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PBA president comes out against revised charter referendum

By Howard B. Owens

City residents, when you vote on the revised City Charter on Tuesday, Frank Klimjack wants you to consider one additional thing: You may be voting on whether Batavia has its own police department in the future.

Klimjack, president of the Police Benevolent Association, is asking city voters to just say no.

"I really think what this administration is looking to do is over time get rid of the police department," Klimjack said. "They will tell you it will be a merge, but there's no merging. You have to abolish your police department, and then hopefully the guys who are still hanging, maybe the sheriff's department picks them up or maybe they get picked up by another municipality."

The proposed change to the charter would strike the words "There shall be a police department ..." and add in "the City Council may choose to establish a police department. ..."

"That's huge," Klimjack said. "That's a total 180 degree change, where they tell you they're behind the police, 'we support the police,' and then they turn around and want to run this charter by you."

And Klimjack isn't sure what the city would replace the current police force with.  It can't be the State Police, he said, unless state law is changed, and he isn't sure bringing in the Sheriff's Office will really save city taxpayers any money.

Currently, the city is patrolled, usually, by four police officers. The Sheriff's Office would need to hire 30 additional deputies to keep the same level of service.

"The Sheriff is not going to do it for free," Klimjack said. "Is there savings? There may be some small savings, but what do you get for it? You get an occupational force that has no ties to the city whatsoever."

Klimjack worries that low voter turn out in an off-year election will mean that relatively few people are deciding the future of the police protection and service they get.

He's concerned, also, he said, that the level of service for the city, without a local police force, will be not as good as what citizens get now.

"The consolidation of dispatch," Klimjack said, "you'll hear it's been great, but it's been nothing but a disaster on the working end, for the guys who are actually working in the field. Did we save any money? I don't think we did. I live in the City of Batavia and I didn't see it in my tax dollars. I just look at that as the first step in consolidation and do you really want to get rid of the Police Department?"

Nothing scary here, just a Halloween Deal of the Day

By Howard B. Owens

T.F. Brown's, at 214 E. Main St., Batavia, NY: T.F. Brown's is a great place for a good meal, good friends and to catch up on what's going on in the sports world. "If it happens in sports, it happens at Brown's." We have a $20 gift card for $10.

Center Street Smoke House, 20 Center St., Batavia, NY: Authentic Southern BBQ, from ribs to brisket with all the fixin's. We have a $25 gift card for $12.50.

Delavan's Restaurant and Tavern, 107 Evans St., Batavia, NY: To me, Delavan's is one of those restaurants where you want to eat frequently until you try everything on the menu. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.

Jackson St. Grill, 9 Jackson St., Batavia, NY: Try the fresh, skinless haddock fish fry on Fridays. We have a $10 gift certificate for $5.

Settler's Restaurant, 353 W. Main St., Batavia, NY: Settler's has a 25-year history of serving great, affordable breakfasts, lunches and dinners to Batavians. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.

Total Image Hair Salon/Sarah and Amanda Lowe, 226 Ellicott St., Batavia, NY: Time to update your style? Try something different or finally get the hair styling you've dreamed of, give Sarah or Amanda at Total Image a try. We have a $22 gift certificate for $10.

NOTE: If you've never bought Deal of the Day before, or are otherwise unfamiliar with the rules and process, click here.

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Another deer in the city struck by a car

By Howard B. Owens

A deer that was struck by a car at Main and Oak is trapped in a fenced area at Prospect Avenue and Mix Place.

It is bleeding profusely, according to the report.

Police had received a report about the car striking the deer, and then the deer left the area, so police were searching for it when the call came in about its current location.

UPDATE: DPW has been requested to respond to scene and dispose of the carcass.

No rain in the forecast for prime trick-or-treat time

By Howard B. Owens

It's no fun to trick or treat in the rain, but ghouls, goblins as well as princesses and pirates shouldn't worry too much.

The forecast for this evening ranges from 0 percent to 10 percent chance of precipitation.

But it is going to be a little cold. The temperature is expected to drop into the high 40s.

The good news is, the wind will have died down by then.

Wind, did you say? Yes, there's a wind advisory in place from 4 to 6 p.m., with gusts of up to 40 mph expected.

Happy Halloween. Be safe.

Boyce Road home continues halloween tradition with haunted barn

By Howard B. Owens

There are 215 carved pumpkins in front of the home of Julie Allein, but that's just the introduction to a haunted house that has been scaring the bejeebus out of kids and adults alike for nearly two decades.

"It's all about the fright," says Allein.

Her barn is converted into two stories of horror show, with carved up body parts, cadavers and sculls and a ghoulish funeral that features a dead Michael Jackson as a guest.

Amazingly, it takes Allein and her family only about a month to prepare for the Halloween haunt, and that includes each of the 215 carved pumpkins, gutted by her mother-in-law and cut by Allein. Each one has a unique design.

She might not start the work until early October, but "the mind's always turning" she says, and she tries to think of ways of improving on the previous year's effort.

"It’s grown throughout the years, adding a bit here in there, but probably the last five years we can’t grow any more, so we just change it every year," Allein said. "This year, we made a real casket. It’s a lot of fun."

The Allein's haunted barn is located at 8894 Boyce Road. It will be open Halloween evening and admission is free.

Top photo, courtesy Julie Allein.

Alexander Road haunted barn 'the biggest yet' in third year

By Howard B. Owens

Mark Fry started turning their barn into a horror of haunts about three years ago just to scare their kids, but as more and more people stopped by, they kept adding to the show.

"This is the biggest yet, 11 rooms," Fry said. "Everybody this year tells us, keep it going. We were going to shut it down, because last year we had about 40 (visitors) but this year we’ve probably already had over 200 come."

And those are 11 pretty scary rooms, filled with more than a dozen local actors portraying everything from ghouls to flesh-eating surgeons.

If you don't get a little jolt of fear before the tour is over, your heart isn't beating.

The haunted barn on Alexander Road (Route 98) is free, and Friday night was going to be the last show, but on the spot last night, Fry and his wife decided to open for three more hours, from 3 to 6 p.m., on Saturday.

It's hard to close a good show.

The Batavian 2009 Election Survey Results

By Howard B. Owens

Below are the results of the election survey taken of readers of The Batavian over the past three days.

Please keep in mind: 

  • This is somewhat experimental. We're curious how close we can get to accurately reflecting how the election will go. That question won't be answered until election night. But as a matter of transparency, we're releasing the results tonight (also, even while acknowledging the potential pitfalls of this survey, candidates are expressing an eagerness to know the results.
  • This is a non-scientific survey. Participants are self selected, which statisticians will tell you can skew results.
  • An online survey isn't beyond being gamed, or tricked, but I see no evidence of that taking place in this case.

All of that to say: You shouldn't let these results influence your voting decisions, from who to vote for or whether to show up at the polls. Treat this as a potentially interesting reflection of how readers of The Batavian are responding to the candidates, but not necessarily a prediction of what will happen on Election Day.

Two other notes. We are not randomly deleting responses as we previously said we would. We had to delete too many as it is because SOOO MANNNNY people didn't follow the instructions on the survey.

The most common reason we deleted surveys (and whole surveys were deleted, not just specific questions) was people voting in BOTH district elections for the County Legislature. The next most common reason, was saying you lived in the Town of Batavia or another town and then voting in Batavia races or on the charter question.

We have 165 completed surveys. We trashed at least 200 more for failure to follow the instructions and another 25 for stating not registered to vote and unlikely to vote (you see, those were trick questions). We also deleted five surveys with duplicate IP addresses.

We're also not displaying results for jurisdictions that had only one or two respondents.

Here's the results:

Very likely to vote: 149 (90%)

Batavia City Council - Council at Large   Answer   Marianne Clattenburg 49 (22%)   Timothy E. Buckley 45 (21%)   Frank C. Ferrando, Jr 44 (20%)   Phillip J. Ricci 39 (18%)   Sara J. Balbi 26 (12%)   Julie Ann Wallace 15 (7%)

 

City of Batavia Charter Revision   Yes 52 (64%)   No 29 (36%)

 

Genesee County Legislator District 7 (Wards 1 & 6)   Robert H. Radley 22 (59%)   Rosemary Christian 15 (41%)

 

Genesee County Legislator District 8 (Wards 2 & 3)   Christopher M. Charvella 17 (55%)   Hollis D. Upson 14 (45%)  

 

Darien Town Clerk   Alice E. Calmes 5 (56%)   Linda P. Graber 4 (44%)

 

Darien Town Council (Vote for 2)   Michael A. Plitt 7 (35%)   Stephen J. Ferry 5 (25%)   Christopher M. Nicastro 4 (20%)   Charles J. Flagg 3 (15%)   Jimmie E. Flaming 1 (5%)

 

Darien Town Council, unexpired term   David D. Riker 7 (70%)   Samuel E. Williams 3 (30%)

 

Le Roy Town Justice   Answer   Kermit Arrington 13 (65%)   Darryl D. Sehm 7 (35%)

 

Le Roy Town Council (Pick 2)   Thomas Stella 15 (58%)   Christine M. Smith 8 (31%)   Jay E. Whipple 3 (12%)

 

Le Roy Town Council, unexpired term   Kelly J. Lathan 14 (67%)   Jennifer AO Keys 7 (33%)

 

Stafford Town Council (Vote for 2)   Ronald Panek 10 (38%)   Donald L. Mullen 9 (35%)   Michelle Mouery 7 (27%)  

 

Stafford Superintendent of Highways   Answer   Steven Boldt 13 (87%)   James D. Pontillo 2 (13%)

 

Candidate has not volunteered for CASA, contrary to repeated claim

By Howard B. Owens

"The children" is a key part of the City Council campaign platform for Julie Wallace, but when it comes to her claims of serving the kids of Genesee County, there appears to be inconsistencies in her resume.

In our Oct. 15 candidates' forum in which The Batavian and WBTA interviewed Wallace, Wallace said, "I do a lot for the children. That's basically what I want to do. I want to do more for the children than anything."

She also claimed that evening that she is a volunteer for CASA, a claim repeated in her bio in the Daily News interview earlier this week.

"I do a lot of volunteering," Wallace said Oct. 15. "I volunteer for CASA."

After being tipped by a reader, The Batavian called Tara Pariso, executive director of CASA, and Pariso said Wallace has never volunteered for CASA.

CASA stands for "Court Appointed Special Advocates" and the job of volunteers is to help children in foster care.

Pariso said her predecessor, Sara Munger, had started the application process with Wallace, but Wallace never completed the interview process required for all volunteers. Pariso said Wallace was supposed to do one of the two required interviews last week, but missed her appointment. She also said volunteers require an extensive background check, checking for any criminal record, and Wallace has not yet had a background check.

Wallace today had a different story. She didn't explicitly repeat the claim to volunteer for CASA, but she did say that Munger interviewed her and cleared her for training to begin in November.

When asked if she had that in writing, she said she did not.

"I just touched base with Tara last week, since Sara had left," Wallace said. "Everything was all set to go with Sara."

Wallace was adament that she will start training in November. 

When we spoke to Pariso yesterday, she was equally adament that Wallace had done no volunteering of any kind for CASA and that she needed to be interviewed and pass a background check before she could start volunteering.

UPDATE Monday, Nov. 2, 9:42 a.m.: We just received this e-mail from Sara Munger:

As the former director for Genesee County CASA for Children I would like to   verify some misconceptions that have been shared with your readers.  I did in  fact interview a Julie Wallace near the end of my service as the Director for  CASA for Children.  At no time during the interview did I tell Ms. Wallace  that she was accepted as a volunteer for CASA, or that she would be going  through the training process as a volunteer.  When interviewing CASA  advocates it was my policy to review all of the materials after our  interview, check at least three references (by phone, or through mail) and  complete a thorough back round check on all potential candidates.  When I  interviewed Ms. Wallace I explained to her that after reviewing her  application and completing these appropriate steps, I would then contact her  to set up a time for training.  Shortly after our interview, I stepped down  from my position as the Director, and Mrs. Tara Pariso was hired as the new  CASA director.  At this time Ms. Wallace's application was handed over to  Mrs. Pariso, and the application process and background checks had not been  completed.  Ms. Wallace did contact me to follow up with the interview, and  it was explained to her that due to current circumstances, I was not able to  move forward with her application, but ensured her that I would hand over her  information to the new director.  At no time did I indicate to Ms. Wallace  that she was accepted as a CASA advocate, or indicate that she would be  training in November.

Graham Corp. announces new contracts totaling $16 million

By Howard B. Owens

Batavia-based Graham Corp. today announced more than $16 million in new contracts.

Graham manufactures equipment critical oil refineries and the petrochemical industry. The  new contracts are for two refineries in the Middle East and a fertilizer project in Asia.

James R. Lines, Graham`s President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "It is encouraging to see increased purchasing activity in our international markets, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, where we expected the recovery from the global recession to begin. We are also seeing renewed quoting activity in South America. However, we do not believe our markets are in full recovery, and we continue to expect non-uniform order levels for several more quarters."

Less than a month ago, Graham laid off 15 local workers.

Hit-and-run driver causes rollover accident on Route 20

By Howard B. Owens

A blue pickup on Route 20 has reportedly hit a car, causing it to roll over, on Route 20 in Bethany.

The truck is reportedly eastbound on Route 20.

The car was reportedly rear-ended by the truck. The truck will have front-end damage.

The injuries are reported as minor.

Bethany Fire and Mercy EMS are responding.


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Disney Halloween at Bank of Castile

By Howard B. Owens

The staff at Bank of Castile/Tompkins Insurance on Main Street in Batavia are having some Halloween fun today. The top three floors are decorated with various Disney scenes and most of the staff is dressed appropriate to the theme on their floors. Groups of children from the YMCA are visiting throughout the day receiving treats as they visit Batavia's own Disneyland.

Today's Deals: Great Kutz, the Color Salon, Alex's, Matty's and more

By Howard B. Owens

Alex's Place, 8322 Park Road, Batavia, NY: People come from all over the region for a fine dining experience at Alex's. It's best known for its ribs, of course, but Alex's seafood is also a favorite of the restaurant's diners. We have a $25 gift certificate for $12.50.

T.F. Brown's, at 214 E. Main St., Batavia, NY: T.F. Brown's is a great place for a good meal, good friends and to catch up on what's going on in the sports world. "If it happens in sports, it happens at Brown's." We have a $20 gift card for $10.

Center Street Smoke House, 20 Center St., Batavia, NY: Authentic Southern BBQ, from ribs to brisket with all the fixin's. We have a $25 gift card for $12.50.

Kravings, Valu Plaza, W. Main Street, Batavia, NY: Recently opened, it offers soups, salads and sandwiches, fresh and flavorful; Monday through Saturday. We have $10 gift certificates for $5.

Matty's Pizzeria, 4152 W. Main St., Batavia, NY: Matty's is another Batavia favorite for pizza and wings. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.

South Main Country Gifts, 3356 Main St. Road, Batavia, NY: Handcrafted items, gifts with a regional flair, candles, teas and spices -- South Main has a wide selection to please most any interest. We have a $20 gift certificate for $9.

Great Kutz, in the Valu Plaza, 4152 W. Main St. Road, Batavia, NY: Men, enjoy a $5 haircut again with this offer exclusive to The Batavian. (gift card can be applied toward other services, but not products).

The Color Salon, 35 Center St., Batavia, NY: Susan Francis, the owner and stylist at The Color Salon reminds women, "your hair is your greatest accessory." Francis has more than 20 years of experience helping women get the best hair color. We have a $50 gift certificate for $25.

NOTE: If you've never bought Deal of the Day before, or are otherwise unfamiliar with the rules and process, click here.

T.F. Brown's

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Alex's Place

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Center Street Smoke House

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Great Kutz

The Color Salon

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Matty's Pizzeria

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South Main Country Gifts

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Kravings Kafe

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Police Beat: Girl allegedly yelling obscenities from her front yard arrested

By Howard B. Owens

A 16-year-old girl from South Byron has been charged with disorderly conduct. She is accused of yelling obscenities from her front yard after being asked repeatedly to stop. She was jailed on $250 bail.

Tyler J. Henderson, 20, of Batavia, is charged with unlawful possession of alcohol by a person under 21. Henderson was ticketed by State Police on Sumner Road in Darien.

A 16-year-old from Alexander is charged with trespass. The boy was arrested by State Police in East Bethany.

Notre Dame's strong run defense meets two backs it can't stop

By Howard B. Owens

A strong run defense helped carry Notre Dame through a 7-1 season and into the Class D Section V finals, but against a Dundee team with a great running back and some well designed plays, the Fighting Irish defenders reminded no one of a picket fence.

Too many turnovers didn't help either.

Final score: 76-13.

But maybe the numbers that mattered most in deciding who won and who lost were those amassed by Steve Webb for Dundee, who had 176 yards on 12 carries for an average of 13.8 yards per carry. Webb scored four touchdowns, including one on a 23-yard punt return. He also had two receptions for another 75 yards.

Webb and fellow running back Ryan Ballard proved a deadly combo for the Irish. Ballard also scored three touchdowns, one on a kickoff return, one on a run from scrimmage and another on a pass reception. Ballard rushed for 131 yards.

All told, Dundee gained 359 on the ground and only 29 through the air.

Dundee head coach Sheldon Gibson said some of the team's success on the ground against Notre Dame could be attributed to good scouting.

"We’ve seen them three times live," Gibson said. "We kind of picked up on some things. We found a couple of angles and we exploited them. Basically, when you have a speed demon like Webb, he’s hard to catch, and with Ballard being so strong, I mean having those two in the backfield is quite a plus for us."

The game started promising for the Irish. After winning the coin toss and deferring its kickoff decision until the second half, Notre Dame was able to quickly squelch Dundee's first drive. The offense then took the field and behind the running of Mike Pratt were able to move the ball about 80 yards down field for the first score of the game.

Disaster struck on the ensuing kickoff however, when Ballard returned the ball the length of the field for Dundee's first score. Gibson characterized the play as a game changer, one that helped his team get its balance back and allow it to start focusing on its game plan.

"Ballard's got a lot of desire," Gibson said. "He’s worked very hard. He’s a student of the game and that changed a lot."

On its next series, Notre Dame committed the first of its six turnovers (two fumbles and four interceptions). Two plays later, Ballard struck again with a seven-yard TD reception.

From that point forward in the game, Notre Dame's defense would spend a lot of time looking at the back sides of Ballard and and Webb, as well as receiver Kyle Spinks, who added two touchdowns.

Dundee's 11 touchdowns helped make it a big night for Katie Zebrowski, the only girl playing Section V football this year. Zebrowski made 10 of her 11 point-after attempts, which is a new Section V record.

"You can't turn over the football," Notre Dame Head Coach Rick Mancuso said. "If they had turned over the football as much as we did, the score would have been just as lopsided the other way."

As it got into the fourth quarter and the score was 56-7, the chatter in the press box was about Dundee running up the score. Dundee started the fourth quarter with all of its starters still in the game.

Some Notre Dame fans, both online in The Batavian's live chat about the game and after the game, shared a similar disgruntled opinion.

Mancuso didn't see it that way.

"From my standpoint, I've always thought, you know, they were trying to get some sectional records and things of that nature," Mancuso said. "That doesn't bother me. I mean, God bless them, whatever they wanted to do is fine. It doesn't matter to me. Hey, if you want to stop somebody, you've got to stop them on the field. That's the way I look at it, and we didn't do that."

Gibson said that on the Dundee sideline, there was no intention to run up the score.

"When we're picking off passes and running things back and the two team scored those last two touch downs," Gibson said. "The second defense blocked that punt, I mean, we didn't have a block on. The second defense did that. It's tough to stop those kids, to tell them not to do that. We kept the ball on the ground."

There was one highlight for the Irish in the fourth quarter. On a pass play that sent Gianni Zambito on a relatively short route, Zambito managed to get a step on his lone defender. Tom Whelehan in as quarterback, hit Zambito with a perfectly timed strike, so that Zambito didn't have to break stride. The fleet receiver then raced his defender toward the goal line. Two Dundee defenders each managed to get a hold of his jersey at about the five yard line, but Zambito kept his legs moving and pulled them toward the end zone until he got just close enough to stick both arms straight out, ball still in his hands, and put the ball over the end zone for Notre Dame's second touch down.

It wasn't enough to bring the game within reach, but it let everybody know there was still plenty of fight left in the Irish.

Photographs by Bare Antolos. For more photos, click here.

Bill Cox urges no vote on charter revision

By Howard B. Owens

Councilman Bill Cox, Ward 1, is on vacation, but still thinking about city business - he e-mailed us today and asked us to post this statement in opposition to the proposed City Charter revision on Tuesday's ballott.

Serious Problems with proposed charter Changes

1.    No separation of power. A proposed change has the city manager appointing the members of the Planning and Development Committee ( Planning Board). The City Manager already appoints the members of the Zoning Board of Appeals. If the City Manager is allowed to appoint both board members its sets up a dangerous possibility of deals being made behind closed doors which is very difficult to happen now, because City Council appoints Planning Committee members. The City Manager can appoint people to both boards who are “friendly” to particular causes and future project and land developments and ensure they get passed regardless of what the taxpayers want, what neighborhood it involves, and what tax breaks it gets. This would be a very dangerous and damaging situation that would most likely occur sooner or later.

2.    Up to 14 years for an appointment. The terms of appointments for the Planning and Development committee for the city manager to appoint being proposed will enable a member to be in office for as long as 14 years. The terms now are 3 years with a renewal of 3 more years. The change proposed has the new terms of 5 years, with reappointment for a second 5 years and if someone resigns, after the first year, his replacement can be in office for 4 years and be eligible for both 5 year terms. Having someone in an appointed office for up to 14 years is a very bad idea for lots of reasons.

3.    Wording in proposed charter can permit the fire and police departments to be done away with. The proposed wording specifies the city must provide police and fire protection however it does not state we have to have a police and fire department. This is a subtle but very important change in wording. This sets the stage for a potential elimination of those departments by having outside agencies provide these services.

4.    Elimination of voter approval for Council pay increases. The proposed charter changes languages which can enable City Council to raise their own pay. Whenever an elected body of officials can give themselves raises, they become much less accountable to the voters and citizens. This is always a bad idea. That is one of the reasons Washington and New York State is in just mess; it is why politicians continue to vote for massive spending and increases in personal benefits for themselves, and more perks. City Council Members receive $2,000. a year for pay, except the Council President who receives a little more. Our citizens pay outrageously high property taxes, school taxes, and fees a lot of which can be traced directly to City Council decisions. When the taxpayer’s burden gets lowered and future council decisions that lower taxes are made, then perhaps Council deserves a pay increase and then only when the citizens and voters decide that. When we ran for office we knew the pay structure.

5.    Redistricting of wards. The proposed changes include going through an expensive process based upon future census counts one of which is being conducted in April 2010. Then re-drawing Ward Boundaries. This is unnecessary, disruptive, and expensive. Genesee County has a good system of having true representation for the people which is “weighted voting”. Periodically as people move, one geographic area can gain population and another one can lose some. Legislature calculates this and assigns a “weighted vote” to a particular legislator. This means that one legislator can have 1.1 votes while another can have .9 votes. What this does is allow the best representation of the people to occur at the legislative level. We should follow the county method in the city or leave it as is, instead an expensive process of redrawing ward boundaries, going through a lot of expensive and then doing it every 10 years when a new census occurs. 

6.    Separation of Power - City Manager will appoint City Attorney instead of City Council.  The proposed charter takes this appointment away from Council which is a very dangerous situation. This change in effect will mute the authority of City Council over the City Manager. The city attorney or law firm representing the city gets his direction from the city manager in most cases. If Council believes a change is necessary and a new city manager is needed, the city attorney who now gets over $200,000. in projects through the city manager has to decide who to back in a dispute between City Council and the City Manager. If you were getting $200,000. in pay from one source, who do you think you will back? People vote for their wallet. Right now the city attorney can be dismissed by Council if they feel a change is warranted and expenses are out of line. We lose that ability if this charter is passed.

7.    City Manager is given the authority and power of a Mayor in most respects without ever having to run for office. The proposed charter changes dramatically increases the authority and influence of the City Manager and reduces the authority and influence of the City Council members who you appoint. The proper way to do this is to let the people decide if they want a Mayor
And not back door the issue by these proposed changes in the City Charter. Do it the right way or not at all.

Here are two good proposed changes. One good proposed change is going to a sub-committee structure for some meetings. This will allow for items and proposals to be discussed with less contention and perhaps less controversy. However healthy open debate is what democracy is all about. This one change is not enough reason to overcome the negative changes proposed.  A second good one is that the chief financial officer is not the city manager and the proposed change is for the head of the finance department to be the chief financial officer. It stipulates also to get rid of the city engineer. I believe we need a city engineer but not a city engineer and an assistant manager both. This calls for no city engineer.

I believe the overall charter changes proposed, weaken the representation of the people by weakening city council authority, that they set up the possibility of back door deals being made in future planning and zoning boards exclusively appointed by the city manager, and turn the position of city manager into a position of power equivalent to a mayor without the need for the manager to ever run for that office and be elected by the people.   

I urge our citizens to vote no for the charter changes. We need to go back to the drawing boards and do a better job of changes.

Follow tonight's Notre Dame game live on The Batavian, starting at 5:30

By Howard B. Owens

Notre Dame tries for a sectional Class D title at Marina Auto Stadium at 5:30 p.m.

To get it, they'll have to beat #1 ranked Dundee, coming into the game with an unbeaten record for 2009.

Coach Rick Mancuso said after his team's big semi-final victory over York that beating Dundee certainly won't be easy.

“Dundee is phenomenal,” Mancuso said. “They’re the best team in D, there’s no doubt about that. We’re hoping we can come out and play a clean game and maybe we get it into the fourth quarter and we’re close. That’s kind of what you’re looking for. They’re fantastic. We’re defiantly playing up. It’s a huge challenge for us.”

You can follow all of the action live on The Batavian. We will be living blogging the game and you will be able to chat about the game, respond to interactive polls and keep pace with every play of the game starting at 5:30 p.m. 

If you're not in front of a computer, you can also listen to the game on WBTA with Jay Moran and Bob Brown calling the plays.

Today's Deals: Delavan's, Pudgie's, Alex's, Mane Attraction, and more

By Howard B. Owens

Delavan's Restaurant and Tavern, 107 Evans St., Batavia, NY: To me, Delavan's is one of those restaurants where you want to eat frequently until you try everything on the menu. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.

Adam Miller Toy & Bicycles, 8 Center St., Batavia, NY: Feel like a kid in a toy store again, or treat your kids to the greatest toy store they will ever see. We have a $25 gift certificate for $12.50.

Pudgie's Lawn and Garden Center, 3646 W. Main St. Road, Batavia, NY: Fall colors are here, and with Pudgie's you an cozy-fy your home with a range of decoration ideas. We have a $25 gift certificate for $12.50.

The Mane Attraction, 99 E. Main St., Batavia, NY: The Mane Attraction is a spa and salon offering pedicures, manicures, hair styling and massage. We have a $20 gift certificate for $10.

T.F. Brown's, at 214 E. Main St., Batavia, NY: T.F. Brown's is a great place for a good meal, good friends and to catch up on what's going on in the sports world. "If it happens in sports, it happens at Brown's." We have a $20 gift card for $10.

Center Street Smoke House, 20 Center St., Batavia, NY: Authentic Southern BBQ, from ribs to brisket with all the fixin's. We have a $25 gift card for $12.50.

Jackson St. Grill, 9 Jackson St., Batavia, NY: Try the fresh, skinless haddock fish fry on Fridays. We have a $10 gift certificate for $5.

Alex's Place, 8322 Park Road, Batavia, NY: People come from all over the region for a fine dining experience at Alex's. It's best known for its ribs, of course, but Alex's seafood is also a favorite of the restaurant's diners. We have a $25 gift certificate for $12.50.

NOTE: If you've never bought Deal of the Day before, or are otherwise unfamiliar with the rules and process, click here.

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