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About a dozen players and coaches, including manager Mike Jacobs, came out to the ballpark Saturday morning to provide baseball instruction to 30 or so young ballplayers at the Batavia Muckdogs annual youth camp.

Young players were given tips on fielding, hitting, running the bases, and pitching.

A caller reports smoke coming from under the porch and possibly from the basement of a residence at 5 Franklin St., Batavia.

The occupants have been advised to evacuate. 

City fire dispatched.

UPDATE 10:25 p.m.: Fire contained to the porch, smoldering right now.

UPDATE 10:31 p.m.: Fire is out. Overhauling.

An 80-year-old resident of Medina was pronounced dead at the scene Friday evening of a two-car accident at the intersection of Pearl Street Road and Wortendyke Road, Batavia.

The investigation so far indicates that Irene B. Cichocki was driving a 2018 Kia Sportage westbound on Route 33 when it was hit broadside by a 2016 Honda Pilot that was southbound on Wortendyke Road.

The Pilot was driven by Lauren D. Power, 17, of Scotch Plains, N.J.

Power reportedly told investigators she was unfamiliar with the area and did not see the stop sign on Wortendyke.

Power, along with her passengers, suffered minor injuries and were transported to Strong Memorial Hospital for evaluation and treatment. Her passengers were Marianna D. Ban, of Hamlin, Sophia E. Buono, of Rochester, and Justin R. Barnard, of Rochester.

The investigation indicates that after Power's Pilot hit Cichocki's SUV, the Sportage overturned multiple times and came to rest in a grassy area on the south side of Pearl Street Road.

Neither alcohol nor drugs are considered a factor in the accident.

Power was issued a citation for alleged failure to stop at a stop sign.

The cause of the accident is officially still under investigation.

The investigation is being conducted by Undersheriff Gregory Walker, Sgt. Andrew Hale, Investigator James Diehl, Investigator Joseph Loftus, Deputy Kyle Krzemien. Trooper Brackett assisted at the scene along with Mercy EMS, East Pembroke fire, and Town of Batavia fire, and L & L Towing.

A car has reportedly hit a pole in the area of 7921 Hopkins Road, Pembroke, and the pole is down and blocking the roadway.

Unknown injuries.

Pembroke fire and Indian Falls fire dispatched along with Mercy EMS.

UPDATE 1:33 p.m.: The accident is just inside Alabama's district. Alabama fire being dispatched. Indian Falls chief on scene advised Alabama to come in from Sand Hill Road. Pole is completely sheared off, blocking the road, wires are down. Both occupants are out of the vehicle and walking. One ambulance should be sufficient.

Michelle Ann Case, now 50, and twice convicted of stealing money from her former employer, HomeCare & Hospice, has yet to pay back any of the more than $14,000 she took by falsifying business records.

The former Bergen resident was back in County Court today for a restitution hearing, which consisted primarily of her attorney, Public Defender Jerry Ader, and District Attorney Lawrence Friedman providing Judge Charles Zambito reams -- one of the four folders was three-inches thick -- of reading material.

The folders contained trial transcripts, transcripts of the 2012 restitution hearing, and documentation of the falsified reports.

By law, Case will be required to pay at least $3,000, the amount specified by the language of the statute in penal law she violated, but only a judge, after reviewing evidence, can order a defendant to pay more than that statutory amount.

Legal troubles for Case go back to at least 2010 when she was arrested and accused of stealing more than $35,000 from two elderly patients. Those charges were dismissed with no explanation from Judge Robert C. Noonan and the case files were sealed.

In 2011, Case was arrested again, this time accused of submitting false claims for hours worked and miles driven to HomeCare & Hospice. She was convicted March 1, 2012, and sentenced to four months in jail and probation.

Nearly two years later, an appeals court overturned her conviction and ordered a new trial.

The jury again returned a guilty verdict in July 2014.

At her sentencing in August 2014, Case told Noonan, she had done nothing wrong and said the real criminals were the executives at HomeCare & Hospice.

"These rules were new and used retroactively to make my legitimate paid time into unpaid time in an attempt by Hospice to claim I stole from them and in effect steal themselves," Case said. "They then fraudulently submitted their so-called losses to insurance and filed a false report to the police."

Noonan sentenced Case to probation.

But that left the matter of restitution unresolved. 

Friedman argued that there had already been a restitution hearing on the same facts and Case had been ordered to pay $14,000 in restitution. An appeals court saw it differently and ordered a new restitution hearing. Fortunately, Friedman said, it was unnecessary this time to call all the witnesses in again. The transcripts are all Zambito needs to review the case and render a decision.

Zambito will review the documents over, at least, the next 30 days, perhaps longer, before issuing a decision.

There was only one thing Kali Zelakiewicz wanted from Judge Charles Zambito as she stood before him in Genesee County Court this morning and that was permission to continue in a drug treatment program.

The 26-year-old resident of East River Road in Grand Island was sent to the Willard Drug Treatment Center in Romulus following her conviction on fourth-degree grand larceny charges in Erie County.

With her dark hair cropped tight and clothed in prison-issued tan pants and a starched, white, button-down shirt, Zelakiewicz said Willard has been life-changing.

"There's a lot of stuff," Zelakiewicz said as she started to sob briefly, "that I've learned in 23 days that I never learned before in my life."

Zelakiewicz was arrested in Genesee County in November 2017 after a resident of Pembroke connected with Zelakiewicz on Facebook and hired her to do landscaping work. The victim provided Zelakiewicz a credit card number to cover a down payment on the work and Zelakiewicz used the information to make unauthorized purchases in Grand Island.

Information isn't available on the recent arrest in Erie County that landed Zelakiewicz in Willard but one of Zelakiewicz's prior arrests, from 2012, was for identity theft and grand larceny. Zelakiewicz was accused of using her grandmother's identity to go on a $25,000 spending spree.

Sandra Cassidy, Genesee County's newest assistant district attorney, argued for a harsh sentence given Zelakiewicz's three felony convictions.

"There doesn't appear to be an abatement or learning process by treatment and probation," Cassidy said.

But Zelakiewicz told Zambito that prior to Willard she had never been placed in drug treatment before.

Zambito had the option to sentence her to one and a half to three years in prison, with the sentence to run either concurrent to her Erie County term or consecutive to it.

The judge made the local sentence consecutive to the Erie County term but explained to Zelakiewicz that by allowing her to continue at Willard while making the sentence consecutive, he is giving her a chance to succeed but with consequences if she slips back into her old habits.

"This provides you an opportunity to prove you deserve a second chance but it also protects the community," Zambito said.

The family of Ray Morgan misses him every day, said daughter Raelee Morgan in an interview earlier this week, which is making it so hard to wait for justice in his murder case.

Batavia PD has a person of interest and that person is being held in the Genesee County Jail on an unrelated charge, but until the State Police lab reports back on the results of DNA tests from the crime scene it would be premature to try and charge that person with murder, said Chief Shawn Heubusch.

Raelee said members of the family don't feel the case is moving fast enough nor is much information being shared with the family.

"I'm not sure what they're looking for but we're doing everything we can to prepare a case to present to a grand jury," Heubusch said. "The worst thing that can happen is we present a case and the grand jury returns a no bill, then we're done. We can't present the case again."

Heubusch said the State Police lab is cooperative and has expedited the case but it still takes time to get results.

He also said investigator's sisters communicate regularly with Raelee's sister, Faith, but the police cannot release all of the information they have because there is information, if made public, that could compromise the investigation.

The 47-year-old Morgan, who besides two daughters, had seven grandchildren, was reportedly badly beaten in the attack.

Heubusch sounded a little exasperated at one point to even be talking about the case publicly.

"When you go on social media or you go to the media and start talking, it hurts the case," Heubusch said. "You could put something out there that makes it harder to get a conviction."

Raelee said the family just wants justice and they don't want the public to remember him as a person who had a criminal record but as a man who was a kind, loving family man, and friend to many people. She said everything he did, even the things that got him into trouble, was to help other people.

"He was the type of guy that no matter who you are what you've done in the past, he will give you the shirt off his back," Raelee said. "If he had 10 dollars in his pocket he would give it to you if you needed it. He was an amazing guy. He really was."

She's also upset that after Morgan's murder the night of July 24 at 111 Liberty St., Batavia, that once police left his apartment, the room was left open. Morgan's belongings disappeared, she said, and a neighbor posted gruesome, bloody pictures on Facebook.

Raelee blames the police.

"I would like to find a lawyer for the wrongdoings of the Batavia Police Department handling his crime scene because, like I said, his crime scene was not taped off; his crime scene was completely opened up," Raelee said. "Myself and my sister only received three bags of bloody clothes -- all the rest of his belongings were thrown away."

The day after the murder, Heubusch told The Batavian that once investigators finish processing a crime scene, the property is turned over to the property owner and the owner from that point is responsible for securing the scene. As a matter of Constitutional law, the police cannot maintain control of private property once it has finished processing the crime scene.

The Batavian's news partner, 13WHAM contributed to this story.

The county will add stop signs to the north and southbound lanes of Albion Road at Lockport Road in Oakfield and residents at the intersection say it's been a long time coming.

Ron and Jeanine Bauer said they've lived at the intersection for 30 years and have complained for years about traffic at the intersection.

"Actually, my neighbors have written letters to different higher-ups and nothing really's come of it," Ron said.

County Highway Superintendent said work crews will be at the intersection Monday to convert it to a four-way, or all-way, stop.

"The new signs are in response to numerous crashes and near-crashes that have occurred at the intersection over the past few years," Hens said. "The intersection currently only requires traffic to stop in one direction and there is a pattern of drivers either stopping and pulling in front of moving traffic or not stopping at the intersection at all."

Ron said he's seen many times east and westbound cars just blow through the intersection.

"Last month I was out here cutting my lawn and all the sudden I hear a zoom -- a Canadian cut right through that stop sign and if a car had been coming somebody would have gotten killed," Ron said.

There is a problem, Hens said, with how east and west drivers approach the intersection.

"Based on accident reports, it seems drivers have a sense that the intersection requires all drivers to stop even though the intersection is clearly marked that 'Cross-Traffic Does Not Stop,'" Hens said.

Jeanine expressed concern that the new stop signs will be a big adjustment for drivers on Albion Road, who have been passing through the intersection for decades without a requirement to stop.

Hens said the Highway Department has taken that concern into account. The new stop signs will be flagged until drivers get used to them.

"The All-Way stop is the best solution to remedy mistakes that drivers are currently making at the intersection," Hens said. "The All-Way stop may not eliminate all crashes, but it most definitely will reduce the severity of crashes should they occur. "

Both Ron and Jeanine said they're glad the county is taking action and hope it helps but that will take the cooperation of drivers being more attentive on the road.

"Some people just don’t pay attention," Jeanine said. "I don't know if they're messing around with their phones or don’t know what they’re doing. The fact that they’re moving so fast is an indication to me that they don’t know the stop is there or they’re not paying attention to it. It’s scary when you’re out here and you see somebody fly through the sign, it’s like, oh, that could have been really bad."

A motor-vehicle accident is reported on West Main Street, Batavia, in front of the Holland Land Office Museum.

One subject is complaining of head pain.

The cars are in the parking lot. Traffic is not blocked.

City fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.

Press release:

It’s time to release the hounds at Batavia Downs.

On Sunday afternoon, 80 speedy dachshunds will go to post in 10 heats trying to become one of the 10 finalists in the 2018 Batavia Downs Wiener Dog Races, sponsored by Genesee Feeds of Batavia. 

The Wiener Dog Races will begin at approximately 4 p.m. at the conclusion of the live harness races and are the final event of the annual Family Fun Day at the Races at America’s oldest lighted harness racetrack.

Admission and parking are free for the afternoon of entertainment that always produces the largest on-track attendance of the year. Family Fun Day includes many free kids activities set up trackside in front of the new Batavia Downs Hotel. 

All those who enter will receive a doggie bag courtesy of the official race sponsor, Genesee Feeds of Batavia.

The owners of all heat winners will receive $25 in gaming Free Play and the top three finishers in the championship race will receive two Clubhouse buffet certificates and $100, $75 and $50 (first through third) in Free Play for the gaming floor. The top winner’s total prize package including the gaming Free Play is valued at $200.

Please note: If you have a dog racing, you must check in to the dog “paddock” tent near the valet parking lot and the dogs are not allowed on the apron of the track during the live horse races. 

Dachshund racing was first held in Australia during the 1970s and rose in popularity in North America after a 1993 Miller Lite commercial made the “sport” nationally known. In 1995 there was a national circuit formed with a final held in Ft. Wayne, Ind., as part of their German-fest celebration. The Wiener Dog Nationals were held there in 2018 for the 23rd year.

Batavia Downs is the first harness track in North America to present wiener dog racing as a promotion and has done so annually since 2005. The popularity of this event has grown exponentially since then with many other racetracks now putting on their own races. However the first and now longest running dachshund meet held at a standardbred track will continue its tradition of excellence once again this year.

Photo: File photo.

Driving through Oakfield this afternoon, I spotted this horse atop a hill and the Plymouth parked by a barn on Lockport Road.

A pile of railroad ties reportedly are on fire at the Ivison Road railroad crossing in Byron.

Byron and South Byron fire departments dispatched.

UPDATE 6:37 p.m.: A chief on scene sees no fire or smoke. CSX called in the fire. The chief says all units respond non-emergency. He's investigating.

UPDATE 6:42 p.m.: Apparently, the fire has been located, near marker 394 east. It's not a big fire, just a couple ties. A chief at the fire suggests bringing the grass truck to the location.

UPDATE 6:53 p.m.: Fire is out, all units released. "It looks like CSX was doing some welding and that's what sparked it," a chief reports.

The Batavia Blue Devils hosted the Batavia Bulldawgs for their annual "Blue Devils Experience" at Van Detta Stadium in Batavia on Wednesday night.

The Blue Devils open their season Aug. 31, 7:30 p.m., at home against Hornell.

Press release:

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today announced $1,860,921 in federal funding for the Genesee County Airport in Batavia.

The funding was allocated through the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Airport Improvement Program (AIP). Specifically, the Genesee County Airport will use the funding to reconstruct its taxiways and taxiway lighting.

“Keeping our airports in top-notch shape is crucial to safe travel for area residents and in attracting business and tourism to Batavia,” Senator Schumer said. “These federal funds will allow the Genesee County Airport to reconstruct part of its existing taxiway and upgrade its existing lighting system, which will improve service for the passengers and pilots who fly in and out of the area every day.”

“This federal investment will give the Genesee County Airport the resources it needs to reconstruct their taxiway and improve taxiway lighting, which will increase safety for travelers flying to and from Genesee County,” Senator Gillibrand said. “Investments like this are critical to local economic development around our state, and I will continue to fight for the resources that our airports across New York need to be safe, modern and efficient.”

This funding is awarded through the Airport Improvement Program and is administered by the FAA. AIP provides grants to public agencies for the planning and development of public-use airports that are included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS). Funds obligated for AIP are drawn from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, which is supported by user fees, fuel taxes, and other similar revenue sources.

An excavator has reportedly taken down a utility pole and wire at 4610 E. Saile Drive in front of the Milton Cat building.

The operator is out of the excavator though wires on are on top of it.

Town of Batavia fire is dispatched.

UPDATE 11:47 a.m.: National Grid advised. No ETA. Traffic is being shut down on East Saile at State Street.

UPDATE 1:11 p.m.: A trooper reports the road is to remain closed. National Grid and Verizon on scene.

Press release:

The City of Batavia Fire Department will be flushing fire hydrants on Aug. 22nd from approximately 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. the general area of East Main Street, State Street, Oak Street, Washington Avenue and Richmond Avenue. Homes and businesses nearby will be affected. These tests may result in temporary discoloration of water in that area.

As in the past, please do not attempt to wash any clothing if your water appears discolored. If you do experience a discoloration of your water, run cold water for about five minutes or until clear.

This annual testing is essential to maintain the communities class III Insurance Service Office (ISO) public protection classification and to assure that hydrants are operating efficiently for fire protection purposes. Along with maintaining the fire rating, the test monitors the health of the city’s water system, identifies weak areas in the system, removes material that settles in the hydrant, and cleans out the lines. Checking each hydrant improves crew knowledge of hydrant locations.

If you have any questions, or should at anytime notice a hydrant in need of repair, please contact the fire department at 585-345-6375.

It took a giant crane this morning to hoist into place giant beams for the new bridge being built over the Tonawanda Creek in Alexander.

The new span is on Stroh Road.

Photos by Kayte Fix.

Press release:

On Tuesday, Aug. 21,  from 7 a.m. to 5  p.m. Tracy Avenue in the City of Batavia will be closed to all thru traffic for cold milling of pavement. The work will be done between Washington Avenue and North Street.

All motorists that regularly use this road are asked to seek alternative routes during the operation. Residents within the area of the closure should anticipate delays,, but we will do our best to accommodate getting you to and from your residence.

This work is weather dependent and subject to rescheduling if it rains.

Contact the Bureau of Maintenance and ask to speak to the Streets Supervisor or Superintendent at 345 - 6400, opt. 1, if you have any questions.

The following people were arrested by the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office during the Miranda Lambert Concert at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center on Thursday:

Monica W. Granata, 54 of Old French Road, West Seneca, is charged with two counts of harassment, 2nd, after allegedly punching, kicking and biting two Live Nation security officers while being ejected from the concert.

Christine M. Klafehn, 53 of High Street, Holley, is charged with criminal trespass, 3rd, after allegedly reentering the concert venue after having been ejected and told not to return.

Lilliam L. Klafehn, 19 of High Street, Holley, is charged with criminal trespass, 3rd, after allegedly reentering the concert venue after having been ejected and told not to return.