batavia

Michael Mazutta, an Afghanistan and Iraq war veteran, was the keynote speaker at a Flag Day ceremony this afternoon at the VA hospital in Batavia.

Included in the ceremony were certificates of appreciation to Vernon Rowe and Joe Gerace. After Rowe received his certificate from Mazutta, he volunteered to present Gerace with his certificate.

Students from Batavia Middle School presented handmade gifts to the veterans who are residents at the hospital.

The St. Joe's band performed after the ceremony.

Prior to his invocation, Chaplain Robert Chambers called for a moment of silence to honor the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando and then prayed for them and their grieving families.

A tree reportedly fell on a house at 3 Madison Ave. in the city. Wires are down, too, and it is blocking the roadway. City fire is responding.

UPDATE 5:18 p.m.: National Grid, Verizon and Time Warner are contacted. The tree has been removed from the roadway.

City police are dispatched to a pending complaint at West Main and North Lyon streets. The caller, who is no longer in the area, told dispatchers a male goes from the sidewalk out into the middle of the roadway and dances approximately one minute, then returns to the sidewalk, and "he's done done this a few times now."

A man is lying roadside with unknown injuries following what is believed to be a motorcycle accident on the westbound Thruway at mile marker 386. Town of Batavia Fire Department and Mercy medic #2 are responding.

City fire is dispatched to Maple Street near Thorpe for a tree stump on fire in a yard.

If you visited Valle Jewelers today, you probably met Megan Williams, mother of Brady, 9, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at 20 months.

The Williams family of Oakfield is one of the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation families around the nation that raises money to help fight pediatric cancer. The family has raised more than $30,000 for the foundation, mostly through the lemonade stand they set up every year at Oakfield's Labor Days festival.

Today, as they did last year, Valle's donated 10 percent of all sales to the foundation. 

Plus you got a free cup of lemonade from Megan.

The foundation today had a goal of raising $1 million nationally, through the participation of 36 families, representing the 36 children diagnosed every day with cancer.

The new public market -- a merger of the Business Improvement District's public market and the Genesee County Farmers' Market -- opened at Bank Street and Alva Place today.

A new vendor this year is Big Bossman's BBQ, run by Anthony Person, of Lockport.

Person said his family has a long tradition in the food business, and after his mother died recently, he wanted to keep the tradition going.

Fighting back tears, Pearson told WBTA's Alex Feig that he was president of his mother's company, Mrs. Ribs, but after she died, he didn't want to trade on her name, so he bought his own truck and called it Big Bossman's, a name his parents used for their first restaurant, which they ran out of their home.

The recipes have been handed down generation after generation in his family, from mother to mother to mother, going back to the family's days as slaves in the South. 

He was pleased to get invited to be a vendor in Batavia, he said.

"I’m a small businessman just trying to make an honest living just like anybody else, always looking for a way to expand my market, sell my product in new areas, and Batavia, I’ve always wanted to come this way and the Farmers' Market offered me a chance to showcase my cuisine," he said.

The market will be open for business from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and will run through Oct. 28, weather permitting.

It's probably never happened in Batavia HS history -- three players participating in three different sports across the course of a single school year winning Section V title patches.

This year, Andrew Mruczek, Jake Schrider and Adonis Davis did it in football, basketball and track.

At a school that won six sectional titles this year, a few of other athletes came close, but the trifecta is a singular accomplishment.

"It means a lot to us," Schrider said. "It means we worked hard."

Davis agreed.

"It means hard work paid off," Davis said. "Going to summer camps and workouts to try and reach our goal to be sectional champions. It showed more this year."

It's also an accomplishment that hasn't drawn a lot of attention at school, Davis said. Everybody knows they're champions, but the never-before trifecta hasn't sunk in with the student body.

"They know we've won," Davis said. "They're proud of us, I guess, but they probably just haven't put it all together."

Athletic Director Michael Bromley said it's a great accomplishment that is rarely achieved by athletes in the region. In boys sports this year, Andrew Mruczek, Trevor Sherwood (football and basketball) and Noah Dobbertin (football and wrestling) came the closest when the baseball team lost a title game to Aquinas 2-1, and though several girls got two titles this year, none got quite as close to a third title.

Batavia was blessed with a great group of seniors this year, Bromley said, but also, a great homegrown coaching staff that is also very focused on success and the hard work it takes to achieve it.

The senior athletes, Bromley said, really came together this year and supported each other and their teammates as they competed throughout the year. Athletes not in competition jumped the stands as part of the Blue Zoo, the school's cheering section. They also rallied the school throughout each school day.

"They’re really going to be missed around here," Bromley said. "They were good leaders. They were positive leaders. They were role models. Sometimes you get classes come through who are not those things and this class really was and the school is going to miss them."

The support of classmates and teachers was really a motivating factor all year long, Davis said. 

"Everyone tells us they will come out the games and stuff and you don’t want to disappoint when you have a bunch of teachers and a bunch of students saying they’re coming," Davis said. "That motivates us when people are watching to do it for them.”

It's especially helpful, he said, with road games against bigger Monroe County schools.

"When we travel to other places against bigger schools, our fan base goes with us, and just having people behind us to cheer us on to at the other schools, the bigger schools, it’s more fun," he said.

Brennen Briggs, football, Buddy Brasky, basketball, and Nick Burke, track, are all Batavia HS graduates and lifelong residents. Bromley thinks that further fuels their dedication to the school and the athletic program.

"The time commitment they put into ti and the love they have for Batavia High School is evident," Bromley said. "Those guys are 12-month-a-year coaches. If you go by the track, come by the football field, go by a weight room, come by a gym, one of those guys is probably doing something.

"The real special part about it," he added, "is it seems over recent years is they’ve really come together. They support each other, they share kids, so that’s why we’re seeing a lot of success."

All three share a high level of commitment to hard work and motivating their kids to work hard and stick through the tough things, but given the nature of team sports, Briggs and Brasky also model hard work by watching hours and hours of game film week after week.

"They spend days each week on just looking at film and trying to figure out what we can do to be successful," Bromley said. "The kids have bought into that. They know the coaches are going to work hard for them, so that’s why they work hard."

Asked which coach is the toughest on them, Mruczek, Schrider and Davis said Brasky is, hands down.

"He takes you to a whole new level," Mruczek said. "You've got to be tough. He drives you hard."

Schrider said there's no slacking off during a Brasky-led practice.

"You've got to give 120 percent the whole time," Schrider said.

Davis said that drive made Brasky kind of an "old-fashioned coach," but in a good way.

"When we do stuff, he wants us to be perfect and I think that’s what helps us in games," Davis said. "When we’re practicing, we're doing reps over and over and over again and then we’re more prepared than the other team."

Of the three athletes, only Mruczek has another upcoming season with Brasky, and rather than fearing the intensity, he's looking forward to it.

"It makes me want to be successful," said Mruczek, whose goal for 2016-17 is to repeat the trifecta.

The hard work, the focus on success, has helped each of the young men grow, they said, carrying over to school work and the rest of life.

"I think success on the field is helping me to be successful in school, because being on a sports team, it takes hard work and then in the classroom you’ve got to work hard there, too," Mruczek said.

Davis said he thinks he was still pretty young when he first joined the football team and got exposed to the dedication demanded by Briggs, but he learned quickly that dedication and hard work pays off and that has helped him beyond just athletics and even beyond academics.

"At first, I wasn’t really into putting into much time into sports," said Davis, who now intends to attend SUNY Brockport, compete in track and pursue a degree in athletic training. "Once I did, then everything else, plus the sports, I put more time into it, school, helping out in the community. I volunteered for a camp, a football camp for little kids and I never thought I would  do that. I just put time into stuff. It transfers over to everything else and I think it helped me."

There is a clear connection between athletic success and academic and life success, Bromley said. In athletics, you learn about the value of practice and repetition, how to deal with setbacks and how to work on a common goal with others -- all lessons that carry onto all aspects of adult life.

"Sports are life lessons," Bromley said. "That’s pretty much what it is. That’s probably the area in the academic world where you learn it the most. I would say, after school from 3 to 5, those kids are learning life lessons that they’re going to use forever. Hopefully, they leave after this year and they go on and they’re successful in college and they’re successful parents and some of them come back and coach. That would be great."

(File photos of last year's Penny Carnival held during the Holland Land Office Museum's History Summer Heroes program.)

Press release:

The theme for the 2016 History Heroes Summer Program is "Carnival Days" at the Holland Land Office Museum. This year the children will work together to create a Penny Carnival.

Each day of the summer program is packed with exciting and educational activities, field trips, games, crafts,and more!

The program ends with the carnival and a multimedia musical production showcasing our local history with the children taking on the persona of a famous Batavian.

The program begins on Tuesday, July 19^th and runs for eight week days (Tues.-Fri.), ending on Friday, July 29^th.  Time is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A snack is provided each day, but children must bring their own lunches.

The cost is $25 per day for non-members and $20 a day for museum members. The program is open to children ages 7-12.

Please call the museum at 343-4727 for more information and to save a place for your child.

Press release:

The Batavia Business Improvement District (BID) is pleased to host the Second Annual Beertavia Craft Beer Festival, with major sponsorship by Alex’s Place, on Saturday, June 18th from 3-6 p.m. in the Bank & Alva parking lot (27 Bank St.) in Downtown Batavia.

Advanced purchase tickets are $10 for designated drivers (must be 21 to enter festival), $25 for regular admission and $35 for VIPs. (Tickets on the day of increase to $30 and $40, respectively.) All designated drivers receive complimentary drink and food. A regular ticket holder receives a sampler 5 oz. glass. VIPs receive a 16 oz. pint glass and earlier admission at 2 p.m.

Sixteen breweries will be on hand to serve samples of their craft creations including 42 North Brewing, 810 Meadworks, Abandon Brewing, Amber Lantern Brewing, Bandwagon Brewery, Big Ditch Brewing Co., Community Beer Works, CB Craft Brewers, Ellicottville, Four Mile Brewing, Hamburg Brewing, Ommegang, Resurgence, RG Brewery, Rohrbach Brewing Co., and Southern Tier Brewing Company.

In addition to the breweries, the festival will have a temporary parklet/ biergarten; food from Alex’s Place and other local vendors, and music provided by The Bluesy Band. All persons must be 21 to enter the festival.

Leah J. Wimmer, 23, of Broadway Road, Darien, is charged with second-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, speeding (45 in a 30-mph zone) and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. Batavia PD received multiple reports from concerned citizens about a vehicle driving erratically on Clinton Street from the Bergen area shortly after 11 a.m. on June 3. No GC Sheriff deputies or NYS troopers were available. Batavia police located Wimmer driving on Clinton Street heading into the city. A traffic stop was conducted by Det. Sgt. Todd Crossett, assisted by Officer Marc Lawrence. Through the investigation it was discovered that Wimmer's driver's license was revoked. She was arrested and issued tickets. She posted police bail and was released. She is scheduled to appear in City Court at a later date.

Travis Domonic Brooks, 32, of Ellicott Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal obstruction of breathing. He was arrested at 8:07 a.m. on June 6 following an investigation into a domestic incident wherein he allegedly choked another person. He was arraigned and released under supervision of Genesee Justice. He is to return to City Court on July 7. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Stephen Cronmiller, assisted by Sgt. Dan Coffey.

Jamie L. Soto, 41, of West Main Street Road, Batavia, is charged with second-degree harassment. She was arrested at 11:04 a.m. on June 8 after allegedly striking an adult male in the face while at a residence on Liberty Street in the city. She is to be in City Court on June 21 to answer the charge. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Frank Klimjack, assisted by Officer Jamie Givens.

Freddie L. Cunningham Jr., 54, of Ellicott Street, Batavia, is charged with second-degree harassment. He was arrested at 8:10 p.m. on June 4 following an incident wherein he allegedly made verbal threats toward another person. He was arraigned in City Court and then released and is due back in court on July 7. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Stephen Cronmiller, assisted by Officer Christopher Lindsay.

Regina M. Iannello, 56, of Platt Avenue, Le Roy, is charged with second-degree criminal contempt. She was arrested at 1:25 p.m. on May 13 after allegedly entering the residence on East Main Street in Batavia of a protected party of a stay away order. She is to return to City Court on June 21. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Jamie Givens.

Cody R. Moore, 27, of Clinton Street, Batavia, turned himself in on a bench warrant issued after he failed to appear and failed to pay a fine on a charge of aggravated unlicensed operation in the third degree issued Feb. 18 on West Main Street in the city. He was put in jail on $1,000 bail or $2,500 bond. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Jason Ivison.

Isaiah Munroe, 26, of Buell Street, Batavia, is charged with failure to appear. He was arrested after failing to appear in City Court on April 13 to answer a charge after he allegedly drove his vehicle with suspended registration in March. He was processed and released after posting bail and is due in City Court on June 22. The case was handled by Batavia Police Officer Mitchell Cowen.

City firefighters have two new buildings that they can use for training because they are scheduled to be demolished.

Today, a crew practiced a second-floor window escape. The scenario is that a fire has expanded and blocked the stairwell, so the only way out is through a window. A few years ago, the state required fire departments to acquire the necessary equipment to make such escapes possible after a tragedy in NYC where firefighters had to jump from the upper story windows of a burning building.

The new Ladder 15 was used in the training, but only as a safety backup. Typically, the urgency of the situation and the fact Ladder 15 would be tied up on other tasks at the fire scene would mean it wouldn't be available to hoist a backup rope to safety.  

In this scenario, firefighters knocked a hole in a bedroom wall to expose a beam they could use as an anchor for a rope.

The two former houses are on West Main Street, just west of Castilone Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. The dealership acquired the property to further expand its new car lot. Demolition is scheduled to begin June 20.

Before then, Batavia's Emergency Response Team will also use the houses for training and drills.

Castilone also just signed a contract to acquire the property at the corner of West Main and Vernon Avenue. That property was once proposed as a new location for an Arby's Restaurant, but the plan met stiff opposition from Vernon Avenue residents. Steve Castilone said he also already met with neighborhood representatives and discussed his plans with them.

"I sat down with them and I told them all, ‘whatever is going to make you people happy, I’ll do,' " he said. " 'If I do something that makes you unhappy, I’ll change it. If I put a light up and it shines in your windows, I’ll move it.’ They asked me to not put a driveway on their street and I said when I’m done I’ll close the driveway off. They were delighted. What would you rather have, a drive-thru Arby’s on the corner or stationary parked cars?”

Philip R. Ayala accepted a plea deal today in Genesee County Court to a Class B non-violent felony of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree. He will be sentenced at a later date this summer.

The former crack cocaine dealer and felon who once lived on Summit Street in the City of Batavia is now serving eight years in prison on other drugs charges prosecuted in Orleans County.

Acting Judge Michael F. Pietruszka can impose a sentence of anywhere from two to 12 years on the new charge, with one and a half to three years post-release supervision. Whatever sentence the judge decides will run concurrently with the defendant's existing sentence, under terms of the plea bargain. Ayala waived his right to any appeal.

Pietruszka ordered a pre-sentence report for Ayala, who is about 5'8" and slightly built.

When asked by the judge this morning, Ayala admitted to possessing (crack) cocaine with the intent to sell it last July in the city. That was while he was living on Vine Street in Batavia.

He was arrested on a sealed warrant out of Orleans County and had 62 bags of crack cocaine in his possession when they found him.

Ayala was out on bail awaiting sentencing in August. He had pled guilty to a Class C felony for fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance stemming from a raid by law enforcement in Orleans County in December 2014. He was to get no more than five years in prison IF he didn't break the law prior to his sentencing.

As it stands, if he gets the maximum of 12 years, in addition to the eight he's already serving, that's four more years.

As was the case in April when today's plea cut-off date was set, there were several friends and family members in the gallery, tots to middle age, pointing, smiling and silently mouthing words. When his case ended, they stood and again said "Love you bro' " "Keep your head up!"

Local law enforcement officers -- including troopers, deputies and police officers, carried the Special Olympic torch in a run from Elba to Batavia, finishing at the ARC center on Oak Street.

There are local car dealers upset about a dealer from Dunkirk setting up a temporary sales lot in Batavia this weekend, not because they fear the competition, but because the Dunkirk dealer is taking advantage of a loophole in state law to unfairly compete with their established businesses.

The law isn't just about protecting existing dealers, they say, it's also meant to protect consumers from fly-by-night used car salesmen who don't stick around to service what they sell.

"They move into a small market where they can clobber people over the head and then they leave," said Steve Castilone, co-owner of Castilone Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram on West Main Street, Batavia. "That’s what they do. They ram them into a car and then they leave."

Just a few years ago, tent-sale dealers would come to town with their temporary lots, blanket the community with mailers, make a few sales and leave, but the law was changed to require a fixed and physical location before the dealer could receive a license. The Dunkirk dealer, Larry Spacc, has leased office space at 4152 W. Main Street Road, in the Valu Plaza.

Castilone thinks the operation is a sham. He's complained to the Niagara Frontier Automobile Dealers Association, supplying a video taken shortly after Spacc's last sale five months ago. It shows a lot once filled with used cars, by then filled with only potholes, and shots through the windows of Spacc's strip mall office space filled with nothing but promotional posters on the wall and a lone motorcycle. There wasn't a single desk or phone line anywhere in sight.

Greg Strauss, Castilone's business partner, calls these operations, "ghost dealers." He'd like to see them shut down.

When The Batavian attempted to contact the local dealership Tuesday afternoon for comment, a man named Nick answered the phone. We identified ourselves and said we were writing a story about the dealership. There was muffled talk over the earpiece and then Nick came back on the line and said his two managers had just left to get a bite to eat and one of them would return the reporter's call when they returned. No call was returned.

Pending legislation wouldn't close up such temporary dealerships completely, but it would make it harder for them to operate. It would require temporary lots to be set up only within 20 miles of the main dealership. In Spacc's case, Dunkirk is 87 miles from Batavia.

"We do these sales," said Castilone pointing to Spacc's latest mailer, "but I’m not trying to whack you over the head. I’m not trying to sell you a bill of goods. I’m trying to sell you a car. It costs us millions of dollars to be here every year, millions in overhead, and then you have some fly-by-night come in with an $800 storefront and sells you a car and you buy because you think it’s cheaper. It’s not cheaper. It’s more money and the interest rate is going to be higher. I wouldn’t mind if they were doing this sale and they were still down at the end of the street next week."

Guy Pellegrino, Pellegrino Auto Sales of Batavia, shares the concerns of Castillone and Strauss. He's put a lot of money into his business, pays property taxes, employs a local staff and is concerned that a "fly-by-night" operation isn't there to provide support after the sale.

"Competition is a good thing and we all get along well (in town)," Pellegrino said. "We all survive together. But when somebody comes in and sets up a tent, tries to push cars, I don’t agree with that. I don’t like it and I don’t agree with it."

Pellegrino employs 12 people, all local residents, and he recently completed a $300,000 expansion of his facility. That's an investment Spacc hasn't made in our community, he said, nor is Spacc out donating to local charities, sponsoring youth sport teams or showing up at community events.

"We’re here making an investment in the community and doing the best we can for our people and they’re going to sell you an overpriced car with all the gimmicks, and you will likely have issues and where are you going to go?" Pellegrino said. "There’s nothing there.” 

The sales people at these temporary lots are rarely local residents. The temporary lots most often hire experienced used car sales reps from all over the country, people with experience in the hard sell, both Pellegrino and Castilone noted.

The flier you get in the mail may say "sale," and proclaim limited availability, but don't be fooled, the local dealers say, the temporary dealer is out to maximize profits. Putting the right deal together for the customer is the furthest thing from the sales rep's mind.

“You spend all that money and do you really want to deal with a guy who is going to be gone? Here today, gone tomorrow?" Castilone said. "But not everyone understands that when they get one of these fliers in the mail.”

If you walk onto the lot, Pellegrino said, expect the hard sell. Yeah, the local dealers, like any small business, are out to make a buck, but Pellegrino said that at the end of the day, he knows if he sells you a car, he might see you at the next community event he attends. He wants to be able to look you in the eye and be proud of the business he conducted with you.

"(The tent sale) is a circus show," Pellegrino said. "They take the slickest, sharpest sales people and they’re going to make the most money they can on you and they will never see you again and you’ll never see them again. For us, we’re here, we’re in your community, we’re at all of your community events, we sponsor you and support you. Support us and forget the circus show, because that’s all this is is a circus show. "

Castilone employs more than 35 people and Castilone and Strauss have invested more than $2.5 million in remodeling and expanding their business, with another expansion just starting that will raise the total investment to more than $3 million. They pay local taxes on all that property.

Asked about the support Castilone provides to local charity, Steve said they don't normally seek publicity for their contributions, but they support local youth sports teams, sponsor four local charity golf tournaments and recently made a $5,000 contribution to the YMCA for the Y's youth camp. That donation will probably send 20 kids to camp this summer, Strauss said.

"When we did it, my sales manager said we should call the media, get some publicity for it," Castilone said. "I told him, 'no, we know we did it, that's all we need.' We didn't do it for the publicity. We did it because we care about our community."

Yes, Spacc is a fellow auto dealer and yes, Castilone said, his quotes in the media about his practices might upset him, but he said he wasn't worried about that.

“I want him to know that he’s in my backyard and this is our area, so go to Dunkirk and sell your cars to your own community, or open up a legitimate business and stay open 365 days a year where people can call you and come back to you again, and open a shop so you can fix these people’s cars," Castilone said. "Then you know what, it’s all fair competition.” 

Chase J. Francis-Whipset, 27, of Caledonia, was arrested on June 4 by the Le Roy Police Department and charged with: one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the 5th degree with the intent to sell, a Class D felony; aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the first degree, a Class E felony; unlawful possession of marijuana, a violation; speed in zone, a violation; unlicensed operator, a violation; and driver's view obstructed, a violation. Francis-Whipset was stopped by the Le Roy Police after allegedly operating a motor vehicle on East Main Street speeding. After a brief investigation, it was found that Francis-Whipset had a suspended driver’s license. Further investigation revealed that Francis-Whipset allegedly possessed a quantity of cocaine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Francis-Whipset was arraigned in the Town of Le Roy Court and put in Genesee County Jail in lieu of $3,000 cash bail or $6,000.00 bond. Francis-Whipset is to appear in court on June 8.

Blake Riley Pahuta, 18, of Alleghany Road, Pembroke, is charged with petit larceny, sixth-degree conspiracy, third-degree tampering, and unlawful possession of marijuana. A 17-year-old-female from Pembroke is charged in the same incident for petit larceny, sixth-degree conspiracy and third-degree tampering. The charges for both individuals stem from a shoplifting complainant from Kmart. Pahuta was operating the suspect vehicle from a larceny; the female was a passenger in that vehicle. Pahuta was observed northbound on Route 77 at 3:50 p.m. on June 6. As a State Police patrol attempted to stop the vehicle, a large black bag was thrown from the suspect vehicle. The vehicle was later stopped on Cohocton Road in the Town of Pembroke and at the end of the investigation, Pahuta and the female were arrested on the charges. They were taken to jail for processing, then released on appearance tickets for Town of Batavia Court and Pembroke Court at a later date(s). The cases were handled by Sheriff's Deputy Richard Schildwaster, assisted by Deputy Michael Lute.

Press release:

The Batavia Business Improvement District (BID) is pleased to announce the beginning of the season for the Genesee Country Farmers’ Market located at the Downtown Batavia Public Market.

The market is located at Bank and Alva streets and will operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays beginning this Friday, June 10^th until Oct. 28^th.

The market will offer fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, coffee, crafts and more.

Please come this Friday to join the many others who support the newly merged markets and to support the Downtown with this new venture.

For questions regarding the market, please contact Market President Bob Austen at (585) 991-8339.