batavia

BATAVIA, N.Y. — Six years of instructing, formulating, collaborating, and educating has given hope and success to one family in Batavia, who thought it could never be possible.

Trisha Finnegan, Director of Special Education and Alternative Education for Batavia City School District, strives to accomplish the department’s goal of providing all children with the necessary support and assistance to be successful learners.

“Compassion creates compassion,” said David Hamblin, of Batavia, “My son is finally building positive self-esteem, and it is our team at Batavia school district, along with the educators at BOCES, making this huge positive difference in my family's life.”

Hamblin, a single-parent, moved to the area about a year ago with his adopted son Matthew, 15, after much disappointment with school districts in New Mexico, Indiana, and Brighton.

“I was so frustrated by our former school districts that I pulled my son out of school and home-schooled him,” said Hamblin. Matthew has been diagnosed with basal ganglia syndrome, a learning disorder that is often characterized by behavioral problems and attention difficulties.

Before a student is diagnosed with a disability, teachers will discuss the student's behavior and try to accommodate the child in other ways. For example, if a child fidgets all day in their chair, the instructor might set a cushion on the seat. If that doesn't work, they will try something else. Finnegan said they have to exhaust all options first.

“You can have ten kids who have a learning disability, but not everything is going to work the same for each one,” said Finnegan. “We have to work hard to find the accommodations and everyone has to work together as a team.”

Hamblin had a few conversations with School Board President Patrick Burke and decided to re-enter Matthew into a public school. Finnegan said it is their number one goal to keep the students involved in general education classes.

“We really want to make sure we level the playing field,” said Finnegan. It's important, she said, to make a face-to-face connection because it can build the next 12 years of an education.

“Trisha gave me the hope I needed at a very crucial time,” said Hamblin, “I can’t say enough about her and our team of educators here in Batavia. Gratitude flows from this family.”

Finnegan has been the director for six years and said her motivation to work with children came from her parents.

"My parents were foster parents,” said Finnegan,  “I grew up with a lot of kids and a piece of me wanted to work with kids.”

Finnegan thought she was destined for a legal career, and after receiving her Bachelor's in Law at Union College, she decided to attend Buffalo State, where she received a Bachelors of Science and pursued her Masters in Education.

She is so excited to watch her students graduate and go on to be successful.

“I am at a point now where I really have gotten to know my kids, and I think, in the future, I will be able to see a lot more of my students graduating,” said Finnegan, who hopes also to keep in contact with the students and their families.

“Parents can participate in their child’s programming, visit their student, chat with teachers,” said Finnegan, “It is really important to be open and willing because it is a key part of planning.”

Advice for parents: “Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Ask lots and lots of questions.” she said. “It will be very beneficial for the student.” There are no dumb questions, she said.

Finnegan said the most important characteristic is to be collaborative. The program is not like it used to be where a teacher would pull a student out and work with them one of one.

“Now we must work as a team,” she said.

Hamblin can’t thank Finnegan and her team enough for the time and patience they spent with his son.

“They took the time to get to know my son and see what he was capable of achieving,” said Hamblin.

“When you see the look in (the parents') eyes that says: 'My child got here because of what you did,' those are the little moments,” said Finnegan. ”When parents just want to thank you, that is special.”

“She is a hero in my book,” said Hamblin, “I am now able to breathe a sigh of relief.”

Arcadia Publishing has rereleased Barbara Ann Toal's book, Images of America: Batavia. The book was originally published in 2000 and has been sold out and unavailable for the past four years.

The book is available at the Joseph Ellicott Museum Store at the Holland Land Office Museum and contains more than 180 photographs, postcards, maps and drawings. The book makes an excellent gift and retails for $19.99.

The Holland Land Office Museum located at 131 West Main Street in Batavia is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

Arcadia Publishing, based in South Carolina, are experts in publishing short run local history books. They have published local histories on thousands of cities, towns and villages across the United States.

For more information, contact the Museum at 585-343-4727

Brighton may have been just 8-12 going into Monday night's Section 5 Class A girls basketball playoff game with host Batavia, but one of those wins came against the Blue Devils. And several of the losses came to Monroe County League Division I and II schools.

So Bill Wade knew his team was going to have their hands full.

Even with a sloppy ending, that including many missed layups and free throws, Batavia escaped with a 44-39 win to advance past the opening round.

"I'm very happy," said Wade, whose team beat the Barons by two and lost by one in the regular season. "One of the things I said when I took over coaching the team was that I was going to enjoy every win our team gets - and I'm enjoying this win. We do have to fix some things. But if we didn't win, we weren't going to get a chance to fix them."

 Wade also notes that Brighton's record is deceiving. The team had some injury problems to key players that were factors in the losses.

The five point victory was the biggest margin of victory either team has had in the three matchups this year and the reason was because of the Batavia defense.

When the Blue Devils had a 51-50 win in January, Brighton hit nine 3-pointers in the win. The 12th seeded Barons did not hit a shot from beyond the arc against the fifth seeded Blue Devils Monday. Wade gives a lot of credit to the defense of Brittany Hein, who he calls one of the best defensive players he's ever coached.

"We tried to give them different looks," Wade said. "We normally play a 3-2, but we were almost in a 2-3 tonight. They run one in and four out and they are very wide. (Leanna) Brooks is a good post player and driver, and we had a hard time adjusting to her last time. We tried to contain her drive so we didn't have to help on other girls, then we tried to be in their vision on every shot."

Wade is also looking towards his senior leaders in these playoffs. And Brittany Mazurkiewicz didn't disappoint.

She converted 8-of-9 free throw attempts and scored 14 of her game-high 19 points in the second half.

"She started taking the ball to the basket," Wade said. "We used a little pick-and-roll play and she was taking the ball to the basket and getting fouled."

 Jaycee Shirk had four points and eight rebounds with Hein pitching in four assists and Brittany Wormley scoring six points.

Brenna Bauer had 15 points to lead Brighton (8-13).

Batavia (15-6) will get another home game on Thursday because No. 13 Aquinas surprised No. 4 Sutherland 69-59 Monday.

"Since I took over, I've talked about changing the culture," Wade said. "First I wanted to get kids to want to come out and play, and second, I wanted them to believe they can win a big game. If we win or lose, the next game is going to be a step in the right direction in changing the atmosphere if we play a good game."

BATAVIA, N.Y. — Batavia could learn a thing or two from Seneca Falls. The town and village of Seneca Falls have become the centerpiece of a statewide campaign of the Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who claims that merging municipalities saves taxpayers money.

As the city and town of Batavia pull up their sleeves and really get serious about consolidation—we've all seen the flow chart!—it might benefit to step back and take a look at how things are going over in Seneca County. Officials over there seem to be following the exact same process as our own. They even hired the Center for Governmental Research as a consultant to study the potential merger.

And ever since the initial research came out in November, Cuomo has been promoting the potential $978 savings in property taxes per year for Seneca Falls homeowners. But... it turns out, it's not so black and white.

From an article in today's Democrat & Chronicle:

A closer look at the potential savings in abolishing this Seneca County village of about 7,000 people and having the town take over its functions shows far more modest overall savings than suggested by Cuomo — with other taxpayers paying more as village taxes go down. Seneca Falls also has some unique circumstances that mean its potential savings would be hard to duplicate elsewhere.

"In almost every case, these changes involve a tax shift from village to town taxpayers," said Charles Zettek, vice president of the Center for Governmental Research, who studied the Seneca Falls project and came up with the figure Cuomo quotes.

According to Zettek's figures, abolishing the village, while saving village taxpayers an average of $978 a year, would increase the levy on town residents who live outside the village, who now pay almost no town taxes, by $375. The figures are based on property worth $100,000.

In addition, another big chunk of the savings would come from a $495,000 state grant designed to encourage government consolidations — in effect, a shift in costs from village to state taxpayers.

Maybe that's a question we need to put to our own leaders. In the CGR report put together for the Batavia consolidation, we can read that taxpayers stand to reap a savings of 15 percent on their property taxes. Well, to be more specific, the document reads that consolidation would "reduce the combined property tax levy of the City and Town by 15% per year." So what does that mean for town residents? Will city residents get a reduction while town residents see an increase?

What about this quote from Zettek—not too heartening:

"This whole thing is an art form, figuring out who benefits and who doesn't," said Zettek, who said that generally government-merger plans can trim expenses "in the 2.5 percent to 5 percent range."

Well, if it's an art form, why did we hire bureaucrats to do it?

Or what about this statement from the village administrators:

"In terms of savings from shared services, you're really talking about nickels and dimes," said village administrator Connie Sowards, whose job would be abolished if the plan goes through. "The big thing is the cost shift."

I would suggest reading the whole article by Jay Gallagher. It's quite informative. Don't about most folks, but I'm all for the idea of consolidation, but it seems more and more that the devil is in the details, none of which have yet been definitively worked out.

Let's hope the upcoming "plan" can really spell things out for us.

Several city leaders are in Albany today, where Council President Charlie Mallow hopes to swing a couple deals for future grants. In an e-mail to local media outlets, Mallow said that he and Councilwoman Marianne Clattenburg "were able to secure private meetings with some very influential people and there are several issues the city is looking to move forward on." As a result, Mallow requested City Manager Jason Molino and Assistant City Manager Sally Kuzon, to join them in the capital for help with "this very important lobbying effort." mallow and Clattenburg have been there since last week.

Tonight's council meeting has subsequently been cancelled.

We sent an e-mail to Mallow this morning to see if he could supply us with any more details about these "private meetings." We also asked why he felt the presence of Molino and Kuzon was required.

His response:

Being successful and keeping the tax rate down requires us to obtain grants.This year city taxpayers were subsidized $580,000 by state grants. in prior years we were only able to secure a small fraction of that money. That is a number that was unthinkable in past years and it comes from a lot of hard work and a professional staff. We have made a conscious effort to go out and get what our city needs instead of relying on that money to come from local taxpayers pockets.

I was able to setup several meetings with key individuals in the governor’s office. I asked Jason how we could use this time and these contacts to our best advantage. Sally and Jason's knowledge on the specifics of our requests are needed on an informational basis to those we are meeting with. The more successful we are in making our case for funding the higher the probability we will be successful with future grant opportunities, that is our ultimate goal and the reason we are here in Albany.

We could see as much as five inches pile up by dinner time tonight. The National Weather Service out of Buffalo has issued a lake effect snow advisory for the region until 6 o'clock this evening. From the advisory:

Bands of lake effect snow will persist through the day. New accumulations in the most persistent bands will be in the 3 to 5 inch range. Brisk west to northwest winds will also lead to areas of blowing snow and poor visibilities.

In lake effect snow, the weather can vary from locally heavy snow in narrow bands to clear skies just a few miles away. If you will be travelling across the region be prepared for rapid changes in road and visibility conditions.

There's not much to see out on the radar so far.

However, things look a little greasy out on the Thruway.

Paul Ohlson, Founder Of Care-A-Van Ministry and Elder Ron discuss challenges of the day at one of our trips out.

What a glorious day God provided for Care-A-Van today! The sun was shining brightly as we headed out.  There was a bustle of activity outside the bus. As I was walking back up from one apartment, a mom was walking back down the still icy driveway. I helped her back to her home. Her son was going to come back up and get the groceries.

As we entered the home, I gathered up her precious daughter into my arms. Jalisa (mother’s permission given to use her name) smiled brightly up at me. She was so precious! Her son was busy getting on his boots to come back to the bus with me.

I asked if Jalisa could walk yet. She said she takes tiny steps. I set her down on the floor and took her hands. The sight below me was stunning. Her tiny little bare pudgy feet began to take tiny little steps across the floor. As each step was taken she would topple from one side to the other. It then dawned on me! This is how it is when we begin our walk with Jesus. We start our walk and belief with small tiny steps. With not quite sure what is happening in our hearts and souls, we topple from side to side. However, just as I was there to hold Jalisa’s hands, Jesus is there holding us up. He never lets go of us. He is our comforter and provider.

Provision and comfort was in great need today at the apartment complex. As the economic tide is turning, there are more and more needs in the community. We prayed with families for God to provide employment. A young mom needed a mattress for a bed for her young child. We called RAP and got a listing of where places that the mom might find this need met. We prayed with a young mom who had just moved out on her own with her young son to start a new life for the two of them.

Comfort and hope was given to a young couple who were struggling with so many challenges and issues in their life. The ministry team shared of God’s love with this beautiful young couple. We shared of the hope and life there is with having Jesus in your heart and life. Paul offered prayer and support to the young man as Sue and I prayed and comforted with the young woman. We encouraged them to find a church. God showed them hope with that allowing Christ in their hearts and taking those tiny steps one at a time that there is peace for them in their future life together.

We are thankful for all of you that continue to partner with us. We are thankful for the steps that are being taken by all of us to walk one step at a time with each other to bring hope to the city of Batavia.  We saw so many issues that were discussed at the Interagency meeting this past week. I felt so much hope within knowing now who the contacts are for the needs of these people. I am thankful for the time that Vicki from Domestic Violence has taken with us. We are thankful for the offer of training from this organization. We are thankful for RAP. We are thankful to all you churches who are waiting with open arms to receive these hurting souls. We are just thankful that with Jesus as our pilot, we can all walk one tiny step together to truly make a difference!

As the sun comes up each new day, may we all step into the day with the reminder of the peace and hope that comes from our Lord! Praises to our Lord for another blessed day on the streets!

God Bless

Robin Walters

Care-A-Van Ministries

Attica's Luke Pariso wasn't supposed to beat defending New York State Public High School Athletic Association champion Cody Hutcheson of Bath. Pariso has won a couple of sectional titles, but Hutcheson was a monster.

Pariso won the 171-pound title at SuperSectionals Saturday at Rochester Institute of Technology, but that was far from the biggest upset of the day.

Holley's Kyle Steadman has a season record of just 35-10 after the weekend, but he's moving on to states after shocking the thousands of people there to watch the SuperSectionals. He beat Genesee Region League foe Dave Jennings of Attica at 189 pounds, 3-1 in overtime, to move on.

"It feels really good, coming back from sixth place and taking the title," Steadman said.

Steadman wasn't even ranked in the top five by armdrag.com and was seeded sixth in his weight class. It was the second Holley grappler to win the championship on Saturday and could be the fourth to advance to states next weekend.

"I hope Tim (Banks) goes because he has a lot of points," Holley coach John Grillo said. "He should go to states because of his past reputation and history of going to states. Quinton Murphy had an electrifying match, but Kyle Steadman was a surprise. He had a lot of losses, but has wrestled quality kids all year. We knew he had it in him and we just had to get it out of him."

"I wrestled him before and I know he's really strong on top," Steadman said. "I just had to go my hardest and give it all I had - never quit."

Steadman had a pin and a decision in Friday's opening two rounds before winning a 7-2 decision over Caledonia-Mumford's Jon Grann in the semifinals.

The other Holley wrestler to win a championship was Murphy at 119 pounds. The defending state champion at 103 pounds didn't need much time in the finals to get a return ticket to the big show. 

After a technical fall and two pins earning him a trip to the championship match, he dropped Palmyra-Macedon's Tyler Marlow in 1:36.

"It felt great," Murphy said. "I'm really known for that move so when I knew it was there, I went for it."

Banks was the other Holley finalist at 130 pounds, but lost to Pal-Mac's Matt Hausbrouck 3-1 in overtime.

Murphy says that he "just wants to re-win" a state title, while it is a different story for Steadman. He will be working with 2004 state champion Andrew Grillo - John's son - over the next week to prepare for another shot at an upset.

"Coach has to get me prepared because I've never been to states before," Steadman said.

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 Hutcheson will get to states with a wild card, but his loss to Pariso definitely stung. 

The Attica senior was ranked second but very few gave him a shot to knock off a state champion because he had never advanced past sectionals. But Pariso scored early and then got defensive to earn the title and a trip to Albany next weekend.

"I knew I had to go hard," Pariso said. "He has really good endurance so I knew I had to push the pace on him. I had that inside trip and put him on his back."

Pariso got that 2-point takedown with just 15 seconds left in the first period and then had an escape midway through the second to make it 3-0. He simply hung on in the third period to get the 3-0 decision.

"I didn't want him to get a reversal and put me on my back," Pariso said. "It could be 4-0, 4-3 or maybe a pin. I just rode him real tight and kept on at his cross-wrists and rode him for the rest of the match."

Pariso had two decisions on Friday and then topped Batavia's Anthony D'Aurizio 3-1 to advance to the finals. Now he looks forward to facing an even bigger challenge than what he's seen in Section 5 next week.

"I can't wait," Pariso said. "There is a real tough kid from Section 4, Kyle Beckwith, who has won a couple of national titles. I'm going to have to push the pace and beat him to, win a state championship."

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 The Batavia wrestling team had nine grapplers compete in SuperSectionals, but end up with just one champion.

Nick Lazarony was the second ranked wrestler at 112 pounds and won three decisions to make it to the finals, where he was paired up with top-seeded Joe Smaldone of Geneva. 

Both were going to get a trip to states via wild card, even if they lost. That was enough reason for Smaldone - who took second at 112 last year - to forfeit his finals match. 

Lazarony had a crack at states last year and will have another one this season. 

"He's looking good," Stewart said. "There are a couple of good kids we've scouted so far. He is in the top six there for sure. He still has to wrestle, but it's well deserved. He's given us four good years."

Ryan Darch was seeded No. 1 at 160 pounds and three easy decisions en route to the finals, where he was paired up with Brandon Mills of Canisteo-Greenwood, who was the No. 2 seed.

Darch took a 1-0 lead in the first period when Mills was called on a technical violation, then scored another point in the second period on an escape.

But Mills had a takedown at the mid-point of the frame and tied the match at 2. He had an escape in the third period and then kept Darch from making a move the rest of the way. He tried, making a few attempts to lunge and get ahold of Mills, but the Canisteo grappler was too slippery.

"It was a very defensive match," Stewart said. "He got caught in that little scramble there and tried to battle back from it. It is what it is."

Darch should get a wild card trip to states, but we will not know until it is announced Monday night.

Batavia's Troy Ireland lost to Mills in the semifinals, but won his wrestle-back to take third. He won a 7-6 decision over Wellsville's Ethan Lamphier.

After losing to Pariso in the semifinals, D'Aurizio lost his bid for third place against Byron-Bergen's Zack Green. Green won the third-place match with a pin at 3:53.

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The highlight match of the Division II card was at 135 pounds, where two three-time defending state champions and NCAA Division I scholarship recipients squared off.

Warsaw's Ian Paddock - who will attend Ohio State next year - won a 3-0 decision over Pal-Mac's Alex Ekstrom - who will attend Oklahoma. 

Two other Genesee Region League wrestlers made the finals but lost as Kendall's Jake Requa took second at 96 pounds and Lyndonville's John Brabon was second at 140.

 Notre Dame coach Mike Rapone will accept Notre Dame's 11th top seed in sectionals Saturday night.

You might think that even though the other 10 plaques are in his basement, because of a lack of room to display them, this one doesn't mean anything. But it does.

"It is nice because it is a nice accomplishment," Rapone said. "I always use the expression, and the kids never get it, that the top seed a $1.61 will get you a cup of coffee at Dunkin Donuts. All it does is put a bulls-eye on your back. It is a nice accomplishment, but it makes you the No. 1 target."

Even though the Genesee Region League has had some strong teams, as have Le Roy and Batavia, this is the only local team to earn a top seed in the boys tournaments.

The Fighting Irish are 17-3 and have been tested, playing strong GR teams like Oakfield-Alabama, Pembroke, Elba and Kendall as well as non-league foes like Prattsburgh and Houghton.

"I think my goal is always to get as competitive a regular season as I can," Rapone said. "You want your team to be ready for what the future brings. I think our schedule this year was one that will have us ready."

This postseason could be historic for Notre Dame as Rapone is nearing second on the all-time wins list in Section 5. With just one win, Rapone will tie Scio's Roger Rigby for second on the list with 527 career wins.

Ed Nietopski from Cardinal Mooney leads the Section 5 wins list with 545.

"You don't sit down when you start coaching and say this is what you want to do," Rapone said. "As I get closer, I realize that it is a great accomplishment for the school and our basketball program, as much as for myself. It is also about all the players I've coached over the years. They are the ones winning the games."

Notre Dame's top player right now is senior point guard Kevin Francis, who has been on the team through a top seed and two No. 2 seeds that didn't win titles.

"In the last couple of weeks he's been a little more vocal in terms of what we need to do," Rapone said. 

Rapone has seven sectional championships and is looking for an eighth this season. Standing in his way could be fourth-seeded Elba (11-9), which knocked the Fighting Irish out of the playoffs in the semifinals last season.

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Oakfield-Alabama won the GR Division I title with a 17-3 record, but are only a third seed in Class C1.

This might be the best team O-A has ever had, but Avon (19-1) and East Rochester (18-2) are the top seeds in what might be the toughest bracket from top to bottom.

Pembroke went 13-7 and are a ninth seed in that class while Byron-Bergen went 4-16 and are ranked No. 15.

The Batavia boys squad went 17-3 and are relegated to a second seed in Class A1. The Blue Devils are behind Aquinas (17-3) in a very competitive group.

Attica (10-10) are the sixth seed in Class B1 and Le Roy (9-11) are the third seed in Class B2. Holley is 4-16 and ninth in the classification.

Kendall went 12-8 and is a fifth seed in Class C2, with a great shot at pulling an upset and winning a title. Alexander (8-12) is 10th and Lyndonville (1-19) is 16th.

BATAVIA, N.Y. — Three potential ambulance providers are being talked about to replace the city of Batavia ambulance service, which will cease to operate as of September 1, according to the Daily News.

Genesee County Manager Jay Gsell told a group of municipal representatives from across the county last night that Rural Metro Corp., Twin City Ambulance and Monroe Ambulance would "likely" submit proposals to the county to take over service.

Explains Joanne Beck in that article:

Volunteer fire companies would still have a role ... and would be able to respond to emergencies and do some transports unless the provider specifically asks for every transport. UMMC has offered space to house ambulances of the future provider and that provider would set itself up as a business, Gsell said. It would make its money by charging customers for each service call. There isn't to be any type of fee charged to the municipality, he said.

Rural Metro is a nationwide corporation whose stock currently trades at $1.25 per share with a six-month high of $2.50 coming at the end of September. The company operates out of 22 states in the continental U.S.

From the company's Web site:

What began with one man's vision has grown today into a company with approximately $500 million in annual revenues and more than 8,000 employees who provide health and safety services throughout the United States. Annually, Rural/Metro's employees respond to more than 1 million calls for assistance.

Monroe Ambulance is a 34-year-old service that operates out of Rochester. From the mission statement:

Monroe Ambulance provides Advanced Life Support with area volunteer ambulance and fire departments, ensuring that patients who live in outlying areas have access to all of our life saving paramedic services. This includes back-up Advanced Life Support to area volunteer agencies, fire departments, and ambulance corps.

We provide medically supervised transports for patients needing transport with minimal assistance (i.e., patients able to move, sit, and walk on their own with slight assistance, such as those traveling home from same day surgery).

We are seeking information on staffing levels for Monroe.

Twin City Ambulance is based in Erie County and serves the suburban Buffalo area. More than 200 technicians make up its core staff.

Twin City was in the news a few years back over a controversial call not to send an ambulance to assist two policemen who had been shot in Buffalo. Critics claimed the call was a callous rejection. Company representatives said that the call was outside the ambulance crew's service area. That report:

We're seeking further information from Gsell on the logistics of having an outside company take over the ambulance service for the county. We will provide those details as they become available.

BATAVIA , N.Y. — Reports are coming through over the scanner. A tractor trailer has rolled over in the westbound lanes of the Thruway in Batavia, near the Lewiston Road Bridge. Multiple vehicles are believed to be involved in the crash. All available crews are being called to the scene, and Mercy Flight has been placed on standby.

We will provide more details as they become available.

Update (12:11 p.m.): The tractor trailer has rolled over into the median and three other vehicles are involved in the crash. Traffic is still moving westbound on the Thruway at this time.

Update (12:43 p.m.): Visibility at the scene of the crash is reduced nearly to nothing. From nowhere on Lewiston Road were we able to get a clear site on the crash scene. Whipping winds kicking up snow blotted out most of the scene. We were able to shoot a few seconds of video that show the traffic moving at a crawl heading westbound and just barely trickling through eastbound. The overturned trailer could barely be made out in the median. No other vehicles could be scene from the overpass.

We're still waiting on reports of injuries. Emergency crews on scene did report a slight leak coming from the tractor trailer. That was not identified, but it was reported to be contained.

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