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Our world changed on Sept. 11, 2001, said Pastor Allen Werk. Things that we disagreed about on Monday, seemed unimportant on Tuesday. Things that annoyed us one day could be seen as a sign of God's grace the next day. As a nation, we came to see how important God is to our lives.

"We saw what life really meant and how fragile life could be," Werk said.

Werk delivered his sermon as part of a special 9/11 service at St. Paul Lutheran Church, which mixed patriot songs and prayer and a chance to honor first responders and military veterans (top picture).

"What we witnessed on that day of terror on our shores, when we saw people dying right in front of us, we recognized that we needed somebody who was bigger than us, more powerful than even the most powerful nation on Earth, who was on our side," Werk said.

Volunteers from at least four fire companies -- I saw Le Roy, Batavia, Stafford and South Byron while I was there -- were on hand Sunday at The Home Depot to raise a flag in honor of the 9/11 victims and give community members a chance to meet with local volunteers and learn about fire safety. Children could tour the firetrucks and receive hats and coloring books.

Kristi Queal sent in this picture from Sunday, 9/11, of her son, Deacon, who even at 2 knows how to salute a United States flag.

Batavia residents found a number of ways to remember Sept. 11 on Sunday.

Above, Ken Mistler hung his giant U.S. flag from the former Carr's building.

Frank Bellucci set up this display outside his Ellicott Street home. The centerpiece, a model of the Twin Towers, was built a few yeas ago for a competition by his son, Frankie, now 13.

Somebody set up these signs on West Main Street near Oak Street.

Still to come from Sunday, coverage of 9/11 services at St. Paul's Lutheran Church and City Church.

On the drive back from the steam show Saturday, I took a route down Beaver Road and then Upton. Here's a couple of the pictures I took.

A car accident with injuries is reported on Vine Street just off of Main Street in the City of Batavia. City fire department and Mercy medics are responding.

UPDATE 9:47 p.m.: A 47-year-old male is transported to UMMC with minor injuries.

Tyrone Gantt, of Rochester, came out to Batavia today to visit his granddaughters and thought he would bring his ice cream truck along.

He said he's never brought the truck with him before, but people kept telling him there was no ice cream truck in Batavia and it might be an opportunity for him.

After the response he received today he said, "I should come out here more often."

When he stopped on Maple Street around 6 p.m., people -- adults and children -- came running (some, really running) from all directions.

His granddaughters are Sharmaine Powell (pictured in the truck), Jykiya Powell and LaQueasha Taylor.

The mini-boomlet of new businesses opening on Ellicott Street, Batavia, continues with The Laughing Buddha at 440 Ellicott St.

The Laughing Buddha offers tattoos, piercing and a gift shop.

Pictured are tattoo artists Eric "Crazy Goose" Weis, left, and James "Jimi" Soccio, along with Ashley Keene, who handles the front counter, owner Jay Lang (who also owns Batavia Cab Co.), and Eric Betz, piercer and store manager (Betz is formerly of Time Bomb Tattoo).

You may have noticed, the flags along Main Street have been up all week. The flags are owned and displayed by the Batavia Area Jaycees.

This year, the Jaycees decided to leave the flags up from Labor Day through Patriot's Day in honor of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"We are proud to help lead our community in remembering this historic event," said Amy Robinson, the group's 2011 president.

Eric Michael Duda, 49, of Main Road, Stafford, and Summer Ogden, 35, of State Street, Batavia, are both charged with criminal contempt. Duda and Odgen were seen walking together on Main Road, Stafford, at 4:15 p.m., Wednesday. There are court orders in place barring Duda and Odgen from being in contact with each other.

Dennis Kaijage Stambuli, 19, of Liberty Street, Batavia, is charged with trespass and unlawful possession of marijuana. Stambuli was allegedly found on College Village property after being banned.

Scott E. Hodgins, 47, of 9394 Creek Road, Batavia, is charged with felony DWI, passing a stop sign, speed in zone and obstructing governmental administration, 2nd. Hodgins was stopped at 8:40 p.m., Thursday, on Blakely Place, by Officers Jerry Casper and Chris Camp. Hodgins was allegedly observed speeding on South Jackson Street. Hodgins allegedly tried to flee on foot following the traffic stop and was located after an extensive search of the area. New York State Police assisted in the search. Additional charges may be pending. Hodgins was jailed without bail.

Ken Adams had a job in Brooklyn in 2001 and on Sept. 11, with his wife home sick, it was his turn to pick up their daughter from school. 

He was late getting there, one of the last parents to arrive, and he remembers walking into the class and there was only his daughter and a little girl standing next to the teacher.

"I looked at her and she looked at me and we had the same thought at the same time," Adams recalled. "There will be some children whose parents won't be picking them up today."

Adams, the commissioner of Empire State Development, was in Batavia today for the Sept. 11 memorial ceremony, representing Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

During a brief speech, Adams described what it was like in New York City on 9/11 -- from walking his daughter home on a bright, clear blue-sky day, but with the acrid smell of the fallen twin towers in the air, to the office paper ashes falling in their small Brooklyn back yard.

"I remember getting home, looking at my little girl and thinking, 'No one knows how to tell a 6-year-old girl about evil," Adams said.

The ceremony included remarks by Council President Marianne Clattenburg, Legislator Ed DeJaneiro, State Sen. Mike Ranzenhofer and Sheriff Gary Maha.

On 9/11, Maha, along Deputy Ron Meides and another member of the department traveled to NYC to help with the relief efforts.

Maha described helping with relief efforts and visiting ground zero and seeing the devastation of the terrorist attacks.

"It's heartwarming to see everybody here today paying respect to those who lost their lives on Sept. 11," Maha said.

Adams said it's important that the country, and New York, not forget what happened on 9/11, and that we teach our children about the "brutal facts" of that day.

Remembering, he said, will provide lessons and teach us about unity.

"We are bound together in our grief over the tragedy of Sept. 11," Adams said. "We are bound by our resolve never to let Sept. 11 fade from our memories."

UPDATE: Video from WBTA.

There's no record to confirm, but it's probably been decades since a new barbershop opened in Batavia.

Sure, there have been plenty of hair salons that have opened, but a barbershop, it's almost as if they went out of style with, well, styling.

According to Brandon Armstrong, barbershops remain popular in bigger cities and he decided to bring some of the same flair of the modern barbershop to Batavia.

The Batavia resident has opened City Styles at the corner of Ellicott and Liberty streets (before any of us were born, the location of a corner grocery drug store called Gioia's, but more recently, the location of Mother's Chicken & Fish).

"In the bigger cities, there's a bigger barbershop culture," said the 22-year-old Armstrong. "The barbershop is a big part of their daily life."

Besides haircuts, Armstrong also offers hot towel shaves.

There are only three barbershop schools in New York and one of them, Sheer Eagle, is in Rochester, which is where Armstrong studied. He also worked as a barber at Le Roy Manor.

"There's a big demand here for a barbershop that serves a younger crowd," Armstrong said, explaining why he opened a barbershop. "I've always wanted to be my own boss. I used to work for my cousin Brian Kemp at T-Shirts Etc. and I saw that I would like working for myself."

While Armstrong believes his shop will be the only one in town with an expertise in African-American hairstyles, he isn't putting up a barber pole out just to serve one segment of Batavia's population.

"I can cut anybody's hair," Armstrong said. "I'm well-rounded and have lots of experience with all styles."

Pictured with Armstrong is Eric Smith, Armstrong's first paying customer after Armstrong opened Wednesday afternoon.

Benjamin Gove Evans, 22, of West Main Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Evans is accused of shoplifting at Kmart in April.

Kristen L. Brightenfield, 18, of 6559 Main Road, Stafford, is charged with petit larceny. Brightenfield is accused of stealing a box of hair dye from Tops Market during the early morning hours of Wednesday.

Micaheal J. Elmore, 20, of Sumner Road, Darien, is charged with two counts of petit larceny. Elmore was arrested by the Wyoming County Sheriff's Office following an investigation into thefts in Orangeville. Elmore was identified as the suspect with the help of a pawnshop in Batavia. Another piece of stolen property was recovered in the Village of Attica.

Diane E. Winger, 46, of 329 Eva Road, Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, is charged with driving while ability impaired and failure to keep right. Winger was stopped at 11:43 p.m., Sunday, on Snipery Road in Darien by Deputy Patrick Reeves.

The City of Batavia's 9/11 ceremony has been moved up to tomorrow, Thursday, at 2 p.m.

It will be held in the mall concourse.

City Council President Marianne Clattenburg, Genesee County Sheriff Gary Maha and ESD President Ken Adams will be speaking at the ceremony.

The auction and gala to benefit the Child Advocacy Center is just around the corner -- Sept. 17 -- and auction items are rolling in. Above, Anita Strollo shows off a group of cigars in a traveling humidor that will be among the items offered up by auctioneer Seth Kent (white shirt, center), of William Kent, Inc., of Stafford.  From left are: Grace Flannery, CAC; Strollo; Tiffany Szymanek, Genesee Justice; Kent; Assemblyman Steve Hawley, who will emcee the evening's festivities; and, District Attorney Lawrence Friedman, president of Batavia Kiwanis.

The Kiwanis Club is sponsoring a "Bidding on a Brighter Future" Gala and Auction at 6 p.m., Sept. 17 at Batavia Downs. Donations of items for the auction are still being accepted. Tickets for the gala are $40 per person or $75 per couple. Checks can be mailed to: Justice for Children GLOW Foundation, Inc., 108 Bank St., Batavia, NY 14020.

Disclosure: As of Thursday, Howard Owens is a member of the Batavia Kiwanis Club.

It's a big leap from middle school to high school and for the past four years, to help freshmen students make the transition, Batavia High School has conducted a special orientation day the day before classes officially begin.

For the class of 2015 that was today.

Of the 198 students in the frosh class, all but three students showed up for the orientation that began at 8 a.m. with a dramatic welcome by faculty and administration in the gym -- lights turned down, spotlights turned on and music playing loud, the students are welcomed into the gym like a championship team.

"We tell them up front that there will be some corny stuff," said Joe Hussar, one of the faculty organizers. "It's a little over the top sometimes."

The goal is give the students an introduction to BHS without 800 other students around. 

"It gives them at least one day where they can take their time and figure things out," Hussar said.

Like where their locker is and how to open it, and how to get from history class to English class.

The students also meet some of the upperclassmen who act as mentors during the school year.

More than 100 upperclassmen applied for the program and the 53 selected went through three days of training over the summer. Today, after the initial gym meeting, they led small groups of students in exercises to help them learn each other's names, how to communicate better and just get to know each other so at least on the first day of school there will be a few familiar faces.

Tomorrow, all the mentors will wear bright pink T-shirts so they can be easily identified by any freshmen who can't find a class, have a question or otherwise need help.

"It's awesome that so many of our upperclassmen are taking the lead," Hussar said.

To further assist the freshmen, the upperclassmen leaders have lockers strategically positioned among a group of freshmen lockers -- for about every seven or eight frosh lockers are two mentor lockers. The arrangement will last throughout the year.

After the small group exercises, the freshmen were given a tour of the school, had a break for lunch and then did a modified version of their class schedule -- 10 minutes for each class so they can learn how to get from room to room with less confusion tomorrow.

A man is reportedly riding a motorized two-wheel bicycle on the sidewalk on Main Street in the City of Batavia. When the caller reported this he was near Burger King. Watch out pedestrians. The guy is going about 30 mph.

Upon getting the report the cop says: "Oh kay," with some hesitation.

The dispatcher replies: "I know what you mean."

He's toting a light-brown backpack on his back. He's white. But he was easily spotted by police, all descriptions aside.

Two days ago the same guy was seen, by me, on Maple Street (actual street).

UPDATE 12:35 p.m.: The bicyclist is having a chat with an officer about his travel plans.

Ten different businesses have been burglarized 11 different times since June and the Batavia police are looking for the public's help is identifying the suspects.

Det. Charles Dudek released the video posted above in the hope that it might lead to more information about the suspects seen in the video.

The video was taken by surveillance camera at Batavia's Original, 500 E. Main St., Batavia, on Aug. 30. Batavia's Original has been hit twice in the past couple of months.

The same two suspects are believed to have burglarized Ficarella's Pizzeria in late August.

A witness reportedly spotted the suspects at about 4 a.m. leaving Ficarella's without their masks or hoods on.

The suspects are identified as white males in their late teens or early 20s. Both are about 5'8" to 5'9" tall. One suspect is described as stocky with short blond hair and a light complexion. The other suspect is thinner with short dark hair.

The string of burglaries dates back to June 2, when Neptune's Garden was hit.

In four cases, safes were stolen, or the safe was opened at the business and in one case the suspects were unable to either open or take the safe.

Anyone with information that could aid in the investigation should call the confidential tip line at 345-6370 or the Batavia PD at 345-6350.