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Flying truck tire smashes into oncoming car on Route 33

By Howard B. Owens

The driver of a small passenger car was unhurt after the tire of an oncoming semi-truck flew off the wheel and was hurled into her front windshield.

I happened upon the accident driving into Batavia this morning.

The incident was on Route 33 north of Ivison Road.

The driver the car was suffered a minor cut, according to an official on scene, but she declined an interview request. She appeared pretty shaken up.

We'll have a short video from the scene soon.

Batavia Area Jaycees 56th Annual Home Garden & Trade Show

By Melissa George

The Batavia Area Jaycees are proud to announce the 56th Annual Home Garden and Trade Show is going to be held on March 20-22 at the Batavia Downs!

We are still looking for vendors for this event!  All booth prices will be $279!!!! 

Weekend Passes have been slashed to $1

For contract details visit: www.geneseeny.com/bataviajaycees and click on the home show link! 

Show hours are:
March 20 (Friday) from 5-9pm
March 21 (Saturday) from 10am - 7pm 
March 22 (Sunday) from noon - 4pm

If you have any questions, please contact us at 585-343-5775 or email at info@bataviajcs.org

 

HS girls highlights for Wednesday

By Brian Hillabush

Nichole Hart and Liz Geandreau had big games in Monday's win over Pavilion and duo continued its hot play in a 61-49 win over Lyndonville Wednesday.

Hart dropped in 18 points and Geandreau had a double-dobule, scoring 12 points while pulling down 10 rebounds.

Brittany Morelli also scored 12 points for the Fighting Irish (13-3) and Trisha Pike added seven points.

Ashleigh Mahoke scored 12 points and Taylor Hrovat added 11 points for the Tigers (7-9). 

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Anna Dominick and Anni Lehtola split up the scoring duties in Alexander's 53-30 win over Holley.

Each scored 14 points to lead the Trojans, who improve to 10-4 and hold on to the top spot in Class C.

Rachel Pettys had a solid all-around game with seven points, six rebounds, eight steals and four assists.

Julie Brooks had 14 points and Emily Troupe added 12 for the Hawks (5-10).

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As always, Elba spread the scoring around and picked up a victory. The Lancers were actually outscored 12-4 in the first quarter, but had a 20-7 run in the second and never looked back in picking up a 51-33 win over Kendall.

Meg Stucko led the Lancers with eight points and 13 rebounds with Katie Newton scoring seven points and Sarah Schwartzmeyer and Racheal Cook getting six points apiece.

Meghan Fahy led the Eagles (5-10) with 10 points.

The Lancers improve to 14-2.

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Nicole Sharick scored a game-high 13 points to lead Pembroke to a 43-31 win over Attica.

Laura Moser pitched in eight points, six rebounds and two steals as the Dragons improve to 9-7.

Jackie Algier and Margaret LaFleur had eight points apiece for the Blue Devils.

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Le Roy falls to 1-15 after Geneseo outscored the Oatkan Knights 15-0 in the first period and cruised to a 40-31 victory.

Allison Macomber had 13 points with 12 rebounds to lead Le Roy, with Jenna Merica scoring eight points and Megan Lowe grabbing 13 boards with five assists. 

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Byron-Bergen and Oakfield-Alabama evened up records as the Bees walked into Oakfield and left with a 43-40 win.

Both squads are now 8-8.

HS boys highlights for Wednesday

By Brian Hillabush

In the spotlight match in all of Section 5 today, Greece Olympia's John Veltre upped his season record to 49-0 with a pin over Batavia's Ryan Darch in 3:12 at 160 pounds.

Olympia went on to win the dual meet at Batavia 35-21.

Anthony D'Aurizio pinned Zack Beauregard in just 1:02 for the Blue Devils with Josh Mase getting a tech fall victory over D.J. Bentley in 5:30 at 103.

Troy Ireland also had a win for Batavia (18-6).

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Jordan Kiessling picked up his 100th career win as Byron-Bergen beat Alexander 58-24.

The 171-pounder topped Dustin Say 11-1 in leading the Bees.

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Kendall's Devin Iqbal had a quick pin to lead Kendall to a 48-39 win over Pembroke.

Iqbal pinned Dean Culinan in just 37 seconds at 96 pounds.

Elba and Notre Dame get a bump in Class D state rankings

By Brian Hillabush

 Both Elba and Notre Dame got small bumps in the NYSSWA girls polls for Class D this week.

The Lancers are 13-2 and jump from No. 9 in the state to No. 7 while the Fighting Irish are 12-3 and move up from No. 20 to No. 19.

Jasper-Troupsburg is 16-1 and ranked ninth.

It appears those three squads will be fighting for the Class DD championship as they are top three seeds.

Both Elba and Notre Dame have games tonight and we will have scores as soon as possible.

Notre Dame and Oakfield-Alabama have GR titles pretty much wrapped up

By Brian Hillabush

It appears that Oakfield-Alabama and Notre Dame have the regular season titles wrapped up when you look at the standings and schedule of remaining games. 

I am going by what is on the Section 5 Web site and there may be make-up games I don't know about, but as of this point I think Oakfield-Alabama has won Division I and Notre Dame is the Division II champion.

The Fighting Irish are 12-3 and have a five games left to play. The only team in striking distance is Elba at 8-7. Elba has just four games left, including one against Notre Dame. So if my math is correct, Notre Dame has clinched the Division II title.

Oakfield-Alabama (13-2) has a four game lead over Pembroke (9-6) with four regular season games left on the schedule, with one of them being against the Dragons on February 11.

Pembroke has four games left, so that the Dragons still have a little bit of chance to sneak in there.

It will be interesting to watch and see if Notre Dame or Oakfield-Alabama finished with the overall GR title, with just a game between the two.

The Genesee Region League will also be hosting the Niagara-Orleans League in a tournament between the two leagues at Genesee Community College on Feb. 13 and 14.

 

Oakfield-Alabama back in the state rankings

By Brian Hillabush

 The new state rankings were just released and Oakfield-Alabama is back in the top 15 for Class C.

The Hornets (13-2) were in the top 15, but dropped out last week. They are back in the state rankings at No. 13 this week.

Batavia had dipped down into a tie for 25th last week but move up to No. 23 this week in Class A.

Notre Dame did not move up or down, remaining at No. 9 in Class D.

Meet the NEW Intern!

By Tasia Boland

Hi everyone! My name is Tasia and I currently live in Batavia. I am an undergraduate  student at SUNY Brockport majoring in journalism. For the next four months I am going to be doing an internship with The Batavian and am very excited to get to know the community better.

 I enjoy spending time with my husband and my puppy, Jake. I love being outdoors and can not wait for summer time. I hope to have a novel published someday and I am always jotting things down in a notebook.

I am excited to cover the area's school districts and be an active positive voice in our community.

HS boys highlights for Tuesday

By Brian Hillabush

Andrew Wright is heating up at the right time for the Pembroke basketball team, and that could be huge as the season wraps up and sectionals begins.

Wright won Player of the Week for last week and is already making a statement for this week, with 28 points and 10 rebounds in a 68-38 blowout over Attica on the road.

Big man Ken Babcock pitched in 16 points and nine rebounds while Steve Moser added 11 points with five steals.

The Dragons also played some solid defense, holding the Blue Devils (7-8) to just one player in double figures as Tate Westermeier scored 10 points.

Bryan Thompson had nine points and Greg Zybczynski had eight for Attica.

Pembroke is now 9-6. 

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Noah Seward was big in the paint in leading Oakfield-Alabama to a 65-43 win over Byron-Bergen.

Seward scored 14 points with 11 boards and four blocked shots.

Brad Riner scored eight points with 10 dimes and four steals with Tyler Tamblin scoring 10 points and Sam McCracken adding eight for the Hornets (13-2).

Tyler Sass led the Bees (3-11) with nine points and four boards.

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Elba held Kendall's Josh Laureano to just 12 points, but two of those came in the final minute to wrap up a 44-37 win over the Lancers.

Phil Kludt and Colt Tooley had 13 points apiece to lead the Eagles, who improve to 9-5.

Sonny Giuliano had 13 points with Dan Ramsey adding 12 to lead the Lancers.

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Kevin Francis scored 20 points and Greg Barr added 16 as Notre Dame thrashed Lyndonville 80-58.

Pretty much all of the scoring came from three players as Erick VanWycke had 17 points, Ken Urbanik had 16 and Muhammad Akram finished with 12.

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Mike Humphrey dropped in 23 points to lead Le Roy to a 60-42 win over Geneseo.

Eric Stella had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Brock Pasquale added eight for the Oatkan Knights.

Dylan Colville scored 22 points for Geneseo.

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Kyle Woodruff went off for the Alexander basketball team, scoring 30 points with 10 rebounds in a 65-62 win over Holley.

Stephen George had 13 points and Jared Quinn added 10.

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The Batavia hockey team gave up two goals to Chris Roeder and one to Anthony Mandrino, Vince Pettrone in a 5-2 loss.

Corey Kocent scored both Batavia goals. Adam Kurek had 17 saves for the Blue Dvils (12-7-1).

Victor is 12-7-2.

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Jeff Wadhams scored his third goal to complete a hat-trick late in the third period in leading Geneva/Waterloo to a 5-3 win over the Notre Dame hockey team.

Dylan Versage, Brett Perfitt and Jason Harasimowicz had a goal each for Notre Dame (6-8-1).

Pembroke boys and girls win final home meet of the year

By Brian Hillabush

Sue Fleming of Pembroke submitted these results from the final Pembroke home swim meet of the season, a make-up with Notre Dame. The Dragons won both the boys and girls meet. The first photo is of the team continuing the tradition of throwing coach Tripp into the pool. Fellow coach Dave Seward followed at his own will. They do this every year in the final meet of the season. 
The second photo is of her son Chris winning the 100 freestyle.
 
 
Pembroke Girls 54        NotreDame Girls 40
Pembroke Boys 57        Notre dame Boys 39
 
 
200 girls free style- 2nd place Samantha Grodem 2:16:77 pembroke
200 boys Free Style- 1st place Tyler scoins 2:09:87  pembroke
                        2nd place Nick Barth 2:10:24 pembroke
 
200 boys Im          2nd place Shelby O'Neil  2:32:98  pembroke
100 girls free style   2nd place Samantha Grodem 27.75 pembroke
50 boys free          1st place Adam Swereniak  24:75 pembroke
50 boys free 2nd heat 1st place Luke Thomas   28:12 pembroke
100 girls butterfly 2nd place Alexandria Wilson 1:22:49 pembroke
100 boys free style    1st place Chris Fleming 57:13 pembroke
                          2nd place Tyler Scoins 1:10:46 pembroke
100 girls free style   1st place leah Gass 1:19:97  
                        2nd place Melanie Mercurio 1:27:03 both pembroke
Boys 100 backstroke  1st place Dylan Pratt 1:05:32
                                          2nd place Chris Fleming 1:05.72 both pembroke
 
 
 
 
At The Batavian we are interested in all the local sports information from youth to high school to bowling. Please contact brian (at) thebatavian (dot) com to submit results or get information on how to get your team and league coverage.

State wrestling rankings for the week

By Brian Hillabush

 The Batavia wrestling team jumped up a spot in this week's NYSSWA polls.

An impressive showing at the Monroe County Championships, that included four wrestlers in the finals, must be the reason why. The Blue Devils (18-5) moved up from No. 18 to No. 17.

Attica dipped from No. 19 to No. 23 and has an 18-11 record. Holley (19-5) fell from No. 29 to No. 32.

Five area hoopsters earn Player of the Week honors

By Brian Hillabush

Andrew Hoy had a huge week and earned Player of the Week for Monroe County Division III.

He was the leading scorer in both Batavia games last week. Hoy dropped in 24 points in a 75-69 win over Pittsford Mendon, then had 26 in a 67-62 victory over Penfield on Saturday.

Andrew Wright of Pembroke won the award for Genesee Region League Division I. He scored 18 points and had seven rebounds in a win Wheatland-Chili and had 18 points, with eight rebounds and two assists in a victory over Eden. 

Elba's Sonny Giuliano is the Player of the Week for GR Division II because of his performance in a win over Holley. Giuliano had a triple-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in the game.

Oakfield-Alabama's Lindsay Chatt had a career-high 18 points and four steals in a victory over Lyndonville this week to earn the girls honor for Genesee Region League Division I.

Kendall's Samanthat D'Agostino hit three points and scored 15 points against Attica and then scored six points in overtime, for a total of 16, to beat Byron-Bergen. She earned the honor for GR Division II.

Did you know what you were getting into Super Bowl Sunday when you saw the Denny's Ad?

By Lori Ann Santini

     I will keep this short and to the point. My hats off to the staff at Denny's Restaurant  in Batavia today.  I could not believe how well they survived the overwhelming crowd that formed early this morning and continued through the day.

     One of the ads for the Super Bowl announced that between 6am and 2pm you could receive a free Grand Slam Breakfast meal at Dennys.  After searching the internet to confirm this, I decided that I would give it a try. I loaded up my two toddlers and headed out.

     When we arrived at Dennys I thought for sure that I had made a mistake. The lot was full. Total strangers were helping to direct traffic. The waiting area was full to beyond capacity. The crowd was calm and patient. The staff took names and the number of people in the party. We waited about an hour. I didn't think that was too bad for the crowd. The staff was better then some fine quality restaurants I have eaten in.

     Thank you to my waitress Lori, The busboy that would play peekaboo with my son,  the lovely Mom/Son (Sue) group that ate with us, and everyone in the kitchen. I applaud the job very well done.

     By the way, we did not know Sue and her son when we entered Denny's. I offered to have a couple join us in order to make room for another group at another table. It was a great experience. It was a delight for my kids to have someone elses attention for awhile too. Thank you.

Updates on local stars at Keuka

By Brian Hillabush

 Missy Thurston was known for her defense when she played at Batavia High. She's definitely brought that to the Keuka women's basketball team.

The Storm won its sixth game in a row, including two over the weekend.

Keuka beat Penn State-Berks 61-46 on Saturday and Penn State-Harrisburg 71-38 on Sunday.

Thurston had five steals and 10 points on Saturday while scoring 14 points with three steals on Sunday.

She also had a total of 12 rebounds and seven assists over the weekend.

Thurston has started all 15 games for the Storm, which has improved to 8-7 because of the win streak. It is the first time the team has been above .500 all season long.

She is averaging 8.1 points and 4.8 rebounds. She leads the team with with 57 steals - more than double the player that is second on the team - and is second on the squad with 30 assists.

The men's team is 7-8 but has two locals in Attica's Rob Crowley and Elba's Ian Woodworth.

Crowley, a junior, has played in 11 points and is averaging 4.6 points and 1.2 rebounds per game. He also has five assists and six steals on the season.

Woodworth, a freshman forward, has played in just four games and is averaging .5 points per game.

Some highlights from the GR swim meet this past Saturday

By Brian Hillabush

Whealtand-Chili's Nick Westrich was the boys swimmer of the meet and Notre Dame's Lucy Norton was the girls swimmer of the meet at Saturday's Genesee Region League Championships at Gates-Chili.

Norton (100 freestyle, 100 backstroke) was a double winner and Westrich (200 IM, 100 breaststroke, 400 freestyle relay, 200 medley relay)  was a quadruple winner. 

Westrich set meet records in the IM and with the 400 free relay.

Byron-Bergen's Baxter Ritsema (200 freestyle, 500 freestyle) was a double-winner for the boys and ND's Haley Alexander (200 IM, 100 breaststroke) was a double-winner for the girls.

Tyler Scoines won the 200 freestyle for Pembroke while in the last event of the meet Dylan Pratt, Ethan Burns, Chris Fleming and Adam Sewerniak won the 400 free relay, setting a school record time of 3:35. 

Wheatland-Chili finished first in the boys competition with a two point win over Pembroke.

Harley-Allendale-Columbia was the winner in the girls competition, beating out Byron-Bergen by two points.

 

(Thanks to Sue Fleming for the photo of the Pembroke relay team and result information.)

News roundup: City school board cuts a half million from budget

By Philip Anselmo

After slimming the budget by a half million dollars last night, the Batavia City School Board has already cut the proposed property tax increase from 23 to 16 percent, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. City Schools Superintendent Margaret Puzio told Fischer that she hopes an offer of early retirement option to three labor unions could help stave off any outright layoffs of teachers or staff. Puzio also hopes and expects to further reduce the tax increase. Visit the WBTA Web site to hear her comments on that.

Batavia city schools are closed today for Superintendent's Conference Day. Also, LeRoy BOCES school is closed today due to a water main break.

Michael Napoleone Memorial Foundation is making a difference

By Brian Hillabush

When Michael Napoleone was diagnosed with Burkitt's Lymphoma/Leukemia, he wasn't going to give in without a fight.

The child fought the disease, and was as strong and positive as any eight year old kid would be in the situation.

But, he couldn't fight anymore and wound up passing away from the cancer on December 30.

Michael played youth baseball and football before becoming ill. He was also a big Notre Dame fan and was able to visit the University of Notre Dame three months before his passing.

While Michael was fighting the disease, the Batavia community rallied and helped the family out. The Napoleone's were struggling to to pay for food, gas and medical bills.

They appreciated what the community was doing for them.

After Michael's death, parents Michael and Laurie founded the Michael Napoleone Memorial Foundation, with the hopes of raising money to help fight childhood cancer.

At Monday night's game between Pavilion and Notre Dame, there was t-shirts and hats as well as raffle tickets for sale to raise money. The game was called "The Michael Napoleone Foundation Cancer Awareness Girls Basketball Game" and both Pavilion and Notre Dame's team was wearing shirts to support the cause.

Dave Pero is Michael's uncle and got together with Pavilion coach Verne Brooks to work out the details of setting up the fundraising game.

The Pavilion girls wore t-shirts that said "Gopher a cure", which plays off the Golden Gophers mascot. Notre Dame's shirts said "Irish for a cure".

The Foundation started small but with the support of the community has grown to be pretty big and is helping a lot of people out. Money has been raised by countless donations and fundraisers. 

At last count, 63 families have been helped out by the foundation in just over a year.

The Foundation also purchased the scoreboard at Lyons Park in Michael's memory, after youth football was banished from Dwyer Stadium.

The big one is donating $5,000 to the Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong Memorial. That money went towards purchasing a machine that analyzes cells. A test like that used to take the hospital a week, and now it can be finished within a day.

The Foundation has also made large donations to United Memorial Medical Center and Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

If you are interested in donating to the charity you can e-mail the Foundation at michaelnapoleonememfoundation1@verizon.net.

 

Notre Dame girls get revenge on Pavilion

By Brian Hillabush

Pavilion beat Notre Dame 40-36 in the Rotary Club Tournament earlier this season. But the Fighting Irish got revenge Monday night, picking up a tight 45-43 home victory.

Nichole Hart and Liz Geandreau were the heroes in picking up this win as Hart poured in 18 points - including four 3-pointers - and Geandreau had nine points, but grabbed 15 rebounds.

The 15 boards was an astonishing number as Pavilion's Marcy Ethington is a force in the paint.

The game was tight throughout as the Fighting Irish had a 27-23 lead at halftime and was up 35-32 after three periods of play.

But the Golden Gophers had no quit in them as they opened the fourth quarter with Amie Brooks dropping in a pair of free throws and making it a 1-point game.

Geandreau had a bucket for Notre Dame and after a turnover,  Brooks made a steal and scored to make it 37-36.

The Fighting Irish then took an eight point lead with Hart scoring five points and Geandreau adding a basket to make it 44-36 with a few minutes left in the game.

Ethington scored, Danielle Tallo hit a 3-pointer and Brooks scored to make the score 44-43 with a minute remaining.

Geandreau got to the line and hit 1-of-2 foul shots.

The Golden Gophers (10-6) had a few decent looks, but wound up having to foul as the clock ran out. Brooks scored 16 points and Ethington added 10.

Jayvee call-up Carly Pike had six points to go with Hart's 18 and Geandreau's nine. The Fighting Irish are now 12-3.

Sunnys offers to honor unused South Beach gift certificates

By Howard B. Owens

Tina Rose, co-owner of Sunnys Restaurant in the Genesee Country Mall, left a comment on The Batavian about an hour ago offering to honor unused gift certificates from South Beach, which was shuttered Sunday.

Long time Batavia Restaurant Owners comes to aid:

Local family owned Sunnys Restaurant in the Batavia City Centre is stepping in to honor Gift Certificates.
Anyone who has purchased or received a Southbeach Gift Cert.- Sunnys owners Michael and Tina Rose will honor at their Restaurant. In these tough economic times no one wants or can afford to lose money. Simply give us a call at 343-4578 or stop in.

*some restrictions may apply*

That's a generous offer, but also smart business.

UPDATE: Cori Majors from Center Street Smokehouse says gift certificates may also be redeemed there, and there may be job openings.

Colleen Odessa, sales manager for Alex's Place, also said certicates can be redeemed there as well.

Batavia Consolidation Plan gets its own Web site

By Philip Anselmo

City and town of Batavia officials announced today that a Web site will be launched by the end of the week devoted to the consolidation plan right now being put together for the municipalities. We've included most of the text from that press release below. We also received a "Consolidation Plan Process Flow Chart" that details the process for approving the potential consolidation.

Noting that the "topic of consolidation has generated tremendous interest in Batavia in recent weeks," Town Supervisor Greg Post and City Council President Charlie Mallow today issued a joint statement endorsing the work of the joint consolidation planning committee. They also announced that by the end of the week the City and Town websites will have links to a special "Batavia Consolidation Plan" website so that area residents can stay informed about the planning process.

Mallow and Post pointed out that the actual work of developing the plan is the responsibility of the seven-member City/Town Consolidation Study Committee that is working with the Center for Governmental Research (CGR), a nonprofit consulting group based in Rochester. "We were both please with its decision — one recently endorsed by our respective boards — to move from a 'study' to a 'plan,'" they said.

Post added, "I'm a believer in smaller government and I'm action-oriented. This community does not need a study that sits on a shelf. It needs a plan so that Town voters have the choice of saying yes or no."

Mallow said, "I'm a firm believer in consolidating the City and Town, because there are so many benefits for our community going forward. Consolidation will positively impact every generation that comes after us."

They pointed out that the Committee will develop a report of model options for the combined community by June 1. The Committee will then hold community forums for the public to provide input in June and July. Based on the input, the Committee will develop a draft plan to present to the City Council and Town Board in early August. Assuming City Council and Town Board approve, a consolidation plan will be presented to City and Town voters at the November 3 election.

Please click here to download the full press release.

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