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Press Release:

The Holland Land Office Museum welcomes all on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. for our next Trivia Night at the Museum. In honor of President's Day, come and test your knowledge of the Presidents of the United States. Admission is $5 or $3 for museum members.

The Holland Land Office Museum is proud to announce the new exhibit opening “Reimagining History”. It will showcase a redesign of exhibits and exhibit spaces on the bottom level of the original structure of the Holland Land Office. Our permanent exhibit, “The Land Office,” will be presented with a new flow of story and presentation of artifacts. 

Also, the opening will showcase the newly revamped and enlarged exhibit, “98 Years Since the Sun Went Out.” In its new location in the old room where The Land Office” used to reside, it will triple in size and truly show what Genesee County looked like back in 1925 when the last total solar eclipse occurred over this area. There will be more history integrated into the exhibit along with many new objects! 

On Feb. 9 at 6 p.m. the museum welcomes all to view the new edition of “98 Years Since the Sun Went Out” and of “The Land Office.” You won’t want to miss it! 

Leonard Oakes Winery will be providing a wine tasting during the event. If you would like to attend, please contact the museum at 585-343-4727 or hollandlandoffice@gmail.com.

The Holland Land Office Museum is proud to welcome as the first presenter of our 2024 Guest Speaker Series Rick Falkowski on Thursday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. Mr. Falkowski is an author and lecturer who has given presentations on several aspects of WNY life and history, will be presenting on his newest book, "The Spirit of Buffalo Women: Prominent Women Who Called WNY their Home." The book highlights the many accomplishments of local women throughout history and their lasting impact on our area. Admission is $5 or $3 for museum members. This project is made possible with funds from the statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by GO Art!

Join us at the Holland Land Office Museum for the next edition of our Java with Joe E. morning coffee series on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 9 a.m. This month in honor of President's Day our Director Ryan Duffy will share the many times that a sitting, future, or former President of the United States has visited Batavia and Genesee County, it is more times than you think. Admission is free with pastries and coffee. Reservations are required, please contact the museum at 585-343-4727 or hollandlandoffice@gmail.com to reserve your spot. We want to thank Pub Coffee Hub for sponsoring Java with Joe E. for 2024.

The Holland Land Office Museum is proud to announce the next edition of our Guest Speaker Series on Friday, February 23rd at 7 pm. We are happy to welcome Reverend Jeremai Williams of the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Batavia. Reverend Williams will be presenting on the history and importance of the African American church, along with church member Ethal Miles, and his wife Dr. Cassandra Williams. Ethal will be speaking on the beginnings of the church and how things have changed, and Dr. Williams will be speaking on important African Americans in medicine and her own perspective. Admission is $5 or $3 for museum members. Please contact the museum at 585-343-4727 or hollandlandoffice@gmail.com if you would like to attend. This project is made possible with funds from the statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by GO ART!

Kaila S. Smith, 27, of Batavia, is charged with filing a false written statement and falsely reporting an incident. Smith is accused of falsely reporting a sexual assault on Jan. 5. She was arrested on Jan. 13 and issued an appearance ticket.

Michael A. Sweet, 37, of Batavia, is charged with grand larceny 4th. Sweet is accused of taking payment to complete renovations on a residence in Batavia and then never completing the work. He was issued an appearance ticket.

Maverick X. Cook, 18, and Patrick J. Peters, 18, both of Batavia, are charged with open burning. Cook and Peters are accused of starting several fires on sidewalks and parking lots in the area of Ellicott Street and Liberty Street, Batavia, in December. Both were issued appearance tickets.

Darrell Laverne McFadden, 53, of Clinton Street Road, Batavia, is charged with assault 2nd. McFadden is accused of causing serious physical injury during a fight at 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 19, at a location on Clinton Street Road. He was jailed pending arraignment.

Jessica B. Eschenlauer, 34, of Batavia, is charged with burglary 2nd, criminal contempt 2nd, and aggravated family offense. Eschenlauer is accused of being inside a residence in violation of an order of protection. She was arraigned and released.

Roger M. Hofmeier, 22, of Batavia, is charged with criminal possession of a weapon 3rd. In July 2022, Hofmeir was allegedly found in illegal possession of a firearm. He was arrested on Jan. 11, arraigned in City Court, and released under supervision.

Nikkia M. Blackshear, 26, of Batavia, is charged with trespassing. Blackshear is accused of refusing to leave 7-Eleven on Jan. 20. She was issued an appearance ticket.

Adrienne S. Bechtold, 28, of Batavia, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance 7th and criminal use of drug paraphernalia 2nd. Bechtold was charged following a traffic stop on Jan. 18 on Ross Street, Batavia. She was allegedly found in possession of narcotics and a scale. She was issued an appearance ticket.

Vincent J. Disalvo, 48, of Webster, is charged with harassment 2nd and trespassing. Disalvo is accused of kicking another person during a fight in the 7-Eleven Parking lot. He then allegedly entered the store after being told he wasn't allowed in the store. He was issued an appearance ticket.

Anthony A. Bomasuto, 29, of Batavia, is charged with criminal obstruction of breathing. Bomasuto is accused of being involved in an incident on Jan. 15 on Ellicott Street, Batavia. He was arraigned and released.

Trace G. Brewer, 23, of Batavia, was arrested on a warrant. Brewer was wanted on charges of petit larceny and conspiracy 6h.  She was allegedly involved in a theft with another person of merchandise from 7-Eleven. She was arraigned and released.

Lorrie Beth Fischer, 45, of Park Road, Batavia, is charged with misapplication of property. Fischer is accused of possessing another person's property on Dec. 29 and, rather than returning it, selling it. She was arrested by Deputy Mason Schultz on Jan. 22. She was issued an appearance ticket.

Nicole K. Dell, 38, of Silver Springs, was arrested on a warrant on Jan. 25. Dell was initially arrested on May 23, 2022, and charged with DWI. The warrant was issued after she allegedly failed to appear in court. Dell was arraigned and released. 

Jacob J. Frayne, 26, of Darien, is charged with aggravated DWI and aggravated unlicensed operation. Frayne was charged following a traffic stop on Jan. 26 on Pearl Street, Batavia. He was issued an appearance ticket.

Takari G. Lang-Smith, 22, of Batavia, is charged with DWI. Lang-Smith was stopped on Jan. 28 at an undisclosed location by Batavia PD. He was issued tickets and released.

Richard M. Fuhry, 42, of Brockport, is charged with DWI. On Jan. 20, Batavia patrol offices were dispatched to North Park and Ross Street for a report of a fight in the street. Fuhry was accused of being involved in the fight and then located driving on Seneca Avenue. He was issued several tickets.

Brian J. Hawkins, 44, of Olean, was arrested on Jan. 22 on two warrants issued by City Court. The first was a bench warrant related to an incident in 2019 where he allegedly provided alcohol to a person under the age of 21. The second warrant was an arrest warrant for Bail Jumping 3rd. Hawkins was arraigned and released.

Tanika N. Avant, 22, of Batavia, was arrested on Jan. 22 on a warrant issued by City Court. The warrant stemmed from an incident in April of 2023 where she was charged with two counts of harassment 2nd and one count of endangering the welfare of a child after a disturbance call on Bank Street. Avant was arraigned in City Court and remanded to the Genesee County Jail. 

Johnny Burton Koonce, Jr., 33, of Federal Drive, Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt 1st, aggravated unlicensed operation 3rd, and failure to stop at a stop sign.  Koonce was stopped at 1:53 a.m. Jan. 20 by Sgt. Mathew Clor.  The passenger in the vehicle was somebody Koonce was allegedly supposed to not contact by court order. He was held pending arraignment.

Shanaya Nichole Brooks, 22, of Route 438, Gowanda, is charged with criminal mischief 3rd. Brooks is accused of striking the side of a house on Jan. 19 on East Road, Batavia, causing damage. She is also accused of trying to force her way into the house, causing damage. She was held pending arraignment.

Samantha Rae Balduf, 31, of Grant Street, Depew, is charged with petit larceny.  Balduf is accused of switching the price tag on a piece of merchandise at a retail store on Veterans Memorial Drive (the name and location of the store was withheld by the Sheriff's Office) at 1:03 p.m. on Jan. 19. She was issued an appearance ticket.

Isaac Floyd, Jr., 59, of State Street, Batavia, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, and illegal signal. Floyd was stopped at 12:07 a.m. on Jan. 24 on West Main Street Road, Batavia, by Deputy Jacob Kipler. Floyd was released on tickets.

Joel David Proudy, 37, of Rochester Street, Bergen, is charged with criminal contempt 1st. Proudy is accused of violating a full stay-away order of protection at 10:50 a.m. on Jan. 17 at a location on West Main Street, Batavia. He also had multiple outstanding warrants. He was held pending arraignment.

Joseph Peter Mancuso, 35, of Deerfield Drive, North Tonawanda, is charged with criminal contempt 1st. Mancuso is charged with violating a stay-away order of protection at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 20 at a location on Roberts Road, Alabama. He was arraigned and released under supervision.

Steven James Dunham, 35, of Main Street, Corfu, is charged with failure to verify address within 90 days as a Level 3 sex offender. Dunham was arrested in January and held for arraignment.

Steven Kenneth Maskell, 31, of North Byron Road, Elba, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, moving from lane unsafely, and driving while using a portable electronic device. Maskell was stopped at 11:30 p.m. on Jan. 21 on Lockport Road, Oakfield, by Deputy Morgan Ewert. He was issued an appearance ticket.

Robert Paul Gerspach, 67, no specified address, Buffalo, is charged with driving while impaired by drugs, aggravated unlicensed operation, driver's view obstructed, failure to keep right, and moving from lane unsafely.  Gerspach was observed by an off-duty deputy driving in an alleged unsafe manner at 11:22 a.m. on Jan. 24.  He was stopped and arrested by Deputy Austin Heberlein. He was released on an appearance ticket.

Guillermo Guadalupe-Vasques, 44, of Crimson Drive, Canandaigua, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, aggravated unlicensed operation, and moving from lane unsafely. Guadalupe-Vasques was stopped at 8:44 p.m. on Jan. 24 on West Main Street Road, Batavia, by Stephen Smith. He was processed at the Genesee County Jail and released.

Mckenzie Leigh Stogsdill, 32, of East Main Road, Le Roy, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, no headlights, and no tail lamps. Stogsdill was stopped at 1:44 a.m. on Jan. 27 on Park Road, Batavia, by Sgt. Mathew Clor. Stogsdill was released on appearance tickets.

Jessica R. Parker-Sharkey, 30, of South Butler Road, Savanah, is charged with criminal possession of stolen property 4th and criminal possession of a controlled substance 7th. Parker-Sharkey was arrested in Virginia Beach, Va., and extricated back to Genesee County. She was arraigned in Town of Batavia Court and released. The charges stem from allegations in April 2023 that she was in possession of a stolen car and a controlled substance. Following her release, she was turned over to Rochester PD on warrants.

Michael Curtis Smith Jr., 31, of Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Smith is accused of stealing an electric scooter from Walmart at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 24. He was processed at the Genesee County Jail and released on an appearance ticket.

Joseph Michael Petix, 66, of Shorecliff Drive, Rochester, is charged with DWI, criminal possession of a controlled substance 7th, stop sign violation, breath test refusal, and consumption of alcohol while driving. Petix was stopped at 9:53 p.m. on Jan. 28 on Clinton Street, Batavia, by Deputy Travis DeMuth.  He was allegedly found in possession of cocaine. His release status was not reported.

For anyone who has visited St. James Episcopal Church during its Lenten fish fries, you probably looked forward to those Friday evenings for dinner, some mingling with friends, and perhaps buying a fresh-baked dessert or two.

The volunteers who made it happen week after week — for 28 years — made the difficult decision to end the fish fries this year, and with mixed emotions, they also promised to put something in place at least one week during this time. 

“It’s getting harder and harder to get volunteers to commit, plus to get people to bake every week for the desserts,” church member and volunteer Barb Pierce said. “We didn’t say we’re never going to do them again. I think people will miss them.”

As promised, she and the other volunteers have come up with a replacement event. Mark your calendars, because the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper is coming. It begins at 5 p.m. Feb. 13 at the church, 405 E. Main St., Batavia, and runs until sold out. There will be a freewill offering taken at the door in lieu of a set fee for a soul-soothing meal of pancakes and sausage, real maple syrup, apple crisp, coffee, tea, and milk. There will also be a Valentine's Day-themed bake sale with goodies available for purchase, she said, including candies, fudge, brownies, and cookies.

The freewill offering and dessert sale is a fundraiser that will go toward one or more of St. James’ usual outreach efforts, including the blessing box, Crossroads House, Genesee Cancer Assistance, Genesee CASA for Children, Genesee-Orleans Ministry of Concern, GO Art!, and Habitat for Humanity, she said.

Each of those fish fries involved 10 volunteer kitchen helpers, plus many others to help out in the dining room, for a total of some 30 people on hand for each weekly event throughout Lent, Pierce said. They’re estimating a need for at least five in the kitchen, plus more for serving and other duties, during the pancake supper, but it's a little easier to plan for a one-time dinner than ongoing weekly fish fries, she said.

This will be a sit-down meal, with real plates and silverware and dinner service, plus the extra desserts for purchase. 

What is Shrove Tuesday, and why pancakes? According to historic-uk.com, Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Lent -- the 40 days leading up to Easter -- was traditionally a time of fasting, and on Shrove Tuesday, Anglo-Saxon Christians went to confession and were “shriven” (absolved from their sins). A bell would be rung to call people to confession. This came to be called the “Pancake Bell” and is still rung today.

Shrove Tuesday always falls 47 days before Easter Sunday, so the date varies from year to year and falls between February 3 and March 9. (Editor’s Note: a quick check for this year, Leap Year and all, proves this to be true, as 47 days from Feb. 13 falls right on Easter Sunday, March 31.)

Tuesday was the last opportunity to use up eggs and fats before embarking on the Lenten fast, and pancakes were considered the perfect way to use up these ingredients, hence — Shrove Tuesday was born. 

“It’s kind of like a Mardi Gras, but on a smaller scale,” Pierce said, with a focus on assorted foods and treats as a one-time event. 

No need to reserve your spot for the supper, she said, however, you might want to plan to come sooner than later once the 5 p.m. hour strikes, as supper is over once the pancakes are gone. 

For Ash Wednesday, on Feb. 14, there will be “ashes to go” in the east parking lot from 8 to 9 a.m., and liturgy and holy communion will be at 5 p.m. at the church.

Batavia's Goodwill store at 4152 West Main St. celebrated its expansion Friday morning with a ribbon cutting hosted by the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce.

The expansion doubled the thrift store's retail space and added a covered drive-up donation center.

Goodwill has operated at its current location since May 2013 and has been expanded from 9,285 to 21,506 square feet and now has 18 full- and part-time employees.

Goodwill officials say the location is now one of the agency's largest in Western New York.  It features an open layout allowing it to expand space for donated men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing. The store also features a broad array of previously owned housewares, decorative items, small appliances, electronics, and furniture.  

“With individuals and families looking for ways to cut their clothing and household budgets, we are proud to be able to expand our offerings in Batavia,” said Thomas Ulbrich, Goodwill of Western New York president and CEO, in a statement. “We serve a very wide range of customers from all across Genesee County, and we are proud to be a resource for families in such a great community.”

The drive-up donation center is on the side of the building facing Main Street and offers donors a quick and convenient -- and covered -- way to donate gently used, unwanted items to the store to support workforce development programs across the region.

The story is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

As far as Brandon Armstrong knows, his is the only black-owned barbershop, in Genesee County.

In honor of Black History Month, Armstrong held an open house on Thursday morning, with coffee and donuts, to both celebrate the month and to officially unveil his new logo and new business model for Royals Barber Shop at 317 Ellicott St., Batavia.

When Armstrong opened his first barbershop at Ellicott and Liberty (now Eden Cafe) in 2011, it was likely the first new barbershop in Batavia in a number of years, after a long period in which stylists were in vogue and barbers were passé. In the years since, four or five new barbershops have opened locally, though a couple didn't last long.

More than a dozen years since that first venture, Armstrong is still in the barbering business, and he says he's stuck with it both because it's a lucrative business and because he enjoys it.

"I feel like it's one where you can be yourself a little bit more," Armstrong said. "It's nothing too uptight, but it's still super professional. You can still be yourself. A lot of it's not really too hard of work, I feel like, but it still can be hard work. It's an equal balance of everything."

The new logo comes with a change in the business that he hopes will serve the business better, his customers better, and his employees better.  Unlike most salons and barbershops, his barbers are members of the staff, earning an hourly rate plus commissions.  It's no longer like they own their own businesses, with all the consequences and responsibilities that go with being self-employed, but they're getting a regular paycheck.

"Now they're bankable barbers -- that's my thing, being bankable barbers," Armstrong said. "Being bankable barbers means they will be able to bring their pay stubs to the bank and get a house or get a loan for a car."

Armstrong said with employees instead of contractors, he will be able to better maintain regular hours, which will benefit customers.  Also, with booth rental, there is also a cap on how much money can flow into the business.

"From what I'm learning is that you can't really scale the business, if you aren't being able to profit the right amount and put it back into your business," Armstrong said. "This way, we're able to get some money flowing through the business and be able to get loans for the business. It means being able to scale the business."

Now that he's a proven entrepreneur with a track record of success, what advice does he have for young people in the community, particularly people of color, in light of Black History Month, who are drawn toward going into business for themselves?

"Be the best that you can be," Armstrong said. "Work the hardest. You can outwork your competition. Whatever you're involved with, you have to practice at it, and you have to become the best at what you do. Try to be the best at what you do. Practice makes perfect. Whatever it is that you're involved in, make sure you're practicing and working hard, and it'll pay off."

The Emergency Response Team was deployed on Dellinger Avenue early this morning to assist Batavia PD with the execution of a warrant, Police Chief Shawn Heubusch said.

The police department announced at 7:15 that Dellinger was closed to public access.  The street was reopened at about 7:50 a.m.

Heubusch said there were no difficulties during the operation, and there were no injuries.  He said more information will be released later today.

I spent most of my life in education -- 13 years of it in Batavia: kindergarten at Washington School, first to eighth grade at St. Mary's on Woodrow Road (for first and second grade, we were in the basement of Notre Dame High School because the elementary school was being built), and four years at Notre Dame on Union Street. 

My three-years younger brother Dan spent part of his elementary years at St. Joseph's on Summit Street and then graduated from Notre Dame.

Lastly, my 11-years younger brother Jim went to elementary at John Kennedy on Vine Street, Batavia Middle School on Ross Street and then Batavia High on State Street. 

So, between the three of us, we had a bunch of Batavia schools covered.

After high school, I went on to St. John Fisher College in Rochester for five years ( I had an illness as a junior which required an extra year). Upon graduation, I spent one year teaching sixth grade at St. Peter and Paul School in Rochester, and then after spending three years out of education, I taught fifth and sixth grades for the next 32 years at three different elementary schools in the Rochester City School District. 

If I'm doing my math correctly, that's 51 years either being taught or doing the teaching, although any good teacher will tell you that you never stop learning. There's a lot you can learn from your students, too.

Everyone reading this article spent some amount of time in school. In Batavia, if you were Catholic, depending on where you lived, you could choose between St. Mary's or St. Joseph's on the north side or St. Anthony's (heavily Italian) or Sacred Heart (heavily Polish) on the south side for elementary school. 

Today, only St. Joseph's is still operating. 

Then it was likely on to Notre Dame for high school.

If you went to public school, it was Pringle, Lincoln, East Washington, Jackson, Brooklyn, Robert Morris, or John Kennedy Elementary.

Today, Jackson and John Kennedy are still operating, and Robert Morris has reopened partially. 

Then it was on to the Middle School and Batavia High, which has been on State Street since 1961.

What did all these kids in all these schools have in common? Well, if it was between the 1950s and the early 2000s, they were using the same “technology” that I did in my student and teaching career. And the thing all of those who are still around have to realize is that almost all of those classroom tools we relied on to help us learn are gone, probably never to return. My intent in this article is to take a nostalgic look at the classroom equipment of days gone by.

Seemingly forever, the blackboard, or chalkboard as it was also known, was a main point of use in every classroom. I have to admit I made full use of mine right up until my retirement in 2006. In fact, I used it so much that some days I would go home looking like I spent the day working in a gypsum mine. 

My former students will still remember being called up to the blackboard two or three at a time to work out math problems. 

Most teachers had a job chart where each week students were assigned a task. One of those was to clean the erasers at the end of the day. They would either go outside and clap them together, causing a dust storm that looked like Oklahoma in the 1930s, or later on, there was a machine to run them through. Another job was to wash the boards at the end of the day, but I was such a stickler I would do them again after they left.

As time passed, whiteboards with dry-erase markers became the norm. Today, virtually every classroom has a smartboard, which is connected to the internet and makes a lot of the older equipment useless antiques. 

Of course, each student has a laptop computer or tablet to use too.

Cursive writing, or actually even printing. I'm sure you all recall the green tagboard cursive letters in white script that virtually every elementary teacher had on display in the classroom. A certain amount of time each day was devoted to practicing printing in the primary grades and then cursive at the intermediate level. Writing assignments were either printed or done in cursive. 

If you went to Catholic school like me, the nuns were fanatics about it. Maybe it was in their sisterly vows. “I swear that I will torment elementary students about perfecting the Palmer Method of cursive. So help me God.” 

It never happened to me, but I have been told by others that rulers on the back of hands were sometimes utilized (especially if you were left-handed) to help emphasize a kid's devotion to cursive perfection (but right-handed). Also, I know this sounds sexist , but why did the girls always have better cursive?

Today there is almost no need for writing of any kind, with the possible exception of math problems. Most things are written with a keyboard on a computer, tablet, or even a phone for homework. Most classrooms today have a minimum of pencils, pens, and paper. It simply is not needed. There is also a shortage of nuns so I guess rulers are not needed either to keep those fingers in place on the keyboards.

This is going way back, but 16mm  films and projectors were once the way to see movies. In the Rochester District, you had to order a movie from a central supply location, and it would be delivered to the school by a messenger. Then you had to reserve the projector from the library where it was kept. 

In my first school, you could never get it on a Friday afternoon because the same lazy teacher always beat you to it. Once you got the movie and projector, there was at least a 50 percent chance the film would break at some point, and you'd have to splice it with tape. Some of the movies had been spliced so many times they were almost unwatchable. If the projector light bulb blew out, that was the end of the movie for the day because, apparently, new bulbs were only made in Mongolia or somewhere.

In the 1980s, VCRs came into use so you could more easily watch movies on a TV. Televisions (still the kind with “Rabbit Ear” antennas) became popular to watch big events like presidential inaugurations. Often classes would have to combine together because each school only had a couple TVs. In the late 80s, video cameras were introduced to record school plays and events. 

Today, every school has wi-fi, and each classroom has that previously mentioned five-foot-high smartboard connected to it, so all those previous viewing methods are obsolete.

Before big Xerox stockholders got rich from the copier business, we made copies with a mimeograph machine. A toxic fluid was poured into it by teachers, and some lawyers could probably make a bundle today after finding out what health problems were caused by exposure to that stuff. 

We would make a master carbon copy, clip it into the machine, and turn the crank to roll off the number of copies we wanted. This often resulted in purple fingers, and if the copies were “hot off the press,” the students would be sniffing them, which was probably as bad as smoking. 

Copiers are still a problem, too, with adding toner and the constant jamming. If hidden microphones were ever placed in copier rooms, lots of teachers would be in trouble for their (expletives deleted).

Finally, we would use a machine called a filmstrip projector. A strip of film would come in a metal or plastic container. Usually, there was an entire box of these devoted to a certain topic. The strip of film would be inserted into the projector (again requiring those light bulbs from Mongolia), and the teacher or a designated student would turn a knob that advanced the film one frame at a time.

Accompanying these strips was a record or audio tape that would narrate the topic. When a beeping noise occurred, that was the signal to advance the frame. For example, if the topic was Batavia, NY, the tape would say something like: “Batavia is a small city located in western New York,” while on the screen would be a map of New York State with a red dot showing where Batavia is. “Beep”. The film would be turned one frame. “ Batavia is the seat of Genesee County.” The film would show a map of New York State counties highlighting Genesee County and Batavia. “Beep.” And so on ad infinitum. 

Or should I say ad nauseam because the people chosen to narrate these film stips must have been hired from a group of failed announcers due to their extremely boring and annoying voices. 

About halfway through the filmstrip, you would look around, and students were either asleep or drawing funny-looking pictures of you.

Whether you attended school in Batavia, Le Roy, Alexander, Oakfield, Rochester, Buffalo, or Tucumcari, New Mexico, if it was before the 2000s, you used one or more of the classroom things I described. They were all successful aids in learning to a greater or lesser degree, but their time has come and gone like the feather quills and inkwells of the 1800s. Like phone booths and dial phones, today's kids would not have heard of most of these things if you asked them. As they say, time marches on. But it can sometimes be enjoyable to think back to the “good old days” and the things our teachers used to educate us.

(Authors note: as is usual with my writing I try to make my articles nostalgic with a touch of humor mixed in. If you care to comment, I would love to hear any anecdotes you might have about any of the equipment I mentioned. Or, maybe I forgot some things that you could add. However, if you have any political comments about today's education there are numerous forums to do that. Please keep to the spirit of reminiscence here. Thank you.)

Press Release:

The Genesee County Republican Committee will be meeting to endorse candidates for the 2024 Election.

The following positions will be open:

• United States Congress
• NYS Senate
• NYS Assembly
• Genesee County Sheriff
• Genesee County Treasurer
• County Coroners (2)

If you are interested in running for one of the above positions please contact Republican Chairman Scott German at 585-409-4870, GeneseeChair@yahoo.com, or mail your resume and letter of intent to PO Box 151, Batavia. All letters must be received by Tuesday, Feb. 13.

A larceny was reported at Ulta Beauty with three subjects running from the store on foot toward the ESL Credit Union, where they apparently got into a silver SUV and fled the scene.

The stores are in Batavia Towne Center on Veterans Memorial Drive.

Law enforcement units are converging on the area.

Responding units have gone to secure communications, so there aren't likely to be further updates on the search or pursuit.

After Monday’s latest city budget session — which grew contentious at times — at least two City Council members said they are against any tax increases, while City Manager Rachael Tabelski has made it clear that maintaining the status quo for a tax levy isn’t feasible to continue the same or better level of services. 

Councilman-at-large Bob Bialkowski said early on that he wouldn’t go for a tax increase, and Councilwoman Tammy Schmidt later said that since she’s been representing Ward Six, the total budget has gone from $29 million to $33 million to this year’s proposed $37 million, and a $4 million-per-year increase for the budget is “not sustainable.”

Her comments came on the heels of the police department budget presentation, which included a report recommendation from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services to increase the force by five officers, from 20 to 25, at a cost of $84,500 each, which includes starting salary, FICA, retirement and holiday pay. Medical would add another $12,000. There was no discussion about uniforms, equipment and vehicles for additional officers. 

“I mean, the budget’s up over a million dollars; that’s just the police budget," Schmidt said. "I think we could try to add one a year, but I don't think, I wouldn't vote for a tax increase at all, I can already tell you that. My constituents live in a poor district, I have to represent Ward Six. And my ward isn't going to go for even a penny, because the water bills are up, you want a storm sewer tax -- I won’t vote for that either, because my constituents call me all the time, and I won’t vote for a tax increase, because I’m sure the assessments are going up. We can’t raise the bills every year in the city of Batavia when 80 percent of the people are at poverty level. You know, the people sitting around this table might not have a problem.”

At that point, Schmidt got cut off by her fellow council members and city staff offering input about her comments. City Manager Rachael Tabelski questioned the 80 percent figure, which Schmidt said she surmised from the school district’s free supplies program. 

The city school district does offer a free and reduced lunch program, per the New York State Nutrition Department, which has federal funding support. School districts must be eligible based on their specific poverty rates and have to apply for approval. Batavia City School District is eligible because it has an “Identified Student Percentage of 40 percent or higher according to building level data,” per the district’s website.

As for an actual poverty level, the latest U.S. Census numbers put the city’s poverty at 13.3 percent, compared to the overall Genesee County level at 10 percent. 

There was further discussion and debate about income levels in the city. Tabelski said that there are some 45 percent people in the city making at least $60,000 a year, to which Schmidt replied that she couldn’t survive on that income, and she knows the city manager’s household makes much more than that. 

The median household income, according to 2022 Census Bureau figures, was $54,937 for the city of Batavia. The median income is in the middle of the income range, from lowest to highest, so about half are lower and half are higher. The per-capita (what an individual makes) income in 2022 dollars is $34,517.

Council President Eugene Jankowski Jr. said he understood Schmidt’s concern.

“And we have to understand also that a lot of people here expect a certain service, and they want to be safe, and they want their streets to be safe. And we are very safe if you look at us, because we're also putting money aside, we're putting money in reserves," he said. "Some of this increase in the police budget includes the current budget for last year, that 80,000 some dollars isn't covered over into this budget, so then technically, it doesn’t count because we were supposed to spend it in last year's budget and it's being brought over.”

Tabelski further clarified that “we settled the contract before wages to be included. We took from the contingency, so you're not even comparing apples to apples. Last year's budget for this year is not the same comparison,” she said. 

The 2023 adopted budget for the police department was $4,374,567, and the proposed 2025 budget is $5,048,862. This includes personnel of 20 patrol officers, with one vacancy, five detectives — one for juvenile and one for narcotics — one supervising detective, the police chief and assistant chief and two school resource officers, both paid for by the school district but supplied vehicles by the department. 

The department has been interviewing for a crossing guard position, and Tabelski proposed the creation of a full-time confidential secretary position to add to the current full-time records clerk and a part-time clerk. She also suggested that the part-time clerk position would be kept on the books, though the job may not actually get filled. 

During that conversation, Tabelski abruptly suggested that the council go into executive session to discuss a personnel matter. Since, per the open meeting law, that general statement is not a sufficient explanation for a private discussion, The Batavian asked if the meeting was to discuss a specific person, and Tabelski said yes. 

A few minutes later, the open meeting resumed, and Tabelski said the confidential secretary position would be part of the police budget. If council opted to add those five extra patrol officers, that would mean an extra $425,000 in expenses, “that we’re going to have to start to plan for, either in this budget or the next,” Tabelski said.

Jankowski is in favor of a “slow, work-toward-this policy” so that the group can evaluate the city’s needs before jumping into a costly move to add extra personnel, he said. 

There may come a point when there is no choice, Tabelski said. 

“Councilman Bialkowski, I have the greatest respect for you, but you can't tell me to keep taxes the same and still deliver the same service, then say you're the manager, you figure it out. As my legislative counterpart, we’re here together to work on this. These meetings are more robust than they've ever been because we want to be completely transparent,” she said. “I get the budget from the department heads. I'm slashing and burning budgets, they hate me for a month and a half, then I come here, and do my best to sit down with our department heads and try to give you all the information of what we are doing, and we just heard a lot of maintenance … and we’ve gotta pay the piper. 

“And this is really what we wanted to talk to you about. We understand that everyone’s costs have gone up, but I do believe the average citizen expects a small incremental increase in what they’re paying to keep the city services here,” she said. “I absolutely believe that’s the case 90 percent of the time. We will face $2 to $3 in tiny, incremental changes.”

As Genesee County Animal Shelter staff and volunteers prepare for the mandates handed down by New York State for a new companion animal law, there’s no doubt some apprehension in the air.

Dog control officers Sarah Fountain and Catherine Stewart have been at the Route 5 shelter for more than two years each, and though confident in what’s currently being done to care for the animals, they know that modifications to the status quo are coming.

“It’s very overwhelming,” Fountain said Thursday, with two thick packets of the law and guidelines sitting nearby on her desk. “I think change is very scary for people. I think some of this stuff is already being done.”

There are the bigger alterations of the physical building, which sits alongside County Building #2, including a new HVAC system that keeps the air temperature between 60 and 80 degrees, separate ventilation systems for the adoption and stray side of the shelter, larger kennels for both dogs and cats, isolation rooms for sick dogs and cats, treatment rooms for dogs and cats, separate washing facilities for both dogs and cats, additional wash sinks for volunteers, and daylighting for diurnal lighting. 

Those are no small fixes, as they will require major spending, to be offset with a grant for up to the maximum amount of $500,000 the county is hoping to receive. There are also the physical implications of doing work alongside caged occupants. County officials are reaching out to adjacent shelters for assistance with temporary housing while much of the upgrades and repairs are being done, Fountain said. 

Then there are the boots-on-the-ground changes — those day-to-day items that she and Seward and the daily core eight volunteers for dogs and about 15 for cats must abide by per state Ag & Markets law. 

“We have to keep documentation of every little thing, and there’s more training for volunteers and everyone who’s coming into the building,” Seward said. “It’s something we already do, but we have to increase it, keep more detailed records — are they eating, are they drinking, going to the bathroom, the noise levels and temperature levels.”

Other data tracked by animal shelters includes animal handling; behavioral assessment; enrichment and stress reduction; management of bite/scratch cases; and sanitation, plus written protocols approved by a licensed veterinarian, including nutrition and feeding; physical examination; emergency veterinary care; pain management; vaccinations; parasite control; anesthesia and surgery, if performed on-site by the organization; humane euthanasia; and outbreak management/control of infectious diseases.

They both agreed that the animals are well taken care of, and the shelter operation has become one of those “well-oiled machines.”  However, there are a few things that could use attention, such as the temperature. While there hasn’t been a problem with maintaining proper heat during winter, it has gotten very hot during summer. They have some air conditioning and fans, but “it does exceed 80 degrees” on those exceptionally blazing 85-degree days, Seward said.

She looks forward to having something more stable in place.

“I think it’s a good thing. We have struggled to keep them — it’s not all the time, but there are times when we struggle to keep the temperatures down, and we’re moving dogs around to get everybody to where we can keep them comfortable,” she said. 

“And when it’s warmer than 85 degrees, it’s not ideal for the people or the animals,” Fountain added.

They have shuffled dogs around to different spots in the shelter if a room is particularly sunny and warm and make sure they’re near a fan, they said. 

“This past summer, part of it was trying to move them to different spots. We had this room that seemed to be too hot, the way the sun's coming in later in the day, that we have one particular dog room that gets particularly hot. And I think it has to do with the way the sun's coming in," Seward said. "We’ve had to move dogs to the other side to a room that is cooler, we’ll move them over there under more fans over on the other side. And then move them back if we get it cooled off, and move them back before we're open to the public.” 

Daily logs will be mandatory for cats as well, tracking how many minutes a day they have interactions with others and what the interaction was. 

“I think we’ll all have to be checking. We have a system with the cats right now set up. We’re tracking, feeding, and watering so that they get enrichment time," Fountain said. "We need to get into a routine of doing that tracking. I think we just started with the cats, and now we’re going to move on to the dogs.”

With a smaller core group of volunteers working with the dogs, Seward sees that being a little easier to manage than with more people and more opportunity for variety, interacting with the cats since there’s a settled routine and schedule for the dogs. Seward and Fountain like routine.

“Sarah and I have a routine, we come in and in the morning we’re the ones that feed and let out the dogs, and we clean, sometimes there’s volunteers that help with that. But we come in and we do kind of the basic care for the day, everybody gets fed, everybody goes outside,” Seward said. “Throughout the rest of the day, it’s more spot cleaning, everything gets scrubbed in the morning, and then as the day goes on, we just do it kind of as needed. We have a great group of volunteers that comes in in the afternoon. And they kind of have a schedule for who does what days, but it’s a smaller group.”

For as many guidelines as the state has passed on to them, the officers aren’t certain how all of the tracking will be managed. Will it be done via computer or manually written and available in hard copy form? “They haven’t given us an answer as to how they’re going to monitor that,” Fountain said. 

Having all of the information in a computer program would be nice, they said.

Along with the new revisions, we will be replacing all of the cat cages — they’re too small for the new regulations, have slatted bottoms which won’t be allowed, and should be compartmentalized so that sleeping, eating, and litter box areas are properly separated.  

The adoption kennels need to be reconfigured so that there are some bigger cages for those larger breeds of dogs that come in. A sink/wash set-up will be built in the dog adoption area, specifically, “readily accessible sinks shall be convenient to all animal care areas. Single service soap and towels or electric hand dryers shall be available at all hand-washing locations.” Space is to be mapped out to provide isolation areas for animals with infectious diseases, so as not to spread those to others.

Sound will be another focal point. Each animal shelter “shall minimize continuous exposure of personnel and animals to sound levels exceeding 85 decibels. Active measures shall be taken and documented to minimize sound levels in housing areas. Such measures may include modified kennel design, relocation of particularly loud animals, or use of visual barriers, sound baffling, and behavioral enrichment protocols.”

Each animal shelter is to use a decibel meter at a minimum of once weekly to measure the level of sound in their kennels during cleaning and resting times. “A record of such measurements and the date such measurements were recorded shall be maintained by each animal shelter.”

The current shelter floor has been peeling and needs to be addressed, which will happen as part of the overall project, Seward said. There are pros and cons to consider, from the additional time it may take to complete the ongoing tracking and related paperwork and how to manage several animals during interior construction to the final outcome, she said.

“We have an issue with the flooring back there that the floors need to be refinished, where our flooring is peeling up and it's not truly disinfectable as is. Okay, so it doesn't make sense to fix the floor without also adjusting the kennel sizes. It doesn't make sense to fix this and then take out a wall, and now you have a place missing the floor sealant or whatever they decided to put on. So we kind of need to think of the bigger picture and make sure everything's done in an appropriate way to fix the issue. Not piecemeal things together,” she said. “We do take a lot of pride in taking good care of our animals. Some of the physical changes need to happen to provide the best care. As least temporarily we’re going to have to adjust, we’re going to have the animals out of here short-term. I think this shelter does so much good, we need to upgrade some things.”

They’ve already had a companion animal consultation and visits from officials to take a look at the building. The grant application has only just been approved by the county Legislature for submission, and Fountain and Seward hope to hear something by this spring.

Meanwhile, the new law will take effect Dec. 15, 2025. 

Calling for an end to U.S. funding what they term "genocide" in Gaza, members of the Genesee County Democratic Socialists of America conducted a protest Saturday outside of  Batavia City Hall.

"A lot of people died, a lot of people are displaced," said Logan Cole, secretary for the group. "It's not only that, but they can't come back, they have nowhere to go. The rates of death, especially the death of children, rival that of historical incidences of genocide, including the Armenian Genocide and even some of the concentration camps back during the Holocaust."

Asked for his views on Hamas, Cole said, "Their tactics are not ones I support, but it is very difficult whenever you are held in an area, in an open-air prison, and I think historically, violence has become something that is sort of inevitable when you're putting so much pressure on a particular population."

Asked if Israel shouldn't defend itself against terrorists, Cole said, "I disagree with the characterization of terrorists. I don't think the word terrorists has a place in the discourse. I don't think it's appropriate. It's like, you know, the difference between Hamas, which has killed thousands of people, and the IDF (Israel Defense Force), which I also don't consider terrorists, which has killed tens of thousands of people, where their violence is sanctioned by the state. To me, that's a minor point. I think that I hope for a ceasefire. I hope to end funding the atrocities being committed against Palestinians and, eventually, a free Palestine that is pluralistic and democratic."

After the protest, Cole emailed The Batavian the text of a statement he made later in the day during the protest.  Here is the full statement:

So much of the discussion surrounding the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza is designed to derail conversation about atrocities being committed against Palestinians or prevent one from being sympathetic to those in Gaza. One of the rhetorical devices that has been frequently employed in the propaganda and conversation surrounding Palestine is the thought-terminating cliché. A thought-terminating cliché is an overused piece of language that is intended to stop an argument or conversation, rather than give it the attention it deserves.

For example, the word “terrorist” and the concept of terrorism are often used to try to halt discussion of Palestinian losses so people do not become sympathetic to them. At times, the Israeli media would take the figures of Palestinian casualties provided by the Gaza Health Ministry and say that all of them were terrorists — for example, Israeli news sources would say instead of 9,000 Palestinians killed (many of which were literally children), “9,000 terrorists eliminated.” As far as I’m concerned, the word “terrorist” has no place in the discourse about Palestine.

Sometimes, an important problem is marginalized because it is cynically deployed as a thought-terminating cliché. Bigotry against Jewish people has been a huge problem, as we recently saw at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and the synagogue shootings in Pittsburgh and Jersey City. Lately, speaking out against the atrocities committed against Palestinians and the Zionist (right-wing, nationalist) ideas that underpin them by groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and initiatives like BDS, has been deemed by some, including the Anti-Defamation League (the ADL), as “antisemitic.” Zionism is not Judaism — indeed there are more Zionist Christians in the United States than there are Jewish people in the world. Declaring an anti-Zionist statement is antisemitic solely on that basis is itself a form of anti-Jewish bigotry because it associates the entirety of Jewish people with the modern form of Zionism, which takes much of its inspiration from atrocious ideologies like Manifest Destiny and eugenics, which themselves were used to justify other genocides. Conflating anti-Zionism and anti-Jewish bigotry through the use of the term “antisemitism” takes attention from the real acts of hate and violence being committed against Jewish people every day. The use of antisemitism as a thought-terminating cliché hurts both Jewish and Palestinian people.

Ironically, perhaps the most commonly used thought-terminating cliché is the idea that the subject is complicated, complex, or that it requires nuance. Nothing ends a conversation or stops someone from asking questions faster than saying a situation is complicated.

The fact that there is a genocide in Gaza is not complicated:

• More than 25,000 dead (more than 10,000 of them children)
• More than 60,000 wounded
• More than 7,000 trapped under rubble
• More than 100 times as many children die everyday in Gaza than in the Ukrainian conflict zone
• More than 1.9 million people have been displaced in Gaza — that’s more than 85% of the population
• Only 5 doctors remain in Gaza
• 83 out of ~1,000 journalists in Gaza have been killed (more than 8%)
• More than 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners detained
• More than 70% of homes have been destroyed in Gaza
• 95% of those facing starvation in the world are in Gaza right now

It’s not complicated. We can’t stop thinking about Gaza. There needs to be a ceasefire, a halt to all US support for the military exploits against Palestine, no further Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, and a free Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Press Release:

Lion Ron Metz, president of the Lions Club of Batavia, welcomed Josh Bender, executive director of the GLOW YMCA, who updated club members about YMCA's progress with the ongoing Healthy Living campus project in downtown Batavia. 

The director noted that it started six years ago when a casual group of people had an initial discussion about proposals of remodeling locker rooms. With time, the ideas morphed into a $30 million project shared with Rochester Regional Hospital. 

The grand opening is projected for the fall of this year, with most of the glass enclosure facing Main Street nearing completion. Josh noted three-quarters of the new 80,000-square-foot facility will be occupied by YMCA programming and have children, teens, and multipurpose rooms, as well as the gym, workout rooms, and traditional “Y’ spaces. 

The new project has plans to employ 200 full- and part-time staff, and membership is projected to be 4,000 or more.