batavia

A possible fire is reported in the attic of a house at 319 E. Main St. The location is between Ross and Liberty streets. The structure has been evacuated. City fire is responding.

The second platoon is called to city fire headquarters.

UPDATE 7:49 a.m.: Town of Batavia Fire Department is called to city fire headquarters as mutual aid.

UPDATE 8:13 a.m.: Mercy medics are called to the scene for firefighters' rehab.

From Anne Marie Starowitz, on the passing of Ronald J. DiSalvo:

I had the pleasure of knowing this wonderful family -- the DiSalvos. I taught three of Ron's grandchildren. His death is a loss for Batavia of a wonderful store owner and an exceptional family man. Thank you for your memories Ron DiSalvo.

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An excerpt from "Back In the Day, Snapshots of Local History The Way I See It":

In 1949, Charles and Dominic Cultrara started the DiSalvo Shoe Store on a second floor over 111 Main St.

Dominic was then the podiatrist and his brother Charles managed the shoe store. Ronald DiSalvo, who assisted Charles in the shop, bought out his employer’s interest and managed the shop for his partner, Dr. Cultrara.

In 1973, Mr. DiSalvo bought out Dr. Cultrara’s interest and became the sole proprietor. In 1976, DiSalvo’s shoe store relocated to the Genesee Country Mall. After many years of serving Genesee County, Batavia lost another family owned store when DiSalvo Shoe Store closed.

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The picture below was given to me by Ron DiSalvo when I visited at his home in 2015.

For the full obituary of Ronald J. DiSalvo, click here.

Submitted photo and press release:

On Saturday, July 20^th, Valu Home Center will host a Community Day at the Valu Plaza location, 4152 W. Main Street Road, Batavia.

Friends of the Batavia Peace Garden will be on hand to sell hot dogs from noon to 4 p.m.

Representatives from EMS Mercy Ambulance will be present along with members of the Batavia City Fire Department. The Fire Department will be on hand to provide child car seat checks and to correctly install your car seats.

“This is our opportunity to give back to the community," said store Manager Paul MacEwan. "This will become an annual event and hopefully will grow larger in years to come.” 

We look forward to having the community join in and meet our staff.

Milton Smith II had another hit Saturday. He has now hit in 21 of 23 games this season for Batavia.

Submitted photo and press release:

The Batavia Muckdogs have played 19 games in 19 days, and the long road trip from Batavia to Vermont may have caught up with the hitters. The Muckdogs (17-11) fell to the Vermont Lake Monsters, 2-0 Saturday night on a game where both teams combined for five hits, the Muckdogs picking up three of them.

Jackson Rose picked up the hard-luck loss, throwing five innings of two-hit ball, giving up a solo home run to Kevin Richards. The only other hit was an infield single.

Eli Villalobos had one of the best outings of his short professional career, throwing three perfect innings in relief, striking out four. Villalobos, a 2018 14th-round Miami Marlins draft pick out of Long Beach State in California, has started three games but has excelled for Manager Tom Lawless out of the pen. He now has 25 strikeouts in 22 innings and a save.

Sean Reynolds had one of the three hits for the Muckdogs and also walked, putting his average at an even .500 as he has hit in all four games with Batavia since joining the team on July 10 (seven hits).

Milton Smith II, the 21-year-old leadoff hitter for the Muckdogs and had a 12-game hitting streak earlier this season, had another hit and is now hitting .405 this season. Smith II, a 22nd-round pick of the Marlins in 2018, is ahead of Gilberto Jimenez, of Lowell, Mass., who is hitting .376 (Muckdog J.D. Orr was second in average but is just short on enough official at bats to qualify).

How amazing has this season been for Smith II? He now has hit in 21 of 23 games he has played.During his 12-game hit streak, his lone at bat was an extra inning walk-off single to win a game for the Muckdogs.

Dalvy Rosario also had a hit for Batavia.

The Muckdogs are at Vermont Sunday and Monday for 7:05 p.m. starts and after a travel day return home for two games to host the Auburn Doubledays, both at 7:05 p.m.

Tickets to the games on Wednesday, July 17 and Thursday, July 18 against the Auburn Doubledays (or home games July 20, 21 and 22 against Mahoning Valley) are available at muckdogs.com or stop by the Dwyer Stadium Ticket office between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. during the week. The number is 585-483-3647.

• 10 a.m. – 4-H Beef Show (Main Show Ring)
• 10 a.m. – Exhibition Halls & Buildings Open
• 11 a.m. -- Skyhunters Birds of Prey (until 2 pm)
• Noon – Open Class Beef Show (Main Show Ring)
• Noon – 4-H Club Exhibits must be in place
• Noon – Midway Opens
• 3 p.m. – Six Horse Hitch Classes (Horse Arena)
• 4 p.m. – 4-H Rabbit Show (Merton Building)
• 4 p.m. – 4-H Market Auction Lamb Final Weigh In
• 7 to 10 p.m. -- Band – TBD (Entertainment Tent)
• 10 p.m. – Exhibit Halls & Buildings Close

Events & times subject to change. Follow us on Facebook to keep up-to-date with changes.

Press release:

A day after a “Close the Camps” coalition shut down traffic in Downtown Buffalo, vigils for those held in detention camps were held in several locations across Western New York.

More than 100 citizens gathered in Batavia for a peaceful rally and vigil Friday evening near the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to protest the inhumane treatment of children in migrant detention centers at the Southern border.

Organized by a team of concerned women, this event was part of a nationwide movement, Lights for Liberty: A Vigil to End Human Detention Camps. This movement has partnered with more than 150 international, national, regional and local communities and organizations, including religious groups, refugee relief services, and immigration activists.

The event included a rally with several speakers and a performance by the Rochester Raging Grannies, followed by a vigil. Rev. Jim Renfew, who spoke at the rally, commented, “Eugene Debs once said, ‘While there is a soul in prison, I am not free.’ This quote underscores the horror of child incarceration at the present time and is why I am here. It is wrong, very wrong, and even wronger than we can imagine given some of the reporting from inside of these facilities.”

Co-organizer Nikki Calhoun said, “I refuse to be desensitized to the suffering of others because they may not look like me. To do so, especially with children, opens the door for worse atrocities. This is why myself and thousands of those with a conscience across the country are taking a stand.”

Monica Elderkin traveled from Cheektowaga to the vigil in Batavia, and said, “I thought it was important to attend a vigil at an ICE facility where there are actually immigrants being held to send a message that the mistreatment of children or any of those being detained is not OK.”

While there are no children immigrants held at the Batavia facility and conditions there are known to be reasonable in comparison to facilities at the border, organizers believed holding the vigil at this location would be more effective symbolically.

More than 500 Lights for Liberty vigils were held across the United States on Friday including local events in Buffalo, Williamsville and Rochester, as well as international ones in Germany, Canada, and as far away as Japan and Senegal.

Photo: By Rachel Doktor. Doktor said when the vigil was almost over a group from the vigil lined against the gates beyond where security personnel were standing. She wrote, "We sang songs of peace, love and caring for the children of the world. A small group of people approached the gates after a while, standing close. Everyone got a little tense and watched them, but didn't stop singing. The stand off began, and they stayed until everyone else that attended was gone. They were the closest group to the gates in front of immigration."

An accident with unknown injuries is reported on the eastbound Thruway at mile marker 386.6. Town of Batavia Fire Department and Mercy medics are responding.

UPDATE 12:03 p.m.: No word on injuries. A first responder calls for "a Trooper and a tow."

Two Miami Marlins draft picks who are making an impact with the Batavia Muckdogs high-five after a diving catch by Milton Smith II, left, in center field head first toward the fence to end the inning, and Troy Johnston, who belted a home run and doubled Friday before 1,301 fans in Batavia.

Submitted photo and press release:

After taking the first two games of the series against the Boston Red Sox from club Lowell Spinners, the Batavia Muckdogs were in position to take over the best overall record in the New York-Penn League.

However, the Spinners showed why they are in the top spot by scoring two big runs in the ninth inning to hold off the Muckdogs 5-2 Friday night before 1,301 fans at Dwyer Stadium.

Batavia (17-10) is still in first place in the NYPL Pinckney Division and goes on the road for three games against the Vermont Lake Monster, the Oakland A's farm club.

Troy Johnston, a 17th-round draft pick of the parent club Miami Marlins in 2019 out of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wa., went 2-for-3 with a 394-foot solo home run to right field that went 102 MPH off the bat. Johnston also hit a RBI double down the left field line in the first and is now hitting .357 on the season.

Sean Reynolds continued his three-game tear in his return to Batavia by going 2-for-4 with a double to increase his average to .545, as he hit two home runs then followed it up with four hits including the double.

Milton Smith II made one of the best catches of the season in center field, going on a dead sprint to center and diving head-first toward the fence, making a catch to end the fourth inning. Smith II then led off the bottom half of the inning with a single and scored.

Albert Guairamo, Nic Ready and Dalvy Rosario had hits for Batavia.

The pitching staff game up 13 hits but only five runs, as Andrew Miller took the loss, throwing 3.2 innings with three strikeouts. Edison Suriel (two strikeouts) threw 1.1 scoreless innings and Bryan Hoeing in his first appearance in Batavia threw a scoreless inning.

The Muckdogs return home on Wednesday, July 17 and Thursday, July 18 against the Auburn Doubledays then back home July 20, 21 and 22 against Mahoning Valley.

Tickets for these games and others are available at the Dwyer Stadium box office between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, online at muckdogs.com or be calling 585-483-3647.

Paula Savage, of Batavia, left, with Justyna Glusman, deputy mayor of Warsaw, Poland, after presenting an official Peace Garden stone marker.

Since Poland was chosen to receive a Peace Garden, Paula Savage, of Batavia, has wanted to return to Warsaw to present the country with an official stone marker.

Savage, a Batavia resident, founder and president of the International Peace Garden Foundation, has just returned from Poland, where she presented an official Peace Garden stone marker to Warsaw’s Deputy Mayor Justyna Glusman.

“It is has always been my desire to revisit those gardens and present the official stone that marks every other Peace Garden since 1995,” Savage said. “The stone, along with the official certificate, will not become part of Warsaw’s history.”

In 1992, Poland became the first country outside of North America to receive the prestigious honor of receiving a Peace Garden from the United States as a gesture of friendship. It also recognizes that Poland was the first country in Eastern Europe to achieve democracy, Savage said.

Savage traveled to Poland at that time, but the Peace Garden stone did not become part of the ceremonies until 1995.

During her recent visit, Savage was informed that over the past 25 years many changes have taken place in Warsaw, including redesigning of their parks. The original Peace Garden, located in Saski Park, will be moved to a new location, yet to be determined, Glusman said.

“This is an ideal time to incorporate the Peace Garden into these new plans that will be highly visible and easily accessible to visitors,” Glusman told Savage. 

Savage has been invited to return to Warsaw next spring for the rededication of the new Peace Garden there. 

There are 22 International Peace Gardens worldwide spanning five continents. Annually, a new country is chosen by the previous recipient country. Last fall, Savage traveled to South Korea for dedication of the International Peace Garden in Suncheon City. South Korea was nominated by Mexico.

Savage reminds residents that Batavia has its own Honorary International Peace Garden, identified by flags waving along Main Street beside the Holland Land Office Museum. The Batavia Peace Garden was dedicated in 2012 to commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812.

Each time a new country is chosen, a new flag will go up in the Batavia Peace Garden, which is part of a 300-mile peace garden trail along the United States and Canadian border in New York State.

Details about the Peace Garden Trail are available at www.peacegardentrail.com.

• 9 a.m. – 4-H Dog Show Demonstration (Horse Practice Arena)
• 10 a.m. – Exhibition Halls & Buildings Open
• 10 a.m. – 4-H Kennedy Building Exhibit Judging (Kennedy Building)
• 11 a.m. – 4-H Livestock must be in place (Dairy Heifers/Calves, Dairy Steers, Beef Steers/Heifers, Sheep, Goats, Hogs, Poultry, Rabbits)
• Noon – 4-H Market Auction Beef, Hog & Goat Final Weigh In
• Noon – Midway Opens
• Noon – Talent Show
• 4 p.m. – 4-H Poultry Show (Merton Building)
• 6 p.m. – 4-H Livestock Costume Contest (Main Show Ring)
• 6 p.m. – Genesee Speedway Racing
• 7 p.m. – Karaoke FINALS
• 11 p.m. – Exhibit Halls & Buildings Close

Events & times subject to change. Follow us on Facebook to keep up-to-date with changes.

It's been a tough year for stenography in the Genesee County Court and today three cases came before Judge Charles Zambito dealing with stenography issues.

Two stemmed from a previously reported stenographer's mistake while transcribing grand jury proceedings -- that stenographer inappropriately taped the proceedings.

Another defendant appeared before Zambito today because an appeals court overturned his conviction on a burglary charge because a part of the transcription of his jury trial was not preserved for review.

In the People vs. Victor J. Grimes, Grimes was convicted at a jury trial in August 2016 and subsequently sentenced to seven years in prison.

He's served 44 months of that sentence. 

Last week, a state appeals court ordered a new trial -- even while finding evidence was sufficient for conviction -- because a stenographer's error on the final day of the trial meant relevant notes in the case were not preserved. Since the court then didn't have the final day's transcription, the court couldn't review the proceedings to ensure the trial court complied with specific procedures. 

In the trial, Grimes was represented by retained counsel. He's now represented by Lisa Kroemer of the Public Defender's Office. Kroemer asked for time to review the case and speak with District Attorney Lawrence Friedman before a new date for the trial is set. 

Judge Zambito ordered Grimes held on $25,000 bail or $50,000 bond pending his possible trial.

The other two stenographer-related cases heard today were People vs. Antwan Odom and People vs. Richard Hanes.

Odom is accused of knifing Ray Leach. Hanes is charged with murder in the beating death of Ray Morgan. 

Friedman asked the cases be placed on the docket because he wanted to get on record what the defense attorneys intend to do regarding the mistaken recording by the stenographer of grand jury proceedings in those cases.

The attorneys for Odom and Hanes took decidedly different approaches.

Odom is represented by Buffalo attorney Frank Housh. Housh with his own unique sartorial style at every court appearance, walked into court today in seersucker slacks and robin's-egg blue sports jacket. And when pressed about how he intended to proceed, raised his prior complaint that Friedman is conducting a dual prosecution, one against his client and one against him.

In May, Housh made statements to local media that Friedman considered a violation of professional standards and risked tainting the jury pool. Friedman asked for a gag order and Zambito issued a temporary gag order but lifted it last week, citing an objection on free press grounds by "the media" (in this case, The Batavian). 

Zambito did rule against Housh's motion to have Friedman removed from the case because of this alleged "dual prosecution."

Besides the request for a gag order, Housh said Friedman has also filed a grievance complaint with the state bar against Housh. 

Housh contends -- without presenting proof -- that everything Housh says or does in the case is forwarded by Friedman to the state bar.

For that reason, Housh said he has not made the trip to the District Attorney's Office to review the case file on the stenography issue because, he said, he would need to bring his attorney with him.

Housh has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the case because of this "dual prosecution" but so far has not withdrawn.

Today he asked Zambito for a summary judgment dismissing the case against Odom because, he said, in a prior answering brief, Friedman stated the grand jury process was legally constituted when in fact Friedman, he said, new about the inappropriate recording of the proceedings.

After more discussion, Zambito agreed to meet with the attorneys in his chambers for an on-the-record but closed-door discussion about the issue.

Out of that meeting, it was agreed, as stated in court later, that Housh would file a motion and there would be a hearing Aug. 5 (instead of the trial starting on that day) on the defense motion.

In contrast to the approach of Housh, Fred Rarick, representing Hanes, was willing to stipulate in court that prior hearings on this topic -- including one in the Jennifer Serrano case -- established the facts of the incident and those same facts could be entered into the Hanes case and Zambito could issue a ruling based on the facts and evidence already presented.

On previous cases, including Serrano, Zambito ruled that stenography issue did not invalidate the grand jury proceedings.

Outside of court, Rarick said he saw no point in going through another hearing where the same facts and evidence would be presented that are already on the record knowing that Zambito is unlikely to rule any differently than he has previously.

By getting the prior hearings submitted as evidence in the Hanes case, without objection from Friedman, he has preserved any possible appeal over the issue for his client should Hanes be convicted at jury trial.

A local former businesswoman who admitted to giving a loaded firearm to a 17-year-old boy, who then shot and wounded a man who had just stabbed and killed another man on Central Avenue on May 17, 2018, told Judge Charles Zambito today that she's not a threat to the community. 

Jennifer K. Urvizu-Hanlon, 48, mentioned the letters Zambito had received supportering her, her involvement in her church, her steady employment and her lack of criminal record.

Zambito saw something else.

"I do think you are minimizing what happened," Zambito said. "You're minimizing your involvement. Samuel Blackshear would not be in prison and Nathanial Wilson would not have been shot had you not handed your loaded firearm to a 17-year-old boy. That young man is in prison now because of you. And after that happened, after a man was killed and another wounded, you went home.

"I do consider you a risk to the community but under the circumstances, I'm prepared to accept the plea offer and go along with the sentence. You're being treated entirely fairly here. I don't think it's right for you to even suggest otherwise."

Urvizu-Hanlon, the former owner of a small Mexican grocery store on West Main Street in Batavia, accepted a plea deal in May that capped her prison term to two years on an attempted criminal possession of a weapon conviction.

More than a dozen people in the gallery, friends, and family, were there, it appeared, to support Urvizu-Hanlon, which Zambito also acknowledged.

Zambito said he seriously considered rejecting the plea arrangement because she should perhaps get at least three and a half years in prison, which is the term Blackshear received.

"You got a significant break here," Zambito said. "Perhaps that is because of your minimal involvement in the incident and your clean record."

On Thursday evening in May, Nathaniel Wilson stabbed and killed Terry Toote at Central and Pringle. As the stabbing was taking place, Urvizu-Hanlon arrived in her car and Blackshear approached the car and she gave her handgun, which she was licensed to carry, to Blackshear, who immediately fired at Wilson, hitting him in the leg.

Blackshear's attorney argued at his sentencing that he was acting to protect himself and others from a killer. Zambito rejected that contention, accusing Blackshear of exercising "street justice" before denying him youthful offender status and sending him to prison.

That defense isn't available to Urvizu-Hanlon under the current statute for attempted criminal possession of a weapon but her attorney, Christian Kenndey, said the Legislature is considering a change, and that it could be said Urvizu-Hanlon was justified in giving Blackshear the gun so he could protect others from a killer.

Wilson was later sentenced to 25-years-to-life in prison for the murder of Toote.

As in the Blackshear case, Zambito said he was fully aware of the May 17 incident. He had seen all the video recordings, read the witness statements, and felt he had a complete picture of what happened that evening.

He said there was nothing spontaneous about events on Central Avenue as the incident went down. The confrontation, the expectation of violence, was all premeditated.

"You knew what was going to happen," Zambito said. "I don't think you thought Terry Toote was going to get murdered but you went there under the impression there was going to be confrontation and you were ready to take action."

Once the sentence was pronounced and the paperwork complete, a deputy stepped behind Urvizu-Hanlon -- dressed in a gray blouse covered by a black windbreaker, a long skirt, and flip-flops -- and asked her to place her hands behind her back. For a moment, the only sound in the courtroom was the metallic zip of the cuffs closing around her wrists. As she was led away, somebody at the back of the room yelled, "Love you, Jen."

Before sending him to prison for 10 years, Judge Charles Zambito reminded Michael J. Piasta Jr., that in 2010 he promised Judge Robert Noonan that he was going to straighten out his life and that he would never appear in County Court again.

Piasta was out of prison barely two years before he robbed, at fake gunpoint, the Arby's, taking from $6,000 to $10,000 on March 25, 2018.

"I'm going to give you a very long time to think about what you did," Zambito said.

The 10-year sentence, followed by 10 years on parole, was on Piasta's jury-trial conviction for robbery in the second degree. On his convictions for grand larceny and criminal possession of a weapon, Zambito gave him three and a half to seven years on each count, to be served concurrently with the robbery sentence.

In 2010, Noonan heard from Piasta's attorney at the time, William Teford, about Piasta's hard life -- a father who died of an overdose, a mother with a drug problem, domestic abuse, a learning disability, and the lack of a meaningful childhood.

Piasta acknowledged his wrongdoing and told Noonan, "At this point, I just want to say I don’t feel that I’m hopeless," Piasta said. "Regardless of what happens today, I think I can make things better."

Piasta already had a lengthy criminal record when Noonan sent him to prison in 2010.

Today, attorney Brian Degnan also reminded Zambito of Piasta's troubled past. 

"Mr. Piasta, with his upbringing, with his adult life, he's certainly been dealt a very bad hand here," Degnan said.

He acknowledged a prison term was inevitable but asked Zambito to consider Piasta's circumstances and expressed hope that Piasta could get the help he needs while in prison.

Piasta's own statement was short, asking Zambito to take into consideration Degnan's arguments on his behalf.

While Piasta was convicted by a unanimous verdict of a jury, Piasta, Degnan noted, has continued to maintain his innocence.  

Zambito agreed to hold a hearing on the issue of restitution. Degnan contends that there was contradictory testimony at the trial, with a contention that $5,000 was stolen from Arby's, and a claim of $10,000 stolen. Arby's has filed a claim for $6,000.

Submitted photo and press release:

Regarding Crossroads House Garage Sale donations...

A very generous community has packed our storage containers to our limit.

As a result, we cannot accept additional donations for the upcoming sale later this month.

You folks have filled three tractor-trailers, two shipping containers, a barn and our garage!

We are so fortunate to serve in a community of givers. We look forward to seeing everyone at the sale.

For more information on dates and times, click here.

Pictured from left are members of the scholarship committee and the 2019 recipients: Karen Hall, Hannah Kujawski, Peg Patterson-Case, Melissa Vinyard, Chelsea Elliott, Todd Rapp, Amy Swanson, Kari Heidemann and Melinda Rodriguez.

Submitted photo and press release:

The Genesee County Interagency Council awarded two $1,000 scholarships at their annual picnic last month at the DeWitt Recreation Area.

This year’s recipients are Melinda Rogriguez and Melissa Vinyard.

Special Thanks to the Red Osier Landmark Restaurant in Stafford for catering such a wonderful meal for our council, scholarship recipients and their guests.

After encountering community resistance for a planned recreation center for people in drug and alcohol recovery on South Swan Street in Batavia, GCASA has turned its attention to a former restaurant location on Clinton Street Road in the Town of Batavia.

And the Town officials have been more than encouraging and supportive, said John Bennett, executive director of GCASA, following a County Planning Board meeting Thursday evening where the board recommended approval of a special use permit for 5258 Clinton Street Road -- site of the former Bohn's Restaurant.

GCASA is in the process of acquiring the property.

Bennett said the community center will have a community garden, a basketball court, TVs for viewing sports, a pool table, space for other recreational activities. And, of course, since there's no place for a tavern in a building dedicated to recovery, the former bar area is likely to become a coffee and sandwich shop.

"We went into Rochester and went to this place called out Coffee Connections and it's a roasting business, a coffee-roasting business, run by recovering women," Bennett said. They run two coffeehouses and they serve lunches and breakfasts and we were kind of scoping that out, seeing how they did that. We're seeing if we can partner with somebody who might want to run a small little coffee shop."

People in recovery want to lead normal lives -- watch big sporting events together, play pool, eat some wings and pizza, socialize, but in an environment without drugs or alcohol, Bennett said.

"This is the new norm in urban areas," Bennett said. "It's what they call sober bars. And that's exactly what they are. They actually have mixology stuff but it's all alcohol-free and it's very much like going to any other bar that you would go to where they're having either karaoke or live music or dancing or whatever it is. I think just people in recovery are looking to be normal without having to worry about drugs and alcohol."

The most notable downside of opening up a social center for people in recovery on the outskirts of the City is that it won't be in walking distance for most people, like the originally proposed South Swan location. The upside is the square footage of the Clinton Street Road property is twice as much as the South Swan location. 

The asking price for the property, being sold by Mike Bohn after buying back the property in a foreclosure auction, is $250,000. Bennett said he can't disclose the actual sale price since the deal hasn't closed yet and the price is still being negotiated.

A presale building inspection was completed two days ago.

Much of the floor plan of the former restaurant will remain the same, Bennett said, but the interior, which probably hasn't been updated since the 1970s or early '80s, will be modernized.

There is also some equipment, furnishing, games and TVs to buy.

Bennett said GCASA has a modest $75,000 budget for the upgrades.

The property will be open to the community -- if there is a coffee shop, that will be open to everybody. If a community member isn't in recovery but wants to host an event -- say a birthday party -- for a friend or relative who is in recovery -- or isn't but perhaps should be -- the facility will be available for those reservations as well.

And there will be events for people in recovery, whether it be an open mic night or for big sporting events.

"Let's just say we're going to do a March Madness night or a week of March Madness basketball and we're gonna show games -- it's just a sober place to come down and watch basketball," Bennett said. "We'll have a little sports area and you can watch the Super Bowl or watch the World Series, things like that."

Bennett is a little exasperated by the community outcry over the proposed South Swan location but he said he understands it.

"It's really too bad that the South Side saw this as something that would threaten the community instead of benefit it because if you check out ROCovery in Rochester," Bennett said, " ... there's a whole thing around fitness and recovery. I went up and I met with them and they were amazing people and the community now has just enveloped them.

"Their community gardens are open to everybody in the community. Everybody gets to come down and pick some tomatoes or some peppers or lettuce or whatever they need. And everybody is also allowed to use the recovery center.

"So so I think that's where we want to head to. We want to say, 'hey this is open to you, too. You just have to be willing to be drug-free while you're here.'

"I think they were shortsighted but I understand that people have fears and the work we do is stigmatized."