can't fault the community."

UPDATE 10:32 a.m.: The office of the New York-Penn League is in St. Petersburg, Fla. A call to the league's phone number this morning went to voice mail for league president Ben Hayes. No messages can be left because the mailbox is full.

UPDATE 10:50 a.m.: Brian Paris said it's unclear who will operate the team in 2018, perhaps the league, but there is nothing settled. 

"We're currently working with the league to determine the outcome for the Muckdogs," Paris said. "The hope is that we'll be playing and we will have a season in 2018."

He said he has a good working relationship with the league and Ben Hayes.

"We're working with the league and we're excited about hopefully making an announcement in the near future as to the outcome," Paris said.

Asked if the league could just shut down the team, he said he doesn't know.

"I think the league is in the business of promoting baseball and they're going to do what is best for promoting baseball in the New York-Penn League," Paris said.

UPDATE:  Don Rock, the Muckdog's groundskeeper, left the following comment below:

I would like to start out by saying THANK YOU to Naomi Silver and the Rochester Redwings organization for being there for all of us the past 10 years. I have worked as the groundskeeper for the past 16 years with my 1st year in the office, for a total of 17 years and all this is a major heartbreak to me. I AM DEVASTATED, to say the least. I hope things work out because I LOVE MY JOB very much. After hearing the news, I went and sat in the grandstands and cried. I was and still am very upset. The stadium has been my life.

We've made repeated calls to the NYPL office in St. Petersburg, Fla., and have not been able to reach anybody.

Press release:

We are happy to announce that Ascension Parish in Batavia is hosting a Christmas Bazaar to be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 17 Sumner St. in the Community Hall.

This event will feature Mrs. Claus’s Café, Visits with St. Nicholas, Used Book Sale, Basket Raffle and Placek Sale.

In addition there will be children games including snowman bowling, jingle boxes, treasure chest and many more. There will be more than 25 vendors just in time for holiday shopping including Perfectly Posh, Tastefully Simple, Chiselwood, along with handmade items for sale. Each vendor will have a door prize to give away to a lucky winner.

Admission and parking are free.

A suspected drug dealer from Batavia was stopped by a deputy today on suspicion of driving on a suspended license and at the time of the stop he was allegedly smoking marijuana with a child in the car.

Marcos A. Torres, 35, of South Main Street, now not only faces drug dealing charges but also charges of unlawful possession of marijuana, endangering the welfare of a child, and aggravated unlicensed operation, 3rd.

When Torres was stopped by Deputy Ryan DeLong, he was already wanted on a sealed grand jury indictment on two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance, 3rd, and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, 3rd.

Torres is accused of selling crack cocaine to an agent of the Local Drug Task Force on two occasions in the past four months.

Torres was jailed without bail.

Timothy O. "Cricket"  Lee, 37, of Erie Street, Le Roy, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, 3rd, criminal possession of marijuana, 4th, criminally using drug paraphernalia, 2nd, and endangering the welfare of a child. Lee was arrested as a result of a Local Drug Task Force investigation into the possession, transportation and sale of cocaine in and around the Village of Le Roy. The task force executed a search warrant on his residence and allegedly found cocaine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and cash. He was jailed on $15,000 bail, $30,000 bond.

Andrew Kevin Wright, 27, of Prune Street, Batavia, is charged with attempted assault, 3rd, six counts of endangering the welfare of a child, criminal obstruction of breathing, and obstructing governmental administration. Wright allegedly struck a female and choked a juvenile male in the presence of five other juveniles during an altercation reported at 11:03 p.m. Sunday on Prune Street, Batavia. Wright was jailed on $2,500 bail or $5,000 bond.

Michelle L. Misiak, 52, of Fisher Parkway, Batavia, was arrested on a warrant for alleged failure to appear on a petit larceny charge.

A 16-year-old resident of Oak Street is charged with endangering the welfare of a child and harassment, 2nd. The youth was arrested after Batavia PD responded at 8:10 p.m. Tuesday to a report of a large group of people fighting on Highland Park, Batavia.

Elizabeth Ann Finnin, 48, of South Swan Street, Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Finnin allegedly punched another woman in the face. Also charged, Michelle Misiak, 52, of Fisher Parkway. Misiak is accused of fighting with another woman. The incident was reported at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Katelyn C. Kubala, 28, of Meadow Lane, Attica, was arrested on a warrant for alleged failure to pay a fine.

Stephen P. Durham, 20, of Chestnut Street, Batavia, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Durham was charged following a traffic stop at 8:55 p.m. Monday on Cone Street, Batavia, by Officer Christopher Lindsay.

A group of about 30 people are reportedly fighting outside at 16 Highland Park. Unknown if weapons are involved. Dispatch has received mutliple calls about it. City police are responding. Three people are detained on Central Avenue.

UPDATE 8:29 p.m.: Backup law enforcement is requested to respond to Central Avenue in response to the public fight that occurred in the area.

UPDATE 8:31 p.m.: Three units that were called were subsequently told to disregard.

The Genesee Chorale performs "Christmas Memories" this Saturday and Monday in Batavia and Medina.

The program includes some new, some old and some old favorites with a new twist, sung by approximately 70 singers under the direction of Ric Jones and with accompaniment by Doug Hanson.

Concerts are at 7 p.m. Dec. 2 at St. James Episcopal Church, 405 E. Main St., Batavia, and at 7 p.m. Dec. 4 at First Presbyterian Church, 522 S. Main St., Medina.

Tickets are $8 presale, available from Chorale members or online at www.GeneseeChorale.com.

Photos by Howard Owens from Monday's rehearsal at St. James.