City police are responding to the parking lot across from Bourbon & Burger Co. in Downtown Batavia, where a dog is said to be locked inside a dark green truck. It's 83 degrees outside this evening.
A possible minor head injury is reported following a two-car collision in the area of 427 Ellicott St. The location is between Clifton and Harvester avenues. City police are on scene and Mercy medics are responding.
UPDATE 4:59 p.m.: Howard at the scene says this appears to be a rear-ender. The driver of the first vehicle is being taken to UMMC with a complaint of head pain. The car that apparently struck that vehicle from behind is a sign-off. Both vehicles sustained minor damage.
Batavia PD is looking for help in identifying the woman in this picture. She is suspected of stealing from West Main Wine & Spirits.
Police believe she was with a small child (she is seen carrying him in another photo) and two other females, both African-American, one dressed in all black and the other in a black top and torn, faded blue jeans and carrying a red purse.
If you have information to share, contact Officer Christopher Lindsay, Batavia PD, (585) 345-6350.
The VA Hospital in Batavia held a luncheon at the Clarion Hotel this afternoon to honor its dozens and dozens of volunteers, some whom have been giving their time to serve veterans for decades.
Emerson Campbell (center, above) has logged more than 17,500 volunteer hours. Paul Judkins, 15,000 hours and John Scott, 12,500.
Below, the Brockport Elks delivered a $1,000 donation.
Batavia City School District will host a Data Cafe on June 2, from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. in the High School’s library. At this cafe, Diane Reed, Ph.D., our Outside Educational Expert (OEE), will share information from the Data Triangle Survey, completed by our community last fall, and then will facilitate conversation regarding the information. Light refreshments also will be provided.
As a certified OEE, Reed is approved by the New York State Education Department (NYSED) for working with Focus Schools and Focus Districts as they measure their effectiveness based on six tenets which have been proven to be key factors in school effectiveness: District Leadership and Capacity; School Leader Practices and Decisions; Curriculum Development and Support; Teacher Practices and Decisions; Student Social and Emotional Developmental Health; and Family and Community Engagement.
Reed worked with our District to facilitate the Data Triangle Survey -- the three-pronged survey approved by the State which uses the six tenets as a guide in gathering input from staff, students and families. That input was used in the evaluation of District and school effectiveness and then was used in creating strategic plans for improving effectiveness. Reed continues her assistance in preparing the District for its reviews by the NYSED.
In addition to her work as a consultant at the international, national, state and local levels, Reed is the director and an associate professor in the master's degree program in Educational Leadership at St. John Fisher College. She co-authored a book titled "Resilient Leadership for Turbulent Times," and has written chapters that have been included in several others. She has also received numerous awards for her leadership in education. During her 15 years as a superintendent in New York State, her district was named in the top 1.5 percent of the school in the nation by Newsweek magazine and in the top 3 percent of school in Upstate New York by BusinessWeek.
All are encouraged to attend this informative evening.
Kirk A. Thomas Jr., is indicted on counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, 3rd, criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, first-degree escape, criminal possession of a hypodermic instrument, criminal possession of drug paraphernalia, 2nd, and public lewdness. Thomas is accused of possessing heroin with the intent to sell on March 17 in the City o Batavia. On that date, having been arrested, he allegedly escaped from custody. On that date, he allegedly possessed a hypodermic instrument. He allegedly possessed glassine envelopes with the intent to distribute drugs. He is accused of exposing himself and masturbating in public with the intent of being observed.
Ronald M. Markek is indicted on counts of felony DWI, felony driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, and is accused of having a prior DWI conviction on Oct. 11, 2011, in the Town of Pembroke. Markek is accused of driving drunk Nov. 28, 2014, on Route 63, Town of Batavia.
Cody Matthews Bedard, 21, of Lake Road, Corfu, is charged with DWI, DWI drugs, DWI with a child less than 16, endangering the welfare of a child and back seat passage age 4-6 without appropriate safety restraint. Police responded to the area of 240 Richmond Ave. at 7:27 p.m. Friday after a report of a driver "not acting right." Bedard was arrested by officers Darryle Streeter and Jamie Givens.
Michael B. Neth, 37, of Summitt Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Neth allegedly made contact with a person he was barred from contacting by court order while at a store in City Centre at 6:25 p.m., Saturday.
Lois Omar Perez Lopez, 34, of Trumbull Parkway, Batavia, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, failure to stop at stop sign and failure to signal. Perez Lopez was stopped at 2:22 a.m. Sunday on Trumbull Parkway by Deputy Chad Richards.
Joey Robert Tatro II, of Main Street, Attica, is charged with trespass and criminal mischief, 4th. Tatro was arrested on warrants related to the charges. He was jailed on $250 bail or $500 bond.
Ryan Michael Byrnes, 28, of Maple Street, Elba, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, failure to keep right and driving while using a mobile phone. Byrnes was stopped at 9:35 p.m. Monday on Main Street, Byron, by Sgt. Gregory Walker.
Press release:
On Wednesday, May 27, the Bureau of Maintenance facility will have a power shut-down that will that will disable telephone and computer communications for the day. Anyone needing to contact the Bureau of Maintenance is asked to contact the Department of Public Works Administration at telephone number (585) 345-6325.
Press release:
The Town of Batavia Republican Committee is looking for nominations for the 2015 Community Service Award that is presented annually to a person who has contributed to the betterment of the Town of Batavia. They will be looking for a person who has excelled in the community, is involved in area activities and is deserving of recognition.
Over the years the Town of Batavia has been influenced by the efforts of so many people in government, business, fire department and volunteers. We would like to thank and recognize one of them each year and we need your help.
We ask that you send your nomination by e-mail to Teressa.morasco@yahoo.com or mail it to Secretary, Kathy Jasinski, 2982 W. Main St. Road, Batavia, NY 14020 by the deadline -- Monday, June 1.
Please submit the name of your nominee briefly stating why you believe your nominee should be recognized and what they have done for the community.
The 2014 Award Winner, Mary Pat Hancock, will assist the committee in selecting the 2015 award recipient. This award will be presented at the Town of Batavia Republican Picnic at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 12thth at the Town of Batavia/Kiwanis Park.
Other past winners include Robert and Richard Call, James Woodruff, Rubie Levins, Gertrude Penepent and Sharon White.
Shane P. Buyck, 26, of North Bergen Road, Bergen, is charged with burglary, 2nd. At 6:21 p.m. Monday, deputies and troopers were dispatched to a residence on North Bergen Road after the homeowner returned home to find an intruder in his house. The intruder fled on foot, leaving a car in the driveway. The registration reportedly came back to Shane P. Buyck, a resident of North Bergen Road. Buyck was located in a wooded area near the house by Deputy Chris Erion and K-9 "Destro" while lying in thick brush. Buyck was identified as the alleged intruder. He was jailed without bail.
Tonya M. Doell, 45, of East Main Street, Batavia, is charged with open container in public. Doell was allegedly in possession of an open container at 577 East Main St., Batavia, (Family Dollar). Doell reportedly refused to identify herself to police because of her probation status.
Matthew P. Parker, 25, of Eagle Street, Medina, is charged with trespass. Parker was arrested following an investigation into reports of vehicles being broken into in the City of Batavia on Sunday Morning. He was located in the parking lot of UMMC at 4:30 a.m. and jailed without bail.
Matthew C. Payne, 33, of Chestnut Street, Batavia, is charged with illegal disposal of items. Payne is accused of illegally dumping trash into a trash container owned by the Batavia Housing Authority at 193 S. Main St., Batavia.
Susan R. Fabretti, 52, of Swamp Road, Byron, is charged with petit larceny. Fabretti is accused of shoplifting at Tops Market.
A 17-year-old, name and residence withheld by Batavia PD, is charged with harassment, 2nd. The youth is accused of striking a female several times after a verbal argument escalated.
Angela Irene, 45, of South Gravel Road, Medina, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and failure to stop at at stop sign. Irene was stopped at 1:41 a.m. Sunday on Lewiston Road, Alabama, by Deputy Joseph Corona.
Alan James White, 18, of South Lake Road, Bergen, is charged with criminal possession of a weapon, driving while ability impaired by alcohol and driving with a BAC of .08 or greater. Deputy Chad Cummings along with Mercy EMS were dispatched at 7:51 a.m. Sunday to Dublin Road, Bergen, for a report of an unresponsive male behind the wheel of a stopped car on the road. White was treated and released at the scene by medics. He was allegedly found in possession of a switchblade knife.
Sandra Lynn Fry, 43, of Sunset Park, Oakfield, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Fry allegedly violated a complete stay away order of protection.
Jason Scott Stanley, 22, of Judge Road, Alabama, is charged with DWI on an ATV, unlawful operation of an ATV on private property, unregistered ATV and driving an ATV without insurance. Stanley was arrested following an investigation into an ATV accident on Hutton Road, Oakfield, at 6 p.m. on Monday.
Mark David Heidenreich, 25, of Sumner Road, Darien, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Heidenreich allegedly violated a complete stay away order of protection by placing phone calls to the protected person.
Samantha Rose Docteur, 24, of Ellicott Street Road, Pavilion, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and facilitating aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, 2nd. Docteur was arrested following a traffic stop on South Main Street, Oakfield, at 11:55 a.m. Saturday by Deputy Michael Lute. She was allegedly in possession of marijuana, a grinder and smoking paraphernalia.
Andrew Michael Boyce, 20, of Oak Orchard Road, Elba, is charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, unlawful possession of marijuana and no seatbelt. Boyce was stopped at 4:18 p.m. Friday on Judge Road, Alabama, by Deputy Chris Parker, for allegedly driving without wearing a seatbelt.
A 17-year-old resident of Main Road, Pembroke, is charged with second-degree harassment and criminal mischief, 4th. The youth allegedly threatened another person and damaged property of that person. He was jailed on $250 bail.
Matthew Brian Starowitz, 26, of Whitney Mill Road, Batavia, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Starowitz was charged at 2:22 a.m. May 19 on Bank Street Road, by Deputy Chris Erion.
Nicholas Anthony Lord, 19, of North Division Street, Buffalo, is charged with criminal mischief. Lord allegedly damaged another person's property during a dispute.
Matthew J. Pasternak, 25, of Amherst, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Pasternak was stopped by a trooper on Route 77, Corfu, for allegedly speeding. He was allegedly found in possession of five grams of marijuana after the trooper said he detected the odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle. The search also allegedly led to the discovery of a multicolored smoking pipe with marijuana residue.
Here's a picture that came in over the weekend that we didn't get to: Members of St. Joe's Key Club placed flags on the graves of VFW members buried at St. Joseph and Grandview cemeteries.
The video is comprised of photos from the Memorial Day ceremonies at the VA, Upton Monument and the War Memorial at St. Jerome's. Audio provided by WBTA, our news partner.
More photos in the slide show. To purchase prints, click here.
Police have been dispatched to Jackson School to investigate a report of a child in diapers with no adult to be seen in the area.
UPDATE 12:45 p.m.: The child was scooped up by a family member before a patrol arrived. Case closed.
Press release:
The Conservative Party of Genesee County has made the following endorsements:
Paul Viele (Republican) -- 1st Ward
Lisa Whitehead (Libertarian) -- 2nd Ward
Richard Richmond (Republican) -- 3rd Ward
Al McGinnis (Conservative) -- 4th Ward
Kathy Briggs (Democrat) -- 5th Ward
Paul Viele and Richard Richmond will running Republican primaries elections against the incumbents.
We had no request from the 6th Ward.
A city resident turned to the Fire Department this morning for help rescuing a cat whose curiosity, or insatiable appetite, got the better of him and perhaps cost him one of his nine lives. The cat stuck his head in a can and couldn't get unstuck. Engine 15 responded at 7:58 a.m. and firefighters used handheld cutting tools to peel the can open and extricate the feline.
The cat is fine.
Photos and information submitted by Lt. Bob Fix, Batavia FD.
It's an adrenaline rush to see one of his border collies racing through four jumps, grabbing a tennis ball and streaking back to him, said Hamburg resident Peter Russell, who was in Batavia on Saturday to compete in a biannual flyball competition at the Fairgrounds.
Flyball is a dog-racing sport. Teams are comprised of four dogs and four handlers. Each dog runs down a track, jumping over four hurdles, hitting a platform at the end of the track, which releases a tennis ball, and then the dog runs back through the hurdles with the ball. The race is a relay, so once the first dog returns, the next dog runs the next leg.
The sport was created in California in the late 1960s and has grown to international proportions.
Russell is a member of the Buffalo Wings Flyball Team, which has won national championships.
More than 15 teams competed yesterday, with dogs and owners traveling to Batavia from throughout the Northeastern United States and Canada.
The exhibition hall at the fairgrounds on Saturday was a cacophony of yelps and yaps and a whir of flashing fur.
"I think people enjoy the sport because of how quick it is," Russell said. "Races come down to hundredths of a second."
It's also a social sport, said Cindy Henderson, a resident of Massachusetts and regional director for the North American Flyball Association.
"You're with four different people," Henderson said. "That's what's fun about it. You're working with a whole team of people. It's not like other sports where you're just one handler working with a dog. You're a team."
Each member of the team has a specific role. The lead dog needs to have stamina since false starts can mean multiple trips down the track before there's a legal start. There are the middle leg dogs who need to be fast and agile, and then there's the anchor dog, who ideally loves to race and has the competitive drive to overtake another dog if the team has fallen behind. There also needs to be a height dog. The height dog is the smallest dog on the team. The shorter the dog, the lower the hurdles for the team.
Russell and his wife own 13 border collies. Four of them are retired and nine of them race. They're also breeders.
Border collies are particularly well suited to the sport, Russell said.
"It gives them a job to do," he said. "Border collies are bred to herd sheep, so they need a job to do. Their job is to go get the ball and come back to you and tug on their toy. In essence, that's their job for the day. It gives them some mind stimulation, because it's a difficult sport to learn and master and it gives them the physical stimulation because they're running over four jumps, hitting a box, coming back, tugging on the tug when they get back to you."
Alissa Schwab, of Amherst, owns a Jack Russell terrier, the height dog for the Buffalo Wings.
"I got started because obedience training wasn't enough for Jack Russell terriers," Schwab said. "The Buffalo wings needed a fast height dog and they came to training and spotted him and he was hired."
She's been racing for seven years now and now owns three Jack Russells.
"It's great for my dogs," she said. "They look forward to it. The community of people from our region is just fantastic and the racing is good."
The owners enjoy the race. The dogs enjoy pleasing their masters and getting a treat at the end of the run, usually a tug on a rope, but maybe something a little more tasty.
"They like to be rewarded for doing things they love," Schwab said. "You're part of the reward. They want to come back to you."
Dozens and dozens of families passed through the St. Joseph Cemetery today to place flowers on the graves of loved ones who served in the military. Above, Adam Figlow adjusts a flag on the veterans marker for the grave of his grandfather Anthony LaFarnara, who served in the Army during World War II, while his son Noah looks on. Below, Adam with is father, Tony.
Laurie Napoleone speaks during the Awareness Ceremony on the second day of the Michael Napoleone Memorial Foundation Baseball Tournment. The tournament has grown to a three-day event spread out over every available baseball field in Batavia.
The foundation has provided more than $170,000 in assistance to families with children dealing with medical issues. The foundation has also purchased a new scoreboard for the ball field at Williams Park, has donated more than $48,000 to pediatric cancer research and has pledged $50,000 to the Golisano Children's Hospital.
Michael Napoleone succumbed to Burkitts Lymphoma/Leukemia, an aggressive form of blood cancer, in 2006. Mark and Laurie Napoleone formed the foundation in response to the outpouring of support their family received from the community after Michael was diagnosed.
Genesee Pride AAU boys and girls basketball donated $350 players raised for the foundation.
The family of Kenny Hazlett. Hazlett was a longtime umpire and dedicated volunteer for the tournment who passed away. A sign on the backstop of the Little League field honoring his memory was unveiled during the ceremony.
David Pero speaking about Hazlett.
Unveiling the sign.
Chase Bordonaro received a Spirit of Michael Napoleone Award, along with Tony Piazza and Griffin Dellapenna (pictured below).
Veterans in attendance were invited to stand along the first base line during the playing of the National Anthem
Mary Valle and Paula Miller were at the Oak Street roundabout this morning planting flowers. The project is sponsored by Vibrant Batavia.
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