batavia

A man stopped to drop something off at a residence on Liberty Street, left the motor running in his car, and when he came out of the house, he told police, the car was gone.

The car is described as a black Oldsmobile Alero.

It's unknown what direction of travel the thief took the car.

A police officer is responding to the scene now.

UPDATE 5:45 p.m.: If I heard correctly, the car was located unoccupied.

A Conesus man who thought he was coming to Batavia meet a 15-year-old boy for sex will spend 10 years in prison and 25 years on supervised release.

Dalton E. Wilke, 46, who previously entered a guilty plea to online enticement of a minor, receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography, was sentenced Tuesday in a Rochester federal court.

Wilke was arrested in Batavia in August 2008 by federal agents and officers of the Batavia Police Department. Det. Todd Crossett helped lead the investigation by posing as a 15-year-old boy in online chats.

In addition to the prison term, Wilke was fined $2,500 and ordered to forfeit his GMC Sierra pickup truck that he drove to Batavia.

Following his arrest, agents seized Wilke's home computers and the computers were analyzed by the Regional Computer Forensic Lab linked them to the online enticement. A 48-minute video depicting two young boys engaged in sexually explicit conduct was also recovered.

The developer of a proposed housing project in the Stringham Drive area of Batavia is misleading the public, according to a letter written by the director of the Batavia Housing Authority.

Gregory Langen sent a letter to Town of Batavia Supervisor Greg Post on March 8 and blasted Chatham & Nathaniel Development Corp. for not being completely upfront about planning a low-income housing project.

The letter includes a resolution passed by the BHA board of directors opposing the project.

Chatham & Nathaniel have been pushing for approval of a 19-home development that they have claimed will be open to all buyers, not just qualified low-income residents. They've tried to leave the impression that taxpayers won't foot the bill for the development.

In fact, according to Langen, a letter from Chatham & Nathaniel soliciting support from PathStone (the local Section 8 administrator), says preference in selection of tenants for 100 percent of the units will be low-income.

The project, Langen wrote, will be funded through $3.5 million in low-income housing tax credits, $2.4 million in New York State Home Funds and $158,000 in deferred developer fees.

"I believe this contradicts the public testimony of the developers that the project would be funded through private conventional financing," Langen writes. "In fact, this is to be a publicly financed project in the form of tax credits."

Because of New York low-income property tax rules, according to Langen, local taxpayers will also help subsidize each home occupied by a low-income family.

All of this, Langen wrote, at a time when there is simply no demand for more low-income housing in Batavia, especially for family housing of this magnitude.

BHA has no appreciable waiting list, and there is no unmet demand for low-income family housing.

"Rather than make low-income residents move to Batavia from other communities in order to be housed (and transferring that burden to the local Department of Social Services), it would make more sense to construct the subsidized housing in the communities where there is a current unmet need," Langen wrote.

Langen is also critical for a Chatham & Nathaniel reference to providing low-income housing for veterans.

"I question the need for yet another housing program for homeless veterans in Batavia when the VA is opening its own," Langen wrote. "The needs assessment identified 17 homeless veterans served in Rochester and Buffalo but does not identify the number, if any, in Batavia. While the BHA is proud to serve veterans in all of our facilities, we are aware of only one homeless veteran applicant in many years. That person was only considered homeless as a result of a pending divorce and his wife asking him to move. The BHA housed him successfully."

BHA currently operates 49 low-income units of three and four bedrooms.  Langen said all of them -- in the north, south and east sections of Batavia -- are clean and maintenance requests are completed in one day.

"There are many communities where there are long waiting lists of publicly subsidized housing," Langen wrote. "Low-income housing tax credits should be invested in those communities."

Here's three photos from my travels around the county this afternoon. Top, Peaviner Road, Alexander.

An irrigation system on East Road, Batavia.

A barn/shed on Buckley Road, Stafford.

George and Barb Galliford of Batavia own some property on the banks of the Tonawanda Creek along South Main Road and are planning a new house there. It will be a BOCES project starting in September, but the timber needs to be cleared from the land. This morning, two Amish men from Fillmore were harvesting the trees using their horse-drawn carriage to haul the logs up the bank to the side of the road. (Thanks to an alert reader for letting us know.)

Here's a news release sent today from Genesee Community College.

The Presidential Search Advisory Committee today named four finalist candidates for the Genesee presidency.

They are:

(1) Brent E. Betit is currently executive vice president and provost of Landmark College in Vermont. He has held various positions at Landmark since 1995. He has also owned and managed his own businesses.

Betit has a bachelor's degree in English Language and Literature from Dartmouth and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Change from Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, Calif. He will visit campus on Monday, March 21.

(2) Ronald G. Cantor is currently sssociate vice president and dean at Mohawk Valley Community College in Central New York where he has been since 2004. Previously he was associate dean for Liberal Arts at Jefferson Community College. He has held other positions in various institutions.

Cantor has a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of New Hampshire, an M.Ed. from the University of Nebraska, and a Ph.D. in Cultural Foundations of Education/History from Syracuse University. He will visit campus on Thursday, March 24.

(3) Natalie J. Harder has been vice president of Institutional Advancement and executive director of the Patrick Henry Community College Foundation in Virginia since 2006. Previously she was executive director of the Erie Community College Foundation and was associated with the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.

She has a bachelor's degree in Economics from SUNY Buffalo, an M.S. in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Ph.D. in Community College Leadership from Old Dominion University. She will visit campus on Tuesday, March 22.

(4) James M. Sunser is vice president for Continuing and Extended Learning at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse. Previously he was vice president of Finance at Onondaga where he has been since 1989.

He was associate bursar at Syracuse University from 1985 to 1989. Sunser has an A.A.S. from Onondaga Community College, a bachelor's degree in Communications from Syracuse University, an M.S. from SUNY Brockport, and an Ed.D. from the University of Rochester. He will visit campus on Friday, March 25.

These finalist selections mean that the search for Genesee's fourth president is nearing a close.

The new president will replace Stuart Steiner, Ed.D, who will retire at the close of the current academic year. He has served as Genesee Community College president since 1975. He arrived at Genesee prior to the opening of the college in 1967 as dean of students. He later served as dean of instruction/executive dean of the college. He is believed to be the second-longest serving community college president in the United States.

An 11-member Presidential Search Advisory Committee conducted a national search last fall that produced a roster of 42 prospective candidates for the position. After reviewing the qualifications and experience of the candidates, the committee identified 13 candidates for intensive review, including detailed reference checks. The committee then conducted confidential interviews with eight of the candidates, from which the four finalists emerged.

Members of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee include: Diane D. Torcello, secretary of the Genesee Community College Board of Trustees and search committee chair; Michael A. Crittenden, professor of Physics; Norbert J. Fuest, human resources manager, Morton International, Inc.; Norman R. Gayford, professor of English; Ada K. Grabowski, retired superintendent of schools, Albion Central School District; Laurie J. Miller, trustee; Glenn R. Morton, trustee; Lori A. Mould, student trustee; Michael S. Stoll, associate vice president for Academic Affairs/dean of Math, Science and Career Education; Raymond J. Strzelecki, building maintenance supervisor; and Charles N. Zambito, Genesee County attorney.

Ex-officio (non-voting) members include Robert J. Bausch, Genesee County legislator and liaison to the board of trustees and Charles R. Ruffino, chair of the board of trustees. Aimee Bernstein and Denise Bukovan of the State University of New York assisted the search committee.

When the four finalists visit the college the week of March 21, each candidate spending a full day on campus, meeting faculty, staff, community residents and members of the board of trustees. The board of trustees hopes to name Genesee's fourth president shortly after the visits.

Search committee Chair Torcello said the committee was pleased by the number and quality of candidates for the position.

"We searched across the nation to identify candidates we believe will best embrace the traditions and values of Genesee Community College," she said. "We believe that our four finalists represent the top tier of emerging community college leaders in the United States, and we believe that each of these four candidates would be an outstanding president.

"We believe our next president will build on Dr. Steiner's extraordinary legacy, and lead Genesee Community College in meeting the new and exciting challenges of the decades ahead."

While out on South Main Road, Batavia, this morning, I spotted a mom with her foal at the stables out that way.

Wade D. Godlove, 47, of 5733 Horseshoe Lake Road, Stafford, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, leaving the scene of a property damage accident and moving from lane unsafely. Godlove was allegedly observed by Deputy Howard Carlson at 1:44 a.m., Friday, driving through the front yards of houses on Seven Springs Road, knocking down mailboxes, a street sign and a fire hydrant. Godlove's car eventually returned to the roadway, according to Carlson's report, and continued on Seven Springs to Route 5. Godlove was stopped by Carlson on Route 5 near Fargo Road.

Bernard Lee  Evans, 40, of 12 Myrtle St., Le Roy, is charged with grand larceny. Evans is accused of stealing a car from a person he knew. The vehicle was recovered. Evans was jailed on $1,000 bail.

Jodi Mae Coe, 35, of Batavia-Oakfield Townline Road, Batavia, is charged with criminal possession of stolen property, 5th. Coe is accused of pawning stolen property at the Pawn King on Veterans Memorial Drive.

Javier Eduardo Ocana-Reyes, 30, no address listed, is charged with illegal entry. Ocana-Reyes was turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Estaban Mata Martinez, 30, no address lsited, is charged with illegal entry. Martinez was turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Theodore P. Boylan, 18, of 32 Elm St. Le Roy, is charged with criminal nuisance, 2nd. Boylan is accused of hosting an underage drinking party Saturday at his residence.

David Tran, center, was named Town of Batavia's Firefighter of the Year at the fire department's annual awards and officer installation banquet Saturday night at the fire hall on Lewiston Road.

Left is Robert Hunt, outgoing chief, and right is Randy McIntire, the new chief.

Colleen McIntire received the President's Award.

In 2010, the department responded to 289 alarms. The top five responders were Robert Mullen (208), Nate Fix (195), Dave Tran (191), Joe Avino (176) and Ben Fisher (158).

Published pictures are available for purchase by clicking here.

More pictures after the jump:

Steve Mullen, 20-year member of the department and sergeant in the Genesee County Sheriff's Office, was master of ceremonies.

Assemblyman Steve Hawley swore in the 2011 officers.

Charter Member Earl Dorman was honored for his 63 years of service and support of the department.

Robert Tripp receives a corporate award from VP Steve Coburn.

Baseball, believe it or not, is just around the corner, and right on schedule, the booster club for the Batavia Muckdogs hosted its annual hot stove dinner and auction at the Batavia Party House.

More than 200 people were on hand for dinner and both a silent auction and a live auction with auctioneer Todd Jantzi of Bontrager's (below).

The booster club presented a donation to the Michael Napoleone Foundation. Above, accepting the check from Shirley Fanara, right, are Laurie Napoleone, center, and Ann Marie Suttell, president of the foundation.

More pictures after the jump:

Travis Sick, Muckdogs general manager.

Brian Paris, president of the ownership group.

"Have a Heart, Save a Heart” benefit for Bridget (Vogt) Lynch will be held from 6 p.m. to midnight today at Batavia Downs, 8315 Park Road, Batavia.

There will be a chicken barbecue, Chinese auction, raffles and live music from Red Creek, Savage Cabbage and Damaged.

Tickets are $20 and include $5 of free play at the Downs.

BOCES' Health Dimensions will calculate your blood pressure for a $1 donation and $5 haircuts from cosmetology students are also available.

Bridget was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. She has had two open heart surgeries so far, one at 7 days old and the other at 5 months old.

She's now 4 and will be undergoing her third, and hopefully last, surgery around this month or next. All benefit proceeds will be be used to help cover the expenses of Bridget’s care.

To make donations, questions or to buy tickets, call Chelsey (Lynch) Mills at  297-4768 or email Chelsey_1026@yahoo.com or call  A. Morelli at 813-1476.

Raymond Gandolfo, 38, of Massachusetts Street, Buffalo, is charged with three counts of identity theft, three counts of forgery, criminal possession of stolen property, 4th, and grand larceny, 4th. Gandolfo is accused of using a stolen credit card between 10:13 a.m. and 10:35 a.m., Sept. 25, to purchase merchandise at three separate stores on Veterans Memorial Drive, Batavia. The total value exceeded $1,000.Gandolfo was arraigned in Town of Batavia Court and returned to the Erie County Holding Center without bail.

Francis N. Shiltz, 69, of Alleghany Road, Strykerville, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and unsafe backing. Shiltz was allegedly involved in a two-car property damage accident at 6:49 p.m., Thursday, at the Rez Smokeshop.

Arturo Vasquez-Armas, 41, of 2336 Judge Road, Oakfield, is charged with offering a false instrument for filing,1st, and criminal possession of a forged instrument, 3rd. Vasquez-Armas allegedly possessed a forged Social Security card while attempting to obtain a NYS non-driver ID at the Genesee County DMV office. Vasquez-Armas was jailed without bail.

Timothy Alan Duboy, 19, of Wethersfield Road, Warsaw, is charged with forcible touching. Duboy is accused of forcibly touching the intimate parts of another person. The alleged incident occurred at College Village on Jan. 25.

The local sports world and many members of the Genesee County community mourn today after hearing of the unexpected passing of popular sportswriter, Brian Hillabush.

Hillabush, who spent nearly a decade at Batavia Daily News and some time at The Batavian, was found dead in his home Wednesday evening. No cause of death has been determined.

"I'm very shocked to hear about Brian and we will all certainly miss him," says Batavia Daily News managing editor Mark Graczyk. "He did great job as sports writer here. He always cared about people that he covered and will be missed by the people in the community.

"Brian loved and lived for sports, with his favorite teams being Duke, Yankees, and the Colts," said his girlfriend Aline Alibe Santos. "He loved his nephews and his family and had future plans to get married."

Hillabush had been attending Genesee Community College and was majoring in travel and tourism. 

"He was an energetic, well-liked student. You could tell from his days at the paper that he was interested in learning about the facts and finding out as much as he could about topics he liked." says GCC instructor Amy Slusser. "He took interest in local geography and hometown destinations and wanted to promote Batavia as a tourism destination."

Hillabush was well known for spending hours each week at sporting events and had a strong following in high school sports.

"He was very good at his job," says Batavia hockey coach Paul Pedersen. "He went the extra mile to cover the high school sports and was very passionate about the ones in the area, being that he was a local kid himself.

"He would go every day, game to game, and that was his life. It was awesome and the articles showed the time he put into each one of them. (Our) team went to states in 2002-2003 and he followed us to all the games that were way out of town. Him and (Mark) Gutman were stapled to us. Not every reporter does that. It was nice and made the kids feel special."

"Brian was passionate about how he represented, reported and worked with the local sports," stated Notre Dame Football coach and longtime friend Rick Mancuso. "He loved the kids he interacted with and he loved what he did.

"His passion was what set him apart from other people. He really was an advocate for high school sports.He worked very hard in everything he did and had a vision for how high school reporting should be."

Brian's work was appreciated by many and he was one of the few reporters that went out of his way to cover cheerleading as well.

"The first person to always cover our acomplishments was Brian," says former Batavia cheerleading captain Jamie Turman. "As a cheerleader it wasn't often that you would be in the limelight, but Brian always made our winnings known to our community.

"He understood that even though we were cheerleaders, we were proud of what we had done and what we had acomplished. He was amazing in the sense that he made all althelets feel great about what they had done no matter how big or small. He even took the time to talk to us and to learn about cheerleading to try and put himself in our shoes."

Hillabush's vision for high school sports started with a focus on the Genesee Region but quickly expanded to all of Section V. He played a major role in the lauch of SectionVTalksback.com, which is an online high school sports forum that allows athletes from all over the section to interact and chat about their sports.

"He had a great vision in kicking off probably one of the most succesful high school sports sites that exists in SectionVTalksback. He really did a great job at what he did. He will be missed by many," added Mancuso.

Friends may call on Sunday from 3 to 6 p.m. at H.E. Turner & Co. Funeral Home, 403 E. Main St., Batavia, where services will follow at 6 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the family. Burial will be in Grand View Cemetery, Batavia.

There were no injuries in a two-car accident at Main and Swan streets at approximately 1:50 p.m.

Batavia police and fire departments responded.

Traffic going eastbound was slowed for about 15 minutes.

In separate investigations, the Local Drug Enforcement Task Force announced the arrest of three Batavia residents allegedly involved in drugs.

Accused of dealing cocaine is Juan A. Roman, 33, of Walnut Street.

Roman allegedly sold a quantity of cocaine to an undercover agent.

An arrest was made Tuesday by task force members and Batavia police officers after Roman was seen walking on Main Street.

He is charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance, 3rd, and criminal possession of a controlled substance, 3rd.

Following his arraignment before Judge Robert C. Noonan, Roman was jailed without bail.

Arrested on Monday were Nicholas A. Pleace, 24, of Pratt Road and Suzan M. Fincher, 51, of Pratt Road.

Pleace and Fincher are accused of growing 19 marijuana plants at their residence on Pratt Road. They were also allegedly found in possession of cocaine and oxycodone.

The were both charged with criminal possession of marijuana, 2nd, and criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th.

The pair were released under the supervision of Genesee Justice following an arraignment in front of Justice Mike Cleveland, Town of Batavia Court.

Brian Hillabush, who spent nearly a decade at  Batavia Daily News building a reputation as a solid sportswriter who cared about the players he covered, was found dead at his home in Batavia this evening.

He was 33.

No cause of death has been determined, according to Sgt. John Peck of the Batavia Police Department.

The coroner referred the case to the Monroe County Medical Examiner for an autopsy.

There was no evidence of foul play nor anything suspecious about his death, Peck said.

Hillabush joined the staff of The Batavian in September 2008 and was sports editor until February 2009 when the original owner of The Batavian, GateHouse Media, ended its association with the site and laid off Hillabush.

Brian had been attending Genesee Community College.

In the past hour or so dozens of messages of condolence have appeared on the wall of Hilly's Facebook page.

The Amputee Treatment Center in Batavia is holding a mural contest open to all Genesee County high school students. The theme is "Salute to All Veterans." The deadline for submission is June 1.

The winning artwork will be transferred onto the center's exterior west wall this summer.

Previously, that wall featured featured a two-story mural but now it's a blank slate awaiting a new mural. Imagine your artwork on display for the whole town to see!

The winner will also receive $250.

Submit artwork either by mail to the address below, or e-mail a scanned copy, with the subject line Mural Contest to:

lee.ann.patterson@hotmail.com

Amputee Treatment Center
8388 Lewiston Road
Batavia, NY  14020

Questions? E-mail Lee Ann Patterson at the above e-mail address or phone 343-4154.

All along the process, the city's 2011/12 budget had its detractors, from the 1.4-percent property tax increase to the $13 per household water and sewer rate increase and its creation of an economic development position.

But in the end, there were only two no votes among the nine Batavia City Council members as the budget passed muster Tuesday night.

"Batavia is in pretty good shape," said Councilman Frank Ferrando. "That took a lot of work the past three or four years. We've made cuts, we did away with the ambulance service, we did some things that weren't too easy and worked ourselves into a position from where I thought we could go bankrupt or 'where are we going to get the money?' to where we are today. This budget keeps that going. I think this is a sound budget."

Council members Sam Barone and Rose Mary Christian both voted "no."

The biggest objection raised by council members -- and by John Roach (top inset), the only citizen to speak to the budget -- was the creation of an economic development position.

The position will be funded by $10,000 from the city and money from the revolving loan grant fund.

"Nobody (from the GCEDC or BID) has come forward to say they want this position," said Councilwoman Kathy Briggs (bottom inset). "I question whether we can even use the revolving loan money. What did the original grant say about what percentage of the money can be used for administration? I think we need to put this on hold until some future time -- strike it out of the budget."

Councilman Bill Cox said at a time when the city's young people are moving elsewhere for jobs, and none of the critics of the plan have offered a better alternative for creating economic opportunity in the city, he supports creation of the position.

"We need take action," Cox said. "We need to take a step forward if we don’t take action on this we’re going to lose another year and we're going to go down even further. This is the only thing anybody has recommended that makes sense and is doable."

Councilman Bob Bialkowski raised concerns about increasing taxes at a time of economic distress. Bialkowski pointed to the situation in the Middle East and rising oil prices, rising grocery prices, and said -- along with the lack of cost-of-living adjustments for seniors on fixed incomes -- a tax increase is going to hit many people pretty hard.

Barone suggested there was still fat to be trimmed from the $22 million spending plan.

"I still think there are places we can cut," Barone said. "It's only 1.4 percent, but the economy is still in bad shape."

The tax hike amounts to about $70,000 in additional revenue for the city.

Stephanie Lynn Corke, 29, of Root Road, Albion, is charged with petit larceny. Corke is accused of taking possession of a dog owned by another person and making no effort to find the owner or return the dog.

Nicholas Aaron Doxey, 25, of Niagara Street, Lockport, is charged with petit larceny and endangering the welfare of a child. Doxey is accused of shoplifting from Target while in the presence of his child and family members under 17 years of age.

Joseph Thomas Bortel, 39, of Knowlesville Road, Oakfield, is charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, unlawful possession of marijuana and failure to keep right. Bortel was stopped at 4:49 p.m., Tuesday, in the area of 130 Bank St., Batavia, by Deputy Timothy Wescott.