batavia

Yesterday, Batavia played host to the 2012 ATV Extreme Dirt Track National Championship Series at the Batavia Motor Speedway on Harloff Road.

Hundreds of racers, including some of the top pros in the country, from all over the nation to participate in the event. (For more about the series, click here.)

(I don't have an ID on #16, but #708 is Harold Goodman, who came into the event in second place in pro point standings (no results posted yet for yesterday's event)).

If you're unable to view the slide show, click here. To purchase prints of these photos, click here.

Hundreds of bikers converged on Downtown Batavia today for the 2nd Annual WNY Round Up Rally.

At one point, just about the entire length of the south side of Main Street was lined with parked Harleys (mostly), Triumphs, Ducatis and Suzukis.

The bars and restaurants were full and of course there were vendors to visit and live music in Jackson Square.

The rally continues on Sunday.

If you're unable to view the slide show below, click here. To purchase prints of these pictures, click here.

A person is reportedly pestering people in Austin Park, Batavia. The subject is wearing all-white clothing and has a teardrop tattoo under an eye. Police are responding.

An extremely intoxicated male who was found "unable to ambulate" beneath the East Main Street railroad overpass in Batavia is going to be transported to UMMC for evaluation. Law enforcement and medics are responding.

UPDATE 6:39 p.m.: Mercy EMS is cancelled. The man is up and moving about and will be taken to the Sunset Motel instead.

In 2011, 7-Eleven, Inc., acquired the Buffalo-based Wilson Farms chain and according to an industry report, the company that pioneered the convenience store concept decided to sell three of newly purchased locations in Genesee County.

According to CSPnet.com, 7-Eleven will sell two locations in Batavia and one Le Roy.

The Batavia locations would appear to be the stores at corner of Ellicott and Cedar streets and at 189 Pearl St.

A month or so ago, 7-Eleven converted the Wilson Farm at 505 E. Main St., Batavia, to its own branded store.

It appears 7-Eleven is unloading the locations that sell gas.

"In any acquisition of an entire chain, there will inevitably be some stores that don't fit with a buyer's long-term strategic plans," said Robbie Radant, 7-Eleven vice president of mergers and acquisitions. "Such is the case with these 30 properties. While not right for our current operations, we believe they will provide great opportunities for the right buyers, as they did for Wilson Farms over the years."

The WNY Round Up Rally got off to a soggy start, but it is under way.

By tomorrow, thousands of bikers with bright, shiny Harleys and Triumphs, and maybe an Indian or two, are expected to fill the streets of Downtown Batavia.

There's only a 30-percent chance of rain, so perhaps we'll have a nice weekend for the round up.

At least it should be clear enough at times for all of us to make our way to Main and Jackson.

Bottom photo: You could win this sculpture and help contribute to canine health at the same time.

A minor-injury accident involving a car and pedestrian is reported in front of the Hillside Children's Center at 50 Main St., which is in the Centre City building. City firefighters and Mercy medics are responding.

UPDATE 1:34 p.m.: The 45-year-old bicyclist is complaining of pain in his ribs and an injury to a finger which was already broken. He is being transported to UMMC.

City Slickers welcomes everyone for a weekend full of events and drink specials!

Friday:

Country/ Southern rock DJ from 7 p.m. to close.

Meet the Labatt Blue girls from 10 p.m. to midnight and the Sweet Revenge girls from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. 

Saturday:

Hot Dog Cup 2012- "Batavia's largest hot dog eating contest"- To enter call City Slickers at 345-6788 or stop in before the event to register. $10 to enter and the winner will receive their name on the Hot Dog Cup and a free 1 year Next Level Fitness Membership. The contest is at 1 p.m. 

Meet the Bud Light girls from 2 to 4 p.m., then meet the Labatt Blue girls from 4 to 6 p.m. and Sailor Jerry's girls from 9 to 11 p.m.

Country/ Southern rock DJ from noon-close. 

Enjoy 16 oz. cans of Budweiser, Bud Light, Labatt Blue and Labatt Blue Light for just $3 all weekend long! Tent is up and the patio is open! 

(...and don't forget, every Wednesday from 8 to 11 p.m. is karaoke!)

City workers have closed School Street, along with all of Jackson Street for today, Saturday and Sunday, in order to make room for motorcycles and street vendors participating in this weekend's Round Up Rally. The rally, which last year hosted more than 2,500 bikers, was moved downtown in order to increase the number of vendors and bikes who could attend. 

A fight is reported inside Wendy's restaurant on Main Street. The parties have dispersed, but are still on scene. City police are responding.

Children participating in the city's Summer Youth Program stopped by Pioneer Reptiles in Batavia today, where owner Crystal Poyfair showed the youngsters a variety of lizards, turtles and snakes and other creepy-crawly things. With certain animals, the children were able to feed, hold or touch them. They also got to meet some of the future food of the reptiles, such as giant cockroaches.

Pioneer Reptiles is herpetological breeding facility that breeds and works with pet reptiles and investment-quality reptiles and some critically endangered species.

Poyfair has been working with reptiles for 20 years. She recently moved her business to Batavia from Virginia so her family could be closer to her husband's family.

She said she's deeply involved in the reptile industry and served as executive producer on the documentary Herpers 3. She's been working with Bob Irwin (father of late, great Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin) and Colin Riddell to help end the slaughter of endangered sea turtles and dugong species in Australia.

Tours of the reptile facility are available by appointment, Poyfair said. She really wants to help educate children on the importance of reptiles in nature.

"One of the biggest messages I'm trying to get across is the fact that you really need conservation," Poyfair said. "Don't listen to the old myths. Not all snakes are dangerous. They're not all bad. They serve a purpose in nature, but they're disappearing at an alarming rate."

Don't let the scaffolding around the historic Masonic Temple building at Main and Center streets fool you -- the shops and offices inside the structure remain open for business.

Owner Dave Howe has hired Catenary Construction out of Rochester to give the brick and mortar structure a $150,000 facelift. The masonry is being repointed and restored.

"I could have done some temporary fixes along the way, and could be doing that forever, but the right thing to do to save the building is restore the whole building," Howe said.

Catenary's most recent Batavia projects were the restoration of the St. James Episcopal Church tower and the restoration of the First Baptist Church.

Construction of the Masonic Temple Building was probably completed in 1909. Howe said he has tattered blueprints that are dated 1908.

While Howe is shouldering the majority of the expense, he has conditional approval on a state Main Street Grant for $35,000 and the Business Improvement District is providing a $7,000 facade-improvement grant.

"I couldn't have done it without the help of Don Burkel at the BID and Julie Pacatte at the BDC," Howe said.

Howe recently won a Landmark Society Award for the restoration work on his house in Alexander and the long-time business owner has nursed along the aging Masonic Temple building for a couple of decades, making various repairs and upgrades to keep the building suitable for his business, Charles Men's Shop, and his tenants.

"Besides the fact that I love older buildings and the history of older buildings, also my business is here and it's important to keep up the appearnace of the building for my business and my tenants," Howe said.

Tenants include Enchanted Florist, Travelore, The Batavian, Blue Pearl Yoga, attorney Tom Burns, A Place for Change and the BID.

All businesses and offices remain open during the project, which will take a couple of months, and pedestrian access to East Main Street remains open under the scaffolding.

A two-car accident with a possible minor head injury is reported on East Main Street Road in front of the Department of Social Services office.

An individual reportedly has a bump on his head.

Town of Batavia Fire Department and Mercy EMS responding.

UPDATE 2:31 (by Billie): One person is being transported to UMMC.

UPDATE 2:41 p.m.: Town of Batavia is back in service.

At about 11 a.m., Batavia PD received a report of youths throwing rocks at the bus shelter at the  School for the Blind on State Street.

Officer Jason Davis responded and pulled up on four young men who he observed throwing crab apples at the shelter.

Davis could have charged the young men -- who were over 16 years of age -- with a offense such as criminal mischief.

Instead, Davis got creative and required some on-the-spot community service. He asked the dispatcher to contact the school and have a maintenance man respond with cleaning materials -- soap, water and paper towels.

The youths were required to clean all of the glass and pick up all of the smashed apples around it.

Raymond L. Leach Jr., 55, of 24 Munson St., Le Roy, is charged with criminal contempt, 1st, criminal obstruction of breathing/blood circulation and endangering the welfare of a child. Leach is accused of using his hands to choke another person. An order of protection for the victim was in place at the time of the alleged incident. The alleged incident occurred in the presence of a child at a location on Thorpe Street, City of Batavia. Leach was jailed on $5,000 bail.

UPDATE: Leach entered a guilty plea in Genesee County Court this morning in satisfaction of all the charges against him to one count of criminal contempt, 1st. The plea deal allows for shock probation (six months in jail followed by probation). When Judge Robert Noonan asked Leach to admit to choking his victim, Leach held a private conversation with his attorney, who then spoke with District Attorney Lawrence Friedman and Friedman agreed to amend the language of the charge to pushing his victim on the bed and causing her to fear for her safety).

Jamie L. Broadbent, 29, of 62 Swan St., Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Broadbent is accused of shoplifting $115 in merchandise from a West Main Street business.

Robert L. Van Buren, 51, of 3 Willow St., Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Van Buren is accused of stealing a bicycle from outside a business in Court Street Plaza on July 23.

Karen L. Stone, 45, of Elm Street, Le Roy, is charged with burglary, 2nd, a Class C felony, and petit larceny. Stone is accused of forcing her way into a residence of an acquaintance and damaging numerous items inside. Stone also allegedly stole items from the home. Stone was released under supervision of Genesee Justice following arraignment.

David J. Reschke, 21, of Transit Road, Stafford, is charged with seven counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument, 2nd. Reschke allegedly possessed seven forged checks of a friend and cashed the checks at different locations in the Village of Le Roy. Following arraignment, Reschke was jailed on $5,000 bail.

A Batavia man allegedly caught in the act of burglarizing a local church and later accused of trying to escape from jail was indicted by a Genesee County Grand Jury today on seven felony counts and four misdemeanors.

John Anthony Cabrera, 22, is charged with two counts of burglary, 3rd, one count of grand larceny, 3rd, and two counts of grand larceny, 4th, and escape, 1st.

The highest felony charge is a Class D felony.

The misdemeanor charges include three counts of criminal mischief and petit larceny.

Cabrera is accused of breaking into St. Paul's Church at 31 Washington Ave., Batavia, on July 21 and stealing three credit cards and $6,095 in personal checks, $354.36 in cash, $1,160 in gift cards, various keys, checkbooks and documents from the church.

The escape charge comes from alleged escape attempt -- Cabrera was reportedly found outside of the confined jail area, but still in the same building, technically constituting the alleged escape -- on July 24.

The city suffered a series of church burglaries in the weeks prior to Cabrera's arrest, but Cabrera has not been charged in any other break-ins.

Detectives reportedly gathered some DNA evidence at some crime scenes, but no word yet on whether Cabrera can be linked to the other burglaries.

The bath salt epidemic in Batavia seems to have subsided over the past couple of weeks.

Law enforcement and health officials across the board report fewer emergency responses that appear related to the use of bath salts by local residents.

Whether the decline in known usage is related to the closure of the 420 store at 400 Ellicott St., Batavia or some other factor is unclear.

In a report prepared yesterday by the Genesee County Health Department, a UMMC nurse manager is quoted as saying there were six bath salt patients admitted to ER in the middle of July. In the two weeks prior to Tuesday, there was one bath salt case in ER.

Michael Merrill, chief medical officer for UMMC, who told The Batavian on July 16 that emergency room cases related to bath salts had become routine, confirmed today that the hospital has seen no new bath salt cases for close to two weeks.

"The easy supplier in town is gone and now the supply is gone," Merrill said.

The drop in synthetic drug-related calls could also be a result of increased awareness by potential users of how dangerous the drugs are, officials said, and the fact that some of the people who seemed to have been involved in bath salts during the height of the seeming barrage of bath salt-related emergencies are now in jail.

"I think the people who wanted to experiment have seen all the negative things that this does and might not want to experiment (now)," Det. Rich Schauf said. "Maybe they had the thought that this might be something to do because it’s legal and then they saw that it's something that’s very harmful, and it got a lot of publicity, it might cause somebody to say, 'I’m not going to harm myself with it.' "

Synthetic drugs have been a growing problem across the nation over the past couple of years and on July 9, the federal government enacted more stringent legal controls on the sale of the substances.

Following the new legislation, the federal Drug Enforcment Administration was lead agency in raids in about 100 cities across the U.S., including Batavia, on establishments suspected of selling synthetic drugs.

Just prior to the raids, The Batavian reported that regionally, communities with emergency responses for suspected synthetic drug incidents were those communities that seemed to have an alleged local supplier of the drugs. Law enforcement officials in areas without an alleged local supplier reported seeing far fewer synthetic drug-related problems.

Users of synthetic drugs tend to display paranoid and agitated behavior, sometimes hallucinating, or they suffer sever medical problems such as high body temperature and seizures, creating both public safety and public health concerns.

Steve Sharpe, director of emergency communications for the Sheriff's Office, said without more data -- and two weeks is too little data -- he thinks it's too soon to say for sure whether usage is down.

He did report, however, that no new calls have been documented in the county outside of the City of Batavia since Aug. 1.

Officer Eric Hill is quoted in the health department report as saying Batavia PD was receiving two or three synthetic drug-related calls per shift, which would mean six to nine calls per day. 

The call volume, Schauf said yesterday, has dropped significantly in recent weeks.

The county health department has received one complaint about the possible sale of bath salts since July 25, when The 420 Emporium was raided. A citizen turned in an empty "Eight Ballz" packet that was allegedly purchased locally on July 26 or 27.

The 420 store remains closed, though its shelves are still stocked with glassware inventory and on the chain's Facebook page for the Brockport location an Oakfield resident asked about the Batavia store and an admin for The 420 Emporium page replied, "No the Batavia store is not open yet."

Joshua Denise, who appears to be the owner (or at least co-owner) of the Batavia store, was arrested during the DEA raid. He is out of federal custody pending further legal proceedings.

Schauf said the Batavia PD continues to remain alert for possible reports of synthetic drug sales in the city and there's no assumption the problems associated with synthetic drugs have passed.

"Somebody who wants to find it will find it," Schauf said. "If there’s a demand, somebody will say, 'there’s a demand' and they’ll try to sell it."

A woman on Maple Street in the city is asking to speak with police officers about an alleged larceny. She claims a neighbor stole her baby stroller, then attempted to sell it back to her.