batavia

This is the sunset I found on West Main Street Road, Batavia, on Saturday evening.

Carter Wasilewski, 7, was trying to help his dad Saturday afternoon by doing some fall leaf raking at their Redfield Drive home. Sister Paige, 10, was ready to help if he put down the rake.

Thelma and Rick Hall love the holidays. They decorate their home on Watson Avenue to suit the season, but for Halloween tomorrow, they've made an effort that goes beyond even last year -- new ghouls and goblins and a "chop house" where the kiddies will need to enter if they want any tricks or treats.

The whole haunted yard will be populated by Thelma Hall, left, Rick Hall, Daniel Brian, Toni Stoller, Lou Stoller, Ashley and Mike Meyers (newlyweds).

Daniel Brian and Toni will marry in 2011 on Halloween at the haunted house on Watson Avenue.

While driving around town Saturday evening, I came across a group of boys playing hockey on Kibbe Avenue. Here's a few pictures from their good time.

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More pictures after the jump:

Saturday, the Batavia Fire Department held an open house, which included a chance for the kids to shoot a fire hose at traffic cones, a chance to get a close-up view of the fire trucks, information on fire safety, a child seat safety check (with the help of Batavia Police) and a demonstration of how the fire department can get trapped people out of a car.

The dismantling of a car was pretty fascinating and are a good portion of the pictures after the jump.

To purchase pictures from the event, click here.

The First Presbyterian Church Service Building was packed Saturday morning with hungry pancake eaters for the 52nd Kiwanis Pancake Days breakfast. At one point, the wait to get into the dining hall was 45 minutes long.

Above, Betty Ingram displays a heart-shaped pancake delivered to her by Sheriff Gary Maha.

To purchase pictures of Saturday's event, click here.

More photos after the jump:

Who loves Monk bread? The bread is made by the monks at The Abbey of the Genesee http://geneseeabbey.org/. They are very generous and donate to local organizations. They donate to the Salvation army in Rochester which in turns delivers to the Salvation Army here in Batavia.

Captain Bob Kurtz of the Salvation Army here in Batavia  was very generous and donated bread to Care-A-Van Ministries. Care-A-Van was at Northside Meadows for Saturday morning grocery distribution where 27 families with 91 family members received the delicious bread. When Care-A-Van was done there, they stopped by and blessed the residents of 400 Towers with the delicous bread. Isn't it amazing to know to see how the hard work and efforts of the monks, bless those in communities that surround their Abbey.  It is awesome to see how local agencies come together to serve those in the community. Captain Bob also donates his time with Care-A-Van every Thursday for morning ministry. Thank you to the Abbey for their generosity. If you have never been there, take a drive sometime.

Their facility and grounds are beatuiful and the fresh bread can be bought right there in their store.

Jackson Street Grill/Belladessa's, one of Batavia's more popular dining establishments, is shutting its doors.

Owner Jim Kujawski said this afternoon that the restaurant's last day will be tomorrow.

In a statement, Kujawski said:

I have decided that the sacrifices of running a restaurant are not worth it anymore. The first thought through everyone's mind is that the business is doing bad. That's not true. Of course the economy has had a negative effect on sales over the past 2 years but this was not the deciding factor. Working 7 days a week, 10-12 hr days, year round gets old after awhile. I want to go back to having some semblance of a life again and spending time with my wife and family. We did have a party interested in continuing the business but backed out at the last minute last week.

Kujawski opened Jackson Street Grill in 2006. It is known for big juicy hamburgers, including a huge cheese burger that patrons were challenged to eat. In 2008, Kujawski acquired Belladessa's and moved the pizzeria from Main Street to Jackson Street. Belladessa's had been around since 1997.

An electrical fire is reported in the basement of a house at 13 Walnut St. in the City of Batavia. The occupants have been evacuated and there is smoke coming from the building.

City Fire Department is on scene.

UPDATE (2:33 p.m.): The fire is knocked down. National Grid has been notified about the problem inside the electrical fuse box. Firefighters are "checking the extensions upstairs."

UPDATE (by Howard): Julie Worthington and Mary Kay Mayeu were sitting at the dining room table talking when they heard some loud buzzing pops and the lights flickered. Mayeu told Worthington she better get the kids out of the house.

"I think there's something going on downstairs," Mayeu said she told Worthington. "I looked downstairs and I could see flames. You couldn't see past the water heater, but you could see a yellow presence."

At that point, Worthington said, the smoke detectors hadn't even started beeping.

"We were actually out of the house before the alarms started going off," Worthington said.

A Batavia man with an apparently lengthy criminal record, who was arrested at least three times in the past few months, will need to come up with $50,000 if he wants to get out of jail while his newest felony charges are pending.

Michael J. Piasta, 30, of 415 E. Main St., Batavia, was arrested earlier this week on a charge of burglary, 3rd, and criminal possession of a forged instrument. He is accused of breaking into a business office on Harvester Avenue, stealing credit cards and checks, using the credit cards and attempting to cash the checks.

When arrested, he was arraigned in Batavia City Court, but because Piasta has two prior felony convictions, the lower court could set bail and the justice ordered him held without bail. His attorney, William Teford, requested a bail review hearing in Genesee County Court.

At the hearing, Teford argued that despite his client's lengthy criminal record, all of his immediate family lives in Batavia, he's never left Batavia and he has a job. Teford asked for bail of $5,000 to $10,000.

District Attorney Lawrence Friedman argued that Piasta has a history of violating probation and parole and, though neither of the prior felony convictions were for violent crimes, Piasta is facing possible "persistent felony offender status," which means a longer prison term.

In the pre-bail review report, Friedman noted that Piasta's employer, a local contractor, says he "doesn’t know if he’d have job if released due to trouble he’s been in recently."

Friedman asked that Piasta continued to be held without bail.

Previously:

• Man with previous thievery charges accused of burglary on Harvester Avenue
• Store owner helps catch man who allegedly tried to steal adult DVDs

Gary L. Bonk, 34, Gillette Road, Albion, is charged with aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle, 2nd, leaving the scene of a personal injury accident, speeding, driving left of pavement markings, and failure to yield to emergency vehicles. Bonk was reportedly seen speeding on Route 98 and passing a car in a no-passing zone on Route 98 at 3:01 a.m. When a patrol car attempted to stop Bonk's car, Bonk reportedly drove it into a ditch and then fled the scene. When Bonk allegedly drove the car into a ditch, his passenger was injured (though the passenger did not seek medical treatment). Bonk was reportedly found later walking on Route 98.

A 17-year-old from Albion was charged with making a punishable false written statement. The youth is accused of signing a false statement regarding an incident involving Gary L. Bonk.

Bryan D. Wright, 50, of Telephone Road, Pavilion, is charged with harassment. Wright was allegedly involved in an incident at 4:25 p.m., Oct.12, at a location on St. Mary's Street, Pavilion. He is accused of grabbing and choking another man during an argument.

Brett Blair, 26, of Batavia, is charged with three counts of criminal possession of stolen property, 4th, and three counts of forgery, 2nd. Blair was arrested by State Police on Wednesday in regards to an alleged incident Aug. 10 in Greece. It appears to involve credit cards and tokens. No further details were released.

A driver allegedly failed to yield the right-of-way, leading to a minor injury accident at the intersection of Bank Street Road and South Bennett Heights yesterday morning.

The 7:57 a.m. accident sent Tonya L. Passamonte, 45, of Washington Avenue, Batavia, to UMMC, but neither the driver nor the passenger of the other car were injured.

According to a report prepared by Deputy Chris Parker, a 2003 Dodge pickup driven by Elizabeth A. Bruns, 42, of South Bennett Heights, Batavia, was westbound from South Bennett Heights when she "failed to yield the right-of-way" at the intersection, rolling past the stop sign.

The report does not list any citations issued.

Passamonte was driving a 2008 Chevy SUV.

Bruns' passenger was 16-year-old Mary C. Boerschlein.

(Initial Report)

A two-vehicle accident is reported at the roundabout in Batavia. There are injuries and Mercy EMS and the Batavia Fire Department are responding. Batavia police are on scene, at South Main and Walnut streets.

UPDATE (6:45 p.m.): Personnel there say extrication is needed.

UPDATE (7:05 p.m.): The "extrication" consisted of prying back a dented door to allow the passenger inside to get out. Injuries are minor. This accident involved a minivan and a four-door sedan.

An Elmira stepmother was found guilty of manslaughter today in the death of a 21-month-old toddler from Batavia.

Melissa Engelhardt, 24, was convicted in a non-jury trial. Chemung County Judge Peter C. Buckley found Engelhardt not guilty of second-degree murder.

Andrew Cianfrini, of Batavia, died Nov. 10, while in the care of Engelhardt.

An autopsy found methanol in the child's body. Methanol lowers the temperature of water to prevent it from freezing. It can be fatal if ingested. Methanol was also found in the toddler's sippy cup.

(Read the full story from the D&C).

Jessica Wassink's first-grade class at John Kennedy School got a visit from their assemblyman today.

Steve Hawley walked into the class at 2 p.m. and was eagerly greeted by the young students -- some of the boys even wore ties for the occasion.

They immediately began fielding their suggestions for legislation. Hawley talked some about what goes on in Albany and answered their questions, keeping everything in terms they could understand.

An arsonist who tried to kill his ex-girlfriend's father will spend 20 years in prison, Judge Robert C. Noonan ruled today.

The sentencing of Andre L. Scott came near the close of a bizarre hearing in which Scott let it be known that he thought a juror in his trial behaved improperly, that his constitutional rights were violated in a previous conviction out of Monroe County, and that his ex-girlfriend perjured herself under pressure from Batavia Police detectives.

He also accused the detectives of tampering with evidence.

"Everybody in this courtroom knows what happened," Scott said. "They took my DNA and put it on there, on the evidence."

Since Scott's conviction on Aug. 31 following a jury trial, the 31-year-old former Rochester resident fired his trial attorney, Thomas Burns, and was assigned local defense attorney Fred Rarick.

Today, Scott let it be known that he plans to appeal his conviction.

A jury found that Scott attempted to kill his ex-girlfriend's father by pouring gasoline on the stairs of the man's Batavia residence at 12 Elm St. and setting it afire in February 2009. 

He was convicted of attempted murder, arson and burglary.

"The defendant started a fire in the stairwell where, if he had been successful, it could have resulted in the death of four people in that residence," District Attorney Lawrence Friedman said. "Only through the prompt response of the fire department did it become a situation where nobody was harmed.

"His continued attitude, and what he said to probation during the presentence investigation, communicates loud and clear that, unless I've missed something, I see no mitigating factors to suggest this defendant should get any less than the maximum, 25 years."

Given a chance to speak in his own defense, Scott immediately launched into a rambling complaint about wanting to file a 330 motion (a motion contesting his conviction), but the jail didn't send it over in a timely manner, the court didn't get it, and something about a juror who is related to somebody who works in corrections.

Noonan tried to get Scott back on track, at which point Scott started to complain about evidence being tampered with and asking that the evidence in his case be taken out of Batavia Police custody.

Noonan cut him off.

"One thing I've noticed about you, Mr. Scott, from the very first time you came before me, is that you focus on entirely different matters than what everybody else is focused on," Noonan said. "You make allegations that have no basis in fact and bring up issues not being discussed, and anyone -- including your own counsel -- who tries to  get you to focus (is ignored).

"When I give you every opportunity to tell me what sentence should be imposed, you go off on where evidence is stored and 'what everybody knows,' whatever that means."

After telling Scott that he "committed one of the most serious crimes in our law," Noonan pronounced sentence and then asked if the district attorney's office had any requests for orders of protection.

Friedman requested orders of protection for Scott's ex-girlfriend, her father and one of the witnesses in the case.

"Any objections?" Noonan asked in what is normally a very routine matter at criminal sentencing.

"No, your honor," said Rarick.

"Yes," said Scott loudly, going on to say that his ex-girlfriend had spoken with his mother after she testified and said that police had threatened her if she didn't lie on the witness stand.

After some consultation with his client, Rarick offered up Scott's objection.

Noonan ruled that, if in the circumstance that Scott winds up representing himself and needs to interview her, the order can be modified, otherwise he was issuing the order of protection.

A 55-year-old Batavia woman is accused of forging her boss's signature on company checks and depositing the funds in her personal bank account.

Deborah Dutton faces a federal charge of making and possessing forged checks. The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison or a $250,000 fine or both.

Dutton is accused of stealing in the neighborhood of $77,000 from her employer, A1 Sheet Metal Company.

The arrest is the result of an investigation by Special Agents of the U.S. Secret Service, under the direction of Special Agent-In-Charge Tracy Gast.

A mechanical Halloween display at Boces malfunctioned and caught fire about 15 minutes ago. People at the school, located at 8250 State St. Road in Batavia, put the fire out. A fire engine from the City of Batavia was called in, nonemergency mode, to check out the situation and ensure all is safe.