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Batavia -- Joseph Richard Gerace, 80, proprietor of Gerace's Hair Care Center and along with his wife owned the former Bob Harris Realty Company, died on Thursday (Nov. 17, 2016) at the New York State Veterans Home in Batavia.

Mr. Gerace was born March 15, 1936 in Batavia, a son of the late Joseph A. and Sarah (Gazzetta) Gerace.

A 1955 graduate of Batavia High School, he served with the Army from 1957 to 1959. Prior to the hair care center he operated the Trailways Diner.

The lifelong Batavian was a member of many organizations, including: the Batavia Rotary Club, where he amassed 33 years of perfect attendance, served on the Board and also was the Sergeant at Arms; Knights of Columbus Fr. Vincent Capadanno Assembly 0755; Msgr. Kirby Council #325; City of Batavia Republican Committee, which he chaired for many years; Batavia Muckdogs Board of Directors and was on the team's Wall of Fame; Genesee Cancer Assistance program, where he served on the Board since its inception and founded the Simply Beautiful Hair Service; Resurrection Parish; former St. Nick’s Social Club; Batavia Youth Bureau; and a past president and co-chair of the Festival of Hope; Genesee Cancer Assistance golf tournament committee; and was on the city of Batavia zoning board for 12 years.

He was an avid New York Yankees and Buffalo Bills fan. He proudly attended each Super Bowl the Bills appeared in and was on the Founders Wall at the New Era Stadium tunnel entrance, recognizing season ticket holders since the beginning of the Buffalo Bills in 1960.  A favorite activity of his was the large selection of Christmas lights he displayed each year at his home.

Among the recognition and awards he received over the years included the two-time recipient of the Paul Harris Fellow Award, which is Rotary’s Club highest award, 2008 Humanitarian Award presented by the United Memorial Medical Center Foundation and the Jerome Foundation, 2006 Volunteer of the Year Award for the city of Batavia, Italian-American of the year awarded by the Batavia Downs and a similar award from the Paolo Busti Cultural Foundation, 1993 Geneseean of the Year and the Batavia Lions Club Italian American Award.

Surviving are his wife, Lois (Wagner) Gerace, of Batavia, whom  he married July 16, 1960; two sons, Robert J. Gerace  and  John P. (Rhonda Saulsbury) Gerace, both of Batavia; one daughter, Karen A. (Scott) Rowland, of Perry; one brother, Alfred J. (Patricia) Gerace of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and one sister, Theresa (late Joseph) Irrera, of Batavia. He is the grandfather of Ashley Gerace, Chelsea (Josh) Smith, Justin Gerace and Kirsten Rowland, Lindsey Rowland and David Rowland. Several nieces, nephews and cousins also survive. 

He is a brother of the late Louis Gerace and Sarah Bateman.

Family and friends may call on Saturday and Sunday from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Bohm-Calarco-Smith Funeral Home, 308 E. Main St., Batavia. The Knights of Columbus #325 will hold a prayer service on Sunday at 5 p.m. His Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. on Monday at Resurrection Parish -- St. Joseph’s Church, 303 E. Main St., Batavia. Burial with full military honors will be at St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Batavia.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Crossroads House, P.O. Box 403, Batavia, NY 14021 or online at http://crossroadshouse.com/donations, or to Genesee Cancer Assistance Inc., c/o United Memorial Medical Center, 127 North St., Batavia, NY 14020 or online at http://geneseecancerassistance.com/donate/or to the New York State Veterans Home, Attention: Activities Fund, 220 Richmond Ave., Batavia, NY 14020.

Please leave a condolence, share a story or light a candle at www.bataviafuneralhomes.com.

The Batavia HS choir plans on competing in a chorus competition in Washington, D.C., next year and they need to raise $50,000 to make the trip, so a novel fundraising idea they hit on is to sing Christmas carols for the community.

Local businesses can hire them to sing Christmas carols and other holiday songs on Dec. 19. The cost is $15 for two songs and $5 for each additional song.

The choir will also go to private homes on a date yet to be determined. The price is the same.

Director Jane Hagett said the group would also be happy to hear from service clubs, such as Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary or Zonta to sing at one of their gatherings in December.

The school's phone number is (585) 343-2480, ext. 2000.

Press release:

Tiffani Brown receives Outstanding Student Award. She was nominated by BMS teacher Sarah Gahagan, who wrote, Tiffani is an eighth-grade student who shows dedication, perseverance, dependability, and a positive attitude in everything she does. She is one of 19 original founders of the BMS Girls on the Run team, hasn’t missed a single session, and always arrives on time and prepared. She partakes in every race, volunteer activity, and community-sponsored Girls on the Run event. Tiffanie has become so much more confident over the course of three years and many of her teachers think it’s because of this club. She is a great role model to her peers for her positive attitude and has developed her natural talent of working with others.

Maria DiMartino receives Outstanding Employee Award. She was nominated by Assistant Principal Maureen Notaro, who wrote, Maria DiMartino is a very special person. She is a classroom aide, often helping some of our most difficult students, and she goes above and beyond to make every child successful in school. She develops close relationships with the students and also supports them emotionally. The Board and Middle School are very fortunate to have such a dedicated employee.

Muriel Burns receives Outstanding Community Member Award. She was nominated by Assistant Principal Maureen Notaro, who wrote, Recently, one of our students from BMS was walking in the rain, late to school, and with no coat. A woman pulled over and offered him her umbrella. She asked him where he went to school and he said Batavia Middle School. She called the school, spoke to Julie Tybor, and asked us to get his sizes. Ms. Tybor called her back after the counselor provided his sizes. The next day Mrs. Burns returned to school with a brand new coat, three pairs of gloves, a back pack, and a blanket. The next day she returned with boots, hats, and nearly a dozen pairs of socks for him. The smile on the child’s face was priceless. This child does not have it easy, and she truly made his day.

Superintendent of Schools Christopher Dailey was invited to become a member of the National Center for Education Research and Technology (NCERT), an organization comprised of a maximum of 85 prominent school district superintendents as well as select corporate leaders from education-related industries. NCERT’s goal is to network creative and innovative thinkers who are leaders in education with the leaders of the industries they depend upon for products and services, technology, and research. The group focuses on contemporary issues of interest to school districts.

School Board Recognition: In honor of NYS School Board Recognition Week (celebrated this year from Oct. 24-28), several District organizations made donations to local charities in the Board’s honor. The JK Parent Teacher Group made a $50 donation to the Michael Napoleone Foundation, the Jackson Home School Association made a $50 donation to United Way – Community Action, the Batavia Clerical Association made a $50 donation to the United Way for the BCSD Backpack Program for BCSD students, and the Batavia Teachers’ Association made a $200 donation to the Salvation Army’s Backpack Program for the BCSD students. The New York State School Boards Association sponsors School Board Recognition Week to recognize school board members for their commitment to New York public school children and the crucial role they have within a school district.

Photos by Kathy Scott.

Press release:

Batavia Middle School is hosting a Family and Community Night from 5-6:30 on Thursday, Nov. 17.  This year’s theme is “Warm the Night” and FREE hats, mittens and scarves will be distributed. Enjoy a FREE light supper of soup and bread with Timbits and coffee, courtesy of Tim Hortons.

There will also be a FREE bicycle raffle and you’ll also receive a FREE basket raffle ticket at the door, one raffle ticket for EVERY family member!

Prepare to be dazzled by former Harlem Globetrotter, Corey “The Dribbler.” Plus, the Batavia Police Department will be on hand to license bikes in the gym and give you a coupon for a FREE bike helmet from Adam Miller Toy and Bicycle.

Gain insight into the opportunities to learn how to support your child this year and help your children succeed. See you there!

Event Date and Time: 5-6:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 17.

The 15th Annual Wonderland of Trees Gala opens this Friday Nov. 18th at 7 p.m. at the Holland Land Office Museum at 131 W. Main St., Batavia.

Featuring decorated trees by local area businesses, food, music, a basket raffle and silent auction with proceeds to benefit the museum. The trees will be on display until Jan. 4.

The costs are $25 per ticket or $40 per couple. R.S.V.P. is required to attend. Tickets are available in person at the museum, by phone 585-343-4727 or online at www.dailynewstickets.com

Pictured above is the Batavia Business Professional Women's Club tree.

Batavia Girl Scouts Tree

Robin Weinstein is pictured with a menorah, "The Festival of Lights."

The ARC of Genesee Orleans tree

It's full steam ahead for academics at John Kennedy School, according to Principal Paul Kesler, who delivered a progress report to the Batavia City Schools board at Tuesday night's meeting.

On standardized testing, John Kennedy students are outpacing their peers in other districts, Kesler said.

Kesler completed a comparison of third- and fourth-grade students among 16 similar-sized cities and JK's third-graders have the highest English Language Arts scores and second highest in math. For fourth-graders, they rank third and fourth in ELA and math.

"As you can see from the pattern," Kesler said standing in front of a bar chart, "there's really a straight line year after year in terms of small cities."

The third-grade class is the first to pass through the district since the realignment of schools before their kindergarten year.

Kesler also compared JK results with the 22 other districts in the region and JK students are in the 80th percentile in ELA and 90th in math.

On another math test, 35 percent of the students tested at level 4, which Kesler said was impressive.

"I'm really proud of that because now it's no longer just our top A students who performing at that high level," Kesler said. "It's really all of our students are moving along."

Kesler, who is in his 12th year at the school, praised the work of the school's staff and thanked the district board for helping him recruit and hire talented teachers.

The school also undertook an aggressive STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts/design and math) curriculum this year and Kesler said it's going well so far.

There have been three STEAM sessions for the students and STEAM topics are being worked into other parts of the curriculum.

For example, students are going to read "Charlotte's Web" this year, so there will be corresponding instruction on insects and how spiders build their webs, which gets into engineering.

"It's exciting," he said. "When the kids get excited, I get excited."

As for the future, with the district now supplying each student with Chromebooks, there's no longer a need for a computer lab. The plan, Kesler said, is to turn the former computer lab into a STEAM lab and a maker space. It will be a paperless space, he said. For example, the desktops will be white boards, which students can use for their calculations. 

Frederich Welch, 57, and Doncella Loyd, 53, both of Rochester, are charged with criminal possession of stolen property, 5th. Welch and Loyd are accused of making several trips in and out of Kohl's, taking merchandise worth $719.91. Troopers stopped the vehicle in the Batavia Towne Center parking lot. Welch was jailed on $2,500 bail and Loyd was released under supervision of Genesee Justice.

Jonathan Dylan Jacob, 23, of Meadville Road, Alabama, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Jacob was arrested following a report of an incident in the Town of Alabama. During law enforcement contact, he was allegedly found in possession of marijuana.

James Rosie Thomas, 20, of 367 West St., Lake George, is charged with resisting arrest, escape and he was arrested on a warrant out of Elba. Thomas allegedly ran and resisted arrest when Deputy John Dehm attempted to take him into custody on a warrant at a location on South Main Street, Oakfield.

Tracy L. Miller, 32, of South Lake Road, Pembroke, is charged with grand larceny, 4th. Miller is accused of stealing a purse, which contained several debit and credit cards. 

Nicholas Price, 29, of Batavia, is charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs. Price was stopped by a trooper after a report of an erratic driver, including a witness reporting seeing the vehicle hit a mailbox and continue down the road. Price was stopped and administered a field sobriety test before being arrested. He was also charged with leaving the scene of a property damage accident and criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th.

Daniel Hinca, 21, of Alexander, is charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs and speeding. Hinca was stopped by State Police in Byron. A trooper administered a field sobriety test prior to his arrest. 

Joshua Taro, 38, of Auburn, is charged with petit larceny. Taro is accused of shoplifting from a store in Pembroke. He was jailed on $500 bail.

Brandi Heidenreich, 26, of Oakfield, is charged with petit larceny. Heidenreich was arrested by State Police for allegedly stealing items from Walmart worth $45.18.

The farm equipment of Massey-Harris, which ran a factory in Batavia for five decades, will be honored at the 51st Annual WNY Steam Show in Alexander next September and organizers are looking for information, photos and artifacts that help shed light on the work done at the Massey-Harris factory locally.

At the Harvester Center, the factory produced farm equipment for the Canada-based company, but there isn't easy-to-find information on what exactly was produced there.

Organizers are hoping there are local residents with direct knowledge or documentation about the work done at the factory.

The factory closed in 1958.

If you are able to help, email Kelly Rapone at the Genesee County Tourism Office, KRapone@GeneseeNY.com.

A Batavia man accused of threatening a police officer was supposed to be sentenced yesterday following his guilty plea last month, but when he appeared to before Interim Judge Micheal Pietruszka he confessed he really wasn't happy with his attorney or his plea deal.

He accused his attorney of withholding evidence from him prior to his plea, but as the discussion with Pietruszka went further, the main complaint of Bill Thomas was that Thomas heard his brother had told his attorney that he should take his case to trial.

There wasn't really new evidence, but Pietruszka went ahead and granted the 56-year-old Thomas a 10-day adjournment to find a new attorney.

Thomas was reportedly involved in a domestic dispute in March that resulted in several police officers and the emergency response team coming to his house on State Street where Thomas allegedly threatened a police officer with a knife. He was taken into custody without violence. 

Our news partner WBTA contributed to this report.

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Daniel James Skivington, 39, of Reed Road, Bergen, is charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, 4th. Skivington was contacted during an investigation into an alleged conservation violation. While at his residence, Skivington was found in possession of two rifles. Skivington has a prior criminal conviction. He was jailed on $1,000 bail. The Department of Environmental Conservation violation was investigated by DEC Officer Gary Wilson. Skivington was arrested by Deputy Ryan DeLong.

Edwin L. Stancliff, 37, of Indian Falls Road, Pembroke, is charged with criminal obstruction of breathing and harassment, 2nd. Stancliff was arrested following an investigation into an alleged domestic incident reported at 2:30 a.m., Sunday. He was jailed on $250 bail.

Andrew Enrique Montanez-Moran, 28, of High Street, Lockport, is charged with stalking, 4th. Montanez-Moran is accused of stalking a former girlfriend.

Devon Paul Leach, 22, of Main Street, Batavia, of unlawful possession of marijuana and passing a red light. Leach was stopped at 12:01 a.m. Sunday on South Lyon Street by Deputy Chris Parker. He was allegedly found in possession of a bag of marijuana in his pants' pocket.

David Allen Kemp, 38, of Creek Road, Batavia, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .18 or greater, no stopping/standing on a highway. Kemp was arrested following an investigation into a menacing complaint in the Village of Oakfield at 7:49 p.m., Sept. 24, by Deputy Robert Henning.

Richard Dean McKague Jr., 28, of West Main Street, Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd. McKague allegedly threw a coffee cup at another person during an argument.

Winners of City fire's annual fire safety poster contest were at the Fire Hall yesterday for their pizza party and tour and demonstrations of firefighting equipment.

The winners:

• Grade K-1: First Place, Lillian Clarke, Jackson Primary School, Mrs. Torrey/Mrs. Aquilio, 1st Grade; Second Place, Addison Horton, Jackson Primary School, Mrs. Nelson/Mrs. Aquilio, 1st Grade; Third Place, Natalie Battaglia, Jackson Primary School, Mrs. Amerine, Kindergarten;
• Grade 2-3: First Place, Xavian Cramer, John Kennedy, Mrs. Searls, 3rd Grade; Second Place, Gretchen Redder, John Kennedy, Mrs. Dobbertin, 3rd Grade; Third Place, Caitlyn Brinkman, John Kennedy, Ms. Gonyeau, 2nd Grade;
• Grade 4-5: First Place, Hailey Kirkpatrick, Batavia Middle School, Mrs. Schwenk, 5th Grade; Second Place, Hannah Fry, Batavia Middle School, Mrs. Schwenk, 5th Grade, Third Place, Ava Anderson, John Kennedy, Mrs. Restiva, 4th Grade.

Photo and info submitted by Batavia Fire Department.

Batavia got into a shootout Saturday night at Ralph Wilson Stadium against the Dunkirk Marauders and came up a bullet short, losing a fight to the finish 50-48.

Both teams scored seven touchdowns apiece, but Dunkirk made one more two-point conversion than the Blue Devils, and that made all the difference.

A win would have propelled Batavia into a chance at a state title, instead, their season is over.

"This is a great group of kids and I couldn't be more proud of them," said Head Coach Brennan Briggs after the overtime loss. "It didn't turn out the way we wanted, but once again, I'm proud of these guys. Ten and one is a great football season."

The game, in many ways, was a battle of two big-play backs, Batavia's Ray Leach and Dunkirk's Alton Ingram. Leach, a sophomore, came into the game just shy of a 1,000-yard season and Ingram had more than 1,100 yards rushing.

Saturday, Leach carried the ball 20 times for 224 yards and Ingram ran 33 times for 240 yards. Both backs scored four touchdowns each.

Coming into the game, Batavia knew Ingram would be a challenge.

"You’ve got to gang-tackle him," Briggs said. "You can’t arm tackle him. He’s a big kid. He runs hard. He makes you pay if you try to arm tackle him. He’s a good football player. I tip my cap off to him. I wish we could have done a little bit more to stop him but that’s football."

The sophomore Leach finished the season strong.

"He did a great job," Briggs said. "He busted the big plays. He made the runs. He made the plays he could have made. I look forward to having him for two more years. He did a great job. He’s hard to stop."

The game opened fast and never let up. A minute into the first quarter, Leach scored on a 59-yard run.

On Dunkirk's first play from scrimmage on its first possession, Dunkirk's QB Evon Hernandez connected on a 61-yard pass to Elwin Gomez.

In the battle of two-point conversions on these first two touchdowns, the Marauders came out on top, and led 8-6.

Before the end of the quarter, the two teams would combine for another four touchdowns and Dunkirk entered the second quarter with a 22-20 lead.

Jerry Reinhart and Chandler Baker also had big games for Batavia. 

Reinhart scored twice on the ground, part of his total of 131 yards on 14 carries, and tossed TD passes to Leach and Baker. He was 3-9 passing for 48 yards.

Baker gained 54 yards on seven carries and caught two passes for 37 yards.

Dunkirk came into the game as a big-score team, strong run game and some athletes who could move the ball. Briggs said he and his coaches knew they would be tough to stop.

"We knew we would probably have to outscore them," Briggs said. "It was a great game. We just didn’t come out on top."

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Members of the Batavia Ramparts and Notre Dame Ice Hockey were on hand today at Falleti Ice Arena so young children could give hockey a try.

The Try Hockey for Free event is held annually.

The  First Presbyterian Church hosted its 14th Annual Worldwide Christmas Fair today, featuring artisans and vendors selling locally made items.

The Zonta clubs of Batavia and Genesee County sponsored Holiday Festival today featuring artisans and vendors at Batavia Downs.

An accident with entrapment is reported at Downey Road and Galloway Road, Batavia.

Town of Batavia fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.

UPDATE 2:40 p.m.: Two people transported to the hospital.