batavia

Bigness is killing New York dairy farmers.

Big and ever-growing milk processors and retail chains are controlling the market and driving down the prices paid to farmers, but not passing on the cost savings to consumers.

That was the message of a meeting yesterday at GCC of dairy farmers and the Assistant U.S. Attorney General Christine A. Varney, who is in charge of the Antitrust Division.

From the Buffalo News:

"Our farmers are getting paid less and consumers are paying more," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, who invited Varney to the meeting. "Someone's walking away with all the money."

Schumer said processors are making record profits at a time when farmers are on the brink of losing their family businesses. He wants the Justice Department to investigate anti-competitive practices in the dairy industry.

Consolidation among milk processors is one of the chief reasons prices paid to farmers has gone down, Varney was told. There are simply fewer outlets for farmers to sell their product to, meaning less competition, and without the competition it's easier for the buyer to set ever lower prices.

In some states, Dean Foods controls as much as 90 percent of the market, and about 70 percent in New York.

From the D&C: 

Bill Cook, who milks 1,800 cows near Aurora, Cayuga County, said he used to deal with five different milk buyers who were willing to pay a premium for the high-quality milk his cows produced. Premiums can mean the difference between just paying the bills and actually making a profit.

Meanwhile, Cook said none of those buyers is still operating because they went out of business or were consolidated into larger operations, such as Dean Foods, a giant among dairy processors. Cook had to borrow $500,000 to cover his losses last year.

The Buffalo News quoted a sixth-generation Wyoming County Farmer who used USDA figures to point out that the dairy farm share of retail dollars have dropped from 37 percent to 25 percent in the past three years.

Bigger and bigger retail chains were also blamed for downward prices on milk products.  Walmart's outsized pressure for lower and lower prices isn't helping farmers.

"Walmart's 'everyday low prices' applies constant downward pressure on all commodities, squeezing the supply chain while demanding more," said Ed Schoen of Shoe-Acres farm in Phelps, Ontario County. Pricing at Wegmans, on the other hand, is sensitive to the prices farmers are getting, he said.

Barbara Brown, a county legislator in Oswego County, said her district once had 26 dairy farms. Now it has three. She recently sold off her cows and closed her farm.

Varney offered the farmers hope.

"We will not let you down," she said, according to the Buffalo News. "We know the problem you're facing."

Sen. Schumer has called on the federal government to take several steps to help dairy farmers:

• Deal with the consolidation of milk processors and the lack of competition.
• A program called MILC provides aid to farmers when milk prices fall to a certain level. That target price needs to be raised.
• Raise MILC reimbursement from 45 percent of the price difference.
• Reform the milk marketing order system, which helps set commodity prices, used by the USDA. The current system doesn't adequately measure the cost of milk production in the Northeast.
• Return to a dairy compact system that helps New York farmers set prices.
• Pass a Milk Import Tariff act to ensure that milk producers and processors in other countries are playing by the same rules as the United States.

Slow news day. That's not entirely bad, because it gives me a chance to catch up on other work, especially the work related to revenue. Though, I'm sure on any given day, you would rather have the stories.

After all day in the office doing business stuff, I went out and searched around for something to take a picture of, hoping, really, for a good sunset shot. None was forthcoming, so these are the two pictures I did get.

Top barn is on Sprague Road, and bottom is on Upton Road. I think both are still in the Town of Batavia.

After receiving a Tip Line report that youths under the legal drinking age were using fake IDs to buy alcohol at local businesses, Batavia Police investigators ran a series of compliance checks on Friday.

No problems were found at the locations in the Tip Line report, but undercover agents did continue an investigation looking for adults buying alcohol and giving it to teens.

Police say when a person was seen getting into a car with a teen in it after purchasing alcohol, the car was stopped "to determine the circumstances."  The results of the stop were not released by police.

There was alcohol that was confiscated on Friday night, according to police, and one case was referred to Genesee County Probation.

The press release states:

The Batavia Police will continue to be proactive in the attempt to deter underage access to alcohol with these types of programs with the assistance of funding from the Drug Free Communities.

A rollover accident has been reported at the intersection of Walnut and Law streets in the City of Batavia.

City Fire and Mercy EMS have been dispatched.

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After 15 years of working for other people in the home-improvement business -- both as a hired hand and in sales -- Tim Stoddard began to get the itch to do it himself.

"My wife Lisa was a big instigator of it," Stoddard said. "She kept telling me I could do it.”

So he enrolled in free classes from the Small Business Administration at Geneseo College and began planning what would become American Home Remodeling.

Ten years ago, Tim and Lisa launched their company with a vision for a firm that would be known for its quality and its personal attention to customer care.

"We didn't need to be a big fish," Stoddard said. "We didn't need to be the biggest company out there. We wanted to be a company known for honesty, doing the right thing and having the right people in place."

In part, that's how the name of the company came to be. American Home Remodeling sounded to Tim like a name that would stand for quality. It also helped that the company name would begin with "A" so it would be at the top of Yellow Page listings.

The company name also led to one of American Home Remodeling's signature marketing features -- its fleet of trucks painted in patriotic red, white and blue.

Lisa's cousin paints murals professionally and one day Tim asked her, "Can you make my truck look like it ran through an American flag?" She said she would give it a try.

The company now has four flag-painted trucks, each one a little different, he said.

"I went to the bank to make a deposit one day and a lady came up to me and said, 'Are you the fellow with the flag truck?'" Stoddard recalled. He said he was. "She said, 'I looked at the truck and I looked away and then I looked at it again and I thought, it's not offensive at all.'"

Stoddard said that's when he knew the trucks were helping project an image of a reputable, local company.

American Home Remodeling's bread-and-butter business, according to Stoddard, is roofing and siding, but he's also proud of his carpentry department, which allows him to take interior and exterior building jobs.

The siding business isn't about taking any job and putting the least expensive siding on a house, in keeping with Stoddard's goal of being a reputable mid-size business.

Stoddard said his company uses top-of-the-line materials and tries to maintain the character of the house. For example, the slats of the siding will match the width of the original wood clapboards, and if the house had gingerbread shingles, that decorative feature will be retained.

"I don’t do many rental homes because we’re too high for rentals," Stoddard said. "They want to go with the cheapest product they can in most cases. We don’t really want to have jobs out there with our name on it that look like that."

The Stoddards clearly have a love for Batavia's older homes. They live in -- and are restoring -- one of the Homelius-designed houses on Ellicott Avenue -- and in 2004 they purchased the Doty Mansion at the corner of Jackson Street and Highland Park.

In 2006, they completed the major indoor renovation of four apartments inside what was once one of Batavia's grandest residences (maybe only the long-ago destroyed Richmond Mansion could beat it).

The Stoddard's bought the mansion with only $5,000 down, with the previous owner carrying the mortgage and a bank financing more than $50,000 in restoration work.

"Once we went into the Doty Mansion, it was just a mess," Stoddard said. "It was just HUD. There was no heat into two of the apartments for two years. They had space heaters. There was raw sewage coming from the upper apartment to the lower one.

"We started demo’ing and you could see past all the dirt and debris that it was really a nice house at one time," Stoddard added.

At first, buying the Doty Mansion was just an investment. For the price, the Stoddard's figured they could fix it up and rent out the apartments to reliable tenants and turn a profit, but the restoration work had unexpected benefits for American Home Remodeling.

Through the work, the Stoddards tapped into a regional network of specialists in woodworking, masonry, stained glass and other specialties.

"Now, I’m not really too unsure of myself or afraid to try stuff," Stoddard said. "There’s so many people out there whom I now know who can do special things. It was kind of a blindfolded thing. I didn’t realize how beneficial it would be by working on that mansion."

There isn't enough restoration work in Batavia, Stoddard said, to make that a focus of American Home Remodeling, but he thinks that if more people knew the option was there -- even though it can be expensive work -- they might take that approach with their older homes.

"Somebody might have molding that is really ornate plaster, but bits and pieces are broken," Stoddard said. "If they knew we could come in and save that and restore it, then I think they would entertain that idea. I think a lot of people don’t realize it can be restored and fixed so they turn around and get rid of it."

But whether through renovations, siding or roofing, American Home Remodeling has been growing, Stoddard said. He projects this year the company will gross $1 million for the first time.

During peak building season, Stoddard said he employs as many as 18 people, and that's as big as he wants to get.

"We had 22 one summer, our fourth year in business, and I was just pulling my hair out. It got to be a little too much to deal with," Stoddard said.

Photo: Tim Stoddard, right, talking with the owner of a home his company re-sided for the previous owner.

A car is reportedly on fire in the eastbound lane of the Thruway around mile marker 388.

Town of Batavia fire is being dispatched.

The dispatch center has received multiple calls.

UPDATE 3:39 p.m.: A firefighter responding said the smoke can be seen from Bank Street. "It must be going pretty good," he said.

UPDATE 4:12 p.m.: Fire crews are picking up and the Thruway is being reopened.

UPDATE 4:19 p.m.: Town of Batavia Fire back in service.

When I'm out and about in the county, I usually try to find roads I've never driven down before. In coming back from the two accidents this morning, I came across three photo opportunities.

Above, the Magadore Hillton and Pembroke Hotel, at the intersection of North Pembroke and Beckwith roads. The spelling on the sign is "Hillton." That's not  a typo. The proprietor, according to the sign, is Linda Smith. It's hard to tell if this is an active business. There is a sign next to the building that advertises fish fry and beef on weck, but it also looked like it might be vacant, except for a possible residence on the side.

UPDATE: We just got this e-mail:

"Hi, my name is Linda Smith I have owned the bar for 30 years. It was built in 1850 and has been a working bar for a very long time. I have a little restaurant that serves fish frys every friday. We are open 6 days a week."

Below is what looks like an old hunter's cabin along Stegman Road, across from the Tonawanda Creek. 

The last picture is of a yellow barn -- don't see too many of those. It was on Powers Road.

A 37-year-old Batavia man was taken by Mercy Flight to ECMC this morning after he apparently drove into a telephone pole and across a field into a brush line.

His car travel another 150 yards after shearing the pole off at its base, leaving behind pieces of his minivan as he continued rolling across the cow pasture.

Luis Gomez was reportedly driving southbound on Read Road when he reached the intersection at Route 33 and allegedly failed to stop for a stop sign and continued straight across Route 33, striking the pole on the other side of the T intersection.

The possibility of drinking and driving has not been ruled out, according to Deputy Ron Meides. (See update below.)

There was a partially consumed 12-pack of beer in the back seating area, though no open cans were visible.

No other people were in the minivan at the time of the accident. No other cars were involved. 

Meides said Gomez was semiconscious as he was being prepared for Mercy Flight transport and was taken to ECMC "for evaluation."

East Pembroke Fire and Mercy EMS answered the initial call, which came in before 8 a.m.

UPDATE10:53 p.m.: Deputy Meides report was just released.  Luis Gomez had a BAC of only .04.  No citations were issued in the accident.  The minivan traveled 329 feet after striking the the utility pole. The home address for Gomez was listed at 20 Thomas Ave., left apartment.

Connecticut law enforcement officials continue to investigate an accident that took the life of a Batavia man and another driver, according to the New London Day.

The Day reports:

Why was Lance Lewis, 36, of Batavia, N.Y., driving his Honda CRV southbound in the northbound lane?

Which ramp did Lewis use to access the highway?

Where was he coming from?

As they continue to investigate the circumstances of the three-car crash, state police are trying to retrace Lewis' steps to find the answers to these and other questions.

State police spokeswoman Kelly Grant said police will contact Lewis' family to try to determine what he was doing in Connecticut and where he was before getting into his car and driving the wrong way on I-95.

On Facebook, Paul Wishman said, "he worked at UPS with us, was on the morning shift loading the trucks." Laura Russell-Ricci identified him as a 1992 graduate of Batavia High.

The Day also posted a picture from the crash  (click link above).

UPDATE Click here for Lewis's obituary.

Thirteen parcels auctioned off at Bontrager's in Batavia on Saturday morning will add nearly $78,000 to the Genesee County coffers.

But's a bit short of the more than $100,000 in unpaid taxes that caused the county to foreclose on the properties in the first place.

County Treasurer Scott German said he was disappointed at the results.

The total tax assessment value of the properties exceeded $250,000, but one winning bidder said the Village of Le Roy rental he won for $8,000 wasn't worth the $22,000 in assessed value.

Winning bidders won't be responsible for the back taxes, but they may owe other fees and taxes to the towns and villages with jurisdiction over their winning properties.

Two of the properties auctioned off have been in the news in the past couple of years.

One of the first properties up for auction this morning was 789 Lewiston Road, a one-acre parcel where an alleged meth lab was found in November. It went for $3,000 (sorry, I'll need to follow up on the assessed value ... didn't write this one down for some reason).

The other property that was in the news was 7881 Lewiston Road, where a fire claimed the life of 17-year-old Erik Mooney on May 30, 2008. This Lewiston Road parcel went for the highest auction price at $29,000. There were $890 in taxes owed on the land, which was valued at $25,000.

One of biggest bargains of the day may have been out of the Village of Alexander, where a house and 1.28 acres at 3438 Telephone Road valued at $42,100 went for $8,000. There were $1,784 in taxes owed on the property, which led to its foreclosure.

Another bargain was 1 Pleasant St., Le Roy, which is valued at $48,600 and sold for $8,000. The back taxes on the parcel were $32,866.

Bidders said they were there for a variety of reasons, from representatives of Habitat for Humanity to landlords to people just looking for a bargain on a good piece of property.

The Foss's, pictured below, purchased a small parcel just because it adjoins their current property.

The video under the picture contains pictures from the auction. It's important to note that the audio has no relation to the bidders you see in the video. Just because you see a picture of a bidder doesn't mean he or she is bidding on the property in the audio or at the price mentioned. The audio is for bidding on 7881 Lewiston Road.

Three Batavia men are facing drug charges following a traffic stop on Route 33 in Batavia yesterday.

The men are accused of carrying drugs and needles after being stopped by Deputy Matthew Butler at 5:35 p.m.

Charged and released on appearance tickets were:

• Andrew J. Draper, 31, of 9 Overlook Drive, Batavia;
• David W. King, 28, of 3481 Batavia-Oakfield Townline Road, Batavia
• Randy S. Wiedrich, 38, of 5 Porter Ave., Batavia.

All three were charged with possession of a controlled substance, 7th, and possession of a hypodermic instrument. Draper was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana.

The reason for the initial traffic stop was not reported.

Two-year-old Keegan Delcamp, of Batavia, has already had open-heart surgery. He still needs a transplant.

Two co-workers of Keegan's mother, Ronette Wolcot, from Attica, and Marcy Mabon, of Oakfield, are sitting atop Mabon's home to help raise awareness of Keegan's plight and encourage cash and recyclable donations.

The women started their rooftop sitting at noon today and will stay there until midnight noon tomorrow (Sunday).

They said the word got out fast today (mostly through forwarded text messages) and they've had a big turn out, including one man who dropped off -- anonymously -- $500 in cash first thing.  They've received other $500 donations, as well.

The pile of cans and bottles in Mabon's yard is about 4 feet high. Co-workers have already raised $2,000.

Mabon said there is no limit on how much they need to raise -- Keegan's needs are just too great.

To make a donations prior to noon (Sunday) drive out to 3781 Batavia-Elba Townline Road.

These two old barns and silo are along Route 98, probably in the Town of Batavia, near Elba.

Henry Homelius had no formal education, but the man born in Buffalo in 1850 would be, by the late 19th Century, perhaps Batavia's foremost architect. Together, with his son, Frank Homelius, he would design some of Batavia's grandest homes and commercial buildings.

Bill Kauffman shared a little booklet with me the other day titled "Henry and Frank Homelius: The Men Who Built Batavia."

Late this afternoon, I drove around and snapped pictures of some of the homes they designed. In the course of doing so, I also came across a number of homes not included in the book that were equally as grand as those credited to the Homelius's. So maybe they didn't build Batavia single-handedly, but they sure did build some great homes.

They also built some of Batavia's great commercial buildings as well, such as: the Batavia Daily News building on Jackson Street; the Batavia Times building on Center (now Center Street Smoke House); the former State Police barracks (now home to the Batavia Police), and the old firehouse on Main Street.

Henry Homelius is responsible for several of the homes on Ellicott Avenue.

Start with Ellicott Avenue, after the jump below are the pictures I took of some of the homes designed by Henry (mostly) and Frank:

(Top photo above is 130 W. Main St., originally built for George D. Weaver in 1889)

7 Ellicott Ave.

8 Ellicott Ave.

16 Ellicott Ave.

24 Ellicott Ave.

32 Ellicott Ave.

33 Ellicott Ave.

39 Ellicott Ave.

41 Ellicott Ave.

52 Ellicott Ave.

57 Ellicott Ave.

23 Summit St.

151 Summit St.

111 Washington Ave.

145 State St.

35 Richmond Ave.

56 Redfield Parkway

2 North Ave.

39 Ross St.

308 E. Main St.

A Ross Street resident has been arrested in connection with an alleged home-invasion burglary in Batavia last week and jailed without bail.

Robert D. Wright, 18, of 149 Ross Street, is charged with burglary, 2nd. Additional charges are pending, according to police.

A second suspect remains at large.

Wright is accused of entering a home at 20 Vine St. around 5 a.m., March 18, with a white male -- both of them had their faces covered -- and demanding drugs.

Police said the suspects claimed to have a gun, but didn't display a weapon.

Police at the time said they didn't believe the home was selected at random.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Batavia Police Department at 585-345-6350 or the Batavia Police Department’s Confidential Tip Line at 585-345-6370. Information can also be left via the Suspicious Activity Reporting link at the Batavia Police Department’s Web site.

A medical condition appears to be the cause of an accident Wednesday afternoon that left three poles -- called bollards -- splayed across the sidewalk next to the Oak Street Roundabout.

A 66-year-old woman turned herself in after learning from Attica Police that she had knocked down the bollards. She thought she had merely driven over a curb.

The Batavia woman's doctor recently changed her medication for diabetes and the woman told police she became drowsy.

The Batavian agreed not to release her name because it was a private medical condition and there were no citations issued.

The woman was coming off Pearl Street and drove up onto the curb just before she normally would have entered the roundabout.

The bollards are decorative posts meant to guide traffic along the roundabout. No word on the estimated cost of the damage.

Wikipedia defines bollard:

A bollard is a short vertical post. Originally it only meant a post used on a quay for mooring. The word now also describes a variety of structures to control or direct road traffic, such as posts arranged in a line to obstruct the passage of motor vehicles.

A Batavia man died in a head-on collision in Connecticut yesterday, according to WBZ, A Boston-area TV station.

Lance Lewis, 36, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Lewis reportedly was driving the wrong way on I-95 near Norwich.

The driver of the other car, Terrence Garbuzinski, 46, of Attleboro, Mass., also died at the scene.

UPDATE: The Day has a longer story with more details. The Norwich Bulletin reports that Lewis lived at 137 Summit St. He was driving a Honda CRV with New York plates.

Elliott M. Hickman Jr., 19, of 148 Hutchins St., Batavia, is charged with robbery, 2nd, petit larceny and endangering the welfare of a child. Hickman is accused of robbing an MP3 player from a 15-year-old in a parking lot at MacArthur Park on March 10. Hickman was jailed without bail. Previously charged in the same case was Malik I. Ayala.

Destany AnnMarie McNutt, 21, of 1302 Phelps Road, Apt. 4, Corfu, is charged with petit larceny. McNutt is accused of stealing merchandise and money from Walmart while employed at the store.

Nicholas Jerome Lucarelli, 38, of 35 E. Gatewood Ave., Gates, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, speeding (73 in a 55 mph zone), and consumption of alcohol in a motor vehicle. Lucarelli was stopped at 12:52 a.m. by Deputy Timothy Weis on Route 19 in Le Roy for allegedly speeding.

Accidents from the State Police blotter:

6:06 a.m., March 24, Griswald Road, Le Roy, one vehicle; Driver 1: R.W. Fitzsimmons, 41, of Linwood. No injuries reported.

6:16 a.m., March 24, Lake Street Road, Town of Le Roy, one vehicle; Driver 1: Thomas M. McCullough, 53, of Le Roy. No injuries reported.

6:40 a.m., March 23, Route 33, Pembroke, one vehicle; Driver 1: Shirley A. Kensek, 51, of Batavia. No injuries reported.