batavia

Scott Michael Combs, 39, of Brockport Holley Road, Holley, is charged wth DWAI-Drugs, moving from lane unsafely and driving across hazardous markings. At 4:11 p.m., Monday, the Sheriff's Office received a report of a black sedan operating erratically in the Village of Oakfield. Deputy Chad Minuto located the vehicle and initiated a traffic stop. Combs was allegedly found to be driving while under the influence of drugs.

David Wayne King, 54, of Batavia Oakfield Townline Road, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. King is accused of shoplifting from Walmart.

A 16-year-old of Central Avenue, Batavia, was arrested on a failure to appear warrant out of Town of Batavia Court. She was allegedly supposed to appear on a petit larceny charge.

An arrest has been made in the case from September of an employee's purse being stolen at UMMC and the credit cards being used at Batavia stores.

Kiara K. Asante, 21, of 478 Tremont St., Rochester, is charged with forgery, 2nd, criminal possession of stolen property, 4th, criminal possession of stolen property, 5th, and attempted petit larceny.

Asante is currently an inmate in Monroe County Jail and was transported to Batavia City Court yesterday where she was arraigned and returned to Monroe County, where she faces similar charges.

Police believe Asante and two male associates were traveling the state, entering hospitals and colleges and stealing wallets and purses and then using the credit cards. 

Asante and her associations allegedly entered UMMC on Sept. 11, took a purse and then used, and attempted to use, the credit cards at Batavia businesses.

A 41-year-old man suspected of other property crimes is facing a new burglary charge following an investigation by the Batavia PD into a break-in Dec. 10 at a residence on Thorpe Street.

Charged with burglary, 2nd, is Eric P. Doleman, no permanent address.

Doleman is accused of making forced entry while the residence was unoccupied and stealing a number of wrapped Christmas presents.

For a time about a year ago, Doleman reportedly lived in an apartment on Thorpe Street.

Doleman, currently being held without bail, is also accused of joining with a partner, Frederick H. Robidoux Jr., 49, no permanent address, and breaking into a residence at 10 Maple St., Batavia, Dec. 29.

He is also a suspect in a car break-in at Tops Market on Dec. 13.

A motor-vehicle accident has been reported on Wilkinson Road near the railroad tracks.

It's unknown if there are injuries.

East Pembroke Fire Department and Mercy EMS dispatched.

UPDATE 9:22 a.m.: A firefighter on scene helped push the car out of a ditch and the car continued on its way. No damage. No injuries. All emergency response cancelled.

Press release from Genesee County Economic Development Center:

Premiere Credit of North America, LLC, a leading national accounts receivable management company headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind., is expanding its operations and opening a call center located on Mill Street in the City of Batavia. Premiere Credit has signed a lease for 8,500 square feet, with the option of taking the total 13,500 square feet of space. Premiere Credit expects to employ 50 people at the Mill Street location and plans to be up and running by March 1 or sooner if possible.

“Premiere Credit is a dynamic and growing company. We are excited to open a call center in this location and look forward to welcoming 50 residents of the City of Batavia and the surrounding area to our team,” said Rob Meck, Premiere Credit president and CEO.

“This is not only a win for Batavia, but a national win; outsourcing of call center jobs has been going on for years, keeping these positions in the United States is ideal,” said Steve Hyde, president and CEO of the Genesee County Economic Development Center. “It genuinely shows the quality of Premiere Credit as a leader in corporate responsibility. We welcome them to our community."

“We are thrilled Premiere leadership was able to recognize the talent, value and willingness of Batavia to support their business growth," said Jason Molino, city manager. “Mancuso’s ability to sell our community and Harris’ patience to land a call center tenant does not go unnoticed either.”

Premiere Credit contracted with CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) to find a suitable location to open its new call center. The request for proposal, seeking locations in Western New York, led to interaction with Chris Suozzi, VP of business development at GCEDC, who worked with CBRE to bring Premiere Credit to the Mill Street location.

After visiting many different sites throughout Western New York, Premiere Credit decided that Batavia was the best location.

“Given the variables of the project this was the ideal setting,” Suozzi said.

Suozzi and Tony Mancuso of Mancuso Commercial Reality have been working together since 2009 to fill this location.

“The Mill Street location, owned by Harris Mill Street Properties, has been vacant since July of 2009,” Mancuso said. “I was thrilled at the opportunity to show the building and believed it is the perfect fit."

Suozzi and Mancuso engaged Julie Pacatte, economic developer of the Batavia Development Corporation (BDC), and Louis Lopez, Business Services representative of the Department of Labor, to further assist with the project.

“The collaboration of GCEDC, BDC, Genesee Career Center, Mancuso Commercial Realty and Harris Properties sends a strong unified message that significant support is available for business in the City of Batavia,” stated Ray Chaya, BDC board president.

Dave McCarthy, a resident of Grandview Terrace in Batavia, had a special visitor today -- a fox decided to help himself (or herself) to suet on the snow. (Photo courtesy McCarthy.)

In an effort to grapple with ever increasing retirement and healthcare costs, along with maintaining the city's contingency funds, Batavia City Manager Jason Molino is recommending a property tax increase for fiscal year 2012-13.

The proposed budget increases the tax levy by 4.32 percent, or $241,221, to cover anticipated expenses of $15,758,611.

The increase is about $4,000 less than allowed under the state's tax cap law, according to Molino's budget message.

The rate would become $10.94 per $1,000 of assessed value, or $37 per year, or $3 per month, on a home assessed at $80,000.

Near the end of his budget message, Molino, a huge hockey fan, writes, "Put in perspective, Time Warner Cable increased the standard cable rate December 1, 2011 by $4.55/month or $54.60/year, and now you can’t watch the Sabre’s games."

Molino writes:

However, as stated in this message the City is faced with challenging decisions due to detrimental increases in state mandated costs. Use of reserve funds have been tapped to larger extents this year as fixed costs in retirement and healthcare surge, and needed equipment replacements and sidewalk repairs are required. In addition, for the first year in the last five, it is proposed that the City utilize unappropriated/unreserved fund balance to assist with balancing the budget.

State aid for municipalities will likely be reduced again, Molino said.

Retirement contributions are expected to increase 15 percent over the previous fiscal year, or by $182,000.

Healthcare is expected to go up 16 percent, or $256,000 over the prior year.

Much of the healthcare increase is being driven by an increase in health insurance for retirees.

Even with the increase in taxes, the city will need to tap $100,000 from its undesignated reserves to help balance the budget.

The budget also includes setting aside funds for future, potentially larger, increases in retirement and healthcare costs. Those reserves built up in previous years will be tapped in this budget for $65,000 apiece.

"The State’s woes cannot be an obstacle to the City’s success, and this budget continues to put our best foot forward by building our great City to its fullest potential," Molino said.

Designated reserves for equipment replacement ($210,000) and sidewalk repair ($75,000) are also expected to be used in 2012-13.

The undesignated fund balance as of March 31, 2011 was  $493,273, which Molino said is far below the NYS Comptroller’s recommended levels of 5 to 10 percent of general fund operations, which would mean a healthy reserve would be $750,000 to $1.5 million.

The city will need to spend $36,000 on a new phone system, according to the budget message. The current system was scheduled for replacement in 2009 but wasn't. Its manufacturer will discontinue support for the system this year, making repairs more expensive and less reliable.

Water rates will go up 3 percent, if the proposed budget is approved, to $4.44 per 1,000 gallons. Water customers will also pay $8-per-year for anticipated infrastructure repairs and improvements. The fee increases 50 cents year-over-year.

There are no anticipated adjustments to the sewer rate.

In the conclusion of the budget message, Molino writes:

It is strongly encouraged that the City Council considers the proposed tax increase in order to safeguard against significant increases in retirement, healthcare or other costs. While it is understood that a property tax increase is not a popular decision, approving a modest property tax increase complemented with an increase in the contingency account may avoid the need for a more drastic tax increase in following years, which may require overriding the tax cap.

To read the budget message, click here (pdf).

Photo: City Hall photo, file photo.

A big pile of snowdrift is reportedly blocking the roadway and creating a hazard at Transit and Batavia--Elba Town Line roads. A Sheriff's deputy has been dispatched.

A man is reportedly stuck on a ramp in the snow in his electric wheelchair on North Street in Batavia near Narramore Drive. City fire is responding and told to proceed in non-emergency mode.

Dale A. Swiatowy Jr., 36, of 16 Wood St., Batavia, is charged with two counts of falsely reporting an incident, 3rd. Swiatowy allegedly claimed on Dec. 20 that a man attempted to rob him near Evans Street, cutting him with a knife. On Dec. 23, Swiatowy allegedly reported being stabbed while being robbed on Liberty Street. An investigation by Batavia PD and Investigator Chris Erion of the Sheriff's Office revealed that both reports were allegedly untrue and that the wounds were self-inflicted. (Dec. 20 report; Dec 23 report)

James Russell Hughes, 52, of Oatka Trail, Le Roy, is charged with assault, 3rd. Hughes is accused of head-butting a woman during a domestic incident Jan. 2. An order of protection was issued for the woman at Hughes's arraignment.

Donna L. Richardson, 59, of 43 Main St., Le Roy, is charged with DWI and driving on a suspended registration. Richardson was stopped Thursday evening in the Village of Le Roy by Le Roy Police.

Tony R. Smith is indicted on a count of grand larceny, 3rd. Smith is accused of stealing property valued at about $31,000 from a business on Gilbert Street in Le Roy, including boxes containing brass draw lead nuts, copper draw lead terminals and aluminum blocks, between May and July 2011.

Roy K. Way is indicted on counts of felony DWI and and felony driving with a BAC of .18 or greater. Way is accused of driving while drunk on South Pearl Street and Brooklyn Avenue in Batavia on Sept. 12.

Sara K. McCabe is indicted on a count of felony DWI, three counts of aggravated DWI (driving drunk with a child 15 or under in the car) and one count of operating a motor vehicle without a required interlock device. McCabe is accused of driving drunk with children in the car in the parking lot of McDonald's in Le Roy on Aug. 25.

The possible "yogurt cluster" in Batavia is part of a statewide trend in the manufacture and distribution of Greek yogurt, according to a story just published by the The New York Times.

Alpina Foods, the United States arm of a major South American dairy company, is building a $20 million plant in Batavia to make Greek yogurt topped with granola. And state economic development officials are negotiating with another major food maker to set up a dairy products plant in the same area, creating the possibility for what one executive called a “yogurt cluster.”

Of course, readers of The Batavian (and no other local source in this case) know the "major food maker" is PepsiCo.

However, I spoke to some dairy product insiders recently who don't believe yogurt is what PepsiCo is planning. They said they expect Pepsi to announce a dairy-based nutrition drink.

More from the Times:

National retail sales of the thicker style of yogurt more than doubled last year, jumping to $821 million for a 52-week period ending in October ...

New York’s dairy farmers are among the biggest beneficiaries of the public’s love affair with Greek yogurt, since it typically takes three times as much milk to make a pound of Greek yogurt as it does for regular yogurt. “This is a ‘once every two or three generations’ situation,” said Bruce Krupke, executive vice president of the Northeast Dairy Foods Association. “All of the right forces have come together to make it very attractive to build in New York state.”

Data compiled by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets shows that the state produced 368 million pounds of yogurt in 2010, nearly 40 percent more than the previous year. Over five years, production rose almost 60 percent. Much of that increase is for Greek yogurt production. ...

The Greek yogurt boom has translated into jobs in rural areas of New York that badly need them. Chobani (a brand of Greek yogurt) said it currently employed about 900 people in New York and expected to add about 100 more. Fage said it had about 240 full-time employees and expected to add about 150. The new Alpina plant in Batavia will employ about 50 people.

We're still in a wait-and-see mode about Pepsi and how the rest of the ag park will fill out, but this was some interesting information from the NYT.

Read the whole article here.

It would be tempting to look at Kala Stein's "Convivium" as just a table with a bunch of cups on it, but approach the sculpture and take a moment with it, and you discover it encourages a contemplative review of its subtle beauty.

Convivium is on display at the Roz Steiner Gallery on the Genesee Community College campus from Jan. 17 through 27.

The sculpture was installed over the past two days.

Stein has written this about it:

Convivium describes a coming together, a celebratory congregation, a banquet of minds. This type of gathering is a venue for exchange, a place to spark new relationships, and to cultivate what presently exists. It is about the constructive potentials of the collective.

The cup is a vernacular object; I use the goblet as a tool to symbolize human interaction within the convivium and the idea of convivium itself. Repetition and expansion, physical derivatives of time and space, distort the vessel beyond iconic function and shifts its singularity into a dizzying display of geometric patterns. The goblet is no longer a goblet; it is a unit within the whole. The area beyond the strict limits of the objects accommodates surprise and discovery. Function becomes irrational and form becomes pattern.

Ceramic, wood and glass are used for their aesthetic qualities and structural abilities. The materials are processed out of necessity – beyond raw but short of finished. An unpolished state is absolute structure and illustrates a depth of purity and the truth of the material.

Stein has a master's degree in fine arts from Alfred University, where she currently teaches and works as a studio artist.

Power is out in the area of a semi-truck vs. power pole accident earlier today.

National Grid is not reporting the power outage on its website at this time.

Tonight, crews have been working on replacing the damaged pole.

About an hour ago, Batavia PD officers were discussing a power outage at Main and Ellicott streets.

The power around Maple and Evans streets went out about 11:25 p.m.

UPDATE 11:58  p.m.: Power has been restored. Batavia PD officers conducting traffic control on Main and Ellicott are back in service.

Christopher Dailey, then the principal of Batavia High School, remembers the first time school officials came across a student with a lip balm-like container of K2.

"He handed it over to me and said, 'It's OK, it's legal,' " Daily recalled. "I turned it over and read the back label. I said, 'Did you read this?'  He said he hadn't. He didn't know what it said. It read, 'NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION.' "

While synthetic marijuana is a fairly recent issue for school officials to deal with in Batavia, Dailey emphasized it has not become a widespread problem. He characterized it as a "fad," but he also called it, "scary."

Scary is the same word used by local law enforcement and others familiar with a variety of chemicals and compounds being marketed most often as "incense" with clear instructions saying "not for human consumption."

Some of the compounds are available in Batavia retail stores, though Dailey said students interviewed by school officials indicate the chemicals are being purchased most often on the Tonawanda Indian Reservation.

The compounds fall under the general description of synthetic marijuana, synthetic cocaine and synthetic meth. Commercially, the chemical agents are known as Spice and K2 for synthetic marijuana and Ivory Wave, Vanilla Sky and Bliss for synthetic cocaine and meth.

All of the compounds are currently legal and unregulated in New York. You must be 18 years old to buy a pack of cigarettes, but there is no age restriction on Spice or K2.

Synthetic cocaine and meth are more commonly referred to as "bath salts."

While the chemicals are meant to simulate the highs of marijuana or cocaine, they have been known to cause sever reactions, from seizures, rapid heart rates, paranoia, hallucinations, chest pain, suicidal tendencies and psychosis.

There's some speculation locally that synthetic marijuana or "bath salts" are related to the outbreak of tics among teenage girls in Le Roy. When The Batavian asked Dr. Jonathan Mink about a possible connection Tuesday, he immediately shifted to a discussion of stimulants such as cocaine and said the dosage of cocaine needed to cause tics would be significant and manifest other symptoms.

Wednesday, we asked Dr. Mink to clarify whether synthetic drugs could cause tics and he said it's not a subject he has studied and lacked sufficient expertise to offer an opinion on it.

Jeremy Almeter, owner of Glass Roots on Center Street, said he gets people coming into his shop two or three times a day asking for Spice or K2. They leave disappointed.

"I won't sell it," Almeter said.

Walk into Glass Roots and it's like stepping into a time machine, back into 1960's Haight-Ashbury counterculture, but Almeter said he's seen too many problems caused by fake drugs and doesn't want his business associated with the chemicals at all.

"It just blows my mind that people would use that stuff," Almeter said. "It says right on the label, 'not for human consumption.' A lot of kids seem to think, 'it's legal so it's OK,' but actually the things that are legal are more harmful that what's illegal, specifically marijuana."

Almeter believes the spread of synthetic drugs bolsters the case for legalizing marijuana, a natural substance with effects that are known and generally not harmful. Marijuana could also more easily be controlled, whereas with synthetic drugs, they get re-engineered every time a substance gets outlawed.

In Rochester, a couple of hookah shops have opened where anybody can go in and smoke K2 or bath salts, but Almeter said he wants to offer an alternative.

Recently, he opened his own hookah room, but only offers tobacco-free, all-natural aromatics. Nothing he offers will get a person high. The idea is to sit around and enjoy some pleasant aromas and pleasant conversation.

The Laughing Buddha on Ellicott Street in Batavia advertises on its Facebook page that it sells "incense."

Premium Blend Spice & Incense, We wholesale it as well, Guaranteed best prices around on your favorite kinds such as Hammer Head, White Rhino & Grim Reefer.

Displayed in the store today were dozens of packages of White Rhino behind a glass counter.

The owner of the shop is Jay Lang, who also owns Batavia Cab Co., and at one time, Lang mentioned on Facebook that customers could have products from Laughing Buddha delivered right to their door by a cab driver. 

Today, Lang said he discontinued the practice after considering the legal implications.

"What we carry is legal and we sell it as incense," Lang said. "It's lab tested and DEA compliant. Every package comes with a warning label."

Lang said that if a customer indicates they are using the substances for anything other than incense, they are "cut off." He said he won't knowingly sell the substances to anybody he believes is consuming it.

The synthetic drugs have also been displayed on the counters of other Batavia retailers in recent months.

The use of synthetic weed in area high schools is more prevalent than school officials believe, Almeter suggested.

Dailey, who is now assistant superintendent for the Batavia City School District, said there have been times when kids came to school under the influence of fake marijuana. When it happens, he said, parents are contacted and generally the parents take the student straight to a doctor.

Because it's legal, "there's a limit on how much we can do," Dailey said. "We're as proactive as we possibly can be and we work closely with police on monitoring it and we discuss the dangers in our health classes."

For local law enforcement, the main time synthetic drugs become a legal issue is when people drive under the influence of the drugs, which is a crime.

A volunteer firefighter was recently arrested. He originally offered himself as an interview subject for this story, but later didn't show up for his interview appointment. In a pre-interview conversation, he said the arrest didn't go over well with his superiors and it opened his eyes to the dangers of fake marijuana.

While sources in law enforcement said they haven't seen a lot of those kinds of arrests, driving under the influence of anything is dangerous.

"People have to understand that while legal, much like alcohol if you’re over 21, it can still be abused and misused and effect your ability to make decisions and operate a vehicle," said Sgt. Steve Mullen, head of the Local Drug Enforcement Task Force.

Mullen said that he and his agents are focused on investigating the sale of controlled substances such as crack cocaine and heroin, so it's hard for him to confirm that the use of synthetic drugs locally is on the rise.

But he also doesn't get why people use these substances.

"It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me," Mullen said. "It says right on the packages, 'not for human consumption,' so not from a law enforcement perspective, just personally, from a commonsense perspective, if it says 'don't consume,' then why would you consume it?"

UPDATE 10:57 p.m.: On Facebook, Jay Lang is complaining the article makes it sound like his shop sells bath salts. The article states what he's advertised as products in his store and the one product I observed in his store. Those products are not known as bath salts. While law enforcement officials have told me bath salts have been known to show up in the community, there is no specific retail outlet mentioned in this article that is believed to sell bath salts.