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Editor's Note: The following is an open letter that Councilman Bill Cox sent The Batavian this morning. We likely would have published it then, long before he approached us about the paid post we have on the site now, but the bank robbery took up most of our day.  We make the point to note, we would have published this without the paid sponsorship.

Council members,

Tomorrow evening October 6th at 7 PM the Board of Education will be holding an informational meeting in the high school on State Street about their plans to convert the North Street Extn. property they own into athletic fields.

Well over 100 neighbors, school taxpayers, and voters in this area (East Avenue,  Naramore,  Woodcrest, Hillside Drive,, Garden Drive, Carolwood, Harrold Square, Belvedere, North Street, Elm Street, Clinton Street, and other streets have signed petitions strongly opposing this  school development. These petitions will be presented to the school board tomorrow evening.

They are concerned this development will change their peaceful and quiet neighborhood forever. In particular they are concerned with the fact that school enrollment is going down not up which does not justify more fields, it justifies fewer. The fact that their taxes will be going up to provide funding to maintain this area after it is developed; they are concerned that their school taxes will be used to support adult sports events the school board needs to justify the maintenance costs, that have nothing to do with school activities.

They are concerned with loud noise from fans and participants that occurs at all sporting events; their property being walked on invading their privacy, that property values go down not up  when these kinds of facilities are created, refuge will be deposited in yards, on streets, and blow on other properties. Parking and  traffic will clog streets, and a whole lot more.

I ask for you to come to this meeting and show your support for the city residents who this is being forced upon. A large number of the people who signed petitions stated this one topic alone will decide who they vote for on council and the legislature. Some asked me to contact you to ask you to come to this meeting and speak out on their behalf. They want to know where our council people and legislator candidates stand on this development which is vital to the quality of life in their neighborhood.

Bill Cox
Councilman - First Ward

James S. Gibbs, 39, of Batavia, is charged with grand larceny, insurance fraud and offering false instruments for filing and a violation of the worker's compensation law. Gibbs is accused of collecting full disability related to an on-duty injury while drawing income from plowing driveways and sealing parking lots in Batavia. Gibbs was jailed on $10,000 bail.

Kathleen M. McBride, 44, of 115 State St., lower, is charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon. McBride is accused of cutting her husband's face during a domestic dispute. Her husband was not seriously injured in the alleged attack. After he was cut, her husband allegedly pushed her onto the bed and held her there, not allowing her to get up. McBride was jailed on $3,000 bail.

Jean Marie Lorenz, 49, of 7907 Allegheny Road, Corfu, is charged with two counts of assault. Lorenze allegedly attacked and cut two people with a knife Saturday night. Lorenz was reportedly drunk at the time. She was jailed on $1,000 bail.

Karen Ann Garcia, 45, of 13535 Miller Road, Albion, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Gardia allegedly allowed her daughter to shoplift at Kmart. Garcia also reportedly lied about her daughter's name and age.

Jamie Luis Santiago, of 5057 Hundredmark Road, Elba, is charged with assault. Santiago was taken into custody for an alleged incident July 12. Santiago allegedly punched his wife in the face causing injury on that date.

Sath P. Dhanda, 29, of 219 Washington Ave., Batavia, is charged with disorderly conduct and assault. Dhanda allegedly instigated a fight. At the time of his arrest, Dhanda allegedly made verbal threats to a police officer. Dhanda was arrested at 7:48 p.m. on Friday.

Dylan A.J. Dembrow, 18, of 14 Pearl St., Akron, is charged with unlawful dealing with a child. Dembrow is accused of hosting an underage drinking party at a location on Akron Road in Pembroke on Saturday night.

James M. Wisniewski, 19, of Attica, was charged by State Police with harassment. The charge stems from a Sept. 19 incident in the Village of Alexander. No further retails are available at this time.

Thomas J. Preedom, 21, of Wyoming, is charged by State Police with rape in the second degree and acting in a manor to injure a child. According to the State Police blotter entry, Preedom is accused of raping an underage girl. The alleged incident took place in the City of Batavia on Sept. 25. He was subsequently charged with bail jumping, criminal mischief, escape and harassment. Cash bail was set at $50,000.

Ronald G. Albertson, 51, of Albion, is charged with DWI. Albertson was stopped by State Police in Elba on at 10:03 p.m. Saturday.

A student of Jackson Elementary School died on Saturday.

No details of the death of 6-year-old Marcus Peters have been released yet, but his passing was confirmed by WBTA with the Sheriff's Office this morning.

Superintendent Margaret Puzio said Marcus was in school and apparently healthy on Friday.

Grief counselors will be at the school this morning.

UPDATE: Additional details have been released.

Marcus, who lived with his mother in Batavia, was spending the weekend with his father in Le Roy. He appeared healthy just minutes before he was found unresponsive by his 8-year-old sister. Moments before, he asked his father if he could go outside to play. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. Foul play is not suspected and there was no evidence of trauma.

UPDATE: We received the following e-mail from Kristen Wahl.

Hello my name s Kristen Wahl and Iam the step-mom to Marcus's sister Madison! He was a very sweet quite boy! He will be missed very much by alot of people!  His mom is Cynthia Peters and she is very broken up about this whole thing!  Marcus was her first born!!! I am writing this to say that the family will  need all the support possible to get through this horrible tragic thing!  Marcus is leaving behind 2 sisters and 1 brother and his mom and dad and  everyone who loves him! If you would like to support or send condolences the address is 139 Swan Street in Batavia, NY.She needs all of our support!  Thank You!

Paul Ohlson, Founder of Care-A-Van Ministries with James Rosenbeck , 2009 Kidney Walk -Genesee County Event Chair

Paul with Sydney the Kidney

Care-A-Van Ministries had the honor and pleasure of being contacted by the National Kidney Foundation to partner with them for their 2009 Kidney Walk for Genesee County slated for today, Sunday October 4th.

Mr. James Rosenbeck, a local Batavia resident, the chair for the event was a receipient of a kidney transplant in September 2007. He and his wife Debbie helped organize this local event. The event was held to celebrate life and help to raise funds to support the National Kidney Foundation serving WNY's mission.

The Care-A-Van ministry team offered juice, water, cookies , candy and prayer for the walkers and their families. A delicious lunch was provided by the National Kidney Foundation. It was impressive that the students of the National Honor Society from Grand Island High school were on hand to volunteer for the event as well.

A special thanks to Anne K.C. McCooey, Regional Vice President of the Western New York National Kidney Foundation an Maria Batt, Special Events Manager of the foundation for a warm welcome and a job well done!

Photos of National Honor Society of Grand Island helping out

We introduced Tyler Barrett as a young, local aspiring fiction writer some time back. Tonight, he sent a long a link to this video of him playing piano. The song he's playing is "Lux Aeterna,"  from the film Requiem for a Dream.

Ok, so he was a good sport about allowing this PR director to take his picture.

Local Detective Richard Schauf was out on Sunday afternoon particpating in the National Kidney Foundation Kidney walk that was held at Genesee County Park.

Friends of the foundation, gave him his very own birthday cupcake.

Detective Schauf is a great supporter of Care-A-Van Ministries. In his spare time, you can find him volunteering with the ministry  to help meet the needs of others. I said to him as I went to snap his photo "you  know I do blog online for the Batavian" he just smiled and allowed me to snap away. Happy Birthday Detective!

Detective Schauf and Pastor Mark Perkins on a recent outing with Care-A-Van

At a time when most companies in the U.S. seem to be just holding on, Prime Materials in Batavia is primed for growth, according to company President Russell  K. Western.

On Friday, Prime Materials held a job fair to help fill at least a half dozen openings and build a pool of applicants for a number of anticipated new jobs in the coming year.

According to Western, 44 people showed up and 13 will be invited back for a second interview and several more will be considered in the next round of hiring.

“We’re regularly frustrated in our ability to find appropriately skilled people,” Western said, who described the classic conundrum of employers finding people looking for work who are over qualified, or people who are underskilled with spotty work histories.

“We were greatly excited to have 44 people to pick from,” Western said.

The firm, located at 6 Treadeasy Ave., is poised for expansion, Western said, because there is a growing domestic market for its closed-cell cross-linked foam, which is used as packing material for shipping of a wide range of products. While the company faces stiff global competition from Asia, the cost of shipping a higher quality, highly dense material into the U.S. gives Prime Materials an advantage.

The entire manufacturing process, from mixing to pressing, is handled in the Batavia plant.

It also manufactures foam for its parent company, Batavia-based P.W. Minor, which makes stylish shoes for people with diabetes or arthritis or who simply want a comfortable shoe.

The relationship with P.W. Minor may be heading in a new direction in the coming months, according to Western. Prime Materials is all grown up and the firm may have the opportunity to mature into an independently owned company in its own right. Western is in talks with investors now and if that goes through, Prime Materials’ ability to create many more good paying jobs will be greatly increased.

And finding good people, Western said, will be a key part of Prime Materials' success.  He thinks Genesee County, with its own skilled workforce and Batavia's location between Rochester and Buffalo, will help the company find good people. He said his goal is to build a company with a solid reputation in the community, which will help bring in and retain career-minded workers.

Things looked good for Notre Dame at the end of the first half this afternoon, but in the end Holley took control of the game and went on to win 14-7.

It was the first loss of the year for the Irish and continued Holley's dramatic turn around from an 0-8 in 2008.

It was a tale of two halves, according to Notre Dame Head Coach Rick Mancuso, who said his team failed to execute in the third and fourth quarters.

"We had a good mix of run and a good mix of of pass (in the first half)," said Mancuso. "I thought we played with passion. We played with emotion. I thought we came out early in the second half and we started off with a penalty right in the first series and that was just kind of the way that we played. We lost our focus and we lost our discipline and we didn’t play a good second half."

In that first half, Notre Dame did a good job of stuffing Holley's powerful running game. When Holley went up the middle, the Irish line was there to push back the pile. On sweeps, the pursuit was aggressive, lead by Gianni Zambito, to keep Holley's backs from turning the corner. A couple of sweeps turned into lost yardage for the Hawks.

After the game, Hawks Head Coach Chad DeRock bristled at the idea that the Irish were sticking it to his guys during the first half.

"We played our game -- bend, don’t break," DeRock said. "We gave up only seven points to one of the best offenses around here. We bend, we don’t break. They’re going to have big plays. You’ve got to accept that when you’ve got Bochicchio at QB and Pratt and Richter and Zambito out there. Those are big play guys. We just didn’t want to get beat with the big, big play. We got burned on one. Other than that, we did what we had to do."

That one big play was a 35-yard TD pass early in the second quarter to a wide open Zambito from Nick Bochicchio.

The successful drive was sparked by a Cam McDonald fumble recovery late in the first quarter. The turnover stopped a long drive by the Hawks that had them on a seeming precipice of a first score of the game.

Instead, Notre Dame was able to end the half with a 7-0 lead against a Holley team that scored at least 30 points in three of its four previous wins.

ND opened the half with the ball, an illegal motion penalty the Irish in the hole and a few downs later ND was punting it away. It wasn't long after before Mike Perincano was crossing the goal line on a 30-yard rush to pull the Hawks within a point of the Irish (Holley failed to score on a two-point conversion try, so the score stood at 7-6).

On its next possession, the Irish moved the ball down field and were within striking distance of another score when Bochicchio was picked off by Guy Hills. That's the last time the Irish really threatened to put points on the board.

Two possessions later, Chad Barhydt, who took over at QB for Hills, who was injured in the fourth quarter, carried the ball in on a two-yard TD run, and with the two-point conversion, Holley sealed its 14-7 victory.

"My hats off to Holley," Mancuso said. "They played terrific. They were up to the challenge and they’re a great team. They’ve got a lot of really great kids. They work hard and their coaching staff does a great job with them. I wish we cold have done them justice and played them a little bit better."

Coach DeRock said his team, even at 5-0 and assured of at least a share of the Genesee Region title, is still taking the season one week at a time.

"Everybody says this was the GR championship, but it’s not," DeRock said. "It’s another game on our schedule. We have another game next week and another game after that.

"Attica’s a great team," he added. "Brad Clark had 295 yards rushing last night. I scouted the game. He’s a great running back, so we’re not taking them lightly by any means."

Pernicano finished the game with 52 yards on six carries. Sean Baylor had 12 carries for 68 yards. Barhydt posted 42 rushing yards.

For the Irish, now 4-1, Mike Pratt rushed for 65 yards on 20 carries. Zambito contributed 90 total yards on four receptions.

Roughly 15 people lost good-paying jobs this week at Batavia-based Graham Corp.. The across-the-board cuts were a necessary belt-tightening measure in the midst of a lackluster economy.

That's according to Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Glajch, who confirmed the rumored layoffs this afternoon.

"I feel sorry for the workers," he said. "But we needed to adjust to the marketplace in this sluggish economy. Things aren't getting worse, but they aren't getting better either."

It's the second round of job cuts this year. Slightly more than 10 percent of the engineering and manufacturing company's workforce was eliminated in January. 

That amounted to about 30 jobs at a time when the company was facing a 40-percent loss in revenue, the CFO said. Nonetheless, in May it received Empire Zone tax incentives.

It is the rare, if not the only, publicly traded company in Batavia, with offices and a production plant at 20 Florence Ave.. It has been in business since World War II.

It engineers and makes vacuum and heat-transfer equipment that has broad applications, from making synthetic fibers, petroleum products, electric power and fertilizer, to processing food, pharmaceuticals, paper and steel. Half its good are sold abroad.

Things were going great guns for Graham by mid-2008, when it made Business Week's list of the fastest-growing small companies.

China and other foreign markets' thirst for oil in 2007-08 created a robust demand for Graham's goods. Orders placed then continued to have a postive impact on the company's finances over the first three fiscal quarters of 2008-09 (the company's fiscal year runs April 1 through March 31).

At its peak, it had more than 300 employees and its stock was trading at a high of $50.98 a share. Its stock closed today at $14.68 a share.

As with other industries, the orders tapered off and the forecast today is a question mark. Looking ahead, the CFO said he hopes there won't be pink slips come December, but "I can't promise anything, we have to wait and see."

What's the recipe for "The Big Game"? Well, start with two undefeated teams in the fifth week of the season. Make sure one of them has a storied history and is hosting the game on homecoming weekend. The other team should be up an upstart, a new program that for the first time is emerging as a powerful, tough-to-beat squad.

That's a Big Game.

And's the situation tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. when Notre Dame hosts the Holley Hawks Notre Dame. The teams clash as division rivals with matching records of 4-0.

“They’ve (Holley) got a great group of kids and we’re probably the underdog here" said Notre Dame's head coach, Rick Mancuso. "We’re fighting an uphill battle, but we’re looking forward to the challenge."

If you put any stock in such things, MaxPreps ranks the Fighting Irish 121st in the state, and Holley at 155th.

The Irish have scored 101 points on the season, Holley, 114. ND's has allowed 35 points, with Holley being a bit stingier, giving up only 23.

The Hawks have a reputation for being a strong, hard-hitting team, and Coach Mancuso acknowledges the Hawks are a tough, well-coached team, but that doesn't make them much different from Attica and Oakfield. Both of those squads have fallen once each this season to the Irish.

"We’ve been against some tough, strong, hard-hitting teams and Holley’s no different than them," Mancuso said,  "other than Holley’s maybe a little bit bigger and they have a little bit better skill level in their back field."

Mancuso said the Hawks probably have the best four backs in the league.

"That gives them an advantage," he said.

"We've got to come out and we've really got to work at it," Mancuso said. "We can't get down they have a big play. We can't get too high and we can't get too low. It's a big challenge."

He said his players are excited about the big game.

It sounds like a recipe for a can't-miss match up.

AUDIO: Interview with Head Coach Rick Mancuso (mp3)

Sheriff's investigators are looking into a brazen daylight garage break-in in which the thief (or thieves) got away with three large items.

Stolen this yesterday morning from 27 Valle Drive, Batavia, was a John Deere tractor with a snow plow attached, a Yamaha Blaster four-wheeler and four snow tires that fit a 2005 Pontiac G6.

The burglars smashed a window to get into the garage between 9 and 10:15 a.m. and left through the overhead garage door, leaving it open.

Anyone with information that might help solve this crime are encouraged to call the Sheriff's Dispatch Center at 345-3000, Ext. 1.

James D. Henry, Jr., 54, of 8296 E. Main Road, Le Roy, is charged with a felony count of criminal possession of a forged instrument and a felony count of attempted grand larceny. Henry, a former Village of Le Roy employee, allegedly entered the village office on Monday possessing a forged doctor's prescription. It stated that Henry "would be out until further notice" in an attempt to gain sick leave compensation, which would have totaled more than $3,000. Henry was arraigned and released under supervision of Genesee Justice.

Robin L. Pirdy, 50, of 588 Route 98, Attica, is charged with DWI and aggravated DWI with a BAC of .08 or greater. Pirdy was reportedly found parked on the side of Molasses Hill Road in Bethany by Deputy Kevin McCarthy. Upon investigation, McCarthy determined that Pirdy had allegedly been driving while intoxicated.

Steven Robert Gorecki, 23, of 106 Tracey Ave., Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Gorecki is accused of shoplifting from Target.

Willie A. Sabb, Jr., 35, of 19 Porter Ave., Apt. 2, Batavia, is charged with assault in the third degree, endangering the welfare of a child and harassment. Police picked up Sabb at his residence on warrants issued by City Court. The charges stem from three separate alleged incidents. No further details were released.

Smoke detectors awoke a Bank Street family this morning, allowing the people in the lower apartment unit to escape safely from a fire that started in an improperly lined chimney, according to a Batavia Fire Department release this morning.

Upon arrival at the 2:20 a.m. alarm, Batavia firefighters entered the upper apartment and awoke the two occupants and escorted them safely from the building.

Firefighters initially responded to the call of a "house filled with smoke."

The fire caused an estimated $30,000 damage to the house and $15,000 to its contents.

No smoke detectors were present in the upper unit, which was located at 140 Bank St..

UPDATE: WBTA spoke with Captain Michael Drew (MP3) of the Batavia Fire Department. Chief Ralph Hyde also told WBTA that the chimney was designed for gas heating and the occupants tried burning wood in the fireplace.

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Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Town of Batavia Volunteer Fire Department will hold an open house at its station at 8382 Lewiston Road.  Lowe's is sponsoring the event through its "Heroes Project." The retailer has paid for 150 smoke detectors, 50 CO detectors and 200 kits for kids to build wooden fire trucks as well as hot dogs, chips and soda for the event. Any county resident who shows up can get a free smoke or CO detector.

It's also a chance for area residents to see the department's equipment and learn more about what the all-volunteer department does, said organizer Joshua Finn.

"There are a lot of guys who put in a lot of our hours and have worked hard for a lot of years and we just want people to come out and see what we do," Finn said.

Safety training is also a big part of the day, which kicks off Fire Prevention Week.

"It's important to get people to start thinking about what they would do if they were in an emergency," Finn said.

Lt. Nate Fix said the department will also be doing training sessions for BOCES and the child care facilities in the department's coverage area. 

Pictured above are Jason Pfleger, John Mullen, both firefighters, Lt. Nate Fix, Chuck Hammer, admin manager for Lowe's in Batavia, Fire Department VP Joshua Finn, and Scott Maloy and Bill Leonard, firefighters.

I happened down Watson Street today and found this house and yard all decked out for Halloween. I hope this bodes well for how many trick-or-treaters we'll get in our neighborhood this year. It's been a long time since Billie and I lived in a neighborhood with a lot kids and trick-or-treaters.

City firefighters doubt this ring was a donation to the union's "Fill the Boot" campaign for MDA. It is likely a woman's wedding band with an inscription inside, which invites all kinds of speculation about whether it was lost accidentally, or not.

If you're missing a ring and want it back, you should contact the Batavia Fire Department.

Bob Bialkowski's active role in pushing forward the complaint against City Manager Jason Molino became a little clearer tonight. His participation is at the center of the current kerfuffle over breached confidence at Batavia City Hall.

Weeks ago, when Bialkowski produced a manila envelope with copies of the complaint letter, he told City Councilwoman Marianne Clattenburg that he received the complaint via email and printed it out for the complainant because that person's printer was broken, Clattenberg said.

Clattenburg said she didn't open the envelope and had no knowledge about the specific contents of the letter before handing it over to Council President Charlie Mallow.

However, the fact that this particular person filed the complaint wasn't a surprise to Clattenburg, because the person first asked Clattenburg how to handle the complaint. Clattenburg said she told the person the proper procedure was to take the complaint to the City Council President (Charlie Mallow). She indicated she was surprised when Bialkowski showed up with an envelope full of copies of the letter.

Mallow confirmed that he received the envelope from Clattenburg.

Both Mallow and Clattenburg say that the existence of the letter was revealed during the Council's next closed session, which had been called previously in order to conduct the contractually mandated performance review of the city manager. 

The council agreed to take the complaint up at its next closed session, since the council was obligated to continue with the performance review and vote on Molino's raise.

That next meeting was Sept. 14, which Bialkowski did not attend, and is central to the breach-of-confidence charge by members of the council. The council discussed the complaint against Molino and agreed that the person who made the complaint should be interviewed by the council and that Molino -- who was out of town -- should be given a chance to respond.

When the council came out of executive session, it voted 7-1 to give Molino a 2.8 percent raise. Councilman Bill Cox cast the lone no vote and after the meeting cited a "personnel" matter, which he wouldn't discuss further, as the reason for his "no" vote.

After that meeting, Mallow, Clattenburg and council members Rose Mary Christian and Kathy Briggs received phone calls from the person who filed the complaint. That person had just enough details of the closed discussion to make it clear to council members, Mallow and Clattenburg said, that somebody on the council spoke freely, either directly to the person who filed the complaint or to another party who then spoke to the complainant immediately after the meeting.

But not all of the details were right. There were also misrepresentations and exaggerations.

"I don't think the public understands," said Clattenburg, "that one of the reasons the council is so upset is that the person was feeding back a lot of misinformation about what was said and we didn't like how the council was being portrayed. This wasn't just a breach of trust. This person (the leaker) was making stuff up, saying stuff that was never said."

Mallow didn't speak directly to the complainant that night (he only received a voice mail), but after he spoke to the other council members, it was clear to him that whoever called the complainant got enough of the facts right that a council person had to be the leaker.

"It was enough of the truth to see that it was somebody who was in the room," Mallow said. "There were enough tidbits of truth, but it wasn't the whole truth. It was just twisted and it was exaggerated."

Neither Mallow nor Clattenburg could say whether the letter as produced by Bialkowski was actually signed by the person making the complaint. The Batavian's news partner WBTA asked Mallow yesterday if the letter was signed, and Mallow said he thought it was. Tonight, The Batavian pointed out that it didn't seem likely that a letter that Bialkowski provided several copies of -- all coming from his printer -- would be signed. Mallow admitted that maybe it wasn't and said City Attorney George Van Nest had his only copy and he would have to check with Van Nest.

Clattenburg also couldn't remember if it was signed and didn't have her copy available.

If the letter wasn't signed, it would call into doubt, at least partially, the veracity of the letter because it would suggest the letter wasn't reviewed by the complainant before it was presented to council.

Mallow was quick to point out that there is no doubt the complainant is a real person and that this person has a complaint he or she considers legitimate. Mallow said that based on an email exchange with the complainant, he's sure the writing styles are the same, but admitted he can't be sure the letter is entirely written by the complainant.

"We don't know that the end-result that we got was the same end-result that Bob got," Mallow said. "I don't know and I can't say for sure."

He then added, almost under his breath, "That would be really devious."

"I can't say for certain that it's the same letter, but I believe the person wanted the council to have the letter," Mallow said.

As we noted in our previous story, The Batavian has offered Bialkowski several opportunities to comment on this matter and he has yet to respond. Mr. Bialkowski has several options available to him to tell his side of the story: He can call us; he can email us a statement which we will post without editing; he can post his own post; he can make a video and post it to YouTube; or he can leave a comment on this or any other post. The Batavian is an open forum and Mr. Bialkowski has all the freedom in the world to tell his story without editorial interference. The same goes for any other council member who has additional information to share on this or any other matter.

Previously:

• Mallow: Council member who leaked document should resign
• Today's Poll: Should the council member(s) who leaked personnel information from a closed session resign?
• 'Council antics' don't pass 'smell test,' asserts Councilman Cox
• Most council members answer straightforward questions about leak of personnel information
• The power of Grand Juries in New York to investigate government actions
• Fellow council members say Bialkowski brought in complaint letter, threatened to release it