batavia

David P. Neibert, 23, of Albion, is charged with DWAI-Drugs, two counts of criminal possession of a hypodermic instrument, criminal possesion of a controlled substance and several vehicle infractions. Neibert was charged following a head-on collision on Route 98 near West Saile Drive on Wednesday. Neibert's pickup truck hit a Thruway maintenance truck driven by Nick Ciccarelli, 42, of Lancaster. Ciccarelli was uninjured in the accident. A passenger in the Thruway truck, Kevin Thompson, 40, of West Seneca, transported himself to Mercy Hospital for a possible neck injury.

Thomas John Bressinger, 42, of Countyline Road, Darien, is charged with criminal mischief, 4th, and harassment, 2nd. After coming home from work on Thursday, Bressinger is accused of breaking a computer monitor, punching holes in the wall next to his wife's head, kicking her and threatening to kill her.

Even in this morning's downpour, contractors were out on Ellicott Street milling the intersections in preparation for resurfacing.

Funeral services have been set for Jacquelyn Dawson, the 65-year-old retiree of the Genesee County Court, who died Tuesday following a two-car accident at 9:15 a.m. on Oak Street, Batavia.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at noon Saturday at Resurrection Parish (St. Mary’s site), 18 Ellicott St. Calling hours at Gilmartin, 329-333 West Main St., are from 4 to 8 p.m., Friday.

Full obituary.

The driver of a white pickup truck needed to be extricated from his vehicle after he apparently swerved into oncoming traffic on Route 98 and nearly hit a Thruway maintenance truck head on.

The driver, whose identity is not available, was transported to an area hospital by Mercy Flight.

There were no injuries reported in the Thruway truck.

Witnesses and State Police say the pickup truck driver was southbound when he crossed into the northbound lane. His small truck caught the left front fender of the Thruway truck and nearly sheared off the front wheel.

The pickup truck came to rest about 100 yards down the road, rolling down (but apparently not rolling over) an embankment.

Route 98 was closed in both directions between Park Road and West Saile Drive.

After chasing a story in Corfu that didn't pan out, I took a look at the fabulous late afternoon sky and decided to drive around a bit and see what interesting features of Genesee County I could find to photograph. It was actually on my drive back to Batavia, with the sun setting quickly, that I decided to stop and photograph this barn on Pearl Street Road in the Town of Batavia.

On Monday, the Batavia City Council gave out its annual awards. Above left, Jeff Gillard receives the Volunteer of the Year award.

Confidential Secretary Jodie Freese, left, and Financial Clerk Teri Gass were named Co-Employees of the Year.

David Allen and his girlfriend Carol Emerson received the Homeowner of the Year award.

Photo unavailable: Brian Kemp of T-Shirts Etc., Business of the Year.

A woman involved in a two-car accident on Oak Street, Batavia, this morning has died as a result of her injuries.

Jacquelyn B. Dawson, 65, of 5175 Sunset Terrace, died at Strong Memorial Hospital after being transported there by Mercy Flight.

Dawson's car was hit at 9:18 a.m. by a pickup truck at the intersection of Oak and Union streets.

The driver of the truck, Kelly Creegan, of 48 South Main St., Elba, was also transported to a hospital.

The accident remains under investigation by Batavia Police. So far, there have been no charges or citations issued.

In the years since Jason Molino took over as city manager, Batavia has gone from an annual deficit of $1.2 million to a surplus in 2009-2010 of $475,800.

Yet, minutes after the City Council heard an audit report on the city's improving financial condition, the council split 4-5 on a motion to meet in a closed session to grant Molino -- among the lowest paid top administrators of any city in the state -- a modest raise.

Councilman Bob Bialkowski asked to postpone the discussion saying he had only recently received information that should be investigated before a vote on Molino's compensation.

When the council did go into closed session, Councilwoman Rose Mary Christian declined to join the discussion.

There are families in Batavia that are hurting financially, Christian said, and until the economy turns around, she can't support any increase in spending.

While the other council members huddled behind a closed door, Christian said she thinks highly of Molino.

"I am not opposed to Jason Molino by any means," Christian said. "I’m opposed to any more spending."

When the council emerged, a resolution was passed on an 8-1 vote granting Molino a 1.5-percent pay increase retroactive to April 1, 2010.

Molino makes $84,260. The top administrator in Beacon, with a population 2,000 less than Batavia, makes $123,000. In Cortland, with a slightly bigger population, the top administrator makes $101,000. Geneva's city manager makes $94,000. (See Through New York for salaries; CityTownInfo.com for populations.)

Meanwhile, an audit report prepared by Freed Maxick & Battaglia shows that the city matched actual revenue with budgeted revenue in the recent fiscal year, after three consecutive years of exceeding revenue projections.

On the expenditure side of the ledger, the city, for the third-straight year kept spending below budget levels, with $445,000 saved in 2009-10.

Auditor Laura Landers (inset picture) credited the city with conservative budgeting, cuts in 2008-09, a decrease in health insurance costs, not filling vacant positions and deferring expenditures on aging equipment.

The city has been able to build a fund balance of $2.8 million over the past four years. In 2006, the fund balance was in the red $1.3 million.

The fund balance allows the city to build reserves for workers' compensation, insurance, capital projects, employee benefits and other reserves necessary to provide the city with a cushion against deficit spending.

Among the areas Molino recommends building up fund reserves for is the Department of Public Works and fire department equipment. He recommends reserves of $150,000 for DPW and $50,000 for fire. Within five years, Molino said, the fire department will need a new pumper.

"Right now, most of our equipment, if not all, is completely depreciated," Molino said. "Last year was the first time we purchased equipment in about seven or eight years."

While I was trying to take a picture of Christian alone in the council chambers, Chief Randy Baker came over and started talking with her, and then Jason Molino wanted to jump in the picture.

City Fire is being dispatched to 4 James St., Batavia, to investigate smoke coming out of a pipe that is protruding from the back porch.

This is the scene of a dryer fire last week and an abatement company is on scene doing clean up and workers noticed the smoke.

There is no visible fire.

UPDATE 12:05 p.m.: Engine 14 and Ladder 15 back in service.

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A woman was taken to the hospital by Mercy Flight following a two-car accident on Oak Street at about 9:15 a.m.

No details are available yet on the accident.

Northbound traffic was blocked at Oak and Richmond for about an hour.

A truck driver out of Syracuse is being charged with DWI after reportedly taking his rig down Union Street this afternoon and hitting some trees.

City Councilman Bob Bialkowski brought up the incident at Monday night's council meeting, congratulating Chief Randy Baker and his department on a swift arrest of the apparently wayward driver.

Bialkowski said he was on Union at the time of the alleged incident, heard a loud noise -- louder than the sound of a small airplane crash, he said -- and turned around and saw the truck coming down the roadway with a gaping hole in the side of its trailer. The driver, he said, was trying to look in the side mirror to see what happened.

Taken into custody was Darren D. Jones, 45, of 168 Parkside Ave., Syracuse.

He was charged with aggravated DWI in a commercial vehicle and disobeying a traffic control device.

City police said the first report of an erratic truck driver came in about a semi exiting the Thruway. Jones was pulled over on West Main Street.

There is a weight limit on Union, according to the police press release, and Jones allegedly ignored it.

The report says Jones' truck had significant damage.

A pesky raccoon running amouk in a trailer park has prompted a frustrated resident(s) to call on the law to remedy the situation.

Dispatch says it has no means of catching said menace and will not resort to shooting the varmint inside a trailer park, thus leaving open the specter for makeshift remedies.

Other information, such as what trailer park and where it is, was not heard.

Kelly Jo Spenton, 37, of 6047 Transit Road, New York, is charged with petit larceny. Spenton is accused of stealing the contents of another person's mail. The alleged offense occurred at 39 S. Pearl St., Apt. 1, Oakfield on Aug. 24.

Zachary Ryan Morath, 19, of Summerfield Drive, Lancaster, is charged with DWI and failure to keep right. Morath was charged following a car accident on Route 5 in Darien at 7:40 a.m., Saturday. The investigation was handled by Deputy Jason Saile.

Larry S. Yoho, 38, of Batavia, is charged with criminal trespass, 2nd, harassment, 2nd, and aggravated harassment, 2nd. Yoho was arrested by State Police for an alleged incident at 10 Maple St., Batavia, at 9:23 p.m., Sept. 6. Yoho was jailed, but the bail amount -- if any -- was not provided. No further details available.

Valerie S. Wells, 44, of Medina, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and moving from lane unsafely. Wells was stopped by State Police on Park Road, Batavia, at 5:35 p.m., Thursday.

A non-injury accident has been reported at Ellicott and Hutchins streets, Batavia.

At the same time, City fire is responding to a fire alarm at Armor Building Supply on Ellicott near Cedar.

UPDATE 8:08 a.m.: No Fire. All fire units back in service.

Driving back from the YWCA on Sunday afternoon, I noticed the great sky over Batavia and remembered that I've been wanting to take another shot at getting a picture of the William Morgan monument on a cloudy day. While I was stopped on Harvester snapping away at Morgan, I noticed the clouds reflecting off the windows of the Harvest Center and thought that that would make for a good shot, too. (If you want to see a bigger version, I'll post it to VuFindr.com some time in the next week, probably.)

Below is the shot I came up with of old Morgan, but a bit different than the one I imagined getting.

As part of its year-long 100th Anniversary celebration, the Batavia YWCA opened the time capsule in the cornerstone of its North Street building Sunday afternoon.

The cornerstone was laid in 1967 and the time capsule probably hasn't been opened since (it took a mason four hours to dislodge it).

Executive Director Barbara Hale said that the local YWCA thought it would be fun to peak inside the time capsule, which contained old newspapers, photos, the Batavia club's original application to join the YWCA and a scroll of donors who contributed to the building fund.

"What was of interest to me was the number of three-generation families that have been involved with YWCA, mine being among them," Hale said. "My dad’s name was on that roll."

All of the items found in the time capsule will be returned to a new box along with some items from the current time and bricked back into the corner of the building, Hale said.

Above, Hale, left, with City Council President Marianne Clattenburg, and Shirley Lasuer with Nora Sands, look over some other items of historical interest to the local YWCA, including a picture of the organization's founder and the original charter certificate.

A Batavia High student has $3,000 more toward her college education after driving a harness racehorse to victory Saturday night at Batavia Downs.

Kaley Falkowski, paired with professional driver Jim Mulcahy, bested four other high school students racing in Batavia Downs first-ever scholarship challenge. A total of $7,500 was awarded to the students.

Taking second was Eric Harrower (Batavia High School) with Ron Beback Jr., earning $2,000. Tyler Pingrey (Notre Dame High School) with Jim Graham earned a $1,200. Mike Norway (Oakfield-Alabama High School) with Michael Baumeister finished fourth and earned an $800 scholarship, while Emily Sallome (Batavia High School) and Mike Pokornowski finished fifth and will receive a $500 scholarship.

More pictures related to the scholarship race and other scenes on Saturday at Batavia Downs after the jump:

A man at 127 Pearl St., Batavia, was taken to UMMC by Mercy EMS this morning after he was reportedly burned while lighting a pilot light for a water heater.

When he tried to light the pilot, there was apparently a quick, small explosion, but no fire followed.

City fire responded at shortly after 9 a.m.

Because it was an accident and no fire, there is no publicly available report with the victim's name or age or medical condition.